<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/everest-70-years-on">70 years after the first ascent</a> of the world’s highest mountain, at least 600 climbers this season followed the route taken by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary to the summit of Mt Everest (pictured above on 17 May). Next year will be the centenary of the 1924 British expedition to Chomolungma during which <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/1921-rendezvous-mallory-pumori-and-everest">George Mallory</a> and Andrew Irvine were last seen below the summit pyramid. Did the pair reach the top? Mallory’s body was found in 1999 on the North Face, but no clues about whether they were the first to climb the peak. A lot has changed in Himalayan climbing in the past seven decades, but new records are still being broken. This year Kami Rita Sherpa and Pasang Dawa Sherpa <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/without-sherpas-there-is-no-mountaineering">broke their own and each other’s</a> records twice with 28 and 27 summits respectively. Hari Budha Magar became the first <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/the-pinnacle-of-determination-and-courage">above knee double amputee to reach the summit</a>. The style of expeditions has also changed. Most purist mountaineers shun the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/overkill-on-everest">crowds on Everest</a>, and are tackling lesser unclimbed peaks, and exploring new routes alpine style without guides, oxygen and fixed camps.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230529050524_e3f816d1368b81c77fd6bd91382eee1ebf98a7d11410576faa4812394982a629.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20230529050524_e3f816d1368b81c77fd6bd91382eee1ebf98a7d11410576faa4812394982a629" data-rendition-name="original" width="2268" height="4032" loading="lazy" alt="Everest"></figure>  The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nims-purja-does-it">record set by Nims Purja</a> to climb 14 eight-thousanders in just six months in 2019, and the worldwide publicity from his Netflix documentary and the Covid backlog brought many more mountaineers to Everest this year. The trend of climbing multiple 8,000ers in Nepal by hopping on helicopters from one base camp to the next has also caught on. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/government-is-god">Ad hoc mountaineering</a> rules, bureaucratic hassles in Kathmandu, over-commercialisation, theft of expedition gear, corpses, garbage and traffic jams have tarnished the Everest brand. But just this mountain earns the Nepal government $5 million every season in fees, aside from the income to guides, porters and lodges along the way. There are still expeditions led by well-known Western climbers, but more and more slick Nepali companies like Seven Summits, Elite Exped or Imagine Nepal are now guiding clients up Himalayan peaks not just in Nepal, but in Pakistan and China as well. There are calls to diversify expeditions to other mountains, and climbers have been <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/what-is-it-about-ama-dablam">flocking to Ama Dablam</a>, Manaslu and Annapurna. But the main attraction is still Mt Everest because, as Mallory famously said, “it is there”.  <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230529050536_d7750a5f0c118770e445b88d7d2e94eb24a8c9cd891b852acef9444da9495b05.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20230529050536_d7750a5f0c118770e445b88d7d2e94eb24a8c9cd891b852acef9444da9495b05" data-rendition-name="original" width="772" height="402" loading="lazy" alt="Everest Timeline "></figure>   <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230529050536_f7970bf13b822ac51b414d9b90ed09a2ea2e94ea59c73aeb74386e36f1088d91.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20230529050536_f7970bf13b822ac51b414d9b90ed09a2ea2e94ea59c73aeb74386e36f1088d91" data-rendition-name="original" width="829" height="404" loading="lazy" alt="Everest Timeline"></figure>   <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230529050536_dfdb7ec2900b342b760be5647217c8e69a13bd63b709aad707844a3c5284880f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20230529050536_dfdb7ec2900b342b760be5647217c8e69a13bd63b709aad707844a3c5284880f" data-rendition-name="original" width="830" height="401" loading="lazy" alt="Everest Timeline"></figure>   <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230529050536_bfcae299ac601c14a44abf1dc7ad4d606181177918e085503d1de313ae68c4d8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20230529050536_bfcae299ac601c14a44abf1dc7ad4d606181177918e085503d1de313ae68c4d8" data-rendition-name="original" width="777" height="403" loading="lazy" alt="Everest Timeline"></figure>   <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230529050536_e5992378a542fbdec992e086e423e54344cb07b80d36affa0a974bc56082e247.jpg" data-media-id="editor_13" data-image-id="20230529050536_e5992378a542fbdec992e086e423e54344cb07b80d36affa0a974bc56082e247" data-rendition-name="original" width="774" height="330" loading="lazy" alt="Everest Timeline"></figure>   <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230529050536_791a7c0d9849f54d0e484281158226e49692389d3c75a274f3e4a1a8189d5bd7.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20230529050536_791a7c0d9849f54d0e484281158226e49692389d3c75a274f3e4a1a8189d5bd7" data-rendition-name="original" width="835" height="332" loading="lazy" alt="Everest Timeline"></figure>   <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230529050536_326020db4bf7cf38f8b1761381effe7d99f481e1013e47a9cd52fb309575c131.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="20230529050536_326020db4bf7cf38f8b1761381effe7d99f481e1013e47a9cd52fb309575c131" data-rendition-name="original" width="823" height="333" loading="lazy" alt="Everest Timeline"></figure>   <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230529050536_064e3a7a6707f34037f2b1e87245431508af6269ab3d503ec9403ba851552675.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="20230529050536_064e3a7a6707f34037f2b1e87245431508af6269ab3d503ec9403ba851552675" data-rendition-name="original" width="781" height="335" loading="lazy" alt="Everest Timeline"></figure>   <figure><img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230529050536_bfcae299ac601c14a44abf1dc7ad4d606181177918e085503d1de313ae68c4d8.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20230529050536_bfcae299ac601c14a44abf1dc7ad4d606181177918e085503d1de313ae68c4d8" data-rendition-name="original" width="777" height="403" loading="lazy" alt="Everest Timeline"></figure>

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Here & Now

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When a soccer coach from Seattle, a registered nurse from Indianapolis, and a former US Marine from Miami met recently, they had one thing in common. They all had only one kidney, having donated the other one. In April, Cristina Fontana, Bobby McLaughlin, and Gionnon Goldhagen, two of their partners and a support team undertook the 12-day trek to the 5,364m Everest Base Camp to spread awareness about <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/kidney-transplants-heavily-favoured-towards-men-in-nepal,1901">kidney donation</a>.&nbsp; Supported by the non-profit United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), they wanted to prove that transplant donors can live healthy and active lives.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230527140548_b28289a14aab5fcdb850af43a3b8203e4be364a5b9868471886616d80f2a7cdc.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20230527140548_b28289a14aab5fcdb850af43a3b8203e4be364a5b9868471886616d80f2a7cdc" data-rendition-name="original" width="1024" height="768" loading="lazy" alt="Kidney donors at EBC"> <figcaption>Trekking guide Lachhuman Tamang with kidney donors Cristina Fontana, Bobby McLaughlin and Gionnon Goldhagen.</figcaption> </figure>  “My initial calling for kidney donation was to help my father,” recalled Cristina Fontana after returning to Kathmandu from the trek. “I always knew him to be sick and I always knew that he needed a kidney.” Fontana’s father was diagnosed with kidney cancer when she was nine and died five years later. She went on to become a registered nurse and worked as a transplant nurse as well as in paediatrics. But the calling to be a donor never left her. Eventually, she decided to donate a kidney to a stranger. Her husband of 32 years Daniel Gomes, who is also in the medical field, was apprehensive at first but knew her well enough to see that she had made up her mind. Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nation/valentines-day-man-gives-kidney-to-wife,3535">Transplanting love</a>, Shreejana Shrestha Fontana donated her kidney in January 2018. Her recipient turned out to be a 20-year-old young male. “We realised that helping him wasn’t just about helping him, but his family and his community, and this had a much bigger ripple effect than I would have ever imagined,” said the 54-year-old. Unfortunately, the recipient’s body rejected the kidney and he is back on the transplant list. “But what happened after the surgery does not change the fact that I would do it all over again,” added Fontana. More than 100,000 people are in need of organ transplants across the US. In Nepal, the Human Organ Transplant Centre (HOTC) estimates that there are 3,000 people diagnosed with kidney failure, but the real number is much more.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/A-mysterious-rash-of-kidney-failures,3639">A mysterious rash of kidney failures</a>, Om Astha Rai Bobby McLaughlin was a soccer coach, and decided to become a donor in 2019. A year later, he met his recipient, his wife and their two children. “My donation started a chain of four other donations,” he said. Studies suggest that kidney donors tend to have a longer life than those with two functioning kidneys, likely as a result of increased caution and care about one’s diet and lifestyle after the donation. “I have probably met about 150 donors by now, they are so grateful to have done it. They might have done it for somebody else, but the benefits to themselves and their happiness level from doing it is obvious,” says Stacey Solain, a kidney donation advocate and &nbsp;McLaughlin’s partner.&nbsp; Gionnon Goldhagen enlisted in the US Marines right out of high school and was in the military on and off for six years. The 41-year-old is the only one to have given his kidney to someone he knows — his wife’s uncle. The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/everest-garbage-caravan">EBC trek</a> was planned over a year ago after other groups of kidney donors climbed Mt Kilimanjaro in 2022. McLaughlin and Fontana both climbed the mountain last year one after another.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230527140548_0bf573b12d7597f09967fca06151db25a87af1a8071beea3445d41e86804fa3f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20230527140548_0bf573b12d7597f09967fca06151db25a87af1a8071beea3445d41e86804fa3f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1024" height="768" loading="lazy" alt="Kidney donors at EBC"> </figure>  Their tour company recommended Everest Base Camp trek to further promote their cause. And unlike on Kilimanjaro, their partners could also join. “It is important to our group that this is not just a group of donors, but one that includes spouses and partners as well,” explains McLaughlin. Many Zoom meetings later, McLaughlin, Fontana, Goldhagen, and their companions finally met for the first time in Kathmandu in April before beginning their trek. They also met their lead guide Lachhuman Tamang and his team. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/sherli-goes-trekking">Sherli goes trekking</a>, Sahina Shrestha “When my company told me I was guiding a team of kidney donors, I was worried about how that would work out but I need not have. Now, I’m grateful to have been a part of this important cause,” said Tamang.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230527140548_57f994e65e9f783df95358f57fb99d24bcdf88d448a11f4f7df1e43ae583bdcd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20230527140548_57f994e65e9f783df95358f57fb99d24bcdf88d448a11f4f7df1e43ae583bdcd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1024" height="768" loading="lazy" alt="Kidney donors at EBC"> </figure>  Despite bad weather that delayed their flight to Lukla their journey was pleasant. There were no major health-related problems, and the team was able to complete their trek from Lukla and back completely on foot in 12 days as planned, unlike many others who take helicopters back. Growing up in Caracas, Fontana had dreamed of summiting Everest one day. And while that is never going to happen, she acknowledges, the trek exceeded expectations. The views, she adds, were better than books could ever attempt to describe, or documentaries could ever capture. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/everest-garbage-caravan">Everest garbage caravan</a>, Sonia Awale  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230527140548_5e24368efa74e19c83165ca763e1439ba6bf60aecef09026eb7e071fd1402b16.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20230527140548_5e24368efa74e19c83165ca763e1439ba6bf60aecef09026eb7e071fd1402b16" data-rendition-name="original" width="1024" height="768" loading="lazy" alt="Kidney donors at EBC"> </figure>  And the camaraderie the trekkers and the guide team shared was special. “By the end, we had become like a family,” Tamang said. “We have made plans to reconnect.” Tthe team is already discussing another Kilimanjaro climb next year and to Patagonia to spread their message wider.&nbsp; As they prepare to leave, the five trekkers and their guide gather quietly to talk amongst themselves. They ask after Lachhumang Tamang’s young daughter and family. One by one, they give him a hug, say thank you, and go out to explore Kathmandu before flying out. &nbsp;

Shristi Karki

To the base of Everest on one kidney

Lisa Choegyal

Everest 70 years on

It is that time of the year again. The last-minute construction spree is underway to make up for chronic underspending of capital expenditure, right ahead of the new budget to be presented in Parliament on 29 May. The paradox is that while the government faces a severe cash crunch due to falling revenue, it spent only one-third of the development budget in the last 10 months of the fiscal year.&nbsp; The new parties in Parliament like the RSP have been trying to shake things up and urge multi-partisan consultations before the budget, but given the obsolete structure and leadership of the parties, not much is expected to change. But there is a strong argument for tax reform since the government faces a major challenge in balancing revenue with expenditure. The previous government’s ban on luxury items to augment depleting foreign reserves post-pandemic and increased bank interest led to the decline of real estate transactions resulting directly in a drop in revenue. But what makes matters worse is that the government has been profligate in spending beyond its means. Salaries, allowances, administrative expenses, grants and loans have all gone up. The government collected Rs756 billion in revenue in the last 10 months against the target of Rs1.4 trillion whereas its expenditure has exceeded Rs1.04 trillion.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/institutionalised-inequality">Institutionalised inequality</a>, Editorial Taxation is the primary source of income for any government. Contrary to what the wealthiest Nepalis think, the government is not run with their tax money but by what ordinary citizens pay in taxes. &nbsp;While tax evasion concentrates the wealth within the already privileged, the tax the poor pay is not proportional to their earnings. &nbsp; Nepal’s liberal economic policy since 1990 was expected to alleviate the income gap with trickle down effect, but the economic disparity in society is more stark than ever. A 2020 report Equality for Prosperity showed that while the wealthiest 20% of Nepalis own 56.2% of wealth, the poor 20% have only 4.1%. This economic gap is likely to have widened with the current crisis.&nbsp; This income gap is not just in Nepal. Worldwide, a skewed tax system is blamed for rising inequality. A new Oxfam report points out that two-thirds of the wealth that has increased globally after the Covid-19 pandemic is in the hands of the richest 1%. It recommends tax reforms based on wealth accumulation. “Because the tax system is not progressive in Nepal, wealth is piling up in the hands of the rich, while the income of the poor is not increasing,” explains economist Dilliraj Khanal. “We don't have a system of taxing the rich because of policy weakness and dominance of middlemen.”&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepals-care-economy">Nepal's care economy</a>, Bina Pradhan  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230526050528_6fe0c49de563e6fb210c25501e835186d93ecd57b2f63f8ff8154dca49daeee7.png" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20230526050528_6fe0c49de563e6fb210c25501e835186d93ecd57b2f63f8ff8154dca49daeee7" data-rendition-name="original" width="741" height="541" loading="lazy" alt="Rich-poor gap graph"> </figure>  Who pays taxes? Two-thirds of the government's annual revenue is collected not from corporations and industry, but from various taxes and revenue paid by the general public. The share of tax on corporate profit is in fact very small.&nbsp; In fiscal year 2021/22, the government collected a total of Rs989.62 billion in revenue. Of this, the income tax paid by businesses from the profits earned through private companies is only 5%. So while income tax did bring in Rs229 billion which is 24% of total revenue collected, this amount is largely from the income tax paid by ordinary citizens on their personal income. The tax paid from the profits of private companies is only Rs47.5 billion. When adding public limited companies (issued shares to the general public) and other types of companies, corporate income tax comes to only about Rs114 billion,which is just 11% of the government’s annual revenue.&nbsp; The government collected Rs314 billion from VAT last year, and this made up about one-third of total government revenue. Similarly, Rs241 billion was collected as customs duty and Rs155 billion as excise. “Society with unequal income and wealth, but equal taxes, burdens the poor and favours the rich, it is a regressive tax system that makes it difficult for the poor to survive,” says Khanal. For example, VAT is the same 13% for all Nepalis – rich and poor. &nbsp; “In essence, five-star hotels in Kathmandu and the poor are both taxed equally for LPG fuel,” he adds. “From a social justice standpoint, taxes must be based on income.” Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/ground-reality-of-landlessness-in-nepal/" target="_blank">Ground reality of landlessness in Nepal</a>, Rabi Giri Taxation expert Roop Khadka disagrees, saying it is impractical to have a different VAT rate for rich and poor, and even if it was introduced it would be impossible to enforce. Instead, Khadka favours revoking VAT exemption on goods and services consumed by the upper classes, which are worth nearly Rs100 billion per year. Tax evasion by the rich is another problem that needs to be tightened, and collusion between business and politicians means that the government itself abets tax evasion. Real estate speculation has helped select groups in Nepal to become immensely rich immediately, but the government collects a bare minimum in tax from profits made in land transactions. &nbsp; A real estate sale within five years is required to pay 7% of its profit. If the transition happens within 10 years, only 5% of the profit is taxed. This means most of the astronomical profits made in real estate sales in the past years have gone into the pockets of brokers and large landowners. On the other hand, the 60th report of the Auditor General's Office says many evade tax by showing less than the actual value of the property. The VAT bill scandal 10 years ago also revealed the widespread tax evasion by the commercial sector. The politics of patronage means that businesses are now colluding with politicians and bureaucrats to loot the treasury. The Tax Settlement Commission decided to collect Rs9.54 billion from businesses that have not paid tax for a long time, but the Auditor General's Office later revealed that the decision was made in cahoots with the businesses themselves who actually needed to pay Rs30.52 billion. The most egregious and blatant wrongdoing was by former Finance Minister Janardhan Sharma who was making backroom deals with select business groups importing steel rods and electric vehicles so their products got customised tax breaks in the budget last year. The deal cost Sharma his ministership but the unholy nexus between politicians and business continues with impunity.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/state-sponsored-economic-crisis-ikcxxmnp">State-sponsored economic crisis</a>, Ramesh Kumar  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230526050528_60a9385914649170d0496b8864bcb751477820b43554c68bec524f6e2412d39b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20230526050528_60a9385914649170d0496b8864bcb751477820b43554c68bec524f6e2412d39b" data-rendition-name="original" width="6124" height="4082" loading="lazy" alt="Kathmandu labourer NT"> <figcaption>Photo: SUMAN NEPALI</figcaption> </figure>  Alternative to the wealth tax In this state, the only sector keeping Nepal’s economy afloat is the estimated $9 billion Nepalis abroad send home every year. Still, Nepal’s debt has reached 43% of GDP, a sharp rise from 28% a decade ago. This will have a direct impact on the tax system. Sooner or later, the government will raise taxes. But for whom?&nbsp; If the status quo continues, and the poor are subjected to more taxes the income gap will widen further, inviting social unrest. Taxation relative to the size of the economy is about 22% in Nepal, one of the highest in South Asia. But for every Rs100 the government receives as revenue, only Rs23 is collected through income tax. The rest is made up of common citizens paying for the consumption of goods and services.&nbsp; All over the world, different levels of income are distinguished and income tax exemption is given to the lowest which is known as a basic exemption. Welfare states also have a weighted system of taxes of the richest that ensures socio-economic equality. But even though there is a flat tax on salary and allowances, windfall profits including from real estate transactions are not taxed properly, leading to a consolidation of wealth among certain groups. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-great-income-divide">Nepal's great income divide</a> Experts have proposed wealth-based taxation to reduce the disparity between rich and poor. Economist Keshab Acharya says that the government should levy an inheritance tax on ancestral property to children as is done in the US, Japan and Europe. This encourages entrepreneurship and inspires the new generation to find creative ways to earn money. But the historical distribution of land in Nepal was largely unfair where families close to the ruling class were granted ownership exempt from tax. These assets have been handed down through generations and ownership of a large part of it is still limited to certain families.&nbsp; Historian Mahesh Chandra Regmi in his book Land Ownership in Nepal states that before 1951, more than one-third of the total arable land had been handed down intergenerationally in that manner. An inheritance tax will also reduce corruption because the mentality that wealth should be passed on to children will be weakened if such a tax is implemented. Meanwhile, land prices in Kathmandu skyrocketed thanks to the government. Since the state has spent on infrastructure that led to the rise in value of property, it should get a share of the profits “The government should get the benefit of increased property valuation in the form of taxes which will increase the spending purse for the welfare of the poor,” explains Khanal. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=21822&amp;preview=true" target="_blank">Some are more equal than others</a>, Anil Chitrakar

Nepal’s tax system widens rich-poor gap

&nbsp;Mountaineer, climbing chronicler and international humanitarian worker, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Silly-season-on-Sagarmatha,460">Billi Bierling</a> has been in many dangerous places in her life. But it was while riding her bicycle down a street in Kathmandu last month that she broke her ankle. When they see her limping around with her right leg in a brace, many who know the Swiss-German climber ask her if she suffered a mountaineering accident. But that freak mishap seems deliberately timed for the launch of her book, Ich hab ein Rad in Kathmandu (I Have a Bike in Kathmandu) this month. Bierling first came to Nepal in 1998 as a free-spirited youth from her hometown of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the Bavarian Alps. “The mountains were too close and as a free spirit, I always had the feeling they were limiting my view,” she explains.&nbsp; Read on:&nbsp; <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/on-mt-everest-s-70th-records-and-fatalities">On Mt Everest’s 70th, records and fatalities</a>, Pradnya Pradhan <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/the-pinnacle-of-determination-and-courage">The pinnacle of determination and courage</a>, Bhadra Sharma After dropping out of high school her concerned parents sent Bierling to work as an au-pair in the United States. Soon, she was roaming around the world and after completing her masters in international journalism at City University London, became a reporter for Swiss Radio International in Bern. Coverage of mountaineering brought her close to Elizabeth Hawley, the famous Kathmandu-based chronicler of <a href="http://www.himalayandatabase.com/">Himalayan Database</a>. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/from-liz-hawley-in-kathmandu">After Hawley died in 2018</a>, Bierling’s team is carrying on her work of keeping detailed records of expeditions in Nepal.&nbsp; Bierling has combined her mountaineering career, work with Himalayan Database, with being a communications officer with Swiss Humanitarian Aid (SHA) in hotspots like Afghanistan and Ukraine. Bierling has now summited six of the eight-thousanders (Makalu, Manaslu, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16053">Everest</a>, Lhotse Cho Oyu and Broad Peak) besides lesser, but no less formidable, peaks like Nuptse..&nbsp; Elizabeth Hawley had her trademark blue Volkswagen Beetle in Kathmandu, and Bierling has her trusted bicycle. In fact, she bought that bicycle even before she had a city map of Kathmandu, and has earned notoriety for showing up unannounced at hotels to interview mountaineers who come back from expeditions.&nbsp; Bierling admits to having an attention span of a five-year-old, but when she commits to doing something she gives it her best. A German newspaper once even called her, ‘The woman who says yes before thinking.’&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230525070524_904cb95ca74b33535cda7c5c3c68a561e69eed6c4ecdba087bd8cd18b42904d7.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20230525070524_904cb95ca74b33535cda7c5c3c68a561e69eed6c4ecdba087bd8cd18b42904d7" data-rendition-name="original" width="5161" height="3440" loading="lazy" alt="Billi Bierling’s life cycle"> <figcaption>Billi Bierling broke her ankle riding her bicycle down a street in Kathmandu last month. Photos: PRADNYA PRADHAN</figcaption> </figure>  Despite her many avatars, at <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16928">55 Bierling is still a journalist at heart</a>, and it satiates her sense of adventure and curiosity about the world. When the Austrian publisher Tyrolia first approached her to write a book, her immediate answer was, “No, but thanks for asking.” Later, the persuasive publisher got her to join hands with co-author Karin Steinbach. Ich hab ein Rad in Kathmandu is a memoir, but more about the people Bierling has encountered rather than herself. “I am first and foremost a journalist, so I write about other people, not just about myself,” she says. <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/the-nepali-chronicles,2195">Elizabeth Hawley looms large</a> in the book, the turbulent first year with the unyielding American.&nbsp; But she later finds that beneath the tough skin, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/So-far-so-good/remembering-Elizabeth-Hawley,1112">Hawley was sensitive person</a> obsessed with accuracy. It is apt that the book comes out this year, when Hawley would have turned 100.&nbsp; Read on: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/So-far-so-good/remembering-Elizabeth-Hawley,1112">Elizabeth Hawley 1923-2017</a>, Lisa Choegyal The book is only available in German for now, but Bierling is working on an English translation. As the Managing Director at Himalayan Database and a prolific mountaineer herself, Bierling has witnessed first-hand the evolution of climbing in the Nepal Himalaya. The author does not dwell much on her own six eight-thousanders, but uses the book to discuss the commercialisation of climbing.&nbsp; &nbsp;In the 1980s, there would be only a few international flights landing in Kathmandu, and Hawley would drive to the airport in her Beetle to catch hold of climbers in mountaineering boots to collect information for her Himalayan Database. Today, there are hundreds of expeditions and thousands of climbers to keep track of as Bierling pedals around Kathmandu to reach them. &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230525070528_7c99f4b96d4eeb5801e65e374189e8430b49ba72bb130d0ff16d77428268b4c3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_11" data-image-id="20230525070528_7c99f4b96d4eeb5801e65e374189e8430b49ba72bb130d0ff16d77428268b4c3" data-rendition-name="original" width="5568" height="3712" loading="lazy" alt="Billi Bierling’s life cycle"> <figcaption>After Elizabeth Hawley, the famous Kathmandu-based chronicler at The Himalayan Database died in 2018, Bierling’s team is carrying on her work of keeping detailed records of expeditions in Nepal.</figcaption> </figure>  The change is not just in the numbers of climbers, but also the way they climb. Says Bierling: “Helicopters on Everest have become as common as microbuses in &nbsp;Kathmandu.” She is concerned that the pressure to get to the top has led many to forget the essence of mountaineering.&nbsp; She explains, “You don’t conquer a mountain, you don’t attack a mountain. You and the mountain have to be friends so it allows you to get to the summit. You go there together.”&nbsp; Another significant portion of the book examines a progressive change in the mountaineering community: the reclamation of Sherpas as mountaineering entrepreneurs. Bierling delights in the fact that a new generation of Sherpas is finally getting long overdue credit for the sacrifices of their forefathers. Expeditions are finally acknowledging that it is not possible for Himalayan expeditions to climb peaks without Sherpas. Read on,<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/without-sherpas-there-is-no-mountaineering"> "Without Sherpas, there is no mountaineering"</a>, Bhadra Sharma Bierling summarises the essence of her book: “I am not solely my own self. I am a composite of all those whom I have met, seen, and loved. Their experiences, memories, and emotions reside within me, shaping the person that I am.”&nbsp; Even with an ankle brace on one foot and trekking boots on another, Bierling was riding her bicycle around Kathmandu this week as news comes of more summit records breaking on Everest. This is the same bicycle she bought all those 19 years ago, and same bicycle in the title of her book, and the same bicycle she fell off to break her leg.&nbsp; As she pedals off, Billi Bierling looks more at ease on her bicycle than she is on foot. But she looks even more at home on the mountains.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230525070528_94b80deff51ca056d916786a162c4a8fb5f3eb9d4b846ea92cda037a9f6aa177.jpg" data-media-id="editor_13" data-image-id="20230525070528_94b80deff51ca056d916786a162c4a8fb5f3eb9d4b846ea92cda037a9f6aa177" data-rendition-name="original" width="900" height="300" loading="lazy" alt="Billi Bierling’s life cycle"> </figure>  Book details Ich hab ein Rad in Kathmandu: Mein Leben mit den Achttausendern. Bergsteigen im Himalaya und Alltag in den Krisengebieten unserer Welt.&nbsp; (German) by <a href="https://www.amazon.de/-/en/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&amp;field-author=Billi+Bierling&amp;text=Billi+Bierling&amp;sort=relevancerank&amp;search-alias=books-de">Billi Bierling</a> (Autor), <a href="https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Karin-Steinbach/e/B0045ACPFY/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_2">Karin Steinbach</a> (Autor), <a href="https://www.amazon.de/-/en/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_3?ie=UTF8&amp;field-author=Gerlinde+Kaltenbrunner&amp;text=Gerlinde+Kaltenbrunner&amp;sort=relevancerank&amp;search-alias=books-de">Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner</a> (Vorwort) TYROLIA GmbH, 2023 240 pages, Hardcover Price on Amazon: €46.00 ISBN: 10- 3702241035

Billi Bierling’s life cycle

It is nearing 6PM and Mandeep Pathak is on the daily evening round of the in-patient ward at <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/state-of-the-art-rural-hospital">Bayalpata Hospital</a> in Achham District. The section is crowded with patients young and old.&nbsp; Most have respiratory problems, women with limbs broken in falls from cliffs, some have diabetes, and there is a psychosis patient in an isolation ward. There is wailing from the delivery room of the maternity ward. Pathak’s mobile phone buzzes. He listens, and rushes off to the emergency room. A crowded tractor has fallen off the road and there are mass casualties. The wounded soon arrive, and Bayalpata’s staff go into practised triage mode.&nbsp; The team declares a 12-year-old boy dead on arrival. Others are rushed into x-ray and readied for splints and plaster casts. Some are discharged after treatment to join crowds of waiting relatives outside. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/is-free-health-care-possible-in-nepal/">Is free health care possible in Nepal?</a> S P Kalaunee  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230520000536_f8555f89919f26435edcbab7f4f0d99c2314a6c4ebea79795c3987a6571cd56f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20230520000536_f8555f89919f26435edcbab7f4f0d99c2314a6c4ebea79795c3987a6571cd56f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1400" height="823" loading="lazy" alt="Bayalpata Hospital"> <figcaption>Orthopaedic oncologist Mandeep Pathak consulting a patient at Bayalpata. Photo: NEPALI TIMES ARCHIVES</figcaption> </figure>  Patients in this isolated hospital in a corner of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17650#.WreWXNRua70">one of Nepal’s most remote districts</a> are from all over Sudur Paschim and Karnali Provinces. One 8-year-old girl with a broken arm has been brought here by her father from Humla, after walking four days to get to a road. In the 14 years since it was established, word has spread that Bayalpata provides high quality service free of cost, and the hospital is treating 100,000 patients a year with a team of dedicated staff, surgery, lab, pharmacy and a high dependency unit.&nbsp; In the maternity ward is a 35-year-old new mother who is quietly taking her supper. She has a shining smile as her husband fusses over her. They are now happy parents of twin boys, their fourth and fifth children.&nbsp; A few beds away is another young mother recuperating from a caesarean delivery. The husband is not happy — the baby is a girl and they already have two daughters. Hospital staff try to persuade him to get a vasectomy, but he still wants to try for a son.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/poor-health-makes-nepalis-poorer/">Poor health makes Nepalis poorer</a>, Editorial Unlike private hospitals in Nepal, some of which have up to 80% caesarean deliveries, at Bayalpata most births are natural. Doctors do caesareans only on complicated deliveries, or on referral patients. In one recent case a 17-year-old mother died <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/born-by-the-roadside-in-nepal">on the way</a> to Bayalpata from Bajura district. She had twins, only one of whom survived. Another woman who was 30 weeks pregnant suffered a stillbirth, but because it was a girl, the mother-in-law and husband did not look too perturbed.&nbsp; A mother who gave birth after a difficult delivery was nearly bleeding to death from postpartum haemorrhage. While doctors tried frantically to save her life, the family was celebrating the birth of a son.&nbsp; Despite improved literacy, patriarchy is still entrenched in these remote mountains of far west Nepal. Boys are sent to school while girls help with house chores and raise their little brothers. When children fall sick, the boys are likely to be taken to an expensive private hospital in Dhangadi, while girls are brought to free institutions like Bayalpata. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/this-is-how-to-upgrade-nepals-rural-health/">This is how to upgrade Nepal’s rural health</a>, Sewa Bhattarai <div class="embed-block"><div><div style="left: 0; width: 100%; height: 0; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%;"><iframe src="//cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FCJzWlnYd0ZM&key=87ca3314a9fa775b5c3a7726100694b0" style="top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; border: 0;" allowfullscreen scrolling="no" allow="accelerometer *; clipboard-write *; encrypted-media *; gyroscope *; picture-in-picture *; web-share *;"></iframe></div></div></div> “The paradox here is that girls are getting world-class treatment while boys have to settle for less than optimal healthcare at private facilities,” says Mandeep Pathak, one of few orthopaedic oncologists in Nepal who has been working at Bayalpata for eight years. Pathak examines a 14-year-old girl from Mugu on whom he operated to remove a benign but complicated tumour that had restricted her mobility for the past two years. As he does his evening rounds, Pathak tells us: “Our patients are among the poorest and neediest and from the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/devolution-for-development">remotest part of the country</a>. They would not have got a correct diagnosis, let alone get timely and affordable treatment otherwise.”&nbsp; The only cost families have to bear is for transport to the hospital. The hospital even provides free food for one relative accompanying the patient. Read more: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/grassroots-democracy-promotes-good-health/">Grassroots democracy promotes good health</a>, Sagar Budathoki  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230520000536_e8cebc3bbce1465eda92a1bffc6b0129b91ab7fa1ead7f2282eadcfd0b01115e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20230520000536_e8cebc3bbce1465eda92a1bffc6b0129b91ab7fa1ead7f2282eadcfd0b01115e" data-rendition-name="original" width="2592" height="1944" loading="lazy" alt="Bayalpata Hospital"> <figcaption>Program Associate Bhawana Bogati during a community visit.</figcaption> </figure>  <h2>Community Care</h2> Bayalpata Hospital is managed by the non-profit <a href="https://www.nyayahealthnepal.org">Nyaya Health Nepal (NHN)</a> in partnership with the provincial and municipal governments.&nbsp; Although the hospital gets much of the attention, NHN’s emphasis is on the community that provides door-to-door care to families in Achham. There are up to two <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/enlisting-female-health-volunteers-to-fight-covid-19-b4qlgy1e">Community Health Workers (CHW) </a>for every ward who regularly visit families to monitor the condition of pregnant women, provide ante-natal care, or check up on those with chronic conditions. This reduces the pressure on the hospital, and also saves families money.&nbsp; CHW can even assist while community nurses perform lab tests including for HIV, hepatitis, urine, sugar, protein, pH level, haemoglobin so patients do not have to come to hospital. The nurses even provide psycho-social counselling, since mental health is still not discussed openly. Aside from healthcare, the female CHWs also demonstrate the important role women can play in this socially conservative society. Jamuna Saud, a 24-year-old CHW, is visiting families in the village of Patalkot, and recording data of patients on her Electronic Health Record app that provides physicians at Bayalpata with instant information on the medical condition of patients in case they need to be taken to hospital. “We are still a male-dominated society here, as you can see, but things are improving,” says Saud, as she climbs up the trail to another family’s homestead. “I have seen families sending daughters to school because they see us being respected for our job. They are starting to treat their own daughters better.” Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/altruistic-healthcare-models-in-nepal">Altruistic healthcare models in Nepal</a>, Yugeshwor Koirala and Yugottam Koirala  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230520000536_b59dabd4604a24426a55fe91c0e5866b5029858bdb4c4028c331557aeb5408ae.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="20230520000536_b59dabd4604a24426a55fe91c0e5866b5029858bdb4c4028c331557aeb5408ae" data-rendition-name="original" width="1500" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Bayalpata Hospital"> <figcaption>In 14 years, Bayalpata hospital has treated 1.2 million patients free of cost. Photo: NEPALI TIMES ARCHIVES</figcaption> </figure>  The work of NHN’s community health program is already seen in Achham district’s health parameters. After a dip during the pandemic, institutional deliveries have climbed again to 80%, and this has sharply reduced <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/newborn-deaths-and-a-vision-for-a-post-pandemic-nepal">maternal and child mortality</a>.&nbsp; “Mother and child health is our main focus and ensuring that we follow the progress of pregnant women means most now go to Bayalpata to deliver,” says Program Associate Bhawana Bogati, 28.&nbsp; The hospital which recently marked its 15th anniversary has so far treated 1.2 million people free of cost, and sustainability continues to be the biggest challenge for Bayalpata’s public-private partnership with the local government. Half the annual budget still comes from international donors. But more than anything else, Bayalpata is a working example that free quality medical care is possible. Other government district hospitals have larger budgets, treat fewer patients and charge fees. Given the remoteness of Achham, the other challenge is retention of doctors and paramedics. Flights to Sanfebagar are unreliable, and a jeep ride to Dhangadi takes 10 hours. Says surgeon Bhaskar Pant of HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu and a board member of NHN: “Bayalpata is a rural lifeline, we need hospitals like these in the remotest corners of Nepal and to run them we need medical staff who are willing to be posted here.” &nbsp;&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/taking-wealth-out-of-health">Taking wealth out of health</a>, Anita Shrestha Jamuna Saud  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230520000536_fa3a215b0130ef026aa9f62b74904ceccd78962b7f6b325f709da8e74ce04301.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20230520000536_fa3a215b0130ef026aa9f62b74904ceccd78962b7f6b325f709da8e74ce04301" data-rendition-name="original" width="2592" height="1944" loading="lazy" alt="Bayalpata Hospital"> </figure>  Her baby son is only nine months old, but Community Health Worker (CHW) Jamuna Saud is already back to making door-to-door visits to advise other expecting mothers about safe delivery. Her visit today to Patalkot village, a 3 hour drive through rough roads from Bayalpata, is hindered by a sudden thunderstorm, but she is not bothered. “You need to eat for two now, it will not be good if you skip meals,” says Saud as she counsels Pabitra Auji who is six months pregnant with her first baby and looks undernourished. “Fruits, leafy vegetables, meat and egg, and don’t forget to take your iron capsules.”&nbsp; Saud has been a CHW for four years. She had originally wanted to be a doctor or a nurse, and was a class topper in school, but her family could not afford medical school fees. Moreover, young women in her community were expected to get married, not go to college. “Mine was the only family in the neighbourhood that let girls go to school,” recalls Saud. “But my parents passed away when I was in the 9th grade and my brothers were not planning to educate me further. I cried until they admitted me to +2.” Saud moved to Sanfebagar and paid her own way through college, supporting herself by doing odd jobs. She is happy to have been accepted by Bayalpata’s <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19559">community health program</a>, and feels a personal sense of achievement that childhood diarrhoea, malnutrition and respiratory infections among babies is decreasing, while more women accept family planning advice. Over the years, Saud has seen changes among women like her in Achham. Girls are no longer restricted to just doing housework and producing babies. She says, “I am proud to have contributed to raising the living standard of people here even if by the tiniest bit.” Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/health-tip-editorial,4032">Health tip</a>, Editorial Ramita Bogati  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230520000536_a967ed31fa4880fa2fdad2765c288c191890294af92823d94b5d2b11f2aed6b7.jpg" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="20230520000536_a967ed31fa4880fa2fdad2765c288c191890294af92823d94b5d2b11f2aed6b7" data-rendition-name="original" width="2592" height="1944" loading="lazy" alt="Bayalpata Hospital"> </figure>  The story of Florence Nightingale was the inspiration for Ramita Bogati, who always wanted to be a nurse herself. Back in her village, girls were actively discouraged from going to school, and were married young so as not to be a drain on the family. “My parents did not actually want to send me to a school but my mother’s side of the family were educated, and many of them were in medicine,” says Bogati. “But I had to prove myself to change my father’s perceptions about what women should be allowed to do.” Today, Bogati is one of 10 Community Health Nurses at Bayalpata overseeing 70 community health workers with her colleagues. Her passion for the job and the importance of the service she provides is all the encouragement she needs. She does not envy her staff nurse classmates who have flown to Australia and other countries. &nbsp; On a typical day, Bogati is involved in early detection of chronic and infectious diseases, tuberculosis and hypertension so that the poorest in the community do not have to borrow money for treatment or, worse, have their lives shortened due to the lack of diagnosis and treatment. Bogati has seen tangible <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14071">impact</a> of her work in birth spacing. In the past, women here used to give birth to as many as 15 children, and most died young. Now, they give birth to fewer but healthier children. “As a nurse, the concept of community health was new to me but I have seen that we need to look beyond those who are able to come to Bayalpata. If they cannot come to hospital, the hospital needs to go to them.” Read more: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/national-health-insurance-not-as-easy,4028">A national health insurance scheme is not as easy as it looks</a>, Sonia Awale

Nepal’s rural lifeline

Four people from Arghakhanchi and one from Dailekh died this week from injuries sustained while trying to put out wildfires fanned by high winds near their communities. Ten more people were injured in a forest blaze in Dailekh’s Aathbis Municipality. <a href="https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov">NASA satellite</a> data shows that there were wildfires in 1,196 locations in the last five months, out of which 808 of the fires were under the Division Forest Office, while 388 were in national parks. Of the 808 fires within the purview of the district forest office, most occurred within the Lamjung Division Forest Office.&nbsp; Meanwhile, forests in the Chitwan National Park and the buffer zone have recorded 100 fires: the most out of any protected area. Bagmati Province, with 278 fires, had the highest number of wildfires. More than 80% of wildfires in Nepal occur during the dry season between February to May, reaching its peak in mid-April. According to the Department of Forestry and Land Conservation, wildfires burn 200,000 hectares of forest area in Nepal each year, causing an estimated loss of more than Rs2 billion annually.&nbsp; According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), 769 people have died and 2,568 have been injured in 18,791 wildfires in Nepal from 2013 to 2023, and the financial loss has been worth more than Rs22 billion.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023051305058_f33b72d5e950a541269b97c934872ec83c8017f4aebd0bcf8ca0749d45a6edf9.png" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2023051305058_f33b72d5e950a541269b97c934872ec83c8017f4aebd0bcf8ca0749d45a6edf9" data-rendition-name="original" width="1707" height="721" loading="lazy" alt="Wildfire map"> <figcaption>Infrared hotspots detected by the NASA FIRMS Satellite over Nepal on 12 May at noon. Map: NASA FIRMS</figcaption> </figure>  One reason there are more fires is because there are just more <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/while-the-forests-are-burning">forests</a>. Nepal's forest cover doubled in the past 30 years, and since they are strictly protected there is a lot of dry flammable material in the undergrowth. Anil Pokharel, executive head of NDRRMA, says that wildfires have increased tenfold in the last decade and that there have been five times as many wildfires this year than there were last year mainly because of a prolonged winter drought. “We did not expect that there would be such a large number of forest fires this year,” adds Pokharel. “It has been horrific.” Deputy secretary and wildfire expert Sundar Sharma says that inadequate record-keeping measures mean the actual numbers of wildfires are higher than official figures. The lack of detailed study of wildfires has also meant that there has been no preparation and preparedness plan, and by the time work starts, it is too late. Rameshowr Marhatta, joint secretary at the NDRRMA, says that even as fires rage across the country, the authorities have not been able to do much more than provide first response. “Right now, we have just been delivering fire fighting equipment from district to district, and as such we have not been able to properly study the wildfires,” he adds. “This is because we lack manpower, and Sundar Sharma is the only wildfire expert we currently have on the team.”&nbsp; According to the report, Amplified Drought Trend in Nepal Increases the Potential for Himalayan Wild Fire by Binod Pokharel, associate professor at Tribhuvan University’s Central Department of Water and Meteorology, wildfires in Nepal will increase by 12% by 2030, 30% by 2050, and 50% by the end of this century as the climate crisis intensifies along the Himalaya.&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-is-going-up-in-smoke">Nepal is going up in smoke</a>, Kunda Dixit  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230513040524_605dd833321532552ebb333b3c72b36d89c61875c272e0af23152ce7a3c68e6e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20230513040524_605dd833321532552ebb333b3c72b36d89c61875c272e0af23152ce7a3c68e6e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="800" loading="lazy" alt="Wildfire NT"> <figcaption>Wildfire seen spreading through Nuwakot's Bidur municipality.</figcaption> </figure>  It’s getting hot out here&nbsp; Most of the wildfires are human induced. Early summer is the peak season when herders and farmers set fire to crop residue or pastures to make greenshoots grow when the rains come. But with long winter droughts, the slopes are tinder dry and the fires spread out of control when they are fanned by up-valley winds. Strict rules to protect national parks and community forests also means there is a lot of dry biomass in the jungle floor, which makes it easy for forest to spread -- especially where highways pass through nature reserves like Bardia, Chitwan, or Parsa. “In the past, forest fires used to be naturally occurring, but at present, they happen increasingly due to human factors, either unintentional or deliberate,” says forester Bhola Bhattarai, “People have been known to set fire to the forests to hide evidence of theft of flora and fauna, smuggling, and even to plant new plants.” Research conducted by Monash University in Australia found that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/protecting-nepals-forests-from-fires">climate change directly contributes to increasing wildfires</a> globally. An article published in the New England Journal of Medicine noted that climate change helps fuel oxygen and fire sources. Climate change has also brought about changes in rainfall patterns, leading to more frequent and prolonged droughts across the world. A 2021 report published in German Watch had Nepal as the ninth most vulnerable country in the world to the effects of climate change. But lifestyle changes have contributed just as significantly to increasing wildfires, says Nurendra Aryal, chief conservation officer of the Api-Nampa Conservation Area. Mass migration from villages to cities and outside Nepal has meant that forest management has fallen behind, undermining traditional practices that helped in preventing forest fires. Indeed, across Nepal’s villages, the practice of collecting and managing dry leaves, twigs and branches, and firewood that litter the forest floors and barren farmlands which catch fire quickly during the dry season have been all but abandoned. Managing dry leaves and twigs has become a major challenge. Cattle-rearing has stopped, and consequently, the number of people dependent on the forest for their livelihood has decreased.&nbsp; “Our traditional practice of collecting forest and farm debris and utilising them must be encouraged,” says Aryal. “The leaves, for instance, can be collected and turned into charcoal and then sold.” An apathetic government Nepal’s Ministry of Forests introduced the Forest Fire Management Strategy in 2010, but the implementation has been lax. A budget of Rs13 billion has been assigned to the Ministry of Forests this fiscal year. Of this, only Rs22 million has been set aside for wildfire management. Meanwhile, Rs1.6 billion has been allocated for the NDRRMA, out of which Rs5 million has already been spent on wildfire control so far. The government sends about Rs500,000 annually to each forest office for wildfire control. A part of it is used to purchase firefighting equipment including fireproof jackets, helmets, gloves, backpacks and the like, while some of it goes towards conducting awareness programmes.&nbsp; “Aside from budget gaps, Nepal’s forest offices lack up-to-date resources as well as qualified personnel to fight wildfires,” says wildfire expert Sundar Sharma. “We cannot partake in effective and result-oriented work as long as we do not have an integrated management system and a responsible institution.” Nepal Police, Nepal Army and the Armed Police Force have been coordinating with forest research and training centres under the Ministry of Forest to control wildfires. But the efforts will be successful only if there is sufficient budget, necessary equipment and skilled human resource, says Rajendra Khadka of the Armed Police Force. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/high-and-dry">High and dry</a>, Ramesh Kumar  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230513040524_1945e7fd8846d48d59d088dbc7c65eef30b708f27e26cc696e06691948a0eb4b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20230513040524_1945e7fd8846d48d59d088dbc7c65eef30b708f27e26cc696e06691948a0eb4b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1200" height="800" loading="lazy" alt="Wildfire NT"> </figure>  Meanwhile, the government has been trying to control fires with water bombing helicopters, which is not very effective. “Rather than have manpower and up-to-date equipment, the government has been conducting unnecessary stunts by using helicopters to fight wildfires, which is expensive, cumbersome, and impossible to send to every single affected area,” says Lokraj Nepal of the Chitwan Forest Division. Those who set forest fires are punishable under The Forests Act, 2019 and can be imprisoned for three years, pay a fine of Rs60,000, or both. However, authorities have no information about how many offenders have been prosecuted so far. the culprits in the deadly Arghakhanchi fires this week have not yet been identified. In 2020 the government rendered its Scientific Forest Management Guideline, 2014 null and void, effectively banning the collection, transportation and felling of wood. Consumers now have no incentive to protect the forests and this has led to an indifference towards wildfire control and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-is-going-up-in-smoke">increased forest fires</a>, say experts. However, Sadhu Ram Chaulagain, president of the Hetaunda chapter of the Federation of Community Forestry Users Nepal, refutes such claims. He says: “The truth is that the drought during last year’s winter and the increasing wildfires have stretched out local manpower thin. Otherwise, our community has a deep connection to the forest.” Pravin Bidari, chief of the Forest Division Office, Bardia says that more than half of the 281 community forest users in his division have been actively fighting wildfires, a sentiment which is echoed by Bharti Pathak, president of the Federation of Community Forestry Users Nepal. “It’s not like anyone can sleep in peace while fires rage around their house. But one is not able to do much without technology or adequate manpower,” she says, adding that if the government were to provide advanced equipment to more than 22,000 community forests across the country to facilitate wildfire control, locals would not have to show up at the scene dressed inadequately— armed simply with buckets and sticks. "Local and provincial governments have shown no desire to coordinate with us," Pathak continues. “After the fire is over, they will send someone over to hold a wildfire-related awareness program, and consider their job done.” Nepal lacks a clear policy on wildfire control, and as such, there has long been confusion over authority and jurisdiction in all three tiers of the government. Home Ministry spokesperson Jitendra Basnet argues that the NDRRMA carries more responsibility over fire control than the ministries. Meanwhile, Devesh Mani Tripathi of the Department of Forests and Soil Conservation, which is under the Ministry of Forests and Environment, says that since the provincial government has the authority to manage national forests, wildfire control should also fall under its purview. "A large amount of money has been sent to the provinces for fire control, so it is them who have a major role to play,” says Tripathi. Bagmati province has had a forest department since 2018, while the Madhes province has recently begun smart patrolling in forests. But much as the provinces have made efforts, Tripathi says, a lack of budget and an abundance of legal hurdles have caused problems. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/central-nepal-engulfed-in-smoke">Central Nepal engulfed in smoke</a>  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230513040528_61c9236284ca305eb1e7043fa14dd810ded58699cfe4075c5e89e535513db89a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20230513040528_61c9236284ca305eb1e7043fa14dd810ded58699cfe4075c5e89e535513db89a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1800" height="1350" loading="lazy" alt="Wildfire NT 4"> <figcaption>Police work to put out a forest fire in Tanahu's Bandipur Rural Municipality. Photo: RSS</figcaption> </figure>  But the real issue lies with the fact that the government is yet o take wildfire control seriously, says Sundar Sharma: “So far, we haven’t had an accountable authority to oversee wildfire control. Our forests will continue to burn and Nepalis will continue to suffer as long as we do have an institutional body to address the disaster.” <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/wildfires-ravage-nepal-mountains">Increasing wildfires </a>also threaten Nepal’s diverse ecosystems, putting biodiversity at risk. Alternatively, when fires raze the habitats of animals, it has led to an increase in human-animal conflicts. &nbsp;But while western Tarai is most impacted by wildfires, Nepal’s low-risk Himalayan region has not been spared. Much of yarsagumba, cypress trees, birch trees and other vegetation have been lost to increasing fires in the Himalaya where it takes up to 15 years for a plant to grow by one meter.&nbsp; “There is such diversity of species in the Himalaya even within relatively small areas that it is impossible to undo the damage caused by wildfires,” says Narayan Ghimire, an associate professor at the Department of Botany at Tribhuvan University. “We risk losing it all if something is not done.” In the Manaslu Conservation Area, 200 hectares of land have been subject to wildfires caused by yarsagumba hunters and cattle herders who believe that setting fire to the land will cause the grass to grow. Manaslu Conservation Area chief Pashupati Adhikari notes that situations like this are the result of an inactive nature conservation fund. Annapurna Conservation Area has also seen an increase in wildfire this year, affecting the habitats of musk deer, snow leopards, and the Himalayan bluesheep. “Large animals may be able to escape wildfires, but animals with young babies and birds that have just laid eggs will not abandon their offspring and will perish, as will small reptiles, insects, and ants,” explains ACAP head Lokendra Adhikari. In the Tarai, construction of fire lines, early warning systems, and fire control patrol dispatched to 67 locations within the protected area have helped greatly in controlling wildfires, says Chitwan National Park chief Jil Bahadur Pun. Says Pun: “Having fire lines has meant that the wildfires do not spread from one location to another, which is why there has not been a big threat to the biodiversity in Chitwan National Park so far.” Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/wildfires-in-nepal-cause-air-quality-to-plummet">Wildfires in Nepal cause air quality to plummet</a>

More pre-monsoon forest fires in Nepal

Like the documentaries where he is mostly off-screen, Kesang Tseten in person is also self-effacing. In his award-winning films like We Corner People, In Search of the Riyal or Who Will be a Gurkha, Tseten lets the protagonists speak for themselves.
He is now putting finishing touches on two new films: one about people in remote corners of the Himalaya, and another profiling Nepalis in the heart of New York.
Like his <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Kesang-Tseten-documentary-on-Dor-Bahadur-Bista,2176">other work</a>, both films are about people and places in transition. The technique is the same: following characters as they go about their everyday lives. The director’s inputs are evident only in the editing.
Tseten’s trademark is his ability to deliver the most impact while keeping himself in the background: silent but not absent.&nbsp;
His documentary, Trembling Mountain, was an intimate portrayal of the survivors of the earthquake-avalanche in Langtang in 2015. In this and his other films, Tseten dives right in, showing the raw reality of life from the perspective of those most affected by calamities, conflict, injustices or neglect.
The film-making has a light touch, and this allows the director to deliver the message without being prescriptive or polemical, and ultimately brings out the stories of survival and inner strength of individuals in communities facing wrenching change.
“Filmmaking is a powerful tool. It is more than just collecting information and stating facts, it captures emotions, allowing us an in-depth look,” says Tseten, who now lives in Berne.
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/lights-camera-action-in-nepal">Lights, Camera, Action in Nepal</a>, Ashish Dhakal
<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=13035">We Corner People</a> is a simple story of villagers in Rasuwa and a bridge they built. As Stacy Leigh Pigg of Simon Fraser University noted in a review: ‘Kesang Tseten’s decidedly non-preachy documentary is a subtle, multi-dimensional film telling the story of the bridge, not as a monumental or heroic achievement, but as an event that occurs within a local social history … told entirely without romance, false egalitarianism, or teleological overtones.’&nbsp;
<div class="embed-block"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QrwfCzrb8mQ" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
One of Tseten's two new documentaries, Diversity Plaza, about the Nepali immigrant community in Jackson Heights in New York follows the same technique. This ‘unprompted’ style is modelled after American filmmaker Frederick Wiseman.
“There is no wrong or right technique. In Trembling Mountain we had to ask questions of the survivors in Langtang, there were no houses standing to document, we didn't also want to be voyeurs,” he says.
But in In Search of the Riyal there is no script, and the director had no idea what would happen as he filmed. He explains: “We just followed the characters as things happened to them, an example of show, don't tell.”
A lot goes into how the crew also approaches the people being filmed. Tseten chooses to keep it simple, and let them know what they are doing without making a big deal out of it.&nbsp;
He does not prompt the characters to act a certain way, and this is reflected in the final cut where they are natural, and not at all camera-conscious.
Tseten's newest documentary is on the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/bon-voyage">Bön Po</a>, the animist faith of Nepal’s trans-Himalayan region that predates Buddhism. The central character is a 75-year-old Lama in Lubra of Lower Mustang.&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/documenting-the-subcontinent-for-a-generation">Documenting the Subcontinent for a generation</a>, Aria Shree Parasai
“He is waiting for his son to return to continue in the family line, but his son is a sushi chef in New York who does not seem all that eager to return,” adds Tseten.
Lubra, a village of 15 families entirely Bön, is located near a river that has seen climate change-induced glacial floods.
“The film is an attempt to capture this rugged region, its subsistence way of life and fragile balance with nature in the face of modernity,” adds Tseten.&nbsp;
It was while he was in New York to persuade the son of the Lubra monk to be filmed for the Bön Po film that Tseten heard about Diversity Plaza in New York, with its strong Nepali presence. It was a place he was familiar with ever since he was a college student at Columbia University in the 1980s.
“Diversity Plaza is like Thamel. People are empowered and restaurants are filled with our own people,” adds Tseten, who struggled to fund the film and &nbsp;ended up paying his own way.
However glamorous the world of documentary filmmaking may seem, it is a hard slog, money is &nbsp;hard to find. And once a film is made, there is usually no market for them because audiences do not readily pay to watch documentaries.
So what motivated him? Tseten replies with characteristic modesty: “I do it because I’m passionate about it. I want to tell stories. But be warned, it is a full-time commitment.”
Read also: <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Manakamana-review-David-Gellner,1949">How not to make a documentary</a>, David N Gellner

Sonia Awale

Kesang Tseten is still silent, but not absent

At the annual Nepal Power Summit in Kathmandu on 18-19 April, officials called on India to allow Nepal to export power at real-time prices, not just in the day-ahead market. Also discussed was a need for more flexible guidelines on market access for Nepal’s electricity to India which currently buys power on a project-to-project basis, pointedly boycotting those built by Chinese investment or contractors. India’s interest in regulating Nepal’s rivers is not new, but with the Himalaya becoming a geopolitical and climate hotspot, its strategic interest in regulating river flow has grown.&nbsp; Climate models show that the hydrology of Himalayan rivers will change dramatically in the coming decades, with peak water in the 2030s, and low flow levels in the dry season thereafter. With 70% of the annual discharge on the Ganga flowing down from rivers in Nepal, 75% of it in the four monsoon months, storage projects in the mountains will be ever more important. Because of this, New Delhi would like pliant politicians in place in Kathmandu that will not obstruct its plans to ensure future water supply, and given current geopolitical tensions, this also means keeping the Chinese out.&nbsp; Ever since Sher Bahadur Deuba became prime minister for the fifth time in 2021, he has fast-tracked a slew of projects in which Indian companies are involved, including the West Seti reservoir project that has languished for 20 years mainly because of Indian objections to Australian and Chinese investment. Most recently, Indian National Hydroelectricity Power Corporation (NHPC) Limited is in talks to be awarded the 480MW Phukot Karnali Hydroelectric Project in Kalikot jointly with Nepal’s state-owned Vidyut Utpadan Company Limited with a share ratio of 51% to 49%. The project will likely be launched during Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s state visit to India in May. India’s NHPC has already been granted licenses for West Seti and Seti River-6 projects, and is also eyeing another 1,902MW megaproject on the Karnali.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023050603050_10fc6c82b0d995c39b388d8d8628365ea5e2299a1f4d474e2c2d5b7f01d37d83.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2023050603050_10fc6c82b0d995c39b388d8d8628365ea5e2299a1f4d474e2c2d5b7f01d37d83" data-rendition-name="original" width="3776" height="2424" loading="lazy" alt="West Seti"> <figcaption>Sushil Bhatta of Investment Board Nepal and Abhay Kumar Singh of India's NHPC, after signing an agreement to develop the 760MW West Seti and 460MW Seti River 6 projects in 2022.</figcaption> </figure>  In fact, across Nepal, Indian companies are building hydropower projects which will add a combined total of 4,000MW to the grid, three of which were rushed through only in the past year. Three more Indian projects are in the pipeline.&nbsp; Why the sudden renewed Indian interest in Nepal’s rivers? And what is the hurry? The answer lies in the need to plan for the decades ahead when water is going to be an even scarcer commodity in the Indo-Gangetic plains than it is now because of climate change, increased industrial, agricultural and household consumption. Energy analysts say that although India’s interest seems to be in renewable energy from hydropower to fulfil its decarbonisation commitments, exports of power from Nepal is only projected at $800 million in the next three years, which will only be a tiny percentage of the 1,600 billion kWh that India generated in the last fiscal year.&nbsp; And although power demand is expected to rise with rising incomes, industrialisation and increasingly intense summer heat waves in the plains, India’s long-term interest is in reservoir projects to store monsoon water in Nepal’s rivers to reduce monsoon flood risk and keep rivers flowing in the dry season. And New Delhi has not tried to hide its distaste for any Chinese involvement in these projects.&nbsp; Hydropower Investment and Development Company Nepal (HIDCL) in which the government is a majority shareholder informed the Investment Board Nepal in February that it was withdrawing from the export-oriented 762MW Tamor Hydropower project.&nbsp; CEO Arjun Kumar Gautam is upfront about why: “We cannot sell electricity generated with Chinese involvement in the Indian market.” Tamor was one of the two projects agreed upon during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Nepal in October 2019. Soon after, Investment Board Nepal (IBN) signed up China Construction to build the project after completing a feasibility study. The HIDCL now wants to null the agreement with the Chinese contractor and bring in a new contractor more amenable to the Indians. Meanwhile, India’s state-owned <a href="https://sjvn.nic.in/">Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam</a>, which is involved in a cascade of projects on the adjoining Arun River to generate a total of 2,000MW, is said to be aggressively lobbying top Nepali officials to also build Tamor. Besides the 900MW Arun 3, Satluj was awarded the Lower Arun by the K P Oli-led government in 2021 without competitive bidding. Then in May 2022, the Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government suddenly awarded Arun 4 to Satluj (with a 51% share) during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Lumbini.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230506020556_4f38ffb96de37f17c662684914f0b65ab41adaaf98183a073273e88621de480b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20230506020556_4f38ffb96de37f17c662684914f0b65ab41adaaf98183a073273e88621de480b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="666" loading="lazy" alt="Arun 4 agreement"> <figcaption>Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba look on as Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam's Nanda Lal Sharma and the NEA's Kulman Ghising exchange MoUs in May 2022 in Lumbini to build the 409MW Arun 4. Photo: RATNA SHRESTHA/RSS</figcaption> </figure>  But even though Satluj is said to be also interested in the 1,061MW Upper Arun, Kulman Ghising of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) says it is building the project. "Upper Arun is our first priority, we are planning to start the construction of the access road," Ghising told us. Arun and Tamor are both in eastern Nepal (see map), but India is also interested in rivers in western Nepal because of the proximity of its main load centres as well as to augment the dry season flow of Nepal’s rivers that flow into the Ganga.&nbsp; There was some hue and cry last year after the Deuba-led government abruptly handed over the 750MW West Seti Dam and Seti River-6 projects to two Indian state-owned companies without competition or transparency. Experts pointed out that Nepal’s Public-Private Partnership and Investment Act 2075 states that there should be competitive bidding.&nbsp; The Seti saga is three decades long. After successive partnerships with Australian, Chinese and private Indian companies fell through, India’s state-owned NHPC finally took the lead. Since the terms of the deal are opaque, many experts question how beneficial the $1.6 billion project that involves building a high dam in the Doti district will be for Nepal.&nbsp; Indian state-owned companies appear to move faster than private Indian companies interested in river projects in Nepal. The GMR Group (Gandhi Mallikarjun Rao) obtained a permit to build the 900 MW Upper Karnali and a Project Development Agreement (PDA) was signed with the IBN in 2014 with plans to start construction in two years after securing funding. The government's latest decision to extend the deadline for the GMR by two years is being challenged in Nepal’s Supreme Court.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023050603054_0b5cc52ed5ece09ac54bf7fd42d663e156bd8a721203fecad4470d449722bfd9.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2023050603054_0b5cc52ed5ece09ac54bf7fd42d663e156bd8a721203fecad4470d449722bfd9" data-rendition-name="original" width="1083" height="834" loading="lazy" alt="Indian investment in hydropower in Nepal"> </figure>  Geopolitical games The export-oriented 456MW Upper Tamakosi project finally started production in June 2021 after much delay. But because a part of the Upper Tamkosi was built by the Sino Hydro of China, India refused to buy power from the project during the monsoon surplus last year – even though it was built with NEA investment.&nbsp; One international lender told Nepali Times: “Obtaining an Indian nod before building any big hydropower project in Nepal has now become a must.” Indian pressure manifests itself in its refusal to buy only 364MW of electricity which was recently increased to 452MW. This is the sum total of generation capacity with no direct Chinese involvement. Nepal also cannot sell its power to China as there are no trans-Himalayan transmission lines, and exporting to Bangladesh would need an Indian approval system without giving a free and open market to Nepali electricity, while also rejecting any Chinese involvement. India’s international electricity trade procedure issued in February 2021 prohibits the import of electricity from projects invested in third countries that do not have a bilateral agreement for cooperation in the energy sector. The fact that India does not have an energy cooperation agreement with China has therefore become an excuse, not just to blacklist projects in Nepal with Chinese investment, but even Chinese contractors. India has even stopped the supply of explosives for projects like the Tanahu and Upper Trisuli-1 Schemes being built by Chinese contractors.&nbsp; "Even though there is nothing in writing, India does not want any involvement of the Chinese in any capacity in Nepal's hydropower projects, they even have details of which country is the contractor and where are the machines being used from," explains Ganesh Karki of the Independent Power Producers Association Nepal (IPPAN). India first allowed imports of electricity only from the 24 MW Trisuli and 15 MW Devighat projects, both built by the Indian in the 1960s. But after Deuba signed an agreement on energy cooperation between the two countries in 2022, NEA was allowed to 364MW.&nbsp; Even so, Nepal must renew this export provision every year, which is a bureaucratic hassle. What this essentially means is that if Indian companies do not get licenses for new plants in Nepal, they may not renew the power-selling contract either. Nepali officials have been trying to convince the Indian side that it is in their own best interest if Nepal has a surplus in the coming years. Based on projections of generation capacity, NEA has sent a proposal to New Delhi to export an additional 600MW.&nbsp; The installed capacity of hydropower projects in Nepal has reached 2,400MW and is expected to cross 3,000MW after the completion of more projects this monsoon. Projects with a combined capacity of 3,200MW are under construction and will be completed in the next three years. On the demand side, the average domestic consumption at present is about 1,600MW and is expected to increase only to 2,000MW next year.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023050603054_1ba6d252b58558d3d1263b0f76e3abbfc1c9dd3c019f8d9d47bd8aa415651e3f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2023050603054_1ba6d252b58558d3d1263b0f76e3abbfc1c9dd3c019f8d9d47bd8aa415651e3f" data-rendition-name="original" width="1171" height="834" loading="lazy" alt="Hydropower generation in Nepal"> </figure>  &nbsp; <div class="embed-block"><div class="flourish-embed flourish-chart" data-src="visualisation/13536204"><script src="https://public.flourish.studio/resources/embed.js"></script></div></div> &nbsp; <div class="embed-block"><div class="flourish-embed flourish-chart" data-src="visualisation/13535503"><script src="https://public.flourish.studio/resources/embed.js"></script></div></div> There are critics who say Nepal should not be exporting power to India at all since it will not make a big dent in the trade deficit, and the $85.8 million it earned last year is negligible compared to the $8.33 billion Nepal earned in remittances.&nbsp; They say the priority should be on increasing electricity consumption in cooking, transportation and industry. At present, 70% of Nepal’s energy is from biomass and only 5% is from electricity.&nbsp; Since most of the electricity in Nepal is from run-of-river schemes in which generation depends on the flow of water in rivers, Nepal will have to continue to import power from India during the peak winter months for the next three years. In the monsoon, though, generation is double of demand, but the Indian quota, inadequate transmission and low domestic demand mean much of this clean electricity is wasted.&nbsp; Dinesh Kumar Ghimire at the Energy Ministry says Nepal is looking to sign a 25-year export agreement with India. "We are preparing a draft for the agreement. If both sides are on board with it, there may be an agreement during the Prime Minister's visit to India.” Edging out China While India is awarded one hydropower project after another in Nepal, China is being edged out. Both Phukot Karnali and Tamor hydropower projects were supposed to be implemented under Beijing’s Belt Road Initiative (BRI) scheme.&nbsp; Last month, Sichuan Wangping Energy Science and Technology gave up its license to build the 235MW Humla Karnali-1 and 335MW Humla Karnali-2 in partnership with a Nepali company. The survey permit for these projects has now been granted to Ruru Hydropower, a Nepali company. The 1,200MW Budi Gandaki reservoir project has been caught in a geopolitical tangle between India and Nepal for the past six years. In May 2017, the Pushpa Kamal Dahal government handed over the project to China’s Gezhouba Group without competition. A few months later in October, the Deuba-led government reversed the decision and said Nepal would build it. Fast forward a year later and the Oli-led government gave Budi Gandaki back to Gezhouba, only for the Deuba-led coalition government in March 2022 to reverse the decision again. Exasperated, the then-Chinese ambassador Hou Yanqi said abandoned diplomatic niceties and said publicly that it was wrong for Nepal to change its decision every time a government changed. Says Ganesh Karki of IPPAN: “We have to conclude that because of India’s stance, it is difficult to get Chinese investment in Nepal’s hydropower. The top political leadership should lobby with India to remove this obstacle.” The hydro of hydropower&nbsp; Nepal’s former energy secretary Dwarika Nath Dhungel is convinced India considers water a strategic commodity, and its emphasis on electricity export hides its real intention to secure water supply in the coming decades.&nbsp; “We in Nepal, on the other hand, have no idea about this, and there is no clarity about our own water and energy policy. In fact, our policymakers are not working in the national interest at all,” he adds. Studies have shown that water scarcity in the Indo-Gangetic plains will increase as Himalayan glaciers dry up, and the groundwater level falls due to over-extraction. And in the monsoon, there is too much water, so the world’s most densely populated region is hit by destructive floods. &nbsp; Building storage dams in Nepal is a win-win-win for India, reducing flood risk, augmenting dry season flow of Nepali rivers that flow across the border, and generating electricity. Nepal will get some export income, but will not benefit much from irrigation since it only has a narrow strip of land in the Tarai, and large tracts of its fertile mountain valleys will be inundated by future reservoirs. “Nepal’s export of a few thousand megawatts will not mean much for India's huge power system with a capacity of around 400,000MW,” adds Dhungel. “What India is fixated on is our water. And that is why it does not want any third parties involved, especially not China.” Former secretary at the Ministry of Energy Anup Kumar Upadhyay on the other hand is all for more Indian investment in Nepal’s hydropower, and does not think there is any ulterior motive. He argues that the model in which Nepal is allowing Indian companies to build projects is beneficial to Nepal in the long term. At present, Indian companies that have received permission to build hydropower plants have agreed to provide about 22% of electricity to the Nepal government for free. And after 25 years, these projects will be fully owned by Nepal. Says Upadhyay: "Whatever projects we are giving to India now, India does not even have the benefit of regular water flow from them, so there is no reason to be suspicious that India has a grand design to control our rivers." Indeed, there are many in Nepal, even those critical of Indian behaviour, who say Nepal cannot choose its neighbours and it might as well keep India happy by ensuring that the river agreements are fair to Nepal as well.

Geopolitics of Nepal’s rivers

From my childhood, I have had to explain the spelling and meaning of my name to most people. Hardly anyone had a name like mine, in those days. Some Bengalis, however, are aware of Sravasti due to its mention in two well-known poems – Nagarlakshmi by Rabindranath Tagore and Banalata Sen by Jibanananda Das.&nbsp; Due to the above, I felt a connection with this city that I knew was part of ancient India during the Buddha’s time. Came to know much later that it still existed in Uttar Pradesh. It topped my bucket list but remained a distant dream for years. After decades and multiple failed attempts, I managed to visit this Buddhist pilgrimage, in February 2023.&nbsp; I dedicate this article to my parents. Lying in the plains below the Himalaya near where the West Rapti River flows down from Nepal, Sravasti is a sleepy agricultural district in India’s Uttar Pradesh state.&nbsp; Sravasti dates back to the Purana literature of ancient India. As the prosperous capital of Kosala, an important kingdom among the 16 Mahajanapadas, Sravasti was a political, economic, religious and philosophers’ hub during the 5th and 6th century BCE.&nbsp; It is extensively cited in the Ramayana, Mahabharata, and later Hindu texts of Harshcharita and Kathasaritsagar. The Ramayana cites Lord Rama dividing Kosala into two parts, giving Sravasti to Luv and Kushavati to Kush.&nbsp; In the Mahabharata and Bhagavata Purana, the town is said to have been built by a Suryavanshi king named Sravasta, the son of King Srava. In the Ajivika and Jain literatures, it has been referred to as Saravana, Kunalnagari and Chandrikapuri. Sravasti is called Sahet-Mahet in archaeological research papers. In 1862-63, Alexander Cunningham discovered mounds and identified Mahet as the actual ancient mud-walled city of Sravasti that was damaged during excavation. Bordering Mahet was the smaller site of Sahet, which Cunningham recognised as Jetavana. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/telling-the-story-of-buddha-s-lumbini">Telling the story of Buddha’s Lumbini</a>, Sahina Shrestha  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230505020548_e485420ab87ba50fe36b1d97db55f81c91d4e558b4bc5a1f4c2396329cc0f33d.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20230505020548_e485420ab87ba50fe36b1d97db55f81c91d4e558b4bc5a1f4c2396329cc0f33d" data-rendition-name="original" width="6048" height="4024" loading="lazy" alt="Sravasti NT"> <figcaption>Pilgrims get ready for a procession in Jetavan.</figcaption> </figure>  Gautama Buddha spent 24 monsoons after his enlightenment here, imparting many of his sermons, converted most of his famous disciples, and performed the Twin Miracle. Consequently, Sravasti features among the eight most significant sites of the Buddhist pilgrimage circuit. <h2>Treta Yug&nbsp;</h2> Sitadwar Temple Ancient idols of Sita and Lakshman were unearthed in Sitadwar in Tenduwa Mahant, Bahraich. Supposedly, this was where Valmiki’s ashram was located. Lakshman left Sita nearby. When she was thirsty, Lakshman made a hole in the ground with his arrow that transformed into a 365 hectare scenic lake, the biggest in the area.&nbsp; Sita spent her exile here. Luv and Kush were born and raised in the nearby forest. The simple Sita and Valmiki temples are regularly visited by devotees during Akshay Navami, Devotthani Ekadasi and Kartik Purnima when an annual fair is held. The historical authenticity is difficult to determine. <h2>Dwapar Yug&nbsp;</h2> Prithvinath and Pacharannath Temples These temples in Khargupur, Gonda, in Sravasti district are located close to each other. Legend says that the five Pandavas established four Shivalingams in this area of Chakranagari during their Agyatvas. Bhim and Arjun established Prithvinath and Pacharannath temples, respectively. The Prithvinath temple might have been built by the Gahadavala kings (11th -12th &nbsp;century CE) and renovated in 1282 CE by Ram Chandra Paramhans Giri. The lingam and a copper plate grants were excavated from under a six-metre high mound. The well-kept temple is made of bricks, stone and limestone, and has a sanctum sanctorum with a circumambulatory path. The lingam, apparently the world’s tallest, goes 11m below ground. The Pacharannath temple, however, is ill-maintained. The structure of the temple is similar but not painted, with plants growing roots and parrots finding a resting place on the tower. The lingam is much smaller. The priests’ families have served the temples for generations, but do not have much information about them.&nbsp; Archaeological expeditions in Sravasti were led by Cunningham and thereafter by Dr Hoe, Dr Vogel, Dr K K Sinha and Archaeological Survey of India in association with the Archaeological Research Institute of Kansai University in Japan. Cunningham unearthed several temples and monasteries, including the Mulagandha Kuti in Jetavana and inscriptions of Gahadavala kings Madanpal and Govind Chandra confirmed donations by these kings to the Jetavana Viharas. Excavations led by Dr Sinha exposed terracotta figurines of the Mother Goddess, a Naga and several Mithuna idols. Read Also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/u-thant-kenzo-tange-and-the-buddhas-birthplace/" target="_blank">U Thant, Kenzō Tange and the Buddha’s birthplace</a>, Kunda Dixit  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230505020556_3abdd834be44697e7d1dae6cd6361f2baab71956fdf12188c7d51d1de1ce8b0b.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="20230505020556_3abdd834be44697e7d1dae6cd6361f2baab71956fdf12188c7d51d1de1ce8b0b" data-rendition-name="original" width="5261" height="3446" loading="lazy" alt="Sravasti NT"> <figcaption>Newer Monasteries amidst agrarian fields on the highway in Sravasti</figcaption> </figure>  Japanese archaeologists dug deeper layers and unearthed relics from the 8th century BCE. Sravasti was damaged by annual floods and fires, and citizens tried rebuilding the monuments repeatedly. Excavations at Mahet revealed well-planned houses with proper sanitation and drainage, temples, stupas, fort and watch towers. Some findings in Mahet were the remains of Jain art and architecture belonging to the 4th century BCE to 12th century CE. After that these were most probably destroyed when Alauddin Khilji raided Sravasti. <h2>Mahet</h2> Jain Temple In contrast to Sravasti’s violent destruction, serenity prevails in all its Jain and Buddhist sites today. Tourists rarely visit these well-preserved brick ruins. The sprawling rectangular courtyard of the Jain temple of Bhagwan Sambhavnath or Shobhnath seems soaked in peace. A converging flight of steps leads to the 2.5m x 2.5m shrine. From the top-most platform, several smaller ruins can be seen below. The temple has distinctive architectural features with two courtyards at different levels and instead of a spire, has an Iranian style lakhauri brick vault, of which only half remains. The inner wall of the sanctum has niches where Jain idols must have been kept. Idols of all 24 Tirthankaras and an almost 1,000-year-old seated idol of Bhagwan Rishabhdeo, engraved on a flat stone, were discovered with carvings of an ox, lions and yaksha. This is the birthplace of the revered third and eighth Jain Tirthankaras Bhagwan Sambhavnath and Chandraprabha. The Ajivika literatures state that Guru Gosal Mankhaliputra was born in Sravasti.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230505020544_e0a20f49c68e47127449b15eeadd6d8efdac586471618cfcc02ba67cf7d1f863.png" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20230505020544_e0a20f49c68e47127449b15eeadd6d8efdac586471618cfcc02ba67cf7d1f863" data-rendition-name="original" width="1417" height="850" loading="lazy" alt="Getting to Sravasti"> <figcaption>Getting to Sravasti</figcaption> </figure>  Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/buddhas-birthday-in-his-birthplace/">Buddha’s birthday in his birthplace</a>, Nepali Times <h2>Mahet &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</h2> Buddhist Stupas A few kilometres away from the Jain temple, lie the monuments of the Sudatta Stupa or Kachchi Kuthi and the Angulimala Stupa or Pakki Kuthi. The excavations revealed ruins of brick stupas, shrines, residences and 300 terracotta panels, illustrating scenes from the Ramayana in the Gupta style. Fa Hien, the Chinese Buddhist Monk, visited Sravasti in the 5th Century CE, during the reign of Chandragupta II. He observed that the flourishing Buddhist cities had lost their importance. Only 200 families inhabited Sravasti but the roads were safe to travel. When another Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang came to Sravasti, it was in wild ruins inhabited by honest citizens. There were hundreds of dilapidated Buddhist monasteries and Hindu temples.&nbsp; Hiuen Tsang identified the foundations of the old ‘Palace city’, ruins of the chapel that Prasenjit built for Gautama Buddha, the nunnery of Bhikkhuni Prajapati, the site of Sudatta’s house, and the stupa where Angulimala gave up his evil ways to become the Buddha’s devout disciple and saint. The Angulimala Stupa is a terraced monument on a rectangular platform that is undergoing maintenance. It has signs of structural modifications of different periods, maybe starting from the Kushan Age. Fa Hien determined that this was where Angulimala was cremated. A tunnel through the mound, drainage for floodwater and constructional supports were made during excavation to preserve the memorial. Sudatta, the Buddha’s chief male patron, was popularly addressed as Anathapindika. The Sudatta Stupa has a gradual flight of terracotta steps that leads to a platform from where the sunken substructures of two circular stupas are. The stupa is impressive and has remains of several alterations done during the 1st to 12th centuries CE.&nbsp; Fa Hien noted that the stupa was erected on the foundation of Sudatta’s house. However, the numerous relics and ruins excavated here reveal that there might have been a Brahmanical temple from the Gupta period below a Buddhist tope from the Kushan period. Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/kinship-karma-and-kung-fu/"> Kinship, karma, and kung fu</a>, Shristi Karki <h2>Sahet, Jetavan &nbsp;&nbsp;</h2> Buddhist Monastery  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230505020548_a8c7e3be2ef368740cd39788adbc1ae3d46799536feb6a6498aa030dfe9ffd82.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20230505020548_a8c7e3be2ef368740cd39788adbc1ae3d46799536feb6a6498aa030dfe9ffd82" data-rendition-name="original" width="6048" height="4024" loading="lazy" alt="Sravasti NT"> <figcaption>Sri Lankan pilgrims take out a procession at Gandhakuti, Jetavan, Sahet.</figcaption> </figure>  Sahet lies outside Sravasti/Mahet, and Fa Hien identified this as the Jetavan Vihara. He saw two 17m high stone pillars – one on each side of the east gate, reportedly built by Emperor Ashok when he visited in 249 BCE. The sole structure that remained was a brick building containing a 1.3m high image of the Buddha created by King Prasenjit.&nbsp; Hiuen Tsang mentioned only the Jetavana monastery, the ruins of which are from 1st and 2nd century CE. Among them, the earliest unearthed artefact possibly from the Mauryan era was a sandstone casket with bone relics, a gold leaf and a silver punched coin. Jetavana is of great religious importance. Gautama Buddha spent 18-19 monsoons here and six monsoons at the Purvarama Vihara. Scholars believe that 871 suttas of Buddhist canons were imparted in Sravasti.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2023050503050_ae5973c096c5c317f5deb4728bf3ec9f2cc06d6364a02dad6fc0036c31081786.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="2023050503050_ae5973c096c5c317f5deb4728bf3ec9f2cc06d6364a02dad6fc0036c31081786" data-rendition-name="original" width="4139" height="2815" loading="lazy" alt="Sravasti NT"> <figcaption>Red ware relics at the Purvaram Vihara</figcaption> </figure>  Anathapindika built a spacious monastery for the Buddha to stay, in a peaceful and secluded garden named Jetavana (Garden of Jeta), outside the south gate of Sravasti. He bought the land from Prince Jeta, son of King Prasenjit of Kosala. The aura of this historical park with lush foliage bordering the walls and the cloisters is most sublime during sunset and dawn. Monks in kasayas and international pilgrims, mostly wearing white, offer homage with incense sticks and flowers at the bases of the different brick temples. Soft, solemn chanting and the scent of incense sticks permeate the air. The monuments are well- marked with relevant information. Gautama Buddha’s residence with his bed, the Gandhakuti, used to be a 7-storeyed sandalwood building that was later destroyed by a fire. Beside this is the Kosambikuti, the Buddha’s meditation room. Opposite lies Stupa H, where he delivered his sermons. Adjoining are a well where he bathed and two elevated rectangular brick terraces marking the original promenade where he went for walks. Above the stupas is the now fenced and propped ancient Anand Bodhi tree. Anathapindika planted a sapling from the original Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya to offer prayers during the Buddha’s periods of absence from Jetavan.&nbsp; Some of the stupas are devoted to the great disciples. The largest structure, Temple and Monastery 19, has a shrine, a well within the courtyard, a portico and 21 cells for the monks’ use. An engraved copper plate charter of Govindachandra of Kanauj and a sculpture showing the Buddha receiving a bowl from a monkey, belonging to the 10th century CE. were found here. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/multimedia/on-nature-and-human-nature">On nature and human nature</a> <h2>Orajhar Mound</h2> Buddhist Stupa  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230505020552_7e5b57f65cc7cf64f2588afb8771a1839e17c85ad411fa8d36f6457e5ef57b02.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20230505020552_7e5b57f65cc7cf64f2588afb8771a1839e17c85ad411fa8d36f6457e5ef57b02" data-rendition-name="original" width="5731" height="3813" loading="lazy" alt="Sravasti NT"> <figcaption>Orajhar Mound, where Buddha performed the Twin Miracle.</figcaption> </figure>  On the highway near Jetavan lies the Orajhar mound. After hiking up a worn-out trail to the top, a stunning 360o view greet the pilgrims who meditate in the middle of a star-shaped monastic complex from the Kushan period. The Buddha performed the Twin Miracle here. He silenced his pedantic dissenters by creating a jewelled walk in the air and standing on it. He levitated on a thousand-petalled lotus and appeared in pairs of opposite characters, producing fire from the upper part of his body and streams of water from the bottom part. The Miracle lasted for days, during which the Buddha gave sermons answering various philosophical questions. <h2>Purvarama Mahavihara&nbsp;</h2> Buddhist Monastery A few metres away from the Orajhar Mound is the Purvaram or Pubbarama Monastery. A narrow road winds into an isolated semi-forest area to reveal a raised ground with the stump of an Ashokan Pillar. Two rusted boards declare it to be the monastery erected by Mrigara Mata Vishakha. Alongside the pillar is a semi-dark modern room, inside which are a few broken relics of red stone and a Buddha idol donated by the Thais. Regular thefts have depleted the monastery of many more artefacts. Vishakha, an aristocratic lady, donated 90 million worth of gold coins towards the Buddhist Sangha and built this two-storeyed vihara with meditation halls and 500 residential rooms for monks and nuns on each floor. Of the 24 monsoons that the Buddha spent in Sravasti, 6 were spent here where he preached 23 important discourses. King Ashoka visited Sravasti in 232 BCE and erected the pillar which was 20m long and thicker at the base. The Archaeological Survey of India excavated only 2.2m. It was damaged during the Hun and Muslim invasions in 512 CE and between the 9th and 12th century CE, respectively. It is now being worshipped as a Shivalinga. The simplicity and peacefulness of these religious sites steeped in history raise a dichotomous question: Should this lesser known gem of a historical city be advertised in the tourism world and be subjected to commercialism? Or, should it be allowed to retain its austerity and tranquility that is so ideal for Buddhism? &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/birthday-party">Birthday party</a>, Deepak Gyawali Sravasti Ghosh Dastidar is a photographer, travel and lifestyle journalist. <a href="mailto:sravastighoshphotos@gmail.com" target="_blank">sravastighoshphotos@gmail.com</a>