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A helicopter belonging to Air Dynasty crashed at Balabesi in Kepilasgadhi Rural Municipality-2,  Khotang on Wednesday. 

The aircraft was en route to Khotang from Kathmandu and was carrying six people, including pilot Sabin Thapa, when the incident occurred.

According to locals, the chopper suddenly lost balance while landing and fell to the ground.

DSP Prakash Budhathoki, Chief of the District Police Office, Khotang, said that the details of the incident are yet to come. 

Among those on board, Kaji Bahadur Rai sustained injuries., DSP Budhathoki said. 

A helicopter has been dispatched from Kathmandu to carry out rescue operations, it has been learnt. 

The Election Commission (EC) has disclosed a list of 110 Members of Parliament (MP) who have been elected in accordance with the law under the proportional representation electoral system, following the designated 'cluster'. 

The published list reveals that 57 MPs were elected from the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) under this system. 

Additionally, 20 MPs were elected from the Nepali Congress (NC), 16 from the  CPN-UML,  nine from the Nepali Communist Party (NCP), and four each from the Shram Sanskriti Party and the  Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP). 

It was shared in a statement issued today by Krishna Bahadur Raut, Commission's Secretary and Returning Officer for Proportional Representation system. 

In the election held on March 5, a total of 11,280,617 votes were cast for proportional representation with 10,835,025 deemed valid.

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.