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Why are the urban Nepali youths taking to the streets amid the Covid-19 crisis?

Those in power espy conspiracies behind the ongoing youth protests that kicked off on June 9. On that day, around 500-600 people, most of them youths, had gathered near the prime minister’s official residence in Baluwatar to vent their ire at the government’s mishandling of the Covid-19 crisis and reports of rampant corruption in the name of pandemic control.

They were gathered there peacefully, and were maintaining social distance while doing so. Yet the police used force to disperse them as they were in violation of the lockdown rule stipulating that no more than 25 people may gather at one place. The pictures of peaceful protestors being hosed down by water canons and being carted off in police vans had the predictable effect of instigating further protests.

“It can be taken as a new civil society movement of intellectual youths who are not associated with any political party,” says political analyst Shyam Shrestha. “They are helping expose government inefficiencies in the handling of the Covid-19 crisis.” For him, the protests hint of a sizeable youth population that is away from day-to-day politics but is closely following what’s happening in the country. The slogan ‘Enough is enough’ reflects, in his view, the increasing intolerance of the youths with government incompetence and corruption in this time of national crisis. “The youth agendas are logical and valid,” Shrestha adds.

Among the protestors’ demands: transparency in the government expenses on Covid-19 control including on the purchase of medical supplies, improving the state of quarantine facilities, and increasing the frequency of PCR testing. Notably, they not only criticize the government but also appreciate its efforts to bring back the lost territories of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura.

Shame on Congress

The young protestors have hit the streets at a time the Nepali Congress (NC) has been panned for its ineffective role as the main opposition. The party has been limited to issuing press statements instead of doing anything substantial to make the government answerable. “These agenda should have been raised by the NC as an opposition party,” adds Shrestha. He says the new movement “is a slap on the face of Congress leaders and signals the emergence of a new opposition.” According to him, the government has failed to handle the pandemic despite no dearth of resources.

Pradeep Poudel, a youth NC leader, sees the current movement as a sign that even the supposedly apolitical youths are fully aware of the country’s situation. “In the past, youth wings of opposition parties used to take to the streets to protest government wrongdoing. This time another force has taken up the mantle,” he says. The agenda raised by these youths are genuine, he reckons. “The government cannot dismiss their impartial demands.”  

Outside Kathmandu, there have been protests in Pokhara, Biratnagar, Birgunj, Hetauda, and Biratnagar. Small-scale protests have also been held in various district headquarters. Refuting claims of its involvement, the Bibeksheel Party has clarified that its members have been involved only on an individual basis. During the protests, some Bibeksheel Party leaders were seen on the streets.

The protests had started at the initiative of a Facebook group named ‘COVID-19, Nepal: Enough is Enough’, which quickly grew from a couple of hundred to around 200,000 members in a matter of a week. “We do not have any political motive. When the government addresses our demands, we will stop protesting and return to our normal lives,” says Bibash Pokharel, a protestor. “It was the government mishandling of Covid-19 that prompted us to come to the streets.”

No stopping us

The youths are outraged by the inefficiency seen in managing the pandemic, and have charged the government of wasting five months without doing anything substantive. “The government has been unable to ensure good quarantine facilities, and the management of the people returning from abroad has been an absolute mess,” he adds. Pokharel and his fellow protestors reckon the prime minister’s remarks in the parliament downplaying Covid-19 risks worsened the situation.

There are concerns such as mass gatherings could lead to an alarming growth in the number of Covid-19 cases, and the government has urged protestors not to organize them. It provisioned for a fine of up to Rs 600 or up to six months in jail for those found violating lockdown rules. Leaders and cadres of the ruling Nepal Communist Party claim the protests are aimed at toppling the government.

Paurakh Karki, another youth protestor, responds that they have no interest in politics. “We just want to do away with pervasive corruption.” he clarifies. “It is not government change but social change that we seek.”

The youth activists we talked to said that the protests would continue so long as they didn’t see tangible improvements in the state’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lockdown has been an effective intervention against Covid-19 the world over. But in this time women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) rights are also greatly hindered.

The government of Nepal prioritized pregnant women for health assistance during the lockdown. But women in labor pain were reportedly being ferried by risky means of transport like motorbikes. Women in post-partum period, whose need and care depend on daily wage of their husbands, were bound to compromise on daily nutritional diet required during such periods. In such situations, pregnant women feel more vulnerable and anxious and thus their mental health is more affected. Access to reproductive healthcare for pregnant women and postpartum women is limited in such periods.

Marie Stopes International has already warned that travel restrictions and lockdowns could have a devastating effect on women, as they struggle to collect contraceptives and access other reproductive health care services, such as safe abortions, in many of the 37 countries in which it works, including Nepal. In Nepal, there was limited access to contraceptive devices particularly condoms, oral pills, emergency contraceptive pills due to close down/limited opening hours of pharmacy and service centers. Organizations such as Marie Stopes Nepal, Family Planning Association Nepal (FPAN), and Midwifery Association Nepal are doing a commendable job, constantly updating and providing information through their social media, hotline numbers, and online platforms.

The effect of lockdown has also been felt by people living with disabilities, with inadequate availability of urine bags, condom catheters, diapers and tissue papers, increasing the risk of infection. Though organizations working for the HIV-infected populations are trying their best to provide door to door service, lockdown has made it hard to reach the HIV infected to give them antiretroviral therapy (ART). As per a report, the stock of ART is available only for the next two months and the government has to intervene to fulfill the growing demand. Transgender people in particular need access to gender affirmative services such as endocrinology and laser therapy. This situation is likely to persist in a situation when the lockdown is relaxed.

Most health workers are being mobilized to combat Covid-19. But many LGBT people continue with their sex work, putting them at high risk. Thus the LGBT population faces stigma, discriminatory behavior, violence, economic burden, limited access to health information and services during such periods. Little has been done, either by the government or the civil society organizations, to track the SRH needs of women, young people and vulnerable populations. Thus, vital issues like the availability of menstrual hygiene products, the situation of commercial sex worker, privacy, and consent, has been less discussed and prioritized.

To tackle gender-based violence during the pandemic, the government of Nepal together with the National Women Commission (NWC) and other community-based organizations have set up legal counseling, psycho-social counseling, and shelter support, and urged people to report such violence against women through their toll-free number. In response, the government has established a hotline and a call center to make it easier for citizens to access information related to Covid-19. It has also released Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 Health Service Guideline 2020 prioritizing services for emergency, acute and chronic conditions, essential health, and ambulance.

Even though the UN’s preparedness and response plan for Nepal highlights primary health care and reproductive service as a key pillar and urges uninterrupted access to sexual and reproductive health, the new guideline fails to explicitly mention maternal care, access to gender affirmative health service, contraceptive service, safe abortion, and sanitary product as essential health services.

The Covid-19 crisis management centers at local and provincial levels have been established as coordination bodies. The center has an important role in providing information and services to assess, track, monitor and address SRH and other needs. Social security is vital during such a pandemic and vulnerable and marginalized populations in particular need to feel safe and respected through adequate information, service and proper counseling. Social protections for the LGBT population and women with low economic status are also needed.

The current situation can be used as an opportunity to develop robust local level mechanisms to address such critical needs. As prioritized by the government, the Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) and public health professionals can be a part of the local response system that collects disaggregated data, provides information, tracks sexual and reproductive health needs of women, and links them with services and service providers. Further, civil society organizations need to continue evidence-based advocacy and help the government address SRH needs of vulnerable groups amid this humanitarian crisis.

The author is pursuing Masters of Science in Public Health at University of Southern Denmark

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Prakash Poudel started an agricultural farm at Pokhara’s Musetuda in October last year. He had hoped the new business would be profitable and he would not have to go back to the Gulf for work. He had started the farm with five cows and buffaloes after returning from Qatar four years ago. The number later reached 15. But these days he is worried about the sustainability of his venture.

Helpers are unavailable and his market access has been blocked due to the lockdown. His overall costs have spiked, along with the price of bran and straw for the cattle. Poudel is uncertain if the easing of the lockdown will help much.

“Bank loans comprise around 75 percent of my investment. If I can’t do business, I can’t pay back,” Poudel says. “If things don’t improve soon, I may again have to go abroad for work—if that option is still open amid a global pandemic.”

He foresees difficulty in delivering his dairy products door-to-door even after the crisis. Seeing fellow farmers in the neighborhood dump rotten vegetables does not give much hope.

There are others like Poudel who expect things to only get worse in the days ahead, lockdown or not.

Mausam Upreti had started a liquor store in Kapan area of Kathmandu after returning from Japan last year. He had high hopes from the store named ‘Bottles’, where he sank a lot of his savings. But just as business was picking up, the pandemic struck and lockdowns started. “The rents are rising. I have to pay almost Rs 200,000 a month in rents. For a new business, it was already a huge burden even without the pandemic,” he says.

For Dipak Bhattarai, a UAE-returnee taxi driver in Kathmandu, the lockdown has meant a total loss of income. He is struggling to feed his family, even as he has to pay monthly bank installments of the loans taken out against the taxi. “I have two more years to clear bank loans. Now I don’t have work. But I still need to pay the loans, room rent, and food,” he laments. For people like Bhattarai who survive on daily earning, things are getting tougher by the day. He too is unsure his taxi business will go back to normal even after the end of the corona crisis.

The government is under pressure to bring back Nepali migrants stranded in Malaysia and Gulf countries. Thousands are waiting to return. But there are no good plans to adjust them into the domestic workforce. Economists worry about an impending economic crisis.

Joblessness is already a big problem. According to Nepal Labor Migration Report 2020 prepared by the Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Social Security, there are approximately 756,000 working-age returnee migrant workers in the country. Likewise, Nepal Labor Force Survey 2017/18 shows only 42.8 percent of returnee migrants are employed; another 13.4 percent are unemployed, while 43.8 percent are out of the labor force.

The government keeps asking Nepali youths to employ their skills and labor in their own country. But it has persistently failed to bring effective policies, let alone implement them, to keep them home. Upreti, the Japan-returnee, says: “The government came up with a policy to give loans to the youths against educational certificates. But the policy is confined to the paper. You can’t imagine the tedious documentation and the many hassles getting this loan entails.”

Bhattarai, the UAE-returnee, says he is tired of listening to government promises. “The announcements of discounts, loans, and tax exemptions are all useless talks,” he says.

Poudel, the Qatar-returnee, complains of high government fees even to register agriculture-related businesses. “How does it then expect to attract the youth to this sector?” he asks.

Often, the migrant workers express their wish to return to Nepal and start a business. The government also keeps urging them to come. But when they return, they have to confront unfriendly policies and corrupt officials.

Siddhartha Gautam from Nepalgunj, Banke, abandoned his Europe plans earlier this year, even though he already had a visa to Poland. Rather, he decided to start a poultry and fish farm at home. Then Covid-19 struck.

His enthusiasm is fading fast. “I see nothing good being done to revive agriculture, which is supposedly a government priority,” he rues. With or without the lockdown, Gautam reckons those in agriculture will continue to struggle for their livelihood without greater state support. 

Even as there are heated discussions over Indian occupation of Limpiyadhura and Kalapani, those are not the only Nepali territories that India has encroached. There are about 174 hectares of Nepali land in the eastern Jhapa district that India has gradually captured by moving the border pillars. As a result, Nepal has lost areas in Pathamari, Mahespur, Mechipul, Bhadrapur, Galgalia border, Kakadvitta, Barishjot, Madanjot, Nakalabanda, Bahundandi, and a village across the Mechi River.

According to border expert Raj Kumar Pokharel, Nepal government had given land-ownership certificates to its citizens living in those areas in 1965; Indians started capturing them starting 1988.

There were some pieces of land that Nepal and India had agreed to provisionally give to local occupants on the condition that their ownership would be finalized later. But India has already captured those areas. Besides, Indian citizens have started farming on areas that clearly fall under Nepal. Nepali and Indian border agencies have already had a number of discussions to settle the farming issue.  

Twenty-five Nepali houses in the Dulu village across Mechi Rivar in Bhadrapur Municipality, 20 houses in Pathamari area of Kechanakawal Rural Municipality, and over a dozen houses in Bhansa Khola area are without land ownership certificates. These households have been asking government authorities to give them a clear word on their nationality.

People living there remember their lands as always belonging to Nepal. The pillars installed by Rana Prime Minister Junga Bahadur Rana based on Sugauli Treaty have traditionally served as the border between the two countries. There are 988 such pillars in Jhapa district alone.

“Earlier, we did without a land ownership certificate as there was no need to sell our land. We were fine farming without a certificate,” says Sanjib Thapa of Bhansa Khola. “In 1995, the Indian forces started coming to our courtyards for land demarcation. Only then did we realize that our lands had already gone to India.”

Locals say India installed new pillars in 1988, making their lands as Indian territories. India has given ration cards to the locals, which, according to border expert Pokharel, is a plot to lay claim Indian ownership. “Nepal is unknowingly losing its territory,” he says.

Says Noor Alam of Pathamari in Kechanakawal: “Since the times my parents came to settle down here, there has never been any doubt that this is Nepali land. We also have land ownership certificate. I have Nepali citizenship based on this certificate. Now they say this land belongs to India.”

Indian authorities come to inspect border areas once a week. But the Nepali side is oblivious. Says Jinat Ganesh of Mechipari: “We don’t know what happened in the past. But now India has been building huts in the Nepali land to lay their claim. There are people living in those huts. Nepali officials never show any concern.”