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Nepal’s media fraternity has expressed concerns regarding a surge in fake news directed at independent media outlets that have been uncovering corruption and governance failures. They say these fake news represent a deliberate and systematic campaign to undermine the credibility of independent press and misguide the general public. 

Such nefarious efforts extend beyond the media. They are also targeting the judiciary to undermine public trust in the judicial system.

Press Council Nepal has taken decisive action against sidhakura.com for disseminating fake news on April 26, 2024. The report accompanying an audio clip falsely implicated Capt. Rameshwar Thapa, chairman of Annapurna Media Network (AMN), and Kailash Sirohiya, managing director of Kantipur Media Group (KMG), Ananda Mohan Bhattarai, justice of the Supreme Court, several senior advocates and former justices, claiming they were part of a clandestine meeting purportedly aimed at dismissing over 400 corruption cases.

A video news report, including an audio clip, was uploaded by sidhakura.com, formerly part of a television program broadcast on the now-defunct Galaxy Television. The show was created by current Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane, who faces the allegation of misappropriating funds from a Pokhara-based financial cooperative. 

Both AMN and KMG have been covering news reports regarding the plights of the people whose deposits were misused by cooperatives .

The Press Council has instructed sidhakura.com to immediately remove the fabricated news and to furnish a clarification. It said that the deliberate misinformation, masquerading as an 'exclusive' expose, has not only undermined the press integrity but also tarnished the Supreme Court’s reputation.  

Capt. Thapa has also taken legal recourse, denouncing the malicious intent behind the false allegations. He refuted the baseless claims, asserting that they aim to manipulate public opinion and serve vested interests. In a formal complaint filed with the Press Council, Thapa underscored the ethical boundaries breached by sidhakura.com and called for legal redress against such egregious misconduct.

“These are baseless and misleading rumours intended to manipulate the people and to serve some interest groups," Thapa said. "The questionable content published under the garb of ‘exclusive sting operation’ was created with extreme prejudice and filled with illusionary characters. It was a desperate act to go viral.” 

AMN management is currently in consultation with lawyers to seek legal remedies for the reputational damage caused by the fabricated news.

Sirohiya echoed these sentiments, demanding accountability for those fabricating and disseminating fake news. He urged the authorities to identify and prosecute the perpetrators, emphasizing the legal consequences of such malicious conduct. He also warned against the erosion of democratic institutions, underscoring the collective responsibility to uphold truth and integrity in media discourse.

“It will be too late if the authorities fail to identify and discourage these certain groups that are actively trying to weaken the pillars of democracy through disinformation campaigns,” Sirohiya said.

Supreme Court Justice Bhattarai has also expressed astonishment at being falsely implicated in the fabricated news. He unequivocally denied any involvement in the case, stressing his unwavering commitment to judicial integrity.

“The verdict of the case has already proved that I was not involved in the case,” he said in a statement on Friday. 

Nepa Media Society, representing private publications and broadcasters, has also demanded action against those involved in creating fake news with the malicious intent of defaming some established media houses and to assassinate the characters of their owners and a sitting Supreme Court justice.

Issuing a statement on Friday, Society Chairman Subha Shankar Kandel said their attention has been drawn by the latest incident of fake news that attempts to undermine credible media institutions and judicial authorities. He called upon law enforcement agencies to combat the dissemination of misinformation and uphold journalistic integrity.

“We strongly demand that the government take action against such propaganda mills masquerading as legitimate media entities and safeguard the foundations of democracy’” he said. 

Kandel also emphasized the urgent need to address the rampant misuse of social media and technology to spread rumors and falsehoods to undermine societal cohesion.

Nepal’s tourism industry is back on track if foreign tourist arrival figures over the first three months of 2024 are anything to go by.

Foreign tourist arrivals via air recorded a year-on-year growth of 33.78 percent in the first three months of 2024. Tourist arrival data released by the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) shows a total of 304,693 foreign tourists have entered the country till March this year, compared to 227,755 in the same period of 2023. Over the past few months, the tourism sector is playing a vital role in the tourism recovery. A report published by the World Bank on April 2 states that the services sector emerged as a primary driver of this growth on the supply side, buoyed by increased activity in tourism-related services.

A total of 128,167 foreign tourists arrived in Nepal in March this year, compared to 99,427 in March last year. This is higher than the pre-covid footfall for the month. Nepal had welcomed 127,351 in March 2019. However, the total arrival in the first three months of 2024 is still lower than the total arrivals in the first three months of 2019 when Nepal welcomed 311,047 foreign tourists.

Nepal welcomed 1,197,191 foreign tourists in 2019 which has remained the best year for the industry so far. Arrival numbers fell to 230,085 in 2020 and further to 150,962 in 2021. It improved to 614,869 in 2022 and rebounded to 1,014,876 in 2023. Arrival figures over the first three months suggest that Nepal is on track to beat the 2019 numbers this year. March marks the beginning of the spring tourism season which is considered the best for trekking and mountaineering. The spring season sees a lion’s share of mountaineering expeditions coming to Nepal. Most of the expeditions on Mt Everest, the tallest peak on earth, are organized in this season.

According to tourism entrepreneurs, tourist numbers will continue to increase till May which marks the end of the climbing season and the beginning of monsoon rains. While tourist numbers dip during the three months of June, July, and August, it starts picking up once the autumn season begins in September. The autumn season continues through December. 

As usual, India was the largest source market for Nepal in March, with 30,698 visitors. It was a year-on-year growth of 18.5 percent. The number of Chinese tourists also increased considerably to 12,093—a growth of a staggering 358 percent. The US came third with 10,763 visitors, followed by the UK with 7,241 tourists, Sri Lanka with 5,741 visitors, and Germany with 5,255 footfalls. Likewise, Thailand, Myanmar, France, and Australia were among the top 10 countries in terms of visitor numbers. Region-wise, Asia (SAARC) contributed the highest number of visitors in March, accounting for 31.8 percent of total arrivals. 

Similarly, Asia was next, contributing 22.4 percent of total arrivals, followed by Europe (21.5 percent), Oceania (4.8 percent), the Americas (9.8 percent), and Others (9.7 percent). Tourism entrepreneurs say the tourist arrivals would be much higher once the new international airports in Lumbini and Pokhara start handling international flights.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched a new initiative to help assess and manage climate and disaster risks in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, a critical water tower supporting the livelihoods of more than a billion people across Asia. 

Through technical assistance, ADB will undertake deep analysis of multi-hazard risks which include landslides, earthquakes, and floods—including from glacier lake outbursts—and vulnerabilities in Bhutan and Nepal, said ADB in a press statement.  This will help to strengthen the two governments’ capacities to conduct risk assessments in priority river basins. These assessments will be used to develop early warning systems and risk management options for future infrastructure development.

Home to the largest ice reserves outside of the polar regions, the Hindu Kush Himalayas feed 10 major rivers which sustain the livelihoods of 240 million people in the mountains and more than 1.6 billion people downstream, the statement says. 

The region is warming faster than the global average and if global temperature rises hit 3°C, 75% of glaciers in Bhutan and Nepal could melt by the end of this century. That would place unprecedented stress on access to water, threaten food and energy security, and result in significant biodiversity loss. 

“The roof of the world is melting,” said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa. “The Hindu Kush Himalayan region is critical to the well-being and economic security of more than a billion people across our region. This initiative will help equip Bhutan and Nepal with essential information and enable them to invest in effective climate adaptation—which is now critical to managing climate risk.”

From 1985 to 2014, economic losses resulting from disasters in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region totaled $45 billion, much higher than those of any other mountain region. Since then, the increasing frequency and intensity of disaster events have pushed up economic losses and the number of people killed or displaced by such events.

“We must urgently ensure that finance is flowing into climate adaptation projects,” said ADB Principal Economist Declan Magee. “This requires high quality and dynamic assessments of climate and disaster risks that account for multiple hazards that can have impacts across borders.”

ADB’s assistance will help the governments, private sector, and local communities to understand the risks they face so they can decide on disaster risk reduction and adaptation measures, as well as risk transfer solutions including insurance. The technical assistance will set the stage for advancing knowledge across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region on climate resilient investment planning, development, and risk management. 

As Asia and the Pacific’s climate bank, ADB aims to provide $100 billion in climate financing from its own resources from 2019 to 2030, including $34 billion for adaptation. In 2022, ADB committed $7.1 billion of climate finance, including $4.3 billion for mitigation and $2.8 billion for adaptation. The bank mobilized an additional $548 million in climate finance from the private sector last year.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed the third review under the four‑year extended credit facility (ECF) for Nepal, allowing the authorities to withdraw the equivalent of $52.25m.  

This brings total disbursements under the ECF for budget support thus far to SDR $222.5m. Nepal has made good progress with the implementation of the program, which has helped mitigate the impact of the pandemic and global shocks on economic activity, protect vulnerable groups, and preserve macroeconomic and financial stability, says IMF in a press statement. 

The program is also helping to catalyze additional financing from Nepal’s development partners. Nepal’s post-pandemic rebound, fueled by a credit boom, ended last year as growth slowed markedly. Low domestic demand helped resolve external pressures but also deflated government revenue and led to a widening of the fiscal deficit despite expenditure control. 

Inflation is declining but remains high at 8.2 percent in September. Growth is expected to recover to 3.5 percent in FY 2023/24, which is below potential, led by increased domestic demand, new hydroelectric capacity, and a continued recovery in tourism. Risks are skewed to the downside. 

External sector risks dominate Nepal’s outlook given its high remittance income and dependence on imported goods. Domestically, further deterioration in bank balance sheets or lack of progress in addressing the deficiencies identified by the Asia Pacific Group of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) could create financial system stress. 

Bo Li, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, says Nepal has made important strides on its economic reform agenda. Decisive actions in monetary policy, bank regulation and rolling off covid support policies played a major role in overcoming urgent balance of payments pressure in FY 2021/22. He further said : “Reserves continue to rise without the need to use distortive import restrictions. Fiscal discipline was maintained in FY 2022/23 despite a large revenue shortfall.”

Bank supervision and regulation have improved with the rolling out of new supervisory information systems, the Working Capital Loan Guidelines and Asset Classification Regulations. Nepal’s medium-term outlook remains favorable as strategic investments in infrastructure, especially in the energy sector, are expected to support potential growth, he said. 

With growth below potential, boosting the execution of capital spending while maintaining fiscal discipline —growth friendly consolidation—is critical to provide much-needed stimulus to near-term economic growth and achieve investments that will underpin medium-term growth, he says. 

Maintaining momentum on governance reforms is critical to cementing recent gains in fiscal transparency. Further structural reforms, including to mobilize domestic revenue, strengthen public investment management and address fiscal risks, are needed to bolster medium term fiscal sustainability, he added.  “As monetary policy transmission appears weak in a context of balance sheet repair and inflation is elevated —though declining—maintaining the current cautious and data dependent monetary policy is appropriate to preserving price and external stability. 

He further says : “Improving the anti‑money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) framework and its effectiveness in line with international standards and peer evaluations is urgently needed to maintain smooth access to the global financial system. 

Reforms to implement the 2021 IMF Safeguards Assessment recommendations regarding the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) Act and NRB audit are a priority. “Continued progress on the structural front is also needed to foster investment and more inclusive growth, he says,  “these include improving the business climate, building human capital, and continuing to improve social safety nets, in particular the coverage of the child grant program.”

Hamas is releasing more hostages as a shaky truce continues to hold in Gaza after the killing of more than 1,200 people in Oct 7 attacks and hostage-taking of as many as 240, including foreign nationals. 

But it is yet to release Nepal’s Bipin Joshi, one of its hostages, days after the release of more than two dozen Thai nationals.  

A few weeks back, the Israeli army had confirmed that Joshi was in the captivity of Hamas. As part of continuing efforts to secure Joshi’s release, Foreign Minister Narayan Prakash Saud is traveling this week to Qatar, which is meditating between Israel and Hamas to secure the hostages’ release. 

Meanwhile, parents of Joshi have been spending their days in anxiety and anticipation.

Since Oct 7, Bipin's parents and other family members have been keeping track of every news coming from Israel. After Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire on Nov 24, they have been following TV news with hope to hear the good news.

Bipin's parents met Foreign Minister Saud, who was in his home district Kanchanpur earlier this week, requesting him to take immediate steps for a safe release of their son.

"I remain glued to the TV screen hoping that my son Bipin will be set free and call us. Our days are spent watching news," said Padma, Bipin's distraught mother. The government says it has been making ‘diplomatic efforts’ to secure Bipin's release. However, Mahananda Joshi feels the government should have done more to secure his son’s release. 

"I feel that Bipin would have been released two or three days back had the government made vigorous efforts toward that end early on," Mahananda told RSS after Minister Saud pledged during a meeting with the Joshi couple in Mahendranagar (Kanchanpur) to intensify government efforts for the release of their son.

On Nov 24, Qatar's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi, who was on a two-day official visit to Nepal, had promised to step up efforts for Bipin’s release, in response to a request from Minister Saud.