The Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report 2024 published by the UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) earlier this month shockingly revealed that the region will achieve all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) only by 2062, and not by the target year of 2030. &nbsp;
While the region has taken positive steps towards eliminating poverty, and bolstering sustainable industry, innovation and infrastructure; progress in other goals related to hunger, health, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy and sustainable cities and communities have been less noteworthy. These require much more political will.&nbsp;
The UN adds in a supplemental note that while the country has shown progress to meet most targets in gender, inclusion and maternal-child health, Nepal is lagging behind in SDGs #2 and #10: achieving food security and combating undernourishment, as well as in reducing inequalities within and among countries.
Translated from UN-ese, this means: many Nepalis (especially children) still go to bed hungry every night, and some Nepalis are more equal than others. &nbsp;
Chronic hunger is measured by wasting and stunting in children. One of the targets under the SDG’s second goal is to eliminate stunting and wasting in children under five. The 2023 Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates by UNICEF, WHO and the World Bank Group stated that in 2022, stunting affected 26.7% of children under five in Nepal. The Demographic Health Survey in 2022 put stunting slightly lower at 24.8% of children under five.&nbsp;
To be sure, Nepal has reduced stunting significantly from 67% in 1995, when it was one of the highest in the world, to where it is now. But that is a nationwide figure, and there are parts of Nepal that are still far behind.
In Karnali Province 36% of children under five years of age are stunted. It is 29% in Madhes Province. Despite a reduction in Nepal’s poverty rate and improvements in the national nutrition levels, hunger still persists in these areas.
Food insecurity and undernourishment do not exist in a vacuum, they are also symptoms of societal inequities. Stunting is nearly three times as high among Nepali children from the lowest wealth group than among children of richer families. &nbsp;Undernourishment is directly affected by a mother’s education level.
Inequality is widening across the world. Oxfam International’s report Inequality Inc in January stated that while the richest five men in the world have doubled their fortunes since 2020, almost five billion people globally have become poorer during the same timeframe.
But not all the news is bleak. The school meals program managed by the World Food Programme (WFP) has been crucial in providing nutritious meals to children for more than four decades. In 2022, the program directly provided school meals to more than 250,000 children in nearly 2,500 schools across the country. The Nepal government has been gradually taking over the program, and stepping up funding while making the program cash-based, allocating around 6% of the national education budget for school lunches this fiscal year.&nbsp;
The fourth Nepal Living Standards Survey was published last month and showed that the proportion of Nepalis living below the poverty line had dropped from 25.16% in 2011 to 20.27% in 2023. The Gini index for Nepal in 2023 stands at 0.30, and the survey indicates that there are larger inequalities in per capita consumption spending in urban areas.&nbsp;
The most recent study on inequality in Nepal by Oxfam and the non-profit HAMI was in 2019, which found income and wealth gap to be wide, and widening. The Nepal Living Standards Survey and it showed that the proportion of Nepalis living below the poverty line had dropped from 25.16% in 2011 to 20.27% in 2023. But the income of the richest 10% of Nepalis is more than three times that of the poorest 40%. In 2022, Nepal ranked 112 in Oxfam and Development Finance International’s Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index, which ranks countries on their policies to tackle inequity.&nbsp;
Landlessness, corruption, and lack of access to quality public services are some of the key contributing factors to inequality in Nepal. But again, these inequalities do not exist independently of one another. Gender inequality contributes to land and economic disparity, to education and resources. One inequality compounds another.&nbsp;
The moral of the story is that hunger, inequality, exclusion, landlessness, accountability and governance are all connected. As they say in development parlance: inequality is intersectional.
Shristi Karki

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More equal than others

<img width="800" height="924" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811114/636a29d09c7e80680e0458e9jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>After being lampooned for extravagant, but empty, promises and criticised for having nothing concrete to show for his first year as prime minister, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/olis-1st-year/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">K P Oli</a> has moved quickly to address two lingering legacies of the conflict and the constitution-writing process: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/only-genuine-devolution-will-douse-separatism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sign a deal with C K Raut</a> to get him to abandon secessionism, and outlaw the hardline <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/its-a-crime-not-to-call-it-terrorism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Netra Bikram Chand (Biplav)</a> faction of the Maoists. Despite misgivings and cynical comments on social platforms, the Oli administration has also won applause for its new assertiveness and a renewed sense of purpose. Read also: '<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=23156&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No closure</a>'In the 11-point agreement signed with Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa on 24 March, Raut has committed to accept Nepal’s sovereignty and unity as well as enter the democratic mainstream. That declaration has removed the threat of ethno-separatism from plains politics, meaning that moderate Madhesi parties can now no longer fall back on Raut’s secessionist rhetoric as a bargaining chip with Kathmandu.With his Cambridge education and work in IT, Raut brings with him international exposure and perhaps a cleaner, meaner brand of politics. Anger in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/from-rebels-to-rulers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Province 2</a> runs deep, and the mistrust of K P Oli may have grown among Madhesi parties because of last Sunday’s deal. As David Seddon reports from Province 2, unless there are real moves towards autonomy and devolution, there may very well be other Rauts. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/only-genuine-devolution-will-douse-separatism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Only genuine devolution will douse separatism</a>, David SeddonThe surprise announcement last Sunday was not easily digestible to the opposition NC and other parties who accused Oli of a sellout. But the most vocal critic of the 11-point agreement were Oli's rivals within the NCP itself: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-ship-of-state/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">party co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal</a> did not show it but was privately miffed that Oli had not kept him apprised, and Bhim Rawal’s main gripe was also that he was not consulted.However, we give Oli a thumbs up on this even if it is only for keeping the sensitive negotiations under wraps in the leaky corridors of Singha Darbar. Oli has shown that he likes to surprise people by pulling rabbits out of hats. For example, the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/a-two-party-state,3968" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pre-electoral alliance in 2017</a> between the Maoists and the UML was also a bolt from the blue when announced.The agreement with Raut followed close on the heels of the Kailali District Court sentencing Resham Chaudhary to life imprisonment for the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/ground-zero-in-Kailai,2538" target="_blank" rel="noopener">massacre of policemen in Tikapur</a> in August 2015, and his party the RJP-N subsequently pulling out from the governing coalition in protest. There also seems to have been some behind-the-scenes winks and nods between Baluwatar and the Supreme Court for Raut to be released from jail a day prior to the agreement.The wily Oli seems to have killed several birds with one stone with the agreement: he countered his public image of being <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/communist-capital/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">only talk and no walk</a>, neutralised the fallout of RJP-N leaving his government, and depending Raut’s future role, laid the groundwork for the next general election which will be won or lost in the Madhes.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/its-a-crime-not-to-call-it-terrorism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">It's a crime not to call it terrorism</a>, Kunda DixitOn Biplav, although the government split hairs by saying it was not a ban on the party, only on its criminal activities, the action essentially drives the Maoist faction underground. There could be two reasons for this: the ruling NCP wants to keep the door open for negotiations, or ex-Maoists in the ruling party used to be buddies of Biplav and just want to pretend to go after him. After all, Biplav is now using the same tactics of extortion and violence they used at the beginning of the insurgency in 1996. Even so, by publicly calling the Biplav party a “gang of looters” Prime Minsiter Oli has thrown the gauntlet.The Maoists were already semi-underground, and owned up to three bomb attacks in the capital last month that <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/innocent-life-lost/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">killed one person</a>, and set fire to more than a dozen Ncell towers across the country. The government was challenged, and there was no other way for it to respond but warn that criminal activities will no longer be tolerated.With both the Raut deal and the warning to Biplav, the government now needs to show that it means business. A ruling party that can bring a separatist force to the negotiating table should easily be able to convince former comrades-at-arms to give up violence. While doing that, the government should also try to win the hearts and minds of the people of Province 2, expedite political devolution and remove grievances that feed extremism.As far as the Maoists are concerned, they are cashing in on disillusionment among the people with the NCP’s poor governance and corruption. The root cause of extremism is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-great-income-divide/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extreme inequality</a>, and unless there are moves towards social justice, Nepal will continue to be unstable. <h2>10 years ago this week</h2> The week that the NCP government made up of ex-Maoists signed an agreement with Madhesi activist CK Raut to renounce separatism, is as good a time as any to look back at <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/442" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issue #442 of 13-20 March 2019</a> which dealt the beginnings of unrest in the Madhes for more autonomy. Excerpt from <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15746#.XJSGlCIzaUk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Editorial</a>:‘The continuing Tarai unrest, brewing discontent among groups demanding self-determination, intractable tension within the party leading the coalition, the inability of the state to protect its citizens and improve their lives -- these are just some of the crises Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal faces. And all the time, he has to prevent the peace process from being derailed and keep to the timetable on the constitution. The job would have been difficult even if there was a consensus government, the coalition partners loved each other, the bureaucracy was clean and efficient and there was no looming global depression. What makes Dahal’s job immensely more difficult is that his party is still behaving like it is in the jungles, and Kathmandu’s politicians act as if they are still in the era of self-centred coalition politics of the 1990s.<a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/issue/442"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811114/636a29d39c7e80680e0458eajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="510" height="815"></a>

Two  extremities

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811114/636a29cc9c7e80680e0458e8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="933"/><figcaption>Bikram Rai</figcaption></figure>Just as the government was defusing one crisis by getting Madhesi activist <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/only-genuine-devolution-will-douse-separatism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CK Raut to renounce separatism</a> last Sunday, it was faced with another explosive situation created by breakaway Maoist radicals.The ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) is made up of ex-UML and erstwhile Maoists, but the faction that enforced a nationwide shutdown on Thursday calls itself the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN). Its leader <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/extortion-in-a-federal-state/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Netra Bikram Chand (Biplav)</a> was mentored by NCP co-Chair and Maoist supremo Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and was once comrade-in-arms of Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa. Biplav is now using the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/its-a-crime-not-to-call-it-terrorism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">same tactics of violence and extortion</a> that the Maoists perfected at the start of the war in the 1990s.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=23164&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Two  extremities</a>, Editorial<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/only-genuine-devolution-will-douse-separatism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Only genuine devolution will douse separatism</a>, David Seddon Thursday’s shutdown affected movement on highways, closed schools and industries throughout the country, although the impact was not felt on traffic in Kathmandu Valley (pictured above). The closures were enforced with terror, but a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/innocent-life-lost/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fatal bombing at Ncell earlier</a> this month had already convinced the public that Biplav meant business. The party has been openly extorting businesses as well as local governments across the country.Security sources told Nepali Times they had shared intelligence about CPN recruitment drives and militia training, and had warned the government about the group’s preparations ahead of the recent arson and bombing spree.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/its-a-crime-not-to-call-it-terrorism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">It’s a crime not to call it terrorism</a>, Kunda DixitNow, the NCP is finally taking the CPN seriously. On Tuesday the Cabinet outlawed the activities of the party, saying that it was a criminal entity, not a political party. Ministers said they were forced to take the step after the semi-underground group refused the government’s offer of talks. Dahal even declared that he faced a threat to his life from his former protégés.Biplav brushed off the ban, calling it ‘ridiculous’ and adding in a statement on Wednesday that ‘extortion was a fundamental right … necessary for the nation and people’.  Security forces have in the past month seized assault rifles and other weapons from CPN cadre in Dharan and Rupendehi, tracing them back to former guerrillas who absconded from UN-supervised camps with weapons after the ceasefire.By attacking a Malaysian telecom company and threatening Indian hydropower projects in Nepal, Biplav has thrown a direct challenge to the government ahead of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/nepal-inc/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nepal Investment Summit 29-30 March</a>, during which the government hopes to attract <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/Comment/making-nepal-fdi-friendly,853" target="_blank" rel="noopener">foreign investments</a> on hydropower projects.With the CK Raut deal and the warning on Biplav, the government is trying to show that it is willing to negotiate, but will not tolerate violence. Some within the ruling party are asking why if Prime Minister Oli can bring a separatist force to the negotiating table, it is taking so long for him to tame the NCP.After mainstreaming Raut, the government now needs to expedite political devolution in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/from-rebels-to-rulers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Province 2</a>. The root cause of extremism is exclusion and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-great-income-divide/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">inequality</a>, and Nepal will continue to be unstable as long as these injustices are not addressed.

No closure

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110811110/636a29269c7e80680e0458adjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="1197"/>Last week, women engineers and managers in power utilities from across South and Southeast Asia gathered in Kathmandu for their first ever conference. They came from Afghanistan, Vietnam and countries in between.As more and more women are building and managing energy plants in power hungry Asia, these work places will have to be women friendly. The entire ecosystem from science and technology education to recruiting and retaining women in the energy sector were discussed at the Kathmandu meeting. We heard about women who struggled to rise up their career ladder and the prices they paid for it, including family separation.Read also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/3-4th-of-the-sky/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3/4th of the sky</a>, Editorial<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/staying-alive/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Staying alive</a>, Sewa BhattaraiTraditionally, women have an exalted place in Nepal. We worship the female attributes in the form of the Nava Durgas and the Asta Matrikas. We celebrate the life of Maya Devi, the mother of the Buddha, Sita, daughter of King Janak and Bhrikuti, the queen of the ruler of Tibet.Today, four years after the earthquake and failed attempts by men, Rani Pokhari is going to be restored by the women of Bhaktapur. We have trekking companies run by women for women. We may soon see pink taxis with women drivers for women passengers like in east Europe.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/a-house-for-the-nepali-family/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The house for the Nepali family</a>, Sewa Bhattarai<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/making-gods-for-a-living/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Making gods for a living</a>, Sonia Awale<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/surviving-the-aftermath/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Surviving the aftermath</a>, Sonam Choeyki Lama<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/staying-positive/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Staying positive</a>, Sewa BhattaraiNot too long ago, Nepal had a woman chief justice, a woman speaker of the house and a woman President of the republic. A woman CDO has just taken charge in Jumla. Women are in line to be secretaries and directors in many ministries and government agencies. The head of FNCCI is a woman.More and more girls are in school and the dropout rate in east Nepal, for example, is higher for boys than girls. In colleges and universities, here and globally, there are more women than men. This is partly because boys are absorbed into the job market more quickly. From Bhaktapur to Dhangadi, all deputy mayors are women. In four years they could all become mayors. Pokhara will probably be represented in parliament by the late Rabindra Adhikari’s wife.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/saving-kathmandus-past-for-the-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Saving Kathmandu's past for future</a>, Sonia AwaleWith the men having migrated overseas for work, rural Nepal is being rapidly feminised. All aspects of the social and economic life are being led and managed by women. Many women have also left their villages, in-laws and small pieces of land to go to cities to educate their children, paid for by remittance money from their husbands.More and more land is being registered in the name of women and the reduced tax for them is working as an incentive to accelerate this process across Nepal. This may be a good time to revisit the process of aggregating fragmented fertile land and initiating commercial and contract farming. It is also time to go for high value crops for cash and no longer for subsistence.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/learning-about-teaching/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Learning about teaching</a>, Prakriti KandelNepali women have shown that given the opportunity and a level playing field, they excel in every field. They climb the highest peaks, they run the most successful businesses, they are in the army, police and in banks. They are doctors, engineers, teachers and administrators. As more and more men leave the villages and cities for work abroad, women are taking charge.This must not be seen as a default but a real opportunity to empower Nepal’s women. We need to change our perceptions and mindset, and stop saying that the particular opportunity went to a person only because she was a woman. At the current pace of feminisation, within a decade or so Nepal may well have to institute affirmative action for men.Anil Chitrakar is President of Siddharthinc

Anil Chitrakar

Nepal’s better halves

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107141112/636904309c7e80680e037d09jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1400" height="930"/><figcaption>NAKED TRUTH: Sabitri Subedi (standing with mike) and Diya Bhandari struggle with police during a demonstration last week in Kathmandu against the government's inaction against rising cases of rape in the country. The protesters called for the death penalty for rapists. Pic: Bijay Rai</figcaption></figure>A n June 2014, police arrested hotel owner Lekhnath Bhandari in Butwal for raping a 14-year-old girl who was his housemaid.During police interrogation, Bhandari admitted to having raped the girl repeatedly. She was pregnant with a seven-month baby when he was caught.But Bhandari never went to jail, he got a Dalit man to marry the girl who is now raising a four-year-old baby.During the trial, Bhandari’s lawyers claimed police coerced him to confess to the rape and that his sexual relationship was consensual. Public prosecutors argued it was still rape because she was a minor, and produced a birth certificate which showed the girl was born on 10 January 1999 and was just 14 years old when Bhandari forcibly had sex with her. But defence lawyers presented a fake birth certificate, claiming she was born on 1 November 1995, and so had already turned 19 at the time of the crime.The new document was issued by a local VDC three days after Bhandari’s arrest, but the court still gave more credence to that dodgy document rather than the girl’s original birth certificate. The judge ruled she was not raped but had consensual sex with her employer. The Appellate Court upheld the District Court’s verdict, but the Supreme Court, acting on a writ petition, recently agreed to re-examine the case. The girl is still waiting for justice.Bhandari used his money and his proximity to political power to get himself off the hook, making this an iconic case, emblematic of the state of impunity in Nepal today.Activists say cases like these embolden men to assault, rape and even murder women and girls without ever answering for their crimes, leading to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/four-fold-increase-in-reported-rape-in-10-years/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the current epidemic of rape in Nepal</a>.Read also: "<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=11895&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Republic of Rape</a>"Writer and activist Sabitri Gautam says: “Only a few rapists are taken to court, and even if they do, they are released on bail. This erodes the faith of survivors on the justice system, and sends the message to men that they can get away with rape.”The number of rape cases recorded by police nationwide has increased four times in the last decade -- totaling 1,131 rape cases last year, which is almost three rapes a day.In 2013, a UN report estimated that 74% Nepali women have been raped, sexually assaulted or abused. A recent report by Red Cross Nepal shows rapes are on the rise, especially in areas affected by the 2015 earthquake, where hundreds of thousands of families still live in flimsy shelters.But most <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/no-country-for-women/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">victims prefer to remain silent</a>, which shows their lack of faith in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/how-does-the-nepali-media-cover-rape/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the justice system. Only the most extreme cases grab headlines</a> and spark protests on the streets like the ones that followed the murder of a 13-year-old girl last month in Kanchanpur district in far-western Nepal. A post-mortem showed she was raped before being choked to death in a sugarcane field. Police caught a mentally unstable person this week, but family members say they have been pressured by police to accept him as the perpetrator, and that the police are not going after the real criminal.Read Also:<a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=11944&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> The roots of rape</a>, Kedar SharmaA photo of the girl’s body published in some mainstream dailies outraged the nation, and as the anger against impunity grew some women activists demonstrated in Kathmandu this weekend, slamming the government for not doing enough to go after rapists, and demanding the death penalty for the crime.After the Kanchanpur rape-murder, MPs across party lines tabled a resolution in Parliament to take urgent and stringent measures to prevent rape. But Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara put the resolution on hold for weeks, reportedly at the behest of Prime Minister K P Oli.Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/perpetrators-of-sexual-violence-walk-free-women-remain-silent,1768" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rape as a weapon of War</a>, Tufan NeupaneNepali Congress MP Pushpa Bhusal says: “Parliament was not even allowed to debate the resolution, which shows the government is not really serious about controlling the widespread cases of rape.”The controversial Criminal Code which came into effect on 17 August also has provisions that could actually encourage rapists. A person found guilty of raping his wife can be imprisoned up to five years under the new law. Previously, it was a minimum of three years of imprisonment.Explains Advocate Sushma Gautam: “Up to five years could also mean just a day in prison.”Under the previous Muluki Ain, the statute of limitation was 35 days, and that has been extended to a year. But activists say even one year is too short for minors and children who may be intimidated by perpetrators.“Some girls are repeatedly raped since their childhood, and they need time to overcome the trauma and fight for justice,” says Gautam, “for them, one year is not enough time.”Read also: <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19884#.W36TR84zbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rape for ransom</a>, Shatrudhan Kumar Shah<a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/rape-incest-behind-closed-doors,2546" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Behind closed doors</a>, Namrata Sharma and Aruna Uprety<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107141112/636904339c7e80680e037d0ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="524"><h4>Land for rape</h4><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107141112/636904349c7e80680e037d0bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="910">Devi Prasad Subedi of Bardia is a notorious criminal. In 2008, he was caught by neighbours after raping a 13-year-old girl. He admitted to the crime, but never went to jail.A local mediating committee allowed Subedi, then 45, to go free after he agreed in writing (above) to give a portion of his property to the victim’s father. No one asked the girl whether she was happy to settle the case for a small plot of land.Three years later, 22-year-old Sitaram Tharu raped a 16-year-old girl in the same village. But, like Subedi, he did not go to jail either. Because of the precedent, locals settled the case after the rapist’s family agreed to transfer a parcel of land worth Rs50,000 to the victim’s family.(Names are obscured to protect the identity of the victim.)<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107141112/636904379c7e80680e037d0cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="447"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107141112/636904399c7e80680e037d0djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="446"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107141112/6369043b9c7e80680e037d0ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="445"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107141112/6369043c9c7e80680e037d0fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="449"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221107141112/6369043e9c7e80680e037d10jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="447">Binda Pandey, MP (NCP)MPs across party lines have come together to register a resolution in Parliament to instruct the government about actions to be taken to address the question of rape. It contains four provisions: for all people’s representatives to raise their voices against rape and other forms of sexual violence, punishment to the perpetrator and justice, treatment, rehabilitation and compensation for the victim. Debate on the proposal has been delayed because of other matters, the ball is now in the Speaker’s court.Sabitri Gautam, WriterSociety describes a rape victim as having ‘lost her honour’. Actually it should be the rapist who should feels dishonoured. The victim has the right to return to normal life without fear, intimidation or stigmatisation. Rapists may be taken to the courts, but they are released on bail. Perpetrators walk free, while victims have to relive their trauma over and over again in the court. Many victims find it too overwhelming and let it be, encouraging impunity. The Home Minister needs to answer these questions in Parliament.Sushma Gautam, AdvocateOne issue of vital importance in rape cases is the statute of limitation. Rape cases had to be registered within 35 days of the crime; this was impractical and it deprived women of justice. After a long struggle, it was increased to six months, and the latest Criminal Code has increased it to one year. Incest victims, especially, should be able to lodge a complaint even after attaining adulthood. Other loopholes in the Code need revision, including what constitutes marital rape.Ganga Pathak, PsychologistSex education must start at home, parents and teachers need to be involved, Many patients come to me for counseling for depression, anxiety, abnormal behaviour or having bad grades, but the real the reason could be sexual abuse. The child may have been abused by her uncle or brother, but does not open up because of disgrace to the family. It is better to focus on not allowing rape to happen rather than addressing the punishment after the crime has been committed.Ayushma Regmi, TeacherIt is clear from many crimes that rapes are usually committed by a known person, someone the victim trusts, perhaps even friends or relatives. But as a teacher, how am I to tell my students not to trust their guardians or relatives? Sex education should also include information on rape, good touch/bad touch, and about being able to say ‘no’. I am worried about talk of ‘protecting women’. Instead of empowering, such an approach may be portraying women as being even weaker.

inequality

More equal than others

Two extremities

No closure

Nepal’s better halves

Justice for Sale