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How is the state of air pollution in our federal capital? Those who breathe in the city air day in, day out know all too well. It will be no wonder if our relevant state organs at local, provincial and federal levels too know about air pollution in the city as it is a small world and those at the helm of those organs also take in the same air.

Recent data from IQAir, whose website claims that it operates the world’s largest free real-time air quality monitoring platform—empowering individuals, researchers and governments to monitor, understand and act to protect the health of populations around the globe—show how unhealthy, how polluted, how unbreathable air is becoming worldwide. 

For example, live AQI (air quality index) City Ranking of around 4 pm, February 27 has a faraway Dakar, the capital city of Senegal in Africa, as the city with the worst air quality ranking (235). Then come a series of cities in our immediate neighborhood, including Beijing, which stands third in terms of worst air quality with an AQI (air quality index) score of 188, Mumbai, which stands fourth with a score of 177, Kolkata (fifth) with a score of 167, Shanghai (sixth) with a score of 165 and Dhaka (seventh) with a score of 162. Per IQAir data, our federal capital is not lagging much far behind these mega cities as it figures as the ninth worst city in terms of air quality with a score of 153 as second-place Hanoi (196) and eighth-place Istanbul (155) give it some breathing space.

Per the website, AQI 0-50 is good, 51-100 moderate, 101-150 unhealthy for sensitive groups, 151-200 unhealthy, 201-300 very unhealthy and 301+ hazardous.   

Also on the list of most polluted countries, which is based on annual average PM 2.5 concentration (μg/m³), Nepal does not lag much behind, though it is not a country with a robust industrial base. Based on the data of the year 2023, Nepal stood eighth with a score of 42.4 on the list that featured Bangladesh on top with a score of (79.9), followed by Pakistan (73.7), India (54.4), Tajikistan (49), Burkina Faso (46.6), Iraq (43.8) and the UAE (43).

Let’s hope against hope that these unmasked data will prompt our competent authorities to take some serious measures to make the air breathable. 

The tragic loss of Prakriti Lamsal, a 20-year-old BTech (third year) Computer Science student at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KITT) in Bhubaneswar, has once again brought to the fore the issue of safety and security of Nepali students studying abroad, India in particular.

Details of what exactly happened on the KITT premises in the evening of February 13 remain quite sketchy, despite widespread media coverage in both India and Nepal as most of the students had gone to attend the institute’s foundation day.  Media reports, quoting friends and batchmates, suggest that the young girl from Butwal was in a toxic relationship with another BTech Mechanical (third year) student identified as Advik Shrivastava (21) from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Tapes of a conversation between the two have surfaced, giving an indication of the extent of abuse that the young girl may have been facing for quite some time, something which some of her friends have also alluded to.

As the case unfolds, there are ample reasons to believe that this tragic loss of life may have gone unnoticed had some of her courageous friends not dared to share it with media outlets despite considerable threats to their well-being via a messaging app.

These reports also suggest that the abusive and unhealthy relationship was no secret for the institute in question as the young, courageous and bright girl had lodged her complaint against the abuser at the International Relations Office. The office intervened to an extent, but there is every reason to believe that it could have done a lot more to protect an international student with hardly any support system in the host country from an abusive relationship.

On the contrary, its staff, including teachers, made a desperate attempt to cover up the entire incident by seeking to silence fellow students demanding justice through unsavory words against Nepal and the use of brute force. As part of that attempt, they forced hundreds of protesting Nepali students to leave the facility, threatening to unleash police against them if they did not oblige.

With no money to foot their travel expenses, hundreds of Nepali students are on their way home amid an appeal (and apologies) from the institute to return for the resumption of their studies even as smoke from their friend’s funeral pyre billows in a faraway Swargadwari (Pyuthan district) just days after her aggrieved father demanded justice and fair treatment for Nepali students in the pilgrimage town of Bhubaneshwar.

Amid a never-ending news cycle, this story may get lost with the government of Nepal already feeling, perhaps, that it has done enough in this case and the institute also thinking that token steps like a scholarship honoring the student and action against some of its loudmouths will restore its reputation.

If our government thinks that a phone conversation or two and a dispatch of officials from the embassy in New Delhi are enough in a case like this, it is mistaken. The traumatized students may hesitate to return to the institution out of safety concerns. Who will be responsible for the impact of this incident on their studies and their future?

Who, if not the government of our country, will make sure that the young girl and her family get justice?

The government should move ahead with extreme sensitivity, keeping in mind that any leniency on its part may expose Nepalis studying abroad to greater risks in the coming days. 

What is corruption? In Nepal, it is so intertwined with our polity that it has become quite hard to differentiate which is which.

In fact, corruption is in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the sun we soak in and the food we cherish. In short, corruption is omnipresent in our lives.

Still, at least for the sake of academics, what does corruption mean? Transparency International (TI) knows better. It defines corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.

A people reeling under corruption for decades need no report to show how corrupt their polity is. A silent majority, who has seen a clique with modest means become filthy rich within a couple of years or decades as if by magic, knows the extent of high-level corruption in our society.

Still, the recent Corruption Perceptions Index of the TI (CPI 2024) shows how corruption is thriving in our dear country

CPI 2024 reminds the conscious citizenry that Nepal has slid further in the CPI compared to the year 2023.

With a CPI score of 34 out of 100 in 2024, Nepal has clinched a lowly 107th position among 180 countries, slipping further from the 106th position and a score of 35 in 2023 and a slight improvement of one point compared to 2022. Overall, CPI 2024 points at Nepal’s consistently poor performance in the global corruption barometer where South Sudan figures as the most corrupt country with a score of eight points and Denmark as the least corrupt country with a score of 90.  

In South Asia, Bhutan leads with an impressive 72 points, followed by India and the Maldives (38), Nepal (34), Sri Lanka (32), Pakistan (27), Bangladesh (23) and Afghanistan (17).

A question arises, naturally: What is fueling corruption in our country? 

A quote from Delia Ferreira, chair of TI, offers an answer, at least in part: People’s indifference is the best breeding ground for corruption to grow.

This daily has been drawing the attention of the public to this scourge by bringing to the fore some of the major scandals resulting from policy level corruption.

For those, who have taken corruption as a fact of life, here’s a quote from Kurt Cobain: The duty of youth is to challenge corruption.

Summing up, a concerted, result-oriented campaign against corruption is long overdue. Let this youthful nation wake up and undertake a tough fight against this scourge, by uniting one and all.

How many cooking gas cylinders does an average Nepali household have? How many of them are empty, how many are in use and how many are full? How many of them are safe for use and how many are unsafe—and need scrapping?

What percentage of cooking gas consumers have some knowledge about safety precautions they should take while handling the flammable material? Do they have fire extinguishers in their houses? Do they know how to use the extinguisher?

Thursday’s gas cylinder explosion at a momo shop in Kamalpokhari has once again given rise to a slew of difficult questions regarding the safe handling of cooking gas cylinders at the household level. 

These questions make sense because cooking gas cylinders and gas stoves have become a part and parcel of an average Nepali household. Leave the cities, it is not uncommon to find gas cylinders and stoves in far-flung areas of the country.

It is quite possible that an average Nepali household has more than one gas cylinder (filled) because supply-related obstructions of the past have taught us to have a cylinder or two for rainy days. 

Imagine more than one cylinder at almost every house in a city with high population density. Add to it a general lack of awareness on safety measures that one should take while handling gas cylinders and stoves. 

The scenario sends a chill down the spine, doesn’t it? It should. 

Of course, the consumer should know about safe handling of gas cylinders and stoves. But the buck does not stop there, and it should not. The onus is on the Nepal Oil Corporation, the sole importer and supplier of petroleum products throughout Nepal, as well as other relevant government authorities to inculcate in the consumer a safety culture pertaining to the use of gas cylinders and stoves. 

The momo shop gas cylinder blast, in which around 12 people sustained injuries, also harks back to a promise our political leadership made some years ago, to supply cooking gas in the consumers’ kitchens through a pipeline. The big talk at that time was that all you have to do is turn on the pipe and the gas will flow (provided you have paid the bill, of course). 

While much water has flown down our rivers since then, the gas is yet to come through the gullible Nepali people’s pipelines. 

In summary, both the government and the consumer should learn lessons from the Kamalpokhari blast and do their bit to lessen the risks of such blasts. 

In the long run, the political and bureaucratic leadership of a country with considerable hydropower potential should switch from dirty and costly fuels to clean and green energy if it is indeed serious about achieving national progress and prosperity, and bringing happiness to the masses.