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Standing on the base of the world's tallest peak, Sagarmatha (Mt Everest), Qatari princess Asma Al Thani expressed her serious concern over the impact of climate change in the Himalayan region. Princess Asma has also climbed Mt Everest in 2019.

Addressing the Summiteer’s Summit in Thame—a Sherpa village already devastated by glacial floods—Princess Al Thani described the status of the mountains as “lifeless” compared to her first visit in 2019.

The Summiteer's Summit was organized by an organization called Sathsathai on the occasion of the International Earth Day on April 22.

She said, "The melting of snow on mountains like Everest is a threat not only to Nepal, but to the entire global community."

“I climbed Everest in 2019 and was exhilarated by its beauty and vitality. But now, I return to find bare rocks where snow once lay, blackened cliffs, and a silence that speaks of loss. There is no life in these mountains anymore.”

In her experience, the weather in the Himalayas has changed and all these changes are very serious.

She pointed out that the natural disaster of 2023, a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF), wreaked havoc here, displacing dozens of families, destroying power lines, and severing road links.

“These are not isolated disasters,” Princess Al Thani said, adding that they are symptoms of a much larger, man-made emergency. "And it’s not something Nepal can or should bear alone.”

She also showed concern about perishing snow in the snow-covered Himalayas.

“Everest is no longer the white peak we remember from photos,” said a local climber. “It’s a fragile mountain now, and it needs protection, not just admiration.”

Settlements such as Thame are facing the biggest impact of the changes in the Himalayan environment.

The princess stressed the need to install early warning systems to prevent disasters such as floods, landslides, glacial lake eruptions and avalanches.

"The mountainous regions are sensitive. If there is such a system here, life can be saved by disseminating information in time. Technology needs to be used,” the Qatari Princess suggested.

Princess Al Thani mentioned that Sagarmatha is the shared asset of all humans, not only of Nepal.

"Climbers like us don't just think it a matter of pride to climb the Sagarmatha. We also think it is a duty to protect it. Existence of mountains should be kept as the first priority in every development plan. Otherwise, Sagarmatha will be limited to photos only in coming days", she warned.

Supporting the Princess' statement, other participants – environmentalists, climbers and local representatives pointed out the need for collaboration of the world for the protection of mountains.

During the event, emphasis was laid on collaboration among the government, local bodies, NGOs and foreign mountaineering community.

As per the details presented in the conference, the temperature of Sagarmatha area is increasing every decade which is making a direct impact on glaciers.

The warning, experience and sentimental appeal of Princess Thani had made deep impacts in the conference. She shared, " We will lose the future of earth if there will be no snow in the mountains.  It is a shared responsibility of us to save Sagarmatha."

On the occasion, a message sent by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on the occasion of the summit was unveiled.

He expressed the belief that the conference would support the informal preparation of Sagarmatha Sambaad.

Prime Minister Oli mentioned that it was necessary to spread awareness about environmental risk.

The Summit organized by an organization, Sathsathai, in coordination with all three-tier governments is taken as the pre-event of Sagarmatha Sambaad to be organized by the government from May 16-18.

Dlytica has launched the country’s First AI-powered Big Data Platform, named “DataNature”.

This platform is aimed to revolutionize how businesses can leverage and create Data Warehouse & Artificial intelligence (AI) to drive growth, improve decision-making, and enhance customer experiences.

At a time when AI has been dominating the business operations worldwide, Dlytica is positioning itself as the vanguard of this transformation in Nepal by providing foundation to all AI including Agentic AI.

During the platform launching program, Ashis Parajuli, CEO of Dlytica, said: “Our investment in Nepal is driven by the invaluable learning and experiences we have gained from the global market,” adding, “With this knowledge, we aim to uplift our innovation and take it to the global stage, helping Nepal emerge as a hub for AI excellence,” reads a statement issued by Dlytica.

A key element of Dlytica’s strategy is collaboration, and the company has already secured significant partnerships to expand its reach. One of the partners is Ncell, Nepal's leading telecommunications provider, which recently launched the country’s First Data Center and Cloud Service Provider.

Parajuli went on to say that Dlytica’s focus on data governance ensures that companies are not only collecting data but doing so in a way that allows them to extract meaningful insights for better decision-making.

Dlytica’s AI360 platform, built on the DataNature Big Data platform, offers businesses the ability to segment customers effectively, improve decision-making processes, and personalize marketing strategies in real time, the statement further reads.

South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission found DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup, guilty of sending user data and AI prompt content without consent, Reuters reported.

During its first launch in January, the company allegedly transferred personal information to companies in China and the United States, including Beijing Volcano Engine Technology Co. Ltd., without user consent.

The commission uncovered DeepSeek also shared device, network, and app information, which violated local data protection standards. Although the company later stated that the transfers were designed to improve the user experience, it discontinued sharing prompt content on April 10, according to Reuters.

As a result, the agency issued an appropriate recommendation, directing DeepSeek to remove previously exported AI prompt data and provide a legal framework for future cross-border data transfers.

With the emergence of a federal democratic republic, there has also been a major change in the internal migration scenario of Nepal. As the country moved from a centralized unitary system to a federal system, people should have been attracted to villages, but on the contrary, many people have left their homes. After 10 years of conflict, peace process, and restructuring of the political system, a large population has migrated to the Kathmandu Valley and other cities permanently. 

Before the state restructuring, there were about 4,000 village development committees in Nepal. With the state restructuring, the village development committees were converted into 753 rural municipalities/municipalities. With the state restructuring, people have been leaving their hometowns and coming to urban areas in search of security and opportunities, says Dhundiraj Lamichhane, spokesperson of the National Statistics Office.

According to him, people have migrated to big cities in search of a comfortable environment, including education, health, transportation, roads, and information technology. The number of people leaving their native places in Kathmandu Valley alone is 60.3 percent. But Bhagwati Sedhai, an associate professor of population studies, says that instead of the wave of development and prosperity that should have come with political changes, people have left their native places. The federal system was developed to bring the centralized governance system and centralized development system to the villages. 

“Development did not happen according to the thinking with which this system was brought,” she says. “Even though the government reached the villages, that government could neither provide development nor employment to the people. As a result, people were attracted to the center and cities. Moreover, international migration also increased.”

Many citizens were also forced to leave their native places due to the devastating earthquake of 2015. The earthquake that occurred on 25 April 2015 caused a huge loss of Nepali property. About 9,000 people died. 300,000 houses were completely damaged, about 300,000 were partially damaged, and 3.5m citizens were left homeless. The fear of continuous aftershocks after the earthquake and the uncertainty of the settlement situation in the hilly areas have led to an increase in the trend of migration to the valley and nearby urban areas. The population growth rate is negative in 34 districts of the Himalayas and hills. Increasing international migration has increased the trend of migration.

The trend of coming to Kathmandu for opportunities and then going abroad for work and study has increased significantly in recent times. The increasing trend of internal migration has brought about changes in the demographic, social, cultural and economic landscape of the country. High labor force participation is seen in cities. The population of rural areas is drying up. Due to this, the average family base has become smaller. It has brought about changes in the role of women. The number of elderly people is increasing. This has brought about a change in the social responsibility of the government and the community.

Recently, the population in the mountainous and rural areas has been thinning. In the mountainous areas, except for the main cities such as Kathmandu Valley, Chitwan, and Pokhara, there has been a sharp decline in the population. As the population is thinning in the mountains and hills, the trend of migration to the Terai has also decreased recently. Even though transportation access has been reached in the mountainous areas, the trend of migration to the nearby semi-urban areas is increasing. 

According to the 2021 census data, 20 percent of the total population in Nepal has permanently left their original place. While this was only 4.7 percent in 2018. It seems that 18 districts have lost 20 percent of the population born in their districts. Lamichhane, spokesperson of the Statistics Office, also says that there is no situation where there is no migration from any district.

Less than 10 percent of the population has migrated to other districts from Parsa, Rautahat, Nawalparasi (East), Bhaktapur, Nawalparasi West, Lalitpur, Kanchanpur, Kathmandu, Kailali, Rupandehi, Banke and Kapilvastu. According to the 2021 census, 57.2 percent have migrated to Kathmandu. 50.2 percent in Bhaktapur and 46.2 percent in Lalitpur. This is the highest rate of permanent internal migration. Apart from Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur, 16 districts including Sunsari, Morang, Rupandehi, Banke, Dang, Kailali, Kanchanpur have positive net migration rates. 

A total of 2,142,363 people have migrated from one province to another in 2021. The number of women is 1,154,909. The number of men is 987,454. The number of people migrating to Bagmati Province is the highest. 1,150,626 people have come to Bagmati Province to settle permanently.

The district with the highest migration is Bhaktapur. 19 percent have come to Bhaktapur. 14.5 percent have migrated to Lalitpur and 14 percent have migrated to Kathmandu. Many people have migrated to Taplejung and Khotang, 17.4 percent have left Taplejung and 17.1 percent have left Khotang. However, Manang and Mustang are among the districts with the lowest migration. Due to their small population, Manang and Mustang are the districts with the lowest migration rate in terms of the rate of migration out of and into the district, according to the statistics office.

The data shows that migration for work opportunities has been observed in Bagmati and Gandaki. In Koshi, Madhes, Lumbini, Karnali and Sudurpaschim, a lot of migration has been observed due to marriage. The report of the National Statistics Office states that marriage and dependency (55.9 percent and 17.3 percent respectively) are the main reasons for low-income or poor groups. As the income group increases, study and training and work opportunities (20.2 and 22.9 percent respectively) are the main reasons.

When comparing internal migration over a 50-year period, there has been a difference in the trend. According to the 1971 census, the rate of migration to Tarai was 71 percent and the rate of migration to the hills was 26.5 percent. In 2078, the rate of migration to the Terai has decreased, while the rate of migration to the hills, especially Kathmandu and Pokhara, has increased. By 2021, the rate of migration to the Tarai had reached 41.5 percent and the rate of migration to the hills had reached 56.2 percent. This difference in migration trends appears to be related to the state's development plans, according to the report of the Statistics Office.