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In Nepal, addiction is still spoken about in hushed tones. A man who drinks too much is said to lack self-control. A teenager glued to a phone is blamed for poor discipline. Someone who uses drugs is often seen as irresponsible, immoral, or beyond help. These explanations feel familiar because they are deeply cultural. But neuroscience tells us they are wrong. Addiction is not a failure of character. It is a disorder of the brain.

This is not a matter of opinion. Over the past several decades, research in neuroscience and public health has shown that addiction changes how the brain functions. It alters neural circuits responsible for reward, motivation, stress, learning, and self-control. When this science is ignored, society responds with shame instead of treatment. People suffer longer. They relapse more often. Many die quietly, without support or care. Nepal is now facing a growing addiction crisis that demands a science-based response.

The scale of addiction in Nepal

Government data show that substance use is not a marginal issue. The Nepal Drug Users Survey conducted by the Ministry of Home Affairs estimated more than 130,000 current drug users nationwide, with the number increasing each year. Most users are young, and the vast majority are men. This is not a hidden subculture. It is a public health challenge affecting families, workplaces, and entire communities.

Alcohol use is even more widespread. According to Nepal’s STEP wise Survey on Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factors, conducted with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly one in four adults reported consuming alcohol in the past year. Rates were far higher among men. Tobacco use remains similarly common across the population.

Since alcohol and tobacco are legal and socially accepted, their harm is often underestimated. Yet research conducted within Nepal tells a more troubling story. A large study from central Nepal, published in an international mental health journal, found that nearly one in four male drinkers screened positive for alcohol use disorder. Harmful drinking was closely associated with depression, suicidal thoughts, reduced ability to function at work and home, and intense feelings of shame. The researchers did not describe alcohol misuse as a lifestyle choice. They described it as a condition deeply intertwined with mental health and stigma.

Drug use injections add another layer of risk. Studies published in journals such as PLOS ONE have documented high vulnerability to HIV and hepatitis C among people who inject drugs in Nepal. These studies also highlight how fear, discrimination, and criminalization discourage people from seeking healthcare until serious illness develops. When addiction goes untreated, it becomes a driver of infectious disease, disability, and premature death.

A new and growing addiction among Nepal’s youth

While Nepal continues to debate drugs and alcohol, another form of addiction is growing rapidly, especially among adolescents. Problematic internet and smartphone use is now widely reported among Nepali school and college students. A 2024 study of urban school adolescents found that excessive internet use was strongly associated with poor sleep, depression, and emotional distress. Another study published in PLOS ONE the same year reported that a substantial proportion of adolescents met criteria for internet addiction, and that physical inactivity and disrupted sleep patterns were common.

These findings matter because behavioral addictions are not less real than substance addictions. The brain does not distinguish between dopamine released by alcohol, gambling, or endless social media scrolling. What matters is repetition, intensity, and how powerfully a behavior trains the brain’s reward system.

Nepal’s youth are growing up in a digital environment that rewards constant engagement and rapid stimulation. Their brains are still developing, particularly the regions responsible for impulse control and decision-making. Neuroscience shows that early and excessive exposure to addictive patterns, whether chemical or digital, can shape brain development in ways that persist in adulthood.

What neuroscience tells us about addiction

Modern neuroscience has transformed how addiction is understood. Addictive substances and behaviors repeatedly overstimulate the brain’s reward system. Over time, the brain adapts. Everyday pleasures feel less satisfying. Stress and irritability increase. Cravings become automatic. The systems responsible for self-control struggle to regulate behavior. This is how addiction shifts from choice to compulsion.

WHO has consistently emphasized that addiction is a chronic brain disorder, not a moral failing. This is also why relapses are common. When someone returns to substance use, it does not mean treatment failed or that the person lacked willpower. It means the brain remains vulnerable and requires continued support. WHO’s recognition of gaming disorder in its international disease classification further reinforces this understanding. Compulsive behaviors that disrupt daily functioning are legitimate health conditions, not personal flaws.

A response shaped by stigma

Despite this growing body of evidence, Nepal’s response to addiction remains limited and fragmented. Addiction is often treated as a social nuisance rather than a health condition. Families hide the problem until it becomes severe. Individuals delay seeking help because they fear judgment. When treatment is accessed, it often relies heavily on institutional rehabilitation, with limited long-term follow-up or integration with mental health care.

Research conducted in Nepal shows that stigma itself worsens outcomes. People with alcohol use disorders frequently internalize shame, which is associated with poorer mental health and a lower likelihood of seeking help. Shame does not cure addiction. It fuels it. At the same time, Nepal’s mental health system is overstretched. The country has a limited number of trained addiction specialists, most of them concentrated in urban areas. Community level prevention and early intervention remain rare.

A global warning Nepal should not ignore

Globally, addiction is rising. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reports that more than 300 million people worldwide used drugs in the past year, the highest number ever recorded. WHO estimates that alcohol alone contributes to more than two million deaths each year.

These are not failures of morality. They are failures of health systems that do not act early or compassionately enough. Countries that have adopted neuroscience informed approaches, including early screening, integrated mental health care, harm reduction, medication assisted treatment, and long-term support, have seen better outcomes. Those that rely on punishment and stigma do not.

What Nepal must do now

Nepal must recognize addiction as a health condition rooted in brain biology. This shift would change how families respond, how clinicians treat patients, and how policymakers allocate resources. Care for people with addiction must be integrated into primary healthcare. Screening for alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and problematic internet use should become routine. Training in addiction medicine and mental health must be expanded. Treatment should address depression, trauma, and anxiety alongside substance use, not as separate problems.

Harm reduction services for people who inject drugs must be strengthened, not stigmatized. Evidence from Nepal itself shows that community-based outreach saves lives and reduces disease transmission. Prevention must begin early. Schools should teach how the brain forms habits and how sleep, stress, substances, and screens affect mental health. Parents cannot fight addictive digital platforms alone.

A choice Nepal can no longer avoid

If addiction could be solved through shame, Nepal would have solved it generations ago. Addiction persists because it is not a moral problem. It is a brain problem shaped by biology, stress, trauma, and the environment. Neuroscience also shows that the brain can recover, but only when treatment replaces judgment, and understanding replaces silence. Nepal has begun to speak more openly about mental health. Addiction must be part of that conversation. Treating addiction as a brain disorder is not an excuse. It is the first step toward effective, compassionate, and evidence-based care. Silence has failed. Stigma has failed. Science has not.

The author is a PhD candidate in the Department of Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders at the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences

Last March, the author of this article was sitting at the Everest Cafe; in Kathmandu, talking to one of Nepal's very senior journalists, amidst subsequent waves of pro-monarchy protests that had engulfed the country in recent months. In casual conversation, the journalist mentioned the Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and its dwindling fortunes under Oli’s Prime Ministerial regime.

Cut to the present times, Nepal has given one of the most historic mandates to the RSP since the inception of democracy in the country: for the first time in the hill country, any party has gotten an absolute majority in a very difficult representation system, and just two seats short of a two-thirds supermajority. The election has also been historic for the Prime Ministerial candidate from RSP, Balendra Shah, and Kathmandu’s ex-mayor, who became the first Madhesi person to sit in the Prime Minister's chair. 

Born out of chaos, post-Gen-Z protests occurred in September 2025, Nepal’s unelected government, led by former chief justice Sushila Karki, has also done an impressive job of delivering elections in the earlier decided timeline, unlike in Bangladesh.

In the volatile neighborhood, elections and the return of stable democracy are obviously a sigh of relief for New Delhi. Nevertheless, in Nepal, the winners are new to foreign policy and diplomacy, and their implications will be important to unpack from Delhi’s side. 

Since the inception of the democratic movement in Nepal with the establishment of the Nepal Congress in 1950, India has been supportive of it. At times, future prominent leaders of Nepal have studied in Indian Universities and then returned home with a strong democratic enthusiasm.

During the monarchy’s time, when these leaders faced persecution, they took shelter in India. During the civil war, India played a critical role in bringing the mainstream political parties and the Maoist rebels together, culminating in the 12-point understanding in Delhi (2005) and the 2006 Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

After the end of the bloody civil war in Nepal and the agreement between all parties to abolish the monarchy, it pushed for an inclusive constitution that addressed the rights of the Madhesi people in the Terai region. 2015 marked a critical juncture in India-Nepal relations, when the Madhesi agitation over Nepal’s constitution drew India into the fray. Since then, India-Nepal relations have been driven more by a sectoral, compartmentalised approach than by a holistic one.

The situation has been complicated by political instability and the musical chairs of politics among three main political parties: Nepal Congress, Communist Party of Nepal (UML), and Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). To even complicate matters, the head of CPN UML and 2015 Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s populist anti-India rhetoric surely helped him win the elections, but ruptured India-Nepal relations.

At the same time, Nepal's joining the Belt and Road Initiative also alerted India. Nevertheless, the political instability has undermined many good diplomatic efforts on both sides and fuelled each other’s insecurities time and again. It also needs to be mentioned here that to err is human, and humans run states and diplomacy.

So, between neighbours in the future as well, there will be issues that may feel contentious, but both sides need to understand that making a populist political rhetoric out of it will not help. Shishir Khanal in one interview has also clearly mentioned that his party will try to find diplomatic solutions to the contentious issues rather than making it an overt political confrontation, which is a very welcoming step. 

It is also critical here to mention that for Balendra and RSP, this is going to be a difficult time geopolitically beyond the neighborhood, given the war in West Asia, and a significant chunk of the diaspora of both India and Nepal works there in different sector will surely ask leaders to work together in the tough times. 

The mandate for the RSP is a sign of a generational change in Nepal's politics. It shows that the people want to move on from the cycles of instability and political rhetoric that have defined the country's recent past. India should see this change as less of a strategic puzzle and more of a chance to fix a relationship that has been strong in the past but has been strained by political mistakes on both sides. A leadership that is new to foreign policy may also be less rigid in its ideas about diplomacy, which could make it easier to deal with difficult issues in a more practical way. For Kathmandu, governing with such a strong mandate will also mean finding a balance between what people want and what is possible given the geography and the fact that the economy is linked to other countries. India is still Nepal's most important trading partner, and Nepal's political stability is just as important for India's own neighborhood policy. 

In this situation, the new government's success will depend in part on how well it can keep working with New Delhi while also working on its own reform agenda. If both sides stay away from populist language and focus on steady diplomatic talks instead, the current political change in Nepal could quietly mark the start of a more stable and mature phase in India–Nepal relations.

*Harsh Pandey is a PhD Candidate at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, He is also a Life member of Delhi Based International Centre for Peace Studies.

In a historic political shift, the newly formed Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and its prime ministerial candidate, rapper-turned-politician Balen Shah, swept the elections in Nepal and are set to form the government – dislodging the country’s old political institutions. While the mandate marks a pivotal moment in Nepal's political landscape following the Gen-Z protests that rocked the country last year, it also poses a significant strategic test for India in Kathmandu. 

Nepal occupies a key strategic place in India’s South Asian engagement strategy. India remains Nepal’s largest trading partner. Over the past decade, New Delhi has invested significantly in developmental assistance, strengthening cross-border connectivity projects and hydro and energy cooperation.

Initiatives such as amending the ‘Treaty of Transit’ to enhance trade flows via the Jogbani-Biratnagar rail link – enabling direct rail transport of containerised and bulk cargo to Nepal’s custom yard – and completion of the 34 km Jayanagar-Kutha rail link, similarly, integrated check posts have been operationalized to streamline customs procedures and reduce logistical delays – illustrate India’s effort in institutionalising supply chains that bind two economies closer together.

In the energy sector, India has invested heavily in several hydropower and electricity transmission projects. Multiple cross-border electricity transmission lines are already operational, while agreements have been signed for a new 400 kV transmission line linking Inaruwa to New Purnea and the Lamki-Dododhara corridor with Bareilly. Additionally, under a long-term power-purchase agreement, Nepal plans to export up to 10,000 MW of electricity to India over the next decade – reinforcing New Delhi’s ambition to position itself as the hub of a broader regional energy network. 

However, the smooth operationalization of these initiatives depends significantly on a cooperative and predictable political leadership in Kathmandu. It is precisely at this juncture that the landslide victory of the RSP carries profound significance. 

The RSP’s electoral triumph reflects the aspirations of a new generation shaped by the Gen-Z wave. For many Nepalis, the political mandate represents not merely a change in government but a generational reset in a political system long criticized for stagnation and persistent corruption. The anti-corruption sentiment that fuelled the September protests has now propelled a leadership that emphasises transparency, accountability, and institutional reforms while simultaneously articulating what many describe as a more “vocal sovereignty."

Within this emerging political cohort, relations with India may no longer be viewed through the lens of ‘historical obligation’. Sections of Nepal’s political discourse have historically accused India of excessive involvement in Nepal’s internal affairs and behaving as ‘big brother’ rather than engaging on equal terms. Whether justified or not, such perceptions have periodically strained bilateral ties in the past. The emergence of a political order committed to “strategic autonomy” and a “Nepal First” approach is therefore likely to scrutinize India’s role far more closely, particularly in negotiations concerning trade felicitation, customs procedures, and cross-border administrative arrangements. 

Consistent with this outlook, RSP under Shah’s leadership has pledged to reposition Nepal from a traditional “buffer state” between India and China into a “vibrant bridge” that facilitates trilateral economic partnerships. The RSP argues that Nepal must pragmatically maximize its sovereign interests with both neighbors through technical negotiations. 

China, meanwhile, is keen to steadily expand its economic and infrastructural footprint in Nepal. During K.P. Sharma Oli’s tenure, Kathmandu finalized several projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, deepening Chinese engagement in the country’s infrastructure sector. 

While Shah has expressed equal frustration with both India and China, it is very likely that the new government will seek to diversify Nepal’s external partnerships to reduce long-standing dependence on any single partner. Such balancing is common in South Asian diplomacy; yet, most of the party leadership’s relative lack of prior institutional experience in governing at the national level, coupled with a new political landscape, introduces an element of unpredictability regarding how these ambitions will translate into policy or whether the party’s “Nepal’s First” policy will slip into a “China First” reality – inevitably complicating India’s strategic calculations in the Himalayas.

Another sensitive dimension concerns unresolved territorial disputes. Shah and his party have taken a critical position on revisiting the India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship and have repeatedly called for a stronger Nepali stance on key territorial disputes, including Kalapani, Lipulekh, and Limpiyadhura, insisting that no foreign activity should take place in these regions without Nepal’s consent. The issue has remained a sensitive flashpoint between the two since Nepal’s controversial map revision in 2020. Now, with a two-thirds parliamentary majority, the new leadership could possess the domestic political capital to pursue a harder line on such issues, considering Balen Shah’s earlier anti-India rhetoric as a mayor of Kathmandu – possibly sharpening bilateral tensions.

New Delhi’s diplomatic outreach towards Nepal was traditionally anchored in the long-established political entities, such as the Nepal Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal – Unified Marxist–Leninist (CPN-UML). The RSP’s landslide victory signals the erosion of this familiar political landscape and the emergence of a new generation of leaders whose governance approach remains largely untested. In a country witnessing a dramatic shift, its younger generation is more digitally connected than ever before and uncompromisingly aspirational. Nepal’s electoral earthquake has brought the RSP into the corridors of power – one that India’s regional diplomacy has not previously had to navigate in such a form.

Although the new mandate sends some optimism in New Delhi's strategic circles. Analysts view the emergence of RSP, compounded by Shah's technocratic priorities – its emphasis on improving infrastructure, digital connectivity, and boosting GDP – could also open new avenues for cooperation. RSP ambitiously wants to be vehicle of change of a new Nepal and the trajectory of India-Nepal relations will therefore depend on how India adapts to this evolving landscape, making the RSP’s rise not a just a domestic phenomenon but a critical strategic test for New Delhi’s regional diplomacy in Kathmandu. 

Ammu S. Anil is a Senior Research Fellow at the MMAJ Academy of International Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, and a Visiting Fellow at NIICE Nepal, Lalitpur.

Mahesh Ganguly, Teaching Assistant and Research Fellow, IIT Bombay. 

The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has done more than just sweep the old guard from power in the House of Representatives elections held last week. With a clear majority in the 275-member lower house, it has become the largest political force in the county and a beacon of hope for millions of people. 

However, as the celebrations fade, the new government, the new finance minister to be precise, faces a sobering reality: the task of translating populist fervor into a functional, resilient economy.

The economy the new government inherits is a study in contradictions. On one hand, the macroeconomic indicators are deceptively stable. The recent central central bank data show inflation at decades-low levels, and foreign exchange reserves have bolstered to nearly Rs 3,200bn by mid-Dec 2025—more than half of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). However, this stability is a mere thin veil over structural decay. The new finance minister’s desk will be piled with reports of subdued domestic demand, slow credit disbursements, rising non-performing loan (NPL) levels in the banking sector, and waning investor confidence. 

Although the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected a real GDP growth of 5.2 percent for the upcoming fiscal year, the real situation of the economy tells a story of empty villages, industries running at below capacity, agricultural land remaining fallow, and a youth population migrating abroad in record numbers. The new minister inherits a nation where remittance is the primary life-support system, accounting for nearly 24 percent of the GDP, while the domestic manufacturing and industrial sectors continue to shrink.

The RSP, in its election manifesto, has promised a transformation that sounds almost mythical in the Nepali context. The plan envisions building a $100bn economy by more than doubling the country’s GDP within the next five years. It also aims to raise per capita income to $3,000, up from the current estimate of around $1,650. In addition, it has vowed to create 1.2m jobs to reduce forced labor migration.

To achieve this, the party has banked on ‘development diplomacy’, a strategy aimed at courting investment from India, China, and the Western world without falling into geopolitical debt traps. 

Addressing voters after his victory in Chitwan last week, RSP President Rabi Lamichhane said his party would align development priorities, foreign policy objectives, and private sector interests. “We will take relations to new heights by cooperating in development. Our policies will be to protect and safeguard the private sector,” Lamichhane said. “RSP will continuously work to create an environment for domestic investment and to ensure investment security.”

Likewise, in his reply to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s congratulatory message on social media platform X, Lamichhane said the RSP and its government will remain dedicated to fostering a relationship built on mutual respect and shared prosperity where the party will prioritize development diplomacy. 

Perhaps the most immediate and symbolic challenge lies in the party’s stance on the duties on automobile imports. RSP Vice-chair Swarnim Wagle, who is expected to lead the finance ministry in the new government, earlier told the media that the new government would review the exorbitant duties of as much as 300 percent on motor vehicle imports.

This represents a familiar two-sided challenge for a finance minister. On one hand, lowering these duties would lower the cost of living, stimulate the transport sector, and please the urban middle class that fueled the party’s electoral victory. On the other hand, motor vehicle taxes have been one of the primary sources of revenue for the government. Reducing them necessitates a radical broadening of the tax base elsewhere—something previous governments have failed to do. 

The intensifying conflict in West Asia has already prompted the government to suspend labor approvals for 12 countries. If the Gulf crisis spirals further, it would not only choke the flow of remittances but saddle the new government with the herculean task of rescuing and repatriating over 1.7m workers. Managing this massive influx of returnees within a stagnant domestic job market will be a challenge of unprecedented proportions for the new administration. 

The prospects, however, are genuine. For the first time in decades, Nepal has a government with a clear mandate and a younger, more technocratic leadership. If the RSP can simplify the business environment and leverage its development diplomacy to attract high-quality FDI, the target of achieving seven percent annual growth is not impossible.

However, the challenges are equally real. The new government will have no representation in the National Assembly which remains dominated by the opposition. Any radical fiscal legislation will not pass through the upper house. Moreover, the youth that voted for the RSP expects immediate results. If the promised 1.2m jobs do not materialize quickly, the same ‘blue wave’ that brought them to power could turn into a tide of disillusionment.

The new finance minister will not just inherit a fiscal budget to implement, s/he will be inheriting the hopes of a generation that has finally dared to believe in a ‘New Nepal’. It remains to be seen whether the bell can ring in actual prosperity.