Initial Election Commission (EC) figures suggest a huge voter turnout: 71 percent! But was it a peaceful local election on May 14? In general it was, says the EC in a preliminary status of this first phase of the…
It’s a virtual cliffhanger to follow the drama in the run-up to the local election. The election was recently split into two phases – May 14 and June 14, as opposed to just May 14 – and now the second phase may be in the balance. For reasons never made quite clear to the public, the newly formed six-party…
Wild animals lurk as a real threat to villagers living near some of Nepal’s national parks and local forests. In some districts, the risk of animal attack even exists inside the local towns. These attacks are a tragic reminder of how difficult it can be to achieve peaceful coexistence where human settlements and animal territories overlap. Last month alone witnessed several attacks involving all of Nepal’s “big five”:
Cabinet decided on February 2nd to instruct the Election Commission to get things ready for local elections by mid-May. So, it finally announced at least an approximate election date. Will the elections happen for sure, though? Well, it’s hard not to be optimistic. However, there are still hurdles ahead, to say the…
It’s just another example of local infrastructure projects that are left half completed for years, sometimes forever. We once witnessed a similar case in Chitwan where the government was said to have funded a dike project along a river to protect villagers from the annual floods. On inspection to the remote river bank, however, all […]
Young ultra-runner, Mira Rai, grew up in a village in the eastern district of Bhojpur. As a young girl, she joined a local Maoist platoon – it was under the Maoist conflict – where she learned not only guerilla warfare but also how to train and run in the mountains. Today, she’s a professional trail […]