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Sunday’s Supreme Court order in response to a habeas corpus writ has given rise to hopes that high-profile politicians, allegedly involved in the process of transferring government land at Lalita Niwas in the name of private individuals, will be brought under investigation. 

The SC has directed the government to expand the investigation to include the top decision-makers, making way for bringing former prime ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal and Baburam Bhattarai under the ambit of the probe. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has issued arrest warrants against those charged with involvement in the scam as part of an ongoing probe that has already netted about two dozen people. Thus far, high-level politicians have been able to avoid the investigation using political clout. 

Two years ago, the SC had completed its final hearing on a writ petition seeking its order to also probe former prime ministers Nepal and Bhattarai in the Lalita Niwas scam. A division bench of the then Chief Justice Cholendra Shamsher Rana and Justice Nahakul Subedi was to issue its verdict on 1 Nov 2021. But that was not to be as legal professionals started their protest against the then Chief Justice Rana.

As the judges’ and lawyers’ protest intensified, 98 lawmakers from the Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Center), and CPN (Unified Socialist), among others, filed an impeachment motion in the Parliament against then CJ Rana on 13 Feb 2022, leading to his suspension. Rana completed his term in suspension even as the motion itself suffered an uncertain fate. 

“This case will be forever alive if the ex-PMs are not subjected to a probe. The court order should make way for investigations into other scams”  -Former DIG Hemanta Malla Thakuri

Senior Advocate Bal Krishna Neupane had filed a writ petition after the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) refused to press charges against the two former prime ministers, arguing that cabinet decisions were beyond its jurisdiction. Neupane contended that it was unjust to give reprieve to the former prime ministers, while ministers from the same cabinet could be charged.

Former chief of CIAA Surya Nath Upadhaya says the former prime ministers will definitely be brought under probe as the court has already ordered it. “But it’s difficult to prove them guilty,” he adds. “It’s not the task of a prime minister to get involved in the land allocation process. Prime ministers don’t have time for these tasks.” I don’t think the former prime ministers are directly involved in the case, he says.

Former DIG of Nepal Police Hemanta Malla Thakuri says that as the court has already issued its verdict, it will be a bit easier for the police or the CIAA to investigate the case anew. “The investigating agency has back-up support now,” he says. “Without this kind of support, cases involving high-profile figures like former prime ministers are always an uphill battle.” 

Notably, Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar and Chandra Dev Joshi, ministers in the cabinets of Nepal and Bhattarai respectively, were brought under the scope of the probe, even as Prime Ministers Nepal and Bhattarai, as well as the Chief Secretary authenticating cabinet decisions, remained exempt.

Justices Sinha and Chudal on Sunday ordered that the investigation should encompass all individuals engaged in the decision-making process starting from the top of the pyramid. The order has cleared the way for investigating agencies to include the two former prime ministers in their probe.

The cabinet meeting held on 11 April 2010 under then PM Nepal had decided to hand over government land in the names of private individuals. When the Land Revenue Office, Dillibazar, refused to execute the decision, stating that the task fell under the jurisdiction of the Land Reforms Office (LRO, the same cabinet decided that land revenue offices could handle the responsibilities of the LRO. On 13 Aug 2010, the cabinet decided to add names of some landowners and tenants “that were missing from the previous list”.

“It’s not the task of a PM to get involved in the land allocation process, so it will be difficult to prove the two former PMs guilty in this case” -Former CIAA chief Surya Nath Upadhyaya

The cabinet meeting held on 4 Oct 2012 under Bhattarai not only agreed, in principle, to hand over the Lalita Niwas land, which was under the Samarjung Company—an entity under the Ministry of Home Affairs—to Pashupati Tikinya Guthi, but also created fake tenants.

“This case will be forever alive if the probing bodies don’t subject Nepal and Bhattarai to investigation. Remember, the court has already ordered that they be brought under probe,” says Thakuri. “This landmark verdict will also help the police and the CIAA to probe other cases involving high-profile figures,” he adds.

Sunday’s Supreme Court order directing the government to bring top decision-makers under the purview of investigation in connection with the Lalita Niwas land-grab is well within the broader constitutional framework.

Yes, the court order came in response to a habeas corpus petition from one of the individuals arrested in connection with the scam. In response to habeas corpus writs, the courts of law in democracies like the United Kingdom examine whether the arrests are in accordance with the law.

If the arrests are in contravention of the law, the courts order the release of the arrestees. It’s true that the petitioner had not demanded that the highest government officials involved in the decision-making process vis-a-vis the land-grab be brought under investigation.

But claims from certain quarters that the apex court, the final interpreter of the Constitution, has overstepped its jurisdiction are far-fetched. The court order is well within constitutional bounds. 

The author is a Constitutional Lawyer

The price of rice, Nepal’s staple food, is escalating in the domestic market right after India announced a global ban on the export of all varieties of rice, save the Basmati. The move from New Delhi came after Russia announced its withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Deal in the midst of the Ukraine war, straining a war-hit supply system and aggravating the global food crisis. 

Despite hints that the ban may not apply to Nepal and the government’s assurance that there’s enough stock to last three months after which a new harvest season will begin, panic buying has been going unabated and the traders have been making hay. 

In a very short span of time, traders have raised the prices of different varieties of rice by more than 16 percent in the domestic market.

“When I inquired about the price of a 25 kg rice sack some days ago, the shopkeeper said Rs 2,300. But when I visited the shop the next day, the price had already increased by Rs 200. The shopkeeper said the price would rise further as he was running out of stock. That’s why I bought two sacks of rice,” said Parbati Dahal, a resident of Naya Thimi.

Many more customers like Dahal are opting for panic buying, fearing the unavailability of rice in the market in the coming days. But the government officials say there is no reason to panic. 

“We have food grains for three months at least. The new paddy will be ready in October-November,” says Gajendra Kumar Thakur, director-general at the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection.

In response to increasing complaints from consumers about the price hike, government authorities have a readymade answer: “We have been monitoring the market daily.”

Thakur says it is difficult to immediately find out whether there is black marketeering going on, as people get their foodstuffs from wholesalers, distributors and retailers. 

“We have been collecting data from the market and analyzing them. The reported price hike is under investigation,” adds Thakur.

The department has requested consumers to lodge complaints against price gouging by calling at its two numbers: 5343939 and 5347992.  

India has imposed a ban on the export of non-Basmati rice across the globe despite objections from the international community. The export policy of non-Basmati white rice, semi milled or wholly milled rice, whether or not polished or glazed, is amended from “free to prohibited,” according to a notification from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade.

According to one official, discussions are underway with the Indian government to exempt Nepal from the ban list. 

The Indian rice ban has also affected the prices of Nepali rice. Dev Kumar Shrestha, who runs a rice mill at Lagankhel, Lalitpur, says as this is an off-season for rice production, it is usually normal for the prices to go up during this time. But he does admit that the hike rates have been unreasonable after the Indian ban of rice export.   

“Big traders who are in power and are making huge profits by causing an artificial crisis,” says Shrestha. “When they raise the price, we too have to buy at an increased rate, which has caused the price increase.”   

Shrestha says since India has not banned the export of Basmati rice, high quality rice including long grain, Basmati rice should be easily available. “There is an ample supply of low quality rice, only the middle quality rice varieties are hard to get. Still, there is a panic among consumers.”

Some shopkeepers have stopped ordering rice because they are finding it difficult to sell them due to the price hike. Fanindra Shrestha, a grocer from Buddhanagar, Kathmandu, is one of them. He says the customers who visit his shop return empty handed after hearing the new price list of the rice varieties.  

“I cannot convince them, so I thought it is best not to order more rice because my customers are not going to buy them,” says Fanindra.

When there is a price hike of any goods in the market, it affects the consumers and eventually the supply chain. Those with purchasing power can buy and hoard any amount of goods that are in short supply, whereas the poor consumers cannot afford them. 

Market experts warn this could create an imbalance in the demand and supply, upsetting the market.

Several traders and experts that ApEx spoke with suggest that the government needs to come up with a long-term solution to address the issue, as this is not the first time the country has experienced such a scenario. They say that the government should take the initiative to make Nepal self-reliant when it comes to essential food items including rice. 

“We must increase our domestic rice production,” says Shrestha, the rice mill owner from Lagankhel. “By doing so we will no longer be dependent on foreign countries for rice.”

My grandfather, 82 years but not old, is the wisest man I know. He is a lawyer and I remember going to court to see his advocacy, which would be so classy that I still get goose-bumps. He would come back home, study for a couple of hours daily, recite religious books and do yoga. He was the perfection that anybody could imagine. As he retired 10 years back from active practice, I gifted him a smartphone to kill the possible boredom. Was that a mistake? Did I make him a scroller from the scholar?

Nowadays, he is on his phone most of the time. He is not interested in study, religious books or yoga. When we insist, he would say, he did enough on his days, and continue with scrolling. On the other hand, I have a nephew, who is eight years old. We could not prevent exposing him to mobile from his early years. He wouldn’t feed or poop without rhymes. At two years old, he was already unlocking my phone, using a pattern, and would sing different English rhymes. “This guy is a genius”, I thought but I was just encouraging him to be a scroller. Nowadays, he spends almost 6 hours a day in front of the screen, which would double on weekends. He fights for mobile, skips his homeworks, throws tantrums on trivial issues, keeps busy to himself, and seldom talks with the relatives. It looks as if we even have to make an appointment to see him. 

Sometimes I wonder if it is only my grandfather and my nephew, but as I observe, it’s similar in me, my wife, my friends, relatives, and most of the people around me. Different games, social media, YouTube and especially short videos are stealing our time. Every time, we promise to scroll for a few minutes and realize after an hour or two. You may argue the academic need of scrolling but believe me, it’s beyond. We are gradually and unknowingly moving to be scrollers from scholars.

Would you be surprised, if I tell you, “This is an addiction, similar to that of addiction to alcohol or cigarette”? Do you believe that this is an illness? 

Yes! You should.

There is something called “Internet addiction” or “Gaming disorder” in standard textbooks and it is gaining a huge amount of attention nowadays. Internet addiction is increasing exponentially and approximately, with one in every 10 people already affected. The World Health Organization formally included Internet gaming disorder as a mental disorder from 2018. The brain mechanism behind the addiction to the internet and alcohol is similar. There is a huge surge of dopamine, which gives reward for the act and compels us to repeat the act.

Internet gaming disorder is often together with or may be caused by childhood neurodevelopmental disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), depression or anxiety. Other risk factors are stress, dysfunctional families, loneliness, poor academic performance, being bullied, interpersonal problems, anxiety and depression.

Different forms of addiction

Cyber-relational

Excessive tendency to establish relationships with people met online, which quickly becomes over-involving and individuals neglect their relationships with friends and family members.

Info overload

Characterized by an increased search for information on the web, many of them unnecessary, like short entertainment videos in youtube and social media. 

Cybersexual 

There is frequent use of adult-videos and virtual sex sites and engage in adult-only chats. 

Gaming

Excessive involvement in games and online activities such as gambling, compulsive shopping, etc.

The internet provides many opportunities but there is a downside. Some people suffer from diminished control over their use, and there are many reports of people gaming or watching series for days without rest. Given the increased use of the internet in this era of social distancing and remote working, it is important to assess harm caused by online addictive behaviors. The outcomes of the disorder could be academic decline, interpersonal relationship problems, family conflict, sleep deprivation, physical health problems like neck stiffness, loneliness, suicidal tendencies, aggression, depression, social withdrawal, cybercrimes and future decline in workplace competitiveness. 

For objective assessment, the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) is applied by professionals. WHO recommends no screen time for children less than one year old, no more than an hour for 2-5 year-olds, with less time preferred, which can be doubled in weekdays under observation. It is similar for adolescents and adults, no more than an hour a day of screen time. Instead, involvement in social interaction and physical activity is encouraged.

On excessively using the internet, children and adolescents first become unable to prioritize or keep schedules, avoid work or procrastinate, then develop symptoms of depression or anxiety, and may even appear agitated when forced to stop by a caregiver. Therefore, internet and gaming-addicted children and adolescents urgently need an early and effective treatment and prevention program. But there is prevalence of parents’ unwillingness to accept internet addiction as a mental disorder, or parents’ misunderstanding that pharmacological treatment is harmful for gaming-addicted youth.

Treatment for internet addiction is comprehensive and multimodal. Psychosocial interventions include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), reality therapy (RT), and multi-level counseling (MLC) programs, solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT), which are delivered via individual-session psychotherapy, family-based therapy or group-based supportive psychotherapy. The 20-20-20 rule (take a 20-second break every 20 minutes and view something 20 feet away is beneficial. Medical management is for the treatment of the co-occurring anxiety, depression or ADHD.

As a preventive strategy against this addiction, we should focus on raising awareness and training parents, teachers, and other supporters early on, for early intervention. The rule of thumb is to establish healthy internet use habits early in life, which can prevent children from becoming the victims of internet gaming disorder and scholars from scrollers.

The author is a resident doctor at Department of Psychiatry, Patan Academy of Health Sciences