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Amid speculations about the composition of the new government, senior officials from the Prime Minister’s Office and Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) are busy briefing a delegation of the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) about progress made by Nepal in its anti-money laundering (AML) regime. The delegation of APG, a regional inter-governmental body with 41 member states, is currently in Kathmandu for a field study as part of the mutual evaluation of Nepal. In the last two weeks, the team has met stakeholders ranging from the judiciary, central bank, revenue administration, police administration, to the Office of the Company Registrar. The assessment is carried out to see how the member country has introduced AML laws and regulations, developed institutional mechanisms, and taken action accordingly. According to government officials, the APG delegation began a field study on Dec 5 by starting consultations with Nepali stakeholders on the legislative issues of AML, and they are now holding consultations regarding Nepal’s performance in the areas of implementation of AML laws. This is the third time that the APG has been conducting Nepal’s mutual evaluation. Earlier, such evaluations were done in 2005 and 2010. As the nearly one and half-year-long mutual evaluation of Nepal's compliance with anti-money laundering and combating terrorist financing (AML/CFT) regimes come to an end, all eyes are on the report that APG will present next July. The finding will be crucial for Nepal, say government officials. According to them, the current evaluation is different from the earlier ones, as APG is now seeking institutional outcomes and effectiveness. The APG report will determine whether Nepal will be under the International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG) monitoring of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global inter-governmental anti-money laundering body. The report will be first discussed in the APG plenary that is going to take place in July next year. “A good score by APG will put Nepal in a comfort zone. If not, the plenary could decide to put us under ICRG monitoring. If Nepal is included in the ICRG monitoring, global AML bodies could call our authorities for periodic discussions and ask for improvements,” say officials. “If our efforts fail to satisfy the FATF, we could be on the ‘grey’ list.” In order to avoid the ICRG monitoring, Nepal must show the significant progress it made in its AML regime. Nepal remained on the ‘grey list’ of FATF from 2008-2014. After a series of progress made on the AML regime that includes amendment of Anti-Money Laundering Act 2008, and the enactment of other laws, FATF finally removed Nepal from its ‘grey list’ in 2014. "The mutual evaluation of Nepal by APG is currently going on. Nepal has made efforts to make progress in its AML regime. While those efforts may not be sufficient if we compare them with international best practices, we should strive to be at par with international best practices," said Maha Prasad Adhikari, Governor of NRB. According to government officials who are engaged with the APG team, progress made after Dec 16 will not be included in the APG’s Mutual Evaluation Report to be published in the middle of next year. “We must complete the remaining tasks to improve our compliance in the next few days,” says one official. While the country has put laws and rules on AML in place, officials say the biggest weakness has been the enforcement of those laws. In order to address the legal loopholes, a Bill on Amending a Few Nepal Acts was registered in the House of Representatives. Part of the amendment included in the amendment bill was to amend the existing Money Laundering Prevention Act 2008. As the parliament became inactive, it could not endorse the amendment bill. So, the government submitted an ordinance with the same provision to the President for authentication last month. The bill is yet to get the presidential stamp. “If the ordinance is authenticated before Dec 16, it will be a big help to keep the country out of the potential grey list,” says a ministry at the Ministry of Finance “We will be able to show our strength at least in the legislation if not in enforcement.” The government’s weak performance in the areas of enforcement could put Nepal under the scanner of global anti-money laundering bodies. According to an official at NRB, when it comes to enforcement, big offenders have not been prosecuted which will reduce Nepal’s score in the areas of enforcement. The prosecuting agencies such as the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), the Department of Money Laundering Investigation, and the Department of Revenue Investigations are facing criticisms for not being able to prosecute ‘big fishes’. Most of the cases in which CIAA filed corruption cases at the Special Court are related to small sting operations in recent years. After the Supreme Court in April 2021, barred the anti-graft body from conducting sting operations, saying that such acts go against the constitutional and legal provisions and the principle of criminal justice, both prosecution and conviction rates have slumped sharply. On the other hand, the Department of Money Laundering Investigation is yet to conclude its investigation into former CIAA Chief Commissioner Deep Basnyat. The government’s own report - National Risks Assessment Report 2020 - a self-assessed progress report on Nepal’s compliance with AML/CFT, acknowledged weaknesses related to effective supervision of reporting entities, developing strong law enforcement relations with foreign counterparts with regards to capital flights, border management, implementation of forfeiture laws, independence of agencies and integrity of related officials. Nepal’s other weakness is its failure to ensure that all the reporting entities make timely reporting about suspicious transactions and reporting about transactions over certain thresholds. According to the Strategic Analysis Report 2022 published by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the NRB, financial institutions are the main reporting entities while Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs) are in a nascent stage of reporting. According to FIU’s annual report 2021-22, the share of suspicious transactions reporting and suspicious activities reporting reported by commercial banks ranges from over two third to 85 percent in the last six years. However, the number of reports from other entities is rather fluctuating. Some institutions such as cooperatives, and insurance companies, for example, have quite low reporting in comparison to their size in the overall financial system. As per the report, commercial banks alone comprise almost 90 percent of threshold transaction reporting (TTR). What’s new in the bill?  The government has broadened the scope of terrorism stating that any terrorist activities are carried out as defined by the existing laws. The Bill has provisions to criminalize the acts that facilitate the terrorists. It has criminalized the financial investment to people and entities that build weapons and mass destruction and proliferate them. The reporting entities such as banks and financial institutions, insurance companies, and others are required to take necessary measures against possible financing to create weapons and mass destruction as per the provision of the Bill. Those who are responsible for preventing money laundering and terrorist financing will be punished if they deliberately helped such acts. The Bill also has provisions that reporting entities are required to report suspicious transactions instantly instead of the existing provision which calls for reporting as soon as possible.

Ram Kumar, a 30-year-old who sells vegetables on the roadside, has been living in fear ever since Balen Shah restricted street vendors from setting up shop on the streets. The fear of losing the only business that sustains his family leaves him restless. “Moving away from the main street has cost me a lot of customers. Now I fear I might even lose my cart,” he says. Kathmandu gave him home, he says, but with this problem looming large, he fears he has to go back to Bihar and start from scratch. “After all these years of struggle, I don’t want to go back to the same situation I was in 18 years ago,” he says. Before coming to Kathmandu, Kumar had left for Mumbai (Bombay as he calls it) with his friend. He was promised a job of InRs 2,000, but he was only given InRs 700. Disappointed, Kumar came back to Bihar and decided to move to Kathmandu. He came to Kathmandu from Bihar in 2004. He was studying in fifth grade but had to discontinue his education as his family could not afford it. “I wanted to study, but circumstances weren’t on my side,” he says. He was just 12. He mentions Kathmandu’s language and culture were difficult to learn and adapt to. He never thought he would be able to speak in Nepali. It’s still quite difficult to communicate, he says. Kathmandu was a new place for him and he didn’t know how he would survive. But his brother was already in the city and that at least put aside his lodging worries for a little while. He had a little money with him, but that only sustained him for a week or so. To make a living on his own, he desperately needed a job. “Luckily, I got to borrow a cycle from one of my brother’s friends,” he says. He used that to travel around and sell ice cubes. “Back then, I believed that was how I would be able to start a new life in Kathmandu,” he adds. Unfortunately, the business did not go as planned. But his determination to make it didn’t wane and he switched to selling chatpate on the streets. The standard cost for one plate of chatpate back then was five rupees. “There wasn’t much profit and it was difficult to make ends meet,” he says. “So I thought maybe selling chaat instead would be a better option.” He took a cart for rent, for which he had to pay a certain amount of money everyday. Sometimes, the profit would just cover that month’s rent. He had some regulars who visited quite often. But not all customers were easy on him. One of his customers, who was in her 60s, started ordering in Hindi immediately after she heard Ram Kumar’s accent. He replied in Nepali but she didn’t stop. She looked at him and giggled. He recalls how uncomfortable that made him. “I faced a lot of dicrimination because of how I spoke. It was very frustrating and humiliating,” he says. Jumping from one job to another had always been difficult for him. It brought about a lot of uncertainty, and now he had a family of five to feed. Not to mention the school fees of his two children. “My wife helped me out with the business but making a profit was also not up to her,” he says. His struggle isn’t just limited to life in Kathmandu. He is dealing with a property dispute back in Bihar. “My siblings and I had decided to invest some money to build a house there. Now there are some monetary issues,” he says. This isn’t the only betrayal he has faced. Back when he was selling chaat, he lent Rs 4,000 to one of his friends to start his life in Kathmandu. “I really hoped he would work and build a good life but he left for Bihar and never paid me back,” he says. He sometimes thinks things would have turned out a little better had his father still been alive. “I would at least have a support system. I never had it,” he says. But despite life’s cruelties, Kumar is happy with what he has. He is proud of the life he made for himself and his family. Now he works as a vegetable vendor. With the little amount he had saved from his past jobs, he was able to afford his own cart. “At least I don’t have to pay rent on it now,” he says. But he says he is still concerned about whether he will ever be able to give his family more than just the basics. He feels things would be different if he had studied. “My friends from school days have become doctors and engineers. Maybe I could have too,” he says. But he does not dwell on it for long. Instead, he hopes to send his children to good schools. But he fears, with the mayor imposing so many restrictions on street vendors, without giving them any alternative to earn a decent living, that dream might never materialize. “But I’m a religious person, and I believe God is looking after everyone,” he says. “Maybe he will look after me and my family too.”

Most of the child care homes in Nepal have been running without a proper implementation of existing laws that ensure safety of children, a research has found. It further states that most children's homes do not have any paperwork on the admitted children, and there is a huge gap when it comes to authorities monitoring these institutions. The research was conducted by Center for Legal Research and Resource Development (CeLRRd), in collaboration with National Child Rights' Council, ECPAT Luxembourg, and Shakti Samuha, and its findings were presented by lead researcher Kapil Aryal at an event in Kathmandu on Nov 2. The research was conducted in several child care homes (CCH) based in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Chitwan, Kavre, Makwanpur, Dhading, Rasuwa, Pokhara, Gorkha, and Surkhet. According to the findings, there are many child care homes (CCH) that do not have proper documentation of where the children came from. Aryal says 10.4 percent of the care homes admitted to not having any filing system of the admitted children. But this data does have its limitations. According to Aryal, the researchers did not have the jurisdiction to ask for proof of documentation with the remaining 89.4 percent of the child care homes. He and his team suspect that a significant number of children's homes are operating without proper documentation. Furthermore, these institutes also lack proper staff to take care of children living there. “In one of the CCH, we had one person who cooked, cleaned, looked after the children, and is also running the institute,” says Aryal, ensuring no proper care for those children. Some of these orphanages were on the same building as a guest house, exposing many children to exploitation and sexual abuse. “They were also reluctant to let us visit,” he says. The findings also show that most of these institutions lack budget security, good food, and good health services. It does raise a question on how the government has been monitoring these institutions. Aryal says that there is a huge gap in communication between local, provincial and federal government which is why people running these institutions have gone unnoticed. “This lack of competence from the government exposes children to trafficking, sexual exploitations and pedophiles,” he adds. Also, the study says that most of these children are brought to the orphanages despite having a guardian, which can be considered as “orphanage trafficking”. One of the reasons being an excuse for asking for additional funding by showing the increasing number of children living in the institutions. Secondly, according to UNICEF’s report, more than 85 percent of child care homes are located in tourist destinations of Nepal. “This is a way of attracting tourist volunteers, when voluntourism is already illegal in Nepal for the ones holding a tourist visa, and additional fundings,” says Aryal, exposing these children to potential pedophiles. One of the conclusions that came out from this presentation is that there is a huge gap that needs to be filled between to child protection and human trafficking. Nepal still does not recognize ‘orphanage trafficking’ as a form of human trafficking but only as human transportation. “Not being able to address this has left many children we encountered vulnerable,” adds Aryal.

There is a lot to watch on Netflix, with new movies and series being added every week. It’s only natural that some of us might have missed out on certain gems. This week, we would like to recommend our top three favorites. Sir If you plan to watch one movie from this list, let it be this. Don’t be fooled by the trailer. It lets you believe this is another one of those stories about a rich man changing the life of a poor, underprivileged woman. But Sir is so much more than that. It’s an extremely nuanced portrayal of the struggles and dreams of a daily wage earner. Ratna, played by Tillotama Shome, is a widowed domestic help in Mumbai. She lands in a complicated relationship with her boss, Ashwin. He has just returned from America after breaking off his engagement. Though essentially a love story, Sir makes you question why and how societal constructs pose many hurdles in our day-to-day lives. The movie shines a light on class divide and the various social ills that come with it. Shome is a delight to watch on screen. She embodies Ratna through her body language and dialogue delivery. Vivek Gomber, who plays the shy Ashwin, supports her wonderfully. He manages to convey a range of emotions while saying very little. In the end, you will find yourself rooting for the two and praising the director’s (Rohena Gera) brilliant execution of the plotline. Sir is a simple, feel-good story that stirs a lot of emotions. Do Dooni Chaar This is your chance to watch Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh together for the last time and witness the magic they bring to cinema as a couple. The camaraderie between the two is evident in the film and it is one of the many things that makes Do Dooni Chaar such an entertaining watch. An ode to teachers everywhere, Do Dooni Chaar is a realistic story about a middle-class family that wants to buy a car but struggles to do so on the protagonist’s (played by Rishi Kapoor) meager income. He is a math teacher. When he is bribed to make a student pass his exams, the moral conflict begins as does a hilarious account of what follows. Neetu Singh as Kusum adds a spark to the story. She’s the loving wife and mother who gives much-needed doses of reality checks. The other characters, like the couple’s daughter and son as well as the ‘well-meaning’ aunts and uncles who come and go, add interesting layers to a simple story and give it some edge. But it is indeed the endearing protagonist who steals the show. Soni This movie will make you angry. The misogyny sometimes gets a bit much. Like when this man asks his friend’s wife, ‘How is your Phoolan Devi? Has she calmed down?’ while inquiring about her colleague. She smiles and hands him a cup of tea. The wife is the Superintendent of Police and the colleague her husband’s friend is referring to is a sub-inspector. You realize that women are undermined everywhere, despite all that they do, and the positions they hold. Though a cop-drama, Soni doesn’t involve actual crime-solving. Rather, it’s about two women police officers and their professional and personal struggles. The film opens on a deserted street in Delhi where a woman on a bicycle is being stalked. The scene ends with the woman leaving the man with a broken jaw and a swollen eye. The short-tempered woman is Soni, a Delhi police sub-inspector, who doesn’t take harassment lightly. Her superintendent, Kalpana, is the exact opposite. She is calm and unfazed by problems. But she can do little to control Soni’s hot-headedness. The two women are also a part of a special operation intended to keep Delhi’s streets safe for women. The lifestyles of the two women protagonists are completely different. One lives in a cramped police colony flat and does all the household chores herself, while the other lives in a spacious apartment with a maid at her beck and call. But the issues the two women face are the same, simply because they are women. With outstanding performances by Geetika Vidya Ohlyan and Saloni Batra, Soni, co-written, directed, and edited by Ivan Ayr, is an essential watch.

Harshit Shah is a celebrated DJ and Bollywood music producer famous for electronic dance music and Bollywood dance music. Although Shah started his musical career more than two decades ago, his Bollywood breakthrough came much later with the song ‘Radhe Radhe’ from the 2019 movie ‘Dream Girl’ and chart toppers like ‘Ek Hasina Thi-Remix’ and ‘Roop Tera Mastana-Remix.’ “You just have to believe in what you do and do it will all the passion,” he says about finding success much later in his career. “Don’t give up just because a section of people tell you that it isn’t going to get you anywhere.” Shah’s journey into music began after his mother enrolled him in a harmonium class when he was just a boy. Prior to that, he wasn’t too keen about music. But since he was taking a music lesson, he thought he might as well try to enjoy it. And enjoy he did. “There was no looking back after that.” From harmonium, Shah moved on to the keyboard and started competing in music competition at his school. Music became an integral part of his life and he wanted to get deeper into the subject. His DJing career came much later in his life, right around the turn of the 21st century. Shah had developed a wide range of musical influence by then, mostly western artists from the boy bands of the time such as Backstreet Boys and Boyzone to the past experimental psychedelic rock group like Pink Floyd. In 2003, Shah entered the Times Music War of DJs in Kolkata. The decision, he says, was more out of whim than out of premeditated intention. “I just thought I'll participate after reaching the venue.” Shah showcased his talent with the CDs borrowed from his friends. He got selected for the finals and went on to win the second runner-up prize. This unexpected success encouraged Shah to further hone his DJing skill and experiment with other musical genres. And in this process of music discovery and experimentation, the 90s Bollywood music struck a chord with him. “There was this special connection,” he says. “I found out that I could do justice to the 90s Bollywood songs.” Having dabbled around in many musical genres, Shah finally found his groove. And so he began remixing Bollywood classics that many younger listeners were unaware of. Success followed Shah as he began playing them in clubs and concerts. Currently, Shah is producing some mixes for the music labels SAREGAMA and White Hill. He is also working on an original tech house track. “We are looking to shoot the video for which we are looking for locations,” he says. Shah wants to shoot one of his music videos in Nepal. “I have a very deep attachment with Nepal, as I have played lots of gigs there in the last 15 years,” he says. “Not many people are aware, but I was the DJ who opened for Bryan Adams when he played in Kathmandu.” For young, aspiring musicians, Shah has this to say: “This industry is huge and it has a place for everyone. As long as you have the fire in you, you will definitely make name and recognition.”

Nepal votes on Nov 20 to elect representatives to the seven provincial assemblies. The provinces will form new governments for another five years after the polls. But the legacies the outgoing provincial governments will leave behind are not all too good. Most of them were affected by the political instability at the center and as a result, underwent frequent chief minister and minister changes. Consequently, development works took a hit. Province-1 saw Sherdhan Rai, Bhim Acharya and incumbent Rajendra Kumar Rai as its chief minister in the last four and half years. With the new chief minister came new sets of ministers. “We saw chief minister changes in Province-1 and nothing in terms of physical infrastructure and policies,” says political analyst Prof Badribishal Pokharel. Among the few achievements of the provincial government are naming Biratnagar as the provincial capital and setting up offices and the basic foundation for running the government. Madhes government too has little to show for when it comes to development of the province. It has raised nearly Rs 78bn in five years but the eight districts in the province do not have one single project that has been completed. Finance Minister Shailendra Sah, also the spokesperson for Madhes government, had no answers when asked about the exemplary projects completed by the government. The government of Bagmati province claims to have built a road network and dozens of bridges to connect all 119 municipalities. Besides, it has also included passing of 65 legislations, naming of the province and designating the capital as its achievements. Bagmati has seen three chief ministers—Dormani Poudel, Astalaxmi Shakya and Rajendra Pandey—and 37 ministers so far. Frequent changes of chief minister and ministers affected the development projects. Gandaki has fared well in terms of introducing policies related to health and rural road connectivity. However, the province was not immune to political instability. Its first chief minister Prithvi Subba Gurung stepped down barely four years into the office and was replaced by Krishna Chandra Pokharel. The provincial government has undergone eight cabinet reshuffles so far. This led to communication breakdown between provincial and local governments. The government of Lumbini too has delivered little over the years. Its first chief minister Shankar Pokharel spent nearly three and half years in office before Kul Prasad KC replaced him. “An unstable government left the development work and budget spending of Lumbini in a state of disarray,” says Bhoj Prasad Shrestha, a former minister. “People are asking if we really need federalism.” Karnali province, meanwhile, has failed woefully to utilize its budget. Its government is struggling to spend the budget, and most of the allocations have been made towards covering administrative and non-development expenses. “Since we were entering a new model of governance, we had difficulty working at the beginning,” says Finance Minister Bindaman Bista. “We are still trying to improve our budget spending.” Karnali has had two chief ministers— Mahendra Bahadur Shahi of the CPN (Maoist Center) and Jivan Bahadur Shahi of the Nepali Congress—so far. The provincial assembly has 40 members and nearly half of them have so far become ministers. In Sudurpaschim province, Chief Minister Trilochan Bhatta has had a rare opportunity to lead the government for a full term. Still, the people in the province never got a sense of stability. Frequent building and breaking of coalition at the center led to Cabinet reshuffle. The government announced many ambitious projects, but half of them were never initiated. The Maoist Center is the largest party in Karnali with 14 seats in the provincial assembly. Of the 14 assembly members, 11 have become ministers.

Mankumari Chaudhary rarely sleeps these days. She is afraid that the river close to her home could flood anytime during night and wreak havoc. 

Chaudhary lives in a settlement made largely of small hutments on the banks of Babai River in Bardiya.

She says she lies awake if it is raining at night, planning how to escape and what belongings to save in an event of a flood. “I go out to see if the river is getting bigger, come back and go back again,” says Chaudhary. “I have to for the safety of my home and my family.”

Chaudhary’s fear is shared by all the people in her settlement. There is no embankment here to protect the villagers from a flood. Whenever it rains heavily, the villagers move to a shelter house with their precious belongings and cattle. This has been their routine every monsoon. 

Scores of settlements in places like Gulariya, Thakurbaba, Rajapur and Madhuban are vulnerable to floods, but the authorities have done little to address their problem.

According to a local government representative, Bardiya requires a major river control program to mitigate the risk of water-induced disasters. “The program needs a large budget, which we don’t have,” he says.

The risk of river breaching their banks and entering human settlements is present across the Tarai plains. It is a perennial problem that gets forgotten once the monsoon has retreated. 

“Living in fear of flood during rainy season has become like a routine for us,” laments Karbir Pun Magar of Tikapur, Kailali. 

Last monsoon, the rain-swollen Karnali River had destroyed the embankment close to Magar’s village and caused massive property damage.

“The embankment has been repaired but the danger of the river breaching the structure at the same area remains,” says Magar.

In the eastern district of Jhapa, too, flood threats go up during the rainy season. The District Disaster Preparedness Management Committee has identified 11 municipalities as highly vulnerable. The government initiated an embankment program in rivers like Mechi, Deumai, Tiring and Kankai remains incomplete.

“The Finance Ministry did not release sufficient budget,” says Rupnarayan Adhikari, chief of the program. 

Banke’s Emergency Operation Center has estimated that this year’s monsoon could affect over 25,000 families across the district. It is among the most vulnerable districts in terms of flood.  People living in the flood-vulnerable areas say the government thinks of them only after the disaster has struck their homes.

Very little attention is paid towards preventing floods. 

As many as 31 people lost their lives and properties worth millions were destroyed in flood-related incidents over the past five years.

On April 26, the government banned the import of 10 luxury items for three months, citing the economic crisis. Now the Ministry of Industries, Commerce and Supplies is planning to extend the ban period, a highly placed source at the ministry tells ApEx. 

Some economists and businesspersons say such a move goes against the spirit of free trade.

“The ban was imposed for a certain period. If this government believes in free trade and a competitive economy, it has no right to ban import of some select items,” says economist Ramesh Poudel.

He adds prohibiting imports means the risk of informal market proliferation, which will ultimately hurt the revenue collection. This risk is more present in a country like Nepal, which shares an open border with India.  

Out of 5,012 listed items of import, the government had banned only 10 items deeming them luxury goods. 

The source at the Supplies Ministry says a proposal to stay the ban is due to be tabled before the Cabinet. “It is now up to the Cabinet to make the decision,” the source tells ApEx. 

Rajesh Kumar Agrawal, vice-president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, says the government is promoting black-marketeering by banning imports of goods.

“The goods that are supposedly banned are still available in the market. Where are they coming from if not from illegal channels,” he says. 

Former Commerce Secretary Purushottam Ojha says it is not right to discriminate and ban certain goods without any valid reason.

“If the government was so concerned, why didn’t it ban the import of items like Guthka that are harmful to health?” 

Concerned importers and traders have urged the government to review its decision, or at least the items on the ban list. They say the decision was made without any study.

Dinesh Shrestha, vice-president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, says the government should review the list if it is planning to ban the so-called luxury goods.

“It should conduct a thorough study and consult the concerned importers before deciding to impose a ban,” he says.

Finance Ministry Spokesperson Dhundiraj Niraula says if a certain good is cheaper for Nepal to import than to manufacture in the country, there is no point banning its import. 

“The Supplies Ministry should study all aspects and implications of prohibiting import of goods before taking further decisions,” he says.

Kamalesh Agrawal, senior vice-president of Nepal Chamber of Commerce, suggests that the government come up with a strategy that is a win-win for all.  

“Nepal’s largest import is petroleum products. This is the right time for the government to curb their consumption by adopting electric vehicles,” he says. “I understand luxury goods are unnecessary during bad economic times. But that doesn’t give the government the right to enforce arbitrary bans without any study.”