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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.

Also read: Nepal Red Cross Society | Tailoring her way out of financial trouble

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.

Paddy farmers across the country have borne huge losses due to unexpected heavy rains immediately after the Dashain festival.

Although the monsoon usually recedes in the final week of September, it left Nepal only in the first week of October this year. Similarly, the westerly winds, which start to dominate the weather system, mostly in western Nepal from around November, set in early this year.

Thousands of farmers in Dang have had to face huge losses due to the rains. “The farmers had already harvested the paddy and were drying it in the sun when the unexpected rainfall started,” says Shyam Lal Chaudhary, a resident of Tulsipur Sub-metropolitan City in Dang.

A total of 39,000 hectares of land was being used for paddy cultivation in Dang this year. Officials hoped that production would increase this year after a fair amount of rainfall during the monsoon season.

“We are seeing rains across the country due to the interaction of the monsoon’s easterly winds and the westerly winds that come into Nepal during the winter,” says Meteorologist Indira Kandel. She says, normally, Nepal would experience dry conditions during the period as both the easterly and westerly winds are weak over Nepali skies and they seldom interact. However, this year, the late withdrawal of the monsoon and the early arrival of westerly winds led the two systems to interact and cause unexpected rainfall, she adds.

Also read: Fear of gods halt Mustang excavation

Paddy output is also expected to decline this year in Tanahun, where the rainfall adversely affected paddy production. “While the paddy being dried in the sun was drenched in the rain. Land on which the crop was being cultivated has been flooded,” says Rajendra Paudel, a resident of Byas Municipality-11.

The story of farmers in Shuklagandaki Municipality is also similar. The town’s head of agriculture Navraj Pandit says drenched harvest produces less grains even when dried in the sun. “We expect output to decline by around 20-25 percent this year,” says Kul Prasad Tiwari, head of Agriculture Knowledge Center, Tanahun.

Paddy farmers in other regions of the country, especially in the Tarai, are also reeling under the same problem. Although a nationwide assessment is yet to be carried out, officials expect national paddy output to fall this year due to the untimely rains.

According to meteorologist Kandel, the system has been moving west and causing rainfall in Nepal’s far-west region. On Monday, October 18, Dadeldhura received 168.8 mm of rain, Dipayal 95.3, and Dhangadhi 80. Alarms have been raised across the region after the Mahakali, a transboundary river between Nepal and India, was flooded due to heavy rains in its catchment area.

Covid-19 has made the cinema industry fragile. All of us are trying to cope with the situation and at this juncture, even small progress gives us hope and confidence. If we look at the pre-Dashain periods of the past three years, we can see a huge difference between them, and that captures our situation.

Normally, Dashain would bring in a handful of cinemas to the theaters. As completing a movie takes a few months, or even years, preparation for its Dashain release had to start at least in February or March.

If we look back at the Dashain of 2019, the year before the pandemic, everything was going according to plan. Dashain gave us several blockbusters. When we started preparing for the next Dashain, unfortunately, the pandemic hit us badly.

We didn’t see any Nepali movies released anywhere during the pandemic. We didn’t have the market. There were a lot of movies in the pipeline just looking for a releasing platform. They will get their turn as the lockdown is now eased. Most importantly, cinema halls are reopening.

I hope people will come to the halls to watch movies. We have all come this far in the pandemic, so entertainment is what everyone wants. Nepali movies will hopefully deliver what the audiences want. So, Dashain particularly has boosted the energy on both sides of the screen; it’s like a lucky charm. 

Also read: Duty is Dashain for Nepal Police

I think the pandemic has also brought home some important lessons. It affected the entire world, but the Nepali film industry suffered disproportionately as we do not have the concept of OTT platforms. Movies continued to be released all over the world, but we did not know what’s next. So, let’s say Covid-19 came with some positivity in terms of the lessons that we learned. At least, we now realize the importance of online platforms. We are now more into low-budget quality movies—also a great initiative. This Dashain has come with great hopes, let’s wait to see how it delivers.

There are still a lot of things that can be improved. We have to maintain our quality, otherwise people won’t come to the halls just to sympathize with us. All the related sectors and authorities should collaborate to improve our situation.

We have enough movies and yet the halls are back with foreign films. This has to change, which is only possible if we deliver the goods. Also, during this pandemic, audiences have followed foreign movies of exceptional quality and they will have high expectations from us too. Now, there are no other shortcuts or options except to constantly improve ourselves. Catchy movie songs and a high glamor quotient alone won’t be able to lure audiences any more.

Since the second wave of Covid-19, we have worked on new movies too. I have already completed two movies and am going for another two. Fingers crossed.

Dashain is often regarded as a time for reunion between family members, neighbors, and friends as they finally find some time to come together and celebrate.

Last year, a lot of people couldn’t celebrate the festival because of the lockdown. As the covid situation improves this time, most people are eagerly awaiting the grand festival. Psychologically too, people need refreshment.

But for Nepal Police personnel, reunions and celebrations are rare. We can’t take a leave or get a vacation during Dashain. We rather have extra stress and long hours (sometimes 18 hours a day) due to the social problems that come with Dashain. We need to be extra vigilant as crime rates are high in this period. Also, the number of road accidents goes up.

Police personnel are trained to deal with any kind of situation that may take a toll on their physical, emotional, or mental wellbeing. Those who want to join the force know they won’t get the entertainment that a normal person does as police personnel are the ones who need to deal with all sorts of situations. We are born to serve the country, and we prioritize public security over personal enjoyment. But I have never seen any personnel get pissed off for not getting a leave during Dashain.

Also read: Dashain ignites a spark on dreary jail life

This doesn’t mean we are not humans or we don’t have feelings and emotions. We do. But we know our priorities.

During off-duty hours, our personnel enjoy the festival in the office with fellow officers, as we are all part of a large family. We sing, dance, play, and eat delicious food together when we have time. Senior officers offer tika to juniors.

My hometown is in Rolpa. This is my 22nd year in service and in all these years, I have never been there during Dashain. Rather, I invite my family members over to my duty station and we celebrate together. Anyone can invite their family to the barracks and celebrate Dashain.

I think our family members are proud of our job and dedication to the country. They understand our situation. But again, seeing other families get together and celebrate sometimes hurts them. I know many of our family members complain, but eventually, they understand.

I believe that during Dashain and any other high-alert periods, the command head should never go on leave. Nepal Police is a trained and disciplined organization yet doing so could psychologically affect junior officers. So I don’t think any of the immediate bosses have ever gone on leave during this time.

But we do make a few exceptions. Nepal Police encourages new couples to take leave during Dashain.