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The Supreme Court of Nepal on April 17, Friday issued an interim order to the government to make arrangements for the safe passage of people stranded in various parts of the country. Currently, hundreds of people are taking long and risky journeys to reach their homes from Kathmandu.

Responding to a petition registered by Advocate Prakash Mani Sharma, a joint bench of Justice Ananda Kumar Bhattarai and Sapana Pradhan Malla ordered the federal government to arrange transport of those people. In the protracted lockdown, hundred of people who are mainly employed in unorganized sectors are leaving Kathmandu, as they can’t sustain their livelihood in the capital city.

As per the court order, the government must arrange free meals and transport for them. Due to the travel restrictions imposed by various districts, many are stranded on district borders. The SC also instructed the government not to create hurdles for the people who want to return home.

Though local governments claim they have arranged meals for the poor, but those affected say the relief is insufficient. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has already initiated discussions with ministers to arrange transport for the stranded people. 

In democratic countries, the prospect of the national army coming out on the streets makes people nervous. So does its involvement in any business, even in the import of vital kits and equipment to deal with a potentially deadly pandemic.

Article 267 of the Constitution of Nepal 2015 says the role of Nepal Army is to safeguard the country’s independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national unity. Additionally, Article 267(4) says, “The Government of Nepal may also mobilize the Nepal Army in other works including development, construction and disaster management works, as provided for in the federal law.”

Further, “The President shall, on recommendation of the National Security Council and pursuant to a decision of the Government of Nepal, Council of Ministers, declare the mobilization of the Nepal Army in cases where a grave emergency arises in regard to the sovereignty or territorial integrity of Nepal or the security of any part thereof, by war, external aggression, armed rebellion or extreme economic disarray.” A declaration of the mobilization of the Nepal Army must be ratified by the parliament within a month.

Yet there is nothing in the constitution about the role of the national force in the kind of government-to-government procurement of Covid-19 kits that has recently landed it in controversy. “The army could have told the government that it does not want to be involved in such business deals,” says military expert Deepak Prakash Bhatta, who is also a leader of the ruling Nepal Communist Party.

The national army has already taken up several development projects, including Kathmandu-Tarai fast track. Similarly, army personnel have been deployed in disaster management works. In a recent example, the Nepal Army built 869 houses in Bara and Parsa districts that had been ravaged by a tornado in March last year. During floods and landslides, too, army personnel are in the frontline of rescue and rehabilitation works.

Experimental stage

But the army has had no experience of dealing with a pandemic. Security experts say the government can mobilize the national army to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, but only if its role can be clearly defined within constitutional limits. In other countries, too, the national armies have been mobilized to assist the civilian government. For example, the US government instructed its army to build hospitals. In Spain, it was out in force enforcing the national lockdown.  

“Army personnel can, for instance, be mobilized to regulate the Nepal-India border and check the movement of people during the pandemic, which is not happening,” says Bhatta. “After the lockdown, hundreds of Nepali workers have been coming home from India. But they have not been screened properly.” Instead, Minister for Home Affairs Ram Bahadur Thapa has instructed the Armed Police Force (AFP) to monitor the movement of people at the border; the deployment has been inadequate.

Compared to other civil organizations, the national army has a well-trained, more disciplined, and better equipped force. As army’s resources are always oriented to a large-scale war, they can be immediately mobilized to build makeshift hospitals. They have helicopters and vehicles, and bases across the country. If the doctors at government and private hospitals are unwilling to work, the army can mobilize its troops and medical personnel for medical care as well.

The medical services of the Nepal Army had started in 1925 with the establishment of Tri-Chandra Military Hospital at Mahankal, Kathmandu. Renamed Shree Birendra Hospital (SBH) and relocated to Chhauni, it is now a 635-bed sophisticated hospital with a military rehabilitation center, two field hospitals, and 15 field ambulance companies.

Foggy path

The Nepal Army is already involved in controlling the spread of the coronavirus. It has developed a smartphone app for smooth flow of corona-related information. Similarly, the Covid-19 Crisis Management Center has been established in the army barracks in Chhauni. According to security analyst Binoj Basnyat, formation of this center under the Minister of Defense is a signal from Nepal government that the army’s participation is inevitable. “It is the National Security Council that should decide how the Nepal Army is to be deployed,” he says.

But as the NSC has not met for a long time, the role of the Nepal Army in the current corona pandemic remains unclear.

Former Major General of the Nepal Army Tara Bahadur Karki says the NSC should be meeting regularly during a crisis of this magnitude. In the current health emergency, Karki argues, it is the Ministry of Health that should be in the frontline fighting it, with the army playing a backup role. “On the other hand, if the pandemic tomorrow poses a direct threat to the country’s security, then the army has to lead from the front,” he says.   

Currently, there are some other mechanisms that can decide on limited deployment of army personnel. The district administration offices can deploy the army at the district level for disaster management, after obtaining permission from the Army Headquarters. At the national level, the Home Ministry can activate the Disaster Relief Act of 2020, clearing the road for the army’s deployment in disaster-control.

“For Covid-19, the army may act as a strategic reserve with heavy medical practitioners and necessary components at the center, operational reserve in the provinces, and fully-involved contribution in the districts,” Basnyat suggests.

One such example army deployment was during the 1918 influenza pandemic in the US, which lasted for 10 months. In the three-phase pandemic, the second phase was the most dangerous, and the US army had to be deployed to control it. “Nepal is now entering the second phase. We should draw the right lessons from history and from the experiences of other countries,” he suggests.

The building of Western Regional Health Laboratory is cordoned off by ropes encircling it. This is the place where the novel coronavirus is tested in Pokhara, the famous tourist city in western Nepal. Before the pandemic, the lab was open to all and it carried out all types of medical diagnostic tests.  

The lab is Subhadra Dulal’s office, where she reaches around eight every morning, traveling 25 km. She leaves behind her daughter of 16 months and a son of 4 years with her in-laws. Initially, the in-laws did not know she conducted coronavirus tests; only her husband knew. 

Dulal is not scared, unlike many others in her profession who are shirking their jobs over the safety of their own health. When the provincial government wanted to build a rapid response team to handle the Covid-19 pandemic, many of her colleagues refused to be a part. 

“Even if I can isolate just one case, I save the family, the society, and the nation as a whole,” says Dulal with visible pride.

When APEX caught up with her outside the lab, she was in a hurry. Some swabs had already been collected for corona testing. Some were on the way. It would take several hours to finish the work. She had to rush back home to breastfeed her daughter. 

 During last year’s dengue epidemic, she had buried herself in the lab, testing hundreds of samples. In 2015, she was posted in Gorkha, when the earthquake struck. She was 8-month pregnant then. But that didn’t deter her from going out in the village and helping the people. For the graduate in medical lab technology and a government employee, nothing feels as good as giving back to the society.

Covid-19 testing is a serious job. When the provincial government first chose her for it, she felt excited but nervous at the same time. There were few safety measures in place. She went to Lekhnath Community Lions Hospital to get sample from one suspected patient, which was her first corona-related job. 

“The first time, I was quite scared while taking the swab. When I reached home, I entered from the back door to avoid touching the kids. I took a shower before going near them,” she recalls. The sample tested negative for Covid-19.

Now her lab is better equipped and she doesn’t worry as much. “In the lab we have adequate personal protective equipment as well as well as a biosafety cabinet. If the virus somehow escapes into the lab, the machine kills them and prevents infection,” she says. The lab is currently operating with six technicians. The federal government has given a PCR machine that can conduct one test an hour. Another, older machine tests 72 samples an hour. 

Dulal has always liked helping others, and took up medical technology of her own choice. “The provincial government thinks I can do this job. Many of my colleagues do not have that opportunity,” she says.  

Laxmi Subedi, a ‘mother’ to 20 adopted children at Mahila Tatha Balbalika Sewa Kendra, Hattigaunda, is worried about her wards’ mental and physical health during the novel coronavirus pandemic. “The virus has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide. As a measure of protection, I too have not let my children out,” she says. Yet Subedi wonders how she will keep them all engaged during the lockdown.

As most of the world has been shut down, parents and children have been confined to the four walls of their homes. In Nepal, too, schools are shut, as are most workplaces. For parents who rarely got an opportunity to spend quality time with their children, this is the chance to make up for lost time.

More often, the children are hooked on to their gadgets. When the devices are confiscated, they start grumbling. But it’s hard to blame the little ones as well. They have been forced into their homes and have had to adopt a completely new timetable. Without their friends, they also feel terribly bored.

“It is exhausting to live without my friends,” says 9-year-old Aarav Tandukar. “On the top of that, my parents don’t give me a mobile phone on which I can play games.”

According to the UN statistics as of March 20, around 1.25 billion children and youths were being deprived of education during the lockdown—and the number must surely have gone up in the interim.

Children are struggling to understand what is going on. “The impact on children differs according to their age. For young children [under 11], they can get irritated when they can’t get out of their homes, which in turn can lead to restlessness and belligerence,” says Kripa Sigdel, a psychological counselor and lecturer at Padma Kanya Campus. For children who are a little older (11-16), TV or mobile phones are their favorite company. “In general, these children are curious, but they can as easily feel lonely, even outraged.”

Without nothing else to do, most children sleep in the day during the lockdown. They then have sleepless nights, which harms their mental health. As the schools are shut, their reading, writing and critical thinking habits are deteriorating. “Idleness hampers with creativity and intelligence of children,” says Sachin Acharya, a teacher at Disneyland Academy, Pokhara.

But this time can also be used to explore creative and productive pursuits. Save the Children in Nepal suggest for the parents of young children collective dancing, turning physical activities like house cleaning into a fun game, and limiting screen time.

“There ought to be clear communication between parents and children. Instead of restricting them, parents should try to make children understand why they cannot go out and why it is important for them to maintain cleanliness,” adds Sigdel, the psychologist.  

Following the closure of schools across the globe, the James Dyson Foundation, which encourages children to take up engineering, has come up with a series of online challenges to help kids learn during home isolation. They have challenges like making a ‘balloon car’ with the use of Newton’s third law of motion and forcing an egg into a bottle.

There are also children-centric online libraries like OLE Nepal’s E-Pustakalaya, the Curriculum Development Center’s library, and the International Children Digital Library (ICDL). Meanwhile, UNESCO is leading a global coalition of over 80 partners to find alternative solutions to ensure learning never stops during the lockdown.

MiDas eCLASS, working in partnership with the Private and Boarding Schools Organization Nepal (PABSON), has designed a teaching and learning software that has tutorial videos and interactive games. It offers free e-learning facilities for children for a month. The app can be downloaded from Play Store.

The problem is that most of the parents are unaware of the availability of these innovative learning solutions for the lockdown.

Physical activity is also a must for children. “If they engage in physical activities during the day, they will be worn out and sleep well during the night,” adds Sigdel. The World Health Organization recommends at least 60 minutes of moderate- to vigorous daily physical activity for children aged 5-17.

In terms of physical activities, “we can involve children in activities like singing, indoor sports, and dancing,” adds Subedi of the children care center at Hattigauda. “We also teach our children kitchen activities and gardening.”

Another important thing is to ensure children stay connected with their friends and colleagues occasionally, and the parents should arrange for it. Otherwise, children may start feeling lonely and develop mental problems.

Likewise, to protect them from pedophiles, it is vital that parents monitor their children’s online activities.

There is no easy way to keep children engaged during these troubling times. But the task need not be impossible either.