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Devendra Gautam and Ramkala Khadka of Annapurna Media Network caught up with Katie Donohoe, mission director at the USAID in Nepal, to discuss different facets of the agency’s 63-year-long partnership in Nepal and plans for the future. Excerpts from the interview:

First of all, what inspired you to this journey, this career path?

I think there are two ways to answer that question: my work at USAID, and what inspired me to come to Nepal. I’ve always been interested in seeing the world. And I’ve always been interested in working with others and serving others. USAID allows me to do both. I get to work in partnership with people around the world to help them in different areas and provide assistance on behalf of the US government. And then I get to see the world. I actually started as a Peace Corps volunteer, as a teacher in Madagascar a long time ago. And that really made me want to keep doing this type of work. I’ve also worked in Zambia, Pakistan, Egypt, Nigeria, and now here in Nepal. And what brought me to Nepal is when I was thinking about my next assignment, I was really interested in working in a country with an amazing cultural diversity, a country that’s really changing quickly. So I’m fond of saying Nepal is changing, and USAID needs to change with it.

We’re really thinking about how we work and listen to Nepalis to tailor our portfolio along that development journey. And that’s what brought me here. I’ve been doing this work for about 20 years, and I think it’s shaping up to be my favorite job. 

And how has your experience been so far here in Nepal? 

Wonderful, really great. I had never been to Nepal before. I had certainly read about it and heard about it, but in Nepal, we’ve just been so warmly welcomed. I’m here with my family. I have lots of khadas everywhere in my house.

I’ve gotten to travel in Nepal. I’ve been to Janakpur and Sudurpaschim, Karnali, Pokhara, and then of course around Kathmandu. And it’s just been really a warm welcome, and as fascinating as I thought it would be.

The USAID has been in Nepal for the last seven decades or so?

Sixty-three years. 

What is the guiding philosophy driving the agency in Nepal?

Sure, that’s a great question. Our guiding philosophy is partnership, working together, listening to Nepalis, to determine the needs of the people, and then how we can bring our resources and other expertise to walk along that journey together. So in these 63 years, USAID has had some really remarkable accomplishments in Nepal with Nepali people. We helped pave the first roads here. We helped fund the first telephone exchange. We helped eradicate malaria.

I’m really proud, particularly of our work with women and children. Child mortality in Nepal has gone down 60 percent over the course of two decades. And that’s really remarkable. And we’re lucky to be on that journey.

To go back to your original question, I think those are the guiding principles of partnership. And then we really are focusing on thinking about federalism and how to implement federalism and implement the Nepali constitution by making sure, as Nepal develops, that everyone is included in that journey.

And then resilience. Of course, Nepal is, as we just felt recently, subject to shocks, different environmental shocks. So we do a lot of work thinking about resilience and how to help prepare Nepali people for those shocks so that, hopefully, everyone’s prepared for the next challenge.

What are the main strategic priorities of USAID missions in Nepal over the next few years, and how does it ensure that its projects align with Nepal’s national priorities, Nepal’s government’s priorities.

That’s where we start from: the priorities of the government of Nepal. We don’t ever want to do anything that doesn’t align with the needs of Nepal. So I mentioned those three overarching priorities, which are federalism, inclusion and resilience. And then we also think about working in different areas. So we work in education, which means helping teachers and children. We work in health, which is largely focused on mothers and children. We work on economic growth, which is a lot working with farmers and agriculture, but also working with small entrepreneurs. I’ve met some really great Nepali entrepreneurs. And then also thinking about democratic governance. We support the policymakers at every level of the Nepali government to implement democracy here in Nepal.

One of the foremost challenges for Nepal is dealing with disasters. Recently a quake epicentered in Tibet shook parts of Nepal (eastern Nepal) that showed how ill-prepared we are when it comes to dealing with disasters. This quake comes barely a year after the Jajarkot quake that left behind a trail of death, devastation and displacement. How is the USAID helping Nepal strengthen the institutional capacity in dealing with such disasters?

Sure. There are two ways we’re doing that. One is we’re working with the national institutions that think about disaster risk reduction, doing capacity building, planning to help everyone be prepared. And then we’re also working at the provincial and municipal level.

So for example, when I went to Sudurpaschim, we met with the municipal government and we saw their storeroom of emergency supplies. We have been supporting them to develop a plan to respond to disasters. So we think a lot about preparedness and helping people manage and be ready for a disaster when it strikes. And then of course there are earthquakes and landslides here, so we also have a humanitarian assistance program and a relief and recovery program. For example, in Jajarkot we’re helping build temporary learning centers. We just announced an assistance program of five million dollars that will build classrooms so that children can get back in school. This is an important part of our portfolio because it’s important to the government of Nepal and important to us as well.

As you said, USAID has been serving Nepal for 63 years. How does it measure the impact of its program in Nepal? Are there any notable success stories that you can share?

Monitoring data and accountability are really important to us. We want to make good investments that serve the people of Nepal. So I mentioned a few of the successes earlier but I’ll go back. One is the reduction in child mortality, which has gone down by 60 percent. So that’s a statistic that we track really closely.

Also a huge reduction in malaria. Those are really important. We also think about the number of people we serve. In 2023 alone, we served one million Nepali women, which is a number I love. So we’ve touched them in one way or another because they’re entrepreneurs, because they went to a health clinic that we serve, because they’re teachers and they received support in another way, because they’re community leaders or mayors or deputy mayors and received training or journalists of course, so that’s it. So we look, we try and really think about this data and gather data and that helps us understand what we’ve achieved and how else we can, what else we can achieve.

What also comes to mind is the USAID motto: From the American people. What percentage of USAID assistance, which is the taxpayers’ money, is going to the grassroots? There is this complaint that most of the international development assistance in Nepal actually goes down to paying the consultants, politically influential people and the intermediaries…..

Sure, that’s a great question. I’ll answer it in two ways. First, one of the other reasons I wanted to come to Nepal is that we’re really thinking about locally-led development here. I would say USAID Nepal is really on the cutting edge of getting funding directly to the grassroots, directly to people. So here, we fund Nepali organizations directly. These are civil society and other organizations that are serving Nepalis.

And that funding isn’t going through consultants or international NGOs. It’s going to Nepalis.

The second thing we do that I think is a sign of the deep and long partnership we have with the government of Nepal. In addition to working with CSOs, we fund the government of Nepal directly, which we don’t do in many countries, but we can do it here because we have such trust and accountability.

For example, we fund the Ministry of Health directly, we fund the Ministry of Education directly, and then that money is going straight to schools. That’s how we’re doing things, but then we also go out and visit communities.

Like when I’m in Sudurpaschim, I ask them: What money did you receive? How did you receive it and how did it work? So me and all of my colleagues are constantly doing monitoring.

And then the last thing I would say and it’s really important: We mostly hire and work with Nepali people.

At USAID, most of my staff, most of my colleagues are Nepali people. Most of the development organizations that we work with have entirely Nepali staff. So it’s touching people in that way. The second part of your question is kind of getting at accountability, right? We do a lot of auditing. We actually work with the Auditor General of Nepal, where we do a lot of independent auditing and monitoring, I feel really confident in the systems that we have and that’s what allows us to work so broadly in Nepal because we track really closely our financial systems, our data, we’re always asking for more information and that allows us to work here with confidence.

So how do you ensure that your programs are sustainable and continue to benefit local communities after the funding is stopped?

These are the questions I ask the team. So the first thing is we have to start by listening to Nepalis. And so if we design a program that, you know, I made up in my head in my office, it’s not going to be sustainable because it won’t meet the needs of the people. So we start with the design, and that helps it become more sustainable.

The second thing is it’s not always our funding. So we ask for cost sharing. We say, especially with the private sector or with the government in Nepal, we’ll put in 80 percent, you put in 20 percent. That makes it sustainable over time.

And then good programs last. Recently, I went to Janakpur and saw a program in a municipality that was providing small, small grants to local families, largely Muslim families. And the government, the municipality had used their own budget to continue that program after our funding ended using the capacity developed together to follow up with the families and monitor and provide different inputs.

So the program continued after we left. That’s the way we think about sustainability. But you have to think about it from the beginning or else the program ends, and you think, oh no, this is going to go away when we go away.

You were with the National War College, right?

I was.

How can you help this ill-prepared country fight multiple challenges like poverty, climate change, the shocks associated with climate change, and things like that with your war college background?

That’s an interesting question. So I actually was at the National War College.

I had a Nepali colleague when I was there. There are a number of senior Nepali military officers who studied at the National War College. That really helped me think about strategic development and strategic thinking and that was a lot of what I got out of that year. And so  the biggest lesson I learned there is to remind myself that you need a broad coalition of people to work with you across the governments of Nepal, the people of Nepal to make sure that your work is effective and strategic. As you said, we are investing taxpayer dollars from the American people and so we want to make sure it’s what Nepal wants and that it’s a strategic investment as we move forward and as Nepal develops.

Safa Tempo, Nepal’s first ever electric vehicle, was launched in Nepal with US assistance as part of efforts toward reducing Nepal’s reliance on gas-guzzling vehicles. Import of petroleum products is one of the major factors behind Nepal’s yawning trade deficit as it escalates the cost of running the economy. Is the US government working with Nepal to decrease reliance on diesel and petrol so that the national economy becomes profitable and sustainable in the long run?

We are working with Nepal for sustainable, broad-based economic growth. This includes economic electric vehicles and what we call the business-enabling environment.  

What are the policies that need to be in place so that Nepal develops? 

Nepal’s development has really improved over time in terms of human capital and social indicators vis-a-vis education and health, but the country still needs more economic growth so that people’s incomes rise and the growth becomes sustainable in the long term. We want that growth to be green for environmental reasons. Of course, clean energy is one area that we think about, we look at small entrepreneurs and other things. We’ve done a lot of work on energy, in electric vehicles also, but more in energy transmission. For the first time, Nepal is now a net exporter of energy to India. With USAID’s help, Nepal has completed a great deal of  regulatory work in the field of hydropower that has enabled it to export clean renewable energy to its neighbors. 

Through our partners at USAID Urja Nepal, we are working to develop a clean electricity market in Nepal by enabling households to use clean electricity instead of wood for cooking, working with the government on policies that make it easier for families to choose electric vehicles and helping the private sector clean energy producers sell energy to the Nepal Electricity Authority.

With our partners USAID Urja Nepal we established 23 electric vehicle fast charging stations.

There probably was one study, among several other similar studies, that found the consumption of a unit of green energy brings a return of 86 cents to a national economy. But here we are, exporting the green energy at dirt-cheap rates. Does the US have plans to increase Nepal’s capacity to utilize the domestically-generated green energy to the maximum possible extent instead of exporting it at cheap rates so that the economy becomes profitable and sustainable in the long run?

I cannot talk about the rates but would love to view the study. Going back to the beginning, we want to support Nepal in areas that Nepal and the Nepalis want to develop.

We help train Nepal government officials regarding green energy and other forms of energy. We are ready to help Nepal with policymaking and capacity-building. We are ready to help multilateral, bilateral exchanges that need to happen by working with our colleagues in India. Nepal can ask for help with regard to regulatory changes vis-a-vis the energy exchange.

Do you have any specific programs to support local governance and decentralization?

We have a few and the one I would point to is called public financial management. This program is really helping municipal government officials have a budget, a transparent budget. Using that tool, they (local governments) manage the budget they get from the federal government through the public sector in a transparent manner, making sure that it gets straight to the Nepali people. We also have programs that look at trafficking in persons and help the government of Nepal to stop it,  make sure that communities are prepared to help survivors and become more resilient against trafficking. We also think about civil society and media where we do some training of journalists and civil society to help them produce stories in this space. So in all of our work, but particularly in democracy and governance, we try and think about all the different players in this space: the government, NGOs, the media, all the things that you need to be vibrant in a healthy democracy. 

​​​​​​The first Agricultural University in Nepal was probably established with US assistance. But these days the entire corn belt of Nepal is going to the dogs, going to the monkeys rather. Any plan to revive Nepal’s farming sector?

Agriculture is, as you’ve noted, an area of our longstanding interest and expertise. We have a number of large agriculture programs, and then also ones that support specific, small entrepreneurs. We think about agriculture inputs, we think about fertilizer, we think about how to have people work the land and understand the land they’re on. For example, we funded something called the soil map, so people know what kind of soil they’re working on, which is the first of its kind, and I had certainly never seen one. We are thinking a lot about how to make individual farmers more productive, how to make this system work together, about regulations you need for import and export. And then there’s some individual businesses that we support, we support a poultry farm, for example, to help them market. We support tea so we can help market Nepali tea. So it’s not just going to Darjeeling, but it’s coming out of Nepal.

USAID focuses efforts into keeping agriculture money here in Nepal by helping to set up processing facilities for raw products. In November we launched a spice processing facility that will employ 55 people and produce more than 30 spice products, increasing their value over just exporting raw spices to be processed elsewhere.

So we think a lot about agriculture. There’s a lot of potential there for economic growth in Nepal.      

Something about Feed the Future. Can you just enlighten us about it?

That was all Feed the Future, I should have said that at the beginning. All of our agriculture programs are under what we call Feed the Future. And that’s exactly the idea. I’ve always liked the name of that program, that we need to improve agriculture to feed the future. And that’s literally feeding, well, sort of literally in terms of food growth, but also it’s a huge driver of economic growth. And Nepal does need to start exporting, of course, in agriculture, not just moving from subsistence agriculture, but in terms of more sales, because that will help with economic growth. A lot of potential there.

​​​​​Adding to this question, how do you see it integrate with food security in Nepal?

We think about it in everything we do, one making sure that we’re being inclusive. So we’re thinking through all the different groups of farmers. Of course, there’s a lot of women farmers, people that are marginalized. So thinking through food security, thinking through seasonal means and different agricultural inputs, and that is, I would say, at the base of what we do. And then beyond that, thinking about how food can be taken to market and sold. Of course, that’s a different type of security, but it provides income and then it is ultimately exported.

Does this program also involve preservation of indigenous crops? A lot of indigenous crops are disappearing due to climate change and that’s a huge loss to entire humanity…..

I know that we work to preserve crops that are native to Nepal, and we work really hard to make sure we’re inclusive and working with indigenous groups, working with women, working with marginalized communities. As part of that work, we would work with indigenous crops. I don’t know that we have specific programs focusing on indigenous crops, but we make sure that we’re being inclusive of everyone in all of our programming. That’s really a central tenet of the work that we do.

As part of that effort, the US Embassy organized an “Indigenous Women Leaders in Climate” panel discussion at the embassy in August 2024.

The event brought together women leaders from various organizations to share their expertise and experiences in promoting indigenous-led research and education.

The panel discussion focused on how climate change affects vulnerable communities, leading to significant consequences like migration and the emergence of ghost towns. They also discussed how intergenerational knowledge plays a crucial role in adapting to these changes and preserving cultural heritage.

Before I arrived, in September 2023, Kyle Whyte, a US Science Envoy and one of America’s foremost experts on indigenous knowledge and climate justice visited Nepal. He led the International Conference and Workshop on Indigenous-Led Research and Education in Nepal with the focus of promoting discourse and understanding of indigenous-led research and education and its important role in conservation and strengthening climate resilience. So the US Government is doing a lot across the board to promote inclusivity on multiple fronts.

How can the US help Nepal, a country with minimal carbon footprint, cope with shocks associated with climate change? 

So there are a few things to think about on this front.  One is, you know, disaster reduction and risk management. So thinking through if there are shocks, how do we manage them? Another thing is, when we’re thinking about agricultural inputs, everything that we do, we want it to be as climate resistant as possible, so you’re not focusing just on one crop and then having other negative impacts. Those are the two big ways, and then helping people prepare individually for climate shocks and prepare for disaster. You know, any disasters that may come.

What are the initiatives that you are taking for the economic empowerment of youth, women and marginalized groups, especially in rural areas? 

The first thing we do is make sure that those groups are included. You could go to an area and just talk to the kind of leaders of an area, or the elite folks, and leave behind the youth and the women in the marginalized group. So we start from the beginning by making sure they’re included in any programming. If we look at the data, we see where poverty rates are highest, where literacy rates are highest, where you have lower economic growth, where you have kids who are out of school, where you have higher mortality rates, and those tend to also be marginalized groups, and so working, working with them. And so it’s a program of inclusion, always and always, making sure we’re talking to, listening to everyone while designing programs. 

Do you have some specific training and job opportunities for those groups?

We tend to try and offer our training opportunities to everyone, including kids at risk. And maybe a good example is a great adolescent and reproductive health program that focuses on young women who are at risk of dropping out of school and marrying early. We have specific training to get them back to school in a safe environment and then support them in other ways. We also have a program to try and help people understand the benefits of delaying marriage. The program is targeted at girls, particularly those at risk of marrying early or dropping out of school early. So it’s dependent on the needs of the community and each area in which we’re working.

What specific intervention has the US yet implemented to accomplish educational goals in Nepal, including access to quality education?

I love that question, because I used to be a teacher.

I was a teacher when I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Madagascar. Girls’ access to education is so important for them, but also for equality and for the future of Nepal. So let me mention a few. One is this. You know, when girls reach puberty, sometimes they tend to drop out of school, so figuring out ways in which they can come back to school. So we’ve set up these separate classrooms within schools to help them come back. So if they are behind a bit, they need to catch up. They can. They can work in those classrooms. Another one is reducing child and early marriage, which, of course, has a tendency to bring girls out of school. And then we have a whole program focused on equity and inclusion, equity and inclusion that specifically looks at the municipal level and how we can make sure that kids are in school. Some of that is making sure that schools have resources, so that we give block grants to the districts and the schools to make sure that there’s enough space, because sometimes kids don’t go to school because there are no books at school, or there are no teachers. So thinking through that, and then a lot of community level work with parents and teachers to make sure that kids are coming to school. Nepal has a pretty high enrollment rate. Lots of kids go to school, but learning outcomes need to catch up. We don’t want just kids in school, we want them to be learning.

Do you see any possibility of tectonic shifts in policies once a new administration takes over in the United States?

We’re in the last weeks of our current administration. There have been 12 presidential administrations since USAID was formed in 1961 and this will be my fifth transition working at USAID. It’s really a hallmark of American democracy, this peaceful transition of power…. I think new administrations always have new policy priorities, but at its core, the work of USAID has stayed the same over these past 12 administrations, and so I think that core will stay the same, and I’m sure there will be different priorities, and we’ll work with the new administration, with the government of Nepal and the Nepali people to figure out how those best align here.

Playing against Magnus Carlsen must be really tough even for FIDE grand masters. Though an extremely difficult challenge, a few minutes at the chessboard with the maverick (with a standard FIDE rating of 2832, rapid rating of 2827 and blitz rating of 2888) as your opponent must be one of those moments to cherish forever. It can be a real confidence booster for those lacking self-confidence. 

While the 34-year-old maverick remains ensconced in his lofty citadel as the 16th undisputed world chess champion and the number #1 player in the world since 2011, many many ‘ordinary’ minds (though there is nothing ordinary about the human mind) continue to decay, thanks to several factors like a generous consumption of social media, alcoholism, drug abuse and an undying obsession with the worst strain of politics in vogue in Nepal. 

So, what do you do to de-addict yourself, even if it’s a precious little bit, from the harmful effects of social media that seems to fry your mind, literally? How about joining the chessboard or returning to it, regardless of the station of life you are in? How about sparing an hour or so of your busy or lousy schedule daily for the game? How about a duet with the bot version of Carlsen? 

Carlsen the bot has a rating of almost 2900, something that can send a shiver up some ordinary player’s spine.  

But then what is the harm in taking on the bot? After all, it’s not some unequal boxing match where a featherweight boxer faces a life-threatening Mike Tyson, right? It’s not a matter of life and death, and the worst that is almost certain to happen is a defeat for you and another easy win for the bot. 

And what is the harm in losing? Have you never lost in this rat race, horse race, elephant race or Formula 1 race called life? As they say, anything that doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? 

For those lacking focus, this cerebral game can be a perfect answer as you remain hooked throughout the game, reminding you of the addictive effect of social media. 

There’s one more benefit of taking on the bot. Small-time chess players tend to quarrel over the chessboard all too often. Munsi Premchand’s story titled Shatranj ke Khiladi (The chess players) lays bare serious consequences of such a quarrel.  

The story takes the reader to Lucknow, the capital of a mighty Awadh, under the reign of Wajid Ali Shah. The rot is setting in and it is evident everywhere in the decadent capital where even beggars are using the fruits of their ‘hard labor’ to get high on opium. From the wretched poor to the filthy rich, all sections of the society are after sensual pleasures and kind of stoned, giving a hoot about important developments unfolding around their lives, a looming British stranglehold in particular.

Mirja Sajjad Ali and Mir Raushan Ali, two noblemen at Shah’s court, are addicted to chess, a game that the society of those times, including their respective families, regards as ominous. The two friends often quarrel over the board after a defeat or a defeat one too many but make peace the very next day and continue with the game even as affairs of the state continue to deteriorate further and further. They are so high on chess that they continue to wrack their brains at a desolate facility on the banks of the Gomati even after unceremonious ousters from their respective homes. 

In the story, the player on a losing streak seems to worry over the state of affairs, expressing passing concern over issues that will crop up when the city falls, including the oncoming struggle for survival and shedding a few tears over the fate of the poor Shah. 

One day, the British soldiers capture the Shah and take him to an undisclosed location even as Mirja, the player on a losing streak that day, calls for halting the game for a while and expresses concern over the capture, and the state of affairs in the city. Whereas Mir urges his friend to not bother about the ruler of Awadh but to save the king of the game instead. 

On the banks of the Gomati the next day, Mirja is again on a losing streak. A quarrel breaks between the two after Mir takes ‘half an hour to make a move’ and it soon takes a nasty turn as the two chess players engage in a sword fight in defense of their respective ‘kings’. 

The two men of valor fall to death while protecting their ‘monarchs’ even as a country falls like a house of cards without a drop of blood shed after the capture of its ruler, as if nothing has happened.

In the present context, Shatranj ke Khiladi offers a grim reminder of the vulnerability of weaker nations at a time when great power rivalry is at its height. Our political leadership should do every bit to keep the house in order and move ahead with extreme caution.

Views are personal

The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), the major treaty guiding anti-corruption work worldwide, does not explicitly define corruption. But the treaty, which entered into force in December 2005, includes a series of offenses that should be criminalized and fall under its jurisdiction. 

The purposes of this convention are: (a) To promote and strengthen measures to prevent and combat corruption more efficiently and effectively (b) To promote, facilitate and support international cooperation and technical assistance in the prevention of and fight against corruption, including in asset recovery and c) To promote integrity, accountability and proper management of public affairs and public property. 

Unlike the UNCAC, Transparency International (TI) and the World Bank (WB) appear to have no qualms about defining this scourge. TI defines corruption as the ‘abuse of entrusted power for private gain’ whereas the WB describes it as the ‘abuse of public office for private gain’.

In its website (transparency.org), TI further states: Corruption erodes trust, weakens democracy, hampers economic development and further exacerbates inequality, poverty, social division and the environmental crisis. Exposing corruption and holding the corrupt to account can only happen if we understand the way corruption works and the systems that enable it.

The World Bank Group states in its website (worldbank.org) that it considers corruption “a major challenge to its twin goals of ending extreme poverty by 2030 and boosting shared prosperity for the poorest 40 percent of people in developing countries”. 

It adds: Corruption has a disproportionate impact on the poor and most vulnerable, increasing costs and reducing access to services, including health, education and justice. Corruption in the procurement of drugs and medical equipment drives up costs and can lead to sub-standard or harmful products. The human costs of counterfeit drugs and vaccinations on health outcomes and the life-long impacts on children far exceed the financial costs. Unofficial payments for services can have a particularly pernicious effect on poor people. 

J S Nye describes corruption as “behavior which deviates from the formal duties of a public role because of private-regarding (personal, close family, private clique) pecuniary or status gains; or violates rules against the exercise of certain types of private-regarding influence.”

Drawing from these definitions, one can conclude that corruption is a scourge that can cause the multiple organ failure of states, lead to their ultimate collapse and threaten the world order too. 

How it works?

It takes two to tango. But corruption, policy corruption in particular, is way more complex than the famous Argentinian ballroom dance. Corruption seems to have given even King Prithvi Narayan Shah, one of the re-unifiers of Nepal, a pretty hard time. Otherwise, why would the powerful king declare through his Divyopadesh that the givers and the recipients of bribes were the biggest enemies of this country? 

The great king’s take on bribery is a pointer to a chronic and stubborn scourge sapping this country of its energies for ages. 

Corruption, policy corruption in particular, has been plaguing Nepal even after epochal political changes in the 1950’s, the 1990’s and in 2005-06, effected on the strength of popular movements launched for higher ideals like democracy, national sovereignty, human dignity, human rights and transparency. 

What do major scandals witnessed since the 1950’s point at? They point at institutionalization of corruption through a rigged polity, marked by weakening of the very walls separating the organs of the state and the system of checks and balances. 

Of course, there are various authorities in place, including the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), the courts and law enforcement agencies, to take on corruption. But they all lack teeth when it comes to dealing with policy corruption.

On top of it, whenever a major scam unravels, the government of the day swiftly constitutes commissions and committees to get to the root, identify the guilty and initiate legal action against them. 

But recent investigations into some of the most high-profile scams show the long arm of the law falling quite short when it comes to bringing the apex predators of the complex food web called policy corruption under the ambit of law. 

Interestingly, such investigations have never covered several treasonous bi-national treaties and agreements, effected with the consent of the sovereign Parliament (manufactured or otherwise) or without the consent, though several of such instruments have been negatively impacting generations of Nepalis and will continue to do so for ages, if the State takes no steps for their amendment. 

Also, TI’s annual reports show Nepal in an unenviable position in terms of the global corruption perception index (CPI), with a score ranging from 27 to 35 out of 100. This is hardly surprising in a society that worships power and wealth, regarding the rich and the powerful people as thula manchhe (‘great people’) without bothering to do a background check on such people, the source of their power and wealth, etc. While the holders of highest public offices responsible for making final decisions in cases of policy corruption go scot-free, the law unevenly applies to subordinate functionaries involved in paperwork.

The way forward

The weakening of the walls separating the principal organs of the state and the system of checks and balances means the State lacks the will to take on corruption, policy corruption in particular. This calls for those crusading against corruption, including jurists, journalists, retired law enforcement officials, politicians and retired bureaucrats to constitute an ombudsman, probe all major cases of policy corruption since the 1950’s in a free and fair manner, and make the findings public, as part of a relentless campaign against corruption. 

Here’s hoping that this move will put our fledgling State under tremendous moral pressure to act really tough against corruption.

The Buddha Purnima is over but peace and bliss is very much in the air in the studios of Nepal Art Gallery (the venue of the exhibition titled Deities of Nepal-II, which started on May 21 and will remain open till June 10) drowned in a stream of mellifluous music in the midst of a cacophonous concrete jungle.

 Two lion-like, friendly-looking creatures (Sharduls?) welcome you as you enter the modern building that, frankly speaking, does not have much to offer in terms of traditional architecture of Nepal. But then it will be wrong to judge the council by its building as it has done quite a lot since its establishment in 1962 to promote Nepal’s art and craft.

 As you enter the building and turn right, a spacious gallery draws you. There, next to a beautiful idol of Ganesh, the divine remover of obstacles, Tsering Phonjo Gurung`s monastery (medium: Canvas), adorned with colorful windows and prayer flags, appears to rise with the clouds, unlike the modern-day centers of faith that rise on the lap of Mother Nature, obscuring Nature herself, particularly one of her finest creations, the lush-green woods. 

 Close by, gently rises Priyanka Karn´s Patan Krishna Mandir in Mithila style (medium: canvas), with ‘Hare Krishna’ in a yellow background, bringing a generous touch of Mithilanchal. Karn appears to bring Mithila finesse and fertility to the ruggedness of the mountains that the Shikhar (mountain-like) style seems to represent. 

 In a large canvas titled Snapshot(s) of Lalitpur`s Heritage(s) (acrylic & oil color), Raju Chitrakar offers glimpses of the archaeological heritages of Lalitpur, the city of fine arts. 

In a background of Ashtamangal (eight auspicious symbols), he presents in broad strokes shrines and the presiding deities of those shrines. 

 Among other heritages, the canvas sports the Kumari Chhen and the living goddess, Matsyendranath and his abode in Patan,  Shakyamuni Buddha in his lotus posture and his stupas at Lagankhel and Pulchowk. 

Gushing with water, traditional stone spouts of the Kathmandu valley come to life in Rabita Kisi`s artwork, which is part of her Dhungedhara series VII. While a plastic vessel is quenching thirst, another eagerly awaits, symbolizing, perhaps, a parched urban jungle`s eternal quest and thirst for water. 

 Bishal Maharjan`s Makara (acrylic on canvas) presides over a corner with its coiled snout, leaving a powerful impression that a finely executed piece of artwork never fails to do. 

 Close by, Naresh Sundar Sainju`s piece of art titled Bramhayani Shakti Pith-Treasures of Ancient Panauti (medium: acrylic on canvas) perhaps offers a glimpse of our ancient heritages slipping into oblivion because of our collective neglect. 

Mixed perhaps with the artist´s sad mood at a poor state of affairs vis-a-vis the preservation of our history, it seeks to send a powerful message to the rich and the powerful, who would do well to wake up before it’s a little too late. 

 Jyoti Prakash`s 108 Ganesha (mix media) stands out, both in terms of size and price. The remover of obstacles, by the way, has a formidable presence also in the form of Sushma Rajbhandari´s Ashok Vinayak (acrylic color), one of Kathmandu Valley’s four principal Vinayaks. 

 Other vignettes of the valley’s socio-religious-spiritual-cultural milieu are all there, in the form of royal palace squares, Lokeshwars, Lakhe dance, shrines in the midst of busy thoroughfares  and ancient temples bathed in modern street lights. 

At the center of all this stands Chandra Shyam Dangol’s Bauddhanath stupa carved in stone, with Buddha’s all-seeing eyes looking in every imaginable direction in the form of universal consciousness. Indeed, there’s no escaping his all-seeing eyes. 

While trying to read into the artworks on display, this scribbler had almost forgotten to notice the gallery wall displaying what appeared like a complex web of nerves. He was already quite tired and chances of him getting lost into the web were pretty high. 

 A marathon tour

Then and there came Amish Joshi, an amicable guide and a BFA (first year) student. Showing the way through wide and narrow roads and alleyways of the valley, Joshiji explained that the web of nerves was, in fact, the interwoven network of roads connecting the valley and the idea behind this exhibition was to offer people glimpses of the valley’s architectural heritages, including the major shrines located along the arteries. 

Only then did this scribbler come to know the reason behind his exhaustion: An hour-long, marathon visit of major heritages in the valley had taken its toll, leaving him with no energy to move further. After catching a breath, as this scribbler hit the road again, the sweet music from the art studio drowned and cacophony prevailed, making him wonder how on Earth artists find the peace of mind to create works of art in the midst of chaos. 

 Safety of artworks

Summing up, a piece of art is simply invaluable and Nepal is home to art lovers, who have high regard for artists and their works of art. Still, there are elements around the world, who even seek to desecrate works of art. Nepal’s art fraternity, including artists, art studios and relevant government authorities, should leave no stone unturned to ensure the safety and security of artworks.

The United Kingdom’s Minister of State for Development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell, was in Nepal on a two-day visit (Feb 19-20) to jointly announce with senior Nepali government officials a $500m grant assistance package. Minister Mitchell held meetings with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Foreign Minister Narayan Prakash Saud and Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat, inspected various projects being undertaken with British assistance and also found time to interact with the media. Excerpts from the interview:

Is the $500m package your priority or our priority?

This package is based on our government’s 140-page White Paper.  There are two things about development that really matter. Development works only when it is long term and when it involves a partnership. We believe strongly in localism, we believe in partnership. It’s not about your priorities or our priorities. The package reflects our joint priorities. We do things together to advance common agendas. It is not about a country with money doing something to a country with less money. It’s about working together, with partnership to achieve joint objectives.  

We make sure that what we pursue is jointly desired, that it is a joint endeavor. 

Is this money going through the government channel? 

Results are important, rather than the route for channeling funds. We have zero tolerance against corruption and want to make sure that every pound from the British taxpayer is spent in a transparent and efficient manner. We believe that sunshine (transparency) is the best disinfectant. 

Recently, there was an agreement to send Nepali nurses to work in the UK. Don’t you think it will impact Nepal’s fragile public health delivery system? 

When I was not a minister, I tabled a Bill in the British House of Commons with a provision: Whenever a nurse or a clinician comes from a developing country to the UK, our development program should pay for two nurses to be trained in that country. The Bill is yet to materialize. We believe in free movement. 

A lot of people come to our country to build up their skills, many of them return to their home countries to use their skills. Through the development program, we are building capacities, including in the health areas, which I saw inside a hospital yesterday (at the Lumbini provincial hospital). Generally, we do not approve such arrangements, unless it is a government-to-government agreement. There are, I hope, benefits for both sides in this and that’s important. Part of our program is about building up health capacity in Nepal, which is very important for both of us.

Gurkha servicemen are seeking equal treatment in terms of pay and perks, they are seeking justice. Do they not deserve it?

Reopening pension issues, which have already been decided, is very difficult. 

I think it is very important to keep talking, so that everyone’s views are heard. Under British pension law, it is quite difficult to take retrospective action. If you take retrospective action in one set of pension arrangements, then it sets a very bad precedent. 

So, reopening pension issues, which have already been decided, is very difficult.  

But the relationship between Nepal and the UK is extremely important, and the Gurkhas are a central part of this relationship. So, I think, the important thing is to continue to talk and reflect on these matters as we go forward.

At a glance

• New UK Development Portfolio is expected to help Nepal tackle the climate crisis, mobilize international finance for development, deliver economic transformation, and support governance and inclusion 
• UK development support will see $505m in grants delivered by 2030
• Impacts will include helping create 13,500 jobs, attracting more than $1bn in investment and supporting access to quality health and education services for 2m women and girls

Priority areas

• Economic development of Nepal
• Private sector development
• Strengthening governance and service delivery systems

• Health education
• Climate and disaster resilience
• Investment in green growth areas
• Investment in evidence and data
• Strengthening service delivery systems

Three people accused of involvement in a land scam, including Arun Kumar Chaudhary, a magnate with links to Nepal’s leading conglomerate, walked free on a court date on Wednesday after the Kathmandu district court ruled that there was no need to keep them in custody for a prolonged period for investigating the scam. 

The scam, the latest in a series of high-profile cases that have rocked a corruption-plagued polity, involves the transfer of ownership of 10 ropanis of land belonging to the government-owned Bansbari leather and shoe factory limited during its privatization in the 1990’s. 

Police set the three—Chaudhary, the then executive chair of the factory Ajit Narayan Singh Thapa and proprietor of CG Chandbagh Residency (P) Ltd Sanjaya Thakur—after a bench of judge Yagya Prasad Acharya ordered their release barely a week after their arrest in response to a case from Nepal Police’s Central Investigation Bureau. The bench reasoned that there was no need to keep the three in custody for 25 days for investigating the case. 

Article 15 of the civil code provisions that the investigating officer can release a suspect from custody on general date or on bail with consent from the government attorney if there is ‘no need to keep the individual in custody’.  

Immediately after the arrest, Chaudhary was admitted to Chirayu Hospital in Maharajgunj after developing ‘health complications’ and then transferred to Grande Hospital in Dhapasi overnight on referral. 

Right after arresting Chaudhary and two others in connection with the scam, rumors were rife that CIB was under constant pressure to conduct a prompt investigation and submit the case file to the government attorney’s office. 

Paradoxically, the court ruling appears to have substantiated these rumors. This does not bode well for the polity at a time when the two other organs of the state (the executive and the legislature), reeling under a series of scams like the Bhutanese refugee scam, Lalita Niwas land-grab and the 60-kg gold smuggling case, have largely been unable to take the cases to their logical conclusion by bringing the guilty to justice.

“Existing legal provisions have no provisions on the release of individuals accused in cases of serious nature. They do not allow the court to release someone involved in cases likely to lead to jail-term of up to three years on bail or on general date,” Advocate Ananta Raj Luitel says. “The laws have not granted the benches the authority to issue judgments in a manner they think fit by ignoring factors like precedents, legal provisions and the seriousness of the offense.”

“The single bench’s ruling in the case involving Arun Chaudhary and two others has given an impression that the rich and the powerful enjoy preferential treatment in this country with regard to justice dispensation,” he adds, “This kind of negative impression won’t serve the judiciary. It’s time for the judiciary to bear in mind that rulings like these will cause the public to lose faith in a vital organ of the state.”

Middle age is not the best time to start learning about modern things such as programming languages (python, JavaScript, Kotlin, Ruby, PHP etc), artificial intelligence, the internet of things, machine learning and cybersecurity. In the relay race of life, it is perhaps time to at least think about passing on the baton to the next generation after completing your stretch. 

But what if you have not arrived, as yet? What if you want to continue to dig deeper into your mind and see if you can solve some of the problems that are cakewalk for prodigies. You see, your mind is programmed to solve problems, whether it’s young or old. The idea is to keep your mind young and healthy because this thing with infinite potential does not rust as long as you keep using it.    

So, you keep going, against all odds, mustering every ounce of your energy. As they say, when the going gets tough, the tough get going.  

For those caught in a pass, Martin Luther King Jr offers his nugget of wisdom: “If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”

These are very interesting times to grow up. Technologies are evolving rapidly and it is becoming quite difficult to keep pace with them, even for young and energetic minds, leave alone the graying ones.   

This is a quantum leap from the times when we used to wait for our turn to use those cranky desktop computers for about 30 minutes at one go at those hole-in-the-wall cyber cafes in our neighborhoods. 

Many young children of this day and age, especially in our society, do not seem quite aware of this rapidly changing technological ecosystem and challenges it poses to them. A cursory observation shows many young minds around us are hooked to electronic devices like mobile phones, laptops, palmtops and television sets as users/consumers. Many of them remain awake till late at night, watching the soap, chatting online or playing games, often exposing themselves to cybersecurity threats unknowingly. 

Is the cybersecurity system of a country, which ranks 109th out of 160 countries on the National Cyber Security Index, 94th on the Global Cybersecurity Index and a lowly 140th on the ICT Development Index, aware of this threat? Even if it is, is it doing anything tangible to minimize the threat?

Virtual activities have become a way of life for the new generation in the midst of their formative years, taking a huge toll on their physical and mental development, as they hardly socialize and rarely engage in physical activities. 

School curricula, an integral part of the education system, should be revised to tackle this challenge and make schools, schoolchildren and guardians better prepared for dealing with cybersecurity threats facing these children. Our education system should also cater to young minds, who want to embrace evolving technologies big time by becoming coders, programmers, AI experts or cybersecurity experts, etc.

On their part, our enthusiastic minds should wake up to exciting opportunities available online. Google offers free online courses, so do freecodecamp.org, w3schools.com, Cisco and several other sites. Basic  courses are free whereas specialized courses with certifications cost quite a bit. 

As they say, if you have a will, there is a way. 

As for inspiration, there is no dearth of geeks. Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are some of the names that come to mind. 

You don’t relate with them because they do not represent your generation? 

Then think of Antonio Garcia Vicente, a 15-year-old from Spain, who is well-versed in at least four programming languages and has worked on over a hundred programming projects, including video games and mobile applications that involve robotics and artificial intelligence. 

Isn’t that like a prodigy? 

What about Tanmay Bakshi, an 18-year-old Canadian, who wears many hats. He is a TED and global keynote speaker, Google developer expert for ML, advisory software engineer at IBM, visiting professor at iUniversity in Tokyo, bestselling author, media personality and YouTuber. Bakshi dreams of empowering at least 100,000 people in his lifetime with the technology they need to change the world.

An impressive bio, isn’t it?

Young students can also channelize their energies by finding loopholes in cybersecurity systems and plugging them for the greater good of their countries as well as international cybersecurity systems. 

Though the word hacker does not go very well with large sections of our society, several countries have been using hackers to find holes in their cybersecurity systems and correct them for the greater good of their populations by paying them handsomely. 

Rojan Rijal, a security analyst originally from Nepal and now based in the US, hogged the limelight in 2019 by hacking the Pentagon as part of efforts to bolster the United States’ cybersecurity. 

Cybersecurity has become a very important part of national security these days and our geeks can play an important role in improving our cybersecurity. The idea is to catch them young, train them adequately and prevent the misuse of their geniuses by utilizing them for national defense and security. 

All this will not be possible without cooperation from our prodigies-to-be. First and foremost, they should focus on becoming problem-solvers, developers, programmers and coders, not just avid users of technologies.  

Together, families and our governments at federal, provincial and local levels should tap this country’s latent geek potential in the national interest by making sure that they do not fall into wrong hands. 

The fear of failure should not deter any of the stakeholders, including our young minds. 

Let these wise words from Malcolm X (no relation with X, formerly known as Twitter!) inspire us all as this enthusiast remains stuck on some python problems at ww3schools.com and a freecodecamp.org course on developing a demo app for a cafe, and as young minds struggle to switch to the problem-solving mode:  

“Stumbling is not falling. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance next time. Without education, you’re not going anywhere in this world.”

About 4,700 kilometers from a war-ravaged Gaza Strip and thousands of kilometers from other war zones around the world, Shyalpa Tenzin Rinpoche, the author of the book titled Living Fully: Finding Joy in Every Breath and president of the Universal Peace Sanctuary, laid the foundation for a universal peace sanctuary to be developed at Lumbini on a beautiful Saturday afternoon (Dec 16) in the presence of a peace-loving crowd.

The crowd had gathered at the birthplace and the sacred land of meditation for Shakyamuni Buddha and several of his previous incarnations for the occasion themed ‘Make peace more fashionable than war’ from far and wide. Droves of people, including dignitaries, laid stones for the construction of the sanctuary dedicated to Mayadevi, the mother of the Buddha and wife of King Shuddodhan.

The sanctuary symbolizes the supreme sacrifice of Mayadevi, who, as prophesied, died after giving birth to Prince Siddartha, who went on to become the Buddha by ultimately renouncing the worldly trappings associated with a prince, and all mothers for giving birth and nurturing life.