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Over the past 16 years, each one of the mountain expeditions in Nepal has suc­cessfully reclaimed the $4000 (in the case of Everest, and $3,000 in the case of other mountains over 8,000m) deposited with the Department of Tourism. This means our mountains are spotlessly clean, as a mountain expedition forfeits the deposit if it is found to have littered a mountain. But as there is little monitoring of the activ­ities of mountain expeditions, this legal pro­vision of monetary fines has failed to deter mountaineers from polluting the mountains they are climbing.

As a result, the piles of garbage on Nepali mountains have been mounting, even though there is no hard data on how much garbage is actually out there. “But there surely is a lot of it,” says Nga Tenji Sherpa, a regular mountain climber.

There is a provision whereby every climber has to bring back eight kilograms of garbage to the base camp. A government liaison officer sta­tioned at the base camp is supposed to ensure that the mountaineers are doing so. But most of the times these officers are not even present at the base camps.

“There is now no alternative to banning expe­ditions on polluted mountains like Everest and Manaslu for, say, five years and start cleaning them up,” says Maya Sherpa, the president of Everest Summiteers Association. “Otherwise the government could lose all the revenues it currently earns from mountaineering.”

This year, a lot of garbage has been depos­ited above Everest base camp 2, says Nga Tenji Sherpa. “When I was returning after cresting Everest earlier this month, I found tent clothes, used utensils, gas cylinders, and other plastic and rubber items left behind at various camps.”

There is still a tradition of expeditions bury­ing their wastes under the snow; and the wastes show up as soon as the snow starts melting. “The climbers are supposed to bring back eight kilo waste but it appears that they are doing the opposite: leaving behind eight kilo. No one is monitoring them. In this state, how can our mountains be clean?” he asks.

The Department of Tourism has been return­ing anti-dumping deposits on the basis of rec­ommendations of bodies like the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (in Khumbu) and the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (in Manalsu region). “But these organizations have zero knowledge about whether a partic­ular expedition has adhered to government’s anti-dumping rules,” says Santa Bir Lama, the president of Nepal Mountaineering Association. “Unless these organizations and the offending liaison officers are punished, there is no possi­bility of cleaning up our mountains.”

This climbing season alone, the government generated Rs 380 million in revenues from Everest. Likewise, it earned over Rs 450 million from other mountains. But little of this money is being spent in cleaning up the mountains.

Lack of awareness about the damages caused by the left-behind garbage among mountain­eers and government workers, unaccountable trekking agencies, and poor oversight are responsible for the garbage problem, according to Ram Prasad Sapkota, an information officer at the Department of Tourism.

Besides Everest and Manaslu, the other mountains with documented accu­mulation of garbage are Nangpai, Mustang, Dhaulagiri, Sarewung, Arniko Peak, Makalu, Lhotse and Nuptse.

By CHHETU SHERPA | KATHMANDU

The first football World Cup to be televised live in Nepal was 1982 Spain. Back then, there were no Nepali broadcasters, nor was there satellite TV. What little Nepalis got to witness, in uneven sound and pixilated pictures, came via the antenna on their rooftops. Even this shoddy broadcast was only available to the well-to-do as most Nepalis at the time could not afford television sets. Things would dramatically change with the establish­ment of Nepal Television in 1983 and particularly when the national broadcaster gained the rights to show the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

By 1986, a few more Nepalis in urban areas could buy black-and-white TVs. Not only were there more TV sets on which to watch matches live. As the local NTV would be carrying pictures from Mexico the broadcast would also be much clearer. Thousands upon thou­sands of people huddled around the few television sets in their neighborhoods to watch the greatest sporting spectacle on the planet. What they saw mesmerized them, making them lifelong football fans.

Or make that Argentina fans. Nepalis just could not get enough of the diminutive ‘God’ who would easily out-dribble and out-run all his competitors on the field of play. Not just that. Unlike other mor­tals, he could score a legitimate goal even with his hands. Diego Maradona is perhaps the single biggest reason, along with his more contemporary protégé in Lionel Messi, why Argentina to this day has arguably the biggest fan following in Nepal among all major World Cup contenders. Just like you are more likely to vote for a political party your parents voted for, the children of the 1986 generation of Argentine fans find it hard to switch.

That said, this is no 1986. These days, football fans can watch their favorite sport being beamed live from all parts of the globe. The number of Nepalis who follow particular football clubs—English, Spanish, Germans—has also rocketed. With international trav­el getting cheaper, many can also afford to see the World Cup in person. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of Nepalis, will be in Russia to savor live action this June and July. Football thus continues to be wildly pop­ular despite the national men football team’s lowly 161 rank, and the near-impossibility its qualification for the World Cup any time soon. We may be divided by our pick of teams but we are all united by our common love for this beautiful game.

The government has asked for the closure of the Kath­mandu office of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs (DPA) as the office was deemed to have completed its mission. The DPA was established in 2011 after the wind-up of the UNMIN, the UN body responsible for supervising the demobilization and disarmament of the then Maoist combatants. With the UNMIN gone, a mediatory body like the DPA, it was felt, was needed in order to oversee the completion of the ‘peace and constitution’ process that had started with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agree­ment (CPA) in 2006. The new federal government thinks that the peace and constitution process has been completed with the holding of all three constitutionally-mandated elections and subsequent formation of three tiers of government. In other words, now that most of the outstanding political issues have been settled and the new constitution has become fully functional, there is no need for an outside observer like the DPA whose chief mandate is to help ‘resolve conflict’.

One could argue that the peace and constitution process will not be completed so long as the two transitional justice bodies—related to truth and reconciliation, and enforced disappearances, respectively—don’t satisfactorily complete their work. If the conflict victims feel they have been denied justice, there will always be a possibility of the country’s relapse into conflict, and hence the continued need for something like the DPA.

But it was also hard to see the DPA play any meaningful role in transitional justice after the formation of the strong left government intent on stamping its authority. Prime Minister KP Oli seems to believe Nepalis are now mature enough to deal with their own issues. He also reckons that he has the mandate to regulate the functioning of foreign NGOs and agencies in line with national interest.

The government asking the DPA to wind down, however, is not tantamount to saying that Nepal is now self-sufficient and needs no outside help whatsoever. Or it should not be. Such an approach would be suicidal in this increasingly interconnected world. But it is also well within this govern­ment’s powers to ensure that international organizations working here follow due process at all times. And if certain organizations like the DPA and the Indian Embassy’s field office in Biratnagar have outlived their utility, or if they have somehow breached their code of conduct, it is only right that they be closed down.

The government has made some right noises when it comes to busting the various cartels and syndicates that undermine free competition, limit consumer choices and artificially inflate prices. It announced the cancellation of permits of all transport syndicates. It then cracked down on the middlemen who were artificially increasing the prices of fruits and vegetables. This was followed by the cancellation of the licenses of the companies that were extorting Malaysia-bound workers. While all these initiatives are laudable, it is also important to keep in mind their end result.

“The government is advertising that the syndicates in different sectors have been broken. But the reality is that most consumers are yet to see any tangible change in their daily lives,” says Jyoti Baniya, a consumer rights activist. The syndicates in transport have been removed but there are not enough new bus companies to meet the high demand. And why just stop with the cancellation of the license of the companies sending Nepali workers to Malaysia? Will the government now do the same in the case of other labor destinations?

The crackdown on the middlemen in the fruits and vegetables markets has also not resulted in cheaper apples and onions for the end consumers. This raises two questions. One is of intent. What does the government hope to achieve? Is it really working in public interest or does it want to reward those close to it on the pretext of cartel-busting? The second is of end result. Are its actions having a tangible impact on people’s daily lives? The government needs to be honest on both.

Weekly Editorial Cartoon

The play Kora brings sev­eral stories together to portray the lives of Tibetan refugees living in exile in Nepal and India. The emotional hour-long drama depicts the struggles of the refugees and their hopes to return to Tibet someday. In one scene, the happiness of a refugee’s family with the birth of a son suddenly turns into gloom upon the realiza­tion that the newborn was yet another person the world would label as a refugee.

Kora is based on four poems—Horizon, Refugee, The Tibetan in Mumbai and Exile House—in an anthology of short stories and poems by Tibetan author Tenzin Tsundue. Tsundue is a poet, writer and activist, who won the Outlook-Picador Award in 2001.

The four poems were translated into Nepali by Che Shankar. Loonibha Tuladhar directs the play while Shreeti Pradhan and Rubin Kumar Shrestha give the background music. In 2008, Tuladhar had directed a version of the play which featured, among other actors, Dayahang Rai and Aashant Sharma.

The current version has Bipin KC, Suraj KC, Anish Thakuri, Bipul Thapa, Sami Rai, Sharmila Shres­tha and Sudharshan Khatri in leading roles.

The play is being staged at Shilpee Theatre in Battisputali every day at 5:30 pm except on Tuesday. The last show is on June 14.

Café Soma’s Baluwatar branch is probably the best breakfast destination this side of the Bag­mati, the other being at its Lalitpur branch. Come Saturday and the café opposite the Russian Embassy in Baluwatar is filled with early morning birds in search of the best bites to break their fasts. The smell of coffee blended with fresh eggs, sau­sages, bacons, hash browns and all give the place an enigmatic aroma in the mornings, enough to create hunger pangs in anyone.With options for both indoor and outdoor seating, Café Soma serves breakfast, lunch and early dinner to its guests who comprise of expats and locals alike. A little bit on the higher side in terms of prices, the eatery reimburses every penny to its guests through its scrumptious food. Worth a try if you’re looking for a non-conventional cuisine in a calm and peace­ful setting, and on being served with gratitude.

THE MENU

Chef’s Special:-

Crispy Chicken Burger

Soma Burger

Full Soma Breakfast

Opening hours : 8 am-8 pm

Location: Baluwatar

Cards : Accepted

Meal for two:  Rs 3,000

Reservation: 4415792

EOL Pvt. Ltd. an enterprise of Chaudhary Group Nepal is the sole distributor of TCL brand in Nepal. For the last 5 years, TCL has been rapidly gaining pop­ularity in the Nepali market and has been successfully positioned among preferred brands like LG, Samsung in segments like LED TVs, washing machines and chest freezers as well. Therefore to build trust among customers in its products, EOL Pvt. Ltd in joint coop­eration with TCL has launched a 3-year warranty on LED TV’s in Nepal. The warranty includes 2 years full warranty and 1 year service warranty (Excludes Curved and UHD TVs category).