Hundreds of local residents and conservationists on Monday staged a protest outside Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) office against the plan of the metropolis to build an underground parking lot in Tundikhel. They have demanded the metropolis to withdraw its plan to build a three-storied underground parking lot in Tundikhel, also known as Khulla Manch and leave this space open as it serves as the lungs of Kathmandu Valley.

With its inauguration by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Sunday, the first day of the ‘English New Year’ 2023, the long-awaited Pokhara Regional International Airport (PRIA) has formally come into operation.

The year 2022 began with a fresh wave of COVID-19 that wreaked havoc across all walks of life in the country for the previous two years. In between, there was a sudden spike of dengue infections, with the country confirming over 42,000 cases and 51 deaths. As we begin New Year 2023, the COVID-19 pandemic looks to be making a comeback again, instilling fear among all Nepalis.

The quick political rise of former celebrity TV journalist Rabi Lamichhane is, no doubt, one of the biggest surprises in Nepali politics in recent times. Within six months of forming a political party, Lamichhane has been successful in becoming the country’s deputy prime minister and home minister. The rise of Lamichhane, who is quite new to Nepali politics, to the all-important post of home minister at once, has created quite a buzz in the home ministry and police organizations.

There were high hopes that the operation of the Gautam Buddha International Airport (GBIA) in Lumbini would serve as an alternative to Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), which has already proven to be too small to handle the country’s growing air traffic. But the disturbing news that has come in less than eight months of its operation suggests that the much-hyped GBIA is likely to go out of business.

With the formation of a new government, CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has begun his third term as Nepal’s Prime Minister. Dahal really deserves congratulations especially when one thinks that he has been able to rise to the country’s top executive post despite being restricted to the leader of a distant third party with just 32 seats in the 275-member House of Representatives (HoR).

The first meeting of the cabinet held on Monday after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal assumed office decided to improve public service delivery in various offices as a part of the government’s efforts to ensure good governance in the country. The meeting decided to address the serpentine queue of service seekers seen routinely outside the Department of Passports in Tripureshwar.

COVID-19 cases in China have been rapidly increasing in various major cities in recent weeks as the virus sweeps through China largely unchecked. Nepal’s northern neighbor had been largely sheltered from the virus for much of the pandemic. But it is now reportedly experiencing “the world’s biggest surge in infections” after the hardline Covid-19 containment measures implemented in China earlier were loosened earlier this month following protests.

Statistics maintained by the police show that there is also a criminal side to our society that has been getting uglier and uglier over the past few years. This only substantiates speculations that the Nepali society is getting cruel.

It has already been several weeks since the ruling parties got engaged in negotiations to form a new government. Even as the deadline given by President Bidya Devi Bhandari is expiring on Sunday, the ruling Nepali Congress and the CPN (Maoist Center) do not seem anywhere close to sealing a power-sharing deal.