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On Jan 24, Prem Prasad Acharya, a youth entrepreneur, immolated himself in front of the Federal Parliament at New Baneshwar even as a motorcade carrying Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal sped past. Acharya set himself on fire in broad daylight, when people were milling around and police personnel were very much there on duty. But neither these personnel nor the people present at the scene seem to have any idea on what to do in such situations. It seemed as if our security personnel are not trained to act as first responders in emergencies. This begs the question: Who then will act as first responders? The tale of the state’s lack of preparedness in dealing with such cases and insensitivity toward the victim does not end there. The visit of Dr Toshima Karki, minister of state for health and population, to the ICU ward of the hospital where Acharya was receiving treatment has not gone well. She has come under fire in social media for using her visit as some kind of publicity stunt. Dr Karki enquiring about the youth’s condition with himself, while he was battling between life and death, has drawn criticism. Was Dr Karki’s conduct in keeping with medical ethics? Does the Hippocratic oath allow all this? Our umbrella medical organizations like the Nepal Medical Council know better. Before taking the extreme post, Acharya had posted a long Facebook status pointing that he was going to take the extreme step. This should also have alarmed our authorities, but it did not. The loss of youths like Acharya, who stayed on in Nepal despite adversities and tried all his best to help his family, community and the country through entrepreneurship, is a tremendous loss to the country. But even before taking his own life, this young entrepreneur tried to show our political leadership and bureaucrats the way ahead. Acharya has tried to expose systemic diseases that ail the Nepali state. He has talked about corruption and mentioned those, who drove him to despair. The youth has urged the state to promote Nepali entrepreneurship. As per its pledge, the government should conduct a free and fair investigation, make the report public and act on its findings. In a few days, the demonstrations erupting after Acharya’s passing may fizzle out and he may be forgotten. But the three organs of the state—the executive, the legislature and the judiciary—should not just speed past these incidents. They should have a long memory. In hindsight, the executive, on the driving seat of the state, should take concrete steps to root out rampant corruption and mal-governance before the fire burning inside Nepali citizens erupts further and pushes the country into yet another era of turmoil.

The Nepali Congress must come clean about its intention behind giving the vote of confidence to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Dahal already had 169 aye votes in the 275-member parliament to sail through Tuesday’s floor test, and yet, the NC threw its weight behind Dahal, effectively rendering the House without an opposition party. In a functioning parliamentary system, the presence of the opposition is vital. It acts as an alternative government in waiting and holds the government to account. The NC, which takes pride in calling itself a proponent of democratic values and parliamentary practice, has made a mockery of the very things it says it stands for. The NC, despite winning the most number of seats in the Nov 20 parliamentary election, could not be part of a post-poll ruling alliance because NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba refused to concede the prime minister’s office to Dahal as per their previous agreement. But when the third-placed Maoist Center joined forces with the UML and other fringe forces to form a government, the NC was stunned. The party not only lost its primacy at the center, it also lost its prospect of forming governments in the provinces. This is all Deuba’s doing. His desire to become prime minister for the sixth time led the NC to this situation. Now, by giving the trust vote to Dahal, Deuba is trying to dig out of the hole he has created for himself and his party. There are reports that Deuba is planning to reap political benefits by pitting the Maoists and the UML against each other. Deuba’s aversion to sitting on the opposition aisle is not new. In 2018, after the formation of a powerful government led by the erstwhile Nepal Communist Party (NCP), Deuba had faced criticism for trying to align with KP Sharma Oli of the UML to land some constitutional appointments. His decision to vote for the Dahal government in the recent vote of confidence has not sat well with some NC leaders. As Deuba holds sway in the party, he arm-twisted the disagreeing leaders into towing his line. A series of missteps by Deuba has not only created internal rift within the NC, the party is also at the risk of losing its supporters. Deuba would do well to switch to damage control mode before it’s too late.  

On Jan 3, Sachin Timalsena, a cricket commentator at Nepal T20 league, posted a video on his social media. Timalsena announced his resignation smelling “something fishy” in the tournament. He suspected spot fixing in the matches and offered some examples to prove his point. The same day, the match between Kathmandu Knights and Biratnagar Super Kings was cut short to nine overs because of disputes in the field. The players refused to do the toss for the match scheduled for 8:30 am at the TU Cricket Ground, saying they were not getting paid. Subsequently, the aggrieved parties sat for discussions with officials of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN). The talks ended with a pledge to pay the teams and match officials through cheque.  After the match, the captain of Kathmandu Knights and former captain of Nepal national team Gyanendra Malla said the organizers and team owners both were out of contact and nobody had taken responsibility for paying them. Malla said members of his team were approached for match fixing, adding that they had reported the matter to the anti-corruption unit of the league. Subsequently, Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane ordered an inquiry and the Central Investigation Bureau has taken up the case.  A number of questions have arisen after this incident.  How did this happen? Why? And who is responsible? Is the Nepali cricket fraternity on a regressive road, again? CAN, in 2020, had entered into a 91-page formal agreement with Indian Seven3Sports. Per the deal, Seven3Sports enjoys strategic, commercial and advisory rights of the Nepal T20 league, the first-ever such tournament organized with direct involvement of CAN. The current mess has raised questions on the credibility of the cricketing body. Some sections of the cricketing fraternity had opposed the deal, pointing that Seven3Sports won’t be able to live up to CAN’s expectations, given its past records.  At that time, neither the National Sports Council nor the Ministry of Sports felt the need to intervene, though the deal was in contravention of laws of Nepal, which state that Nepal Sports Council must get approval from the government of Nepal before entering into any agreement with other international cricketing bodies.  The latest episode has tarnished the image of Nepali cricket. Yet another sad part of this saga is that CAN has not provided a good working environment for international coaches in Nepal.  In 2016, the International Cricket Council had suspended CAN for breach of ICC regulations. After three years, ICC reinstated Nepal as a member of cricket’s governing body on a conditional basis. Restrictions over economic funding were fully lifted in June 2022. This incident comes at a time when Nepali cricket was on the recovery path.  Failure to take action against those responsible for the latest incident of foul play may again lead to ICC action against the Nepali cricket. So, it’s time for responsible authorities like CAN, NSC and the ministry to wake up and take corrective action in the interest of Nepali cricket and its fans.   

CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has a lot of challenges to overcome as prime minister. Above all, he needs to improve the national economy, which is getting worse. The soaring interest rate, liquidity crunch, and a sharp slowdown in business activity are major causes of concern. The private sector has already submitted a long list of demands to PM Dahal.  On top of their agenda is the postponement of the guidelines on working capital loans introduced by Nepal Rastra Bank. The two leading private sector organizations–Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and Confederation of Nepalese Industry (CNI)–separately briefed Dahal about the health status of the economy. The private sector says reviving the economy should be the first and the foremost priority of the government. The Dahal-led government needs to take immediate and drastic measures to improve the economy. The second challenge obviously is to improve the service delivery. As parties remained busy in the elections and intra-party and inter-party fighting, the quality of service delivery has suffered. Corruption and irregularities are thriving. The first meeting of the Dahal Cabinet has decided to improve service delivery, particularly in the passport and transport offices. This is indeed a welcome step, but it is not sufficient. If the past is any guide, proactive measures like these last just a few days. People are still forced to pay bribes to get their job done. So, the Dahal-led government should launch a special campaign to improve service delivery. The next step would be to revive people’s trust in key state institutions, such as the parliament, the judiciary and other constitutional bodies. Politicization of state organs has shaken the basic democratic tenet of checks and balances. The judiciary is without a full-fledged chief justice, with an impeachment motion pending against the high officeholder, Cholendra SJB Rana. The damning exposé on Rana’s political ambition whilst leading the Supreme Court has eroded public trust in the judiciary. Rebuilding the court’s image and its legitimacy will require hard work and a long time. To perform these tasks effectively, the government needs to take a consultative approach. Before taking any decision, the PM should take all the coalition partners and even the opposition into confidence. Previous governments failed to take decisions on time because coalition partners were not on the same page on various issues. The new PM faces the challenge of accommodating more than seven coalition partners and their conflicting interests. This government’s failure to deliver will further fuel people’s dissatisfaction with the mainstream political parties. The November 20 elections have clearly shown that frustration against the mainstream parties will further strengthen the rightist forces challenging the constitution. So, to build on the progress made so far, the current government should work seriously. PM Dahal has said on several occasions that he will not repeat past mistakes and will work to revive people’s faith in the political parties. The onus is on all political parties to lend their support to the Dahal-led government, enabling it to serve the people in a difficult time.