Borderlines
Bihar’s elections and Nepal
Kathmandu is obsessed with New Delhi, but it is what happens in Patna that affects Nepal’s borderlands more directly
Tarai districts gasp for water
The failure of this year’s monsoon in the Madhes is not just a problem for Madhes Province, but for Nepal
No-man’s land
Conflict along the India-Pakistan border impacts another border: between India and Nepal
The sociology of social unrest
The Birganj violence this week is a warning not to mix religion and politics
Holi days along the border
This week’s festival binds Nepal’s ethnicities and geographies together in a celebration of coexistence
Gadimai Again
Every five years, the mass animal sacrifice in a tiny village in Nepal pits activists against devotees
The silent danger of lead
One in three urban Nepali children have dangerously high blood lead levels
The snake bite emergency
Which gets more media: the 10 people killed by tigers every year, or the 3,000 who die from snake bites?
Textbook case of bad textbooks
Grade 9 Social Studies textbooks present a toxic interpretation of the open Nepal-India border
Demodification of India
Message of Indian elections to Nepal: mixing politics with religion does not work
Nepal’s soft power is its heritage
Cultural preservation needs to move beyond Kathmandu Valley to hidden historical sites in the Tarai
Going up in smoke
The smoke blanketing Nepal this week is not just from forest fires but also burning wheat stalk after harvest
Barbwire borders
As boundary walls go up around the world, the open Nepal-India border should be a model
The south wind blows
Nepal’s Hindu right is climbing on to a train without knowing which way it is headed
Burmese of Nepali descent flee to Thailand
Trapped Nepali workers and Burmese Nepalis escape the junta to Thailand, but many remain behind
Crimson, saffron and green
An ideological vacuum is turning the Madhes into fertile ground for the religious right
The outcasts
Nepalis at the grassroots for whom grassroots democracy has not delivered
Grain drain
Covid, climate and conflict have combined to make hunger more acute in Nepal
Nepal PM to India to reboot ties
Pushpa Kamal Dahal will meet Narendra Modi this week amidst signs of improved bilateral relations
Religiously following politics
Nepal’s traditional communal harmony could be disturbed by imported intolerance
Nepal-India trans-boundary bonds
National borders do not just divide countries, they also join them
Fogbound Tarai
The thick winter fog in the plains is a metaphor for the country’s purposeless politics
Un-centralising the federal structure
Kathmandu’s rulers have yet to learn the ABC’s of devolving power to provinces
Safety valve politics
Voters reaffirmed their trust in the democratic system to give voice to those historically deprived of it, and the main parties will disregard this at their own peril