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Members of the Chandrakant (CK) Raut-led Janamat Party are resorting to hooliganism to make their presence felt in Madhes ahead of the impending elections.

The party, which renounced plans to continue agitating for ‘free Mades’ to join mainstream politics, has been taking action against people’s representatives and officials, and this has upset members of the bureaucracy.

“Raut’s cadres are acting like hooligans to create an environment of terror,” says Lal Kishore Shah, mayor of Janakpurdham sub-metropolitan city. “The so-called progressive political parties are carrying out such activities, which will make people question the very foundation of federalism.”

Members of the party recently physically abused Rajeshwor Kushwaha, acting chief of Department of Water Supply and Sewage Office, Janakpur. They accused Kushwaha of not doing enough to fill a manhole in front of Raut’s house at Balawa, Janakpurdham-8, forced him to take off his clothes and paraded him across the city.

The party cadres had earlier visited Kushwaha’s office with bamboo sticks to threaten him to follow their orders.

Various professional organizations have condemned the party’s actions. The engineers’ associations, the government trade union, Nepal Tarai engineers’ society, and Madhesi Democratic Society have raised concerns about the incident.

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Acts like these discourage public servants from doing their job, says Bandhu Prasad Banstola, chief district officer, Dhanusa. “The activities of the Janamat Party have made a mockery of the idea of rule of law,” he added. “These kinds of activities are carried out by underground and outlawed groups, not political parties.”

Raut’s men also manhandled another employee of the city. The cadres also vandalized the city’s office as they were denied an appointment with the mayor or his deputy. Armed with bamboo sticks, they had picketed the chief minister’s office on the same day.

“No political group should think that they are above the law,” says youth leader Saroj Mishra. “Raut himself is corrupt, he sold out his agenda. It doesn’t suit him to speak against corruption,” he says. “First, he should make the party’s finances public.”

Raut, meanwhile, says he doesn’t find anything abnormal about the party’s activities. “The people are fed up with corruption. None of the officials listens to the people’s voices. The executive is corrupt and so is the judiciary. The CIAA is also abeting the corrupt. What should the people do then?” he asks.  

“These kinds of incidents happen even in places where there is rule of law if people’s voices are not heard,” says Raut. He adds that his party plans to launch a campaign against corruption in the city.

The party has also demanded that police release the 17 cadres arrested following the incident involving Kushwaha. “The 17 were arrested as they resorted to hooliganism and assaulted an office chief,” says DSP Jitendra Basnet.

The party has announced plans to organize a series of protests, including motorcycle and torch rallies demanding their release.

Bollywood star Sunil Setty will star in the upcoming Nepali movie ‘X9’. Director Mukunda Bhatt, known for his film ‘Lappan Chappan’, announced the news through his Facebook.

Along with Shetty, Anmol KC, Pushpa Khadka, and Saugat Malla will also be a part of the film that is being marketed as ‘Nepal’s biggest action thriller’. It will be shot in Canada, Nepal, and some European countries. Produced by Golden Hills Picture, the film will be released sometime next year.

There’s some time to go for Tihar but she’s already looking up rangoli designs online. She is determined to craft a bigger and better Rangoli this year. But making a rangoli during Laxmi Puja gets mixed reactions from her family. While her mother and sister enjoy it as much as she does, her dad and aunt think it’s an ‘Indian’ thing—something they learnt from the many Hindi serials they watch. But Swati Thapa, who works for an NGO in Kathmandu, says making a rangoli fills her with a sense of calm. It also amps up the festive vibe at home, she says.

Many homes make rangoli in Tihar, and quite elaborate ones too, but views on whether this is imperative to the way we celebrate the festival are divided. Like Swati’s dad and aunt, many feel it’s a ‘borrowed’ ritual and that we are heavily influenced by the Indian way of doing things. Several years ago, a young boy vented his frustrations on social media. The post read: What is up with Nepalis making rangoli? Are we trying to be Indian?

However, ApEx spoke to over two dozen people who believed there is nothing wrong with emulating rituals and adding to our way of marking festivals. Creating a hullabaloo over such things shows our narrow-mindedness and unwillingness to change and adapt. Tihar, they agreed, is a fun festival and there’s no wrong or right way to celebrate it as long as what we do is safe and sparks joy.

Anjali Rai, diagnostic radiographer, says rangoli creates positive vibes and energy at home. She is all about embracing the good things, irrespective of culture or religion. Rangoli, she adds, is so pretty to look at. It perfectly encapsulates the spirit of Tihar. Dibya Karki, program development manager at CECI Nepal, says rangoli is very much a part of our Tihar decorations too. “When we say it isn’t a part of our culture, we are forgetting that it is an important tradition in the Tarai region of Nepal,” she says. “We celebrate festivals like Halloween and Christmas now, don’t we? There’s no harm in adding rituals to our own culture if we feel like it.”

Though making rangoli might be a relatively new practice in many households, to call it ‘Indian’ couldn’t be more wrong, argues Pratibha Rawal, mother of a five-year-old girl, who loves making rangolis because it’s interesting and engaging. It has long been practiced in the Tarai and even in hilly regions of Nepal, like Kathmandu, where there is a tradition of decorating areas set up for pujas and hawans with colors and flowers. In Tihar, we decorate our homes to welcome Goddess Laxmi. Rangoli is just one of the many ways in which we prep our spaces for that.

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And let’s for a minute assume we have been influenced by Indian culture, what’s the harm in that when it makes us happy? Some might argue that letting other cultures seep into ours will mar their essence but isn’t inclusiveness the need of the hour? Rather than letting cultures divide us, shouldn’t we use it as a tool to bring us together? Indeed, the undivided opinion was that cultures and their merging should be ties that bind rather than tools that create rifts. For Renu Halwai, who is from Siraha and has been working as a house help in Kathmandu for two years, watching her employers make rangoli in Tihar fosters a sense of connectedness and kinship. She feels good and included in the family rituals, she says.  

Bhairabi Ghimire, executive at Chaudhary Group, says rather than harping about what’s borrowed from where and why we could focus on the fact that every rangoli design has some significance or the other. The main purpose of rangoli is to beautify your space while creating positive energy and warding off bad luck. Bhairabi usually makes the swastika, which is a symbol of luck and well-being, or the satkon which is associated with Goddess Laxmi’s Shree Yantra that stands for power and money.

Traditionally made using colored chalk, rice powder, and crushed limestone, most rangolis had a symmetrical design to signify prosperity and good luck. Round designs supposedly have a calming effect. But today, with people experimenting with different patterns and forms, there are many variations of it—from flowers and idols to abstract art. Shreya Joshi, founder of Pinches Artcore Pvt. Ltd, says she makes rangoli primarily because it’s a form of art and she loves it. “Why make a fuss about where it comes from? Art is art,” she says.

On a similar note, Isha Upadhyay, founder of Homemade Flavors, says she finds it therapeutic. Making rangoli, after a day of backbreaking work getting everything ready for Laxmi Puja, helps her relax. “It’s an IRL coloring book, what’s there not to like about it?” she says. The healing effect of art aside, the vibrancy of rangoli lifts your mood too, adds Brinju Thapa, a computer engineer based in Denver, Colorado. For her, Tihar is more than a culture or religious festival—it’s a reminder of how life should be celebrated. Rangoli acts as a cue to appreciate and be grateful for the life she’s been blessed with, she says.

As Avinashi Paudel, mother of two boys and a working professional in Kathmandu, says, there isn’t any culture that is pristine and totally unique. Everything is borrowed and tweaked according to personal preferences. The ability to accept and embrace different rituals even when we can’t understand them—especially if we can’t understand them—is perhaps the first step to a more inclusive society.

The International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) launched its Covid-19 emergency appeal as soon as the WHO declared coronavirus a public health emergency. It was a measure initiated to aid its National Societies across the world to support governments and vulnerable communities in their fight against the virus.

IFRC’s Head of Country Delegation in Nepal, Azmat Ulla, emphasizes how collaboration between the IFRC, the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) and the Nepal government helped make response efforts more efficient. “The Nepal Red Cross Society has been working closely with the Government of Nepal at various levels and with the help of its volunteers, relief and response have reached many people,” he says. Right through the pandemic, the IFRC and the NRCS have adopted a multi-pronged response to mitigate the pandemic’s damages.

The Nepal government and the Nepal Red Cross Society have had a long running synergy. 

To navigate the pandemic’s challenges, the NRCS worked in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Population to conduct health screenings in various parts of Nepal. In fulfilling its auxiliary function, the NRCS mobilized its extensive network of volunteers, providing technical support where necessary.

Rujina Joshi, Senior Health Program Officer, highlights how response efforts near borders were crucial. “After the country experienced the first wave, it became clear that health screening at the borders was important,” Joshi says.

Ulla speaks of the tricky task of monitoring multiple points of entry and an overwhelming movement of people. Despite such hurdles, NRCS helped set up monitoring posts in two major points of entry in Jhapa and Kailali during the second wave. It also ensured that there was easy access to its ambulances and blood banks, its flagship services.

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During the peak of the second wave, Nepal’s health infrastructure was inundated with Covid-19 patients and demands for vital supplies. Almost $3.5 million was raised to support Nepal Red Cross and its volunteer networks in strategic areas: prevention and dissemination, medical services including the supply of oxygen products, vaccination and socio-economic activities of the most vulnerable. The NRCS supported 154 isolation centers, distributed 291 oxygen concentrators, 600 cylinders and 17 ventilators to MoHP and NRCS’s local chapters. In addition, the NRCS also coordinated with Partner National Societies to collectively use resources more efficiently.

While these are all essential response efforts, Ulla is mindful that procuring and delivering vaccines to people across Nepal is of equal importance. “No one is safe until everyone is. This is why the Red Cross advocates impartial and equitable vaccination,” he says.

Recognizing vaccine inequity, the IFRC calls on governments to increase coverage and equitable use of vaccines. It signed an MoU with ‘Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance’ and initiated dialogue early on with the United Nations to vaccinate frontline workers.

While working to procure vaccines, the NRCS was also laying the ground for vaccination awareness. Through radio and television, it was regularly broadcasting PSAs to ensure people had factual information about the vaccines. Ulla highlights examples of how NRCS volunteers have reached even remote areas on awareness activities. According to Joshi, NRCS awareness activities have thus far reached almost 4.8 million people across Nepal. 

The pandemic disrupted normal life for all but its socio-economic ramifications have been crippling particularly for a few groups, such as daily wage workers. For them, staying in during a lockdown means forgoing an opportunity to earn and sustain their livelihood. The NRCS provided economic aid in the form of conditional and unconditional cash assistance and also food packages to more than 23,000 such people.

One area that Ulla wants to work on is creating and strengthening synergies at all levels. “With enormous challenges also come enormous opportunities,” he says. An essential goal of the IFRC is to enhance the capacities of its National Societies. Owing to its difficult topography and the increasingly devastating effects of climate change, Nepal is vulnerable to floods and landslides. Every year, several communities are displaced and many lives are lost. The pandemic adds to the burden. According to Ulla, there is great need to build resilient communities and that is only possible through good partnerships and coordination.

In order to fortify its preparations to handle future outbreaks, the NRCS is already taking steps based on its experience so far, prioritizing the procurement of more funding and essential supplies. 

The NRCS is also preparing for a third wave of Covid-19 as restrictions are lifted and people return home during the festive season. It has been working to scale up border monitoring. After receiving more funding from international donors, the NRCS plans to increase COVID response activities in checkpoints in collaboration with the government and local authorities. It also plans on mobilizing more volunteers to make contact tracing more effective and to explore different capacities with local chapters to improve isolation-center management.