Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts tagged as “kathamndu”

Befriend and betray: It’s all too easy for Nepali politicians

by Purushottam Poudel in The Kathmandu Post, Feb 27, 2023Unexpected developments within months of government formation and overnight dramatic turn of events have become a norm in Nepali politics. The prevailing crisis in the incumbent coalition government formed on December 25 is a case in point. The seven-party ruling coalition government comprising CPN-UML, CPN (Maoist Centre), Rastriya Swatantra Party, Rastriya Prajantra Party, Janata Samajbadi Party, Janamat Party and Nagarik Unmukti Party that supported Maoist Centre…

As presidential vote nears, clouds gather over Maoist-UML alliance

by Tika R Pradhan in The Kathmandu Post, Feb 15, 2023On Monday, Nepali Congress General Secretary Gagan Thapa claimed the ruling coalition would collapse by February 22. But the Maoist Centre leaders believe the coalition could continue even after a new President is elected through consensus. Thapa’s statement came after his recent meeting with Prime Minister and CPN (Maoist Centre) chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal with whom he discussed the presidential elections. “The agreement [to stitch…

A weakened CPN (Maoist Centre) steps up left unification efforts

by Tika R Pradhan in The Kathmandu Post, Feb 14, 2023Prime Minister and CPN (Maoist Centre) chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Monday said his party is working on a merger of like-minded socialist and communist forces in order to create a socialist front. He also hinted that his party could shed the Maoist tag. Addressing a function organised at the Maoist Centre headquarters in Kathmandu to mark the “people’s war day,” Dahal appealed to all…

Little progress in Nepal’s quake preparedness since 2015

by Purushottam Poudel in The Kathmandu Post, Feb 12, 2023The 7.8-magnitude earthquake that rocked Turkey and Syria earlier this week has killed over 24,000 people as of Saturday afternoon—and the death toll is still rising. The jolts in Turkey and Syria bring to mind similar quakes Nepal witnessed on April 25 and May 12, 2015 that took the lives of around 9,000 and injured over 22,000. The 7.8m quake and its aftershocks destroyed or damaged…

Congress in power in Sudurpaschim, Fall of UML-led provincial govt suggests more problems ahead for ruling coalition.

by Nishan Khatiwada in The Kathmandu Post, Feb 10, 2023In what is a major blow to the ruling coalition, Nepali Congress provincial parliamentary party leader Kamal Bahadur Shah was appointed chief minister of Sudurpaschim Province on Thursday. Provincial head Devraj Joshi appointed Shah as chief minister after the incumbent, Rajendra Singh Rawal of the CPN-UML, failed to secure the confidence of the provincial assembly earlier in the day. “As the number of lawmakers saying ‘no’…

High-level mechanism to discuss presidential election

by Nishan Khatiwada in The Kathmandu Post, February 9, 2023Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli have agreed to hold a meeting of the High-Level Political Mechanism, a body comprising the chiefs of the seven parties in the ruling coalition, soon. The two top leaders, who held a one-on-one at Oli’s residence in Balkot on Wednesday morning, also agreed to discuss the presidential election at the upcoming meeting of the mechanism,…

Prolonged dry spell leads to acute water scarcity

by Arjun Poudel in The Kathmandu Post, Feb 8, 2023Renuka Nepali, a local from Ritthe village in Ramechhap’s Doramba Sailung Rural Municipality-6, wakes up at 3 am everyday and walks for one-and-a-half hours to a nearby stream to fetch water. This wasn’t always the case. The problem emerged after the source supplying drinking water to Nepali’s village dried up due to a prolonged dry spell. As a result, Nepali and other villagers have been forced…

PM Dahal meets Oli in Balkot

Report in The Kathmandu Post, Feb 8, 2023Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal held a meeting with CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli at the latter’s residence in Balkot on Wednesday. Meetings between the two leaders have ramped up after Rabi Lamichhane-led Rastriya Swatantra Party quit the government. The meeting between Dahal and Oli comes at a time when the elections of the President and Vice President are approaching. The Election Commission has slated March 9 for…

Dahal’s instability: His trait or nature of coalition politics?

by Anil Giri in The Kathmandu Post, Feb 5th, 2023Coalition politics has greatly benefitted Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the incumbent prime minister and chairman of the CPN (Maoist Centre), a party that has been in continuous decline after it emerged victorious in the 2008 Constituent Assembly elections. The Maoist party’s growing challenges in parliamentary democracy and Dahal’s need to constantly manoeuvre to stay relevant in national politics run parallel. While his party was placed third in…

Foreign policy will be reviewed, Minister Bimala Rai Paudyal says

Report in The Kathmandu Post,Feb 2, 2023The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is preparing to review Nepal’s foreign policy document unveiled in December, 2020. Talking to reporters at the ministry on Wednesday, Minister for Foreign Affairs Bimala Rai Paudyal said that after consultations inside the ministry and with major political parties, the policy will be updated and published for wider use. The then KP Sharma Oli government in 2020 had unveiled the 31-page document that encompasses…

Lack of citizenship pushes Musahars deep into poverty

by Bharat Jargha Magar in The Kathmandu Post,Feb 2, 2023Forty-eight-year-old Shankar Sadaya lives in Shobhapur, a Musahar settlement in Lahan Municipality-18, Siraha. Most people in the settlement, including his family of five, have been deprived of basic government services for the lack of citizenship certificate. “All five members of my family are above 16 years of age but we haven’t been able to acquire citizenship certificates,” said Shankar. “Because of that, my children were deprived…