HONG KONG – As governments worldwide confront the terrible choice between saving lives from COVID-19 and protecting people’s livelihoods, economic indicators highlight the intensity of the dilemma. Unemployment has skyrocketed, trade has plunged, and the global economy is facing its worst downturn since the Great Depression. There is only one way to limit the pandemic’s economic fallout: Sino-American cooperation.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 in late December 2019 in Wuhan, China, experts have speculated what its long-term effects on global health, the global economy, and social welfare will be. The human lives lost to the pandemic have been colossal. The economic impact of COVID-19 paints a very dreary picture: rising unemployment, crashing oil prices, and increasing risk of recession, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicting that the global economy will shrink by three percent in 2020. Bloomberg Economics’ analysis predicts that, in the worst case, COVID-19 could cost the global economy $2.7 trillion in global output, recessions in the US, Euro-area, and Japan, and the slowest growth on record in China.

Amid deepening crisis of Covid-19, scores of opinions have been thrown by various scholars suggesting that the government should employ the overseas Nepali migrant returnees in farm production. Some experts further state that it is high time for Nepal to rope in youths to the farm sector which has long been neglected and can generate ample employment opportunities. Very true.

When it was decided that the United States would join the First World War, President Woodrow Wilson promised the world would be “made safe for democracy”. Having been reelected in 1916 with the campaign slogan “He kept us out of war”, this decision marked a reversal of the initial position of ‘neutrality’ adopted by America in 1914. But it wasn’t just Wilson who had a change of heart; the entire country witnessed a shift in public opinion. The sinking of the Lusitania, the revelation made by the Zimmermann Telegraph, in culmination with other factors, suggested imminent danger to the sovereignty of United States, and in response, President Wilson issued the declaration of war in 1917.

The Limpiadhura dispute between Nepal and India seems to be deepening. Amid this scenario, a section of the Indian media is going berserk. Feeding this madness are some livid members of the Indian intelligentsia. Our own lot is also trying to catch up.

Hawkish interview of Vijay Jolly, a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), regarding the Indian encroachment of Kalapani area of Nepal calls everybody to revisit historical facts. He did not mention historical facts supporting India's claim during his fiery interview with Nepali Radio Network on May 22 with Rishi Dhamala. Agreements between Nepal and the British India, including the Treaty of Sugauli and its supplement, letters, administrative practices and subsequently published maps of Nepal, evidently show Nepal's sovereignty over the area of Limpiyadhura, Lipu Lekh and Kalapani (LLK) in Darchula district of Nepal.

With the Covid-19 pandemic bringing the economy to a standstill, many businesses are in immediate need for financial support. The finance committee of the Parliament has recommended the government include a NPR 188 billion financial package in FY2021 budget to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy. The need is urgent, but the economy is in a tight squeeze and a fiscal stimulus may be easier said than done.

Indians often pursue the legacy of the British Raj while executing their foreign policy. The maritime security has become a matter of concern to India very recently and thus Indians have less to learn from its colonial history in this regard. However, its engagement with immediate neighbors including Nepal is closely in line with the legacy of British colonialism.

Dear Sarita Giri, recently you said that Nepal should have consulted India before publishing the new map showing Limpiyadhura, Lipulek and Kalapani of Nepal. You seem to think Nepal’s sovereignty—internally (at domestic level) and externally (at international stages)—is subject to approval or disapproval by neighbouring countries. What a pity!

Prior to COVID-19 pandemic, the now popular online education system had rarely become a priority for Nepali academic institutions. Now the nationwide lockdown has compelled the majority of the institutions and their teachers to run their classes online, mostly by using Zoom software. The evolving trend in the Nepali education system has thus made Nepali teachers, students, and parents familiar with the online classes. Thus COVID-19 has made virtual teaching and learning a new normal. But without proper plans, sufficient technological tools, and much-needed awareness among all stakeholders, it won’t be possible to achieve positive outcomes from ongoing online education. The past experiences have shown that poorly designed technologies rather discourage the teachers and students from adopting it.