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Dear readers,

This week, KP Sharma Oli, chairperson of CPN-UML, was sworn in as prime minister for the fourth time in his decades-long political career. He first became prime minister in 2015 during India’s economic blockade, led a communist government in 2018 with support from more than two-thirds of the parliament, and briefly served again in 2021.

Oli had not expected to return to power so soon. If the alliance between CPN (Maoist Center) and UML had continued, Pushpa Kamal Dahal might have handed power to Oli after two years. However, by allying with the largest party in the Parliament, the Nepali Congress, Oli returned to power this week. According to their agreement, he will hand over power to NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba after two years. Initially, the NC and UML had mooted a national unity government with the Maoist Center. The plan was to let Dahal lead for an additional year, then hand over to Oli, who would eventually pass the leadership back to Deuba. This proposal fell through as the NC and UML doubted Dahal. Including all major parties in a national unity government would have been ideal. 

Soon after his appointment Prime Minister Oli formed a 22-member cabinet without the delays seen in the past, which is a positive start. But the cabinet has faced scrutiny for its poor representation of women, Dalits and other marginalized communities. The new government's main priorities are stability, economic recovery and constitutional amendments. However, the agreement between the NC and UML has not been publicized, and the coalition has yet to present its Common Minimum Program (CMP). Oli is expected to outline the government’s policies and priorities during his address to the parliament on July 21, while seeking a vote of confidence. 

Major powers, including India, the US and China, have congratulated Oli on his appointment. Foreign ambassadors in Kathmandu are also visiting Singhadurbar to congratulate the new ministers. These powers are keenly awaiting the NC-UML coalition’s foreign policy blueprint. Observers are interested in how the two parties, with differing views on some issues, align their positions to present a unified message on bilateral and global matters. In the past, the UML has criticized the NC for failing to balance relations between India and China. 

Now, with the two parties working together, close coordination among the top leadership is essential to avoid contradictory messages. The newly-appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs, Arzu Rana Deuba, has pledged to maintain balanced and cordial relations with major powers. Incidentally, Nepal established formal diplomatic relations with the Republic of Kiribati this week. Nepal now has formal diplomatic ties with 183 countries, which is a good thing. We hope Nepal’s diplomacy will further expand and prosper under Deuba’s tenure.

On the economic front, Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index hit a 26-month high and breached the psychological 2,300-point mark this week. The stock market rally coincided with UML Vice-chairperson Bishnu Prasad Poudel’s return to the finance ministry. While this stock market bump bodes well for Paudel, he still has a challenge of addressing some crucial issues, such as increasing capital expenditure, stimulating loan demand, boosting private confidence, and making the market dynamic.

How will the latest coalition government under Prime Minister Oli fare? It is too early to tell but Prime Minister Oli’s one-week in office leaves a lot to be desired. The prime minister has spent his first week attending public functions, rather than channelizing his time and energies on prime ministerial duties, especially at a time when the country is facing several challenges. As the leader of the country, Oli should inspire optimism among the people, restore faith in the government. 

In the coming weeks, people will closely watch the new government’s activities and performance. There is high hope that the government will take initiatives to improve the economy, create jobs, and inspire confidence in the populace about their future.

Meanwhile, out of power, CPN (Maoist Center) leader Dahal has started forming a strong opposition by bringing together fringe communist parties. This week, he organized a meeting with parties including CPN (Unified Socialist) led by Madhav Kumar Nepal. With the NC and UML forming a coalition, the opposition parties are in a weaker position in the parliament. Dahal aims to unite Maoist splinter groups to bolster his influence. When in power, Dahal often disregards these smaller parties, but out of power, he aligns with their agendas. 

In another story this week, a landslide swept away two buses and plunged them into a flood-swollen Trishuli River at Simaltal in Bharatpur Metropolitan City-29, Chitwan district. Of the 65 passengers, three survived, while 62 others were swept away. As of Thursday, authorities have managed to recover 18 bodies. The government has formed a committee to investigate and sought assistance from India, Bangladesh and other countries for rescue operations. 

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the deceased and those still missing in the tragic accident. Let’s hope the search operation is successful, and that the new government comes up with a solution to make our highways safer for travel, particularly during the monsoon season.      

That’s all for this week. 

Plastics have been an inevitable part of our daily life. From dawn to dusk, our hands are full of plastic materials. From the toothbrush to health and beauty products in the morning, and  mobile, laptop, and teacups we use throughout the day, are all made up of plastics. Plastics seem to have confined our daily activities and are playing a crucial role as we humans have been embracing them. Human dynamics would be in trouble if plastics get discarded instantly. The basic needs will crumble and the modern world would seem naked without plastics. Hence, there is no doubt, everything is interweaved in plastics.

Places with no apparent human activities are disturbed by plastic pollution. Plastics and its small particles have reached everywhere from the highest peak, Mt Everest to the bottom of the oceans. The pervasive presence of plastics has the potential to transform our once vibrant world into a lifeless one.

What happens to plastics in the long run?

Eventually, these plastics degrade and break into small pieces and the process continues further like mitosis. This transformation is due to physical, chemical or biological degradation. This process continues at a very slow rate and takes several hundred years depending on the properties of plastics. Even microscopic plastics have the same potential to disrupt the functioning of the environment in which they are present, or even more than their parent form. These microscopic plastics have a name: micro-nano-plastics!

What exactly is microplastics?

Micro-plastics are small particles of plastics having a thickness less than 5 mm. However, there is a misconception among people that microplastic are microscopic only, while they are visible through naked eyes as well. Other forms of microscopic plastics include nano plastics having a thickness less than 1 nanometer, which is approximately 40 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.  These microplastics come from our kitchen while chopping vegetables and fruits and scrape them off from a plastic chopping board or even from food packaging. 

Have you ever heard of a plastic polymer, Teflon? It is used in non-stick cookware. 

Under every circumstance, our habits are generally engrained in plastics which ultimately has caused the expulsion of microplastics in the environment. 

Is microplastic everywhere?

Delving into five of our basic needs into consideration: air, water, food, clothes and shelter, we can in a way find them exposed with the microplastics. We are already  aware that the air we breathe is massively polluted. According to the research carried out in surface road dust in three cities, higher microplastics were observed in commercial areas like shops and restaurants. Among the study areas, higher concentration of microplastic was observed in Da Nang and Kathmandu as compared to Kusats in surface road dust. Even in the Polar Regions where human dominance is less or absent , plastic pollution levels have been increasing alarmingly. 

Human tissues and organs are contaminated with microplastics. Scientists from the Netherlands found microplastic in human blood with a dominant Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) polymer. A study carried out in the USA proved that microplastics have been transferred through the food chain and food web within the trophic structures. Although microplastics are omnipresent and omnipotent, it is beyond the scope of estimation. It’s all because micro-plastics are heterogeneous and do not have uniform spatial distribution. What do you think are the other reasons? 

Footprint of plastics and microplastics

Plastics have reached wherever humans had left their footprint. Even the arctic region has been facing plastic pollution issues. Among the seven continents, all of the continents are found to have been contaminated by microplastics. Antarctica being one of the globally important regions for carbon sink and indicator region for Climate Change, is potentially under threat due to overwhelming plastic pollution. According to one research carried out in Antarctica, microplastics of nylon and polyethylene polymer were dominant in the benthic macroinvertebrates. This shows that there is a higher probability of transfer of microplastics to higher trophic level through the food web/ food chain. However, a detailed research is missing on distribution, transfer and accumulation of micro-plastics over ecosystems.  

Plastics for birds: Boon or curse?

We’ve been witnessing incidents where fish get entangled in plastic nets and marine animals ingest plastics. Have you ever witnessed such incidents? Maybe not. However, one of my friends shared that she rescued Barn Swallow, a common neighborhood bird near houses in hills of Nepal, from the scrambled polythene bags on a road. You might have seen it atleast on social media. It is evident that bird entanglement occurs in plastic materials. Adding more to this, plastic entanglements are also observed inside the body of birds in guts, stomach, gastro-intestinal tracts, etc. Many researches show the presence of microplastics inside the body of birds. Even the lungs seem to be contaminated by microplastics by inhalation through air according to few researches. Polypropylene, polyethylene, and ethylene vinyl acetate are the major dominant polymer types found in the lungs of avifauna in Japan. Gut obstruction and subsequent starvation are health issues observed in France due to micro-plastics contamination on birds. Ever since, plastics are now nesting materials for birds, majorly in urban areas. The study carried out in Spain found that the rate of mortality and predation was higher in nests made from plastic materials than nests free from plastics. It may herald that Predators get attracted to the vibrant colors of plastics.

Are microplastic harmful?

While delving deeper, exploring the occurrence, abundance, and distribution of microplastics across different layers is a significant advancement. However, it remains crucial to urgently investigate and understand the impact of microplastic contamination on the environment and, ultimately, human health. Some research revealed that humans on longer exposure to micro-plastics through either air, water or food can face a challenge of loss of bone tissue, liver and lungs inflammation and cancer, change in metabolic activities and many abnormalities. The facial products with microplastics can enhance the rate of penetration of UV rays through skin tissues as well. One of the research exposed that even the neurological and reproductive activities get altered if we are exposed to certain chemicals contaminated by plastic polymers. Once the health of humans, the guardian of the Earth, is under threat due to microplastics, the future shall be insane. So, we must call for action as micro-plastics taint its pristine zones and devastate the ecosystem as a whole where the Earth seems to be lifeless.

The global organizer of the World Earth Day has announced the theme as Planet vs Plastics for the year 2024 with the aim of reducing 60 percent of plastics by 2040 and creating a plastic-free Earth. “All this plastic was produced by a petrochemical industry with an abysmal record of toxic emissions, spills, and explosions,” said Denis Hayes, a Chair Emeritus of earthday.org. Although if the plastic production ceased, the remnant plastics over the Earth that have been produced and distributed so far seems very difficult to manage. Attempting to reduce the use of single-use plastics and the application of circular economy is a way further to enhance the green environment. Several advances in the contemporary approach  of 3 R’s principles have been driven drastically by several global environmental issues. One of the reasons is plastic pollution and its solution.

Nepal’s economic situation is still in a  bad shape. According to the International Monetary Fund, the GDP growth is expected to recover modestly to 3.1 percent in the fiscal year 2023/24 from a weak two percent growth in the previous fiscal year. This achievement was made mainly  due to strong performance of export-oriented sectors and supported by increased agricultural production. 

IMF says capital spending is still weak, however, and imports are recovering only gradually, with year-on-year growth still negative. Political uncertainty continues to act as a headwind to growth. But the bright side is Nepali Congress and CPN-UML have come together to ensure political stability which is likely to contribute to the recovery. 

Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index hit a 26-month high and breached the psychological 2,300-point mark on Tuesday. The stock market rally coincided with CPN-UML Vice-chairperson Bishnu Prasad Paudel’s return to the finance ministry for his third stint as the finance minister. The stock market rally bodes well for Paudel who has inherited a troubled economy. The government has struggled to increase capital expenditure, stimulate loan demand, boost private sector confidence and make the market dynamic. 

Paudel needs to restore investor confidence and stimulate economic growth. He has signaled his intent to focus on production and employment which is necessary given the current state of Nepal’s economy.  The banking sector has seen only a five percent increase in credit growth which is far below the government’s target of 11 percent. The sluggish credit growth is indicative of a broader economic malaise that Paudel must address.

The new finance minister also needs to tackle the issue of idle capital in the banking sector. With banks sitting on approximately Rs 700bn of loanable funds, Paudel needs to create an environment conducive to investment. This will be possible only through policy reforms and by bringing different initiatives to boost investor confidence and create opportunities for investments.

Effective implementation of the new fiscal budget will be another significant challenge for the new finance minister. Paudel must navigate the complexities of implementing a budget prepared by his predecessor. The fact that Paudel’s party, UML, publicly expressed dissatisfaction with certain aspects of the budget will make things further complicated for Paudel.

Minister Paudel also faces the challenge of improving public expenditure management and revenue collection. With capital expenditure falling short and revenue collection missing targets once again in the fiscal year 2023/24, Paudel must find ways to enhance government spending capacity and boost revenue streams for the government. 

Infrastructure development will be another challenging issue for Paudel. The Federation of Contractors Associations of Nepal (FCAN), the industry lobby of construction entrepreneurs, has claimed that the government owes contractors around Rs 40bn billion for completed works. It remains to be seen how Paudel resolves this issue and kick-starts new infrastructure projects which are crucial for economic growth and job creation.

Paudel must also address the challenges in the financial markets. The process of appointing a new chairperson for the Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) has seen legal complexities. Many are saying that this contributed to the failure of the ruling coalition of UML and CPN (Maoist Center). The new finance minister will need to handle this issue carefully to ensure stability in the stock market which is often described as a mirror of the economy.

The new finance minister will also need to tackle inflation and maintain price stability. This will require careful management of monetary policy in coordination with the central bank. The finance minister enjoys a good rapport with Nepal Rastra Bank Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari who was appointed by the government led by his party.  

The finance minister will need to demonstrate strong leadership and implement effective policies to regain public and investor confidence. For this, he will have to introduce investor-friendly policies, streamline bureaucratic processes, combat corruption and improve the overall business environment. Additionally, he will need to work closely with other government agencies, the private sector, and international development partners to implement comprehensive economic reforms.

Paudel’s previous experience as finance minister in 2015 and 2021-2022 may prove valuable in navigating these challenges. However, overcoming these obstacles will require not only experience but also innovation, determination, and the ability to build consensus among various stakeholders.

Imagine that you are having your best moments: Listening to your favorite song, sipping cappuccino or lemonade, and it’s raining outside. You feel at ease, forgetting the constant chatter of your mind for a while. You wish this moment could last forever. But the truth of existence is impermanence, and this moment will also pass. 

In Buddhist teachings, the desire for things to stay the same forever is a mistaken view, as everything is constantly changing on both obvious and subtle levels. When something is pleasant and gives us fleeting joy, we consider it a good change. However, when something goes against our preferences, we don’t appreciate it. We become attached to people, images and things, wanting them to stay with us forever. 

However, the truth is that everything is part of a continuum. If we think back to when we were seven years old, many changes have occurred physically and psychologically since then. Are we the same person or a different one? We are neither the same nor different. Our cells are constantly changing, being born and dying, and our thoughts and feelings change in intensity and texture. The moment that happened yesterday will never happen again, making it like a past lifetime. The more we become aware of these inevitable truths, the easier it becomes to accept the ebbs and flows of life. 

The joy of mindfulness 

Mindfulness is the gentle, attentive knowing of the present moment. We needn’t make an incessant effort or feel pressure to be mindful, but a sense of delicate, relaxed state of mind is important. When our minds are calm, we have experienced that mindfulness becomes easier, but if we try with rigidity, it can cause discomfort or even hallucinations. 

Be here now 

We are in one place, and our minds are wildly wandering beyond our comprehension; it often becomes an unfathomable riddle, a tapestry of confusions, polarizations, and kleshas. We are haunted by the past and future, but the past has already happened, and the karma we do now determines the future. Buddha advises us to maintain awareness of the present moment. 

The cause of suffering 

Klesha is a Sanskrit word meaning defilements, an emotional affliction. Our samsaric confusions, attachments, and ignorance contribute to the defilements, and the karmic seeds can intensify due to it. Buddha’s followers focus on the inside; they don’t see any point in blaming the external world. But they work on their own conceptual mind (Sem in Tibetan)—which is dualistic and causes polarizations—their own klesha. Once we begin to work on our own klesha, we experience gradual transformation in our perspectives, the way we think, feel and act. Buddhism considers the mind more significant than the body. As Trungpa Rinpoche calls it, ‘Nostalgia for samsara’, which refers to the ruminations of fleeting experiences, and we grasp at them. But we all have basic goodness. As Mingyur Rinpoche says, we have love, compassion, wisdom and awareness all the time; we just have to recognize them. 

Just as it is 

We have a habitual tendency to label and impute phenomena or inner dimensions. We hardly can accept things as they are and as we are. Things are neither good nor bad; they are just as they are. We can practice letting our thoughts, feelings and mental patterns be as they are, giving them space and reversing them, making friends with our beautiful monsters. Our antidote must be ‘Just As It Is’. We can practice open awareness meditation formally and informally as well. We allow everything to be as it is, leaving the mind as it is without any fabrication or adaptation. If it’s good, we let it be as it is; if unpleasant, we let it be as it is. Pema Chodron, a renowned Buddhist nun, says it’s a practice that can burn the karmic seeds. 

Relative and absolute truths

On the relative level, whatever we experience with our senses is true, and they have incredible power to keep us stuck in a vicious cycle of dissatisfaction. iPhone, Rolex, BMW are relative truths, and we may have attachments, cravings, or sometimes aversion to these things. Ultimately, things don't exist as they appear, the way we think. They are empty of any reality that our conceptual mind imposes on them; yet they aren’t nothing. Even though they are like illusions, they trouble us, they make us cry, as Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse puts it correctly. They are very powerful illusions. It’s like what the great Buddhist master Shantideva uses as an analogy: A woman has a child in a dream and begins a great attachment toward the child, and unfortunately, the child dies. Then the woman gets depressed, nostalgic and anxious. However, having a child and its death are both creations of the mind, a dream, an illusion. Our sufferings have this quality of being dreamlike, so we can simply let it go; they are like a rainbow or a shadow. If we apply wisdom, they don’t trouble us much. We can suffer, but the suffering will also be a beautiful experience in itself. Thich Nhat Hanh says that if we know how to suffer, we suffer much less. 

Daily reminders 

Each practice of a Buddhist practitioner comes down to the inescapable truths of impermanence, dukkha, non-self, and at a deeper level, emptiness. We can begin with the contemplation of impermanence and suffering at the beginning. How is everything changing? Being aware of it can deepen our pursuit of truth. We just need to pause, slow down, or take a few long breaths and notice what thoughts, feelings, or sensations are present. And don’t hurry to judge them as good or bad. And don't expect to find any result in just one day—it’s a sustained, long-term practice. From a Buddhist standpoint, we are working on the karmic stock of innumerable lifetimes, which isn’t so easy to clear. Otherwise, we could become enlightened in no time. It needs the accumulation of merits, practicing the paramitas, bodhichitta, compassion, wisdom, skillful means, and so forth. The Buddha advises us to practice virtues. Our mind produces our sufferings, so the Buddha advises us to know our mind. We can start by taking note of our mind with the help of everyday activities. So let’s try bringing mindfulness into drinking water, walking, or browsing social media, and so on. It can engage us in the now-ness. We can constantly remind ourselves that everything is dependent on other things and is bound to change. An important practice is to become grateful to this present moment because it is unique, and is solely available to us if we really care.

The writer is a Buddhist practitioner, teacher and student