Submit your Article

The Buddha’s first utterance after his enlightenment under the Bodhi tree was: “I have gone through countless births in the cycle of existence, seeking the builder of this house. To be born again and again is dukkha (suffering). Now I have seen you, O housebuilder! You shall not build a house again for me.”

In Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna: “That which is born must die, and that which is dead must be born again. You and I have passed through many-many births. I can remember them all, you cannot.”

Attenuating one’s karma and stopping the endless cycle of rebirths is the central theme of Jainism. For Sikhs, human life is a unique opportunity to break the cycle of death and rebirth.

All major Indian philosophies talk of rebirth. For someone brought up in Western cultures, rebirth may be a topic difficult—or even absurd—to believe or understand. One may squarely say: “Why should I even care if I continue after death or not? I am not a religious person—not the least a follower of Indian religions.”

But rebirth does not have to be about religion. It can just be about ethics. It can be about following a few moral principles. Instead of going so far as having a new physical body, we can look at rebirth as the arising of a new state of mind. We all know our mind changes—or takes a new birth—all the time. We can view rebirth from that angle.

When the Indian traditions talk of rebirth, they do it in relation to karma. The bottom line: If you create healthy karma, it will lead to wholesome rebirth. Healthy karma is about taking actions that generate healthy states of mind. All traditions talk of refraining from actions that lead to misery. They talk of either extinguishing all forces of karma, or at least developing and keeping the helpful ones.

Healthy karma would lead to eradication of mental impurities. Mental impurities are mental residues of physical, verbal, or mental actions. So clearing the impurities will have to do with how we act, speak, and think. To do it in healthy ways, you don’t need a creator or a God or a religion—you can just have an intention to lead a happy life.

If you do morally wholesome acts, it will have wholesome effects on your mind. If you save a life, you will instantly feel love and peace in mind. If you speak the truth, you will never have to worry about guarding your lies. But if you steal money from the bank, you will definitely have sleepless nights. Whether you create nice karma for better physical rebirth or not, ethical action will reward you with peace of mind. 

Rebirth in terms of physical body may be distant. But in terms of mind, it is instant. Our wholesome acts lead to happy rebirths of the mind in real time, all the time.

Just like China has its ‘Socialism with Chinese characteristics’ to govern domestic politics, the country has its own way of doing foreign policy. The rest of the world seems to move by one set of rules, and China by another. Every other major power right now is devoted to battling the Covid-19 crisis. China too has given meticulous attention to the virus. Yet it has also espied the “right time” to expand its footprints abroad.

The country is ultra-active in Covid-battered Nepal as well. Chinese ambassador Hou Yanqi has been doing the rounds of the abodes of top Nepal Communist Party leaders, urging them not to ‘destabilize’ the Oli government. Even though the Chinese are unhappy with the Nepali prime minister’s backing of the MCC compact, they seem to have calculated that Oli is still the man to best secure their interests this side of the Tibetan plateau. Having come to this conclusion, ambassador Hou has thrown diplomatic decorum to the wind in her open lobbying for Oli’s continuity. 

The chief claimant to Oli’s PM throne, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, has understandably refused to meet her. Having spent so much of his political capital in the past few years proving his loyalty to Beijing, he does not want to lose the hard-earn trust. Therefore, only a month and a half ago, he had listened to Hou and let Oli be. But Dahal is in no mood to make such concessions again. But nor can he defy Hou.

Dahal realizes that saying ‘no’ to the Chinese could undo all his efforts to cultivate Beijing. Dahal also understands that as much as New Delhi mistrusts Oli, it does not trust Dahal any more. Dahal was the one who broke the unstated decorum of the Nepali prime minister making New Delhi his first port of call and flew to China instead. The ex-Maoist boss was also the one who tried to sack a sitting Nepal Army chief, despite clear warnings from the south not to engage in such adventurism. 

Above anything else, the recent activism of the Chinese ambassador, her easy access to top leaders, her lack of concern about her conduct, even Dahal’s refusal to see her—all show the enormous power China wields over the NCP. Yet China’s preference for one NCP leader above everyone else is harder to understand. The only way to make sense of it is to assume Oli has told Hou that should other NCP leaders try to take away premiership from him, he would not hesitate to divide the party, China’s most trusted institution in Nepal. In other words, Oli subtly asked her to do the lobbying for his continuity. 

But why blame the Chinese envoy when it is our own leaders who are throwing their doors open for her, any time, any day? And weren’t previous Indian envoys in Nepal—and the bunch of Indian spooks that has now descended in Kathmandu to checkmate Hou—doing the same? Moreover, the misogynistic reporting of sections of the Indian media that shamelessly accused Hou of practicing ‘honey trap’ diplomacy has not gone down well here, and will further dent India’s image.

In the end, we are going about this the wrong way. Were our leaders more mindful of national interests and abided by the diplomatic code of conduct, the question of conduct of foreign envoys and other representatives here could be largely irrelevant.

What started as a health crisis in the form of the Covid-19 pandemic has now unfolded into a global economic and livelihood crisis. While the ubiquitous quarantines and lockdowns may have saved many lives and provided an additional benefit of environmental improvement, their enormous consequences on people’s livelihoods are conspicuous.

For example, a recently conducted Rapid Assessment of Socio-Economic Impact of Covid-19 in Nepal by the Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS) indicates that 28 percent of men and 41 percent of women lost their jobs following the lockdown. Further, the impact is concentrated among the income-based vulnerable population dependent on scarce economic resources. The livelihood crisis, if it persists, is likely to further impact the already vulnerable population and pull people into poverty.

In Nepal, one-fourth of the population lives below the national poverty line (i. e. less than $0.5 a day). Given their finite earnings and scarce resources, how they sustain their lives and grapple with various socio-economic constraints is a pertinent topic of discussion. Typically, income-based vulnerable people are more likely to face food insecurity and have limited access to healthcare facilities. These challenges are potent, especially as they also tend to engage in physically demanding work.

Food insecurity is a long-standing issue in Nepal. According to the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), as many as 52 percent Nepali households are food insecure, and food insecurity is pronounced among households in the lower wealth quintiles. The 2019 Nobel Prize-winning economists Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banarjee, building on the work of another Nobel Laureate Angus Deaton, say food insecurity among the impoverished population is concerning as they spend a significant amount of their earnings—roughly one-half to three-fourth of their total income—on food.

Following the Covid-19 lockdown in Nepal, a large proportion of the economically vulnerable population has lost jobs and incomes, and therefore become more susceptible to food insecurity. This depreciates the country’s human capital, which in turn threatens to derail economic growth. While the physical toil and economic hardship of the economically vulnerable population garner much public attention, their psychological states under resource scarcity and poverty often go unnoticed.

Behavioral economists Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir have found that poor farmers have significantly higher cognitive ability post-crop harvest as compared to pre-harvest, suggesting that economically vulnerable people are psychologically distracted under resource scarcity. Further, scarcity-led psychological distractions could lead them to make adverse economic decisions, such as falling into huge debt traps, aggravating their economic hardship. So, while it is important to understand the economic struggles of the poor, which is likely to exacerbate in the immediate future, it is also vital to recognize the interplay of the socio-economical and psychological factors, especially at a time when the suicide rates are noticeably high.

The government role is crucial in recognizing the challenges and needs of its citizens. However, the current crisis has put a question mark over government responsiveness, as evidenced in its dire preparedness for health emergencies, resource allocation, and mobilization, giving rise to what has now developed into a nationwide public protest.

Thousands of migrant workers have returned to Nepal and more are due. Given that many of the returned migrants will find no immediate jobs, the government is faced with the challenge of overseeing their safe return and accommodation. However, incompetent management thus far has also raised serious concerns over government credibility. Amid these uncertainties, the question of how the government should address the needs of its citizens, especially the economically vulnerable population, becomes a monumental one.

Job security is vital to keep the economy afloat. The government can employ a large number of local workers in large infrastructure projects by adopting safety measures. We also have to scale-up and improve our quarantine and healthcare facilities to accommodate the increasing number of virus-contaminated individuals, possible suspects, and returned migrants. The government can also utilize local workforce in those facilities. While the recently announced budget does not guarantee outright economic protection for the vulnerable population, tax benefits for small and medium-sized enterprises may help in their economic recovery. The government should ensure the smooth running of those enterprises.

The role of provincial and local governments is as crucial in engaging and incentivizing local workforce, with incentivizing agricultural production, which is already underway in several municipalities, the immediate priority. A case in point is the rural municipality of Miklajung of Panchthar, which has announced an incentive of Rs 100,000 for farmers producing over 40 muris of paddy this year. More economic incentives are required at the municipal level to engage the local workforce, increase agricultural production, and ensure food security.

Lastly, it’s about time the government cuts down extravagant spending in all three tiers and focuses on more urgent issues at hand.

Khatiwada is a PhD candidate in economics at the University of New Mexico, USA; Pant is a fresh Juris Doctor Graduate from University of Sydney, Australia

‘Neutrality’, ‘nonalignment’, ‘amity with all, enmity with none’—what is there not to like about the Oli government’s key foreign policy tenets? But they mean little. Historically, while Nepal has professed strict nonalignment, it has repeatedly tilted between India and China. India, one of the leaders of the nonaligned movement, acted as all but a formal Soviet ally until the collapse of the USSR. China too openly flirted with the Soviets before shifting its allegiance to the US in early 1970s. Now, on the face of a hostile America, China-Russia rapprochement is again reaching new heights. 

At present Nepal’s foreign policy exhibits a clear China tilt, as evidenced by its backing of the latest Chinese crackdown in Hong Kong, and the CCP’s lockdown-time political training of its ruling party leaders. Indian Army chief M.M. Naravane was wrong to infer that Nepal took up Kalapani at China’s behest. But in the Indian eyes he only said what seemed most logical in light of the India-China border tensions. 

Talking to APEX, both Indian and Chinese strategic thinkers said their countries could ask Nepal to clarify its allegiance in the event of an India-China war. While India would seek Nepal’s backing based on the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship, China is likely to invoke Nepal’s BRI membership to do so. Again, the easy way out for Nepal would be to profess its continued neutrality, come what may. But as tensions mount that fiction will get progressively harder to maintain.

There is zero trust in KP Oli in New Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s henchmen who deal with Nepal have ruled out meaningful talks so long as Oli is in power. The beleaguered Nepali prime minister may see his labeling as ‘pro-China’ cruel just when the Chinese are losing trust in him over his backing of theMCC compact, which Beijing wants Nepal to ditch. 

If Oli remains in power, India will continue to label him pro-China and refuse to talk. As the status quo in Kalapani suits it just fine, India will have no incentive to discuss border dispute. Luckily for New Delhi, Oli, in a last-ditch effort to save his chair, seems minded to throw his country into another political turmoil. If he splits the ruling party, India could once again get to shape the new government in Kathmandu to its liking, much to Beijing’s chagrin. This is why China is more amenable to the option of Oli quietly handing over power to someone else in the NCP. More likely, Oli will put up a dogged fight and use every trick in the book to hang on.

The Covid-19 crisis and escalating India-China tensions will have all kinds of unforeseeable consequences for Nepal. If India and China start firing on one another, the 40,000 Nepali or Nepali-origin Gurkha soldiers will be on the frontline. When they return to the country in body bags, the pressure to end Gurkha recruitment will grow, to further detriment of India-Nepal ties. Perhaps the government considers an unstated alignment with a stronger power a safer bet. But if India ‘loses’ the war, dealing with the wounded elephant would be a herculean challenge as well. 

Right now, Nepal is relatively autonomous to profess its neutrality and nonalignment. Tomorrow, the question of its autonomous status may be rendered moot if neither India nor China trusts the Nepali leadership to secure its interests.