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Nepal and India inked a long-term agreement on electricity trade at a secretary-level meeting held in the presence of Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Shakti Bahadur Basnet, on Thursday.

Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Gopal Sigdel and India's Energy Secretary Pankaj Agrawal inked the deal during the two-day visit of India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, in line with an understanding reached between Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi during the former’s visit to India on May 31-June 3 for the export of 10,000 MW from Nepal in the next 10 years.

This agreement has made way for private sectors as well as government entities from Nepal and India to engage in power trade through short-term, medium-term and long-term contracts.  Notably, the government of Nepal has prepared an ambitious energy development strategy, with the objective of generating 28,000 MW in the next 12 years, of which it plans to export 15,000 MW to India and other countries. 

Nepal’s private sector has welcomed the energy deal with India.  Earlier in the day, a delegation under India’s Energy Secretary Agrawal paid a courtesy call on Energy Minister Basnet.  On the occasion, Minister Basnet expressed hope that the agreement on power trade will enhance Nepal-India relations further. 

Meanwhile,  the seventh meeting of Nepal-India Joint Commission concluded by reviewing the entire gamut of bilateral partnership. Minister for Foreign Affairs NP Saud and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar co-chaired the meeting, which discussed trade, connectivity, development projects.  

Jaishankar held separate meetings with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, President Ram Chandra Paudel and other political leaders. After the meeting with PM Dahal, Jaishankar recalled the former’s “successful visit to India in June 2023 which has imparted a new momentum to our ties.”

Jaishankar said they discussed the “follow-up, including through Joint Commission”, adding that India-Nepal friendship is indeed unique and is moving from strength to strength. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said various aspects of Nepal-India relations were discussed under the thematic areas of economic relations, connectivity, trade and transit, power and water resources, education and culture and political matters. 

Key agreements

• Long-term power trade 
• Cooperation in renewable every development 
• Mutual satellite 
• Handover of the fifth tranche of the post-Jajarkot earthquake relief supply 
• Inauguration of three cross-border transmission lines 
• Agreement on high-impact community development project 
• Agreement between Nepal Academy of Science and Technology and NewSpace India Limited 

Nepal and India on Thursday signed a landmark agreement on bilateral energy cooperation, allowing seamless export of Nepal’s energy to the Indian market. As per the agreement, India will purchase up to 10,000 MW electricity in the next 10 years. 

The agreement is a game-changer for Nepal’s hydropower projects because it has ensured market access for Nepal’s electricity. Earlier, international investors were reluctant to invest in Nepal’s hydropower sector due to skepticism regarding market access. 

Similarly, India, Nepal and Bangladesh are working to sign a trilateral energy cooperation which paves the way for Nepal to sell electricity in Bangladesh. The energy-hungry South Asian country is struggling to fulfill its electricity demand. It has reached out to neighboring countries including Nepal with the proposition of importing electricity. 

The agreement makes way for the Indian as well as international investors to invest in Nepal’s hydropower sector. Still, there are concerns over the electricity produced by the Chinese companies. India has refused to purchase electricity produced by Chinese companies or from projects with Chinese components.

The government needs to create a conducive environment for hydropower companies to speed up the construction of projects. 

Hydropower investors often complain of local governments and residents obstructing work at project sites under various pretexts and demands. The federal government should take immediate measures to resolve the problems facing private companies. 

There is a long-list of demands from private investors which should be resolved without any delay. Hydropower is one of the biggest assets of Nepal. The government and its concerned agencies should be serious about dealing with bureaucratic and other hurdles that have been crippling this sector. 

At the same time, India should seriously consider the issues that Nepal has been raising concerning the electricity trade between the two countries.

In today’s era, there are probably few people who do not use Facebook or do not have a Facebook account. However, did you know that people are earning millions of rupees from Facebook? Anyone can earn from it by meeting certain criteria set by Facebook. To be eligible, our Facebook page must comply with the Facebook Monetization Policy and be operated from a country eligible for monetization.

What are the methods of earning income on Facebook?

There are various ways to earn money on Facebook, but content monetization stands as one of the most common and accessible methods for content creators and influencers. Here are a few types of monetization opportunities provided by Facebook officially:

• In-stream ads: These are photo or video ads that play at the beginning, middle, or end of your videos, helping you earn money on Facebook. To use this feature, your page must have at least 5,000 followers, five actively uploaded videos, and 60,000 minutes of watch time in the last 60 days. Additionally, the page should adhere to all policies and be operated from an eligible country for Facebook monetization.
• In-stream ads for Live: This feature allows content creators to monetize their live streams by incorporating enrolled ads during and after the live stream. It's particularly useful for gamers and streamers. This feature is also available for gamers with approved gaming partners and gaming category pages in Nepal. Criteria required for this feature include:

• 10,000 page followers.
• Videos that are at least one minute long.
• At least 600,000 minutes of view-time in the last 60 days.
• At least three previously live active videos.

• Ads on Reels: Similar to the In-stream Ads feature, ads on reels are enrolled on reels. There are no specific requirements for ads on reels; creators from eligible countries are invited to use this feature by Facebook themselves.
• Star bonus: There are no specific criteria to earn from this feature as Facebook itself will send you an invitation. In this feature, your followers send you stars on your video or live video, and you get paid for the stars you receive (approximately $1 for every 100 stars). This is similar to the gifts people receive on TikTok during live streaming or after posting a video. For this, your page must adhere to all policies and must be operated from a star-eligible country. Nepal is also listed as a Star eligible country.
• Subscription feature: Similar to the star feature, this feature is also by invitation from Facebook. Your followers have to subscribe to your page or profile by paying a subscription fee, allowing them to view and respond to your premium content after subscribing. This feature permits you to set the subscription amount within the range given by Facebook, starting from $7.99.

Which countries are eligible for Facebook monetization?

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Romania, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Netherlands, Philippines, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates (UAE ), UK and USA.

Which languages are eligible for monetization?

Eligible languages for Monetize includes Arabic, Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Dutch, English, French, German, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Indonesian, Japanese, Kannada, Khmer, Korean, Malay, Malayalam, Mandarin, Marathi, Odia, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu and Vietnamese.

Can Facebook be monetized from Nepal?

The short answer is ‘No’. Nepal has not yet been included in Facebook’s list of monetizable countries, except for ‘live gamers’ and ‘Star bonus’, which allow monetization.

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority recently marked the International Day against Corruption with the slogan ‘UN-CAC at 20; Uniting the World Against Corruption’. 

Despite high-sounding slogans, corruption remains pervasive in Nepal and a legal provision in the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority Act-1991 even prevents CIAA from investigating certain government decisions, including ‘policy decisions’, apart from nexus between powerful elements of our society.   

Section 4 (B) of the CIAA Act states: “The Commission, pursuant to the Act-1991, shall not take any action in matters relating to any business or decisions taken at meetings of any house of Parliament or of any committee or anything said or done by any member at such meetings, or any policy decisions taken by the council of ministers or any committee thereof or judicial actions of a court of law.”

If such controversial provisions are not amended or done away with altogether, nobody can curb corruption in this country, given the tendency to misuse the provision on ‘policy decisions’ to make legally questionable decisions and avoid legal action, among others. Existing corruption laws, particularly the CIAA Act, and Prevention of Corruption Act should be immediately amended to control corruption, which poses a grave threat to democracy, human rights, good governance and the rule of law. 

Ulla Termacs, Danish minister for development co-operation, rightly states: “Corruption in the form of bribery and misuse of public funds is a major obstacle to democracy in many of the world’s poor countries.’’ 

Back to the Big Day. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said on the occasion that his government was committed to ending corruption in coordination with public and private sectors, and civil society members. However, he did not touch upon the topic of legal amendments necessary to combat corruption. 

Apparently, this type of rhetoric is good for raising awareness to end corruption, but never sufficient to end the scourge itself. 

What’s more, corruption has become cancerous in Nepal, so one or two constitutional-legal provisions are unlikely to offer a complete cure, though the measure may be able to curb it a bit. Political will is what is needed to fight this scourge. 

It will be contextual to quote Bhimrao Ambedkar, father of the Indian Constitution, in this context: “However good the constitution may be, if those who are implementing it are not good, it will prove to be bad. However bad a constitution may be, if those implementations are  good, it will prove to be good.” 

PM Dahal correctly stated on the occasion that controlling corruption will be difficult without internalizing international anti-corruption conventions and without making suitable changes in our education policy to spread the message in society that corruption is unacceptable.

If corruption continues to thrive in our country, there will be no room for good governance, the rule of law, progress, prosperity and human rights. 

Our country has witnessed countless corruption scandals, including the infamous Lalita Niwas land grab, the Ncell scam, the 60-kg gold smuggling scandal and the Bhutanese refugee scam, thanks to the association of some powerful names. Much has been written about these shameful chapters. 

Nothing is transparent except corruption in this country and nothing more rampant than corruption, thriving as it is under some very powerful noses. Moreover, policy-level corruption has tarnished the image of the country nationally and internationally. Officials of relevant agencies seem helpless in fighting corruption because they have the obligation to serve their political masters, who appoint them on their respective parties’ quotas. 

Appointment of political parties’ near and dear ones in important positions is also a reason behind unabated corruption. If the parties and the government are serious about controlling corruption, they should discontinue this practice and appoint deserving candidates instead.  

All this takes the ball back to the Prime Minister’s court. 

The PM, who also happens to be the contact agency for the implementation of the UN General Convention against Corruption, should wake up to the threat that corruption poses to the country and do every bit to put an end to it. 

The author is a former vice-chair of Transparency International Nepal