NEPAL: Dependence on Rice Adds to Food Crisis

Every year, around June, people living in the impoverished western half of this mountainous country suffer from food scarcity. This year was no different, except that the problem got aggravated by increasing dependence on rice flown in rather than locally grown food grains.

RIGHTS-NEPAL: Court Ruling Emboldens Third Gender

Suman Tamang, 26, remembers feeling guilty for wishing he were a man. Tamang, born a woman, wanted to do the heavy work only men do, was friends with more men than women and was attracted to girls. "At that time, I didn’t really understand I was transgender, I was awkward and I knew I was different."

NEPAL: A Small Victory for Nepali Women

Representatives from the Madhesis, Janajatis, Dalits and other indigenous groups were present when Nepal’s newly elected constituent assembly sat for its very first meeting late last month, and 191 of the 601-member assembly were women.

NEPAL: Education Far More than ABCs – Experts

Far more than just the learning of ABCs and 123s, education should be playing a transformative role in children’s lives if it is to ensure them a better and more ‘equal’ and gender-responsive future.

NEPAL: Gender Inequality in Education Has Deep Roots

A shortage of female teachers, lack of proper training, inadequate delivery of services and indifferent attitudes combine to add to gender inequality in education in this small Himalayan nation.

NEPAL: Living In a Republic

A week after Nepal was declared a republic, in the small sleepy town of Lele, some 30 km away from the capital Kathmandu, Dhurba Kumar Sunar, 41, goes about his day like any other.

RIGHTS-NEPAL: No Reconciliation Without Truth

Five years ago Ruku Acharya’s family was woken up in the middle of the night by Nepal army soldiers. They wrapped her husband Ram Prasad Acharya in a blanket and dragged him out of the house in Naubise, some 40 km from Kathmandu. He has not been seen since.

NEPAL: Poor Planning Behind Rising Food Prices

As the sole breadwinner in a family of five, Maya Tamang watches her food budget carefully. And she can vouch best for the way many items are steadily disappearing from the table as food prices spiral steadily.

POLITICS-SOUTH ASIA: Dealing With Nepal’s Himalayan Shift

After greatly surprising the world through its spectacular victory in direct first-past-the-post elections to the country’s new constituent assembly, the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) now appears likely to perform far better than expected in the proportional representation (PR) component of the house too.

POLITICS-NEPAL: Maoists Armed With Popular Vote

Proving the political pundits wrong, the people of Nepal have voted overwhelmingly for former rebels, the Communist Party of Nepal- Maoist (CPN-M), in the just concluded constituent assembly elections in this Himalayan nation.

NEPAL: Tibetans Warned of Deportation to China

When King Gyanendra staged his military-backed coup in February 2005, Nepal’s political parties - including the then outlawed Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) - formed an alliance that successfully opposed the monarch's assault on civil liberties.

POLITICS-NEPAL: Plains People&#39s Demands Cast Shadow on Polls

While Apr. 10 has been set as the day on which Nepalis will elect a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution, violent protests by plains people demanding regional autonomy threaten the thrice-postponed polls.

POLITICS-NEPAL: Monarchy’s Fate Sealed, Maoists to Rejoin Gov’t

Having negotiated an agreement for the formal abolition of the 240-year-old monarchy, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) is now set to rejoin the government.

POLITICS-NEPAL: End of Road for Nepal’s Monarchy?

A republican wave that swept King Gyanendra out of power last year continues to blow strongly through Nepal.

POLITICS-NEPAL: Child Soldier Issue Slows Peace Plan

A senior journalist recently likened Nepal's fragile peace process to an overcrowded bus lurching uncertainly on this country’s mountainous roads, yet moving forward to its destination.

NEPAL: ‘Bad News’ Hounds the Media

Bad news continue to plague Nepali journalists against whom attacks go on unabated.

POLITICS-NEPAL: People Drag Leaders to Democracy

Many residents of Nepal's capital spent their weekend holiday in their vehicles in hours-long queues for petrol, fearing a flare-up of a general strike that closed the main highway in this landlocked country earlier this month, leading to fuel rationing.

NEPAL: ‘Privatisation’ Violates Right to Health – Activists

Hiring a private firm to manage the drinking water system in Nepal's capital violates the right to health guarantee in the country's interim constitution, activists are set to argue before the Supreme Court.

NEPAL: Revolution Within a Revolution

A 12-day uprising by Nepal's 'madheshi' (plains) people has forced the revolutionary government to promise it will change the state structure to more fairly distribute power to excluded groups.

NEPAL: New War Erupts as UN Peace Mission Gets Nod

Five people have died and a curfew has been imposed in a district in Nepal's plains region after a clash between Maoists and activists for regional autonomy left a student dead.

NEPAL: Revolutionary Politics, Feudal Justice

While former Maoist outlaws have traded battle fatigues for grey suits and seats in Parliament, torture victim Pradesh Bahadur Bista is making the rounds of hospitals for proof that his chronic pains were caused by daily torture during 100 days of illegal detention by soldiers of the Nepali Army.