Corruption in private sector needs probe but so does corruption in political parties, experts sayA legal amendment seeks to widen CIAA’s jurisdiction to include private sector but political parties also need scrutiny.TIKA R PRADHANKATHMANDU, MAY 24

An amendment bill that seeks to expand the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority’s jurisdiction to also include the private sector is currently under discussion at the federal parliament. While most anti-corruption experts believe that corruption in the private sector needs scrutiny, political parties too need to come under the commission’s ambit, they say.

The National Assembly’s Legislative

Management Committee has started clause-wise discussions on the bill to amend the Prevention of Corruption Act (2002). The amendment bill was registered at the Upper House on January 20 and was sent for discus-sion to the committee on February 18. Once the National Assembly passes the bill, it will be sent to the House of Representatives for discussion.

Currently, the commission only has the authority to investigate “public institutions”, which have been defined as “government funded or semi-gov-ernment bodies” by clause 2 (C) of the

anti-corruption law. The amend-ment seeks to include all “insti-tutions registered as per the law” which will bring all registered companies, private institutions, and even non-governmental institutions under its jurisdic-tion.

The commission itself has long demanded that it be allowed to look into corruption in the private sector and in non-govern-mental organisations, citing the UN Convention against

Corruption to which Nepal is a party.The convention states: “Each State

Party shall take measures, in accord-ance with the fundamental principles of its domestic law, to prevent corrup-tion involving the private sector, enhance accounting and auditing standards in the private sector and, where appropriate, provide effective,

proportionate and dissuasive civil, administrative or criminal penalties for failure to comply with such measures.”

The legally binding convention was endorsed in 2011 by the Jhala Nath Khanal government and all necessary laws should have been drafted within five years.

>> Continued on page 5

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POST PHOTO: HEMANTA SHRESTHA

Lights illuminate Patan Durbar Square in Lalitpur.

W I T H O U T F E A R O R F A V O U RNepal’s largest selling English dailyPrinted simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj

Vol XXVIII No. 90 | 8 pages | Rs.5Monday, May 25, 2020 | 12-02-2077

40.1 C 8.0 CDhangadi Jumla

O O

Indian officials’ snub to envoy Acharya in New Delhi does not bode well for talksNilamber Acharya has been trying to speak to senior bureaucrats in the Indian capital to discuss holding talks regarding the boundary dispute but has had no luck so far.ANIL GIRIKATHMANDU, MAY 24

As pressure mounts on both Nepal and India to initiate talks at the diplo-matic level over the recent boundary disputes, Nepal’s Ambassador to India has been having a difficult time get-ting in touch with any official at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. This could be a sign that India has hardened its position, following Nepal’s release of a new political and administrative map that includes all disputed territories, including Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani.

While officials in Kathmandu have said that Nepal is pursuing all chan-nels, both formal and informal, to create an environment conducive for talks between Kathmandu and New Delhi, Nilamber Acharya, the Nepali ambassador in New Delhi, has failed to make any headway, according to two diplomatic sources at the Nepali embassy.

“Ambassador Acharya’s failure is not for a lack of trying,” a diplomat at the Nepali embassy told the Post. “Indian officials refusing to meet with him has created a very difficult envi-ronment in which to hold talks.”

Acharya said that he is initiating talks through both official and unoffi-cial channels.

“I cannot tell you at what level but we are talking through different chan-nels,” Acharya told the Post over the phone from New Delhi. “But we have yet to ascertain when we will sit for talks. Though the situation is difficult due to Covid-19, we have to find a way out, and the only way out is through diplomatic talks.”

Though Nepali ambassadors in New Delhi tend to enjoy outsize social clout among the political, academic, media, and business communities, Acharya’s failure to gain face time with government officials does not bode well for talks, say diplomats.

The boundary row between Nepal and India has escalated since the for-mer’s release of a new political and administrative map that incorporated all territories disputed between the two countries. The map was issued in response to the Indian inauguration of a road that passes via Lipulekh to connect Kailash-Mansarovar in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.

Since then, both sides have been trading barbs, with Indian army chief MM Naravane pointing to third-party

instigation and the India media squarely blaming China for the dis-pute.

According to the officials, Acharya has repeatedly been attempting to either meet in person or hold a phone conversation with Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Joint Secretary (North) Piyush Srivastava, who is in charge of the Nepal-Bhutan desk, to no avail.

Shringla, the Indian Foreign Secretary, is supposed to lead talks over the boundary at the Foreign Secretary level from the Indian side while Srivastava is a key person at the External Affairs Ministry in charge of the Nepal-Bhutan desk.

A lack of formal communication from South Block officials either por-tends a hardening of position or reflects the Indian bureaucracy’s ongoing fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a statement on May 9, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs had inti-mated that it is ready to hold formal talks once the Covid-19 crisis is over.

However, a former Nepali ambassa-dor to India told the Post that the Nepali envoy always has leverage in Delhi and that all efforts need to be made to translate that clout into mean-ingful action.

>> Continued on page 5

PHOTO: NEPALI EMBASSY DELHI/TWITTER

Ambassador Acharya with Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval in February.

POST FILE PHOTO

Analysts say the anti-corruption commission is already overburdened with responsibility.

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MONDAY, MAY 25, 2020 | 02

MEDLEY

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION

CROSSWORD

HOROSCOPE

SUDOKU

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19)

***Try to avoid misunderstandings today. Aim for clarity. Make sure all your actions and com-ments are honest, and that people understand what you mean. Double-check and confirm just to make sure. If you only assume that they got it right the first time, you could live to regret that assumption.

AQUARIUS (January 20-February 18)

****Someone you usually find fascinating could leave you feeling bored today, but don’t worry. That doesn’t mean you’re no longer into this person. It probably just means you need to take a break. It’s a wise idea to embark on a new solo project right now. Just focus on you for a while.

PISCES (February 19-March 20)

***Try to communicate your emotions to someone you’re worried about now. Being honest is tough sometimes, but it’s much more valuable than softening the truth with little white lies. You might think that you’re protecting their feel-ings, but you’re only keeping them from know-ing what they need to know to move forward.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

****If managing your finances has become tricky, a friend has some good advice that you should listen to. You might not like the sound of it at first, but once they tell you the impact that it has made on their money situation, you’ll be a true believer! If you want things to change, you have to be willing to put in more effort.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

***Don’t fret about any small complication today. It won’t mess up your day as much as you fear it will. Unexpected stuff happens, so just roll with it. There will be too many fun things going on to worry much anyway. You’re feeling the need for a bit of self-indulgence right now, and buying one or two small treats wouldn’t be a bad idea.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21)

***You need to be honest and understand what your true limitations are, especially in terms of your job. If you aren’t confident about your abilities in a certain area, then it would not be a good idea to say that you’re a master of it. That kind of bravado might seem impressive, but it will only get you into some deep and very hot water.

CANCER (June 22-July 22)

****You should bolster your networking skills. Start using them in many more areas of your life than you currently do. Whether you want a rec-ommendation for a car mechanic, a great hotel in Paris, or even just the right shoes, ask around! It’s up to you to make the connections you need, so reach out and don’t be shy.

LEO (July 23-August 22)

***Avoid doing anything big or ostentatious today. This isn’t the right time to make expensive trav-el plans or major purchases or commit to any-thing in formal legal terms. Even though everything looks pretty good right now, there could be some darker shadows lurking that you aren’t able to see yet.

VIRGO (August 23-September 22)

****Other people have a stake in what you’re work-ing on, and you need to let them be a part of your thought process. Share what you’ve been thinking, ask them for input, and listen when they give you feedback. Your life is a solo jour-ney to some extent, but it’s so much richer if you let other people play a significant part.

LIBRA (September 23-October 22)

***You’re eager for your future to begin, but when will that come? There’s no telling, but a glimpse may come today if you step back and give your-self space to see it. Move away from the people who are demanding so much of your time right now. They’re distracting you from putting your-self first and seeing what you need to do next.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 21)

***You could be dealing with a lot of different requests today, which could be overwhelming. Just take your time and think about your prior-ities. Once you do, it will be obvious what you should do first. If you get frustrated, turn to a good friend. They know what’s best for you, and you should trust them completely.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22-December 21)

***If you’re trying not to overeat, you can make the task a lot easier by distracting yourself, or even better, distracting yourself by getting active! When your blood is pumping endor-phins, the last thing on your mind will be cook-ies, french fries, or ice cream. Staying healthy is all about balance and staying positive.

Inside the Post

Most read online

Corrections

News Quiz

Quote of the day

On this day in history

NationalAs the law minister and the Speaker of the House have both sought unanimous passage of the proposed amendment to the constitution, the Madhes-based par-ties have asked that the amendment incorporate their demands too.

OpinionPromisingly, Nepal already has relatively low carbon emissions, and our energy needs (excluding for cooking) are largely met through hydropower, which is a major component for a green approach and has vast untapped potential.

MoneyChina’s efforts to resolve risks among high-risk financial institutions have been hampered by slower economic conditions caused by the outbreak of the new coro-navirus, the head of a provincial branch of the central bank told Reuters.

WorldChina said Sunday that relations with the United States were “on the brink of a new Cold War”, fuelled in part by tensions over the coronavirus pandemic, as Muslims around the world celebrated a muted end to the holy month of Ramadan.

Culture & ArtsFor the past 12 years, Pitbull Gym, in Chuchepati, has opened at 5:30 in the morn-ing. One of the first to reach the gym is Kishor, the gym’s owner/chief instructor. By 10am, which is when the gym’s morning shift ends, an average of 60 gym members will have finished their daily workout.

Madhes-based parties press own demands alongside constitution amendment for new mapThe government on Friday registered a constitution amendment proposal in Parliament seeking to amend Article 119 (2), which is related to Schedule 3 that talks about the national emblem. The proposal is aimed at updating the map of Nepal in the national emblem, in line with the government’s decision to depict Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura as Nepali territories.

The myth and methods of teaching English in NepalHow much of English teaching in Nepal is a myth and how much is reality? These are the major questions that teachers of the language, at all levels of edu-cation, are facing today. We will face this more strongly in the days to come. But one reality about English teaching is that it will grow, especially in terms of the need for this language in a world lashed by the storm of Covid-19.

Kathmandu ward makes it compulsory for relief recipients to work for four hours to check fraudA ward in Kathmandu Metropolitan City has made it compulsory for at least one member to perform labor work assigned by local authorities, if the family is to receive essentials from the government

Deceased migrants are being cremated overseas as lockdowns delay repatriationFamilies of deceased Nepali migrant workers have started giving their approval for performing the final rites in the countries where they had been working owing to the lockdown, which has made it difficult to bring their bodies back home. As the country is under a protracted lockdown with international flights suspended, several families have no option but to allow the cremation of their loved ones in the labour destinations.

Yeltsin vetoes election law

MOSCOW – President Boris Yeltsin on Tuesday vetoed a new election law that would have made it easier for parties rather than independent candidates to win seats in the Russian parliament.

The President wants the election to be held on time, but he wants it to be based on a good law, presidential aide Georgy Satarov said at a briefing.

The next election to the state Duma, parliament’s lower house, is scheduled for December and some newspapers have expressed concern that the veto could delay it.

But Yeltsin proposed forming a conciliatory commission to work out a com-promise.

And the Duma can either change the bill to accommodate some or all of Yeltsin’s proposals, or it can try to override the veto. When the lawmakers passed the law, they had more than the required 301 votes needed to override a presidential veto.

The Kathmandu PostMay 25, 1995

1. Who is the highest-paid female athlete in the world according to Forbes magazine?

a. Serena Williams b. Ronda Rousey c. Naomi Osaka d. Alex Morgan

2. A municipality in which of the following districts has decided to give Rs 178 to each person kept in quarantine facilities instead of food?

a. Chitwan b. Rukum (West) c. Kailali d. Jhapa

3. How many passengers survived the plane crash in Pakistan on Friday that killed 97 people?

a. Two b. One c. Seven d. Five

4. When did an alligator named Saturn, who had survived World War II in Berlin, die?

a. May 25, 2019

b. January 5, 2020 c. May 15, 2019 d. May 23, 2020

5. How many new Covid-19 cases were reported in China on Friday?

a. 97 b. 0 c. 5 d. 73

6. Who is the author of the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls?

a. Ernest Hemingway b. James Baldiwn c. Mark Twain d. William Faulkner

Our reporters and editors do their best to make sure our reporting is free from errors. But when we make mistakes that warrant correction, we will be transparent and clarify at the bottom of the specific article.

If you believe we have got something wrong and it requires correction, please email us at kpost@kmg.com.np with “correction” in the subject line.

For the most recent corrections, visit kathmandupost.com/corrections. Answers to News Quiz: 1(c), 2(b), 3(a), 4(d), 5(b), 6(a)

PHOTO: MOSCOW ZOO

POST PHOTO: ELITE JOSHI

A girl plays on a swing in Kirtipur, Kathmandu, on Sunday. Schools across the country have been closed for the last two months because of the coronavirus lockdown.

“If we keep shutting down hospitals after the detection of Covid-19 cases,

other patients could die without getting minor treatments.”

Dr Sher Bahadur Pun of Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital on the danger of closing hospital over Covid-19 fears.

With patients testing positive for Covid-19, more hospitals could close down completely, Page 3

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03 | MONDAY, MAY 25, 2020

NATIONAL

Nepali Congress-formed panel suggests smaller budget amid coronavirus crisisPRITHVI MAN SHRESTHAKATHMANDU, MAY 24

A special committee on economy formed by the Nepali Congress has suggested that the size of the budget for the next fiscal be substantially reduced in view of the Covid-19 crisis.

The committee, headed by Former Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat and composed of other former finance ministers, former ministers, former vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission and other econ-omists, also suggested a number of measures to rescue the economy marred by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In its report ‘NC-Covid Policy Imperative’, submitted to party President Sher Bahadur Deuba on Sunday, the committee has suggested that a budget of around Rs1.35-Rs1.4 trillion be prepared given the likely shortfall in revenue collection amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the gov-ernment’s poor spending capacity.

The main opposition party’s recom-mendations come as the government prepares to present its budget for 2020/21, on May 28.

According to the report, the federal government is expected to collect an estimated revenue of Rs 850-Rs 900 billion after sharing it with provincial and local governments. Internal debt amounting to Rs 200 billion and for-eign loans of around Rs 225 billion can also be raised.

The amount of foreign grants com-ing to the country will depend on pro-gress made in implementation of pro-jects, according to the report.

“By incorporating unspent budget this fiscal year and utilising overdraft that can be taken from the Nepal Rastra Bank, a budget of Rs 1.35 tril-lion to Rs 1.4 trillion will be realistic,” the report said.

The government had planned to spend Rs1.53 trillion this fiscal

(2019/20). However, the target was low-ered due to poor spending on the part of government agencies.

Earlier, the Finance Committee under the House of Representative had recommended that the govern-ment plan to spend Rs1.7 trillion in 2020/21.

Task force leader Mahat told the Post that the committee came up with numbers for the size of the budget considering the government’s capaci-ty to raise money and spend it.

Given the limited resources author-ities have, the report has suggested the government to take cost cutting measures, re-prioritise sectors and maintain financial discipline.

In order to cut costs, the report has suggested the implementation of the report prepared by the Public Expenditure Review Commission 2075, which has suggested that the number of ministries be reduced by six, departments by 35, employees by 45,000, and development committees,

commissions and boards by 23. “After the Nepali Congress-led gov-

ernment was formed in 1992, the num-ber of government employees was reduced by 25 percent. This had improved the performance of the bureaucracy,” said Mahat, adding that the government can take the initiative by implementing the latest report by the Public Expenditure Review Commission.

The report has also suggested that the controversial Local Infrastructure Development Partnership Programme, led by lawmakers, also be suspended.

Both the communist and Nepali Congress-led governments have long been continuing the programme which has become controversial for allowing lawmakers to use resources for their small-scale pet projects.

“In the past when we didn’t have local government, the programme

could be defended as a tool to reach out to the local people,” said Mahat.

“But now, this programme is no longer needed at a time when limited resources are to be re-prioritised.”

The government has allocated Rs 60 million per lawmaker in the current fiscal year for 165 electoral constituen-cies.

As most of the projects under this scheme are not being implemented due to Covid-19 pandemic, there is growing call for the withdrawal or diversion of the resources to fight Covid 19.

Given the impact of the pandemic on every sector of the economy, the Congress-commissioned report has suggested ways to get the economy going and providing relief measures for affected sectors to generate employment.

According to the report, the coun-try’s economy is likely to grow by just one percent, although the Central Bureau of Statistics last month pro-jected a growth of 2.27 percent provid-ed that all sectors, except for hospital-ity and international travel, resume from mid-May.

But, that hasn’t happened as the number of Covid-19 cases continues to surge every day.

For the poor and those who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic, the task force has suggested that the government guarantee employment for 100 days and ensure income of at least Rs 51,700 per household for a year.

For this, about 700,000 people can be employed in infrastructure while 300,000 people can be provided appren-ticeship under partnerships between the government and the private sector.

Given the possibility of a large number of migrant workers return-ing to the country, the report has suggested that more work be created in the agriculture sector.

For this, local and provincial gov-ernments need to provide skill train-ing and orientation classes to return-ee workers and help them engage in commercial farming.

It has also suggested revamping the Prime Minister Employment Programme with the provision that unemployed youths get skill training in agriculture, manufacturing and construction.

In the tourism and industrial sector hit hard by the pandemic, the task force has suggested restructuring of loans. The report has also suggested providing subsidies in the form of low interest rates to industries of all sizes for a year.

With patients testing positive for Covid-19, more hospitals could close down completelyDoctors warn more patients will be deprived of medical care and the health infrastructure will come under stress if hospitals are shut.ARJUN POUDELKATHMANDU, MAY 24

The detection of Covid-19 in patients admitted to hospital for other forms of treatment has led to a swift closure of those health facilities, putting the burden on other hospitals and placing the coun-try’s health infrastructure under more stress.

Patients admitted to at least five hospi-tals—four public and one private—have tested positive for Covid-19, leading to the closure of the entire hospital or some of their departments.

“If we keep shutting down hospitals after the detection of Covid-19 cases, other patients could die without getting minor treatments,” Dr Sher Bahadur Pun, a virol-ogist at the Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital in Teku, told the Post.

Dhulikhel Hospital in Kavrepalanchok and Crimson Hospital in Rupandehi have both been sealed completely following the deaths of patients—a 29 year-old new mother and a 41-year-old man admitted to those hospitals, respectively.

The out-patient department of Hetauda Hospital and the neurosurgical ward of the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital have both been shut since patients tested positive for Covid-19.

Health workers and other staffers from the Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Centre and Grande International Hospital have also been quarantined after coming in close contact with infected patients.

According to Pun, the Health Ministry should make the conditions clear under which hospitals should be sealed and pre-cautionary measures to follow if patients test positive for the coronavirus.

“Otherwise, all hospitals will get sealed one after another, and quarantine facilities will be filled with health workers,” he said.

Most health facilities across the country have stopped providing a full range of ser-vices ever since the lockdown was enforced two months ago. Thousands of patients have been deprived of health care since then.

Dr Roshan Pokhrel, chief specialist at the Health Ministry, said that non-Covid-19 hospitals should perform at least rapid diagnostic tests before admitting patients and conduct polymerase chain reaction tests for those having symptoms of Covid-19. “It will be costly, but the risk will increase if those tests aren’t performed,”

Pokhrel said.But according to Dr Santa Kumar Das,

coordinator of the Covid-19 management team at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, performing tests on patients before admitting them is not practical, as both rapid diagnostic and polymerase chain reaction tests cost a lot of money and take up time.

“Rapid diagnostic tests show the pres-ence of antibodies only after 10 days or more of infection and have lower efficacy rates,” Das told the Post. “Polymerase chain reaction tests too aren’t 100 percent accurate, and they take a lot of time.”

Doctors serving in non-Covid-19 hospi-tals could look after patients by putting on personal protective equipment, as most coronavirus patients are asymptomatic and any one could be infected, said Das.

But many hospitals across the country lack full sets of personal protective equip-ment (PPE), leading them to remain shut-tered and only offer emergency services.

“PPEs are costly and not easily available in the market,” said Kumar Thapa, chair-person of Alka Hospital in Jawalakhel. “Some private hospitals have bought them from China, but the government did not even provide them with a tax waiver.”

The Health Ministry has directed hospi-tals to resume all services, including out-patient services, but only a few hospi-tals currently provide the full range of services, as most lack PPE.

Dr Bikash Devkota, spokesperson for the Health Ministry, conceded that a lot of patients are being deprived of treatment, and more could suffer if hospitals continue to close at the same rate.

“We are working on new guidelines that will help health facilities take precaution-ary measures before admitting patients, and what to do if admitted patients test positive,” said Devkota.

Doctors believe that no one should be deprived of medical treatment because of the Covid-19 pandemic and that hospitals must work to ensure that patients receive the care they are entitled to.

“Health facilities should continue with their services by applying safety meas-ures,” said Dr Chakra Raj Pandey, director at Grande International Hospital. “If patients test positive for Covid-19, respec-tive wards or units should be brought into operation after disinfecting them.”

As of Sunday, 603 people from 42 districts had tested positive for Covid-19. Three deaths have been linked to the coronavirus.

Janata Samajbadi Party reiterates demand for statute revision to incorporate concerns of Madhesis

BINOD GHIMIREKATHMANDU, MAY 24

As the law minister and the Speaker of the House have both sought unanimous passage of the proposed amendment to the constitution, the Madhes-based parties have asked that the amendment incorporate their demands too.

The government has tabled a proposal aimed at amending Schedule 3 of the constitution, which includes reference to the national coat-of-arms. With the introduction of a new political map of Nepal that includes all disputed territories, including Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani, the image of the map on the coat-of-arms too needs to be amended.

The Samajbadi Party Nepal and the Rastriya Janata Party Nepal, which recently announced a merger to form the Janata Samajbadi Party, have asked that their demands for amend-ments to the constitution, which have long been a bone of contention between the two parties and the KP Sharma Oli government, be included in the amendment bill.

In response to the request of the Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Shiva Maya Tumbahangphe and Speaker Agni Sapkota to have unanimous position on the amendment, they said their concerns also need to be addressed while revising the statute to adjust the national map.

“We agree that all parties must have a common view on the amendment,” Laxman Lal Karna, chief whip of the Janata Party, said at a Sunday meeting of the Parliamentary Business Advisory Committee. “However, we also want our concerns to be addressed through the amendment.”

Since the amendment concerns a matter of national impor-tance, Law Minister Shiva Maya Tumbahangphe and House Speaker Agni Sapkota had both requested all parties to pass the amendment unanimously. According to Roj Nath Pandey, spokesperson of the federal parliament, Sapkota said that he was ready to take the initiative to bring all the parties together in this matter.

“It would be best to have a common position among all the parties on the amendment,” Pandey quoted Sapkota as saying at the Business Advisory Committee meeting.

Tumbahangphe too said that she was in favour of consensus on the issue and assured of reporting the same to Prime Minister Oli.

Karna and Uma Shankar Argariya, chief whip of the Samajbadi Party, had then asked that this was an opportune moment to address their long outstanding demands. The two Madhes-based parties have long demanded that the constitu-tion be amended to redraw provincial boundaries, recognise regional languages, address issues related to citizenship, and expand representation in the National Assembly.

Karna and Argariya have asked for an all-party meeting before the amendment bill is tabled.

Leaders of the two parties, on Saturday, had met primary opposition leader Sher Bahadur Deuba of Nepali Congress, asking for support in addressing their concerns. They also plan to meet ruling party leaders Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhala Nath Khanal.

The government had registered the amendment proposal in the federal parliament on Friday. It takes five-days for a bill registered by the government to mature before it is presented in Parliament, according to House regulations. The next meeting of the House has been called for Tuesday, which is when the amendment bill is expected to be presented.

Pandey said the bill would be presented in the House on Tuesday either by suspending the provision that requires five days for maturity or at the next meeting once the maturity period completes. The bill will then be published publicly to inform the general public, as per Article 274 (3) of the Constitution of Nepal.

“The endorsement process will begin only seven days after the bill is published publicly,” Gopal Nath Yogi, secretary at the parliament secretariat, told the Post.

The bill will be forwarded to the National Assembly after endorsement by the House of Representatives.

According to Article 274 (8) of the constitution, the amend-ment bill must be passed by at least a two-thirds majority of members of both Houses of the federal parliament.

While the ruling Nepal Communist Party falls 10 votes short of a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives, the bill is likely to pass as all opposition parties, including the Nepali Congress and the two Madhes-based parties, are with the government on the map, citing it as a matter of “national importance”. In the National Assembly, the ruling party com-mands the required numbers.

Constitutional experts say that the bill needs to be endorsed first by the Lower House, where the bill originated, and then has to be endorsed by the other Upper House separately. This is the second constitutional amendment bill registered in the House of Representatives.

“It is international practice in a bicameral parliament that the constitution amendment bill has to be endorsed by both the Houses,” senior advocate Chandra Kanta Gyawali, who spe-cialises in constitutional law, told the Post.

Baburam Bhattarai, a Samajbadi Party leader and former prime minister, had told the Post on Saturday that although they had no disputes on an issue of national interest, the amendment was a good opportunity “to build trust among all the parties.”

“We can form a common understanding on all issues, includ-ing those raised by the Madhesis, Janajatis and Tharus,” said Bhattarai.

Valley’s traffic officers get much-needed downtime during lockdownANUP OJHAKATHMANDU, MAY 24

Traffic constable couple Bindu Khadka and Bhupendra Karki have been enjoying the rare, stress-free time at work these days.

Because of the coronavirus lockdown, which was enforced two months ago, the young couple have been assigned to traffic duty in the Putalisadak area in Kathmandu, not far away from their rented apartment.

And with few vehicles plying the roads these days, the husband-wife constable duo is getting enough time to be with their two-year-old son.

They have been working in shifts so that one of them can be at home with their son while the other is on duty.

“It is so much convenient this way,” the couple say of their new work routine presented by the coronavirus lockdown.

In normal times, the husband and wife used to be assigned to different locations. Every morning, they left their son in a daycare centre before reporting to their duty. They rarely got time to spend quality time with their child.

“We both have our duty in Putalisadak these days. So even when one of us is out in the street doing our job, we are always close to our home,” Khadka said.

Their job, meanwhile, has become much easier. There are no traffic jams, no noise and no pollution.

Their main duty these days is to ensure that the lock-down orders are being followed by motorists.

Traffic head constable Dipendra Lama, of Sangha, Kavre, is also enjoying the much-needed downtime offered by the lockdown.

Before the lockdown, he had to make more than an hour-long commute to work daily at the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division in Baggikhana, Kathmandu. He arrived home late in the evening. “I rarely got time to be with my family. The disease and the lockdown have their downsides, but there is a positive aspect for people who are in our line of work,” Lama said.

He is currently stationed at a highway checkpoint, just five minutes walk from his home.

He dons a mask and strictly observes social distancing while dealing with motorists who stop at the checkpoint.

The traffic division office has distributed masks, sunglasses, gloves and sanitisers to all the officers on traffic duty.

Sub-inspector Govinda Basnet, who lives in Chapali, Budhanilkantha, feels much safer working close to his residence.

“The office is usually crowded with colleagues and service seekers. Here, I can work peacefully, away from the crowd, safe,” he said.

Basnet says he makes a point of taking a shower once he has reached his home after finishing his duty.

According to the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, 527 traffic officers have been working near their homes during the lockdown.

SSP Bhim Prasad Dhakal, chief of the division, claims the new working arrangement has increased productivity in traffic work in Kathmandu Valley.

“We monitor their work daily and we have noticed improvement in their performance,” Dhakal said.

The demand comes when the government is preparing to amend the constitution to legitimise the new political map.

POST FILE PHOTO: ANISH REGMI

People queue for the coronavirus test at Kalimati Fruit and Vegetable Market in Kathmandu. As the coronavirus cases rise in the country, several hospitals have started to close down their facilities upon detecting infected patients, causing inconvenience for non-Covid-19 patients.

POST PHOTO: KABIN ADHIKARI

Nepali Congress leaders meet at the party’s headquarters in Sanepa, Lalitpur. The main opposition has proposed a budget not more than Rs 1.4 trillion for the upcoming fiscal year.

C M Y K

MONDAY, MAY 25, 2020 | 04

OPINION

EDITORIAL

The KP Oli led federal government has received some posi-tive press recently, for its response to India’s opening of a road through Lipulekh. While governments in the past have tacitly accepted that it is difficult to remove India from the disputed territories, this government has at least updated Nepal’s own map, so as to assert that its claims have not been forgotten by the people of Nepal. This was a strong move: Nepal’s own cartography had, for centuries, ignored its own assertions on the mouth of the Mahakali river. Now, hopeful-ly, India will have no choice but to address the dispute, some-thing it has tried to brush off with insincerity until now.

Recently, however, the government seems to be milking the new map for all the positive press it is worth. It is attempting to push through a constitutional amendment to recognise Nepal’s new assertions to the old claims in all official graph-ics, including the state emblems and seals. Yet, the reaffirma-tion of the territorial claims—with the help of a new politi-cal map—is not an end in itself. It was always a means to an end—to get India to acknowledge the dispute and come to the negotiation table in good faith. While amending the constitu-tion is an essential step to match Nepal’s geographic rep-resentations in all documents, it is not the most important matter right now.

Nepal has already shown its resolve on the matter to India. The rushing of a constitutional amendment for seals and emblems, when other groups have had legitimate concerns needing amendment, and that too in the midst of a pandemic, seems nothing more than an attempt to distract the public. While the amendment should come soon, the government must first deal with the graver issues at hand—it seems to not have any concrete plans in place to deal with the ever-grow-ing threat of Covid-19.

The government’s response to the pandemic has been very poor. To begin with, it enforced a strict barrier to entry—one that has left countless Nepalis stranded abroad. Countless have lost their jobs, and many thousands have shown a desire to come home. Some, like Bishnu Prasad Neyopane, have suc-cumbed to health complications in Kuwait while desperately waiting—jobless and low on money—for a government res-cue. Now, of the 207 Nepalis who have died abroad recently (10 directly due to Covid-19), 58 have already been cleared for cremation abroad, as family members find it impossible to bring back the bodies to perform funeral rites. And, for all of the Oli government’s claims that they have sealed the border due to the chance of more infected people coming in, the virus has somehow found a way into Nepal anyway.

As Nepal’s infected tally reaches 584, it must now become clear to the government that simply enforcing a lockdown will not control the spread of the virus. This is especially true when instead of arranging for isolation and treatment centres for coronavirus infected patients, many of the infect-ed have been put up in quarantine centres with healthy peo-ple—allowing for the spread within these centres that has already spread to the larger populace. At the same time, those not affected by the virus are beginning to be affected by the measures put in place to contain it. As retail merchants find it difficult to restock supplies, consumers—many of them without steady income due to the lockdown—are facing a market with fewer supplies and inflated prices.

In this situation, the priority must be to look for solutions to manage Covid-19 while not letting the economy tank fur-ther. The government has already shown India that it means business with territorial claims, which is important. The officials and experts are also unanimous in their belief that the only way forward to resolve the border disputes is through talks; diplomatic channels should be activated for the purpose. The government now must cut down on the dis-tractions and put the focus back on public health manage-ment and response measures.

The politics of distractionWhile the new political map's release was important, the discourse must move back to crisis management.

The Covid-19 pandemic has hit Nepal’s economy hard. By all indications, the lockdown will have profound long-term impacts that are difficult to fully deter-mine now. As we take stock of our losses, reassess our economic vulnerabilities, and contemplate the future, perhaps this crisis also gives us an opportunity to pivot to a more resilient, sustainable growth path. Perhaps we need to re-eval-uate the importance we place on the growth agenda. And perhaps it is time to address the real frailties that disasters, pandemics, and economic shocks merely expose: Our systemic failings, our fail-ure to tackle inequalities, and our unchecked plundering of earth’s resources.

At the heart of our frailties lies cli-mate change. Nepali communities have become more vulnerable to disasters, biodiversity and habitat loss, resource degradation, and rising temperatures and pollution, all induced or compound-ed by climate change. This vulnerability will only be exacerbated by the pandem-ic, with livelihoods already disrupted across the region, remittances slashed, vital sectors closed down, food security compromised, and the healthcare sector possibly overburdened if cases continue to rise. So what path can Nepal carve to address its climatic and economic vul-nerabilities? The time has come for us to reimagine and restructure our economic priorities—putting people and the envi-ronment above profits. Maybe it is time for Nepal’s own Green New Deal.

What is the Green New Deal?Recognising that climate change and eco-nomic inequality have to be addressed in tandem, countries across the world have proposed a form of the Green New Deal to guide their domestic administration. With a great economic recession—some predicting it to be the largest since the Great Depression—on the cards follow-ing the outbreak of the pandemic, it fits the bill for building a resilient, sustaina-ble future. Nepal can do well to look at interpretations of such programmes across the world, but it will ultimately need to draft its own green deal to address its unique needs.

Nepal’s 15th Five-Year Plan aims to achieve significant economic growth, graduate from a least developed country to a developing country by 2022 and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Worryingly, the country is expected to experience very negligible growth in the post-pandemic setting.

A green deal for Nepal needs to look past short-term economic growth and instead make vital sectors and systems resilient. It would need to channel invest-ments in expanding renewable energy sources, promoting green transport and infrastructure, investing in creating green jobs, widening its social security net, and strengthening its agricultural and healthcare systems. The focus

should be on adopting a green approach to reduce vulnerabilities and promote inclusive growth.

Subsidising low-emission transporta-tion systems insulates from unpredicta-ble price shocks and supply of fossil fuel. Promisingly, Nepal already has relative-ly low carbon emissions, and our energy needs (excluding for cooking) are largely met through hydropower, which is a major component for a green approach and has vast untapped potential. Our Green New Deal should continue pro-moting renewable energy by implement-ing suitable subsidy mechanisms while also pushing clean cooking alternatives. Enhancing and replicating existing mechanisms such as ropeway transport for rural mountain communities can sig-nificantly decrease costs and could revo-lutionise new-age transport.

Widely promoted and well-crafted pro-visions can help bring in more invest-ments in sustainable and upgraded green industries to provide green jobs in sectors like transportation, waste man-agement, and manufacturing to ease future out-migration trends. Branding of green produce through certifications can potentially reorient consumer behaviour and create additional demand for locally grown and manufactured green prod-ucts. At the same time, resource exploita-tion and emissions can be reduced through measures such as cap and trade, the polluter pays principle, carbon tax, and payment for ecosystem services. The last of these measures is a government of Nepal strategy and there are already case studies showcasing success on a micro scale in watershed management. Careful formulation of this scheme can also help reduce deforestation and emissions.

Around 99 percent of the businesses in Nepal are micro, small and medium

enterprises (MSMEs). Nepal’s version of the Green New Deal would need to regu-late MSMEs’ heavy dependence on natu-ral resources, especially non-timber for-est products, while also improving their health and creating green jobs, thereby reducing dependency on remittances. Further, a significant number of MSMEs are led by women entrepreneurs, so there is immense scope for improving gender and social equity through target-ed investments in businesses. This would need facilitated investments (national and foreign), capacity building for sus-tainable business practices, and incen-tives and subsidies to support existing and new enterprises.

Focus should be shifted towards pro-moting green infrastructure and technol-ogy, which in the long run will help bet-ter absorb abrupt shocks such as the Covid-19 pandemic and ultimately cli-mate change. Evolving social security nets must be designed to protect the most vulnerable population on the basis of viable mechanisms such as vulnerabili-ty-targeted insurance and low regret investments. Similarly, the current situa-tion demands a better healthcare system; new health infrastructure must be designed to promote green health care development and create additional green jobs. Ensuring sustainable, diverse food production and supply systems through mechanisation and subsidies based on the principles of agroecology and climate-smart agriculture will contrib-ute towards addressing prevailing food security issues.

The road to a Green New DealThere is no single standard pathway or framework to implement a green deal. Each country’s planned measures will depend on its own environmental and socioeconomic realities. We can draw

lessons from and build on existing national and local programmes such as Local Adaptation Plans for Action and National Adaptation Plans, which focus on an integrated approach to leave no one behind in climate change adaptation.

We need a groundswell of public sup-port and mobilisation (particularly an energised youth base) for a Green New Deal to gather steam in Nepal in the post-pandemic setting. The development and implementation of a comprehensive programme must be a consultative pro-cess, with the inclusion of various levels of government, local to regional organi-sations, business and scientific commu-nities, and the public.

Macroeconomic transformations are always challenging. A green deal would entail extensive government spending and public works to decarbonise the economy while addressing key social and economic concerns. And legislation will be plagued by political impediments and industrial lobbies. But the fact of the matter is that we need to fundamen-tally redefine development, sustainabili-ty and wellbeing. And with proper advo-cacy and political manoeuvring, the Covid-19 pandemic could be used as a platform to implement transformative strategies towards a sustainable, green economy resilient to future shocks. The path towards a Green New Deal will undoubtedly be fraught with road-blocks, but returning to business as usual will certainly lead us towards more unmitigated economic hardships and climate disasters. The cost of inac-tion is too high.

Pandey is a livelihoods and climate ana-lyst at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

The time has come for us to reimagine and restructure our economic priorities. AVASH PANDEY

Putting the environment above profits

SHUTTERSTOCK

It is too soon to tell how heavy the human and health toll from Covid-19 will be in Sub-Saharan Africa. But the pandemic’s terrible economic impact on the region is already clear.

I have worked across Sub-Saharan Africa on and off since the early 1990s, and the scale of the economic challenge now unfolding is unlike any other during that time. The region’s expected economic contraction this year—with GDP set to shrink by at least 1.6 percent, and by 4 percent in per capita terms—will be its sharpest since at least 1970.

There are several reasons why this pandem-ic is such a potent threat to the region. For starters, previous African crises, such as those stemming from natural disasters and commod-ity price slumps, have always had a differential impact on its economies. But no country will be spared from the economic fallout of the virus.

Although the Covid-19 disease burden in some African countries has so far remained limited, this is the result of aggressive contain-ment and mitigation measures, ranging from complete lockdowns to border closures. Formal economic activity has thus been brutally cur-tailed across the board.

Moreover, the poor will likely endure the brunt of the crisis. People who must go out and earn a daily living to put food on the table for

their families are now being required to stay home and practice social distancing. And few of them will be able to work from home.

The significant deterioration of the external environment compounds the impact of these factors. In particular, tighter financial condi-tions and sharp commodity-price declines (especially for oil) are exacerbating the chal-lenges facing many economies.

Finally, and regrettably, most Sub-Saharan African countries’ ability to mount anything approaching the necessary fiscal and mone-tary policy response is severely constrained. Many have high levels of public debt and limit-ed domestic savings, and private external financing options have dried up just when they would have helped the most.

What are the region’s governments to do? The critical priority, of course, is to protect their citizens’ health and wellbeing. This requires boosting spending to improve the pre-paredness of health-care systems and provid-ing targeted cash or in-kind transfers to the most vulnerable groups. Wherever possible, governments should also consider extending liquidity support to small and medium-sized enterprises to ensure their survival through this difficult period. This assistance must be provided in a transparent manner and in accordance with the highest governance standards.

But, more than ever, Sub-Saharan African countries also need large-scale external financ-ing. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank estimate that the region faces a government financing gap (assuming a modest-ly supportive fiscal stance) of at least $114 bil-lion in 2020. African governments cannot mobilise this amount domestically.

For its part, the IMF can provide close to $19 billion of rapidly disbursable financing to African countries this year; 26 have already received funding from its emergency facilities. In addition, 19 of the region’s poorest coun-tries will receive direct debt relief, with the IMF Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust providing grants to cover their upcom-

ing debt-service payments to the Fund.Other development partners such as the

World Bank Group and the African Development Bank are also ramping up financ-ing. And G20 countries have stepped up with an important initiative to suspend debt-service payments until the end of 2020 for poor coun-tries that request relief.

Despite these efforts, however, African gov-ernments still face a significant residual financing gap of at least $44 billion for 2020.

The case for the international community to bridge this shortfall is overwhelming. Providing these funds would greatly increase African countries’ ability to deploy fiscal measures to mitigate the pandemic’s adverse effects. And international lenders would be making one of the most strategic long-term investments possible if they supplemented this financing with further support to buttress the region’s economic recovery.

One way or another, what happens in Africa will shape this century. Just ten years from now, Sub-Saharan Africa will account for more than half of the annual increase in the global labour force. Moreover, the marginal increase in global consumption and investment demand will increasingly come from this region. The healthier Africa’s population is, the more robust the future global workforce will be. And the more climate-friendly the continent’s urbanisation, the greener our future.

The amounts involved are certainly manage-able. For example, $100 billion in new financ-ing to support the region’s economic recovery amounts to only about 2 percent of the finan-cial support that G7 governments have injected into their economies in recent weeks. And with global interest rates as low as they are now, it is hard to think of a more opportune time to make such a commitment to Africa—or a more important investment for our planet’s future.

Selassie is Director of the African Department at the International Monetary Fund.

—Project Syndicate

Africa’s hour of needTighter financial conditions and sharp commodity-price declines are exacerbating the challenges facing many economies.

ABEBE AEMRO SELASSIE

SHUTTERSTOCK

C M Y K

05 | MONDAY, MAY 25, 2020

NATIONAL

The British School

BID NO: KOICA-NEPAL 2020 -01

INVITATION TO BID

>> Continued from page 1

“The ambassador must be active and needs to build access,” former Nepali Ambassador to India Durgesh Man Singh told the Post. “We might not always gain access via bureaucratic channels so we have to step up and build clout at the political level. The Nepali ambassador in Delhi can always mobilise their social standing.”

Acharya, however, is in a delicate position as he has not been able to meet people in person due to restric-tions on public movement and social distancing norms.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also instructed Acharya to reach out to senior Indian officials and open other possible lines of communica-tion to quell the rising anti-Nepal rhetoric in the media and in public, according to the embassy officials. This hasn’t happened either.

Developments in Kathmandu are not very encouraging either, as Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi met with Indian Ambassador Vinay Mohan Kwatra at the end of last week to discuss the possibility of hold-ing an early meeting at the foreign secretary level. India did not respond positively, said officials at the Foreign Ministry.

“It seems India’s position has not changed yet and it is sticking to its last statement issued on May 20 where the ball was thrown in our court,” said one Foreign Ministry official.

In its May 20 statement, India’s Ministry of External Affairs had said that it hopes that the Nepali leader-ship will “create a positive atmos-phere for diplomatic dialogue to resolve the outstanding boundary issues.”

“Our position is also to seek a diplo-matic solution to the current stand-off,” said Rajan Bhattarai, foreign relations advisor to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. “There is no alterna-tive to talks. A positive environment towards this end is in the making and attempts to reach out via informal channels are taking place.”

According to the Foreign Ministry official, Nepal is in the process of writing a note to the Indian side to pile pressure to sit for talks. New Delhi has yet to respond to the diplomatic note handed to ambassador Kwatra by Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali on May 11 protesting India’s inaugura-tion of the link road in Lipulekh. Delhi has not even acknowledged the receipt of the note.

As tensions continue to rise on both sides, former diplomats say that the role of an ambassador is crucial in times like this. All Nepali officials in New Delhi and the political establish-ment in Kathmandu must keep the issue alive, they say.

“To keep the agenda alive, we have to provoke India. Without provoca-tion, the issue will break down and never see a conclusion,” said PB Shah, a former ambassador and career bureaucrat who spent a long time at the Foreign Ministry’s India desk. “Our position is strong and we have enough evidence to claim our land. I do not know how much proof India holds but for sure, ours is not any weaker than theirs.”

>> Continued from page 1

The current amendment to the cor-ruption law is in line with the UN convention and the new constitution, according to officials at the Prime Minister’s Office who registered the bill.

According to Khimlal Devkota, a senior advocate and former lawmaker, the private sector should be included in the jurisdiction of the anti-graft body not just to comply with the UN convention but also to enhance the capacity of the state’s constitutional bodies.

“The private sector is very vast and this sector has been key in promoting corruption,” said Devkota. “They must be ready to face the anti-graft mechanism if they are clean.”

As many existing regulatory bodies do not have the authority to investi-gate corruption in the private sector, the CIAA’s jurisdiction must be expanded in line with the UN conven-tion, he said.

The parliamentary committee has been holding discussions with experts over the theoretical aspects of the proposed amendment. These experts include former CIAA chief Surya Nath Upadhyay, current chief Nabin Ghimire, lawmaker Ramesh Lekhak, advocate Devkota, chief of the Nepal Law Commission Madhav Poudel, and chief of Transparency International Nepal Khem Raj Regmi.

Upadhyay, the former commission chief, has a contrary opinion, saying it might not be wise to burden the com-mission with more responsibility. Even when the commission is just looking into the public sector, there are thousands of cases that are cur-

rently pending, he said. “The anti-graft body, which is una-

ble to investigate the public sector, cannot also look after the private sector,” Upadhyay told the Post. “The CIAA will be unable to focus on its existing works if its scope is widened.”

While many experts seem to agree that corruption in the private sector requires scrutiny, they also believe that the CIAA’s jurisdiction should be widened further to also include the political parties.

The UN Convention explicitly states that the law related to corruption con-trol should include political parties and the public and private sectors, but the amendment bill does not explicitly mention political parties.

“Though the phrase ‘institutions registered as per the law’ includes political parties, it would’ve been bet-ter to explicitly mention political par-ties,” said Lekhak, a Nepali Congress lawmaker and former minister.

Article 7 (3) of the UN convention states that each “State Party shall also consider taking appropriate legisla-tive and administrative measures, consistent with the objectives of this Convention and in accordance with the fundamental principles of its domestic law, to enhance transparen-cy in the funding of candidatures for elected public office and, where applicable, the funding of political parties.”

According to Regmi, on Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer, the political sector in Nepal is the most corrupt, followed by the bureaucracy.

Large sums of money are spent

every year during the elections and politicians are often involved in quid pro quo deals, said Devkota.

“Political parties float huge amounts of money and corruption is rampant during elections,” he said. “As they’re the ones who run the state mechanism, political parties too need to come under the jurisdiction of the CIAA.”

There are, however, concerns that the CIAA could be used as a political tool to persecute rivals, especially given the notorious tenure of Lokman Singh Karki who used his position as CIAA chief to pursue political vendettas.

If the bill is endorsed in its current, a one-man company, consumer com-mittees, various social organisations, and local clubs could come under the scanner of the CIAA, allowing the commission to play favourites.

“There are high chances that the law could be abused,” said Lekhak, the lawmaker.

Narainapur declared ‘prohibited area’ as chaos continuesAt least 13 infected went into hiding after they tested positive for the coronavirus. The reasons are manifold, including rumours, fake news and illiteracy.THAKUR SINGH THARU BANKE, MAY 24

On Friday, 13 more people from Narainapur in Banke were diagnosed with Covid-19. All of them fled their quarantine facility soon after they knew that they were infected.

The situation turned chaotic with all of them going into hiding, assisted by their family members and locals, police said. Nearly 1,000 people gath-ered at the quarantine facility soon as the news of infection spread and encir-cled the ambulances that were carry-ing the infected to isolation centres.

The infected fled the centre while the locals began arguing with the police, who couldn’t locate the former that night. They were detained the next day, after dozens of security per-sonnel were deployed.

Narainapur has become the corona-virus hotspot in Province 5 with 114 people infected so far. The rural municipality in Banke is ill-equipped to deal with the situation, with no iso-lation wards to house the infected.

Prior to this, a similar situation played out on Monday when as many as 57 individuals were infected and they were left at the quarantine facili-ty for over a day because of a lack of isolation wards in the district. The infected were moved to an isolation ward in Nepalgunj on Wednesday.

On Saturday, 27 more individuals from the same local unit were diag-nosed with the virus. Police said they are maintaining stern vigilance this

time, lest the previous episodes repeat.To understand these episodes, one

should look beneath the surface of the incidents, says Binay Dixit, a local youth leader. “Emotions run high every day at the quarantine centres. Sights of family members of the infect-ed sobbing while at the centres are common. They want the infected to be treated in their own locality.”

But for a remote region as Narainapur, treatment of Covid-19 at the local unit is not possible. The local unit only has one primary health post, which lacks resources, even electrici-ty. Dixit points to the failure of the local units and health workers to suffi-ciently aware the people: “There are rumours in the villages. The family members worry that their dear ones would be placed liked prisoners in isolation wards and would be deprived of food. The rumours are so wild that some families worry kidneys would be taken out of the infected.”

Rural Municipality chief Istiyak Ahmed Shah also said rumours and fake news have led many infected to flee the quarantine centres. “Even the noted leaders are spreading rumours, but I don’t understand why the district administration is silent about it,” Shah said. Krishna Chandra Maurya, chief of Narainapur-5, said that the chaotic situation would continue in the future if isolation wards are not set up in the local unit itself.

“If there was an isolation ward in the local unit, family members would be consoled as they could see and talk

with the infected every day. We wouldn’t have to see chaotic situations like this,” he said.

DSP Shiva Bahadur Singh, spokes-person for the District Police, said, “We have had to deter the agitating protesters twice while we try to move the infected to an isolation ward. This is not the proper atmosphere for us to work in. We expect support from everyone but that’s been hard to come by.” Mismanaged quarantines and poor regulations have contributed to a surge in the number of infected in the local unit, Rajan Pandey, chief of medical bureau at Bheri Hospital, said.

Province 5 has been roundly criticised for its mismanaged and crowded quarantine facilities, with a fresh protest against it erupting in Kotahimai Rural Municipality in Rupandehi on Saturday. The residents of ward 6 decried the poor manage-ment in the quarantine facility at Bogadi Secondary School and sloganeered against the rural munici-pality chief Chandra Bhusan Yadav.

Nishant Pandey, a local of Kotahimai, said that the centre—which has 70 indi-viduals, all of them India returnees—has not man-aged its garbage properly and the quarantined indi-viduals are found to have visited the local grocery stores. “We have notified the local unit chief about the slack regulations but haven’t heard anything in response,” he said. “We were compelled to stage a protest.”

Citing the obstructions in transportation of Covid patients, the Banke District Security Committee on Sunday deployed the Army and declared Narainapur Rural Municipality as Prohibited Area. The order

comes into effect from 8pm Sunday, according to the district administra-tion. Following the repeated incidents of protests and the chaos, the rural municipality had corresponded with the District Administration and the Prime Minister’s Office for better security arrangements.

“If the protests and obstructions continue, then there’s a high chance

of rapid community transfer [of the disease],” Hari Pyakurel, the assistant CDO of Banke, said. The meeting of the security committee has also decid-ed to deploy physicians at the local unit. “Works to set up the isolation ward will begin soon,” he said.

(Sanju Paudel and Rupa Gahatraj contributed reporting.)

Bodies of two Dalit men found in BheriHARI GAUTAM IN RUKUM (WEST) & BHIM BAHADUR SINGH IN JAJARKOTMAY 24

Two Dalit men were found dead on the banks of Bheri River in Bheri Municipality, Jajarkot, on Sunday. The bodies of Nabaraj BK of Ward No. 4 in Bheri Municipality and Tikaram Sunar of Chaurajahari Municipality were recovered by the police.

According to police, 21-year-old Nabaraj, along with 18 of his friends, had gone to Soti in Chaurjahari Municipality of Rukum (West) to bring a 19-year-old girl as his bride when the locals allegedly attacked them and chased them towards the Bheri River. Nabaraj and his friends had jumped into the river to save themselves. Two people lost their lives in the inci-dent while four are still missing.

The two bodies have been taken to the Jajarkot District Hospital for postmortem.

“Even before we could reach the girl, her mother started shouting and gathered the villagers who then pelted us with stones and chased us towards the river,” said Ashish BK, one of Nabaraj’s friends who had accompanied him to the girl’s house. “We jumped into the river, but the villagers would not stop pelting stones.”

According to the police, the girl’s family was against the union for they belonged to the so-called ‘upper-

caste’. “It was around 8pm when the incident occurred. The villagers came after us saying that a boy from a low caste had come to take away a high-caste girl,” said Ashish, “We are in this situation because of caste-based discrimination.”

Thag Bahadur KC, the deputy superintendent of police of Rukum (West), added that Nabaraj had come to the police station a few months ago with the girl, seeking to marry her. “We sent him back, as they were underage at that time,” said KC.

However, Dammar Bahadur Malla, chair of ward no. 8 in Soti, refutes those claims.

“The incident was not motivated due to caste differ-ences,” said Malla. “A group of men showed out of nowhere during the lockdown and when the locals confronted them, they began to run.”

Other men who sustained minor injuries in the inci-dent have been handed over to their parents while two critically injured are receiving treatment at Chaurjahari Community Hospital.

Karnali Province Police Chief DIG Basanta Pant said that police chiefs of both the districts—Rukum (West) and Jajarkot—have been instructed to conduct a fair investigation into the matter.

“Details regarding the matter will be known after further investigation,” said Pant.

Bheri River flows between Jajarkot and Rukum (West) and acts as the border between the two districts.

Corruption in private sector needs ...

Indian officials’ snub to envoy Acharya in New Delhi does not ...

POST PHOTO

Narainapur has become the coronavirus hotspot in Province 5 with 114 people infected so far.

C M Y K

MONDAY, MAY 25, 2020 | 06

MONEY

GASOLINE WATCH

FOREX

US Dollar 121.83

Euro 132.82

Pound Sterling 148.30

Japanese Yen 11.32

Chinese Yuan 17.09

Qatari Riyal 33.20

Australian Dollar 79.63

Malaysian Ringit 27.92

Saudi Arab Riyal 32.42

Exchange rates fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank

BULLIONPRICE PER TOLA

SOURCE: FENEGOSIDA

Fine Gold Rs 77,000

Silver Rs 720

Grocery store sealed for selling fertiliser illegallyThe shop owner was charging Rs2,000 for a sack of fertiliser which normally costs Rs785.

POST REPORTBHOJPUR, MAY 24

The local administration has sealed a grocery store at Arun Rural Municipality-6, Bhorlabot on the charge of selling chemical fertiliser illegally.

Authorities were responding to complaints that shop owner Bhadraman Bhujel was selling soil nourishers to farmers at double the market price. The store was charging Rs2,000 for a sack of fertiliser which normally costs Rs785.

The 47 sacks of urea fertiliser found at Bhujel’s store were sealed, but it was not known where he had obtained them.

Chief District Officer Basanta Raj Puri said that an investigation com-mittee had been formed to find out where the fertiliser came from, and

who were involved in the procure-ment. The panel will submit a report within seven days.

The members of the investigation committee are Pandab Rajbansi, inspector at the District Police Office, Bhojpur, and Anish Subedi, officer at the Agriculture Extension Office under the Agriculture Knowledge Centre, Bhojpur, said Krishna Prasad Basnet, assistant chief of the District Administration Office, Bhojpur.

Shop owner Bhujel, who is an employee at the District Post Office, said he bought the fertiliser at Rs1,800 per sack out of a truck that had bro-ken down.

The truck carrying the fertiliser was immobilised after suffering engine problem, Bhujel said, and the driver wanted to offload his cargo.

Bhujel said he asked the driver if he

was transporting food items, and found that it was delivering a ship-ment of fertiliser which he bought and stored in his shop.

Bhujel admitted that he sold the fertiliser at Rs2,000 per sack after pur-chasing it at Rs1,800 per sack. The truck driver returned after selling the fertiliser, Bhujel said, and he did not know where it had come from.

An informal discussion is reportedly being held about the impounded fertiliser with chairper-son of the rural municipality Gajendra Bahadur Karki, vice-chair-person Binita Dhakal, Charambi ward chairperson Gyanendra Dahal and chief administrative officer Yadav Prasad Sapkota.

Dhakal said that it was decided to sell the fertiliser at Rs1,000 per sack to farmers who needed it. But the goods have been left untouched pending fur-ther investigation.

Fertiliser is in short supply as it is the growing season, and since the stock at the store has been confiscat-ed, other sources will be explored, Dahal said.

Arun rural municipality has given a contract to HP Suppliers to purchase agro-chemical fertiliser for the munic-ipality. As per the deal, 1,395 sacks of DAP and 2,605 bags of urea fertiliser will be distributed. DAP will be sold at the rate of Rs50 per kg.

Nirmala Sherpa, proprietor of the firm, said that DAP fertiliser would be brought according to the quota for the municipality.

According to him, the 520 sacks of urea fertiliser provided by Salt Trading have already been delivered to farmers. The rest of the shipment has not arrived, he said.

Representatives of Salt Trading said that they were having a hard time transporting the fertiliser as a quar-antine ward had been set up near their warehouse.

Sherpa said that black marketing in the midst of the lockdown had made it difficult for genuine traders.

POST FILE PHOTO

A file photo shows a worker storing sacks of fertiliser at a warehouse.

REUTERSBEIJING, MAY 24

China’s efforts to resolve risks among high-risk financial institutions have been hampered by slower economic conditions caused by the outbreak of the new coronavirus, the head of a provincial branch of the central bank told Reuters.

The government dropped its annual growth target in its 2020 work report delivered at the open of the National People’s Congress on Friday, with Premier Li Keqiang warning that financial risks are mounting in the world’s second-biggest economy.

“The epidemic has affected the work done in the past on financial risk prevention,” said Xu Nuojin, head of the People’s Bank of China’s Zhengzhou branch in central Henan province.

“The outstanding risks could be intensified, and the new risks are tak-ing shape,” Xu told Reuters in a tele-phone interview on Saturday on the sidelines of the annual parliament meeting.

Regulators have cracked down on high-risk financial institutions to fend off systematic risks, most prominent-

ly with the shock government takeo-ver of the then little-known Baoshang Bank last year. Then the epidemic hit, causing China’s economy to contract for the first time in decades.

The PBOC said on Saturday regula-tors were extending their temporary custodianship of Baoshang, based in the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia, by six months due to the epidemic.

“It’s impossible to require some of the financial institutions, already weak in health, to operate normally during the shock of epidemic,” Xu said.

“We have to roll out more tolerant measures and extend the grace period appropriately when tackling risks.”

In 2019, regulators also led state rescues of two medium-sized banks—Bank of Jinzhou and Hengfeng Bank—hit by liquidity strains due to depositor worries about asset quality and the state of local economies.

Xu said local regulators and govern-ments had participated in recent efforts to resolve risks at Evergrande Group-backed Shengjing Bank, based in northeastern Liaoning province, and Pingdingshan Bank, a small lend-er in Henan.

China’s efforts to resolve financial risks slowed by virus

REUTERS

The Chinese national flag flies at half-mast at the headquarters of the People’s Bank of China, as China holds a national mourning for those who died of the coronavirus disease, in Beijing.

REUTERSCOVENTRY (UNITED KINGDOM), MAY 24

Jaguar Land Rover is in talks with the British government about a request for temporary state funding of more than 1 billion pounds ($1.22 billion), Sky News said on Saturday, a report the company said was inaccurate.

The loan request had been lodged with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Sky News report said, citing a source close to Jaguar Land Rover, whose parent company is Tata Motors.

“The claim is inaccurate and specu-lative,” Jaguar Land Rover said in an emailed statement to Reuters. The statement said the company was in “regular discussion with government on a whole range of matters and the content of our private discussions remains confidential.”

The company recently restarted operations at Solihull plant in UK. “Manufacturing will resume at Halewood factory on 8 June, starting with one shift,” it said in a statement on Wednesday.

Sky News, citing a spokesman, said about 20,000 of its employees had been furloughed under the government’s emergency wage subsi-dy programme.

On May 1, rating agency Fitch downgraded its credit rating to the company, saying that “risks of the Covid-19 pandemic to both demand in JLR’s end-markets and disruption to operations has increased further”.

Sky News said the government’s position on JLR’s latest loan request was unclear this weekend.

Tata Motors did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Jaguar seeks state loan as coronavirus pandemic takes toll

REUTERSNEW YORK, MAY 24

Investors are diversifying bets in the healthcare sector, as the rush to devel-op treatments for Covid-19 has driven up prices for some pharmaceutical stocks.

A record 48 percent of fund manag-ers are overweight healthcare stocks, a BofA survey showed, and the S&P 500 healthcare sector is up nearly 34 percent since its March low. Hopes for a treatment have also sparked outsize rallies in the shares of companies such as Moderna and Inovio Pharmaceutcials, up 253 percent and 327 percent since the start of the year, respectively, as of Friday’s close.

In recent weeks, news of potential treatments or vaccines to fight the pandemic have occasionally fueled swings in broader markets.

Yet some fund managers believe lasting profits may be elusive for vac-cine-makers, leading them to seek cor-ners of the healthcare sector that could see longer-term benefits from

the fight against coronavirus. Large pharmaceutical companies

such as Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline Plc have said they plan to make any successful vaccine available at cost, though they could reap profits later if a seasonal shot is needed. Multiple treatments could also divide the market between many players, investors said.

“There’s the question of ‘Does any-one really make a lot of money on this?,” said Larry Cordisco, co-portfo-lio manager of the Osterweis Fund.

Signs of progress on potential treat-ments could bolster the case for a quicker economic recovery and fur-ther fuel the rally that has boosted the S&P 500 around 30 percent from its late March lows. In the next two weeks, Gilead Sciences is expected to announce results of clinical studies of its potential coronavirus treatment remdesivir for patients with moderate symptoms of Covid-19. Pfizer has said it expects to release safety data for initial human testing of experimental vaccine by the end of May.

Cordisco is looking further afield. One of the companies he owns is med-ical device maker Danaher Corp, which manufactures a rapid Covid-19 test the FDA approved in March. Its shares are up 3.1 percent since the start of the year.

“If you’re looking for where the profits might be in the chain, it’s somebody like that who is going to benefit. They can cash in the whole way,” Cordisco said.

Alessandro Valentini, portfolio manager at Causeway Capital Management, said his firm is looking for value opportunities as the healthcare sector becomes more expensive, trading now at 22.9 times trailing earnings, slightly more than the 21.9 multiple of the S&P 500 index as a whole.

He is staying away from potential vaccine producers in favor of compa-nies such as Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd. Japan’s largest pharmaceuti-cal company said this month it could start clinical trials as early as July for a Covid-19 treatment based on anti-

bodies from blood of recovered patients.

“This is a company that will be part of the solution and can buy a world class business for a significant dis-count to what we think the fair value is,” Valentini said. Its shares are down nearly 6.5 percent for the year to date.

Mike Caldwell, a portfolio manager of the Driehaus Event Driven Fund, said his fund is focusing on supply chains of vaccine production rather than the drug companies themselves.

He is betting on companies such as Roche Holding and Abbott Laboratories, which have large diag-nostics businesses that will likely be a part of any future Covid-19 treatment.

He is also bullish on smaller compa-nies such as Luminex Corp, which received an FDA emergency use authorization for its Covid-19 diagnos-tic test. Shares are up 36 percent year to date.

“With so many players who have meaningful resources, it’s hard to pre-dict what the ultimate market share of any one approach will be,” he said.

Investors look beyond drug makers as hunt for Covid-19 treatment heats up

REUTERS

Morning commuters are seen on Wall Street outside the New York Stock Exchange.

POST PHOTO: PRAKASH CHANDRA TIMILSENA

Farmers wearing masks tend to a field in Lalitpur.

REUTERSHANGZHOU (CHINA), MAY 24

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd on Friday reported forecast-beating fourth-quarter revenues and profits, as more people shopped online for essentials because of the coronavirus lockdowns.

As people stayed indoors and brick-and-mortar stores remained shut dur-ing the health crisis, online orders surged, with the company’s core com-merce business rising nearly 19 per-cent to 93.87 billion yuan ($13.16 bil-lion) in the quarter.

Revenue at its cloud computing business rose about 58 percent.

With China’s economy starting up again much ahead of major econo-mies in Europe and the United States, the e-commerce group said it expected to generate more than 650 billion yuan in revenue in fiscal 2021.

Alibaba has been expanding into new businesses and technologies to cope with increased competition in online shopping from smaller rivals such as JD.com Inc and Pinduoduo Inc.

Alibaba’s overall revenue rose to 114.31 billion yuan ($16.02 billion) in the quarter ended March 31 from about 93.50 billion yuan a year earlier.

Analysts had expected revenue of 107.04 billion yuan, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Alibaba’s sales surge as people shop online during lockdown

C M Y K

07 | MONDAY, MAY 25, 2020

WORLD

Iranian fuel starts arriving in Venezuelan waters REUTERS: The first of five Iranian tankers carrying fuel for gaso-line-starved Venezuela entered the South American country’s exclusive economic zone on Saturday, despite a US official’s warning that Washington was considering a response to the shipment. The tanker, named Fortune, reached the country’s waters at around 7:40 p.m. local time (1140 GMT) after passing north of the neighbouring dual-island Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, according to vessel tracking data from Refinitiv Eikon. “The ships from the fraternal Islamic Republic of Iran are now in our exclusive economic zone,” tweeted Tareck El Aissami, Venezuela’s economy vice president and recently named oil minister.

NYTimes marks grim US virus milestone NEW YORK: As the United States approached 100,000 coronavirus deaths, The New York Times on Sunday marked the grim milestone with a stark memorial on its front page—one-line obituaries for 1,000 victims. “The 1,000 people here reflect just one percent of the toll. None were mere numbers,” the newspaper said in a short introduction on the front page, which was entirely cov-ered in text. The United States has been the hardest-hit country in the coronavirus pandemic by far, in deaths and number of infections.

Netanyahu to face court in ‘unprecedented’ corruption trialJERUSALEM: Israel’s veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set Sunday to become the country’s first sitting premier to face criminal charges over a string of corruption allegations which he denies. Fresh from forming a new government after more than 500 days of electoral dead-lock, Netanyahu was expected to begin a new battle in the Jerusalem District Court—to stay out of prison. The 70-year-old was scheduled to appear at a 1200 GMT court hear-ing to formally confirm his identity to judges, after being indicted in January for bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Protests against his rule were scheduled shortly before the opening of the trial, which is expected to last months if not years. (AGENCIES)

BRIEFING

Taliban, Ghani declare three-day ceasefire for Eid holidayASSOCIATED PRESSISLAMABAD, MAY 24

The Taliban and Afghanistan’s presi-dent have announced a three-day ceasefire ahead of a major Islamic holiday that begins Sunday to mark the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.

The Taliban order, which was soon followed by an announcement via Twitter from Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announcing the govern-ment “extends the offer of peace,” comes just days after US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad was in Kabul and Doha.

Khalilzad on his trip urged both the Taliban and the Afghan government to reduce violence and move ahead with intra-Afghan negotiations, a key pillar of a US peace deal with the Taliban signed in February to allow American troops to leave Afghanistan. The deal was also touted at the time as Afghanistan’s best chance for peace after nearly four decades of war.

The Taliban’s cease-fire announce-ment follows an Eid al-Fitr message from the Taliban leader which said the insurgent group was committed to the peace deal, was not seeking to monopolise power and promised to guarantee the rights of women and men under an Islamic system.

The directive ordered Taliban fight-ers not to fight but also not to frater-nize with Afghan national security forces. The instructions seemed intended to avoid images that circulated during the last ceasefire in 2018, also during Eid celebrations, including Taliban fighters sharing ice cream and laughing with Afghan national security force soldiers.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the announce-ment and urged all parties “to seize the opportunity and embrace an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Guterres, who called for a cease-fire in all global conflicts on March 23 to tackle the coronavirus pandemic stressed that “only a peace settlement can bring an end to the suffering in Afghanistan” and said that “the United Nations is committed to sup-porting the people and government of Afghanistan in this important endeav-our,” the spokesman said.

Beijing says coronavirus pushing US relations to the brink of ‘Cold War’AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSEBEIJING, MAY 24

China said on Sunday that relations with the United States were “on the brink of a new Cold War”, fuelled in part by tensions over the coronavirus pandemic, as Muslims around the world celebrated a muted end to the holy month of Ramadan.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Washington had been infected by a “political virus” compelling figures there to continually attack China, but offered an olive branch by saying the country would be open to an international effort to find the corona-virus source.

“It has come to our attention that some political forces in the US are taking China-US relations hostage and pushing our two countries to the brink of a new Cold War,” he told reporters during a press conference at China’s week-long annual parliament session.

He spoke as more nations eased lockdown restrictions in a bid to sal-vage economies and lifestyles that have been savaged by the pandemic.

Hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world were celebrating a muted Eid al-Fitr, with Islam’s two most important mosques closed to worshippers in Mecca and Medina.

Still, churches were reopening in France, Spain’s football league announced it would kick off again on June 8, and thousands flocked to beaches in the US, where lockdowns and social distancing have become rights issues that have split communities.

Globally about 342,000 people have been killed, and more than 5.3 million people infected by the virus, which

most scientists believe jumped from animals to humans—possibly at a market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

The issue has become highly politi-cised, with US President Donald Trump accusing Beijing of a lack of transparency, and pushing the theory that the virus leaked from a Chinese maximum-security laboratory.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday blasted what he called efforts by US politicians to “fabricate rumours” about the virus origin and “stigmatise China”.

“China is open to working with the international scientific communi-ty to look into the source of the virus,” he said.

“At the same time, we believe that

this should be professional, fair and constructive.”

With infection numbers stabilising in the West, many governments are trying to move towards lighter social distancing measures that they hope will revive moribund business and tourism sectors.

French churches were preparing to hold their first Sunday masses in more than two months after the gov-ernment bowed to a ruling that they should be reopened—provided proper precautions were taken.

France’s mosques, however, called on Muslims to stay at home for the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. They said they would gradually resume services from June 3.

In Pakistan, thousands gathered in mosques, but celebrations were muted by the crash Friday of a passenger plane into a residential neighbour-hood in Karachi, killing 97 on board.

The country’s leading English daily, Dawn, said the crash and coronavirus epidemic—that has killed over 1,000 people in Pakistan—had robbed the “country of whatever little joy had been left at the prospect of Eid”.

In Saudi Arabia, Eid prayers will be held at the two holy mosques in the cities of Mecca and Medina “without worshippers”, authorities said as the kingdom began a five-day curfew after infections quadrupled since the start of Ramadan.

For Christians in Jerusalem, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre will reopen on Sunday—but with tight restrictions.

In Spain, which has enforced one of the world’s strictest lockdowns since mid-March, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez sought to reassure potential visitors, saying that from July 1, “entry for foreign tourists into Spain will resume in secure conditions”.

Italy is also due to reopen its bor-ders to foreign tourists from June 3.

But the disease continued its surge in large parts of South America, with the death toll in Brazil passing 22,000 and infections topping 347,000, the world’s second-highest caseload.

Neighbouring Peru is also strug-gling. The country of 32 million has registered more than 3,100 deaths.

In the US, where the death toll is nearing 100,000, Trump has aggres-sively pushed to reopen the economy, defying the advice of health experts.

He sent a signal of his intentions by playing golf Saturday—his first round since March 8.

North Korea’s Kim, in first appearance in weeks, vows to bolster nuclear ‘deterrence’REUTERSSEOUL, MAY 24

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hosted a meeting to discuss the coun-try’s nuclear capabilities, state media said on Sunday, marking his first appearance in three weeks after a pre-vious absence sparked global specula-tion about his health.

Ruling Workers’ Party officials wore face masks to greet Kim as he entered the meeting of the party’s powerful Central Military Commission, state television showed, but no one including Kim was seen wearing a mask during the meeting.

Amid stalled denuclearization talks with the United States, the meeting discussed measures to bolster North Korea’s armed forces and “reliably contain the persistent big or small military threats from the hostile forc-es,” state news agency KCNA said.

The meeting discussed “increasing the nuclear war deterrence of the country and putting the strategic armed forces on a high alert opera-tion,” adopting “crucial measures for considerably increasing the firepower strike ability of the artillery pieces,” it said.

Kim has made an unusually small number of outings in the past two months, with his absence from a key anniversary prompting speculation about his condition, as Pyongyang has stepped up measures against the Covid-19 pandemic.

North Korea says it has no con-firmed cases of the new coronavirus, but South Korea’s intelligence agency has said it cannot rule out that the North has had an outbreak.

US-led negotiations aimed at dis-mantling North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes have made little progress since late last year, especially after a global battle on the virus began.

The Chinese government’s top dip-lomat, Wang Yi, expressed hope on Sunday that the United States and North Korea could resume meaning-ful dialogue as soon as possible, “and not squander away the hard-earned results of (previous) engagement.”

North Korea’s pledge to boost its nuclear capabilities coincides with news reports that the United States might conduct its first full-fledged nuclear test since 1992, noted Leif-Eric Easley, who teaches international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

“The intention in Washington for pondering such a move may be to pres-sure Russia and China to improve arms-control commitments and enforcement,” Easley said. “But not only might this tack encourage more nuclear risk-taking by those coun-tries, it could provide Pyongyang an excuse for its next provocation.”

Virus lockdowns stifle Eid celebrations as infections riseAGENCE FRANCE-PRESSERIYADH, MAY 24

Muslims around the world began marking a sombre Eid al-Fitr on Sunday, many under coronavirus lockdown, but lax restrictions offer respite to worshippers in some coun-tries despite fears of skyrocketing infections.

The festival, one of the most impor-tant in the Muslim calendar marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, is traditionally celebrated with mosque prayers, family feasts and shopping for new clothes, gifts and sweet treats.

But this year, the celebration is

overshadowed by the fast-spreading respiratory disease, with many coun-tries tightening lockdown restrictions after a partial easing during Ramadan led to a sharp spike in infections.

Further dampening the festive spir-it, multiple countries—from Saudi Arabia to Egypt, Turkey and Syria—have banned mass prayer gatherings, a festival highlight, to limit the spread of the disease.

Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holi-est sites, began a five-day, round-the-clock curfew from Saturday after infections more than quadrupled since the start of Ramadan to around 68,000—the highest in the Gulf.

Eid prayers will be held at the two

Minister says Washington had been infected by a ‘political virus’, compelling figures there to continually attack China.

REUTERS

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks to reporters via video link on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress, from the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, on Sunday.

AFP/RSS

A Frontier Constabulary member stands guard as Muslims offer Eid al-Fitr prayers marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at a ground in Quetta, Pakistan on Sunday.

AFP/ RSS

An aerial and fire performer practises her act in the garden of her home in Daventry, central England on Sunday.

REUTERS

Kim Jong Un

holy mosques in the cities of Mecca and Medina “without worshippers”, authorities said on Saturday, citing a royal decree.

Mecca’s Grand Mosque has been almost devoid of worshippers since March, with a stunning emptiness enveloping the sacred Kaaba—a large cube-shaped structure towards which Muslims around the world pray.

Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, will reopen to worshippers only after Eid, its gov-erning body said.

In Lebanon, the highest Sunni religious authority has announced the reo-pening of mosques only for Friday prayers. Worshippers, however, will be subject to temper-ature checks and sanitary controls before they enter.

Meanwhile, Muslims across Asia—from Indonesia to Pakistan, M a l ay s i a a n d Afghanistan—thronged markets for pre-festival shopping, flouting coro-navirus guidelines and sometimes even police attempts to disperse large crowds. “For over two months my children were homebound,” said Ishrat Jahan, a mother of four, at a bustling market in

the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi.“This feast is for the kids, and if

they can’t celebrate it with new gar-ments, there is no point in us working so hard throughout the year.”

Pakistan, which gave into religious pressure by allowing mosque prayers throughout the fasting of Ramadan, is yet to make a decision over mass gath-erings during Eid.

In Indonesia—the world’s most pop-ulous Muslim nation—people are turning to smugglers and fake travel

documents to get around bans on the annual end-of-Ramadan travel that could send infections soaring.

More than 3,500 Tunisians who trav-elled home just ahead of the holiday will have to spend it away from their families, forced to quarantine for two weeks in hotels after arriving from abroad. Atef Maherzi, a doctor repat-riated Tuesday from Saudi Arabia, said she would be catching up with family over Skype, foregoing her usual role of host.

SRIZU BAJRACHARYA KATHMANDU

I

n recent years, South Indian mov-ies—Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Tulu—have grasped the interest of many cinephiles, not just because they are funny, but because they have endearing and

compelling stories that are complex and raw and deviate from mainstream cinema tropes.

From pure entertainers to compelling character-driven narratives, South Indian films have much to offer. Here are a few picks from the Post to assist you in start-ing your South Indian film journey:

Ustad HotelThe 2012 Malayalam movie starring Dulquer Salmaan is still as refreshing as ever. Faizi (Dulquer Salmaan) is an aspir-ing chef. However, his father doesn’t want him to be one because he believes the job of a cook is not dignified. Faizi is his only son and thus his father Abdul Razaq has high hopes for him. But when the son goes against his father’s wishes, he feels humil-iated and disowns him in a fit of anger.

Faizi then stays with his grandfather, who owns Ustad Hotel, a local restaurant named by the locals of the place them-selves. And gradually he begins to learn the know-how of setting up a restaurant and most importantly the art of making food to fill people’s hearts. There are many sweet moments between the grand-father and the grandson, making the film heartwarming. But it’s Faizi’s ambition and journey to becoming a chef that makes this movie a rewarding watch.

Velaiyilla Pattathari The 2014 Tamil film, ‘Velaiyilla Pattathari’, is a story of an unemployed graduate, Raghuvaran (Dhanush), who desperately wants a job in civil engineering. His rela-tion with his father is complex, and it’s his mother who has been balancing their rela-tionship. And it is this family dynamic that makes the movie endearing.

‘Velaiyilla Pattathari’ is a heartwarm-ing family movie. And the transformation of the film from something lighthearted to emotionally gripping is why you should watch it. Raghuvaran’s character stands out with his innocence and grit, more so because of Dhanush’s acting that holds the movie together. Once you are done watching the movie, you can also follow Dhanush’s filmography to dive deeper into the realm of South Indian cinema.

Race Gurram The 2014 Telugu movie makes it to the list for it is pure entertainment. The film was also one of the highest-grossing Telugu movies starring Allu Arjun. It’s a com-plete masala movie, with an unbeatable hero performing unbelievable action—which is what we love about Telugu mov-ies. ‘Race Gurram’ is about Ram Prasad and Lakshman Prasad aka Lucky (Allu Arjun), brothers who are the opposites of each other. Lucky is frivolous, witty and reckless while his brother is a righteous, disciplined police officer. What follows is a series of twists and turns as a result of

the two brothers’ different personalities.This action-packed movie is mind-bog-

gling with a logic that is so swift that you’re always on the edge. For a fun afternoon, Race Gurram will not disappoint you.

PremamThe 2015 Malayalam movie is for the romantics. Premam was an instant hit in theatres; it was also one of the high-est-grossing Malayalam movies and became a cult classic of the contempo-

rary modern love story. ‘Premam’, unlike many romantic movies, isn’t about a suc-cessful love story. It is about George (Nivin Pauly), a guy who believes in love and keeps falling in love again and again, despite his many failing relationships.

‘Premam’ is a simple, coming-of-age movie—there’s nothing that drastic and dramatic, and that is its charm. The movie is nuanced and is lovable for the little moments. It also has the nostalgia of the early 90s and builds on the father-son

relationship very naturally. If you’re in need of some love, then this movie is highly recommended.

BaahubaliThe two series—Baahubali: The Beginning and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion—is what brought the whole world to notice South Indian movies and thus you can’t miss SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali if you are going to immerse in South Indian movies. It has an engaging

plot, mind blowing VFX and amusing logic.

Baahubali is the story of an ancient Kingdom, Mahishmati. It is a story about family clashes, sibling rivalry, love and righteous revenge. The movie is crafted cleverly—for the plot’s flashback is quite long, a movie onto itself—and it has moments of laughter, romance, and inno-cence. Theatrically too, it is very engag-ing. If entertainment is what you’re look-ing for, you’ve got it.

MONDAY, MAY 25, 2020 | 08

CULTURE & ARTS

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How fitness centres are responding to the Covid-19 crisisNepal’s fitness industry is dealing with an unprecedented crisis as thousands of gyms across the country have remained closed for more than two months.

TSERING NGODUP LAMAKATHMANDU

F

or the past 12 years, Pitbull Gym, in Chuchepati, has opened at 5:30 in the morning. One of the first to reach the gym is Kishor, the gym’s owner/chief instructor. By

10am, which is when the gym’s morning shift ends, an average of 60 gym members will have finished their daily workout. The gym’s evening session, from 3 pm to 7 pm, sees around 30 to 40 members.

Located on the third floor of a commer-cial complex, which houses a restaurant, a beauty parlour, and a bank, the other-wise busy Pitbull Gym has remained shuttered since March 24, the day the government announced nationwide lock-down, and Kishor has been out of work.

Thousands of gyms, from the small ones located in neighbourhood alleys to large commercial complexes, across the country have remained shut ever since the lockdown. The network of fitness gyms form the heart of Nepal’s fitness industry, and ever since they have closed, the entire industry has come to a grind-ing halt, with chances of business resum-ing soon seemingly bleak.

“Before this year, the longest I have had to close the gym was after the 2015 earth-quake. My business was badly impacted and it took many months for the business to recover from it,” says Kishor. “But looking at the impact that Covid-19 and the lockdown have already had on my business and the uncertain future ahead makes 2015 look like child’s play. This one’s going to be tough.”

It was mid-March when Kishor first began noticing the impact of Covid-19 at his gym. “Even though the virus wasn’t widely spread in Nepal then, we realised that our members were concerned by it and we introduced more safety and clean-liness at the gym. But we never really saw a drop in footfall until the day leading to lockdown,” he says.

For Nepal’s fitness industry, the timing of the virus and the subsequent lockdown couldn’t have been worse. “From March to September, gyms in the country see a surge

in new memberships, making the period a peak business season for gyms,” says Raul Moktan, co-founder/executive director of Gymkhana Muay Thai. “By September, which marks the start of the festive season and winter, memberships begin to drop.”

For many gym owners like Kishor and Moktan, the bigger challenge they face now is the operational costs that they con-tinue to incur despite being closed for more than two months. “Even though rev-enue has been zero for the past two months, we continue to pay rent and staff salaries,” says Moktan. But many gym owners say that a protracted lockdown will make cov-ering operational costs a huge challenge.

To adapt to the changing times and to still stay relevant, many gyms have start-ed giving online fitness classes to their members. In Kathmandu too, gyms like

The Pump and Gymkhana have followed suit—providing classes through social media and video conferencing apps like Zoom. According to Moktan, Gymkhana started providing online classes for its members from March 30, just a week after the lockdown. “We conduct four online classes a day, two in the morning and two in the evening. These classes are free of cost and our aim is to provide the best workout experience under the current circumstances,” says Moktan.

At Pitbull Gym, Kishor hasn’t started online workout classes but he provides over-the-phone consultation to the mem-bers of his gym. “I receive more than five calls on a daily basis from my gym mem-bers asking questions ranging from home-work out tips to dietary tips,” says Kishor.

The closure of gyms after the lockdown

has had a domino effect on every aspect of the fitness industry. Fitness equipment stores in the country, which mainly rely on bulk orders from gyms, have seen a huge drop in business since the lock-down. “Bulk orders from gyms make up 75 percent of our revenue, but with gyms closed for more than two months, busi-ness has hit rock bottom,” says Uttam Silwal, managing director of Fitness Choice, a Kathmandu-based fitness equip-ment store. “We also haven’t been able to dispatch existing orders to our clients. We have gym equipment orders worth Rs 75 million put on hold due to the lockdown. So far no one has cancelled their orders yet, but if the lockdown prolongs you never know what might happen.”

However, while orders from gyms have dropped, fitness stores have seen a surge

in demand for home exercise equipment. “Sales of home exercise equipment like treadmills, cross trainers, dumbbells have doubled since the lockdown, but it is still very negligible compared to the bulk sale we do,” says Silwal.

An uncertain future awaits for gyms even if the lockdown is lifted or eased. Globally, gyms have been the last of the businesses to reopen after lockdown. In many places in India where the lockdown has been eased and some businesses have been allowed to resume, fitness centres still remain shut. In the US too where gyms have been the last of businesses to resume.

In Nepal, even if the gyms are allowed to resume, many gym operators are aware that it won’t be business as usual. Since gym members, even at the most high-end gyms in the country, have to share equip-ment, which increases the chances of indirect physical contact, it is likely to discourage people from going to gym at a time when social distancing has become the norm. “Not everyone is going to be comfortable going back to gyms as soon as they open. New memberships are like-ly to drop,” says Kishor.

How fitness centres fare when they resume will also depend on the kind of safety and hygiene measures they adopt.

“Most gyms that charge low fees and rely on a high footfall will find it very difficult when they resume. Those gyms will find it impossible to maintain social distancing in the gym, adopt strict safety and cleanliness measures and still cover costs,” says Silwal. “Compared to them, high-end gyms, most of which have less members and take safety and cleanliness seriously, will find it relatively easier to gain their members’ confidence.”

At Gymkhana, to ensure that the mem-bers feel safe and comfortable coming back once it reopens, Moktan says that they have created a new standard operating procedure. “When we reopen, we will now be doubling down on our already stringent cleanliness and hygiene measures,” says Moktan. “Maintaining strict cleanliness and hygiene standards at the gym are the only way to convince people to start visit-ing again, otherwise the road ahead it’s going to be extremely challenging.”

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PHOTO COURTESY: GYMKHANA

Gyms across Kathmandu, such as Gymkhana (pictured above), are currently closed because of the lockdown. Despite being closed, it—besides a few other gyms—has been conducting virtual classes for clients.