Government’s open protection for a business group close to the ruling party has become a matter of serious public concern recently. Its undue favor for Yeti Group and various companies associated with it, for example, has not only brought the disgrace on the government but also Yeti Group is becoming synonymous with misrule and policy corruption.  The government allowed it to use several prime public properties including Nepal Trust property worth billions of rupees from Kathmandu to the Everest Base Camp for business.  Yeti Group managed to transfer the ownership of land inside the Sagarmatha National Park to its name to establish Kongde View Resort.

Nepal Communist Party (NCP) is once again embroiled in intra-party feud. Differences among top leaders, including KP Sharma Oli, Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Madhav Kumar Nepal, have surfaced, and it is likely to impact our political stability. Nepalis voted for stability and development. But the party’s infighting exposed personal ambitions above everything else. Recent political developments are deeply troubling for the country. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has not shied away from venting his frustration over the government’s inability to pass MCC, and resolve some outstanding issues within the party.

Not all urbanites have luxury of eating at homes because they have to work. They leave home early and stop by the roadside eateries or canteens for breakfast and lunch.  Many others pick food items from street vendors who cook and sell on the carts and earn livelihood through such small enterprises.

The government and ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) have sent deeply troubling messages in the past few days.

Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli does not like when pictures of tuins are published in the newspapers. ‘They do not get to see one these days and therefore use the old ones,’ he reportedly said recently. The Prime Minister boasts that his government has accomplished so much in terms of creating basic minimum structures such as bridges and roads.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s trusted cabinet member Gokul Prasad Baskota was forced to resign on Thursday after an audio of him bargaining for Rs 700 million in bribe in connection with the procurement of security printing press came out. The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee has asked the government to halt the process of procuring security printing press worth billions of rupees after this controversial audio went to the public.

Nepal celebrated 70th National Democracy Day on Wednesday by organizing a special ceremony at the Nepal Army Pavilion in the capital. President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Speaker of the House of Representatives Agni Prasad Sapkota, National Assembly Chairperson Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, cabinet ministers, members of parliament, high-ranking government officials and people from various walks of life attended the ceremony.

There have been a lot of misperceptions about coronavirus, now called COVID 19: That every infected succumbs to death, that every person coming from China is necessarily a carrier of disease, that eating garlic, smearing the body with some oil or spraying alcohol around the house can help prevent infection, so on and so forth.  It is some such misperceptions which led the people of Kharipati area in Bhatkapur, where quarantine facilities were set up by the government to keep the students brought to Kathmandu from Wuhan of China, to oppose the government’s decision.

The government has taken up the much needed work of installing underground electric wires in the Kathmandu Valley.

Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has expressed resentment about media and public criticisms of his government. He has been saying: We have been doing all we can. We are committed to safeguarding fundamental rights of the citizens and upholding democratic values. We are committed to translating the vision of ‘Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali.’ But civil society has not been fair to us, nor the media. We have been targeted simply for our political ideology.