Women wearing personal protective equipment make PPEs for front-line workers in Nepal at KAVACH, a maker of motorcycle gear that has completely refocused its production line to help make up the shortage of medical equipment during the pandemic. ©KAVACH
Police use a water cannon to push back protesters on the streets of Kathmandu. Photo: Nepali Times
The jury is still out on federalism in Nepal, which was put in place in 2017, after elections to three levels of government – local, provincial and federal. But there is no doubting that local people are getting more vocal about their frustrations at the slow pace of road building and other infrastructure works. I wrote the following in this week’s Nepali Times:
Living in Kathmandu it’s way too easy to be critical of this country, which often means critical of the government and the ‘establishment’. Red tape, corruption, injustice and neglect are just some of the terms that can easily be used to describe those who wield power in this place.
Of course, this is just part of the picture: because those are exactly the issues that the media focuses on (writes the former and still sometimes journalist) they tend to be emphasised. But I know that there are positive things happening here, from the macro view of issues like declining maternal mortality and improving child health, to the growth of micro-enterprises in Kathmandu run by young Nepalis who have chosen to return home from studying overseas.
My interview with Nepal’s health minister, Gagan Thapa, is in this week’s Nepali Times. Video is also available on that page.
Thapa was a rising star when I last lived here and has become Nepal’s youngest cabinet minister. Continue reading
