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Three years ago, then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had inaugurated a set of electric buses by traveling on one from the Pulchowk-based Sajha Yatayat premises to his office in Singha Durbar. He had then announced the start of an age of ‘Electric Vehicle (EV)’ and that, by 2020, 20 percent of the public vehicles would be EVs. But come 2021, that dream is still far off. 

The buses inaugurated by the prime minister had to be returned to the company as they were substandard. The company subsequently gave five buses to the Nepal government. The buses, owned by the Tourism Ministry, were taken to Lumbini to be operated in the second international airport there. However, they have since been gathering dust in the parking lot of the Lumbini Development Trust.

The five buses, produced by the well-known Chinese company BYD, were supposed to be operated by Sajha Yatayat initially. 

In 2018, the government allocated Rs 3 billion to Sajha Yatayat, which was invested in shares, to procure electric buses. But in February 2020 the government asked for the money back along with interest following a delay in procurement. Sajha refused to return the money. Then, in February 2021, the government again allowed Sajha Yatayat to purchase electric buses. 

Environment expert Bhushan Tuladhar, who is also executive director of Sajha Yatayat, says excessive use of petroleum products has been increasing air pollution and depleting state coffers. “There is no alternative to electric vehicles in order to save the environment and secure state coffers,” says Tuladhar, adding, “we can replace all petroleum vehicles in a decade if the government so wants.” 

Also read: Bandarjhula settlers caught between wildlife and wily politicians 

Sajha Yatayat has signed a deal to bring 40 buses from China’s CHTC. Sajha paid $3.7 million for 40 buses and 20 chargers. Besides, the Sajha has agreed to pay an additional $6.7 million to the Chinese company for necessary training, maintenance and spare parts.

On 26 March 2021, Sajha had invited bids for bus-procurement and selected CHTC from among nine applicants. According to the agreement, the Chinese company will supply three buses, which will be tested in Kathmandu, after which remaining buses will be delivered. 

Tuladhar says Sajha is planning to import more buses in coordination with Lalitpur Metropolitan City. 

Likewise, Sajha is arranging charging stations via an agreement with Nepal Electricity Authority, and also researching conversion of old diesel vehicles into electric ones. 

In the past two years, both the federal and provincial governments had made public their plans to purchase environment-friendly electric buses. Private sector has invested in electric vehicles as well, with Sundar Yatayat starting electric vehicles on Kathmandu-Sindhuli route. 

According to Thapa, the cost of electric vehicles came down by up to Rs 2.2 million apiece after the government reduced import charges.  

Nepal has reported additional 24 cases of Omicron variant of a Covid-19. With the surge of this high transmissible variant, the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) has urged hospitals across the country to prepare themselves for another wave of Covid-19. Earlier, Nepal has reported three Omicron variants.

The Ministry of Health and Population has requested everyone to wear masks and to follow the safety protocols and keep a safe distance from others while going out.

A study launched today by Media Action Nepal has concluded that Nepali media give less priority to issues of women and people with different sexual orientations. The research report titled 'Gender Sensitivity in Nepali Media' found that newspapers and online media in Nepal have not published gender issues as a matter of public importance.

Out of 21,919 news items published in 20 media outlets, only 76 had bylines of female journalists. This is only about 0.30 percent of the total news published by those media, the study revealed.

According to the study, out of the total number of media materials published in those media over the period of two months, only 388 or 1.67 percent of news stories are about women and people belonging to different sexual orientations. Of those 388 women and people with different sexual orientations, 386 are on women’s issues and only two are about sexual minorities.

Highlighting that free and responsible media is a key component of democratic societies and essential to the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, Mathew Loken, Councellor and Head, Political, Economic, and Public Affairs at High Commission of Canada in Delhi remarked that it is critical that a free press reflects the diverse views of those within society, which includes the perspective of women and girls. MAN’s approach of working closely with industry groups increases the likelihood that there can be immediate and tangible results for advancing women’s empowerment in the Nepali media, he added. 

Underscoring that Nepali women are constantly facing gender discrimination and problems arising out of patriarchal power relations, Laxman Datt Pant, Chairperson of Media Action Nepal urged media to highlight these issues and make the relevant stakeholders accountable. "Giving more space to women and people with different sexual orientations is more urgent than ever. There is a growing need to make the media inclusive by ensuring gender equality through the implementation of the Gender-Sensitive Indicators and the Code of Conduct for Journalists", Pant added.

Aimed at measuring the level of gender sensitivity in media and determining how much and what kind of news content about women and people with different sexual orientations are published in Nepali media, this study assessed a total of 23,515 media contents published by a total of 20 media outlets–three national dailies and three online news portals operating in Kathmandu, and one national daily and one online news portal each from seven provinces.

It analyzed news stories and other materials published by 14 media outlets (seven daily newspapers and seven online news portals) from the seven provinces during the period of two months from August 1 to September 30, 2021, and six media outlets (three daily newspapers and three online news portals from Kathmandu) from August 30 to November 1, 2021.

The study recommended that media houses must make clear policy arrangements to strengthen diversity, gender identity, and inclusion in the workplace. The media can promote gender equality, justice, and equality only when the content they produce and the workplace they develop is gender-sensitive, it added. Read full report here: https://mediaactionnepal.org/reports/

Inhabitants of Bandarjhula, located in the middle of a forest in Madi Municipality-9, have for years been asking for land-ownership certificates. But their demands have fallen on deaf ears.

Interestingly, the issue of land ownership makes its way to the top of political parties’ agenda every election season. Around 700 registered voters in this place are assured of certificates during elections but the promises are soon forgotten.    

Former Coordinator of Bandarjhula struggle committee, Rajkumar Praja, says many promises of land certificates since 1998 have gone begging. “The government allocates the budget, and another government agency stops it. And if our votes are legal, how can our lands be illegal?” he asks.

CPN (Maoist Centre) Chaiman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli had reached Madi with the agenda of party unification ahead of the last federal election in 2017. From the same podium, the two leaders had promised to address the problems of the residents of Bandarjhula—again to no avail.

Dahal, who has been frequently visiting Madi, last month reached Bandarjhula and expressed his worry over the issue. However, he is silent even as the National Park and Wildlife Conservation Act 1973 poses a hurdle to their land-ownership. Bandarjhula lies in a wildlife corridor. The act bars development and farming in such a corridor. Government officials say the place is not appropriate for human settlement.

This place lies in Chitwan election constituency-3, which Dahal won in 2017. In July 2020, Former Prime Minister Oli had claimed that Madi is the birth place of Lord Ram. Attempts are now being made to popularize Bandarjhula as Hanumanjhula.

Also read: Covid-19 in 2021: A year of ‘learning’ for Nepal

Before the last federal elections, another charismatic Rastriya Prajatantra Party leader Bikram Pandey was elected from here. The current provincial chief of Lumbini Province, Amik Sherchan, had become deputy prime minister after being elected from the same constituency. Prior to that, Nepali Congress leader Narayan Sharma became the Minister for Water Resources, and his predecessor Tirtha Bhusal is also from Madi.

Madi has elected many politicians who went on to hold influential positions, and the country has turned into a republic, but the plight of Bandarjhula inhabitants remains unchanged. The settlements are yet to be electrified and the Chitwan national park has been obstructing development works in the ‘transgressed’ or ‘captured area’.

The majority of people living in this place are from Chepang, indigenous and Dalit community. People from Makwanpur, Parsa, Lamjung, and Tanahun, among other districts, migrated to Bandarjhula which now has 660 households. Prior to this, Nepal Army personnel used to live there. Landless squatters moved in after the army left.

“We are being treated as foreign citizens in our own country,” says Sarada Acharya, Chairperson of Bandarjhula Struggle Committee. “All that we want is to be allowed to stay here. If that is not possible, let us be resettled in another place.”

As the demands for land ownership certificates were not heeded, the settlers had staged a relay hunger strike for four nights at Maitighar Mandala in Kathmandu. The protests culminated in a three-point deal between the National Land Commission and Bandarjhula struggle committee. The commission has pledged to provide land survey documents after completing all the required processes.