- Sunday, 8 February 2026
The Rising Nepal
Less money spent in this local election
Candidates and political parties spent lesser amount of money for Friday’s local election than previous polls. Restrictions on over-spending and the type of promotional materials allowed to be used seemingly brought down the candidates’ expenditure this time around.
Modi’s trip expected to boost tourism
The visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Lumbini on Monday has excited tourism entrepreneurs in the area in hope that it will help in the promotion of tourism here. Tourism entrepreneurs have said that measures should be taken to extend the stay of Indian tourists as their tourists may increase after Modi’s visit. “Now we have to find a way to extend their stay,” said Chandra Prakash Shrestha, President of the Siddhartha Hotel Association.
Benzema draws level with Raúl
Karim Benzema continues to add his name to Real Madrid’s record books, scoring his 323rd goal on Thursday to draw level with Raúl González as the club’s second-highest scorer behind Cristiano Ronaldo. Benzema netted in the first half of the team’s 6-0 rout of last-place Levante in the Spanish league, with Madrid having secured the title a few rounds ago. The result sealed Levante’s relegation after five consecutive years in the first division. Vinícius Júnior, Benzema’s trusted attacking partner all season, scored a hat trick for Ma
Spurs keep top-four bid alive
Mikel Arteta launched a scathing attack on referee Paul Tierney after Tottenham beat 10-man Arsenal 3-0 on Thursday to keep alive their hopes of finishing in the Premier League’s top four. Antonio Conte’s side would have been eliminated from the race to qualify for next season’s Champions League if they had lost to their bitter north London rivals. But Harry Kane tormented Arsenal once again as the Tottenham striker opened the scoring with a controversial penalty. Crucially, Arsenal’s Rob Holding was sent off for two bookings in seven minutes.
113-year-old Gopi Maya, 111-year-old Bishnu Maya cast their votes
Gopimaya Pokharel, a 113-year-old woman of Bhanu Municipality-5, Tanahun, cast her vote from Mahadevata Basic School ‘Ka’ voting centre in the local poll on Friday Pokharel cast her vote with the help of her grandson, election officer Bishnu Prasad Neupane of the centre informed.
Lhakpa Sherpa first woman to scale Everest 10 times
By A Staff Reporter Kathmandu, May 14: Lhakpa Sherpa, 48, has become the first woman to climb Mount Everest 10 times. The Sankhuwasabha native who currently lives in Connecticut, USA, Sherpa reached the top of Mount Everest at around 6.30 am on Thursday, confirmed Seven Summit Treks Pvt. Ltd., the company that managed her expedition. Similarly, on Thursday, the world’s highest mountain saw 150 climbers reach the top. This high number has been attributed to clear weather.The Spring mountaineering season, which this year is expected to end at the end of May, is considered the best time to summit Everest. That is why climbers from all over the world come to Nepal to make an attempt on the 8,848.86-metre-tall mountain. This year, a total of 317 climbers from 58 countries have received permission from the Department of Tourism to attempt to scale Mount Everest.Meanwhile, Yuvantika Tamang of Suryodaya Municipality-10, Ilam has also successfully climbed Mount Everest. According to our Pashupatinagar correspondent, Tamang reached the top of the mountain at 6.50 am on Friday after which, she unfurled Nepal’s national flag there. Born in Suryodaya, Yuvantika is involved in agriculture.
Ten cargos enter Chobhar Dry Port in a month
Ten cargo containers have entered the newly built Chobhar Dry Port in Kritipur after its inauguration by Prime Minister Sher Bahdur Deuba on April 5. The dry port has allowed importers to make customs clearance of their goods in Kathmandu itself, saving their trips to the various border checkpoints from where shipments enter Nepal. Dhan Bahadur Baruwal, custom chief of Chobhar Dry Port, said that cargo containers were not entering daily because it came into operation only recently.
Social Capital Fosters Solidarity
Modern society has three key players-- the state, the market and citizens-- with all their informal and formal institutions, networks and movements known as the civil society. The diffusion of power away from the state has innovated paired norms, values and interests of these players to breed social capital, resolve distributional conflicts and alleviate the rising scarcity of public goods in society. The state assumes legitimate power monopoly to subdue chaos, create security and order and govern society. The market hinges on competition aiming to spur production, exchange and allocation of various goods. Civil society grows on the spirits of mediation, voluntarism, charity and giving.
Advance Community-Led HIV Response
For decades, community engagement has been critical to HIV prevention in terms of understanding the context of the epidemic, addressing community needs, reducing health disparities, and achieving health equity. Therefore, governments and development partners are increasingly focusing on meaningful community engagement to protect and promote the rights of key populations and people living with HIV who are poor and socially marginalised with limited access to health care services. There are increasing evidences that community-led responses to HIV result in positive health outcomes and enhance community resilience. Considering the emerging trends of key populations-led HIV response, meaningful and inclusive participation of civil society is critical to connect the marginalised communities with services and ensure that no one is left behind.
Nation Goes To Polls Today, Strengthening Democracy At Grassroots
The nation goes to local polls today, the second time since the country adopted the federal democratic constitution in September 2015. Our charter envisages periodic local polls every five years. This time, too, polls at 753 local bodies, revered as the very basis of our federal system of governance, have shone a light on our contemporary governing system that prides itself on devolution of power to the grassroots. Our local bodies enjoy over 250 rights, thanks to the legislation, arranged by the people's representatives through constituent assemblies.
Menstruation Troubles For Female Teachers
Teaching is a platform where teachers impart knowledge to students. The more knowledge they share the more the student learns. However, sometimes problems pose dilemmas for teachers in teaching. When a teacher happens to be a female, she encounters a special problem - the menstrual cycle during teachings. The menstruation period is not only about a situation of facing bleeding problems but there happened to be both physical and psychological disorders among females which can be perceived mainly in the form of pre-menstrual syndromes such as painful cramps that cause troubles in the teaching and learning process.
Himalayan Bird Count on May 14
By A Staff Reporter Kathmandu, May 13: Birdwatchers in the Himalayan regions of Nepal, India and Bhutan will come together to document as many birds in the mountain range as possible on May 14.This is the first edition of the Himalayan Bird Count (HBC) which aims to celebrate the incredible bird diversity and bring attention to the threatened habitats of the Himalayas.In the event organised by Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN), Bird Count India and the Royal Society for the Protection of Nature, Bhutan, are working together to bring the Himalayan birding fraternity together for the common good. The organisations have collectively decided to conduct this event on Endemic Bird Day to spread awareness about Himalaya’s bird biodiversity, said a press statement issued by the BCN.“The rich and diverse biodiversity of the Himalayan region is home to several species of birds. We are hopeful that the “Himalayan Bird Count”, initiated by three countries, is one of the many events for the birds and biodiversity conservation of the Himalayan region,” said Ishana Thapa, Chief Executive Officer of the BCN. “Himalayan Bird Count can provide consistent, snapshot information of bird diversity in a region that is increasingly threatened by climate change. This kind of information, across the years, can help us understand what is happening to our country’s birds,” said Dr. Ghazala Shahabuddin, Senior Fellow, Centre for Ecology, Development and Research (CEDAR) working in Kumaon Hills, Uttarakhand. The biological diversity of the Himalayas is also under unprecedented threat due to large-scale infrastructure development, the statement reads.The basic activity is to view and count birds from anywhere in the listed Himalayan region on Saturday for at least 15 minutes and upload bird lists to the bird recording platform eBird (www.ebird.org). The day is also going to be celebrated as World Migratory Bird Day 2022.
Rebirth Of Forgotten Dramas Of Lil Bahadur
Lil Bahadur Kshyatri flew to Delhi from Assam and received the prestigious national award Padmashree there from India’s president and returned to his home at the end of 2021. He is now 91 years old. This honour from the Indian government, which the nonagenarian litterateur received, is for his contributions to the Nepali language and literature. In this regard, it would be appropriate to remember Kshyatri as a litterateur, who has also been widely known for ‘thin book with powerful theme’ since he wrote a highly popular small novel named “Basain" in the Nepali language. Thus, Lil Bahadur’s contributions to Nepali literature and language are non-stop and it is hard to measure his selfless creative devotion.
Mystical Mustang
Mustang, the last frontier of the trans-Himalayan fiefdom, is a land cloaked in a mystical veil of enigmatic parables. The facades in the upper and lower Mustang have kaleidoscopic natural rejigging. The amber-hued mountains guard the region with their majestic presence, exuding a veneered pastiche of mother nature. From its surreal semi-arid desert to motley formations of rock, snow-kissed mountains, and the stark contrast of green crop fields amidst the off-beaten landscape akin to a desert, it's a homeland of juxtaposing panorama. Opined as the "Plain of the Aspirations" in the Tibetian language, it simply oscillates with a sense of alchemy.
Promoting Mental Health
Grishma Paneru Sarita was a sophomore. She fell in love with a mysterious but attractive boy. It was a perfect relationship, until one day she felt his hand on her face. He said, "You stupid, if you were silent, that wouldn't have happened." From that moment on, her life was upset. She was psychologically, emotionally, and sexually abused. He humiliated her, talked about her being overweight, and robbed her of all her power. She began to question her self-esteem, self-confidence, and the true purpose of life. She often thought of suicide. Sarita said that was the way for her, with tears in her eyes. She didn't tell anyone at first. She was embarrassed and ashamed and couldn't say what she was experiencing. His family and friends worshipped him. He isolated her from her support system, the people who loved her and cared for her deeply. Contact with family and friends was limited. He monitored all her movements.CourageEventually, she gained enough courage and power to talk to her friends. She left him and moved with one of her friends for a while, but the abuser persuaded her to return to him. He vowed to seek counselling and anger management programmes, but he never did. He said everything was right to get her back. She truly believed in him. She gave in to another chance.No change has ever come. One day he put his hand on her neck and began to strangle her. It was like being possessed. He vowed to kill her if she left him. She saw herself dying in his hands.It was the most horrifying time of her life. It was very difficult for her to start over without him, but she decided to move forward and live again. She went to a friend who helped her contact the trauma counsellor. It took her a couple of months to recover from the trauma that she had from her husband. She went through multiple counselling and therapeutic sessions and recovered mentally and emotionally.Sarita is not the only one who has been a victim of domestic violence. Domestic violence and abuse (DVA) are major public health issues affecting the lives of people around the world. Violence against women is increasing around the world, triggered by the Covid 19 pandemic. But even before the pandemic, the World Health Organisation reported that nearly one in three women (about 852 million women worldwide) were exposed to violence at some point in their lives. According to the United Nations Population Fund, 48% of Nepali women reported experiencing some form of violence at some point in their lives, of which 15% experienced sexual violence. This happens when a partner attempts to gain psychological and emotional control over a woman by insulting, controlling behaviour, verbal abuse and intimidating the woman. There is a link between domestic violence and mental health problems. Mental health problems are a common consequence of domestic violence for both adults and children. And there are mental health issues that can make a person more vulnerable to abuse. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that a substantial proportion of people accessing mental health services have experienced abuse. Despite these strong associations, domestic violence often goes unnoticed in mental health services, and domestic violence services are not always able to assist those with mental health problems.Women who have experienced domestic violence or abuse are at very high risk of experiencing a variety of mental illnesses, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, substance abuse and suicide ideation. Physical and psychological abuse not only causes pain but also psychologically damages and increases the risk of developing mental illness in women. Fear, anxiety and sadness are the usual emotions associated with domestic violence. Although these negative emotions do not automatically indicate mental illness, the effects of trauma can significantly alter a person's memory, arousal and emotional and cognitive responses to the outside work. For many survivors, healing begins when they find that these symptoms are predictable, temporary and treatable consequences of the violence they survive. Although domestic violence and abuse (DVA) are associated with an increased risk of mental illness, little is known about the mental health of female DVA survivors seeking assistance from domestic violence services. Seeking Mental Health ServicesSurvivors should look for therapists, counselling groups and mental health services who are familiar with trauma and have experience dealing with the long-term effects of domestic violence. Treatment, counselling and support groups for survivors of domestic violence are not limited to those experiencing long-term effects such as PTSD and depression but are part of the mental health toolkit. Children affected by domestic violence can also benefit from talking to trauma-savvy professionals.We can learn about how violence and mental health problems affect those close to us on an individual level. Being there in a supportive, non-judgmental role, listening and helping in finding resources are all good ways to break down the stigma and isolation that abused women often feel. Domestic violence officers must be aware of the link between domestic violence and other adverse experiences and impacts and ensure that they respond to it. They need to hold local leaders accountable for providing support and intervention to victims/survivors and perpetrators with diverse needs (including mental health) and risks of all levels. In addition to emphasizing the mental health issues faced by victims of domestic violence, there is a need to identify multidisciplinary interventions that can provide practical and timely solutions for victims of domestic violence amid the pandemic, ranging from personalized care strategies to educational programs, escape plans, legislation and regulations, and more technology-based mental health solutions. There is a significant need for more multifaceted and multidisciplinary strategies to address domestic violence during and after the pandemic, particularly interventions that could benefit from the ubiquity and cost-effectiveness of technology-based solutions.(Paneru is a psycho-social counsellor and mental health consultant)
