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Okay, the event’s a little old but still worth bringing up for its rich symbolism. By the time yours truly got into the jampacked stadium, the battle royale was already over, and the crowd was going euphoric with Nepal clinching a victory against an up-and-coming footballing nation in the neighbourhood. You see, there come in the not-so-eventful life of yours truly some important engagements that coincide with other equally important events. The fiddler high above had perhaps set the date of the battle royale with this important event to make an otherwise mundane life a little bit
more interesting.

Looking back, getting a ticket to the football finale was akin to winning a Mahabharata of sorts. It meant having faith in the online ticketing system that was down most of the time and trying desperately with fellow football fans to get those coveted seats at double the usual price to watch the home team play against a country finding perfect happiness after evicting more than a lakh of her citizens by committing atrocities against the hapless lot and driving many of them into suicide, under the watchful gaze of the international community, including the world’s
largest democracy.
So, despite having fought frustration brewing against the system to get the ticket at a hefty price, watching the gem of the game was something that was not to be. The only solace was making it to the closing ceremony of the South Asian Games 2019 at its dying moments.
It felt good to cheer the home team with the rest of the crowd. Watching a kid dance and sing for Nepal was pure delight, so were occasional bursts of firecrackers and flashing of thousands of mobile phones in celebration. That day, Nepali fans showed to the rest of the world a decent soccer culture. Yours truly hopes this event will go a long way in projecting a positive image of Nepal to the outside world and making the Visit Nepal Year 2020 a
smashing success.
That day, even not-so-powerful speeches from members of the new aristocracy to the hoi polloi appeared tolerable. Even doubling of ticket prices
seemed okay.
At one point, the audiovisual system failed and the head of the government could be seen and not heard on the giant screen. Even this glitch did not provoke the spectators, who were on cloud nine after the thin victory in the football finale, which was icing in the cake for Nepal that stood second in the overall
medal tally.
The show is over and it is time for some serious reflection, isn’t it? Let me take this opportunity to offer some humble suggestions to whoever in the high and the mighty club is listening: The government can do sports fans a huge favor by not hiking ticket prices at the 11th hour. It can win hearts and minds by making sincere efforts to control elements that want to make hay while the sun shines during
such occasions.
With a little bit of hard work, less talk and less focus on taking the credit for the successes, the government machinery can avoid minor glitches. You see, there was quite a rush to take the credit for organizing the great games successfully, but the organizers should also take the ‘credit’ for what went wrong.
For one, a sports journalist sustaining injuries in police action during the event will not send a positive message from Nepal to the world. Over time, let’s hope, Nepal will be able to organize international sporting events. There’s no reason why Nepal cannot be a great sporting destination. It has almost all that it takes to make it a great sporting destination, like pleasant weather and natural beauty. The focus now should now be on enhancing institutional capacity, building adequate sports infrastructure and investing more on the hospitality sector, to offer sports fans and sportspersons a home away from home.
Thinking over the euphoria and the bursts of joy at the stadium, those great fans of Team Nepal were looking for heroes in one more avenue of this country where political leaders of all hues have specialized in inflicting self-goals. For about three centuries, the Nepalis have been looking for heroes in politicos and disappointment is what successive generation has got, even after giving it all for this country. Never has a search for a hero, who would help bring a country back from the brink by putting national interests above all else, been so long and frustrating.

Nepali student unions are long used to shutting down education institutions. Now even teachers and staffers seem to be getting into it, as is evidenced at Kathmandu University in Dhulikhel, which had thus far been spared of such disruptive shutdowns.

KU professors and staffers have shut down classes of different faculties and departments, demanding recognition of their organizations—Kathmandu University Professor Association (KUPA), and Kathmandu University Staff Association (KUSA)—from the university. They have even been padlocking department and dean offices for the past three weeks.
The university, established in 1991, had long been untouched by party politics before it gave in to the demand for the opening of student unions affiliated to different political parties. Among the sufferers are foreign students, who constitute 20 percent of the total university students.
Maisha Spriha of Bangladesh is a student of pharmacy. She expresses her frustration with the shutdown: “It’s hard on us students. To be honest, it’s hard on the teachers as well. If this shutdown brings positive changes in the university, then we are fine with it. But we can’t say if that’ll be the case.”
The associations claim the shutdown is aimed at safeguarding the interests of not only teachers and staffers, but also of the students. They are demanding that the university ‘honor’ past agreements of recognizing the associations.
“On August 30 last year, KU’s executive council agreed to grant recognition to both the organizations. It also agreed to address our three demands—allowing KUPA’s president to take part in the university’s executive council meeting, ensuring transparency in administrative works of the university, and building mechanism to guarantee career growth of teachers and employees at the varsity,” says Bed Mani Dahal, president of KUPA.
He lambasts the executive council for not addressing those demands.
Deepak Dahal, a manager at the university, says students are suffering due to the teachers strike. “It is difficult to immediately fulfill their demands. They can only be addressed via the university senate in the presence of the prime minister and education minister,” says Dahal.
Meanwhile, students are mostly expressing their frustrations through social media.
“The university administration is sleeping like a log, and the professors and employees have resorted to protests. Students are suffering,” writes Kokish Busal, a student of mechanical engineering, on Facebook. Likewise, Kiran Gyawali, a law student, writes: “Maybe we run a public hearing with the vice chancellor, registrar, KUPA/KUSA members, and students to find a way out. How long should it go like this? There are rumors that classes will not reopen until January 27.”
“The concerned authorities should resolve it as soon as possible and keep us students out of it. They may choose to close the administration, but why cancel classes?” asks Spriha.
Bigen Aryal, a computer science student at the university, says he does not know who is right and who is wrong. “We only know that the conflict between the management and teachers is troubling all the students,” he says.

Leela Devkota, 38, was returning to her home near Budhanilkantha Temple at around 10:00 on the morning of 14 December 2019. As she was walking on the sidewalk, a grey Suzuki car breached the sidewalk, and ran over her. She was later pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby hospital.
Police investigation showed 21-year-old Prithiva Malla was driving the car—under the influence. In fact, he was completely drunk. The car was full of beer bottles and, reportedly, even illegal drugs. He had three other friends in the car.

The killing of a working mother of three by an inebriated driver created much uproar. The fact that the incident occurred during unusual hours for drunk driving came as a surprise for many. It later turned out that Malla had been out on a drinking spree with his friends for the whole night before the accident.
Nepal Police’s alcohol detection test for drunk drivers, popularly known as Mapase, has been credited for controlling alcohol-induced accidents in the Kathmandu Valley. But the case of Malla throws a different light on this issue.
The record of Metropolitan Traffic Police Department Kathmandu shows reduction in the rate of alcohol-induced accidents until four years ago. But the trend has been reversing in the past three years.
In FY 2016/17, there were 167 drunk-driving accidents, killing seven. The number of accidents rose to 221 in 2017/18 with 11 deaths, and to 283 with 16 deaths in 2018/19. In the first five months of 2019/20, already 237 accidents have been recorded, with four deaths.
Does it indicate waning effectiveness of Nepal Police’s alcohol detection test? Or does it show the alcoholics have found a way out—driving when there is no Mapase test? It is hard to say.
“Improvement is needed in the way traffic police work. Each officer on the street should have at least a breathalyzer to detect alcohol,” says Govinda Bhattarai, road activist and senior advisor at Nepal Automobile Association (NASA), an organization that works for road safety. “There is also no machine to trace other drugs.”
For somebody caught driving under the influence, the punishment is Rs 1,000 in fine, an hour-long road safety class at the traffic police, and a hole punched in the driving license. Five such holes will lead to the license’s suspension. Altogether 444 licenses have been suspended in eight years of the Mapase control campaign.
“The punishment for drunk driving is inadequate,” Bhattarai adds. “And the alcohol test is done only during the evening hours. The alcoholics know when and how to avoid the Mapase tests.”
The traffic police say they have challenges of their own.
“There are several reasons why we have not been able to trace drunk drivers,” said traffic police spokesperson and Superintendent of Police Jeevan Kumar Shrestha. “First, we don’t have enough manpower. Second, it is difficult for us to inspect during the day due to rush hours. Likewise, they might also be using alternate roads where our officers are not on duty.”
Shrestha is aware that there may be plenty of people who drink and drive during daytime.
Nearly every month, a couple of cases of alcohol-related accidents in the daytime are reported, says Jitesh Dahal, an inspector at traffic police. Yet there is no systemic record of the total number of road accidents in the daytime, much less due to alcohol.
“We are doing our job. But the drivers and their families also need to be aware of their roles,” says SP Shrestha. “These days, parents are often uncaring if their children come home drunk. Discipline starts at home. I ask parents to check what their children are doing.”

Taking oath of office on 15 February 2018, Province 1 Chief Minister Sherdhan Rai inducted four ministers in his provincial cabinet. The number was in no way sufficient to staff the provincial government.
There are seven ministries in the province, including the Office of the Chief Minister. Rai has also been looking after the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives, as well as the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure, for the past two years. As the chief minister does not have enough time on his hands, crucial works at these ministries have been affected. But cabinet expansion seem unlikely anytime soon.
The four ministries headed by respective ministers have formulated policies and laws to execute their public duties. But those under the chief minister have been left to the discretion of bureaucrats. It has affected public service delivery as the civil servants are unable to formulate laws and policies by themselves.
“The cabinet has failed to expand even in two years. Without its ministers, Province 1 has become like a person without vital organs,” says Bal Bahadur Samsohang, parliamentarian fromthe ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP). “Now even if the ministers are immediately appointed, the two ministries will have to spend a lot of time clearing a two-year backlog.”
Works related to critical sectors such as roads, drinking water, irrigation, energy, transport, agriculture, poverty alleviation, and land management have been affected in the absence of department heads.
“Maybe the delay is due to pressure from the central government. The chief minister is just filling vacancies in these ministries, without evaluating their functioning,” says another parliamentarian, Lila Ballav Adhikari, also from the ruling NCP.
Absence of department heads has also affected capital expenditure. Not only have the concerned bodies failed to spend budgets, there have also been irregularities, claim parliamentarians.

“There are big irregularities in the ministries that are not headed by a minister. An irrigation staffer in Bhojpur district was recently found taking bribe,” says parliamentarian Ushakala Rai, also from the ruling NCP. “As there is no minister to oversee these departments, employees are going their own way.”
According to Dhruba Subedi, press advisor of the chief minister, the issue hinges on a decision of the federal government. “Expansion of provincial government needs federal approval. As the federal government has not given such an approval, cabinet expansion in the province has been delayed,” Subedi says.
Samsohang also criticizes the practice of getting blessings from Kathmandu to be appointed provincial ministers. The provincial government has been unable to function properly as there is interference from the center even in deciding the names of the province and its capital city, lambasts Samsohang. “Federalism seems meaningless if the provincial government cannot appoint its own ministers. We have to take orders from the center on everything, including choosing the name of the province and the capital city. How can we say the country has adopted a federal system?” questions Samsohang