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Birth: 23 April 1943, Nawalparasi
Death: 18 March 2021, Biratnagar

The year was 1985. In a cold police cell in Biratnagar with only a tiny ventilation hole allowing some rays of light, Ashok Koirala was given third-degree torture for his involvement in anti-Panchayat activities. At one point, the officers inserted a packet-full of red chili powder into his anus, knocking him unconscious. The incident, infamously known as Khursani Kanda in Nepali politics, failed to faze him though. In the grim and blurry moments that followed, he felt an ever stronger resolve to fight for democracy.

Outside, public pressure was mounting and the authorities released him after two months of unlawful custody. Koirala, a member of the outlawed Nepali Congress party, rejoined the ongoing anti-Panchayat democratic movement. Five years later in 1990, a multi-party democracy replaced the Panchayat regime. Biratnagar elected Koirala as its first mayor.

Often regarded as a man of principles by his contemporaries, Koirala was a staunch defender of democratic values. For his opposition to nepotism and never seeking favors despite his right connections, his party colleagues spoke of him highly. While former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala was his cousin, another ex-PM Sushil Koirala was his elder brother.

Koirala was the fourth among 12 children of a civil servant father and a homemaker mother. He grew up in Kailali, Nepalgunj, and Siraha, as the middle-income family moved with the father’s transfers. The young Koirala did not have stable education but plenty of exposure to different places and people.

When his father got transferred to Biratnagar in eastern Nepal from Nepalgunj, Koirala’s family had to split. Ashok accompanied father Bodh Prasad and mother Kumudini to Biratnagar, where he spent the rest of his life. He married Shanta Koirala when he was 46.

Koirala got involved in student politics, and later played a key role in leading the student movement during the 1990 People’s Movement. He was a founding central committee member of the Nepal Student Union, the student wing of the Nepali Congress. He served the union as vice-president under President Sher Bahadur Deuba, who later rose to party presidency and became four-time prime minister.

He is remembered for his outstanding leadership of the second People's Movement of 2006, when he was the president of Nepali Congress Morang district committee. He was a key figure in the consolidation of party organization in its most important base—Biratnagar. Elected to the Constituent Assembly in 2013, he was among the drafters of the new Nepali constitution.

The 77-year-old was undergoing treatment for pneumonia at Biratnagar-based Neuro Hospital when he passed away. He is survived by his wife, a son, and a daughter.

AP1 HD television is live-broadcasting the first-ever season of the franchise football Nepal Super League (NSL). An agreement to this effect was signed this week between Shreyans Karki, director of Nepal Sports and Events Management, and Sachan Thapa, director of AP1 HD TV.

The league is being organized by Nepal Sports and Events Management with technical assistance of All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) at Dasharath Stadium from April 11 to 25. The league’s first edition will feature seven franchise teams named after different Nepali cities.

The teams Biratnagar City, Kathmandu Razors, Lalitpur City, FC Chitwan, Dhangadhi FC, Pokhara Thunders and Butwal Lumbini Football FC will compete in a total of 25 round-robin matches. An auction was also held this week to recruit players for different teams in the league that will also feature foreign players.

AP1 HD television is live-broadcasting the first-ever season of the franchise football Nepal Super League (NSL). An agreement to this effect was signed this week between Shreyans Karki, director of Nepal Sports and Events Management, and Sachan Thapa, director of AP1 HD TV.

The league is being organized by Nepal Sports and Events Management with technical assistance of All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) at Dasharath Stadium from April 11 to 25. The league’s first edition will feature seven franchise teams named after different Nepali cities.

The teams Biratnagar City, Kathmandu Razors, Lalitpur City, FC Chitwan, Dhangadhi FC, Pokhara Thunders and Butwal Lumbini Football FC will compete in a total of 25 round-robin matches. An auction was also held this week to recruit players for different teams in the league that will also feature foreign players.

Chief Minister of Gandaki Province Prithvi Subba Gurung on February 28 made public a demarcation report of Fewa Tal. The provincial government, under the coordination of the then District Development Committee Chairman Punya Prasad Poudel, had finalized the report on the famous lake, a major tourist attraction of the region.

Making the report of the ‘Fewa Tal Demarcation and Mapping Committee’ public, minister Subba informed that the area of ​​Fewa Tal is 5.726 sq. km, which is lesser than the area demarcated by a 1982 joint study of the Government of Nepal and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), which capped the area of Fewa Tal at 5.80 sq. km.

Punya Poudel, coordinator of the committee, informed the press that the new report is the most scientific. According to a report prepared by the British Survey of India in 1925-1926, the area of ​​Fewa Tal was 3.46 sq. km. Then, in a report prepared by the Survey of India in 1957-1958, the area changed to 4.39 sq. km.

Among all the surveys conducted to measure the area of the Fewa Lake, the report of the Nepal-India Cooperation Mission from 1971-1972 shows the Fewa as expanding over a whopping 10.35 sq. km. But based on available scientific facts and maps, the members of the current study team concluded that never in the history was Fewa Tal so big.

Khim Lal Gautam, member secretary of the committee and chief survey officer of the Survey Office, Kaski, informs that the lake area was calculated based on previous studies, scientific facts and evidences. The committee also analyzed the height of the Fewa Dam and the area covered by water during the rainy season. The demarcation report has been prepared on the basis of physical (electrical resistivity tomography) study.

Area of ​​Fewa Tal in a dozen study reports

1: British Survey of India (1925-1926): 3.46 sq. km.

2: Survey of India (1957-1958): 4.39 sq. km.

3: Report of Nepal-India Cooperation Mission (2018): 10.35 sq. km.

 4: First Fort Napi, Lot No. 297 (1976-1977): 4.43 sq. km.

5: Government of Nepal and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Study Report (1982/1983): 5.80 sq. km

6: IUCN Study Report (1995): 4.49 sq. km.

7: District Development Committee Kaski B.Sc. (2005): 4.25 sq. km.

8: Pokhara Valley Urban Development Committee (2008): 5.06 sq. km.

9: Vishwaprakash Lamichhane’s Report (2013): 6.5 sq. km.

10: Ministry of Land Reforms (2015):  5.07 sq. km.

11: Pokhara Municipal Corporation (2021): 5.08 sq. km.

12: Committee formed to demarcate Fewa Tal (2021): 5.726 sq. km.

Following the recommendation of the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) to the government on opening the Ka-band frequency segment (19.7-21.2 Ghz Downlink, paired with 29.5-31 Ghz Uplink) for use in Nepal, all regions in the country are expected to benefit from faster internet at affordable rates. The recommendation means that businesses, communities and government agencies within Nepal will soon access services from one of Asia’s latest, state-of-the-art satellites: Kacific 1.

The Kacific 1 satellite, owned by Kacific Broadband Satellites Group, uses Ka-band technology designed specifically to provide reliable, high-speed broadband internet to rural and remote populations through concentrated spot beams and simple easy-to-install onsite 1.2m antennas. This technology, although new in Nepal, has been successfully used in other countries in Asia, including ones with similar mountainous geographies.

Nepal’s mountainous terrains make it difficult for ground-based technologies to provide widespread and reliable coverage, and a large swath of the country cannot be connected with cable-based technologies. This means that for the 22.8 million citizens living in rural areas, (around 80 percent of our 28.6 million population), satellite technology is the only way for individuals and organizations to access broadband. All they would need is a small, easy-to-transport and rapidly deployable satellite dish.

Mainstream national news media organizations have established ‘Media Alliance Nepal’ to protect the media industry’s business interests. The alliance was announced during a ceremony in the capital on Sept 23. Bhaskar Raj Karnikar, chairman of Avenues Television, has been designated the alliance chairman while Capt. Rameshwar Thapa, Chairman of Annapurna Media Network, and Binod Gyawali, Chairman of Republica Media Pvt Ltd, will serve as advisors. Mahendra Sherchan of Rajdhani News Publications Pvt. Ltd. and Raju Kandel, Chairman of Mountain Television, have been elected alliance Vice Presidents. Likewise, Samridhi Gyawali, CEO of Republica Media, Rishi Dhamala, Chairman of Prime Television, and Rajendra Shakya, Vice Chairman of AP1 Television, are listed as working committee members.

At the ceremony, Chairman Karnikar said the alliance was formed for pure business interest and not motivated by any political mission. Karnikar added that he would work professionally for the uplift of the media industry.

Also speaking at the event, Capt. Rameshwar Thapa said he was committed to nationalism and democracy. “Democracy and nationalism are the first conditions of this alliance,” Thapa said. Stating that the Nepali media is in crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Thapa suggested that the state should take the initiative to save the media from the ongoing crisis.

The main objective of the alliance is to protect the rights and interests of investors in the communications sector by making the sector ‘fair, neutral and accountable.’

Six people lost their lives in a landslide at Aulgurta, Nalgad municipality-12 of Jajarkot district. The incident eight years ago put the whole settlement at risk. A decision was made to immediately relocate 60 households to safer places, and yet nothing was done. This year, the settlement is in a danger of another flooding.

Five years ago, three people were killed in a landslide in the model Badi settlement in Dailekh district headquarters. Many houses collapsed. Local politicians promised to relocate the settlement soon. Again, their promises came to nothing. The 52 houses in this settlement are still at high risk damage from landslides.

Landslides take place every year in Haudi, Shubhakalika rural municipality of Kalikot too, endangering its 176 households. Another 25 houses have already been destroyed.

Dozens of settlements in Karnali region are at high risk of landslide. This year, landslides in Jajarkot, Kalikot and Rukum West have caused severe damage to life and property. The various plans that have been drafted, from the district to the central level, are again limited to paper.

According to local Red Cross activist Govinda Acharya, there is a tendency to make ambitious plans at the time of disasters, but then these plans are quickly forgotten.

Acharya rues lack of seriousness in relocating endangered settlements, resulting in the loss of precious lives. Khadananda Chaulagain, chairman of Shubhakalika rural municipality in Kalikot, complains that the limited budget he gets is insufficient to resettle homes.

Karnali MP Ganesh Prasad Singh, elected from Jajarkot, is currently in Kathmandu to knock on the doors of Singha Durbar. He says the problems of the landslide affected people were ignored. A landslide had killed 14 people in Barekot last July.

The land there is now fragmented, the village itself at high risk of landslides. MP Singh has come to Kathmandu to draw the attention of the federal government even as the locals have left their homes and settled in open fields. “I have come to Kathmandu carrying the decision of the local and state governments to relocate the settlements,” Singh says. “If these villages are not shifted, another disaster looms.”

The Karnali state government has an integrated settlement program for the relocation of endangered settlements, and the budget for it was set aside in the previous fiscal.

Karnali Province Chief Minister Mahendra Bahadur Shahi says managing land for resettlement has been the main difficulty. “The local level bodies have been unable to arrange for the required land. At other places, the locals have refused to be relocated.”

The state government had allocated around Rs 500 million for the integrated settlement development program last fiscal, Shahi informs. The budget, however, was frozen due to lack progress. Shahi says the program has been given continuity in the current fiscal and will be implemented in Kalikot, Jajarkot, and Mugu districts after a detailed study.

Sima Pahari from Badikhel, Lalitpur gave birth to a child during the lockdown. Due to the fear of contracting the coronavirus, Pahari could not access essential health and nutrition services or monitor her child’s nutrition status.

Her husband, a daily wage worker, did not have any means of income during the lockdown. Due to poverty, her family was also unable to get nutritious food and hygiene supplies. The socio-economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis has led to many vulnerable families like Pahari’s into deeper poverty, even as more children become malnourished.

To address the crisis, Social Changemakers and Innovators (SOCHAI), a youth-led non-profit organization, has been running a series of holistic Covid response programs in Lalitpur district. As part of this program, SOCHAI has been distributing nutrition-rich food and hygiene packages to marginalized pregnant and lactating mothers of Godavari Municipality and Lalitpur Metropolitan City.

The organization is not just supporting the vulnerable population with immediate relief, but also providing individual and group counseling on hygiene, nutrition and Covid-19 prevention to the affected population. SOCHAI’s counseling program includes their award winning innovation, ‘Nutribeads bracelet’ that is being distributed to the beneficiaries free of cost. Their awareness session is followed by the nutritional assessment of under-two children with the help of Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) tape and referral services (if necessary). Till date, over 100 families have benefitted and the organization aims to reach hundreds more.

SOCHAI had coordinated with both municipality and ward for need assessment prior to program implementation. SOCHAI’s program manager Neha Malla shared, “With the help of government, we have identified hundreds of such mothers and children who are unable to fulfill their nutrition need due to the pandemic. We aim to support all these mothers in the coming days by mobilizing young volunteers.”

Along with the immediate response, SOCHAI is also planning to implement long-term socio-economic rehabilitation program in two more districts. This program will economically empower the communities by enhancing their technical and vocational skills on agriculture and nutrition.