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Dengue is a viral infection caused by the dengue virus (DENV) and transmitted to humans through the bite of infected mosquitoes, according to the World Health Organization. Half of the world's population is now at risk of dengue with an estimated 100–400m infections occurring each year. Dengue is found in tropical and sub-tropical climates worldwide, mostly in urban and semi-urban areas. While many DENV infections are asymptomatic or produce only mild illness, DENV can occasionally cause more severe cases, and even death, per the United Nations health agency. 

In Nepal, dengue has emerged as a public health crisis. It has already spread in 76 districts infecting around 40,000 people so far this year and leaving many people dead. Hundreds of dengue infections in a day point at the gravity of the crisis. Favorable climatic conditions from the southern plains to the hills to even the Himalayan region have definitely contributed to this spread, apart from a general lack of awareness about the disease. Water stagnated in tyres, flower pots, air conditioning equipment, buckets, drums and puddles can be a breeding ground for Aedes mosquitoes that spread this disease through their bites. 

Preventive measures at household and community levels can go a long way in bringing dengue under control. This does not mean that local levels, provinces and the federal government should do nothing to address this health emergency. There’s a deepening feeling among the public that the governments–local, provincial and federal–have not been paying much attention to the outbreak because it does not afflict the ruling elites, given the health safeguards in place for them and easy availability of treatment. 

Through effective steps, the government should prove that this perception is wrong. 

This daily, through extensive reports, has tried to bring the attention of the government toward a public health delivery system that has become dysfunctional, by and large. At least in part, rising dengue infections are an indication of a disease afflicting this system. 

In turn, dengue is symptomatic of governance that has not been as effective as it should be in providing remedies for multiple ills plaguing Nepal and the Nepalis, from violation of national sovereignty to unabated corruption to rising market prices to increasing defense and security challenges. 

The challenges are formidable but they should not be insurmountable. Once again, the onus is on the government to take political parties, civil society, the people and other relevant actors into confidence and do whatever it takes to tide the country over the crises.    

Festive vibes are already in the air that has a tinge of cold to it. The mellow classical Malshree is trying to fill hearts, a tad too sad, with joy. Even the balmy rays of the sun have not been able to pierce through the hearts and bring cheers to a people considered one of the happiest in the world. 

What’s behind this deepening sadness in Nepali hearts? Factors one too many. 

First, the society is not at peace with itself. Social-religious strife is occurring with increasing frequency. Some years ago, parts of the far-western region and the Tarai-Madhes witnessed violence.   

Not so long ago, eastern parts of the country erupted. However, before vested interests could use the faultlines to drive the society further apart, better senses prevailed, making it clear that it is not easy to drive a wedge between peoples, who have been living together for centuries by respecting each other’s cultures, traditions and religious beliefs. 

Recently, Nepalgunj saw a bid to stoke up flames. But the good news is that those with sinister designs failed as the state acted on time and community leaders came together, proving once again that the ties that bind us together as Nepalis remain strong despite sustained efforts to break the bond. 

This does not mean we should lower our guard against the elements trying to tear the society asunder. In fact, repeated bids to stoke up tensions mean we should be more alert than ever against the sinister designs. 

Apart from this strife, there’s one other major factor that’s tormenting the people: Soaring market prices. 

The prices of food and other committees continue to head northwards at a time when major festivals like Dashain, Tihar and Chhath are around the corner. Even at inflated rates, finding things like sugar in the market has become a feat in itself, thanks to artificial shortages, lack of market regulation and also a continued disruption of the global supply chain. 

In view of the festivities, the government has decided to sell food commodities at subsidized rates through several outlets across the country. The subsidies cover a wide array of food commodities from mountain goat to table salt to sugar. 

Perhaps, this move, repeated every festive season in a ritualistic manner, is also meant to undo the damage resulting from a short-lived decision to hike the prices of petroleum products. 

But will around three dozen fair-price shops spread too thin across the length and breadth of the country be enough to provide significant relief to a people reeling under political instability that has exacerbated ills like inflation, joblessness, corruption and unrest, stymied economic growth and pushed the youth in increasing numbers to foreign shores? 

Rather than short-term populist measures, the government should make sustained efforts to revive the economy. It should try to prevent Nepal from becoming a wasteland of sorts by curbing corruption, creating jobs for the youth and boosting farm production through policy interventions that benefit real farmers.  

‘A country is dead if it is full of anarchy’.

The quote above is not a self-invented nugget of wisdom. It is the reply from Yudhishthir to one of the many questions from a Yakshya, a semi-divine protector of a pond brimming with water located in the middle of a forest. 

Close by the pond, Yudhishthir finds four of his younger brothers (Bhim, Arjun, Nakul and Sahadev), out in the woods turn by turn as per his instructions to quench their thirst, lying unconscious. Apparently, better senses prevail over Yudhishthir. He somehow suppresses an acute thirst and is patient enough to answer Yakshya’s questions, a far better alternative than facing the archer’s wrath like his brothers, who, it turns out later, tried to head straight into the pond to sate themselves instead of heeding the protector’s warning and bothering to answer his questions. 

Yakshya fires many no-nonsense questions at Yudhishthir and the latter answers them all very wisely. 

The quote in the beginning of this piece is part of Yudhishthir’s answer to one of the questions about death. The full reply from Yudhishthir, considered a manifestation of Yamaraj, the god of death, goes: A person facing extreme poverty might be considered dead; a country is dead if it is full of anarchy.

The Q & A session, detailed in the Mahabharat, has a happy ending. Pleased with Yudhishthir’s wisdom, the Yakshya ultimately brings the fallen Pandavs to life and they all get to quench their thirst to their hearts’ content. 

The Yudhishthir-Yakshya Q & A session is long over, but it is quite relevant even in the federal secular democratic republic of Nepal of this day and age. 

At present, Nepal seems to be in the midst of an ever-lasting turmoil. Kathmandu (its nerve centers like Maitighar Mandala the vicinity in particular, which lie quite close to the seats of the three organs of the state) has been the hotbed of protests of all sorts. Recent days have seen protests demanding amended citizenship provisions, justice for loan-shark victims, teachers’ protests against the government’s indifference toward their demands and a days-long stand to make Kathmandu Metropolitan City fulfill the demands of street vendors.   

Even as a myriad groups continue to show their respective strengths on the streets and bring the Nepali state to its knees, the latter appears too helpless to deal with multiple crises gripping the country. The economy is not in the pink of health. The rule of law has become a chimera. There is a growing feeling in the society that influential people can get away with grave crimes in this country.

The transitional justice process is not making much headway. People are losing faith over the government’s ability to curb corruption by bringing high-profile corruption cases to their logical conclusion. 

Anarchy reigns supreme and the country is on sickbed. The onus is on the government to bring the country back to health before it’s too late.    

That teachers of government schools are not happy with the Education Bill presented in the Parliament for discussions has become common knowledge in this day and age of information and communications technology.

Even sections of the public unaware of the Nepal Teachers’ Federation’s boycott of the meeting called by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to discuss the former’s concerns are now aware, most probably, of the Kathmandu-centric protest.

With around 15,000 teachers from across the country descending on the roads of Kathmandu as part of their protest to press for the fulfillment of their demands, teaching-learning activities have come to a halt in schools, affecting a large number of children.

The impact is not limited to the classroom, though. The daily demonstrations from teachers have caused inconveniences galore to the hapless masses. Traffic congestions in the already clogged arteries of Kathmandu have become the norm rather than the exception, causing immense difficulties to hundreds of thousands of road users, including motorists, pedestrians, cyclists and bikers. Traffic police personnel never had it easy; the protest has made their job more difficult.

What has ‘made’ the teachers slam the classroom door on the student and hit the streets, thereby causing traffic jams in the federal capital? Per the federation, the bill has failed to address issues like job security of temporary teachers, creation of non-teaching staff positions, concerns of pre-school teachers, promotion of teachers, appointment of the principal, transfer of teachers as well as performance appraisal. The bill’s provision on empowering local governments to evaluate and transfer teachers has also not gone well with the federation.

This does not mean that the teachers have no right to exercise a horde of rights, including collective bargaining, a fundamental right, an internationally-accepted practice and an important means through which employers and their organizations and trade unions can ensure fair wages and working conditions. Collective bargaining covers issues like wages, working time, training, occupational health and safety and equal treatment. The objective of negotiations is to arrive at a collective agreement that regulates terms and conditions of employment. 

But then democracy is not a one-way road. While exercising their right, one should not trample on others’ rights and this applies to the teachers too. Our society has high regards for teachers, it takes the teacher (Guru) as the remover of darkness (ignorance), it takes them as the guiding light. The teachers should have also respected the rights of other sections of the society, including the children’s right to education, while exercising their rights. 

Without causing further inconveniences to the public, the government and the federation should hold talks and reach a negotiated settlement. The onus is on both sides to soften their respective stances for the greater good of Nepal’s education sector, which also includes children, who symbolize a bright future of this country.