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Female band

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Chobhar, a gorge believed to be created by Manjushree, a Buddhist saint, to drain water from Kathmandu valley

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Writ petition uphol

Lawyers and victims’ families believe the landmark verdict of the Supreme Court on truth and reconciliation has foiled an insidious plan to whitewash the cases of disappearances.

The court on Thursday ordered the government to form a separate Commission on Enforced Disappearances (CED). The Commission on Investigation of Disappeared Persons, Truth and Reconciliation Ordinance 2013, endorsed by the President on March 14 last year, was a political deal made just before the Baburam Bhattarai-led government stepped down. 

Breaching the constitutional provision and clauses in the Comprehensive Peace Accord, the four major parties agreed to merge two commissions into one, with objectionable clauses regarding reconciliation and amnesty. 

“Parties agreed to drop the issue of disappearances to appease the security forces ahead of the Constituent Assembly election,” says Ram Kumar Bhandari, a petitioner from an alliance of insurgency victims—both from the state and the then CPN (Maoist)—that had jointly moved the court against the ordinance on March 24. 

The Bhattarai-led government promoted Colonel Raju Basnet, an accused of disappearance in the notorious Bhairabnath battalion. “It is but a few instances of the government rewarding people involved in disappearances. If it is not the court, we would have nowhere to go,” says Bhandari. It has been 13 years since his father Tej Bahadur Bhandari disappeared. 

At least 1,300 people have been recorded as disappeared in the 10-year-long insurgency.

Many families have even performed last rites of their kin considering their absence for over 12 years is enough reason to believe they are dead. The court verdict has raised hope for the victims that the incidents will be investigated and that those guilty will be persecuted. The SC has ordered the government to criminalise the cases of disappearances, which was missing in the Ordinance. Citing its 2007 verdict on the case of Rajendra Dhakal, who was disappeared by the then rebel Maoists in 1998, the apex court has asked the government form a separate Commission to look into the case of disappearances. “While the Disappearance Commission was to have been deemed purely related to dealing with criminal acts of disappearances, it has not been provided for accordingly in the Ordinance,” the full text of the verdict reads. 

Advocate Govinda Bandi says the verdict is a reminder for political parties that they cannot do as they wish. 

“It has shown that the government simply cannot bypass a court verdict in any pretext. It has also broken the supremacy of so-called the four-party alliance on major decisions,” Bandi said. 

The SC bench presided by then Justice Khil Raj Regmi had passed the verdict on the Bhandari case. Kalyan Shrestha was the other judge. “It was the Regmi-led government that endorsed the Ordinance against the court verdict. I wonder why the judge that had set a standard in transitional justice ended up endorsing a fundamentally flawed ordinance,” he said. 

The constitutional bench has corrected government’s wrong move. However, the doubt still remains on implementation of the verdict as the government took eight years to pass the Act to form the TRC.  According to Bandi, the government has two options: revision in the current ordinance or work on two separate bills on Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Commission on Investigation of Disappearance tabled in the previous Constituent Assembly (CA). 

“It is advisable for the government to form a team of experts as directed by the court and draft a new bill for the commission,” he said. UN rights chief welcomes court ruling Kathmandu: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, has welcomed the Supreme Court verdict ruling out amnesties for serious human rights violations committed during the insurgency. “The Supreme Court’s decision to block amnesties is the first step towards ensuring that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission will not be used to avoid or delay criminal investigations and prosecutions of conflict-related cases,” she said in a statement on Saturday. “I now call on the Government of Nepal to urgently implement this important decision, in the spirit of working towards genuine and lasting peace, and to respect the demand of the Nepalese people for justice.” (PR)

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Whither Dalit movement?

After six decades of a relentless campaign against discrimination, the Dalit movement succeeded in establishing political, social and cultural rights. However, despite laws guaranteeing such rights, they are still victims of systematic marginalisation—religiously, culturally and conventionally and discrimination from within the Dalit community itself.

The country’s oldest social movement has brought about a sea change in the country but discriminatory social mores and practices still remain intact. “Caste-based discrimination has been the issue of the movement all along but such discrimination seems so entrenched in society that the law cannot dislodge them,” said Rem Bahadur Bishwakarma, a Dalit rights activist.

The culmination of the Dalit movement was the endorsement of the Caste-based Discrimination and Untouchability Act, passed by the government in 2011, which makes caste-based discrimination punishable by law. However, nobody has been booked till date on such charges. The reason is that it is mostly non-Dalits who head the implementing agencies. Dalit communities have never received access to state facilities, hampering their empowerment. Dalit communities are still looked down upon and discriminated against publicly, be it while availing of public facilities, attending school, the hospital or public functions.

Bishwakarma opined that it is time for the movement to be reviewed. “The Dalit movement only targeted the higher castes on issues of discrimination. Untouchability also exists among Dalit communities,” he said. Even within the Dalit community, there is a hierarchy and internal discrimination.

Of late, the state has recognised 26 communities as Dalit, among which the Bishwakarma, Pariyar and Sarki are in better positions. Researcher Yam Kishan related a relationship between their profession and their prosperity and power. “For instance, even within the Bishwakarma community, Sunars top the list as they are goldsmiths. They have access to wealth and receive the grace of the rich and influential,” he argued. This reasoning also applies to Pariyars, tailors, and Sarkis, shoemakers, who would be in closer proximity to the wealthy. Hill Dalits were also in a better position due to the domination of the hills in power circles. Hiralal Bishwakarma, who became a minister during the Panchayat era in 80s, was a role model for his

community.

A research conducted on government scholarships to the Dalit community showed that 98 percent of seats were awarded to members of the Bishwakarma and Pariyar communities in the past three years. “These uneven figures indicate the situation of the Dalits in the Madhes,” said researcher Bhola Paswan. Of the 26 Dalit communities, seven are from the hills while 19 belong to the Madhes.

The Madhes movement changed the power equation in national politics. The current Cabinet has 60 percent Madhesi members while even the President and the Vice President are from the Madhesi community. “This is but a figure. For instance, Shankar Das of Pangsera-5, Saptari district, the home of the Vice President, was murdered for allegedly having a love affair with a non-Dalit girl in April last year. Nobody was booked,” said Paswan.

Dalit leader Tilak Pariyar argued that the dissolution of the Constitution Assembly was a big setback for the Dalit movement. “The constitution-drafting committee had incorporated provisions addressing Dalit issues,” he said. “Federalism, special reservations and issues of inclusion were a few praiseworthy provisions in the draft.” There were 51 CA members from Dalit communities, of which seven were elected. It was the largest number of Dalit lawmakers in parliament ever.

This six-decade long social movement brought about changes in policies and politics at the national level but it failed to bring about behavioural changes within the community itself and in society. The movement established the existence of discrimination but even the crusaders themselves failed to cultivate the culture of equality. People loathe discrimination publicly but they seldom practise it at home or in public life. “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks but the new generation of today doesn’t discriminate on the basis of caste. Such discrimination doesn’t even get into their minds,” said Bishwakarma.

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Remembering the relatives

Nakkali Budhamagar had given birth to her first child, when the ‘people’s war’ was launched in Rolpa in 1996. She was so focused on raising her child that she hardly noticed the rebellion around her. It was only when her husband Buddhiman, a school teacher, was interrogated by security forces on charges of being a Maoist sympathiser that they decided to move to Kathmandu in 2003.

Buddhiman left for Malaysia after that. However, when he returned in 2005, he could not make it beyond the airport. His whereabouts remain unknown to this day.

Nakkali’s story is one of the 932 cases (INSEC data) of disappearance during a decade-long Maoist insurgency. According to a report of the International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) released on the eve of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances on Thursday, about 90 percent of the missing are males, while 66 percent of them were married when they disappeared. Seven years after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA), the government has not made public the whereabouts of the missing. Although families of the disappeared find the government’s interim relief package ‘ridiculous,’ the bankrupt wives of the missing men are left with no option but to accept it. “I had to take the money despite that fact that I lost my husband. It was never a bargain for money but the state treated like one,” she says. “Accepting the amount was painful, but I had no other option.”

The CPA had committed to make public the whereabouts of the disappeared within six months of the signing of the accord. However, nothing of that sort has happened so far.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) identified 846 cases of disappearances and recommended the government take action, but in vain.

The bill for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was brought in through an ordinance. However,  that too landed into controversy for failing to meet international standards. Legal experts and rights activists say the bill is fraught with problems.

A group of victims jointly filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court in March,

challenging the ordinance. Among other things, they demanded that the provision of blanket amnesty on serious human rights violations be scrapped. The SC has

postponed hearings on the case five times.

International rights institutions, including the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights‚ Human Rights Watch and International Commission of Jurists, have already objected to the ordinance.

“We are not hoping for anything to happen from the government side as the chief justice himself is the executive head,” says Ram Kumar Bhandari, founder of the National Network of Families of Disappeared and Missing. Bhandari’s father was detained and disappeared by the state in 2001.  “The government has violated our cultural rights and snatched away our dignity by not making public the whereabouts of our family members,” he says.

While the families of the disappeared are in a limbo as they don’t know whether they should be performing the last rites of their loved ones, this fact has exposed women in particular to abuses and social discrimination.

The ICTJ report says that the wives of the disappeared are considered neither ‘wives’ nor ‘widows’ and that they lack a ‘recognisable social status’ in Nepali society.

“It is hard to accept that my husband is dead until I see his body,” Nakkali says.

Transitional Justice Advocacy Group, a loose network of NGOs, INGOs and victims’ groups actively working in the field of human rights and transitional justice, is organising a series of programmes to commemorate the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. Through the programmes, it plans to raise awareness on the issue of enforced disappearances.

“Political parties tried to protect their interests instead of protecting the rights of the victims,” NHRC member Ram Nagina Singh told an interaction organised by the NHRC here on Thursday.

And now with the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, there is no parliament to discuss the non-compliance of recommendations made by the NHRC to take action against those responsible for the disappearances, Singh said.

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GM seeds in Nepal

The past week saw a heated debate on the entry of Monsanto, world’s largest bio-tech company in Nepal, which subsided only after the CG Seeds and Fertilisers, a subsidiary of Chaudhary Group (CG) clarified in a press meet that it had imported Monsanto’s hybrid seeds in the past but never Genetically Modified (GM) ones.  

Importing GM seeds is already out of question, as the existing laws do not permit any trader or government agencies to do so. The Monsanto hybrid seeds, however, are widely used in the country. According to the Seed Quality Control Centre (SQCC), five of 17 registered hybrid varieties of seeds in the country belong to Monsanto.

Chief Seed Development Officer at the SQCC Dila Ram Bhandari, said these hybrid seeds went through trial before they were distributed. “Monsanto’s hybrid maize is here for well over three years now,” he says.

The CG on Friday had admitted to the press that it had imported the Monsanto manufactured hybrid maize seeds a year ago, but has now discontinued its import. Hybrid seeds have to go through trial for two years before release.

According to Bhandari, only 20 percent of maize and 3 percent of rice seeds are hybrid, mostly used in Tarai districts. “There might be few other unregistered hybrids in the area due to porous border,” he says.

Bhandari also argued that genetic modification and hybridisation are technologies that can be used in our benefit by yielding more than local crops. The Seeds Act, 1988, the National Agricultural Policy, 2004 and National Seed Vision 2013- 2025 have neither barred nor allowed GM crops. “The legal provisions have suggested using technology to our benefit,” Bhandari argued. “Criticising it flatly is not wise.”

Experts, however, say even hybrid varieties are too risky to subsistence farming while GMs can prove lethal.

Genetic modifications include, among others, cloning, injecting growth hormones and adding antibacterial genes to plants.

Genes of microorganisms, plants and animals are swapped or altered to produce a desired effect to benefit human.

“Health hazards of adding bacteria to the agri-produce are rarely talked about, but it in no way can be as healthy as natural produce,” says Devendra Gautam, senior agriculture scientist at National Agriculture Research Council (NARC), the only facility in the country which can test whether a seed is genetically modified or not.

Hybrid seeds are not genetically modified, but are just swapping of crop genes. Even hybrid seeds, however, do not guarantee consistent production.

Krishna Prasad Pant, an agro economist, says the hybrid seeds are problematic. “It is unreliable. It can yield good produce once and fail at other times, as it happened in Tarai last year,” he says.

Farmers in the Tarai faced devastation last year as maize seeds bore no grain. Unregistered seeds were held responsible for the failure.

Open-pollinated seeds come from organic or ecological farming and there is no need to buy seeds every year. “Farmers in villages still store seeds from their own produce for next year,” says Pant, adding that hybrid seeds are for produce only. “The grains are never good enough for seeds. Hybrid seeds itself is a business trick. What if Nepali subsistence farmers have to face total crop failure?”

Nepali farmers mostly farm to eat throughout the year, not to sell their produce in the market. In some countries, farmers have insurance and thus crop failure is compensated. Experts say that hybrid seeds are good for mass production not for subsistence farming.

With shrinking land, however, farmers tend to opt for hybrid seeds. Local hybrid plants are good in the sense that they are adaptive to local environment reducing chances of total failure. Srijan, for instance, is a local tomato hybrid which is doing well.

“We can take risks of hybridisation with few crops but not with staple food like maize and rice,” says Pant adding that the government should pass a law that makes seed companies compensate farmers for crop failure.

With GM technology, experts advise that GM produce be sold separately so that people have choice. But before that, Nepal should have a clear policy and legal frameworks to deal with the GM so that perpetrator can to tried at courts. Currently, Nepal has a Bio-safety Framework 2007 but no legal provisions to try culprits at courts.

“Bottom line is GM should not be for food but can be used for other produce for instance jute,” he said.

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Promises never kept

The arrest of Col Kumar Lama in the United Kingdom on January, 2013 for torture committed during the 10-year Maoist insurgency has brought to question Nepal’s commitment to addressing cases of serious human rights violations.

The UK made the move as a result of the Nepal government’s inaction to implicate and persecute the accused in rights violation cases. The Conflict Report 2012 released by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in October has documented 9,000 serious violations of International Human Rights Law during the conflict.

“It could be an opportunity for the government to re-assess its commitment and assure the victims and the international community that Nepal is capable of addressing cases of serious human rights violations by cooperating in investigations into this case and implementing court orders in many other cases,” said rights activist Mandira Sharma, who heads the Advocacy Forum. The forum, along with London-based Hickman & Rose law firm, had filed a case against Lama.

However, Nepal has failed to prosecute anyone for torture even after seven years of the end of the Maoist conflict. Political parties never set up transitional mechanisms like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Disappeared Commission to address war-era human rights violations as agreed in the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) signed in November 2006.

The former Seven-Party Alliance and the then rebel party CPN (Maoist) had committed to form such a mechanism within 60 days of signing the accord. However, successive governments never addressed the issues and instead ignored court orders letting the convicted walk free. They also ignored recommendations made by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and international human rights agencies.

Recently, the government granted amnesty to a number of rights violators in the political garb while taking back charges against party cadres and Maoist leaders like Agni Sapkota, Balkrishna Dhungel and Surya Man Dong. Despite objections from the NHRC and other rights organisations, the government elevated security officials implicated in serious rights violation cases.“We knew this situation would come,” said Sharma, “We repeatedly reminded the government that by not enforcing the law and implementing court orders, the government had put many citizens at risk.”

Had the government delivered on its promises, Col Lama would not have been arrested. His arrest could be an opportunity to prove to the international community that Nepal is capable of addressing cases of rights violations on its own, which will also help improve Nepal’s image.

“It will be wise to cooperate in the investigations in this case to convince the international community,” she said.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch, a US-based human rights group, said Lama’s arrest sends a warning to those accused of serious human rights violations in Nepal.

“The UK’s move to arrest a Nepali army officer for torture during Nepal’s brutal civil war is an important step in enforcing the UN Convention against Torture,” said Brad Adams, the Asia director at Human Rights Watch, in a statement.

“Those responsible for committing torture in Nepal can no longer assume they are beyond the reach of the law in other countries.

The lesson for the Nepal government and army is that it is time to end the culture of impunity that has left victims waiting for justice for far too long.”

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Notorious TIA immigration

Sita Rai was only 15 when the bright lights of a city first beckoned her. A road had finally reached Leguwaghat of Dhankuta, a few kilometres from her village, Jarayatar. Having never left home, the Bhojpur girl wondered what it would be like to ride on a bus and visit faraway cities where the lights never go out, rich people drive around in fancy cars and the cinema always shows films. With a group of friends, an innocent Sita excitedly boarded a bus for Dharan.

Sita never got to Dharan. Instead, she found herself in Pokhara. With no means to get back home, she grudgingly took up a job in a restaurant. While there, a stranger befriended her. This man told Sita of a job in a foreign country where she could make a lot of money. The fact that Sita lacked a citizenship and a passport posed no problem to her new friend. He would do everything for her.

Sita Rai , now 16, became Bimala KC of Baglung. Sita would work as a housemaid in a foreign land and she would make millions without having to spend a penny of her own. Amazingly, the man made good on his promise. Fabricating false documents and flying Sita to Saudi Arabia via Delhi there were no charges at all.

However, Sita would soon discover that nothing comes free. Under the scorching Saudi Arabian sun, Sita found that she was unable to communicate. She spoke no English and could barely read and write. Her work consisted of backbreaking housework with little respite. “I was overworked and abused verbally and physically,” Sita recalls, avoiding glances and staring at the floor and into the distance.

She worked unpaid at her ‘masters’ for nine months. “When I pleaded with them to send me back home, they left me at a contract service centre, which found me another job,” Sita narrates. The next family she worked for were much more pleasant. They treated her kindly and she worked for them for three years. When she expressed a desire to finally go home for Tihar, the family even bought her gifts to take home: a pair of watches for her brothers, handkerchiefs, shirts and clothes.

Brimming with joy at returning home, Sita landed at the Tribhuvan International Airport on November 19. This was where her troubles would resurface. Stopped at immigration by an official who asked her name, Sita unwittingly gave her real name. Discovering the inconsistency between her name and the passport she was carrying, the official took her into custody. She spent the next day at the immigration office in Kalikasthan.

There, Sita was approached by another immigration official, Somnath Khanal, who presented her with another offer: the money she had brought over would be confiscated and she could go free. “He [Khanal] made me sign a blank piece of paper and told me I could go,” she says. “It is not for us, it is for the government,” Khanal told her.

Sita never saw her pay, the 8500 riyal (Rs 218,000), again. Taking advantage of the distraught and vulnerable Sita, a police constable, Parsuram Basnet, volunteered to buy her a bus ticket to her village. Despite misgivings, Sita accepted.  

“He took me to the New Buspark but when we reached there he said that the bus had already left and I would have to take one the next day,” she says. Basnet put her up in a lodge by the buspark and left, saying he would return shortly. When he came back drunk and belligerent, he pounced on her and she screamed. With a hand over her mouth, Basnet threatened to kill her and dispose of her body. Then, he proceeded to rape her. A medical report says she is pregnant.

Sita doesn’t remember much of that night. The few riyals that Sita had hidden away in the nooks and crannies of her purse had disappeared overnight. So had the gifts she was taking for her family—the clothes, the watches, all vanished. “I have done so much for you. Do not forget me,” said Basnet before handing her Rs 1,000 for her busfare. “Come and see me again.” However, things, especially the matter of her rape, would have to stay between them. “If you talk to anyone about this, I will kill you,” he said simply.

Sita is currently living in Kathmandu with a relative, fighting a case against the government officials who robbed her and the policeman who raped her. Hers is a case where the perpetrators and the prosecutors are both the government, public servants and security forces supposed to be guardians of society but turned corrupt and drunk with power. Now that Sita’s case has received attention from the media, there is pressure on the government to take strict decisive measures, not just to compensate Sita but to punish the guilty.

Unless action is taken, there are chances of these incidents recurring and the tale of another Sita making headlines.

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An inspiring citizen movement

More than a year since the Occupy Baluwatar campaign first broke out in the country in protest of gender-based violence, one campaigner goes back in time to reminisce over how it all began and what it really changed

We did not get justice, sarkaar.....I am not learned, but I don’t feel like justice has been delivered,” Data Ram Rai had told Khil Raj Regmi, chairman of the interim government, at his office in Singha Durbar on December 26, 2013. Forty-nine-year-old Data Ram, father of Sita Rai—the migrant worker who was robbed and raped by government officials upon her arrival at the Tribhuvan International Airport from Saudi Arabia in late 2011—pleaded for justice for his daughter's suffering. “Would it have been this way had, God forbid, the same had happened to a daughter of any government official?” he'd asked.

Regmi had invited Occupy Baluwatar (OB) campaigners to his office that day, after learning that they were preparing to mark a year of the campaign by protesting outside the PM's residence in Baluwatar, reminding authorities that though time may have passed, they hadn’t given up the fight.

Data Ram had come to Kathmandu from Bhojpur after learning about the Kathmandu District Court's verdict on Sita's case. On December 21, 2013, the court had handed a one-year jail sentence to non-gazetted officer Som Nath Khanal and constable Parshuram Basnet, while giving a clean chit to section officers Ram Prasad Koirala and Tikaram Pokharel on charges of robbery.

In the 20-minute meeting at Singha Durbar, the secretary at the Prime Minister's Office, Raju Man Singh Malla, had first briefed campaigners on the government's efforts to address the issue of violence against women. But when campaigners sought to relay to Regmi the progress of the five cases that OB had raised, he'd left the chamber in a hurry. 

Sudha Maharjan, whose mother has gone missing for over two years now, didn't get a single chance to speak during the meet. She'd broken down immediately after Regmi left. "If this is how the chairman treats us, how can we expect any support from the government?" she'd wailed.

The TIA incident

In November 2011, Sita Rai had been detained by the immigration department at the airport when it was found that the passport she was using actually belonged to one Bimala KC of Baglung. Officials had then offered her a deal: Pay up and avoid being thrown behind bars. After they'd taken the Rs 218,000 she had with her, a police constable had volunteered to drop her off, but when they got to the bus park, he'd told her the bus was gone, and then taken her to a guest house in the Old Bus Park. There, he'd raped her

The constable, Parsu Ram Basnet, had then seized the various gifts she'd bought for her relatives and told her not to tell anyone about what had happened, threatening to jail her if she did. Sita complied for a while, until she couldn't suppress the anguish anymore and finally confided in her sister, who told her parents. By the time she came to Kathmandu to file a case against her aggressors at the Home Ministry, it was already a month since the incident.

Occupy Baluwatar

The Kathmandu Post's Roshan Sedhai first broke the news about Sita on December 18, 2011, followed the very next day by Naya Patrika. So far, most other media houses hadn't stepped forward. Not long after, however, newswires were abuzz with the story of the Delhi student who was raped by a group of men on a bus, and that story had spread on social media, although the TIA incident was still relatively ignored.

A few friends and I were doggedly trying to raise our voices against the apathy through Facebook and Twitter. Slowly but surely, we were making some headway, especially after Pranika Koyu wrote an article in the Post on her own experiences of being harassed by TIA officials. Stuti Basnyat, a communications professional who had been keeping close tabs on the issue, then threw out the idea of a coordinated protest, which would be pushed through email. Meanwhile, journalist Kashish Das Shrestha was preparing a letter to the prime minister.

Still, most rights activists were quiet till then. But then Dr Renu Rajbhandari, of the Women's Rehabilitation Centre Nepal, appealed to the public to join a protest to be held in front of Singha Durbar's south gate on December 26. Only 30 people showed up, but the gathering was big enough to finally attract substantial media attention.

The campaigners

The campaigners reached the prime minister's residence in Baluwatar to hand over a demand letter, but were chased away by security. Gyanu Adhikari, who was working for the Post at the time, stood his ground to make evocative speeches, encouraging the rest of the campaigners to stay until there was a response from the PM. Dr Renu, meanwhile, had even brought tents for the protesters to spend the night in—were it to become necessary.

Finally, in the late evening, the then-PM Baburam Bhattarai agreed to meet with the protesters. He issued a public apology through the state media and formed a high-level monitoring committee under Raju Man Singh Malla to look into cases of violence against women. And when Bhattarai asked for written demands, the protesters drafted a list then and there and submitted it. It was also decided to stage sit-in protests between 9-11 am every day in front of the PM's quarters—essentially, to 'occupy Baluwatar'.

Campaigners began organising themselves as per specific duties:  Jagannath Lamichhane handled the media; Arpan Shrestha, Ahimsha Yonjan and Puja Singh on social media while Surabhi and Sakar Pudasaini would start a website for the campaign. Kashish and Stuti finalised the letter to the PM and requested newspaper editors, through email and Twitter, to publish it. Support was certainly on the rise, with more and more people joining in, but it wasn't until Kantipur ran a full-page story on Sita's case that it literally poured in.

The protest went on for 106 days, although not all campaigners stayed that long. Differences had arisen over the way the campaign was being conducted, the presence of NGOs, the role of activists and so on. But there was also a fair number of us who were committed and didn't waver even when futility seemed to be staring us in the face.

Achievements

The Occupy Baluwatar campaign was a rare episode of inspiring public participation in a citizen movement against gender-based violence. After all, while political protests and strikes are commonplace in the country, social ones are isolated events. For two hours every day, protesters arrived at the PM's residence, placards in hand, chanting slogans tirelessly. Various artists would also perform one-act plays, poetry, and dance routines as part of the demonstrations.

Despite the steadfast effort put into the campaign, the impact of the movement was not as visible as it was in India, where the central and state governments have now initiated law reforms, set up a fast-track court and provision of life imprisonment in rape cases.

Not that progress hasn't been made here. An eight-member committee comprised of lawyers, attorneys, ministry secretaries and activists has studied and reviewed provisions in existing laws, and a 128-page report has detailed the lacunae in the legal system and state mechanisms with recommendations. But in the absence of a parliament, the recommendations never took the concrete form of law.

The movement had largely focused on five emblematic cases of violence against women: that of Sita Rai, Chhori Maya Maharjan, Bindu Thakur, Shiwa Hasmi and Saraswati Subedi. Maharjan has been missing for over two years now, while Thakur and Hasmi were both burnt alive for allegedly having affairs, and Subedi was reported to have committed suicide, but is widely believed to have been murdered. Although the campaign did raise awareness and expedited legal processes in Sita's case, the other cases haven't seen much movement, held up further by the political transition in the country.

Mohana Ansari, spokesperson of the National Women Commission, argues, however, that the campaign was not a waste. "People are more aware and so are the government officials. They take VAW cases more seriously now," she says.

 Advocate Laxmi Rai, one of Sita's lawyers, reiterates this, although she also warns against complacency. "What matters most is justice. The court did not do justice to Sita Rai," she says. And until full justice is delivered in all cases, and laws reformed to ensure that there are mechanisms to deal with future incidents, the movement must go on. 

[rdewan]

Business visas for non-businessmen

Foreigners staying in Nepal use the investment loophole for long-term visas. 

When the government introduced new business visa regulations in 1992, there was a great deal of optimism that the new rule would encourage foreign investors to flock to Nepal. The Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act allowed foreigners to have 100 percent share equity in selected sectors and simplified visa procedures for such companies. There is no minimum limit for investors in Nepal, and those approved are eligible for incentives, including the business visa provisioin. For the first few years, the act helped boost foreign investment in hydropower, manufacturing and the tourism in Nepal. Today, the act and the easier visa processing that went with it have become loopholes for spurious investors and fly-by-night operators to obtain longterm business visas. Even though foreign investment is at an all time low, an investigation of the paperwork at the Department of Industries showed that 50 new foreign investment ventures had been registered in the last eight months and investors had availed themselves of business visas. Most of these are restaurants, but there are also agro-based industries, IT companies, garment industries and language institutes. However, officials interviewed for this article in various government ministries admitted that business visas are being grossly misused by some foreigners who have no intention of investing in Nepal, but bribe officials to obtain multiple-entry longterm business visas. The 1994 Immigration Regulation Act forbids investors from starting a business other than the one that they get their visas for, and the Immigration Office has the authority to expel anyone found guilty of being involved in wrong-doing. However, no one in the ministries remembers anyone being deported for investment irregularities even when officials admitted to us that "many" of the investment visas went to questionable foreigners or non-investors. At the Department of Immigration we were told that the office is just a clearing house, and it is duty-bound to issue a visa if the Department of Industries recommends someone. "We produce all non-tourist visas on the recommendation of the concerned department, we do not investigate every application, only if they are suspicious," says Khum Raj Punjali, director of the Department of Immigration. However, other junior officials admit that many of the business visa applicants are actually "suspicious" and most have no intention of investing in Nepal. The immigration office issues eight kinds of visas: diplomatic, official, tourist, non-tourist, study, business, residential and non-residential. According to present provisions, a tourist visa can be granted for a maximum of 150 days in a year, whereas a non-tourist visa can be extended for as long as required, provided the person produces plausible reasons for renewal. A business visa is different from a non-tourist visa because foreign investors or their dependants can get a one year visa during the start-up phase of their venture, and for five years after the investment is set up. It allows multiple entry into Nepal with a fee of only $100 for the first year and $250 for five years. The reason non-genuine investors opt for business visas is not only because they don't have to worry about it for five years, but also because it turns out to be cheaper than a non-tourist visa which costs $60 a month for the first year and $100 a month after that. "This is obviously why some people prefer business visas," admitted Hirakaji Shrestha at the Department of Immigration. The fact that there is no minimum investment threshold, and it is relatively cheap to register a foreign investment makes it easy for those who want to side-step the law. And no one really seems to check whether they have actually set up an industry, paid their taxes, or even if they have registered. To be sure, a business visa is a long and tedious process where the applicant has to go to several ministries for clearance before immigration puts the stamp on the passport. Still, it can all be done for cash paid slyly under the right table, and there are always 'facilitators' who know the process and can be hired for the job. In the end, what happens is that the investors doesn't really invest in Nepal at all. Our investigations show that out of the 2,456 non-tourist visas issued lat year, 291 were business visas and most of them are not genuine foreign investments. For example, only half of the 850 foreign investment ventures registered with the Department of Industries are still functioning. One such is a Korean-Nepali joint venture Konep Craft with an authorised capital of Rs 10 million which was supposed to produce 100,000 pieces of readymade garments a year for export. The industry was never opened. The Income Tax Office has record of the company's registration, but there are no balance sheets with profit-loss statements. Yet, the Department of Industry never deemed it necessary to investigate the applicant. Our own efforts to track down the factory in Sitapaila or call the phone number showed it was never established. Still, Konep Craft's Korean investor got his business visa extended twice by the Foreign Investment Section of the Department of Industries. "It was a difficult case, we knew it was just a trick to get a business visa," one ministry clerk admitted to us on condition of anonymity. After finding out he was talking to a journalist, the clerk added guardedly: "I am only small fry in this office, I don't know much and shouldn't speak about these matters." There is an unnecessary shroud of secrecy about business visa renewals at concerned government departments, which seems puzzling. But clerks speak in hushed tones of phones calls and secretive meetings after office hours preceding the renewal of visas. When we asked section officer Sushil Dhakal at the Department of Immigration how a foreign investor who had never set up the industry he was given permission for was getting his business visa renewed every year, he appeared at first defensive, and then offensive. "Our job is to recommend a business visa if the file meets relevant requirements for foreign investors," he said testily. "I don't know anymore. I have told you as much as I know." (Khoj Patrakarita Kendra)

Nepali Times #179

[rdewan]

rdewan turned 3 today!

[rdewan]

Compensation by accident

It's the rule of the jungle when it comes to seeking damages after a traffic accident  Rabindra Magar was driving his school bus at Rani Pokhari corner at rush hour recently when a speeding motorcycle, trying to overtake, sideswiped his vehicle from the right. The biker fell off and went somersaulting into the sidewalk.

As is the custom, a crowd immediately gathered around. Pedestrians and onlookers who were strangers to the motorcycle driver were ready to lynch Rabindra, but he was saved by arrival of the traffic police. "They would have burnt the bus if it was not carrying school children, so I was also spared," Rabindra recalls. Traffic accidents are a spectator sport. There is a reversal of the might is right principle at work here. If a bicycle hits a motorcycle, the motorcycle pays. If a motorcycle hits a car, the car driver pays for damages even if it was no fault of his own. If a truck hits a car, and the car suffers greater damage, the car owner has to pay for the minor damage to the truck. In Rabindra's case, the school was forced to admit the motorcycle driver to hospital, cover his medical expenses and repair his bike. The cost: Rs 250,000 for medical and garage bills. "There is nowhere to go to complain," says Umet Shrestha, the school principal. The rule of the thumb is that if a pedestrian is hit, it is always the fault of the motorised vehicle. If a bicycle hits a motorcycle, it is the fault of the motorised vehicle. The vehicle whose owner is deemed to be more capable of paying for damages is always at fault. We put this to Valley Traffic Chief Bigyan Raj Sharma, who admits it has been the practice that large vehicle are often held responsible. "There is no such rule, but we always try to investigate who is at fault," he says. "Our priority is that the injured should get immediate medical attention." Traffic accidents have become the excuse for extortion by locals, and neighbourhood toughies often get into the act to shakedown the vehicle owner in return of a cut of the payoff. Rajan Khadka owns a fleet of taxis, one of which hit a middle-aged woman in Swayambhu recently. The driver took her to Teaching Hospital and drove his car to the police station and left it there. The relatives of the woman, who suffered a fractured leg, first demanded that she be treated in a private hospital. Khadka took her to B & B, where recovery was slow because she was diabetic. Then her relatives demanded she be flown to Delhi for treatment. By the end of the ordeal, Khadka had spent nearly Rs 400,000. The Vehicles and Transportation Management Act provides for compensation of Rs 500,000 and Rs 25,000 for funeral expenses if someone is killed in a traffic accident. But the cost of treating the injured has no limit because of extortion. Says Khadka: "It is cheaper if the accident victim dies. An accident isn't deliberate, and the injured is not always right." Since there are no CCTV cameras to monitor traffic, police have to rely on witness accounts. Sharma admits that onlookers tend to have a soft corner for the injured. A solution would be mandatory third party insurance for vehicle owners. "Accidents aren't deliberate, and it is usually one side that is negligent but the tendency is that no one readily owns up his mistake," says Sudarshan Lamichhane, district attorney of Lalitpur district. "The court asks for evidence and sometimes it might be against the victim." Nepal's political transition has bred an atmosphere of lawlessness and impunity, where a mob rather than the rule of law metes out instant justice after a traffic accident. Usually it is the side that is seen to be more able to pay that has to pay. Last year, there were 8,500 traffic accidents all over the country, double the number of accident compared to previous year, in which 200 people were killed and 6,000 injured. The number killed the previous year was 148. Says Sharma, "The traffic law applies equally to all, be it pedestrian, cyclist, motorbike or lorry at least until I am in charge." He should tell that to people like to Rabindra Magar, Rajan Khadka and Umet Shrestha. HOLY COW If a car kills a pedestrian in a traffic accident, the Vehicles and Transportation Management Act (VTMA 1993) provides for a compensation of Rs 500,000 to the next of kin and funeral expenses of Rs 25,000. However, if the pedestrian is severely injured, the expenses to the vehicle owner can exceed Rs 1 million depending on the seriousness of the injury and time spent in hospital. In the absence of third party insurance, the vehicle owner ends up paying this. But, wait for this. If a car hits a cow on the street, the punishment is a fine of Rs 500,000 or life imprisonment or both, says Kathmandu SP Jagat Man Shrestha. However, Shrestha says police don't usually pursue the case. Compensation for the owner of the cow is also Rs 500,000, according to the VTMA. Nepali Times

[rdewan]

"We don't regret laying down arms"

Ex-fighters are determined to see the integration process through, despite opposition from hardliners The day after the keys of arms containers were handed over to the Special Committee last month, vice-chairman Mohan Baidya announced a nationwide campaign against the decision.

Half a dozen central committee members leading a few hundreds supporters enforced a transportation strike and held torch rallies. The group boycotted the party's standing committee meeting. Since then, rival factions of the Maoists have locked horns all over the country, sometimes with violent outcomes that have left many injured. It all happened within three days since the Maoist-led government was formed on 29 August and less than a week after the party had unanimously decided to hand over the keys of the arms containers to the Special Committee if a government under the party's leadership was formed. "We supported Baburam because we thought he would not surrender before the state, but he let us down," Netra Bikram Chand, a Baidya-loyalist told Nepali Times in an interview. He said it is essential for a party to have an intra-party debate to protect the purity of its ideology. Chand wants the the 4-point agreement revised. He denied that the party is headed for a split, but insisted his side was right and the other side was wrong and the disagreement would continue as long as the issue was not addressed. He rules out integration before the Maoists have a "people's rule". However, the commander of the PLA's Fourth Division and member of the Armed Integration Special Committee, Tej Bahadur Oli, told us the long-delayed "regrouping" that is supposed to precede integration will begin next week. "We have been given one week to decide on the number to be integrated, modality and rehabilitation package. Once we reach an agreement, it should begin immediately," he said. Speaking to Oli, one is puzzled what the hardliners are arguing about. He says the debate on the hand over of the keys is a storm in a tea cup because the decision was made in consultation with the PLA and they don't feel disbanded or dissolved. "If you really want to know, we disarmed the very day when the weapons were locked in the containers. But we did it for the people for whom we took up arms in the first place, so we have no regrets," Oli said, adding that he had visited all seven cantonments and found ex-fighters positive about their government's decision. However, the intensity of opposition to the handover seems to differ depending on whether a cantonment commander is loyal to the Baidya or Dahal faction, with the hardliners regarding the keys handover as a symbolic surrender. "We have sacrificed as much for change as anybody else and the only thing we ask for in return is acknowledgement and respect," Oli quoted an ex-fighter in a cantonment as telling him recently. But there is another problem. Even the moderate Maoists leading the government feel the NC and UML have gone back on their commitments on integration. "We have handed over weapons, we have returned most seized property, we have even said we are flexible on integration numbers. What more do they want as proof of our commitment?" he asks. "It's time the NC and UML prove their part of the bargain by coming to the table with intention to find a solution." Questioned about districts where seized property is not being returned, Basnet said the party can't take responsibility for property seized by non-Maoists in the Tarai. The prime minister's political advisor Devendra Poudel is optimistic the integration process will begin next week. He said: "Some comrades want to throw the baby out with the bath water, we can't let that happen. Our commitment to peace and constitution remains firm." Nepali Times

[rdewan]

Where old planes go to die

The carcasses of planes are a mute testimony to political interference and private greed that bled Nepal's airlines dry  Old planes that were once a part of Nepal's aviation history lie scattered, scavenged, cannibalised, picked clean for spare parts.

Of the 10 abandoned planes in this aviation junkyard is the veteran of the Nepal skies: "Alpha Uniform" one of the very first Hawker Siddeley 748 manufactured in 1969 and acquired by Royal Nepal Airlines. It's a story of how far we have regressed in Nepal that the then head of Royal Nepal Airlines is said to have got the manufacturer in 1970 to cut the price by 15 per cent by getting Hawker Siddeley to agree to minus the sales commission. Alpha Uniform with its sister ship, "Alpha Victor" served RNAC well, flying international routes to Delhi and domestic destinations as well as the popular Mt Everest sightseeing flights for more than 25 years. Victor is stored at the Nepal Airlines hangar, but Uniform is here rotting away slowly in the sun with other planes from the private airlines that flew high briefly after privatisation in 1990 and then went belly-up. The planes of Royal Nepal Airlines, Necon Air, Nepal Airways, Everest Air and Cosmic Air are a mute testimony to the political interference that bled the national airline dry, and the unscrupulous tycoons who looted shareholder investment. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) seems to be aware that the plane junkyard is unsightly and is offering them up for auction to scrap dealers. Some of the private airlines still owe CAAN millions in unpaid fees, but they may have to be written off. Only Yeti Airlines has agreed to remove its SAAB 42. "The airline companies are supposed to pay accumulated parking fees," says Shyam Sundar Bhakta Shrestha deputy managing director of the airport, "but since the planes are junked there is no chance of getting operators to pay up." CAAN has received bids for only two of the Nepal Airways Y-12s and no one seems to want the Dorniers, Fokker 100 and other planes even to sell to aluminium scrap merchants. Nepal Airlines wants to hand over the other Avro to the proposed Civil Aviation Academy. The reason scrap dealers are not interested is because whatever they bid for, the airline will first have to clear its dues to CAAN. Cosmic Air alone owes the airport Rs 20 million. Shrestha says the planes will be removed if there are no bids and the space leased to private airlines which need hangar space. Nepali Times

[rdewan]

Energy emergency

The real story behind the shortages of petrol, diesel, cooking gas, water and electricity

You don't need to go far these days to see proof of gross mismanagement and government incompetence. The dark cities, long queues of cars and motorcycles at gas stations, locals commandeering LPG delivery trucks contrast sharply with the political wrangling over power, the peace process and constitution. The economy is a wreck, and investors have crossed the tipping point. OIL The petroleum shortage is due to the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) not paying its bills to Indian Oil. NOC's monthly losses are a staggering Rs 1.2 billion despite the increase in fuel prices last month. "The bottom line is that the selling price is way below the buying price," says Mukunda Dhungel of NOC. The utility loses Rs 14 for every litre of diesel it sells, Rs 454 per LPG cylinder and Rs 3 per litre of kerosene. It makes a small margin on sale of petrol and aviation fuel, but five times more diesel is consumed than petrol. In the past five years, crude oil prices have roughly tripled from around $30 per barrel to around US$110. The supply chain has also been disrupted because of a gas and fuel crisis in India as well. The figures just keep getting worse: Nepal's diesel consumption has grown three-fold in the past five years mainly because of the electricity shortage. Nepal's fuel bill grew by 36 per cent last year to Rs 80 billion, and that was Rs 10 billion more than all our exports put together. The government buckled under student protests last month and offered a 33 per cent subsidy to students and 'poor people' on petroleum products. No one knows what constitutes 'poor' and how to organise the distribution of subsidised fuel. A cabinet meeting last week decided to release Rs 2 billion to NOC to clear its bills with Indian Oil. But that money hasn't yet reached NOC, besides it owes the Indians Rs 4.5 billion. ELECTRICITY If you thought the petroleum scenario was scary, the electricity crisis is worse. Even the chief of general services at Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Gosai KC throws up her hands in despair: "I will not live to see load-shedding free day in my life time." No power has been added to the national grid for the past two years, even though demand has grown 20 per cent in that time. Five hydro projects are expected to start operation in the next five months, but they will add only 40 MW to the grid when the winter shortfall is over 700 MW. "After we produce enough to meet present demand, we need generation capacity to grow at 100MW per year," says NEA board member Krishna Prasad Dulal. "But lack of planning and poor execution has landed us in the present situation." The government is trying to encourage investors into hydropower. Nepal Rastra Bank has made it mandatory for commercial banks to make 10 percent of their total lending to the agriculture and energy sectors within the next three years. The cabinet last week endorsed a 10-point work plan to reduce power rationing, offering a 30 per cent increase in the PPA rate for ongoing and new hydro projects from domestic investors. The new rate is set at Rs 4.80 during monsoon and Rs 8.40 during winter per unit. "The work plan has addressed our demand but it would be better if it could also include projects which are already operational," says Subarna Das Shrestha of the Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN). "We want the government to implement it, we will do our part." Then there are the so-called Super Six projects that total 190 MW which are expected to gain momentum after this agreement. NEA itself has another five big projects (including Upper Tamakosi and Chilime) totalling 840 MW to be completed by 2017. By that time, Nepal will have surplus power during the rainy season but there will still be a shortage in the dry season because demand will also grow. "Load shedding will remain well beyond 2017," explains Sher Singh Bhat of NEA, "we need at least 4,000 MW of run-off-river projects or a 1,000 MW reservoir project to end power cuts." But local opposition, extortion, labour militancy have all delayed existing projects, including the construction of critical transmission lines. Sunil B Malla at the Water and Energy Commission Secretariat paints an apocalyptic picture: "The economy will collapse when power cuts reach 18 hour coupled with fuel shortage." SCARY FIGURES Total installed capacity: 700MW Power generation in winter: 300MW Power demand in winter: 1,100MW Demand growth: 10 per cent per year (100 MW) To be added by September 2012: 40MW To be added by 2017: 850MW TOTAL ENERGY Nepalis consume 410,000 million gigajoules of energy every year (equivalent to 9.3 million tons of oil, or 15,000MW of electricity) Petroleum products make up 10 % Electricity 2% Biomass (firewood, dung) 78% Nepali Times

[rdewan]

Despair and hope in Dolpo

"Politics is only for the leaders. We never expected anything from the  constitution."  When the debate on federalism and constitution was at its peak in the capital last month I was in remote and rugged Dolpo, Nepal's biggest district in area and one of the last without a road connection. It seemed the entire population of not just Dolpo, but the whole of mid-western Nepal was on the move: trekking up to the high valleys to pick yarsagumba, the caterpillar fungus that is also known as Himalayan viagra and fetches astronomical prices in traditional Chinese medicine.

Yarsagumba has now become the main source of income for a majority of Nepal's Himalayan dwellers. Houses were all padlocked, and entire families had gone off on the annual two-month yarsa exodus. The last thing on the minds of these people was the fast approaching constitution deadline. Others wondered which federal province they would belong to when they returned from the mountains. More than 150,000 people from Baitadi to Ramechhap, including include four-year-old children to 64-year-olds, are still up there scouring the high meadows for the fungus. None of them had proper clothes to ward off the biting cold at 5,200m. Most wore rubber flipflops, and had no time to enjoy the unearthly beauty of Phoksundo Lake. The middlemen who buy the yarsa, on the other hand, wore fancy down jackets and shades. The pickers crawl on the ground like four-legged animals looking out for tiny yarsa stems sticking out of the ground. They had to carry in all their food and fuel to last two months. Most survived on raw instant noodles. These are the refugees of Nepal's development: fleeing joblessness and lack of opportunities in their home districts in a desperate search for income. There is no government where they come from, the VDC secretary is always absent and villagers have to walk up to three days just to get documents signed. The land is dry, there has been no investment in irrigation, and the meager harvest of corn or buckwheat cannot feed families. Most people from Dailekh, Jajarkot or Rukum here do not know which parties were in the Constituent Assembly, they had little idea about federalism, ethnic or otherwise. They gave blank stares when asked if they preferred a parliamentary system or a presidential one. Local community groups are doing more for health and education in their villages than the government ever did. Some mistake the UN's World Food Program which distributes food to build roads as a government entity. Federalism may set all this right. Or it might not. But if it is going to be the same leaders from the same parties, the people know instinctively that nothing is going to change. One of them is Motilal Buda of Sarmi VDC, who has seen governments come and go with no difference in his life. "Politics is only for the leaders," he says, "not for us. We never expected anything from the constitution." Buda and other pickers who were slightly more aware said they didn't really care how the federal units would be demarcated. Their much more pressing concern is immediate: returning to their villages even deeper in debt because of such slim pickings of yarsa this year. Debendra Thapa of Rukum, who hadn't found a single yarsa stem in two days, told me in a worried tone: "How do I show my face to my family? I should have never quit my job in India." The yarsa pickers here are from all ethnic communities. They are all downtrodden, discriminated against, socially, economically and politically excluded. They represent Nepal in a microcosm. But just because they don't seem to care about federalism, doesn't mean their concerns should be discounted by those in for whom federalism is just political football. What the people really need and never got is quality, affordable education, and to use that to rise up and be heard. They just want to be treated equally, have a chance to improve their lives. Over the decades, successive governments in over-centralised Kathmandu failed to address these concerns. Federalism would share governance between national and provincial governments, and bring well-being and prosperity because equal citizens would enjoy rights that come with responsibility. Sitting around a camp fire one evening after a day of fruitless yarsa picking, Krishna Rokaya of Jumla was hopeful that federalism would make life better. He was convinced Nepal would be better governed that way. I could only nod. Nepali Times

[rdewan]

Yarsa land

Over-harvesting and lack of regulation have ruined the cash crop on which Nepal's Himalayan dwellers depend for survival  It's eight in the morning and more than 20 groups of yarsagumba collectors have already passed Reiky. Pema Tsering who owns a tea shop is too busy to even chat with customers. Like her neighbours, she is in a hurry to send her brother off on his two month yarsa-picking trip.

Mid-June to August is the prime picking season in Dolpo for yarsagumba, the Himalayan caterpillar-fungus prized in China as an aphrodisiac. But over-harvesting in past years has depleted the crop, and across the Himalaya from Rasuwa to Humla, this year's yarsa season has been a disastrous failure. Shops, schools, government offices are closed during this season and the 29 km stretch between Lake Phoksundo and Sulligard is teeming with tens of thousands of mules and their owners. It is like the gold rush in the American outback, but many this year are returning disappointed. Not just the people of Dolpo, but entire families from the lower valleys of mid-western Nepal have trekked up here to collect the big, bright yellow yarsagumba. A middleman here will buy the harvest for Rs 30,000 per kg and sell for up to Rs 2.5 million across the border in Tibet, and by the time it gets to pharmacies in Shanghai it can be worth $100 apiece. But this year, the low harvest is sure to raise prices. Krishna Rokaya and his family, made the six day trek from Rukum to Sulligard in hopes of harvesting yarsa and repaying their debts. He had to take a loan to pay for the journey, but it looks like this year he will be even more indebted. "I am going to keep trying," he said, "even if I collect half a kg this season, I can feed my family for a few months."

Pushpalal Pun of Jajarkot shares a similar story. He left his BA classes, and is hoping to make a big collection this season so that his family can scratch out a living for rest of the year. But seeing the yarsa pickers coming back down the high valleys empty-handed, he fears the trip may be in vain. Not everyone agrees that yarsa harvests are down. Ram Prasad Mahat, chairman of the Shey Phoksundo National Park and Buffer Zone Management Committee says: "Since there are more pickers, the average collection per person has gone down, but yarsas are still plentiful." He sees the increase in yarsagumba pickers as a positive sign. This year the committee collected Rs 10 million as entry fee up from Rs 6 million in 2011 and Mahat says the national park could earn up to Rs 100 million if there are stricter regulations. People from outside the district are charged Rs 1,100 while Dolpo residents pay Rs 600. The yarsagumba picked in Dolpo go straight north to Tibet via the border points at Mamu Chhohra and Kyate Chhohra. Nepali Times