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Today you will hear the last episode that I recorded in Kathmandu. I had long wanted to talk to a representative from a so-called labour receiving country – one that hires some of the hundreds of thousands of Nepali migrant workers who leave home each year to earn their livelihoods abroad. Although it was difficult to speak to someone from an embassy in Kathmandu, I did make contact with a project of the Korean International Development Agency, or KOICA, called K-HaMi. It focuses on reintegrating workers after they return to Nepal from South Korea. p3eiiquy

What I learned was how complicated that process can be. It includes the regular pre-departure training, plus more if, at the start of the migration process, a worker is already interested in learning about reintegration. Then there are choices of various skills training while abroad and finally, more training after workers return. It feels a little like choosing to stay in Nepal can actually be more work than signing up for another job abroad.

Unfortunately, because this project started only in 2023, there seems to be a lack of hard data on its impact to date. But my guest Simran Shah says she feels positive that the project is having an impact. One correction: in the interview Simran says that K-HaMi has worked with 2,500 migrants to date. That figure should be more than 10,000 migrant workers.

Resources

K-HaMi project on YouTube

2024 report on returnee migrant workers’ experiences in Nepal

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In Monday's Kathmandu Post I read short bios of two of the 19 protesters killed by police in the GenZ demonstration one week ago. Both were from Nepal's Far West — Deepak Singh Saud was from Baitadi district, Subas Bohara from Bajhang. Deepak was 18, Subas 21.

I send my condolences to their loved ones. 

As you probably know by now, the protest was about much more than the recent Nepal Government ban on social media. It was an explosion of frustration at how the political class has been running this nation for decades, longer than many protesters had been alive. And for a lot of those disaffected young people, the fact that they had to leave their country in order to find a job or continue their studies was a slap in the face, a symptom of all that was wrong with Nepal.

In fact, both Deepak and Subas had been learning a foreign language so they could go abroad and get the sort of job they felt they needed to earn a decent living — Subas to Japan, Deepak to South Korea. I think there's a good chance that other victims had also considered leaving Nepal.

I've been looking into migration and Nepal long enough to know that, despite the horror stories — and there are many — it does have benefits. Individuals can earn much more money than at home. They can pick up skills and women in particular can grow in confidence as they navigate a new society more independently than they would in Nepal. The country of course is a winner thanks to the money that migrants send home — at least a quarter of Nepal's overall income these days, one of the highest rates of the world's labour sending countries. 

But overall, to me nothing shows more plainly the failure of the entrenched leaders of the political parties than the hundreds of thousands of young people who every year feel that they have no option but to leave their country and loved ones to try and launch themselves into their adult lives in a strange land. 

I really really hope that in this new Nepal young people will feel like they have a choice — to leave, or to stay; a real choice, one whose pros and cons need to be carefully weighed before deciding. It will definitely take time to get there but last week a door opened that could lead in that direction, unfortunately not without unforgettable sacrifices.

Resources

Kathmandu Post article about Deepak Singh Saud

Post article about Subas Bohara

Detailed article about the GenZ andolan by Pranaya Rana

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Help steer the future of Nepal Now as it moves to Canada in September 2025. Fill out the survey. It takes just 3 minutes. 

You might have guessed from the headline for this episode that I am leaving Nepal. It’s a family move actually, back to my home country of Canada. Of course I will miss Nepal, where I’ve now spent 14 years of my life, but I’m confident we’ll be back one day. I will also miss doing this: speaking to all of you every couple of weeks about this fascinating place and its people. Thank you for taking the time to listen.

I’m not sure what the next episode of Nepal Now will sound like, or when I’ll be able to post it, but I can say 100% that there will be another one. So keep checking this feed. While waiting you can explore our back catalogue of more than 100 episodes since 2020, which you can listen to for free. 

So, Nepal Now… from Canada. I’m not yet sure what that sounds like. Could I actually pull off a Nepal-focused podcast from 11,000 km away? I could simply change the focus to Nepalis in Canada. That would certainly be easier — but I have the feeling that you all might tire of hearing those stories rather quickly. 

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The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 21 hit Nepali migrant workers hard. Thousands working in India were blocked from crossing the border into Nepal. Others overseas were laid off and confined to living quarters with little or no food, no money, and no tickets home.
 
We recorded this episode in the midst of that dark period. While it describes the terrible conditions and uncertainty affecting migrants, it is at the same time a good primer on some of the core issues around migration and Nepal. With my guests Bijaya Rai Shrestha of the NGO AMKAS and academic Ramesh Sunam we touched on topics including:

• the ban on women migrating to work in Persian Gulf countries
• the impact of caste on decisions to migrate
• the ‘invisibility’ of Nepalis who migrate to work in India and
• the need for stronger policies from Nepal’s governments.

Unfortunately it seems like some of the optimism you’ll hear in this episode was unrealistic —little seems to have improved in the migration file in the past five years.

Resources

AMKAS

Ramesh Sunam

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The rise in the numbers of Nepalis migrating to Japan in recent decades has been phenomenal — and I think overshadowed by movement to countries like the US, UK and Australia. Today the Asian country is by far the top destination for students going abroad to earn degrees and, in many cases, a path to settlement in the country. 

I doubt that you would ever guess that the origin of today’s migration to Japan is colonial Britain’s presence in Nepal’s neighbour, India. I’ll leave today’s guest, visual anthropologist Dipesh Kharel, to draw out that thread for you. He says that the link has led to a current population of about 230,000 Nepalis in Japan — five times more than the number of Indian migrants. One sign of how fully settled they have become in their new country is that many women no longer return to Nepal to give birth. 

By the way, Dipesh mentions the Japanese currency, the yen, a couple of times. As of today, 1 Nepali rupee was worth 1.07 yen. 

Resources

About Dipesh Kharel

Nepali students’ destinations (2023-24)

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Undoubtedly the Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign has been a success. In less than five years it has led the identification and return to Nepal of about 160 religious icons — statues, paintings, and more. These were stolen from this country and displayed or stored in public museums and private collections globally since Nepal opened to the world in the 1950s. 

Now what? The aim of the NHRC is to have these gods and goddesses (devi-devta in Nepali) returned to their communities, we learn in today’s chat with Alisha Sijapati, a founding member and former director of the campaign. Some have made that journey, such as the Lakshmi-Narayan statue taken from Patko Tole in Patan in 1984, but most have not. Blocking their way is a lack of resources and underpinning that, an absence of understanding of the importance of heritage to the health of this country, she adds. 

Today’s episode is an update to our conversation in October 2021 with NHRC member Rohan Mishra, titled Recovering Nepal’s Stolen Art and Restoring its Culture. I encourage you to search for it wherever you’re listening now. If you want more of these interviews, sign up to be a supporter wherever you’re listening by clicking on the Support the Show link.

For those of you in Nepal, the NHRC will take another step towards raising the profile of the living heritage of the stolen gods and goddesses in an exhibition at Patan Museum from July 31st to August 4th.  

Resources

Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign

Previous episode - Recovering Nepal’s Stolen Art and Restoring its Culture 

Lain Singh Bandel 

Juergen Schick

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Talking to Prakash Gurung made me realize that not all migrant workers from Nepal are leaving the country out of necessity. When I interviewed him last year the 26-year-old told me about his failed migration attempts – as both a student and a migrant worker – but I got the sense that he had options in-country as well; he just preferred the idea of leaving. I think there are many people in similar circumstances — they could find a job here at home, but believe that abroad they might be able to save more money, live in better conditions, or have more promising future prospects, for themselves and/or their family. 

One year later Prakash has shelved his migration plans. In their place he has chosen an unusual path—learning classical guitar. A guitar player since his teenage years, Prakash says that playing classical requires much more discipline than playing and singing rock songs, including hours of daily practice. He’s found a teacher to guide him on that journey. 

As you’ll hear, Prakash is now talking about finding satisfaction and inner peace on his musical quest. This is a huge turnaround from the half-hearted pledges he was making when we talked in 2024, and a pleasant surprise to me. 

Want more of these interviews? Sign up to be a supporter wherever you’re listening by clicking on the Support the Show link.

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Gyanu Adhikari is co-founder of The Record, the online news portal that published from 2014 to 2024. With 10 years’ experience running a media outlet that not only innovated in its content – offering long reads, history series, and podcasts, for example – but also experimented with funding—using a subscriber model—Gyanu has lots to share about media in Nepal. 

But surprisingly, he was most eager to talk about the state of the country—and more optimistic than most people I speak to about the future of Nepal. This episode was first published in 2024. I’m re-posting an episode today for the first time, mainly because I’ll be out of town this week and couldn’t finish a new one fast enough. I chose to feature my chat with Gyanu because it’s one of the most popular I’ve published since 2020 and also because it’s evergreen, since it deals with the media and the future, two subjects that many of us never tire speculating about. 

I reached out to Gyanu a couple of days ago to ask if he wanted to add anything to his thoughts three years later. He told me, quote, “I still believe we are on a good path provided we can keep the constitution and rule of law — a secular federal republic will take us far. To speed up the progress, Nepal should be inspired by China and Scandinavian countries’ green transition. Democratizing the energy industry, for example, with feed-in tariffs, and replacing dirty with clean energy in every domain. That’d allow us to leapfrog ahead instead of merely play catchup with developed countries. We are also still badly under-investing in human capital, including in the arts.”

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If I told you about a 30-year study that has already resulted in 261 research publications, you’d be impressed right?

And if I added that the study is based in Chitwan, and co-led by a Nepali, Prof. Dirgha Ghimire? I think you’d be even more enthusiastic. At least I was when I learned about the Chitwan Valley Family Study just a month ago. I’m not sure how I missed it over the past two decades that I’ve lived here but I’m a firm believer in the adage ‘better late than never’.

Before we get to today’s episode, did you know that we now have an e-newsletter? If you’re curious about what we’re working on for future shows, the latest news about migration and Nepal, or you want to share feedback and ideas, I encourage you to sign up now. 

Researchers at the Chitwan Valley study, based at the University of Michigan in the US, have been contacting members of the same 152 communities for the past three decades to collect key details of their lives: births, deaths, how they’re aging, how their children are growing and much, much more. Especially key for our purposes is what happens to them—and their family members—when they migrate. 

Resources

Chitwan Valley Family Study

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I’ve said it to you listeners more than once: it seems that almost every young person I've met in Nepal in the last couple years was planning to go overseas, or knows someone who's doing so. 

Now I have proof, kind of. Yesterday I spoke to a researcher whose team surveyed a high school graduating class. 40% of the students said they want to go study abroad after graduation; another 40% said they hope to go work overseas. That's 80% — a huge number, but I'm not surprised. 

So when I meet someone in their 20s who graduated high school in Nepal, then did a bachelor’s degree, and then a master’s degree, and is now working in this country, I get curious. 

Today’s guest, Paribesh Bidari, tells me that the youngest people he’s working with in his various offices are in their 40s. And while he’s juggling many gigs to advance his career, he’s also making it a point to motivate his juniors to stay in Nepal.

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