It’s January 7, 2022, and you’re reading Off the Record, the weekly newsletter from The Record. We are an independent, ad-free, digital news publication out of Kathmandu, Nepal.
I’m Pranaya Rana, editor of The Record, and in this newsletter, we’ll stop, take a deep breath, and dive into one singular issue that defined the past week.
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Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening from freezing Kathmandu. It’s not technically freezing but the sky is overcast, the sun is missing, and it certainly feels like the city is colder than it has ever been.
But let’s not dwell too much on the weather. It is a new year and though time may be an arbitrary measure of change, a mere construct by which we humans seek to order and understand the world around us, it is nevertheless a marker, a signifier that allows us a chance to begin anew, however symbolically.
And so, from all of us here at The Record, here’s wishing all of our readers, supporters, and contributors a Happy New Year 2022.
The past two years have been all but swallowed up by the Covid-19 pandemic, so here’s to hoping that the coming year will be better. Hope, after all, is that thing with feathers.
We’ve had a good year here at The Record. I came on board as editor in January 2021 and in the last year, we’ve seen many changes. Colleagues have come and gone and our website has undergone a design change. We’ve moved away from political reporting, leaving that largely to this newsletter, and prioritizing social and cultural content. We’ve implemented a new Content Management System (CMS) and rolled out a membership model, funded by the Google News Initiative’s Global Innovation Fund. If you haven’t signed up for membership, please click here to do so. You will have to create an account first.
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Now, on to the newsletter proper.
Nepali politics, however, marks no new year, and all too often, one year is a repeat of the past.
In the last week of December, the UCPN (Maoist Center) held its general convention, following the CPN-UML, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, and the Nepali Congress. There is not much to say about the convention, other than the fact that Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ remains Maoist supremo. Dahal was unanimously elected the party chair, to no one’s surprise, although the other members of the party’s top leadership have yet to be selected. The position of general secretary, which is second-in-command, will likely go to Barsa Man Pun ‘Ananta’ or Janardan Sharma ‘Prabhakar’. Both Pun and Sharma were once commanders of the Maoist People’s Liberation Army and have also enjoyed stints in government. Pun is a former finance minister while Sharma is the current finance minister.
The general convention is unlikely to galvanize the populace in support of the Maoist party. It is but a shell of its former revolutionary self. Many senior leaders, like Dahal’s second during the war years Baburam Bhattarai, have deserted the party and although Dahal retains the support of war-era loyalists like Pun, Sharma, and Krishna Bahadur Mahara, the party has also welcomed many new members who never fought. Most notably, Narayan Kaji Shrestha and Pampha Bhusal have risen within the ranks to become senior leaders and will likely be contesting a top leadership position like vice-chair or secretary.
For a refresher on what the Maoists were like during the war years, take a read through General Sir Sam Cowan’s long-form article assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the People’s Liberation Army: ‘Inside the People’s Liberation Army: A military perspective’. Fair warning, the article is very long but it is well worth the time. I have yet to come across another article that does what General Sam has done — treat the PLA as a legitimate fighting force with a very effective command structure and not just as a ragtag band of peasants who happened to get lucky.
Much like the CPN-UML, where KP Sharma Oli is the patriarch, the Maoists too are closely arrayed around the figure of Dahal. But unlike the UML, the party is noticeably weaker than it ever used to be. But let’s move on from the Maoists, as there’s really not much of interest that happened during the convention, and talk about that ever-looming specter — Covid-19.
On Friday, Nepal reported 962 new cases of Covid-19, 572 of them on an RT-PCR test. These new cases include 24 new cases of the Omicron variant. Daily cases have been rising steadily over the past week and there is a very real fear that Nepal could be looking at another wave. Across the border in India, governments have already placed prohibitions and are on high alert. With Omicron spiking in large Indian cities, it is only a matter of time before there is a corresponding increase in Nepal.
(Source: Ministry of Health and Population)
While the Omicron variant is believed to be milder, it is still prudent to remain cautious and take all necessary precautions. The government has continued to emphasize masks and social distancing but perhaps it is time for a preliminary plan to be drawn up in case Covid-19 and Omicron continue to spread. It isn’t time yet to panic but prudence and caution go a long way, especially in the midst of a pandemic.
Perhaps this is what Covid-19 is eventually going to turn into — a perennial problem that we just learn to live with, just like the flu. Every year, thousands will get infected and a certain proportion will die. The rest will continue because after all, they will be the ones who lived.
The deep dive: Exemplars of crony capitalism
(Source: Economist)
Making headlines all over the mediasphere this past week has been the Batas Organization, led by industrialist Ananda Raj Batas. The Batas Organization operates more than a dozen companies and is the regional distributor for Maruti-Suzuki (in partnership with Chaudhary Group), Mahindra (in partnership with Agni Incorporation), TVS (in partnership with Jagadamba Group), and Caterpillar heavy machinery. It is the principal agent for Himalayan Bank’s Himal Remit remittance service, and its subsidiary, Hotel Anand, operates hotels around the country. BPS Leasing and Management, one of Batas Organization’s subsidiaries, operates the Patan Museum and the Airport Restaurant and Lounge. Another subsidiary, Roshi Khola Roda Dhunga Udhyog, mines stone, sand, and other construction material in Kavre district.
As is evident, this is quite a portfolio that the Batas Organization has built for itself. It works closely with other large business houses and is also involved in mining the rivers for construction material. (If you’d like to know why the latter part is so problematic, read one of our old newsletters, Neither rivers nor hills.)
But Batas is in the news for all the wrong reasons. News broke this past week that the Batas Organization was constructing a restaurant within the Narayanhiti Palace premises, a culturally significant site that became public property after the end of the Shah monarchy in 2007. According to a Kantipur report, the KP Sharma Oli administration had called for a restaurant tender in December 2020 and three companies had placed bids — Batas Associates, Hotel Ananda, and BPS Leasing and Management. Notice anything? All three companies are part of the Batas Organization. BPS Leasing and Management outbid its own partner company, Hotel Ananda, by Rs 1,178 and won the contract. According to the deal, BPS Leasing would pay a monthly rent of Rs 221,618 for 2,170 square feet within the palace premises. For Durbar Marg, those numbers are a pittance.
But according to Kantipur, the agreement only covers the ‘canteen’ of the restaurant and not all the other spaces that the restaurant will use for seating, parking, ambiance, etc. Furthermore, the organization is reportedly building permanent concrete structures, which is not permitted within an archaeologically sensitive area like Narayanhiti. As if all of that wasn’t enough, the museum’s director, Bhesh Narayan Dahal, told Kantipur that the restaurant would serve tourists visiting the palace museum. But as the report wryly points out, the museum is open from 10AM to 5PM while the restaurant’s hours are from 7AM to 10PM. And if you’re going to visit the restaurant, you don’t even need to buy a ticket to the museum.
It all seems quite suspicious, to say the least. Clearly, the Batas Organization has managed to grease enough palms to obtain prime property on Kathmandu’s most expensive street for peanuts. You can read the full report here (in Nepali). It is a doozy.
Since the news broke, current Tourism Minister, Prem Bahadur Ale, has promised to halt construction. He’s summoned Dahal for clarification and formed a committee to look into how Batas managed to land the contract. I’m not optimistic but hopefully, the hue-and-cry will force Ale’s hand.
In the days since, more stories have emerged about Batas’ shady dealings. An OnlineKhabar report details how Hotel Anand has been operating a hotel in Pashupati out of a dharamshala built by the Government of India to house pilgrims who couldn’t afford hotels. Anand has leased the dharamshala from the Pashupati Area Development Trust and has reportedly been charging up to Rs 7,000 a night. It’s also been illegally operating a vintage car showroom out of the same space and has even sublet many of its rooms to other private businesses. The group is also reportedly constructing another building next to the dharamshala, a clear violation of the area’s status as a World Heritage Site. You can read the full report here.
There’s a Nepali proverb that goes: lahara tanda pahara garjincha (literally: when you pull on a vine, the hillside rumbles), basically meaning that pulling on a vine can bring down the entire hillside. That’s what seems to have happened here. Now that the doors to Batas’ dealings have been opened, a flood of new reports has come out. Both Kantipur and OnlineKhabar are leading the charge, each attempting to outdo the other with new revelations regarding Batas’ chicanery.
OnlineKhabar reports that BPS Leasing operates a number of businesses out of reconstructed patis adjacent to the Patan Museum. Although Batas had acquired a tender to sell handicrafts out of the patis, they’ve instead been leased out to house a Himalayan Java outlet and an ATM. BPS also reportedly pays only about Rs 8,000 rupees a month in rent whereas Patan locals say that rent for a comparable space should go for Rs 40-50,000.
Kantipur, meanwhile, reports that Batas Brothers Motors Pvt Ltd has been operating a vehicle showroom out of building and land that belongs to the Gandaki Museum in Pokhara’s Naya Bazaar. The lease for the showroom expired in January 2021 but Batas has reportedly refused to vacate the premises, instead asking for a 25-year extension. When the authorities refused, Batas asked for a six-month extension instead. Since then, the authorities have sent numerous missives demanding that Batas leave but the organization has refused.
Kantipur also reports that Batas has proposed that the Seti River be dammed at Pokhara’s Ramghat so that it can mine the river for sand and stone. A similar proposal was also reportedly made at Morekhare and an agreement is currently being readied.
Many have pointed out that Arju Rana Deuba, wife of current prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, is an ‘advisor’ to the Batas Foundation, alleging potential links. Arju, however, put out a statement on social media disavowing any links to Batas. The statement was duly reprinted by Khabarhub and bizarrely, the ‘news’ outlet has appended quite unnecessary praise for the first lady. Here’s what this ostensibly ‘news’ reports says about Arju Rana Deuba (take note, this is not a quote attributed to anyone and thus attributable to Khabarhub itself as there’s no byline on the article):
Apart from politics, NC leader Rana Deuba is the champion of the female voice in the country, a philanthropist and a social worker. She is actively involved in running numerous social organizations and has a special interest in the empowerment of women in Nepal.
Wait, there’s more:
In addition, she continues to be the role model of tens of thousands of Nepali women who look up to her as a leader as a politician, champion of environmental causes, climate activist and agent of social change.
It appears that KhabarHub is not even bothering to appear impartial. The more stories I read on this particular website, the more suspicious I get. But that’s perhaps a subject for another newsletter. Let me just say this, whenever you say a report from KhabarHub, make sure you exercise your critical faculties.
Apologies for that diversion, let’s get back to the matter at hand.
But both the Narayanhiti and Pashupati deals were made during the KP Sharma Oli administration. Although Yogesh Bhattarai, who was Tourism Minister at the time, has professed no knowledge of the restaurant in Narayanhiti, Dahal, the museum director, says otherwise. The Pashupati deal, meanwhile, has been blamed on one rogue member-secretary of the Pashupati Area Development Trust. The Gandaki Museum and the proposals for dams on the Seti River have a longer provenance.
You’d have to be very naive to believe that these deals worth millions of rupees went through without the knowledge of at least a senior politician or a sitting minister. Batas Organization, like most other large business houses in Nepal, appears to be quite adept at gaming the system. Corruption and bribery have not been proved yet but as they say, there’s a fly in the ointment, or as they say in Hindu, daal mein kuch kaala hai.
Batas is in the crosshairs at this current moment but every business house has its day in the headlines. A couple of years ago, it was the Yeti Group. The group’s patriarch Ang Tshering Sherpa reportedly had close links to KP Sharma Oli and had benefitted similarly by receiving large plots of public land for cut-rate prices. Yeti Group was involved in discrepancies over the Gokarna Forest Resort, land ownership in Sagarmatha National Park, and a lease in Durbar Marg.
Before that, it was the Omni Group and its involvement in corruption over the import of substandard medical equipment from China. Then, at the height of the pandemic, it was industrialist Suraj Vaidya of Vaidya’s Organization of Industries and Trading Houses and Vijay Dugar of HC Dugar Group who were allegedly involved in delaying Nepal’s vaccine procurement plans.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that most large business houses in Nepal have close ties with the political establishment and they use these ties to obtain favorable contracts, often to the exclusion of competitors. That’s why it comes as no surprise when businessmen like Umesh Shrestha are made state minister or when billionaire Binod Chaudhary becomes a Member of Parliament and a Central Committee member of the Nepali Congress on the Madhesi quota. It is also why despite the NepaLeaks investigation and the Pandora Papers leak, these businessmen continue to function as if nothing happened. In countries with functioning systems, ministers have resigned and investigations opened but the Nepali authorities are content to look the other way, as long they receive a share of the profits.
The name of the game is crony capitalism — a system where businesses thrive due to their close links with the political class and not solely through competition. This system has been characteristic of the Nepali economy ever since the 90s, when the Nepali Congress, under the tutelage of neoliberals like Ram Sharan Mahat and Mahesh Acharya, embarked on the wholesale privatization of state-owned enterprises, gutting them in the process and allowing private interests to run amok. This state of affairs is all the more ironic given that a majority of Nepal’s political parties are leftists, socialist or communist in ideology. But in practice, all of them are capitalists when it benefits them.
After all, politics in Nepal is a business and you can’t get ahead in business without being a little underhanded.
On The Record this past week:
Arju Dahal on the need to regulate psychologists in Nepal
Shuvam Rizal looks back on a year of climate (in)action
Shuvangi Khadka on the hegemony of languages on young children
Tom Robertson illustrates his writing strategies in action
Shradha Khanal on cancel culture and freedom of expression
Happenings this week:
Sunday - Eleven people died in separate road accidents across the country — seven in Palpa and two each in Sarlahi and Siraha, according to The Kathmandu Post.
Monday - Protesting players and the Cricket Association of Nepal reached a deal after weeks of wrangling. Four players, including former captain Gyanendra Malla, had expressed grievances over player grading and salaries, which led CAN to take disciplinary action against them. The punishment has now been withdrawn.
Tuesday - The federal Ministry of Commerce and Supplies admitted to a parliamentary committee that sugar mills still owed sugarcane farmers over Rs 80 million. Every year, sugarcane farmers are forced to stage protests after not being paid by sugar mills for their produce.
Wednesday - The Nepal Police’s Central Investigation Bureau concluded its three-year investigation into the Baluwatar Lalita Niwas land grab scam and is preparing to file embezzlement charges against 360 individuals, including five former government secretaries. None of the politicians alleged to have been involved in the scam are being charged.
Thursday - Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s four-day trip to Gujarat, India was canceled after Gujarat authorities postponed the Vibrant Gujarat summit following concerns over a spike in Covid-19 cases.
Friday - Concrete buildings constructed by the Batas Organization inside the premises of the Narayanhiti Palace were demolished by order of the government. A probe committee has been formed to look into the entire saga.
Article of the week:
‘Burning despair’ — Marissa Taylor on how a recent law on acid attacks could’ve easily also accounted for the plight of burn victims.
That’s all for this week. Off the Record will be back in your inboxes next Friday. I shall see you then, in your emails, for the next edition of Off the Record.
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