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An enabling mental health climate to help people grow and flourish

Three ways to realize the vision:

1) Impart life skills and entrepreneurship-based education targeting both school and out-of-school children and youth.
2) Build a strong public health system inclusive of mental health services.
3) Guarantee easy access to finance to set up new business or enterprise.

The most painful thing for human beings is to be plagued by thoughts of inner darkness. The suffering caused by this darkness is enormous and often hard to express in words. My journey through inner darkness started when I was 10. I had no idea what was going on. I used to feel sad, lonely, and suicidal.

It took me seven years to even know that the cause of the darkness was depression. I recall the day my father took me to his psychiatrist friend. When the doctor diagnosed me with childhood depression, my father looked somber, as though his pride had been pricked, as though he had lost hope in his son.  

Though I seemed active, cheerful, and friendly to others, throughout my college and university days, I felt lonely, terrified, humiliated, and defeated. I was dependent on medication for a decade after the diagnosis with no recovery in sight. That’s when I decided to face myself and make a choice between living a double life and making my journey public and, as a result, an agenda of public importance.  

In early 2008, when I started to write articles on mental health issues in national dailies, including my accounts of suffering, I slowly began to understand the gravity of mental health problems in the country. I was shocked to learn that 50 percent of mental health problems begin before the age of 14, and 80 percent before 24. On average, individuals suffering from mental health problems take 10 years to seek professional support in countries like Nepal. Imagine how much damage the disease would have done to the individual in that time.

Following my articles, hundreds of people reached out to me with their stories. In a society where social stigma and discrimination towards mental illness is rampant, listening to people with mental health problems became a life-changing experience for me. Those labeled mentally ill are the most vulnerable people in the world, not only because of the complexity of the problem but because of social beliefs and attitudes towards them. I was also shocked to learn that the global recovery rate from mental health problems is just around five percent.

Even before the start of Covid-19, mental health problems were spreading like wildfire in Nepali society. Poverty, unemployment, gender disparity, poor health facilities, myths and misconceptions about mental health problems, chronic physical health problems like cancer, abuse of substances like alcohol and drugs, poor parenting, conflict, and political instability have been the major contributors to mental health problems in Nepal.

But since the onset of Covid-19, it’s as if the above-mentioned triggers have been amplified by over 200 percent at once. There are reports that the mental health of up to 90 percent of the people has been affected by the Covid-19-induced new reality. Of course, the scale and gravity of the situation greatly vary, but almost no one has been spared some impact on their mental health.

Suicide is increasing and racing to become the number one cause of death among the youth. Nearly 70 percent of youths involved in the informal sector are now unemployed. Tourism and transport that provide over two million jobs have been paralyzed for over a year. Despite 400,000 youths entering the job market every year, there is a dearth of employment or economic opportunities inside the country.

This new socio-economic and public health reality is enough to gauge the risk of mental health problems in Nepal. Add to that the anxiety that is caused—overtly and subconsciously—by the relentless political instability and brinkmanship that force the country to teeter on the fringes of state failure.

In my personal and professional experience, mental health is not only a reflection of personal health but of our collective social, educational, cultural, economic, and political reality. A country that ignores mental health cannot grow healthily. It should not only be providing adequate mental health services but also promoting mental health by ensuring citizens can meet their basic needs.

In particular, in this Covid-19-induced reality, Nepal should prioritize three areas to meet the ‘happy Nepali prosperous Nepal’ mantra our prime minister likes to harp on: Life skills- and entrepreneurship-based education targeting both in-school and out of school children and youth; strong public health system inclusive of mental health services; and, easy access to finance to set up new business or enterprise inside the country.

In working with people with mental health problems in Nepal, I have realized that most of them have developed various conditions as a result of their immediate socio-economic environment. Only the state can make this socio-economic environment more mental-health friendly. The importance of creating an enabling environment for everyone to grow and flourish cannot be stressed enough.

To prevent over 80 percent of all future mental health problems, it’s important to give our children and youth life skills and entrepreneurship-based education, which our education system has failed to do thus far. Covid-19 has taught us the importance of building a strong public health system inclusive of mental health.

Strong health and education systems are the pillars for an enabling environment for every citizen. When skilled and healthy citizens are supported with easy access to finance to undertake skills-based entrepreneurship and businesses in diverse areas like agriculture, technology, innovation, public service, we can transform this country in a generation. Not only will the collective mental health of the country improve, that will in turn also drive the economic prosperity we so fervently desire. This is my vision for Nepal.

Quick Questions: 

What is the biggest lesson you learned while working in the field of mental health in Nepal?
Earlier, I used to feel alone and think I have the biggest problems in this world. But when I started working in this field, I got to know that others had much bigger problems. It was a revelation.

How would you rate Nepal’s mental health facilities in the South Asian context?
I can’t give it more than two or three out of 10.

Any book you would recommend to help us tide over these tough times?
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse.

It’s good that Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, along with his advisors and cabinet members, took part in the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2019. On Jan 22 and 23, PM Oli addressed two panels titled “Strategic outlook on South Asia” and “Shaping the future of Democracy” respective­ly. Our prime minister attending the global platform and making an effort to draw world attention to a small country like Nepal car­ries enormous symbolic value. Let’s congratulate him on this. He did the right thing by attending the forum. In the past few years, the WEF has evolved into a social and polit­ical forum, shifting away from its original focus on promoting free trade and globalization. There is increasing realization among the forum’s organizers about the close relation between econom­ic and social development. This becomes clear if we look at this year’s themes.

Among the major themes this year were globalization, climate change, mental health, the rise of populism, China’s economy and Brexit. For the first time, the forum prioritized mental well-be­ing and there were six sessions on mental health covering topics like depression, anxiety, loneliness and Alzheimer’s. Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, is one famous face who has in the past raised the issue of mental health at the WEF.

There will definitely be a lot of discussion on PM Oli’s formal and informal talks on the sidelines of the Davos summit. What I would like to do here is draw PM Oli’s attention to mental health, some­thing I have been involved with for a long time.

Nepal is a young country. Of the nearly 30 million Nepalis, around 35 percent fall under the age group 25-54, which is consid­ered the most productive years. Only around 5 percent of the pop­ulation is estimated to be above 65 years.

Because of a diverse array of factors, Nepalis are increas­ingly suffering from mental health problems. As there is a dearth of opportunity for Nepali youth in their own country, they go abroad to work. Others leave the country for education and never return. While this may be economical­ly beneficial for the migrants and their families, the separa­tion it entails creates many emotional and psychological problems. Today, many house­holds in Nepal function more or less like old-age homes.

Among those who return from abroad, many will have passed their working age, and the state is constitutionally bound to take care of its senior citizens. That will put the exchequer under enormous stress.

Nepal invests almost one-fifth of its national budget on social pro­tection, covering socially vulner­able groups like children, those with disabilities, single women, the poor and the elderly. The gov­ernment increases its social secu­rity budget every year as the pro­portion of the socially vulnerable population, including the elderly, keeps growing.

From a mental health per­spective, Oli’s visit to Davos could have been an eye-open­er. After being briefed on those Davos sessions on mental health, perhaps he now has a bet­ter inkling of how poverty and migration affect the well-being of his people.

Therefore, post-Davos, PM Oli should adopt a two-pronged strat­egy in order to avert this impend­ing crisis. His first focus should be on creating productive jobs for the youth so that they have every incentive to stay behind and work in their own country. His second focus should be on investing in the mental well-being of his people.

It is long past the time that we seriously discussed our men­tal well-being in the changed social and political context. For instance, loneliness is no more a problem of rich western countries alone. It’s emerging as a major issue in developing eastern coun­tries too. How we tackle the men­tal health issues of our people will also determine the country’s fate. Prime Minister Oli, please take note.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli believes the country has achieved a lot in the past ten months under his leadership. While addressing the federal parliament on Jan 6, Oli looked calm and com­fortable, and presented a rosy pic­ture of the country. He highlighted figures that, according to him, were historical on many fronts, such as the annual economic growth projec­tion, revenue generation, remittance and more. He reaffirmed his com­mitment to strengthen five areas, namely the legal sector, government organizations, human resources, the budgetary system, and the audit system. He also responded to minor criticisms raised on social media.

There is something funda­mentally wrong with PM Oli’s perception of the way the country is being governed. He genuinely believes everything is fine. He is not worried about the situation of impunity, corruption, economic disarray and other everyday issues of public concern. While people are getting increasingly disillusioned with this government, Oli’s problem is that he is never ready to accept it. Oli’s perception could have been based on the advice he receives from those close to him. But there are clear signs that he faces threats from his own people, in that he is being misled.

The paradox of this government is that it has sold the biggest dream in history but has built a network of incompetent people in key sectors to achieve it. We have seen the fall­ing apart of most government insti­tutions and authorities. As in the past, every government institution has turned into a playground for political profiteering. If competent people get a chance to run public institutions, they can turn things around. Kul Man Ghising has shown how a single individual can make a lot of difference.

But the Oli government seems to be undermining the leadership of competent individuals in public institutions. There are several orga­nizations that are filled by incompe­tent people. Let’s take the example of the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), which has been dragged into controversy and which may give us a larger picture of the country’s gov­ernance. Unfortunately, Oli might be unaware of his own people’s involvement in thwarting his dreams for the nation.

The NAC is as important an orga­nization as the NEA in transforming the destiny of this country. It has huge potential in creating oppor­tunities and generating revenue. A few months ago, PM Oli force­fully appointed Madan Kharel as the Executive Director and Chairman of the NAC, against the will of the Tour­ism Minister and Secretary. PM Oli made Kharel the all-powerful direc­tor. It’s his second appointment in the office.

I doubt Oli appointed Kharel to tarnish the NAC. But it is increas­ingly clear that Kharel is working to ruin the organization, declare it bankrupt and hand it over to some private interest group. Under his leadership, it might be the end line for the NAC. If he fails in this mis­sion, he could be sacked anytime.

 A few months ago, PM Oli forcefully appointed Madan Kharel as the Executive Director of the NAC

Since Kharel’s appointment, the NAC has fallen into decline. He has not made a single effort to save the organization. We can critically examine the wide body controversy and the role of the Exec­utive Director in this regard. The NAC is facing a loss of 10 million rupees every day because of incom­petent management. Rather than making plans and executing them to rescue the NAC, Kharel spread wrong information to the media about its solvency status. It’s a pity that the head of the organization cannot even understand its basic financial circumstances.

By way of comparison, if we pur­chase some business property with a bank loan, do we just worry about the loan or make plans to earn profit from the property? We should cer­tainly be mindful of the loan, but we should be more excited about the opportunity, make a series of business plans and work towards making profits. But Kharel is doing just the opposite in the NAC.

I present this case as an example of the paradoxical nature of the Oli government. The prime minis­ter is tirelessly selling a dream of a prosperous Nepal, but in charge of this project are incompetent and corrupt folks.

Prime Minister KP Oli finds him­self surrounded by one contro­versy after another. His active involvement in the recent Asia Pacific Summit held in Kathmandu, which was organized by the contro­versial South Korea-based Universal Peace Federation, will be a lasting blot on his political career. I don’t think PM Oli intentionally invited all these controversies. I believe the mistakes he and his govern­ment have made are the result of either ignorance or lack of interest in understanding our social, cultural and historical realities. Nepal is a place steeped in social, cultural and historical values. With­out understanding and respecting those values, no government cannot function well. KP Oli is the most powerful prime minister Nepal has had in the past three decades. But he is not powerful enough to under­mine the cultural and historical her­itage of Nepal. Let us thus hope he has learned something from the Asia Pacific Summit faux pas.

It is because of the failure of political class to understand and protect our rich past that this country has lost track

Nepal is a predominantly Hin­du-Buddhist country. But Nepal is liberal and tolerant, too. Its over 3,000 years of multicultural history suggests the same. This liberal char­acter has also made our social-cul­tural history one of the oldest liv­ing civilizations in the world. From this socio-cultural perspective, we are the first-world. It is unfor­tunate that rather than working to build our national image and boost the morale of our generation by capitalizing on our social-cultural treasures, PM Oli has even failed to touch on those issues.

Nepal is one of very few coun­tries where citizens are not taught about their own culture, history, languages and religions. In western countries, it’s compulsory to have basic knowledge about your cultural and historical past. Even China has started to prioritize history as a part of its national education.

There is so much to learn from our past. For instance, our ances­tors had developed languages more than 3,000 years ago. They had already developed brick making technology in the third century. In the fifth century, they had started building temples like Kasthamandap and Changu Narayan, which have survived for more than 1,500 years. In the sixth and seventh centuries, Licchavi kings used to mint coins not only for Nepal but for other South Asian neighbors as well. Though this coun­try was ruled by different dynas­ties at different times, they were all keen on protecting and preserving Nepal’s diverse social-cultural heri­tage. We have been lucky to inherit that heritage.

Here, if a common citizen wants to understand Nepal’s past, the per­son does not even have access to the country’s comprehensive history in Nepali, and one which covers the country’s social-cultural journey of at least 3,000 years, the time for which there is some kind of a record. It does not mean nothing has been written on it. Late Dilli Raman Reg­mi’s series on Nepal’s history can be taken as major contribution. But most of what has been written is in English, and that too about specific periods, and not about Nepal’s his­tory as a whole.

If he puts his mind to it, docu­menting the socio-cultural history of Nepal as part of a comprehensive history writing project could be one of the big achievements of Oli gov­ernment, for which people will long remember him. It could be a land­mark contribution that connects this and subsequent generations to our rich history. After all, it’s a con­stitutional duty of this government to preserve social-cultural history of Nepal.

To repeat, from social-cultural perspective, we are the first-world. It is because of the failure of politi­cal class to understand and protect our past that this country has lost track. PM Oli has high ambition for economic prosperity. He talks about railways, roads, electricity, jobs and overall development. All these are important but perhaps he does not realize that the foundation of this development has to be our social and cultural heritage.

 Despite big promises, the all-powerful Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has failed to make any substantial impact in his nine months in office. For many, this communist government is being overshadowed by the nine-month minority communist government led by late Man Mohan Adhikari in 1994. For his few popular programs like social security allowance and Aafno Gaun Aafai Banau (‘Lets build our villages ourselves’), the Adhikari government is still remembered with respect. Oli could have done far better than Adhikari. But despite recently rolling out a rather popular social security scheme of his own, Oli is fast losing momentum. PM Oli has a rather naive mindset on pressing issues like federal tran­sition, constitution amendment, party unification, transitional jus­tice, impunity, diplomatic relations, development drive and other pub­lic issues. Successful management of the federal transition is a major responsibility for this government. But PM Oli does not seem keen. For instance, provincial governments have failed to give business to their houses in absence of minimum pol­icy and resource support from the federal government. In case of local government, there is no system to maintain check and balance.

Constitution amendment is another long overdue commitment Oli government made to Madhes-based parties

As a result, there is widespread corruption in local level govern­ment. Further, PM Oli is still reluc­tant to form the ‘natural resources and financial commission’ which has constitutional mandate to distribute resources equitably among the three tiers of the government.

Constitution amendment is another long overdue commitment Oli government made to Mad­hes-based parties. In reality, there have been no negotiations in nine months regarding what to amend. The reluctance on the both sides, the government as well as the Mad­hes-based parties, to push the issue of constitutional amendment has only helped fuel the popularity of radical forces like CK Raut.

Following the parliamentary elec­tions, communist party leaders had promised immediate party unifica­tion, which in their words was going to end intra-party groupism and factionalism, and they would then be able to focus all their energy to national development. But nothing of the kind has happened. What we rather see is that intra-party groupism and factionalism have intensified in the ruling Nepal Com­munist Party.

It is yet to be seen how the issue of transitional justice will be resolved and impunity addressed. PM Oli has not set a good precedent though. For instance, the lingering and unresolved cases of Gangya Maya Adhikari and Nirmala Pant suggest justice for common Nepalis, thereby ending the culture of impunity, is not high on PM Oli’s priority.

Oli had created much hype for successfully ending the reign of transport syndicates and bringing big contractors under government control. But it turned out that rather than removing syndicates and con­trolling unscrupulous contractors, it was the Oli government itself that was being controlled by these syndi­cates and contractors.

Again, in nine months, PM Oli has created much noise but failed to deliver much. Above all, populism and propaganda characterize his regime. In August, the prime min­ister had inaugurated a biogas plant in Biratnagar. Then, in October, he inaugurated Sajha-operated electric buses. Both these things were done with great fanfare. But the bio-gas plant was shut after a month while the electric buses were not operated for a single day after their inaugura­tion. Also, one has to question if the prime minister’s time is best spent inaugurating this or that project rather than in delivering on his elec­toral promises.

We can thus argue that in nine months the popularity of PM Oli and his government has fallen sharply. It’s difficult to be hopeful under such circumstances. Surrounded as he is by brokers and contractors, the chances of PM Oli redeeming himself are slim.

 A 13-year-old girl, Nirmala Pant, was raped and subsequently murdered in Kanchanpur on July 26. In the two following months, the government has time and again fallen short in booking the culprit/s. Whether it is a complacent police force or outright false accu­sations in relation to the case, the government has, till now, failed to deliver any semblance of justice to Nirmala’s family. Nirmala’s is the latest in a string of events that paints a gloomy picture on justice and impunity. For too long now, impunity has become institutionalized in Nepal under the direct protection of political par­ties and their leaders, and despite big talk of majority, stability and prosperity, it looks like impunity is here to stay.

From day one, Nirmala’s case was mal-handled by the police. According to news reports, from the day Nirmala disappeared from her friends Roshani Bam and Babita Bam’s house where she had gone to study, the police were adamantly uncooperative with her parents and neighbors.

Nirmala disappeared on July 25 from her friends’ house and her dead body was found just a day later: half-naked, and tossed in a sugarcane field not far from the scene of the crime. According to the villagers, there was heavy rainfall the night of her disappearance but Nirmala’s books that were scattered nearby were found completely dry.

The vague story that follows hints that one after another, each police official in charge of the investiga­tion took the liberty of erasing evi­dence related to the case. Before picking up the dead body from the sugarcane field, for example, the police team intentionally cleaned Nirmala’s private parts as well as her trousers. Further, Bam sisters, from whose home Nirmala disappeared, were given unusual protection by the police. Oddly, the police did not even allow Nirmala’s parents and neighbors to enter the Bam sisters’ house until police in plain uniform cut down a guava tree on their com­pound and re-painted all the rooms in the house.

Though an investigation team from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CIB) was sent to the spot, they seemed little different from the local police. By then, locals were already on the street protesting the mishandling of Nirmala’s investigation.

In a shroud of confusion and mystery, all of a sudden, 24 days after Nirmala’s murder, the police presented 41-year-old Dilip Singh Bista as the culprit. Bista is a men­tally-ill middle- aged man, who the state figured would be the perfect scapegoat on which to pin blame. After DNA testing it was evident that Bista was not guilty. Worse still, the police has used physical and mental torture and offered a bribe to Bista to publicly accept the rape and mur­der, which he denied. The mala fide intent of the police organization and the larger state mechanism was starkly clear.

Justice and poverty

Nirmala’s has become a high-pro­file case. However, even in such a scenario, where protests have even reached as far as Kathmandu, the government and the police remain complacent. Prime Minister KP Oli seems either misinformed or ignorant on the matter. In his most recent statement from New York on the case, PM Oli said it “may take 12 years to find the culprit of Nirma­la’s rape and murder.” That is both shocking and condemnable coming from the executive head of this state.

The truth about Nirmala’s case is as clear as day: the police—and thus the state and government leadership—know exactly who is/are behind the rape and murder of this innocent girl. But given the poor socio-economic status of Nir­mala and her parents, the feeling seems to be that the latter can be silenced and that the state will con­tinue to protect the wealthier and powerful culprits.

Apart from the negative public backlash the government will face, the emotional and psychological impact on families, girls and chil­dren from cases like Nirmala’s is colossal. Collective fear of insecurity and injustice is growing.

All of this is reminiscent of the hopelessness of the victim fam­ilies of the decade-long conflict, who are still unheard and ignored after all these years. There have been many instances when justice has been denied: in the cases of Ujjain Shrestha, Maina Sunuwar, Nanda Prasad and Ganga Maya Adhikari, Sita Rai, and countless others. The latest addition to that list is Nirmala. The longer that list gets, Oli and his government must understand, the farther away from prosperity and happiness the Nepali people will be o

For those who have been follow­ing Prime Minister KP Oli, he sounds bold, confident and optimistic. He strongly believes that after he became the prime minister things have dramatically changed for the better. For example, he believes that despite minor incidents, corruption is under control. He believes that political stability has indeed given us law and order and that development has taken pace.

Unfortunately, the reality is just the opposite. Corruption is wide­spread, not only in volume, but in scale as well. Impunity is ram­pant. People are getting angrier with the government and frustra­tions are beginning to mount. Not just the federal government, the provincial and local governments, too, are losing public trust already. If recent events around the rape and murder of Nirmala Pant are any sign, it is clear that more public protests will follow.

There is increasing evidence that PM Oli does not actually control the council of ministers. On many occasions, he is misinformed and misled by his own cabinet members and advisers. To then watch PM Oli confidently analyze the situation based on false information further entrenches the belief that he is lead­ing and acting in accordance with those false realities.

A report in the journal Psycholog­ical Science highlights how power, once attained, is maintained or lost. The authors note that “positive illusions can be adaptive, helping power holders make the seemingly impossible possible.”

The basic idea here is that when a leader harbors false illusions of power and control that can give them the confidence needed to make difficult policy decisions, push for headstrong legislative or policy implementation and take on major reform processes. For us, however, while there is evidence to show that KP Oli is harboring such positive illusions, there is no marked act that he has made to signify that per­haps those illusions are pushing us towards speedy and bold reforms.

Instead, as further argued in the Psychological Science article, we see that perhaps the “relation­ship between power and illusory control” might be contributing “directly to losses in power,” by causing our leader, KP Oli, to “make poor choices”. This would mean that while Oli is harboring illusions of control, they are leading him to simply exercise his power and flex muscle rather than making positive strides in core and essential gover­nance areas. In essence, in our case, it is increasingly looking like, as the authors of the article state, that “the illusion of personal control might be one of the ways in which power often leads to its own demise.”

So far what we see is that KP Oli’s actions are having an undesired effect on the people. However, he seems rather unaware of shifting attitudes among the public and is showing no sign of course correc­tion. It is indeed a case of not having the facts right, not being told or sim­ply being in denial. That mindset has led Oli to disregard comments and criticism from all corners, opting to take a defensive approach to his style of governance. Over time, that will lead to his own demise.

What is particularly interesting about the theory of illusory con­trol is that it applies differently to leaders on the basis of their back­grounds. The aforementioned report authors point out that lead­ership that emerges suddenly from poor and uneducated backgrounds, “when engulfed by a sense of illu­sory control, generally make terrible decisions.” In Nepal’s case, that rings so true, and it goes beyond the leadership of this current gov­ernment.

After 1990, though we have had many elected governments, incom­petence and inability of leaders to keep their pulse on public sentiment have been defining features. Even this two-thirds majority government is facing a similar crisis. It must then not be a surprise that the vast majority of Nepal’s ruling class hail from poor and uneducated back­grounds and proactively tend to internalize notions of illusory con­trol. So much for achieving the seemingly impossible through false notions of control! o

 We have to give a big thank to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli for bringing the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooper­ation (BIMSTEC) to national atten­tion. Had PM Oli not taken the ini­tiative to host the fourth summit, this regional organization would probably have gone unnoticed in Nepal for years to come. All said and done, this was one of the biggest international events Nepal has ever hosted, costing the state Rs 2 billion (nearly $17.6 million). The chaos in Kathmandu during the meeting forced Kathmanduties to get to ‘know’ BIMSTEC, whether they wanted to or not. There is no doubt the memory of this meeting will last long in the minds of the millions who saw the way the meet­ing was organized. Now the meeting is over and resources have been spent, I do not want to dwell on whether it was necessary. But the meeting got me to thinking—and reading—on how/if Nepal can benefit from BIMSTEC.

Many opinion makers in Kath­mandu had no idea what BIMS­TEC was—a 20- year-old regional organization. That was because till date no one knows of a single ben­efit Nepal has derived from being its member. However, having spent so much to convene the meeting last week, Nepal now seems heavily invested in it. In other words, every one of us now knows what BIMSTEC is and that it costs us quite a lot to keep the membership.

PM Oli has claimed the BIMSTEC meeting was a huge success. He touted the agreement on energy as its biggest achievement. He further said Nepal has expedited talks with India and Bangladesh to facilitate power trade. Now, the question is, and excuse me if it is layman, but, why does Nepal need BIMSTEC to discuss such issues with Bangladesh and India? They are our immedi­ate neighbors as well as founding members of SAARC, the oldest regional organization. And if PM Oli thinks this meeting helped boost his image internationally, and has benefitted us all, that too would be naïve considering BIMSETIC is a questionable endeavor even on the international front.

Factoring in how much criticism SAARC gets for being ‘redundant,’ going by the fact that the BIMSETC Secretariat didn’t even bother to tweet or update social media on the summit in Kathmandu, it is clear that BIMSTEC, too, is no hub of learning, exchange and diplomacy. Let’s face it: the productive function­ing of the initiative is questionable at best. But again Nepal has already invested Rs 2 billion on this unpro­ductive exercise.

Five out of the seven BIMSTEC members are SAARC countries. It should thus be no secret that the purpose of BIMSETC is to under­mine and keep SAARC divided. BIM­STEC is actually aggressively push­ing the agenda of the Brother India Managed Small Territorial Economic Countries (or BIMSTEC, if you will). And that is not an agenda Nepal should support.

For as long as our resources are spent on a parallel regional ini­tiative, SAARC will continue to be undermined, in tune with the for­eign policy strategies of our south­ern neighbor. It is no secret that SAARC has been made redundant by the political tussles between India and Pakistan, and that BIMSTEC, as such, has no future so long as those tussles are not resolved, for it will not be able to move beyond being an exercise in Indian foreign policy and its hegemonic intent. If the political tussles between India and Pakistan were to subside, BIMSTEC will cease to be relevant, even from the foreign policy perspective. So the question is why the government is wasting resources on our southern neigh­bor’s foreign policy issues.

There were some positive ini­tiatives that we saw in this latest BIMSETC meeting, like the agree­ment to underscore Buddhism as a transnational connectivity indi­cator. However, our incapacity to turn agreements into action, com­pounded by the already-question­able intent of BIMSTEC, renders such agreements moot.

Right now the government looks like a fool for having spent valuable resources —which it could have oth­erwise used to boost its image and credibility—to instead wreak havoc on Kathmandu streets in the name of regional cooperation, and God knows what else!