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Every year, the US State Department comes up with its annual reports on different thematic issues of the countries with which it has diplomatic relations. Such annual reports provide insights into how the US views other countries. 

In this article, we present the major highlights of the key US reports such as 2023 Investment Climate Statements, Trafficking in Person’s Report, International Religious Freedom Reports and Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.

This week, the US State Department published its Investment Climate Statements. According to the report, hydropower, agriculture, tourism, ICT sector and infrastructure have significant commercial potential for investors. Nepal has an estimated 40,000 megawatts of commercially-viable hydropower electricity generation potential, which could become a major source of income through electricity exports, the report says.

The report recognizes that Nepal has established some investment-friendly laws and regulations in recent years, but significant barriers to investment remain. One of them is corruption which is impeding the investment climate in Nepal. The report states that political uncertainty is a continuing challenge for foreign as well as domestic investors.

Nepal’s ruling parties have spent much of their energy over the last years on internal political power struggles instead of governance, the report says.

The report further states that there is a lack of understanding of international business standards and practices among the political and bureaucratic class, and a legal and regulatory regime that is not quite aligned with international practices also impede, hinder and frustrate foreign investors. 

The Investment Climate Statements also raises questions about the role of trade unions. “Trade unions, each typically affiliated with parties or even factions within a political party, and unpredictable general strikes can create business risks, although this problem, once common, has diminished in recent years.”

The US report also questions the role of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), the national anti-corruption body. It says: “The 2015 constitution empowers the CIAA to conduct investigation of any abuse of authority committed through corruption by any persons holding public office. In practice, according to the report, the CIAA arrests and investigations tend to focus on lower-level government bureaucrats.”

According to the 2022 Corruption Perception Index released by Transparency International (TI), Nepal ranked 110th among 180 countries, placing it in the range of “highly corrupt” countries. In Jan 2018, local media reported that the CIAA is drafting a bill to replace the Prevention of Corruption Act, with the goal of making the new law compatible with the UN Convention against Corruption that Nepal signed in 2011. But the private sector is opposing some of the provisions of the draft. Nepal is not a member of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.

While anti-corruption laws extend to family members of officials and to political parties, the report says, there are no laws and regulations that are specifically designed to counter conflict-of-interest in awarding contracts of government procurements.  

A few months back, the US came up with its International Religious Freedom Report which raised issues that Christian groups continued to report difficulties operating as non-governmental organizations and multiple religiously affiliated organizations reported increased challenges renewing or registering their organizations. Christian groups said they continued to face difficulties buying or using land for burials, especially within the Kathmandu Valley, the report mentions.

It also speaks about the growing influence of India’s Bharatiya Janata Party in Nepal. The report cited Nepali civil society leaders as saying that the influence from India’s ruling party, the Hindu nationalist BJP, and other Hindu groups in India continue to pressure politicians in Nepal, particularly, the pro-Hindu, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, to support reversion to the Hindu state.

The report drew criticisms for its baseless accusation that BJP provided money to Nepali leaders for the Hindu cause. There were reports that the government sought clarification from the US side on the issue but it was never made public.

The US also has significant concerns over the religious freedom of the Tibetan community in Nepal, although the report does mention that there has been some improvement when it comes to the rights of the Tibetan community. The report cites Tibetan community leaders highlighting an increased ability to celebrate some religious and cultural holidays without police interference.

In June this year, the US came up with the Trafficking in Person’s Report which states that Nepal does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but is making significant efforts to do so.

In its Country Reports on Terrorism, the US has raised questions regarding the security situation in Nepal’s international airport as well as the open border that it shares with India. A more significant threat is non-Nepali international terrorist groups using Nepal as a transit/staging point for soft targets, the report says. Because of the open border with India and insufficient security protocols at the country’s sole functioning international airport in Kathmandu, the report says, it could be used as a transit or staging point for international terrorists.

In its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, the US has provided its perspective on various aspects of human rights in Nepal. On transitional justice, the report says the government and judiciary did not significantly address most conflict-era human rights and humanitarian law abuses committed by the Nepal Army, Armed Police Force, police and Maoists. The country’s two transitional justice mechanisms—Commission of Enforced Disappeared Persons and Truth and Reconciliation Commission—are not fully independent.

Out of 753 local governments, 33, comprising 11 municipalities and 22 rural municipalities, have failed to submit their budget for the fiscal year 2023/24 on time, as mandated by the Local Government Operation Act, 2017. On a positive note, Sudurpaschim province achieved a 100 percent record this year, with all 88 local units passing their budgets on time. However, Madhes province continues to struggle, with 24 out of 136 governments failing to meet the deadline.

The primary reason for the budget delays is disagreement between municipal heads and their deputies. This has been a recurring issue, with mayors and chairpersons blaming their deputies and vice-versa. Additionally, political pressure and lack of a majority in some executive committees and councils also contributed to the delays.

To address this problem, experts and officials suggest penalties such as redirecting reduced subsidies to neighboring municipalities or introducing alternative forms of punishment. However, some economists oppose this approach, arguing that the public should not suffer the consequences of corrupt actions by representatives.

Currently, the only repercussion for delayed budget submissions is receiving reduced subsidies from the National Natural Resources and Fiscal Commission. The allocation of subsidies is based on performance, with timely budget presentation and approval carrying significant weightage.

It is crucial to find effective solutions to this issue, as untimely budget allocation negatively impacts local employment, income, and overall economic growth of the country. Efforts are underway to guide and train local representatives in adhering to a fixed set of protocols, with a ‘learning by doing’ approach showing some improvement in timely budget submissions over the years.

Full story here.

If you plan to read one book this summer, please let it be ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ by Bonnie Garmus. It’s such a delight. You will laugh. You will cry. You will jump with joy. You will vow to live life on your own terms and be you, unabashedly so. I absolutely loved this book. I couldn’t put it down. A couple of times, I even hugged it while going to bed. It just made me feel so good and positive about life.

Studded with a dazzling cast, ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ is set in the early 1960s when women scientists were unheard of. Elizabeth Zott is a chemist but she’s not your ‘average woman’. In fact, Elizabeth believes there is no such thing as an average woman.

But the place she works at—the Hastings Research Institute—doesn’t believe in equality. Her boss makes life extremely difficult for her. However, hope comes in the form of the brilliant Nobel-Prize-nominated scientist Calvin Evans who, like her, doesn’t think gender has anything to do with how smart you are. The two fall in love and their relationship isn’t your ‘average’ relationship. It’s a coming together of two great minds.

But life is unpredictable and Elizabeth ends up as a single mother and a reluctant star of a cooking show, Supper at Six. She doesn’t just tell you to put salt and vinegar. It’s sodium chloride and acetic acid, much to the chagrin of the producers who tell her she must be more ladylike. Her viewers think otherwise. They love the show and feel empowered by the way Elizabeth tells them to take charge of their lives while teaching them to cook delicious dishes. This infuriates men and even certain women who believe women have a dutiful place in society and shouldn’t challenge the norms.

‘Lessons in Chemistry’, which is about an exceptional woman struggling to make her place in a man’s world, is basically an exploration of gender discrimination. But it’s also about the essence of love and how your passion—towards work and life—can save you from the depths of despair.

Fiction

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57684325-lessons-in-chemistry 

Lessons in Chemistry

Bonnie Garmus

Published: 2022

Publisher: Penguin Random House

Pages: 390, Paperback

Preeti Kaur, 42, is a Nepali pop singer. In the 2000s, she was well-known for her vocals. She started her career in 2004 and has ever since been a part of the Nepali music industry. To date, she has released more than a dozen songs and albums.

Her interest in music started when she was a child and she came across the songs of Mariah Carey, an American singer and songwriter. “I had her poster, but I realized who she was only after hearing her songs on MTV, a music channel that was hugely popular back in the 90s and 2000s,” she says. Kaur listened to her songs on repeat and tried to imitate the singer’s vocals whenever she could. 

Listening to Mariah Carey made her want to learn Western classical music, but there were no courses offered at the time. So she eventually turned to Eastern classical music. Her professional career began after winning the Shikhar Beat Contest. That, she says, was the starting point of her career. 

She was approached for numerous projects and had the opportunity to perform on stage with a variety of bands, including Nepsiders, Nirnaya, 1974 AD, and Prasna. ‘Dherai Palta’ was the first song she released. It was recorded in one take. She says this song established her position in the Nepali music industry. 

Despite the love and attention she was receiving, she claims she was unsatisfied. Even though she was an established artist at the time, she wanted new experiences. In 2010, she moved to Mumbai in India in search of more opportunities. In three years, she did land up as a background vocalist for the movie ‘Besharam’. But she found it quite challenging to build her reputation from scratch so she decided to return. 

Upon her return to Nepal, she decided to take some time off. Nevertheless, she continued teaching music classes while continuing her musical studies. In response to a request from a friend, in 2015 she uploaded her song ‘Bellydancer’ on YouTube, a month before the devastating Nepal earthquakes. She then released ‘Timrai Lagi’ in 2017 and its studio version in 2021. Since then, she has been working nonstop to bring out new tunes.

Kaur doesn’t focus on a specific genre.  Instead, she experiments a lot. “Everything happens randomly,” she says. She and her band composed songs and melodies for the Shikhar Beat Contest audition in just around 15 minutes. Likewise, influenced by Etta James, an American singer,  ‘Timrai Lagi’ is one of her personal favorites. She views music as an original creation without rigid limitations. “There are no rules. You can take a lot of creative liberties,” says Kaur.

A few months back, she released a new song that differs significantly from her previous releases. It’s a Teej song called ‘Dhalki Dhalki’. She likes her new work and says that working on it was both tough and thrilling. She claims her husband, Kamal Raj Bhatta, inspired her to come up with the song. Kaur credits him for the unwavering motivation he provides at every step of her life. He is a constant cheerleader, she says. 

“Things were a lot easier when I started. Now, an artist’s popularity is influenced by digital trends and it’s just hard to keep up,” she says. She also took a 10-year break from social media, which, in hindsight, she can see has negatively impacted her career. “It’s a bit difficult to catch up with the trends,” says Kaur. Nevertheless, she considers the challenge her opportunity for resurrection in the music world. She is adamant to do what it takes to make a comeback of sorts and become a household name. 

She is currently working on recreating her old song ‘Parewa ko Jodi’, combining it with her own Punjabi folk song. Realizing her tunes must keep up with the changing times, she is trying to weave elements the audience loves into her music.

But what she really wants to do is create music that captures the cultural diversity of Nepal. For now, she’s focused on relaunching herself with the band ‘Pretty & The Boyz’.