It’s April 5, 2024, and you’re reading Off the Record.
I’m Pranaya Rana 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 springtime Kathmandu. Before we begin, I am ecstatic to report that we have reached my goal of getting to 3,000 subscribers for this newsletter! Thank you to everyone who supported me in getting the word out and a special thank you to those of you who have supported me financially. My newest paid subscribers include Kaavya Rizal, Ms Patty from the MJS Foundation, Mera Publications, Amar Gurung, Sulakchana Rai, and two anonymous donors to my eSewa. To all of you who’ve supported me via eSewa, please send me an email so I can add you to the list of paid subscribers. Thank you to all of you, every little bit helps. It is because of you that I can keep writing this.
Now, onwards.
Narayan Kaji returns from China
Foreign Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha returned from his first foreign trip abroad on April 1, Monday. Usually, such high-profile trips, especially to China, yield returns for Nepal but this time, not so much. Upon returning, Shrestha announced that he had proposed reopening 14 traditional trade points between Nepal and China and the establishment of three new economic corridors viz. Tibet, Sichuan, and Chongqing. Tibet is an Autonomous Region, Sichuan is a province, while Chongqing is one of four municipalities directly administered by the central Chinese government, alongside Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin. Shrestha also proposed establishing a Joint Commission at the Foreign Minister level and visa-free travel for Nepali citizens in China. Shrestha reported that the Chinese side is ‘positive’ on these proposals but nothing concrete had been decided yet.
Shrestha’s visit does not seem to have gone beyond exchanging platitudes and promises. Nepal too promised to expedite the Belt and Road Initiative Implementation Plan but there are doubts given the Chinese unwillingness to convert the loan used to build Pokhara International Airport into a grant. Shrestha said that Nepal would have to carefully consider the funding modality for BRI projects if the Chinese insisted on high-interest loans like the one for the airport. Nepal wants to allay Western warnings about a debt trap but it does not seem like the Chinese are interested in grants for such high investment projects.
And that’s pretty much it. Not much to report on here.
Former Maoist commander arrested, conflict victims in limbo
Kali Bahadur Kham, a former Maoist commander, was arrested from Thamel on Tuesday for his alleged role in the 2008 murder of businessman Ram Hari Shrestha. Kham, along with four other Maoists, had been charged by the Chitwan District Court with murder and abetment in 2008 itself but all except one had been on the run. The one arrested, Govinda Bahadur Batala, was charged with abetting the murder and sentenced to three years in prison. Kham was the commander of the Maoist’s Shaktikhor cantonment when cash and weapons belonging to the Maoists went missing. The Maoists suspected Ram Hari Shrestha, who had been renting out a house to them. Shrestha, along with two others, were abducted by the Maoists and tortured. It is believed that Shrestha died of torture, after which his body was dumped into a river.
Shrestha’s murder is not a conflict-era case as it took place during the peace process after the war was over. Victims of the conflict, however, are still waiting for justice. A bill to amend the Enforced Disappearances Enquiry, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act to eliminate remains pending in Parliament. The parties are divided on which crimes should be categorized as ‘serious human rights violations’ for which there can be no amnesty. Conflict victims and the UML have demanded that all extrajudicial, unlawful killings, murder of unarmed individuals, and serious physical and mental torture should not be eligible for amnesty but the Maoists are not willing to go that far so progress has been stalled.
Earlier last month in March, the Supreme Court had ordered the government to fill vacancies at the two transitional justice commissions — the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Enforced Disappearances Commission. Victims, however, are divided on this. While a section believes that work should proceed regardless of the amendment, another believes that any work without the amendment would be meaningless. It is a political question at this point, which the parties can resolve relatively quickly if they so desire. But parties like the Maoists and the Congress, which were on opposite sides during the conflict, are seemingly united in their belief that it benefits them to delay the process. The more they stall, the less likely victims will be to seek penalties against them. It has been 17 years since the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed and yet, there’s no sign of justice for victims.
Former minister and 31 others charged in ‘wide-body’ scam
The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), on Thursday, charged 32 individuals with corruption in Nepal Airlines Corporations’ 2017 purchase of two wide-body Airbus A330s. Those charged include former tourism and civil aviation minister Jeevan Bahadur Shahi, former secretaries Sishir Kumar Dhungana and Shankar Prasad Adhikari, and former managing director of Nepal Airlines Corporation Sugat Ratna Kansakar. They are charged with embezzling nearly Rs1.5 billion during the Corporation’s purchase of the two Airbus aircraft. Although the purchase cost around Rs 22 billion, Rs 24 billion was dispensed by various government entities, netting the state a loss of Rs 1.5 billion that the CIAA argues was embezzled by those charged.
This concludes a five-year-long investigation by the CIAA into ‘irregularities’ in the purchase. Media reports alleging corruption had long circulated and the Center of Investigative Journalism had conducted a long and incisive investigation into the shady procurement process. It looks like all that hard work is finally going to bear fruit.
Kathmandu City asks schools to rename themselves
On Friday, March 29, Kathmandu Metropolitan City’s Education Department gave private schools in Kathmandu a one-month deadline to change their names to reflect “Nepali identity and culture”. Schools can choose names taken from historical figures, deities, or natural heritage, according to the department. This hasn’t been a popular decision and many are arguing that the names don’t matter as long as the quality of education is up to par. I don’t know though. Schools in Kathmandu often have bizarre names, like Aliens International School (possibly a misspelling of Alliance), or Texas International College (which has no discernible relation to the state of Texas), or Southwestern State College (which is not located in the southwest nor is it a ‘state’ college) or the unfortunately named Anal Jyoti Secondary Boarding School.
Maybe it’s not such a bad thing to ask that these schools be renamed but asking that the new names reflect ‘Nepali identity and culture’ is problematic. Who exactly decides what constitutes Nepali identity and culture? Is Christianity a part of Nepali culture? If so, couldn’t schools be named after characters from the Bible or Christian saints? I don’t think the policy has been properly thought through.
That’s it for this week’s roundup. Substacks tells me that I’m almost at the limit for emails so I’ll conclude here and let you move on to the deep dive. Good night!
The deep dive: The trials of Sumana Shrestha
Photo: Sumana Shrestha’s official website
Ever since she became a Member of Parliament in 2022, the Honorable Sumana Shrestha, who is now the Education Minister, has been a subject of discussion on social media. This is primarily a result of Shrestha putting herself out there. More than any other politician, she posts regular updates on her social media accounts, explaining her positions on proposed bills. She has also been vocal in Parliament, giving fiery speeches that end up going viral. Many applaud Shrestha’s passion and transparency but just as many criticize her stances as populist or misguided.
So in this deep dive, let’s take a closer look at Sumana Shrestha and assess all the positive and negative press she’s accumulated since she joined politics.
Shrestha first came into the public eye in 2015 during the Indian blockade. She had returned from studying and working in the United States to volunteer during the 2015 earthquake but when India instituted an unofficial blockade, severely limiting supplies and bringing Nepal to a grinding halt, Shrestha came up with two innovative ideas that would help.
The first was Carpool Kathmandu, the first ride-sharing service in the country that eventually paved the way for ride-hailing services like Tootle, Pathao, and InDrive. The blockade meant that fuel like petrol was scarce and it was exceedingly difficult to get around Kathmandu. Shrestha’s Carpool Kathmandu connected the few folks with cars and fuel with others seeking rides. At times of hardship, the service helped many get to where they were going.
Her other idea was Medication for Nepal, which crowdsourced medication and funding online. Simple medication that cost a fraction of a dollar was in short supply during the blockade and Shrestha saw an opportunity to leverage the power of the internet to get those medications to the people who needed them. Medication needs were uploaded online where they were matched by donors who would either fund the purchase or even bring it over themselves. This venture too was widely appreciated, reportedly by former US President Barack Obama and FUBU founder Daymond John at the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Forum.
When the blockade was lifted in 2016, both these ventures stopped functioning. Shrestha moved on to other things, including getting a new job at Fusemachines and participating in advocacy for cultural and heritage preservation. She remained active but was largely out of the public eye. That is, until 2022, when Rabi Lamichhane announced the formation of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and Shrestha announced that she would be joining as a central committee member.
The party won 21 seats in the federal parliament, becoming the fourth-largest party in the country. Shrestha was elected to Parliament through proportional representation’s Adivasi/Janajati quota and began to do her job as a Member of Parliament, studying bills and speaking before the House. But one of her very first speeches was already controversial. On January 21, 2023, she spoke before the House, outlining issues with accountability, political horsetrading, and the parliamentary calendar. In the end, she pleaded with her fellow MPs to refrain from calling any female MP ‘cheli’, which translates to ‘young girl’. It is a diminutive term that carries paternalistic overtones. And this was what a great many of her critics chose to focus on. A simple request to treat all women MPs on par with the men was met with criticism. They argued that the term was affectionate and not meant to demean and that Shrestha was wilfully distorting the meaning. They’re wrong though. Words are not inert; they take on meaning depending on context and usage. For instance, the word ‘bahadur’ just means brave but that word carries racist connotations when used for Nepalis.
By all metrics, Shrestha was an exemplary politician in opposition. She performed her duty of holding the ruling government accountable by raising questions, drawing the attention of the House to problematic clauses in bills, and proposing amendments to bills herself. She proposed that a proper parliamentary calendar be formalized and instituted so that the House functioned better. She argued that proposed bills and amendments all be placed online in the interest of transparency and to solicit opinions from the public. She stood vehemently against amendments to existing bills that would allow illegally amassed money to be made legal by paying taxes. She also opposed amendments that would allow the government to withdraw criminal cases against anyone who later joined the political mainstream.
Shrestha was also very passionate about education, especially the School Education Bill. Along with 16 of her party members, she registered 132 amendments to the proposed bill. These amendments include providing private educational institutions 20 years to convert into a not-for-profit trust; allowing provincial governments rather than District Education Offices to oversee education and teachers in their provinces; and establishing formal criteria for evaluating schools. Furthermore, she opposed the ongoing politicization of Nepal’s institutions of higher education, including Tribhuvan University, and recommended that the prime minister no longer be the de facto chancellor of Nepal’s universities. This practice, she argued, was leading to the appointment of politically affiliated persons as vice-chancellors and deans.
Whether you agree with Shrestha’s proposals or not, I think we can all agree that she was doing her job. I am able to outline all of the above because of how proactive Shrestha has been in putting all that information out there so that she too remains accountable to the public. We don’t know the positions of the vast majority of MPs on bills and amendments because they don’t speak in Parliament and they don’t communicate with the electorate. Shrestha does and that has only benefited the public.
But, all the while, Shrestha has received more controversy for her personal matters than her political stances. Twice, Nepalis have taken issue with the way she has dressed in Parliament. First, in May 2023, it was her jeans and a tank top that so many Nepali men (and one popular Bollywood actress) had a problem with. Just so you know what I’m talking about, here is what she was wearing:
But for some reason, this attire was deemed ‘inappropriate’ for Parliament, despite the fact that male MPs routinely wear sport coats over t-shirts, jeans, and informal pants all the time. That same week, MP Amresh Kumar Singh disrobed himself in Parliament in ‘protest’ and he didn’t receive half of the criticism that Shrestha did.
Then again, a month later in June, she was attacked once again for wearing a skirt to a parliamentary committee meeting. This time, it was even more ridiculous. Someone had managed to sneak a picture of Shrestha sitting at a table that they published online to elicit outrage. It worked, as once again what Shrestha was wearing was a bigger story than what she had said or done. Never mind the fact that the photo was decidedly creepy and that it should not matter what one wears as long as one is being respectful and maintaining decorum.
All this is part of the tired old playbook of the misogynist. Women in positions of power are almost always criticized for what they wear and how they talk rather than the substance of their speech or work. If that criticism doesn’t stick, misogynists quickly turn into xenophobes. Right after Shrestha was appointed Minister of Education, rumors began that she was not a Nepali citizen since she was married to a foreigner. Pictures began to circulate of her ex and current husband with some raising questions over whether she posed a ‘security risk’. Arnico Pandey, another RSP member, had to clarify that neither he nor Shrestha had ever been citizens of a country other than Nepal. These questions have always been asked about Nepali women. In fact, it is these very questions that have led to the discriminatory provisions in Nepal’s citizenship laws that do not allow women to pass citizenship to their children without condition.
Things haven’t gotten better since she was appointed Minister for Education. This week, Shrestha was mired in yet another controversy. This time, it regarded the bureaucracy within the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. Last Thursday, March 28, the Education Ministry approved the Education Catalyst Operation Procedures through a ministerial decision, which allows the ministry to hire ‘trainees’. The bureaucracy was up in arms about this decision, complaining that it reflected a lack of trust in the civil service and that the minister was attempting to run a parallel administration.
First, let me just celebrate small mercies and be thankful that at least this was not simply an attack on Shrestha’s person. However, I do think that it was making a mountain out of a molehill if you’ll forgive the cliche. These were ‘trainees’ that would be hired. They would certainly not be allowed to take on the roles of secretaries and other civil servants, as that would be ridiculous. Trainees would not be signing off on documents or handling any sensitive matter. I think that much was clear. It seemed like wilful misrepresentation on the part of bureaucrats who did not like working under Shrestha and were looking for reasons to get upset. It was also quite concerning that this mischaracterization of Shrestha’s plans was being peddled by Kantipur, the country’s biggest newspaper, through an editorial. After all this criticism, Shrestha withdrew the procedures and replaced it with one that specifies ‘internships’ and sets out limited reach and timeframes.
Then, there’s also this piece of news from Deshsanchar: शिक्षामन्त्री श्रेष्ठलाई क्वाटरमा बस्न सुझाव दिने सहसचिवको सरुवा, २० कर्मचारीलाई स्पष्टीकरण (Joint Secretary who advised Education Minister to move to her ministerial quarters transferred, clarifications sought from 20 civil servants). The story says that Shrestha deliberately transferred the joint secretary for advising her to move into the official ministerial quarters, according to an anonymous source. The headline makes it seem like the clarifications sought from 20 civil servants are also related to the transfer, but the story says that clarifications were sought because these civil servants were clocking into the office and then immediately leaving. Minister Shrestha rightly asked them for clarifications on their absence but you wouldn’t know that from the headline. The transfer too seems like a petty thing to do and I seriously doubt that Shrestha transferred a joint secretary simply for advising her to move to her quarters. Clearly, the bureaucracy is not happy with the new minister and this story just feeds the narrative that Shrestha doesn’t trust the bureaucracy.
Shrestha was also criticized for issuing a circular that ordered public schools to not collect any fees from students. This is good, in principle, but in reality, without collecting fees, public schools might not be able to function. Without a corresponding increase in their budgets, public schools, already overburdened, will not be able to pay teachers or maintain infrastructure. The circular also asks private schools to abide by the fee ceiling set by the local level, which many private schools circumvent by charging fees under numerous other headings. This is certainly a good decision, but remains to be seen whether it will be enforced.
It was never going to be easy for someone from a new party, especially a woman, to work as minister. The bureaucracy is as politicized as the leadership and most civil servants are affiliated to one of the mainstream parties. Shrestha has barely taken over as minister and already a narrative is being promoted via the media against her. I would be remiss if I didn’t say that much of the criticism has reeked of misogyny and xenophobia. Now I’m no RSP bhakt; there’s a lot the party has to live up to, especially regarding chairman Rabi Lamichhane, but I would wait and see how Shrestha’s tenure unfolds before accusing her of anything. Shrestha has shown that she is a hard worker who takes her job seriously. She has also responded to criticism. I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. As should everyone else.
That’s all for this week. I will be back next Friday, in your emails, for the next edition of Off the Record.
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Dear Pranaya, always a pleasure to read to blog, but this week you’ve outdone yourself with this excellent piece on Sumana Shrestha !