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Tirtha Raj Awasthi, a 37-year-old pharmacist from Pokhara, has donated blood sixty-one times till date. He derives immense satisfaction from the knowledge that his blood could potentially save one or more lives. 

Awasthi donated blood for the first time back in 2003 at a community event in Asan, Kathmandu. A couple of years later, his cousin died from blood cancer while undergoing treatment. During his cousin’s treatment, Awasthi had ensured that he got enough blood of the required B-positive group. Awasthi’s involvement in arranging blood for his dying cousin gave him a mission in life. “From that time, I committed myself to donating and arranging blood for needy patients,” he says. 

Associated with the Nepal Voluntary Blood Donors’ Society, he is a well-known donor. Awasthi encourages all healthy people to donate blood to ensure its smooth supply. He remembers when even the most abundant blood group (B-positive) was once in short supply. “I used to appeal to people to donate blood through hand-written pamphlets that I would stick on hotels, shops, and local buses,” he recalls. 

Awasthi cycles to different parts of the country to promote blood donation. 

Suresh Manandhar, 22, from Bhaktapur, has donated blood seven times through an organization called BloodPal, a community of volunteers that connects blood donors to emergency recipients. 

“I am now eagerly waiting for my eighth donation,” Manandhar says. He shares how he was fearful during his first donation. “I felt nervous that time at the Bhaktapur blood bank. But my fear evaporated as soon as I realized what my help meant for the needy family.”

Kapil Dev Bhatta, 31, from Kathmandu, has already donated blood thirteen times. Whenever he gets a call for donation or sees a blood requirement post on social media, he rushes to donate. 

Since his first donation in 2011, he has accumulated both ‘good and bad experiences’. He thinks it is wonderful to be able to save someone’s life. Yet he also feels sad whenever he is deemed unfit for donation, which has happened a few times. 

“I was sent away thrice because of my low blood pressure. Usually, my blood pressure is average or a bit lower than average. Whatever the case, I am determined to donate blood, and will continue to do so,” he says. 

Awasthi, Manandhar, and Bhatta are among the many active blood volunteers in Nepal. They feel happy people are beginning to understand the importance of blood donation, and that the number of donors is rising. 

For healthy adults, experts suggest donating blood every three months. Donating blood not only saves lives; it is also good for the donor’s health. Prior to the donation, potential donors are checked for the right pulse, blood pressure, hemoglobin level, as well as for various kinds of Hepatitis, and HIV. “It is thus a good way to know the health status of your body,” Bhatta says.

Challenges galore

Although there is growing enthusiasm about donating blood, there are challenges as well. “People hesitate to donate when they see that our donation camps and blood banks are not properly organized,” Bhatta says. “People are also often doubtful about whether the blood they give will be put to good use.”

There is also this assumption that anyone with the same blood group can donate and receive blood, which is not true. People also keenly post and share ‘blood wanted’ items on social media without giving much information. “Just mentioning the blood group is not enough. The kind of donor varies according to what is needed: whole blood, PRP, platelets, or other things,” adds Awasthi. He says the more information people give, the easier it is to find the right match. 

The stock in the Nepal Red Cross Society blood bank sometimes goes unused as people first hit social media these days. “As soon as they know blood is required, the kin of patients start posting on social media asking for potential donors to come forward. Little do they realize the bank may already have the required blood,” adds Manandhar. 

Moreover, in many cases, some fees are levied against the pre-donation tests. There is also no uniformity in the fees. “The business motive evident in what should be life-saving charity is most unfortunate,” says Awasthi. 

The lockdown has added to the difficulties. There is the fear of contracting the dreaded coronavirus. Ram Subedi from Kathmandu, who is just 20, says he is eagerly waiting to donate blood for the first time—but only when the pandemic dies down. According to Manandhar, mobile camps are difficult to organize, and absence of vehicles is yet another problem for emergency donors.

Despite the lockdown, organizations like Nepal Voluntary Blood Donors’ Society and BloodPal have continued to organize donation programs by following social distancing and other safety norms. “Many of us are working to ensure a smooth supply of blood for patients in these difficult times. We realize it is a matter of life and death for many,” observes Awasthi.

Tensions between India and China continue to simmer in Ladakh of Jammu & Kashmir. Chances of escalation are high as the Indian media report a massive build-up of Chinese forces in the Galwan Valley. Apparently, the Chinese have also rebuilt the camp, just inside India’s borders, which the Indian forces had earlier destroyed. China, meanwhile, maintains it is India that needlessly provoked the Chinese contingent in Galwan. Troublingly, both sides continue to increase their troop presence in the area. 

Among those deployed on India’s behalf will be the Nepali nationals serving in its six Gurkha regiments. There are currently around 40,000 of them. There has been a lengthy debate in Nepal on whether the country should continue to send its able-bodied men to fight—and sometimes die—on behalf of another country. The problem is compounded for Nepal whenever India faces off against China, Nepal’s only other neighbor. Can India use the citizens of Nepal—which has traditionally had close and largely problem-free ties with the northern neighbor—to fight the Chinese?

Nepali foreign ministry officials say there has never been a formal protest from China over the deployment of Gurkha soldiers, who have repeatedly engaged in combat against the Chinese on India’s behalf since the early 1960s. With India-China tensions mounting again, the Gurkha soldiers of the Indian Army on leave in Nepal are being summoned back to duty. In this light, the splinter Maoist group led by Netra Bikram Chand, in a June 20 statement, ‘reminded’ India to desist from using Nepali soldiers against China.  

Despite such concerns, Nepal is in no position to ask India not to use the Gurkhas against China. “We have to accept the reality that they are part of the Indian defense system. We can do nothing about it,” says political analyst Krishna Khanal. Though it is an emotional issue for Nepalis, he argues the Indian defense force can deploy them as they wish. 

Nepal has never brought up the issue of revisiting Gurkha recruitment with India. But it sent a note to Britain in February this year, seeking a review of the tripartite agreement signed in 1947 between Nepal, India, and Britain that split the Gurkha regiments between India and Britain. In an initial reaction, Britain refused to change the agreement.

Till date, Nepalis continue to be recruited into the Indian Army. Lured by attractive salary, pensions, and other social security benefits, they join the Indian Army and take an oath to protect India’s national interests. According to Ashok Mehta, an old Nepal hand in New Delhi, Nepali youths in the Indian Army get four times the salary and pensions they would get in Nepal Army. 

The Covid-19 crisis has battered the Nepali economy and rendered hundreds of thousands jobless. This is surely not the right time for Nepal to ask its nationals in the Indian Army to come back or to stop recruitment into the force. But Nepal may find itself in a tricky spot if China asks it to reconsider.

It started in 2011 as a Facebook page posting information about Nepal banda (general strike called by political parties and enforced by their vandals), load-shedding, and a few jokes. Over the years, the page would evolve into a behemoth with over 1.8 million followers—in addition to having over 700,000 Instagram followers. Routine of Nepal Banda, abbreviated RONB, is these days a popular and celebrated Facebook page for news and information.

“I usually wait for Routine of Nepal Banda to confirm news or information. When I see it posting, it is kind of ‘confirmed’ for me,” says Sudip Poudel, 27, an accountant from Kathmandu. Paudel is among the many youths who reckon RONB is a trustworthy source of information.

Nerajan KC, 21, an IT student from Kathmandu, says RONB is quite an addiction for him. “I scroll the page at least three times a day until my thirst for news, facts, photography, and other useful content is satisfied for the day.”

Likewise, RONB is a reliable source for Mishree Thapa from Chitwan who has just reached 20. “It spreads correct news, not rumors,” she says.

Victor Paudel, 26, the page admin, was pursuing a college bridge course in Kathmandu after school when he started the page. “Besides our hard work, the unique page name is also behind its popularity,” says Paudel.

The page practices citizen journalism, sourcing news and information from people from every part of Nepal, and is run by a team of volunteers spread across the country.

RONB is a reliable source of information for Nepalis at home and abroad. “It is unlike traditional sources for news and information. It is also a good platform to promote and foster hidden Nepali talents in both national and international arena,” says Madan Raj Sigdel, 24, who is currently in Sydney, Australia. 

There is a two-way communication with the visitors. As per admin Paudel, “Through thousands of comments, reacts, share, and hundreds of messages, we are 24/7 connected to our readers, followers, and the general public. They are our reporters, evaluators, promoters—everything really.”

This two-way communication has helped RONB understand people’s likes and dislikes. Sometimes mistakes are corrected when someone point them out in the comments, according to Paudel.

The page does not rush to break news. If it is a little slow, that probably means it is trying to verify information. “Unless something is urgent, we don’t worry about being late. But we don’t want to give wrong information,” says Paudel. The RONB team tries to verify info through various means, including local authorities, residents, and other news sources.

Another noteworthy feature of the page is the use of short (6-7 line) paragraph posts and a simple language along with related photos. Some posts are in Roman Nepali, which many Nepalis use for texting. Even when it uses English, the language is simple enough for nearly everyone to understand.

The page claims to be engaging 3.5 million people a month. “The responses are motivating. People request us to post more often and with more detail. They want more and we are trying to constantly update ourselves,” adds Paudel.

The page also encourages photography talent and promotes Nepal’s tourism in this way. Bishal Humagain, a freelancer travel/landscape photographer from Lalitpur, says the page has proven to be a great platform for him to showcase his skills, right since the start of his career.

Maybe due to its wide following, RONB contents become viral in no time. Encouraged by its success, the RONB has now registered as a media company, and is planning a full-fledged news portal. The team is developing an app too.

Currently, the page survives on advertisements from movies, events, and private businesses. “We have multiple teams looking after different things. Our success depends on teamwork,” adds Paudel. 

He considers the infancy of social media and poor internet bandwidth as major problems for Nepali online media.

As it is not an official media portal, RONB is also facing some difficulties, for instance in its inability to access political content. It is hard to cover the field as a Facebook page, Paudel says.

The new news portal should take care of that, and RONB’s growth and popularity could further grow. 

Narad Rana of Shuklaphanta Municipality-10 (Kanchanpur) had been working as a hotel waiter in India’s Gujarat for 17 years before the Covid-19 pandemic rendered him jobless and forced him to return home. He had left Nepal all those years ago after he couldn’t land a job here. The situation is worse today.

“In India, I used to earn well enough to look after my family here. Now I am jobless and worried about what to do next,” he shares.

Deepak Bhatta of Bhimdutta Municipality-6 (Kanchanpur) feels likewise. He had been working as a security guard in Gujarat for the past four years. But the pandemic shut down his company and he lost his job. He too has returned home and is jobless. “The owner of the company sent us home. I don’t know what I will do here,” he says. Not having a job troubles him more than the fear of the virus.

In Nepal, big industrial units are closed and the current budget has no plan for youth employment, he observes. “Even farming is full of problems. We don’t get fertilizers and seeds on time.” He reckons the government’s lack of plan and vision will hinder the growth of agricultural. “Our only option is agriculture, which, sadly, has never been a government priority.”

Such is also the experience of Harka Bahadur Chand and Umesh Singh Thagunna of Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City-1 (Kailali). Chand returned recently from India’s Rajasthan via the Gauriphanta border point. Thagunna and his brother returned from Bangalore. They used to earn enough in India to sustain their family back home. They too think agriculture could be an option for returning migrants, but don’t know how to get started.

“We worry about what we can do here. Hundreds of thousands are returning from India. Finding jobs for them all will be difficult,” says Chand.

India is the major labor destination for the residents of nine districts in Sudurpaschim. Although the government has no data on such migrants, non-governmental organizations estimate 30 percent of people from this province are currently in India for work. According to the 2011 Census, the province is home to 2.5 million people. That puts the number of migrant workers at around 750,000.  As per government records, over 242,000 workers have returned from India since the first week of March.

While the returnees are worried about finding a job, experts say the youths need to start thinking of self-employment. Chairman of Baitadi Chamber of Commerce and Industry Nara Bahadur Chand suggests the returning youths start organic farming in the hills. “If they grow and sell off-season vegetables, they will make more money here than they did in India. Our farmlands have now turned into unattended forests.”

The government should stop giving subsidies to party cadres and use those funds to provide returning youths with seed capital, fertilizers, and seeds to start farming, Chand suggests.  

Former Registrar of Sudurpaschim University, Hemraj Panta, asks the government to recognize the skills of returning youths. “Hundreds of thousands are currently in quarantine. The government should mobilize local bodies to find out the skills of these people.” After that, self-employment programs should be started according to their skillsets, he recommends. He too reckons agriculture is a sector with high promise: “The government should boost agriculture in order to substitute imports from India.”