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Even at the risk of sounding obsequious, you have to give credit to the government of KP Sharma Oli where it is due. The appointment of clean and efficient ministers, a couple of very wise picks as chiefs of the two police forces, recent exercise in balanced diplomacy and, now, the determi­nation it has shown to wipe out transport cartels are all highly admirable. Particularly the last bit. It could not have been easy for Prime Minister Oli, the chief of CPN-UML, a party that has traditionally provided patronage to transport cartels, to suddenly crack down on them in public interest.

These government actions hint at the prime min­ister’s determination to leave behind a strong legacy, one marked by accountable governance and tangible improvement in people’s daily lives. The country des­perately needed such firm leadership. Nearly every study of the growing incidents of road accidents in Nepal’s blood-soaked highways has pointed to the rickety state of long-distance passenger buses as one of the major culprits. In the fiscal 2016-17, there were an average of 28 road acci­dents, and six deaths, in the country every single day. Yet this brazen crime on the part of the trans­port cartels that refused to allow new vehicles of other private operators on the roads was ignored by successive governments.

These cartels flourished under the protection of top political leaders, despite repeated Supreme Court rulings to ban them, the first of them coming over a decade ago. Only now has the government gathered the spunk to take them on. Better late than never. We can only hope that the government stands firm and does not back down to the cartels’ pressure tactics. But even that is not enough.

There are entrenched cartels and syndicates in other sectors too. For instance one study suggests that the prices of fruits and vegetables increase up to five-fold from what the farmers get for their produce, again thanks to the cartels in this market. There are many formal or informal cartels in health and education sec­tors as well, again adversely affecting people’s well-be­ing. May sound superfluous, but the government has full public support to bust these cartels and to ensure free and fair competition in all goods and services. These are exciting times indeed.

 “Why isn’t Thamel, which is at the heart of Nepali tourism, open 24 hours a day?” The questioner was visibly angry at the government’s inability to do so. The event was a public hearing in Thamel of top cops and administrators of Kathmandu district on a recent Friday evening. The incoming chief of Nepal Police, Sarbendra Khanal, who was instrumental in making Thamel a no-vehicle zone, must have heard this question many times. It is just a sliver of the immense challenge he will face.

Khanal takes over as the Inspector General of Nepal Police as the country is making a difficult transition to a federal structure. Nepal Police, which is still highly centralized, is struggling with this drastic change. The number of crimes this fiscal is up, by eight percent from the previous year, with murders and rapes accounting for most of the increase. There are now an average of over three rapes in Nepal every day. It falls on Khanal to enhance public trust in his institution, to sincerely implement the slogan of “Police My Friend”. A trusted police force is also an effective one.

You wouldn’t bet against Khanal. After all, he has had a stellar career. His investigative skills were amply demonstrated when he looked into and led the suc­cessful prosecution of national footballers enmeshed in match-fixing. Besides his investigative skills, Khanal was as noted for his tough line against notorious dons. Khanal, who had received top marks in the internal evaluation of Nepal Police to choose the new police chief, is one of the rare Inspector Generals whose appointment was based largely on merit. This will, hopefully, set a strong precedent.

It would have been better still had Khanal been first appointed the Assistant Inspector General (AIG), the second highest rank, and promoted to Inspector Gen­eral after some time. But as all serving AIGs had retired at the same time, the government had no option but to choose from among the third-highest ranking Depu­ty Inspector Generals (DIGs), Khanal among them. To ensure that there is no such void in the future, and that the next police chief is well trained as an administrator, the provision of compulsory retirement after 30 years of service has to be modified. The sooner the better.

The good news is that merit has prevailed over poli­ticking in the appointment of the Nepal Police chief, as well as the new chief of the Armed Police Force, which is now led by Shailendra Khanal, another competent hand. This bodes well in these uncertain times.

What difference a couple of years make in diplomacy! Two years ago, India had imposed a crippling economic block­ade on Nepal to express its dissatisfac­tion with our new constitution. The understanding in New Delhi was that while its concerns were neglect­ed in the new charter, the statute had the blessings of Beijing. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his henchmen seemed determined to teach a harsh lesson in geopolitics to the ‘China-hugging commies’ of Nepal, with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli at their vanguard.

Two years later, the same Modi is rolling out the red carpet for Oli as he prepares to welcome perhaps the strongest prime minister in Nepal’s democratic histo­ry. Having badly bungled its relations with Nepal—sup­posedly one of its closest friends in terms of cultural similarities and people-to-people ties—and pushing the Himalayan country into ‘China’s open arms’, New Delhi, we now hear, is in a mood for a ‘course correc­tion’. Hence the lavish reception for Oli and India’s new-found interest in reviewing bilateral relations, including a rewriting of the infamous 1950 treaty.

Oli, with his new-found strength, could argu­ably have broken the outdated tradition of a Nepali prime minister always making New Delhi his first foreign stop, as if on a solemn pilgrimage to please the holy deities due south. But Oli perhaps thought it unwise to rock the geopolitical boat this early in his tenure. He did however commit not to sign any agree­ment in India that “goes against national interest and disgraces our country”. We hope the prime minister honors his words.

Reportedly, he will leave for China not long after returning to Nepal on April 8. He is scheduled to meet President Xi Jinping at the sidelines of the Boao Forum in Hainan. After inking multiple pacts with India, PM Oli, in his subsequent visit to China, is expected to sign another slew of agreements to operationalize the land­mark trade and transit agreement of 2016. He has to be extremely careful though. His ability (or lack there­of) to balance India and China will define not just his government leadership-Round Two but also his larger political legacy—long after he is gone from the scene.

At this early stage, he deserves our benefit of the doubt, as we have argued before. It would be wise to wait for a while before we judge his tenure, including his foreign policy. A single India or China trip does not a long-term strategic vision make.

The European Union Election Observer Mission contends that the constitutional provision for proportional representation in Nepal is flawed, in that the PR quota includes “well represented social groups such as Khas Arya”. Whether the PR system is flawed or not, it is beside the point. Our constitution is not flawless, and it will be amended as and when needed. But what to amend and when should be entirely up to Nepali actors. It is particularly baffling when responsible members of the international community—among them those who first defined the concept of sovereignty for nation-states no less—poke their nose into a purely internal matter for Nepal.

We fully support the prime minister when he says no attempt to disturb social harmony in Nepal will be tolerated. KP Sharma Oli, who now commands absolutely majority in federal as well as all seven provincial assemblies, is arguably the strongest prime minister of democratic Nepal. It is good to see that at least in his early days he is clearly spelling out our national interest, and making it crystal clear that the days when foreigners could openly meddle are over. The foreign ministry, under the competent hands of Pradeep Gyawali, also deserves credit for its swift and unambiguous rebuttal of the provocative observer mission report.

Foreign envoys in Kathmandu traditionally enjoyed outsize clout as our political leaders were always at their beck and call. There is no shortage of leaders in Nepal who have asked resident Indian envoys to place their children in good Indian universities, or those who have finagled cushy trips to China from resident Chinese envoys. Our MPs and ministers, over the years, have also been a little too eager to go on all-expenses junkets to the US or Europe, often by compromising the country’s interest.

It is too early to say whether Oli’s ministers will be any different. But early signs are encouraging. Now that Nepal has a constitution as well as a strong government elected under it, the prime minister also made it clear that political inputs from the outside are needed no more. Of course, if our foreign friends want to help Nepal in its new quest for equitable economic development, or if they are keen to pursue mutually beneficial deals, they are most welcome.

The new rule of engagement for foreign actors could not be simpler: if you want to do business in Nepal, you will have to learn to play by our rules, just like we play by yours when we are on your territory.