By Tika R Pradhan in The Kathmandu Post, March 27, 2023The Maoist Centre-CPN-UML ruling coalition collapsed within two months of its formation. Now the Congress-led 10-party coalition is in place in Kathmandu, and its reverberations are being felt in the provincial politics as well. In this context, the Post’s Tika R Pradhan spoke to the UML deputy general secretary and former chief minister of Gandaki province Prithvi Subba Gurung, who was also among the architects…
Falling Afghan poppy crop
edit in The Express Tribune, November 7th, 2023.Afghanistan’s poppy output has come crashing down since the Taliban government banned cultivation of the plant last year. The massive drop has caused a sharp reduction in the production of opium, heroin and morphine, severely hurting the drug lords. But conversely, the ban has made life even more difficult for the poor farmers who used to grow the crop. Most poppy farmers have shifted to wheat, but that…