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On Tuesday, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal stood before the Parliament to answer a slew of questions from parliamentarians. 

The topics raised in the Q & A session included transitional justice, government action against corruption, good governance, farm reforms and education for all. 

In all, Dahal responded to more than a dozen questions coming from cross-party lawmakers. Out of them, we have selected top 10 questions and responses from PM Dahal.

Ek Nath Dhakal: Isn’t it your duty to meet Gangamaya Adhikari, who has been on a hunger strike for years seeking justice?

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has been formed for the administration of transitional justice in order to deal judicially with the incidents during the conflict and the government is committed to the administration of transitional justice as soon as possible. Regarding Gangamaya Adhikari, under the prevailing legal system, the government is providing humanitarian services and protection to her. The government, to date, has provided Rs 3.74m for her treatment.

Asim Shah: The opening of corruption files was just to keep other parties in size. Is the stunt over now?

Good governance has been a priority since the formation of the government and because of that, we have succeeded in eradicating the hatred of the people toward the political system.

The public has also started to believe that our good governance was possible because of the unbiased investigations. No guilty should escape and no innocent should suffer. Not only my party members but even if the prime minister is found guilty in the investigation, there is no need to leave him out of the radar. All those involved in corruption will be prosecuted on the basis of facts and evidence.

Rishikesh Pokharel: The progress status of most of the national pride projects is worrisome...

I am regularly taking progress reports of national pride projects. Necessary budget has also been allocated for the timely completion of these projects. Two of the national pride projects have been completed and the work progress of 14 has reached 80 percent. The progress of five projects is 50 to 80 percent and the progress of two projects is 50 percent. The government is making efforts to complete these projects as soon as possible.

Ishwari Devi Neupane: Will your speech about turning Nepal to a caste state help in establishing social harmony?

The expressions that disrupt social harmony will not be tolerated under any circumstances. The government is determined to prevent any kind of action that disturbs social unity, harmony and social coexistence that has been maintained since time immemorial.

Nepal being a multiracial and multicultural nation, people of different castes, races, religions and cultures have been living together with mutual cooperation, respect and deep harmony since centuries. Unity in diversity is our uniqueness and also the basic character of Nepali society. By maintaining the coexistence of all, protecting and promoting originality, our national unity will be sustainable and strong.

Aain Bahadur Shahi: During your visit to China, is there any plan to discuss the opening of Namche Langa border?

During my upcoming visit to China, there will be talks about opening a new trade channel. It is almost certain that there will be a talk about opening the Namche Langa crossing in Mugu. The government will give priority to the development of tourist areas including Rara.

Asha BK: Caste-based discrimination and untouchability is still there in the society and violence is still occuring in various parts of the country, what is your take on it ? 

Nepal’s constitution 2015 has ensured rights against untouchability and discrimination as a fundamental rights of every citizen. So the government is committed to ending such discrimination and taking action against those who are involved in such crimes.

Urmila Majhi: Nepal is known as an agricultural country but our productivity is going down and people are not interested to be involved in the agriculture sector. What is the government’s plan to motivate the farmers?

To achieve a sustainable independent economy, the government has put a high priority on qualitative and reformative agriculture. Government has given high-priority to mechanization, modernization and commercialization to improve agricultural productivity.  The government has allocated the sufficient resources for agriculture.

Asthma Chaudhary: The number of eye patients rising across the country, what is the government’s plant to control this epidemic?  

Government has launched a nation-wide campaign to control conjunctivitis.  Similarly, several initiatives have been launched at the local level in order to create awareness in the local level.

Urmila Thebe: Government has adopted the policy of free-education but everywhere the cost of education is increasing, but the government is still hesitant to table a bill on education which aims to address those issues.

Government is fully committed to provide a free and affordable education to all. As stated in the constitution, the government has made necessary arrangements to provide free education to all secondary-level students. Similarly, local governments are investing in the education sector.

Ishwari Gharti: Rolpa district was the base of the 10-year long insurgency but the government under your leadership has not taken any initiative to improve the people’s livelihood, what is your plan for the future? 

There is do doubt that Rolpa has played a historic role in all political movements of Nepal. In every historical juncture, we appreciate the contribution made by the people.  I have been giving high-priority for the social and other development of Rolpa district.

Interpretative declaration should be implemented: PM Dahal

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has said that interpretative declarations adopted by Parliament while endorsing the grant under Millennium Challenge Corporation should be implemented.

Speaking at a public program on Tuesday, the head of the government said that he would inquire with the senior MCC officials whether the US is ready to make the declarative interpretation as part of MCC compact.

Dahal further added “If something wrong happens in declarative interpretation, the key base to go to the street will be interpretative declaration.”  The interpretative declaration is the property of the Parliament and there are doubts whether it will be implemented, PM Dahal said. He further added that interpretative declaration is a valid document under international law. 

Out of the total population of around 30m, 3 lakh people (approx) in Nepal have renal problems. Every year, about 30,000 people experience moderate kidney problems, 3000 have severe kidney failure. About 8,000 people are on dialysis in Nepal; in Malaysia (population: 28m) the number is 45,000. 

Though a poor country, Nepal provides free dialysis through government hospitals, the first of its kind in Asia, by providing Rs 2,500 for each session. The federal government provides a lump sum of Rs 1 lakh to each kidney patient apart from conducting kidney transplant for free. Local governments provide a monthly allowance of Rs 5,000 to each patient. Yearly, the government spends around Rs 1bn on dialysis. 

Government should provide immunosuppressive drugs to kidney patients for free.
Moreover, our focus should be on preventing kidney diseases as prevention is better than cure. Awareness programs should be launched for the same. 

The author is the chief consultant nephrologist at National Kidney Center

As global pollution edged upward in 2021, so did its burden on human health, according to new data from the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI). If the world were to permanently reduce fine particulate pollution (PM2.5) to meet the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guideline, the average person would add 2.3 years onto their life expectancy—or a combined 17.8bn life-years saved worldwide.

This data makes clear that particulate pollution remains the world’s greatest external risk to human health, with the impact on life expectancy comparable to that of smoking, more than three times that of alcohol use and unsafe water, and more than five times that of transport injuries like car crashes, says the report. 

Yet, the pollution challenge worldwide is vastly unequal.  “Three-quarters of air pollution’s impact on global life expectancy occurs in just six countries, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, China, Nigeria and Indonesia, where people lose one to more than six years off their lives because of the air they breathe,” says Michael Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and creator of the AQLI along with colleagues at the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC).

“For the last five years, the AQLI’s local information on air quality and its health consequences has generated substantial media and political coverage, but there is an opportunity to complement this annual information with more frequent—for example, daily—and locally generated data.”

Indeed, many polluted countries lack basic air pollution infrastructure. Asia and Africa are the two most poignant examples. They contribute 92.7 percent of life years lost due to pollution. Yet, just 6.8 and 3.7 percent of governments in Asia and Africa, respectively, provide their citizens with fully open air quality data. Further, just 35.6 and 4.9 percent of countries in Asia and Africa, respectively, have air quality standards—the most basic building block for policies.

The collective current investments in global air quality infrastructure also do not match where air pollution is having its greatest toll on human life. While there is a large global fund for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis that annually disburses $4bn toward the issues, there is no equivalent set of coordinated resources for air pollution.

In fact, the entire continent of Africa receives under $300,000 in philanthropic funds toward air pollution (i.e. the current average price of a single-family home in the United States). Just $1.4m goes to Asia, outside of China and India. Europe, the United States, and Canada, meanwhile, receive $34m, according to the Clean Air Fund.

“Timely, reliable, open air quality data in particular can be the backbone of civil society and government clean air efforts—providing the information that people and governments lack and that allows for more informed policy decisions,” says Christa Hasenkopf, the director of AQLI and air quality programs at EPIC. “Fortunately, we see an immense opportunity to play a role in reversing this by better targeting—and increasing—our funding dollars to collaboratively build the infrastructure that is missing today.”

Read the Full Report

South Asia

In no other location on the planet is the deadly impact of pollution more visible than in South Asia, home to the four most polluted countries in the world and nearly a quarter of the global population. In Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan, the AQLI data reveal that residents are expected to lose about five years off their lives on average if the current high levels of pollution persist, and more in the most polluted regions—accounting for more than half of the total life years lost globally due to pollution.

Nepal

The study has shown that Nepal is the world’s third most polluted country based on satellite-derived PM2.5 data. Fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) shortens the average Nepali resident’s life expectancy by 4.6 years, relative to what it would be if the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline of 5 µg/m3 was met. Some areas of Nepal fare much worse than average, with air pollution shortening lives by 6.8 years in the nine districts with the highest concentration of particulate pollution, according to the study. These districts lie in southern Nepal and share their borders with the highly-polluted Northern Plains of India, the study says.

Asia and Africa bear the greatest burden 

Asia and Africa bear the greatest burden yet have some of the weakest infrastructure to deliver citizens timely, accurate data. They also receive tiny slices of an already small global philanthropic pie. For example, the entire continent of Africa receives less than $300,000 to tackle air pollution.

“There is a profound disconnect with where air pollution is the worst and where we, collectively and globally, are deploying resources to fix the problem,” Christa Hasenkopf, director of air quality programs at EPIC.

While there is an international financing partnership called the Global Fund that disburses $4bn annually on HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, there is no equivalent for air pollution.

“Yet, air pollution shaves off more years from the average person’s life in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Cameroon than HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other health threats,” the report said.

Bangladesh tops ranking 

Globally, South Asia is the worst impacted region. Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan are in order the top four most polluted countries in terms of annualized, population-weighted averages of fine particulate matter, which are detected by satellites and defined as particles with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less (PM2.5).

Air pollution concentrations are then fed into the AQLI metric which calculates their impact on life expectancy, based on peer-reviewed methods. Residents of Bangladesh, where average PM2.5 levels were 74 micrograms per cubic meter, would gain 6.8 years of life if this were brought to WHO guidelines of five micrograms per cubic meter. India’s capital Delhi meanwhile is the “most polluted megacity in the world” with annual average particulate pollution of 126.5 micrograms per cubic meter. 

With inputs from AFP

“Timely, reliable, open air quality data in particular can be the backbone of civil society and government clean air efforts—providing the information that people and governments lack and that allows for more informed policy decisions,” says Christa Hasenkopf, the director of AQLI and air quality programs at EPIC

Quick facts

Born on 7 March 1963 in Dhanusha

Went to Birla Higher Secondary School, Rajasthan, India

Graduated from Punjab University, Chandigarh, Post-grad, Utkal University, Odisha

Founded Kantipur and The Kathmandu Post in 1993

Husband of Sunita Goenka

Father to Aditya Goenka and Shreya Goenka

Commemorating the Democracy Day in 1993, after the promulgation of the ‘Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990’ that enshrined free press, we established ‘Kantipur’ and ‘The Kathmandu Post.’ This marked the beginning of a new era in Nepali independent and private media sector.

We were a close-knit team of 200-odd youngsters committed to institutionalizing democracy and its critical tenets—freedom of expression, social justice, civil liberties, human rights, rule of law, and good governance. At the same time, we also aspired to build a strong foundation for social infrastructure to provide quality education, healthcare, shelter, means of livelihood, and a sustainable and inclusive development of the nation.

Each member of our intrepid team deserves all the kudos and compliments for their contributions. This communication is on the premise of ‘We’ and not ‘I’—the essence of our glorious journey of solidarity, camaraderie, rare goodwill and bonhomie!

Most of our colleagues are today leading the media spectrum in Nepal across all platforms and are credible bylines, and many are bringing pride to the nation with their contributions in the global arena as well.

We had embarked upon the journey with limited resources, but we had an unlimited zeal. When just about everybody dismissed our efforts to set up a media house as a bad business move, Kantipur, the vernacular version more particularly, went on to not only create history, but it went on to serve as an unofficial ‘Ombudsman’ against the ills in the nation. It defied all naysayers.

Not only did it become the national leader, it in fact, went on to become the daily with maximum readership share anywhere in the world. With more than 50 percent of the national market share, it has always been leading the chart with no parallels in the world. Following statistics in this context makes interesting reading:

The world’s largest read vernacular daily, Yomiuri Shimbun, of Japan reportedly has a much lesser national readership share than that of Kantipur in Nepal. Similar is the poise of the globally largest read English daily, The Times of India in India.

Senior journalist Dhruba Hari Adhikari calls our team a ‘trailblazer’ of Nepali media. He concurs that we played a leading role by taking a risk at a time when there was no certainty whether or not investment could be made good or whether or not profit could be made. The trail or call it the track, opened by the then ‘Team Kantipur’ has now converged into a broad highway.

“As a result, it has a large formal advertising market of more than Rs 12bn, more than 200 dailies published regularly, more than 1,000 radios, more than 100 televisions, and more than 2,700 online portals, use of new media based on internet and its influence, the picture is different today!”

One important aspect which Adhikari would have loved to touch upon, but it probably skipped his mind, is reproduced here below:

This initiative has been sensitive to ensuring creation of tens of thousands of organized sector jobs of dignity for our youngsters.  

“It’s a new leap forward in terms of investment, infrastructure and influence,” says Kundan Aryal, professor at the Central Department of Mass Media and Journalism in Tribhuvan University. “There was an urgent need for an entity to operate media on an institutional basis.” Kantipur was a new leap forward taken from the non-government arena in the development of media.”

Tirtha Koirala, an affable member of this team, admits: “There was a situation to hesitate for anyone to set up a media establishment with large investment. There were no industries, the advertising market was in its infancy and there was no clear basis for profit. With whatever institutional arrangements this team went by, it brought out epoch-making changes.”

Evolution of a relatively healthier media in Nepal (with a long way yet, to go, though!) having come up more than 60 notches up in the ladder when compared to the pre-Kantipur times (before 1993) is amply vindicated by its standing in the much-credible, ‘Press Freedom Index’ wherein Nepal is credited with the 95th rank and is way ahead of the following nations, which is like an irony to many of us. In fact, it had climbed to the 76th rank in 2022 which we consider as its potential today, while 2023 appears to have been impacted by some aberrations and is not a reflection of the true poise.

Importantly, in this index which constitutes a weighted average of  critical components defining a nation’s status in the areas of democratic values, freedom in all forms, human rights, social justice, rule of law, civic liberties, Nepal is way ahead of some of the much-wowed nations such as Singapore (129th), China (179th), Hong Kong (140th), India (161st), Russia (164th), Saudi Arabia (169th), in terms of development with whom Nepal engages pretty much on trade and investments. As an epilogue one wishes to say the following. This initiative was passionately made to help make corrections across arenas mentioned in this piece and to see our beloved nation march ahead with pride, peace and prosperity for its lovely people. We have tried to put in place a forum in the form of this media initiative to be able to achieve sustainable, inclusive and holistic development for our egalitarian society and its constituents—our beloved milieu.

About him

Aditya Goenka (Son)

My father is a huge source of inspiration for me. He is my role model. An epitome of humility, he detests talking about himself, which is why you don’t find the word “I” in his enunciation on the media initiative, here above. For him, it is all about “Teamwork” and “Camaraderie”.   

As an enlightened soul himself who at a tender age of 29 went on to establish Nepal’s first independent broadsheet dailies, he was proactively involved in my academic journey as well. In fact, it is largely due to his spending time with me on my curriculum that I could top the honors at the Richmond American University in London in my Undergrad Economics program converging into my receiving offers for the master’s program from two most cherished abodes in the UK—the London School of Economics and Cambridge University. 

Adhiraj Agrawal (Son-in-law)

Shyam ji is a rare visionary and an innovator to the core. He is a pioneer in quite a few arenas. Media is one major initiative, though. His path-breaking work where we are working together, in areas as diverse as soil and water conservation, sustainable agriculture, disaster mitigation, wasteland reclamation, phytoremediation, and bioengineering with a grass called Vetiver, is currently under intense discussion as an optimum tool to solve a slew of problems confronting the nation. Landslides and floods are major disasters which are immaculately addressed by Vetiver with amazing competitiveness. 

He is essentially a social entrepreneur. Each project that he undertakes he first weighs its value in social and national context. He does not engage in anything no matter what be the fiscal reward, if it does not add value for the nation and for the people at large. 

Pawan Bhimsaria (Brother-in-law)

Shyam has been responsible for opening up tens of thousands of organized sector jobs in the media industry today by virtue of his pioneering initiative. He works to “contribute” and does not look at the “achievement” quotient in any measure. After all that he has contributed, his personal achievement in terms of material consolidation for himself is actually miniscule.  He works as a catalyst to steer others and takes pride in this rather than promoting himself. That is Shyam Goenka for you—a rare epitome of renunciation and sacrifice. The words of Dhruba Hari Adhikari here above, succinctly sums it up. “The track opened by Shyam has now converged into a broad highway. As a result, it has a large formal advertising market of more than Rs 12bn, more than 200 dailies published regularly, more than 1,000 radios, more than 100 televisions, and more than 2,700 online portals.”