The Kathmandu Post - 31 Mar, 2024 (2024)

KATHMANDU, MARCH 30
The ruling and opposition parties
have failed to agree on whether
to form a parliamentary panel to
investigate fraud charges against Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Rabi Lamichhane,
as they continue to stick to their
old stands.
The Nepali Congress has been warning that if the probe panel is not formed, the lower house proceedings will be halted starting the next meeting. However, the ruling parties have opposed such a demand.
Speaker Devraj Ghimire, on Saturday morning, called a meeting of the chief whips and whips of major parties to find a meeting point but there could be no consensus.
Sushila Thing, a Congress whip,
told the meeting that her party wants an impartial investigation of the
fraud charges, which is not possible without the parliamentary panel. “The police under the Lamichhane-led home ministry cannot fairly investigate the matter,” she said. “Formation of the parliamentary probe panel is a must.”
The Congress, however, is likely to allow the lower house to function on the condition that Lamichhane doesn’t present any bill despite its warning to obstruct the House proceedings so long as the probe panel is not formed.
It had also been demanding Lamichhane’s resignation, arguing that it would be a conflict of
interest for him to lead the home
ministry.
“We are exercising restraint. The party’s office-bearer meeting, called for Sunday, will decide whether to obstruct the House or to allow it to function after we express our demands,” said Thing. Our party, however, will not allow Lamichhane to present any bill.” The next House meeting has been called for Sunday and is scheduled to continue regularly for four days.
The calendar of events in the House has been fixed so that the bill to amend the Political Parties Act will be presented only on April 9, though it was scheduled to be tabled earlier. Lamichhane, as the home minister, presents the bill. The parties believe they can work something out by
April 9.
At Saturday’s meeting, leaders
from the ruling parties argued
that it was illogical to demand the parliamentary panel as the prime minister has already clarified the matter as demanded by the main opposition, the Nepali Congress.
“The prime minister has already presented the facts before the House and the home minister is ready for further clarification if necessary,” said Santosh Pariyar, the Rastriya Swatantra Party chief whip. “What is the point of forming the probe panel when there is no substance in the allegations?”
Following the opposition’s demand, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal appeared before the House on March 19 and rubbished the allegations against his home minister.
He claimed that no probe into the embezzlement of funds by the Pokhara-based Surya Darshan Cooperative has found Lamichhane guilty of wrongdoing. The prime minister further said that police have briefed him that no further investigation is required against Lamichhane.
The Congress, however, was not satisfied with the clarification.
“The Congress’s demand is nothing but a political vendetta,” Mahesh Bartaula, the CPN-UML chief whip, said.
Victims of cooperatives on February 5 had lodged a complaint at the District Police Office, Kaski against three people including Lamichhane, who chairs the Rastriya Swatantra Party. A probe committee launched by the Pokhara Metropolitan City found that over Rs1.35 billion in public deposits at the cooperative was misappropriated. The probe, however, didn’t find Lamichhane’s direct involvement in the case.
Kantipur, the Post’s sister publication, ran a series of stories linking Lamichhane’s involvement in misappropriating a cooperative’s deposits to buy shares of
Gorkha Media Network, a media company.
Lamichhane, a former television host and managing director of a television channel co-founded by Gitendra Babu (GB) Rai, has been accused of embezzling hundreds of millions of rupees in collusion with Rai from different cooperatives in Kaski, Chitwan and Butwal.
Rai, who was the chairman of the Gorkha Media Network, the mother company of the channel, is accused of illegally transferring Rs300 million from Kaski-based Surya Darshan Cooperative, Rs110.71 million from Chitwan-based Sahara Cooperative, and Rs 100.74 million from Supreme Cooperative in Butwal, without providing any collateral. Police have issued a diffusion notice against Rai based on the information that he has left the country.
The ruling parties have been claiming that it would be wrong to demand action against someone just based on a complaint without substantial evidence.
When the Congress was still in government, the largest party had objected to the UML’s calls to dismiss three ministers including Mohan Bahadur Basnet, then minister for health and population. Basnet is being investigated by the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority for suspected corruption in the procurement of the Telecommunication Traffic Monitoring and Fraud Control System (Teramocs) for the Nepal Telecommunication Authority.
The anti-graft body, however, didn’t lodge a complaint against Basnet.

q Post Report
Kathmandu, March 30
There have been three changes in the ruling coalition in the past 15 months and yet the rumours of government change refuse to die down. Leaders of the largest party, the Nepali Congress, are already advocating for a stronger coalition that can address the country’s multiple problems.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, during his floor test earlier
this month, had challenged the Congress to join hands with the CPN-UML, the second largest, to topple
his government, saying that he would be ready to sit in the opposition in
that case.
Speaking before him, UML chair KP Sharma Oli, while endorsing Dahal in the confidence vote, had complained that the Congress had ignored his party’s overtures when it wanted to discuss the agenda of the two largest parties coming together to form a stable government and to tackle other problems facing the nation.
Deuba appeared in the House of Representatives to nod to Oli’s gestures, signalling that his party would no longer refuse to discuss pressing issues with the second largest party. This supposedly left the prime minister infuriated and he made a fiery speech against perceived conspirators afterwards. Political leaders also point to the need for constitutional amendments to remove glitches in governance and service delivery. For instance, one common blame for unstable governments is a hung parliament produced by the mixed electoral system.
The proportional representation system, politicians argue, makes it difficult for any one party to win a majority and to form a government that runs for the full term of Parliament. Even to muster the numbers necessary to amend the constitution, it is desirable for the two big parties to be on the same side, as some leaders of the UML and Congress
have suggested.
The UML leaders were more vocal supporters of this idea while the Congress was in the governing alliance led by Dahal.
The Congress has fiercely criticised Prime Minister Dahal for being “unstable”, especially after he broke the alliance with the largest party early this month and joined hands with the UML to form a new coalition by also taking the Rastriya Swatantra Party and two other smaller forces on board.
Some Congress leaders are openly saying that the Dahal government is unlikely to complete another year in office.
A UML central committee member told the Post that some Congress leaders are reaching out to his party through various channels and calling for a discussion on changing the government. This will involve a new power-sharing deal, jointly tackling big issues concerning the national economy and public grievances, with the amendment of the constitution being the ultimate goal.
“If we want to address the daunting challenges before the country, we need to think seriously,” said senior Congress leader Shekhar Koirala. “Be it amending the constitution to change the electoral system, addressing public grievances, or restoring their trust in the political system, the two largest parties should come together.”
However, Koirala, who challenged Sher Bahadur Deuba in the party president election and leads a faction, said there have been no serious talks between the Congress and UML leaders on this agenda. Koirala’s views often clash with those of the Deuba-led party establishment.
“The country is in a pathetic economic situation,” Koirala said. “Due to flaws in the electoral system, no political party can win a majority. In order to address these challenges including by amending the constitution, we need an agreement among
the parties.”
In that context, the Nepali Congress and the UML should come together, Koirala told the Post. Of late, top leaders of the Congress and the UML have been deliberating on an amendment to the constitution to change the electoral system, without killing the charter’s letter and spirit. As a two-thirds majority is necessary to do so, there is no alternative to the Congress and the UML coming together, Koirala stressed.
Some Congress leaders are for filling the lower house entirely with directly elected people’s representatives. Under the 2015 constitution, 110 members in the 275-strong House of Representatives are elected through proportional representation. Those backing this view say the 59-member National Assembly member can be made fully inclusive instead.
Bishnu Rimal, a deputy general secretary of the UML, however, said they are not thinking of joining hands with the Congress at this time. “If we withdraw our support [to the prime minister], the new government will be formed as per Article 76 (3). In that case, Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba would become the prime minister, which is not beneficial to us,” Rimal clarified.
Article 76 (3) of the constitution states that in cases where the prime minister cannot be appointed under clause (2) within thirty days after the date of declaration of the final results of the election to the House of Representatives or the prime minister so appointed fails to secure a vote of confidence under clause (4), the President shall appoint as prime minister the parliamentary party leader of the party which has the highest number of House members.
Article 76 (4) relates to seeking a vote of confidence by the prime minister who is elected without a clear majority and is the parliamentary party leader of the party that has the most members in the House.
“As our party chairman, KP Oli, is not going to become the prime minister, there is no point in joining hands with the Congress at this moment,” said Rimal. “That is why we say the incumbent prime minister is even stronger [than he was last year].”
But a Nepali Congress leader who is considered close to party president Deuba said some second-rung UML leaders are in touch with them. “They [UML leaders] are not hopeful that they can bring about any positive chances from the current coalition. Already fed up, they are offering to negotiate power-sharing as well as forging an understanding on larger national issues.”
The Congress leader does not expect the ruling coalition to change before the budget presentation in late May. But after that, negotiations between the Congress and the UML could
gather momentum.
“It is true that we are in talks with some UML leaders, mostly second-rung leaders,” said Congress leader Min Bishwakarma. “We are exploring our options. A big section inside the UML is unhappy with their partnership with the CPN (Maoist Centre) and has been suggesting that unless the Congress and the UML get together, there can be no solutions to the country’s pressing issues such as addressing public frustration and anger.”
Moreover, some top UML leaders like its general secretary Shankar Pokharel are seen as being in favour of a strong two-party system in Nepal, which, they reckon, is not possible under the current electoral system.
“From amending the constitution, to drafting new laws, to addressing the challenges confronting the country, there is no alternative to the Congress and the UML coming together. We are in talks with them and the UML leaders also feel that the current structure of the government cannot give people hope and confidence,” said Bishwakarma.

q Associated Press
Washington, March 30
President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign is raising gobs of cash. And it has an election-year strategy that, in a nutshell, aims to spend more—and spend faster.
Not only has Biden aimed to show himself off as a fundraising juggernaut this month, but his campaign is also making significant early investments both on the ground and on the airwaves—hoping to create a massive organisational advantage that leaves Republican Donald Trump scrambling to catch up.
But while the money pouring in has given Biden and the Democrats a major cash advantage, it’s also becoming clear Biden will need it. Throughout his life in business and politics, Trump’s provocations have earned him near limitless free media attention. Biden, meanwhile, has often struggled to cut through the noise with his own message despite holding the presidency. That means Biden is going to need oodles of cash to blanket battleground states where a few thousand votes could mean the difference between victory or defeat.
Add to that the challenge of reaching millennials, as well as even younger voters, who formed an important part of his 2020 coalition, in a far more fractured media ecosystem that skews toward streaming services over conventional broadcast and cable.
Biden’s organizational and outreach effort began in earnest this month, with the campaign using his State of the Union address as a launching pad to open 100 new field offices nationwide and boosting the number of paid staff in battleground states to 350 people. It’s also currently in the middle of a $30 million television and digital advertising campaign targeting specific communities such as Black, Hispanic and Asian voters.
In one example of the incumbent president’s organisational advantage, his reelection campaign in February had 480 staffers on the ground, compared with 311 to that of Trump and the Republican National Committee, according to Biden campaign officials.
“We’re ramping up campaign headquarters and field offices, hiring staff all across the country before Trump and his MAGA Republicans have even opened one single office,” Biden boasted Friday in New York during a meeting of his national finance committee, which included 200 of his largest donors and fundraisers from in and around the city.
A massive ground game disadvantage didn’t prevent Trump from winning the presidency in 2016, a fact Democrats keenly remember.
“It’s one of the stubborn challenges of Trump,” said Robby Mook, campaign manager for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential bid. “Trump is Trump’s best organizer, and Trump can motivate people from the podium.”
But, Mook added, the Biden campaign is doing what it needs to do, pointing to the State of the Union as a powerful example of how to effectively mobilize the base and harness the anti-Trump energy that will inevitably motivate many Democrats this year.
“The most magical and the scariest part of politics is, you never know until Election Day,” Mook said. “And so I wouldn’t want to leave anything on the table if I were them, and the great part about having a resource advantage is, you get to have all these different things.”
Even Biden’s bricks-and-mortar campaign is likely to be far more
costly this year.
Unlike 2020, when many Americans were hunkered down due to the pandemic, Biden will need to travel more while also building a political infrastructure that will be far more expensive than the socially distanced, virtual campaign he waged from his basem*nt the last time around.
His reelection campaign will also have expenses that Trump won’t have to confront, such as reimbursing the federal government for use of Air Force One. So far, it has reimbursed $4.5 million for use of the official presidential aircraft for political activity, according to the campaign.
Mook said decisions about how to strategically invest the campaign’s cash are never as nimble as the staff wants them to be, and there is not only a risk in spending too much, too fast — but also spending far too late in an election year.
Last fall and summer, Democrats fretted about Biden’s early lack of fundraising and campaign activity.

KHOTANG, MARCH 30
Pangolins are on the brink of extinction in Khotang, a hill district in Koshi Province, due to unchecked poaching and smuggling of the endangered species.
According to the locals, pangolins, locally called Salak, were found in various places of Khotang until a few years ago. The pangolin population dwindled sharply as poachers killed the nocturnal animals for meat and scales, locals say.
“Numerous pangolins were seen in the Halesi area a few years ago. There used to be innumerable holes dug by the pangolins. But they are not sighted nowadays,” said Ramesh Kumar Raut, deputy mayor of Halesi Tuwachung Municipality. “Study should be conducted to find out whether the pangolin population dwindled due to poaching and smuggling or for not having a suitable environment.”
Two species of pangolin—Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla), known as Kalo Salak locally, and Indian Pangolin (Manis crassicaudata), locally called Tame Salak—are found in Nepal. The Chinese Pangolin is listed as critically endangered species while the Indian Pangolin is listed as endangered species in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s red list.
The Chinese pangolins are mainly found in Khotang. Jantedhunga Rural Municipality was the major habitat of the species in the past. But the pangolin population decreased sharply in the past few years.
“The poachers are active to kill pangolins for scales and meat,” said Birbal Kirati of Duplung in Jantedhunga-6. “Some itinerants visit settlement to settlement and provide up to Rs20,000 for a single pangolin scale. The pangolins are about to become extinct in the area now.” Kirati said that poachers and smugglers trade the pangolin scales through the Gaighat area of neighbouring Udayapur district.
The people’s representatives express their concerns over the
dwindling pangolin population in the district. They urge the concerned authorities and security agencies to take immediate initiatives for the
control of pangolin poaching and
conserve the endangered species.
“Pangolins were seen quite frequently in various places of our local unit [Diprung Chuichumma Rural Municipality] until a few years ago,” said Lokendra Rai, chairman of the local unit.
“Pangolins’ holes were found elsewhere in the forest areas. But they are not seen now as if they were already extinguished.”
Rai admits that the local units, conservation authorities and the security personnel should work together to conserve the endangered species.
The Division Forest Office in Khotang is unaware about the unchecked poaching of pangolins. Pashupati Dahal, chief at the division office, said that he is not aware about the pangolin population, their poaching and smuggling in the district. “The division office does not have a separate budget and programme for pangolin conservation,” Dahal said. “We, however, rescue the pangolins when required.”
According to the National Park and Wildlife Conservation Act 1973, anyone involved in poaching and trading of conserved species is liable to up to a 15-year jail term and a fine up to Rs1.5 million or both. Despite having strong legal provision, the wildlife poaching and smuggling is unchecked due to lack of awareness and effective implementation of the existing laws.
The pangolins are still spotted in Kepilasgadhi, Rawabesi and Khotehang rural municipalities and Diktel Rupakot Majhuwagadhi Municipality in Khotang.
“Most of the rural settlements are now deserted due to out-migration,” said Birendra Magar, ward chairman of Rawabesi-3. “The villages are without youths as they go for foreign employment. So the pangolins are saved in some villages.”
Pangolins live in burrows and they are active during the night to manage their food.
Termites and ants are major foods of pangolins in the wild. Pangolins are considered the friends of farmers as they biologically control the termites and ants that harm various crops.

GORKHA, MARCH 30
Five members of a family died while another went missing as a taxi swerved off the road and plunged into the Trishuli river near Muglin on Saturday.
The taxi they were travelling in plunged into the Trishuli river at Simaldhara of Ichchhakamana Rural Municipality-5 along the Prithvi Highway. Police identified the deceased as taxi driver Arjun Sirmal, 32, Junkiri Roka, 70, Harimaya Roka, 41, Anjana Roka, 29 and a nine-year-old boy. Eighteen-year-old Bibas Roka went missing in the river.
The victims are the permanent residents of Pauwakhet in Gorkha Municipality Ward 7.
There were six people aboard the taxi at the time of the fatal crash. The victims were travelling to Gorkha from Kathmandu. They went to the Capital on Friday to attend the funeral of Shankar Roka, the son of septuagenarian Junkiri. The missing teen is Shankar’s son, while Harimaya and Anjana are his sisters. The driver is his brother-in-law.
The 39-year-old Shankar died of cancer in Kathmandu. The family members and relatives were returning to Gorkha in three vehicles after cremating Shankar in Aryaghat.
“We were returning home in two taxis and one micro bus after cremating the body at around 11pm. We stopped all three vehicles in Charaudi at around 4 am. We moved toward Mugling after staying there for about 20 minutes,” said Prakash Roka, who drove another taxi.
“I reached Muglin and waited for another taxi and microbus. The microbus arrived after some time but the taxi did not arrive even after 15 minutes. I called Arjun but he did not pick up the call. Later he called me back. He said in a faint voice that the vehicle he was driving plunged into the river and urged to save him.”
According to Prakash, they rushed toward Kurintar and spotted broken roadside crash barriers in the Simaldhara area. “The vehicle was submerged into the river when we reached there,” he added. Search will continue on Sunday, said police.

JHAPA: Two women have been killed in separate attacks of wild elephants in Jhapa in three days. According to the District Police Office, 58-year-old Khadga Maya Limbu of Kamal Rural Municipality-5 died when a wild tusker attacked her on Friday night. The jumbo destroyed Limbu’s house. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Pabitra Bhetwal, aged 60, of Shiva Satakshi Municipality-11, died when a wild elephant attacked her in a local forest. Bhetuwal’s husband sustained serious injuries in the incident.

Two colloquiums addressed space, heritage and architecture issues in the past week—an interesting coincidence. Participating in discussions about these significant but not commonly addressed subjects, I realised how social organisations and governments overlook them. There is, unfortunately, an established notion that the government, its departments and agencies do not have plausible plans and ideas to address certain aspects of space and heritage issues, let alone play an important role in managing the architectonic forms of urban areas, especially of the Nepal Mandala or the Kathmandu Valley.
The first was the programme of the International Spring School titled “Living heritage, performance and placemaking”, organised by Monica Mottin of Heidelberg University and Monalisa Maharjan and Binita Magaiya of Social Science Baha,
on March 20, 2024, at Jyapu Academy in Patan. The other was a colloquium and exhibition of the drawings
and photographs of architectonic structures put together under the rubric “Modern encounters in architecture: Kathmandu Valley (1945-1985)” organised by the Kathmandu
Institute of Architects. I was invited to participate in the colloquium by architect Biresh Shah at Taragaon
on March 22.
These two programmes, which happened almost simultaneously, allowed me to present my discourses and
share some of my visceral stories of writing plays based on the ancient architectural forms of the Nepal Mandala, especially of Bhaktapur and Kathmandu. I am writing this article to highlight some common wisdom of the two approaches to architecture and heritage.
The two seminars juxtaposed two eras and visions of the urban heritage and landscape in the Kathmandu Valley. Over the decades, I have been following the relationship between performance culture, architectonic forms and eloquent spaces. As one associated with theatre and the heritage of performance spaces, I was drawn by the common themes of these seminars, which is the quest for idioms to express the two different perspectives of construction and performance. For a heuristic reason, I would like to call the theme of the first seminar “the heritage of placemaking” and that of the second one as “modern architecture”.
The second seminar launched a book titled Modern Encounters in Architecture: Kathmandu Valley (1945-1985). The architects of the programme believe that “Kathmandu Valley emerged out of its medieval slumber in 1950”. It saw a new era of modern development, the visual evidence of which are the assorted “early modern buildings” made in three decades after 1950. The architects claim that the modern buildings are mirrors of that new turn, modernisation.
The book gives annotated photographs of the modern buildings built over that period, along with photos and introductions of the architects. The nonagenarian architect Shankar Nath Rimal, who launched the book of 97 pages, and his erstwhile students, now senior architects, spoke about their experiences. Their emphasis
on making the discussions about architectural forms more interdisciplinary by organising interactions between the academics of different disciplines impressed me. The participation of the historian and analyst Pratyoush Onta and non-architects was a perfect beginning in that direction. That the architects have initiated this kind of interaction one more time is noteworthy.
As shown by the photographs of the buildings in the book, many of which are still functional, it can be said that the modernisation of architecture began with them. However, the gradual or sudden developments of these “modern” forms that came into
existence do not easily cohere with
the social consciousness constituted by the evolution of the city heritage, the traditional houses and the dominant Asian Baroque buildings.
What is clear is that trained and modern architects came and designed buildings, and they were made;
several are still functional. Second, architects of the West, mainly from Europe, came, designed and made
the buildings.
However, the ownership and agency of the planning and coherent vision are unclear. No individuals and no archives “preserved the original designs’. Buildings designed for public and private purposes by architects were constructed. These modern forms became conspicuous in the city. But I am not pleading for any uniform city design by some architects and the continuum of that as functional heritage. Take the example of the history of Chandigarh, India, which was built according to the master planning and design of the famous architect Le Corbusier. That resulted from the planning needed at the beginning of the partition of India in 1948. People are not tired of retelling that story. It is an important functional design, a grand architectural narrative, but when I visited the city for the first time, I felt that elements like heritage and historicity that constitute a
place like the Nepal Mandala were naturally missing.
The other question that the Kathmandu Institute of Architects stresses is the use of the landscape. However, ironically, land has become the most debated subject in the country. The scandals and stories of land grabbing involving politicians and government officials show that architects’ poesy in urban space management is seriously threatened. I recall attending the Nepali architects’ colloquium on November 22, 2014. Their proposition of creating a Nepal Mandala city stretching to the south up to Hetauda, leaving the northern zone like Shivapuri untouched, filled me with awe. I have discussed the issue in my article in Kantipur (December 1, 2014) under the title “Banghoda, sahar ra manche” or “Zebra, city and man”.
I would like to return to the theme of the first seminar organised by Mottin and friends. The essence and power of the theme “heritage and placemaking” constitute the soul of the architectural heritage of the Nepal Mandala. It is always vibrant and intangible, but kinaesthetic and always kept alive by people because they could create a consonance of performance and heritage. Modern architecture would do well if it kept some space for this vision and imbued modernism with the consonance of vibrant life, poesy, performance and functionality. Best wishes to all schools of thought.

KATHMANDU, MARCH 30
Patients seeking surgery for
hysterectomy or prolapsed uterine at the Thapathali-based Paropakar Maternity and Women’s Hospital can heave a sigh of relief now, as the hospital has started paying services that are more economical compared to the charge of private hospitals.
Doctors at the hospital say that women having a prolapsed uterine can undergo surgery within a week under the paying service.
“Patients can undergo uterine prolapse surgery within a week under the paying service,” said Dr Shree Prasad Adhikari, director at the hospital. “Surgical waitlist for uterine prolapse has also lessened due to the start of paying service.”
Uterine prolapse occurs when the pelvic muscle and ligaments stretch and weaken and no longer provide enough support for the uterus. This is a significant public health concern in Nepal as thousands of women throughout the country suffer from this condition every year.
Doctors say extensive workload, lack of nutritious food and physical labour during pregnancy and
immediately after child birth are chief culprits for high prevalence of uterine prolapse in women in the country.
Women suffering from uterine
prolapse had to wait for months
for uterine prolapse surgery at the hospital in the past under the regular programme.
According to the doctors at the
hospital, patients have to pay twice
for surgery under the paying service.
The hospital administration said that patients have to pay Rs20,000 for paying service, for which private hospitals charge more than Rs60,000. The hospital doesn’t charge additional amounts for beds, medicines and nursing services.
“Even if patients have to pay
two fold of hospital’s charge for service, it is several fold cheaper for them compared to the service of private hospitals,” added Adhikari.
“Doctors serving in our hospital provide paying service after their duty hour and we pay additional for their service.”
According to Adhikari, the hospital carries out emergency surgery at
any time and does not charge additional fees. Paying services are only for those who want service from
doctors serving at the hospital but do not want to wait a long time for their turn, he said.
The start of the paying service has also lessened the surgical waitlist at the hospital. According to doctors, patients can undergo surgery within
a month even if one does not want
to pay additional under the paying service.
The hospital is also carrying out laparoscopy surgery to remove a prolapsed uterus. Around 40 laparoscopic surgeries are being carried out every week, doctors say.
“Doctors in our hospital perform paying surgery only before 9 am in the morning and after 3 pm in the evening,” said Dr Sandesh Poudel of the hospital. “We do not carry out C-section delivery under the paying service, as the service is free in
our hospital. We provide the
service free of cost at any time if it is an emergency.”
C-section, or caesarean delivery, is a surgical delivery procedure performed during emergencies.
It is lifesaving when vagin*l delivery poses a risk to the mother or baby due to obstructed labour, foetal distress or an abnormal position of the baby, doctors say.
The Nepal Demographic and Health Survey-2022 carried out by the Ministry of Health and Population shows that one in five women in Nepal give birth through C-section.
As more people do not know about the paying service of the maternity hospital, the number of patients seeking services hasn’t risen as yet. Around 10 paying surgeries are being performed every week.
The hospital has also been running a birthing unit in which women can have their husbands or family members by their side during labour and child delivery. Most women say they want their husband or a close relative to be present with them during such conditions.
Such service is not available at the hospital’s labour room and most other maternity hospitals in the country, including at the hospital’s emergency ward, where dozens of women give birth every day.
Around 60 to 80 women deliver babies at the Thapathali hospital
each day.

KATHMANDU, MARCH 30
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha held talks with Wang Junzheng, secretary of the CPC Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee of China, in Lhasa on Friday.
Issuing a press release, the Consulate General of Nepal in Lhasa said that DPM Shrestha, during the meeting, reiterated
the need for reopening of traditional border points for the promotion of trade and commerce as well as facilitating the movement of people.
Shrestha also underscored the importance of exporting products to Nepal including Haylage, cooked buffalo meat, and medicinal herbs among others to further strengthen economic cooperation.
“The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs further expressed the need to cooperate in the areas of infrastructure and connectivity including the transmission lines to further strengthen the bilateral ties,” the statement reads.
During the meeting, the two leaders also discussed matters relating to expanding socio-economic cooperation, enhancing understanding and goodwill through high-level exchanges, consolidating the ongoing cooperation and exploring new areas of cooperation.
Shrestha, who is on a nine-day visit to China, reached Lhasa on Friday. The Nepal delegation led by the Foreign Minister also attended a banquet hosted by Junzheng.

KATHMANDU, MARCH 30
The CPN-UML on Saturday joined the Bagmati provincial government led by Shalikram Jammakattel of CPN (Maoist Centre).
Chief Minister Jammakattel inducted UML’s Jagannath Thapaliya into his Cabinet as the Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning of the province.
Province Head Yadav Sharma administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly appointed minister on Saturday.
This is Thapaliya’s second term as the economic affairs minister in the province. He was previously appointed to the post on January 10, 2023.
The UML lawmaker is the second minister to be inducted into the Bagmati government this week. Chief Minister Jammakattel on Friday had appointed Shailendraman Bajracharya, a member of the Hamro Nepali Party, as the provincial minister for culture, tourism and co-operatives.
After the changes in the ruling coalition at the centre in the first week of this month, the Nepali Congress recalled its ministers and withdrew support to the Bagmati government.
On Tuesday, the Hamro Nepali Party, which has two members in the provincial assembly, had also withdrawn its support, pushing the Jammakattel-led government into a minority.
Then, Jammakattel, in a bid to regain majority in the assembly, appointed Bajracharya to the post on Thursday.

KALIKOT, MARCH 30
People of the remote Karnali region say they are unhappy with the land compensation amount fixed by the phu*kot Karnali hydropower project, a 480 MW scheme in Kalikot.
The land rate fixed by the district price determination committee in Raskot is low, said Maniraj Baral, deputy mayor of Raskot Municipality.
The compensation amount for the land connected by rural roads in the municipality has been fixed at Rs3,600 to Rs5,700 per square feet, he said.
But the price near the Karnali corridor has been fixed at Rs1,800 per sq ft while a sq ft of land far off the road fetches only Rs1,300, Baral said.
“The compensation is not fair and locals are unhappy,” Baral said.
As the project is big, a mega one in the district, the municipality has been facilitating its procedure.
The compensation fixing committee has unjustifiably determined the compensation rate of Jiulo, Pacha Jharana-1, said Dhaniram Neupane, a local. “How can the land near Karnali corridor cost less than that near the village?” he questioned.
“This is irrational,” Neupane said.
“All the locals are in favour of
building the project but the compensation distribution process should be transparent.”
Though some residents have received the compensation, they have demanded a review.
The price of land in Ghatpari, where squatters used to plant paddy, is too low, Neupane said. The farmers are demanding fair compensation
for the land they have been tilling
for years.
Neupane said there is no fixed compensation for houses and plants. “We are ready to leave the area where our ancestors lived. The government, however, should be able to provide reasonable compensation,” he said.
Rameshwor Devkota of Sani Triveni-3 said that the compensation amount for a concrete house and land in Shanti Ghat Bazar is unjustifiable too. He said he would knock on the High Court’s door if he did not get fair compensation for his land.
Bhadra Bahadur Bam, another local, said there is no difference in the price of land in Shanti Ghat Bazaar and other places. The project needs to provide satisfy the locals.
Led by Bam, an ad-hoc struggling committee has been formed to exert pressure on the local authority. The committee has submitted a memorandum to the district administration office demanding fair compensation for their properties.
The phu*ket Karnali project is expected to change the face of Kalikot district as it could generate jobs and other income-generating activities in the underdeveloped region.
The project, obviously, will change the face of the district but it
should not make locals unhappy
from the outset, said Prem Raj Baral, a local leader.
The land compensation issue is not new. Three years ago, people in the Raskot area disagreed on the amount and submitted a memorandum to the district administrative office requesting a review of the rate.
“But there has been no response so far,” Baral said.
The project plans to produce electricity by diverting the Karnali river’s water through a tunnel in San Triveni-3 of Kalikot.
A powerhouse will be built in Bhaurekunaat on the border of Naraharinath, said Saroj Adhikari, the assistant chief district officer.
The proposed headworks of the project are about 1.5 km downstream of the confluence of Karnali and Sanigad rivers. The project reservoir will stretch 11 km along the river from the dam to the Lapha Bagar.
The project catchment’s headwater originates from the Tibetan Plateau and then drains through Western Nepal into the Ganges river system in India. The catchment area is 16,902 square kilometres.
“There is some dissatisfaction among the locals but we are doing our best to resolve them,” Adhikari said.
According to him, most of the locals have taken the compensation amount fixed by the committee.
The national pride project is estimated to cost Rs100 billion.
The compensation distribution process has reached its final stage.
The district administration has been distributing compensation to land owners affected by the project in different phases since 2019.
Adhikari said the compensation distribution work will be completed by this fiscal year ending mid-July.
phu*kot hydropower project has settled the compensation amount of Rs500 million, out of the estimated Rs550 million for 1,020 ropanies from Sisnegadha dam to Bhurabagar, said Dammar Uprety, chief of the phu*kot Karnali hydropower project.
For the compensation of the housing area, Rs30 million has been
distributed, out of the allocated
Rs130 million.
The district administration office is engaged in the compensation distribution work and if there is any discontent, it will be resolved through discussion among the locals in the impacted areas, said Uprety.

CAIRO, March 30
The executive board of the International Monetary Fund confirmed a deal with Egypt to increase its bailout loan from $3 billion to $8 billion, in a move that is meant to shore up the Arab country’s economy which is hit by a staggering shortage of foreign currency and soaring inflation.
In a statement late Friday, the board said its decision would enable Egypt to immediately receive about $820 million as part of the deal which was announced earlier this month.
The deal was achieved after Egypt agreed with the IMF on a reform plan that is centred on floating the local currency, reducing public investment and allowing the private sector to become the engine of growth, the statement said.
Egypt has already floated the pound and sharply increased the main interest rate. Commercial banks are now trading the US currency at more than 47 pounds, up from about 31 pounds. The measures are meant to combat ballooning inflation and attract foreign investment.
The Egyptian economy has been hit hard by years of government austerity, the coronavirus pandemic, the fallout from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and most recently, the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. The Houthi attacks on shipping routes in the Red Sea have slashed Suez Canal revenues, which is a major source for foreign currency. The attacks forced traffic away from the canal and around the tip of Africa.
“Egypt is facing significant macroeconomic challenges that have become more complex to manage given the spillovers from the recent conflict in Gaza and Israel. The disruptions in the Red Sea are also reducing Suez Canal receipts, which are an important source of foreign exchange inflows and fiscal revenue,” said IMF’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.
The IMF said such external shocks, combined with delayed reforms, have negatively impacted economic activity. Growth slowed to 3.8 percent in the fiscal year 2022-23 due to weak confidence and foreign currency shortages, and is projected to slow further to 3 percent in the fiscal
year 2023-24 before recovering to about 4½ percent in 2024-25, the IMF statement said.
The annual inflation rate was 36 percent in February, but is expected to ease over the medium term, the IMF said. The currency devaluation and interest rate hike have inflicted further pain on Egyptians already struggling with skyrocketing prices over the past years. Nearly 30 percent of Egyptians live in poverty, according to official figures.
Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said the confirmation by the IMF’s executive board “reflects the importance of the correcting measures” taken by the government.
Egypt also this month signed a deal with the European Union that includes a 7.4 billion-euro ($8 billion) aid package for the most populous Arab country over three years.
To quickly inject much-needed funds into Egypt’s staggering economy, the EU intends to fast-track 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) of the package, using an urgent funding procedure that bypasses parliamentary oversight and other safeguards, according to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 30
A Molotov co*cktail was thrown at a store belonging to a Malaysian chain that had offered socks bearing the word “Allah” for sale, police said on Saturday.
The incident came days after the mini-market chain’s executives were charged with hurting religious feelings over the sale of the socks at another
of its stores.
Wan Mohamad Zahari Wan Busu, police chief in Kuantan city in Malaysia’s east, said the KK Supermart branch had been hit just before dawn, causing a small fire at the entrance.
He told AFP that the attack was “still under investigation, but we’re not denying that it may be related to the incident involving stockings with the word Allah”. Employees put out the fire with an extinguisher and no injuries were reported, he said.
Pictures of the socks spread on social media this month, sparking public outrage among some Muslims who regarded them as insulting, especially because they went up for sale during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Islam is the official religion in Malaysia and Malay-Muslims make up more than two-thirds of the population of 34 million. Race and religion are thorny issues in Malaysia, which witnessed deadly racial riots in 1969.
KK Super Mart CEO Chai Kee Kan, 57, and his wife, who serves as a company director, were charged this week with “deliberately intending to hurt the religious feelings” of Malaysians, according to a charge sheet seen by AFP.
Three officials from supplier Xin
Jian Chang were also charged with abetting them. All five pleaded not guilty and face a maximum jail term of one year or a fine, or both, if convicted.
The case drew a rare royal rebuke from Malaysia’s king, who called for an investigation and “strict action” against any party found guilty.
KK Supermart, Malaysia’s second-largest mini-market chain, has apologised for the socks, saying it viewed the matter “seriously” and had taken action to stop their sale immediately.
Supplier Xin Jian Chang also issued an apology, saying the “problematic socks were part of a larger shipment of 18,800 pairs ordered” from a company based in China.

WASHINGTON, March 30
Many Americans are in a sour mood about the economy for one main reason: Prices feel too high.
Maybe they’re not rising as fast as they had been, but average prices are still painfully above where they were three years ago. And they’re mostly heading higher still.
Consider a 2-liter bottle of soda: In February 2021, before inflation began heating up, it cost an average of $1.67 in supermarkets across America. Three years later? That bottle is going for $2.25—a 35 percent increase.
Or egg prices. They soared in 2022, then fell back down. Yet they’re still 43 percent higher than they were three years ago.
Likewise, the average used-car price: It rocketed from roughly $23,000 in February 2021 to $31,000 in April 2022. By last month, the average was down to $26,752. But that’s still up 16 percent from February 2021.
Wouldn’t it be great if prices actually fell—what economists call deflation? Who wouldn’t want to fire up a time machine and return to the days before the economy rocketed out of the pandemic recession and sent prices soaring?
At least prices are now rising more slowly—what’s called disinflation. On Friday, for example, the government said a key price gauge rose 0.3 percent in February, down from a 0.4 percent gain in January. And compared with a year earlier, prices were up 2.5 percent, way down from a peak of 7.1 percent in mid-2022.
But those incremental improvements are hardly enough to please the public, whose discontent over prices poses a risk to President Joe Biden’s re-election bid.
“Most Americans are not just looking for disinflation,’’ Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, said last year. “They’re looking for deflation. They want these prices to be back where they were before the pandemic.’’
Many economists caution, though, that consumers should be careful what they wish for. Falling prices across the economy would actually be an unhealthy sign.
“There are,’’ the Bank of England warns, “more consequences from falling prices than meets the eye.’’
What could be so bad about lower prices?
What is deflation?
Deflation is a widespread and sustained drop in prices across the economy. Occasional month-to-month drops in consumer prices don’t count. The United States hasn’t seen genuine deflation since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Japan has experienced a much more recent bout of deflation. It is only now emerging from decades of falling prices that began with the collapse of its property and financial markets in the early 1990s.
What’s wrong with deflation?
“Although lower prices may seem like a good thing,’’ Banco de España, the Spanish central bank, says on its website, “deflation can in fact be highly damaging to the economy.’’
How so? Mainly because falling prices tend to discourage consumers from spending. Why buy now, after all, if you can purchase what you want—cars, furniture, appliances, vacations—at a lower price later? The reality is that the economy’s health depends on steady consumer purchases. In the United States, household spending accounts for around 70 percent of the entire economy. If consumers were to pull back, en masse, to await lower prices, businesses would face intense pressure to cut prices even more to try to jump-start sales.
In the meantime, employers might have to lay off waves of employees or cut pay—or both. Unemployed people, of course, are even less likely to spend, so prices would likely keep falling. All of which risks triggering a “deflationary spiral’’ of price cuts, layoffs, more price cuts, more layoffs. And on and on. Another recession could follow.
It was to prevent that very kind of economic nastiness that explains why the Bank of Japan resorted to negative interest rates in 2016 and why the Fed kept US rates near zero for seven straight years during and after the Great Recession of 2007-2009.
Deflation exerts another painful effect, too: It hurts borrowers by making their inflation-adjusted loans more expensive.
Are there any benefits of deflation?
It’s certainly true that Americans can make their paychecks go further when prices are falling. If food or gasoline prices were to tumble, households would surely find it less painful to afford gro ceries or their commutes to work—as long as they remained employed.
Some economists even question the notion that deflation poses a serious economic threat. In 2015, researchers at the Bank for International Settlements, a forum for the world’s central banks, reviewed 140 years of deflationary episodes in 38 economies and reached this conclusion: The correlation between falling prices and economic growth “is weak and derives mostly from the Great Depression.’’
But the exception was a doozy: From 1929-1933, US economic
output plummeted by a third, prices sank by a quarter and the unemployment rate shot up from 3 percent to a crushing 25 percent.
The bank’s researchers said the biggest economic risk came not from falling prices for goods and services but rather from a freefall in the price of assets—stocks, bonds and real estate. Those collapsing assets, in turn, can topple banks that hold crumbling investments or that made loans to struggling real estate developers and homebuyers.
The damaged banks may then cut off credit—the lifeblood of the broader economy. The likely result? A painful recession.

BEIJING: The Luxeed S7 electric sedan, developed by Chinese tech giant Huawei and Chery Auto, has started mass delivery after a shortage of semiconductors and production issues delayed production and delivery, a Huawei executive said on Saturday. “A large number of Luxeed S7 vehicles have already rolled off the production line and are now being transported for delivery to customers,” Richard Yu, managing director and chairman of Huawei’s smart car solutions, posted on the Weibo social media platform. Huawei had said problems delivering the premium brand electric vehicle (EV) should be resolved from April, local media reported this month. Chery had lodged complaints with Huawei over how production issues with a computing unit made by the tech company had caused delays to deliveries of the vehicles, Reuters reported in January. (Reuters)

KATHMANDU, March 30
Nepal-A lost the three-match T20 series 2-0 after suffering a 40-run defeat against Ireland Wolves in the second T20 at the TU Cricket Ground in Kirtipur on Saturday.
Chasing a huge target of 225, Nepal were bowled out for 184 in 17.5 overs, thanks to another poor show from middle and lower order batters.
Nepal-A had lost their first T20 against the Wolves by 21 runs on Friday.
Openers Lokesh Bam, who had scored a century in the first T20 against the visiting team, and Dev Khanal gave Nepal a blistering start building a 47-run partnership for the opening wicket.
Bam played an aggressive knock of 13-ball 25 that
featured three fours and two sixes before falling to Fionn Hand in the fourth over.
Skipper Binod Bhandari and Khanal worked together to amass 87 runs from the powerplay but Ben White
struck twice, immediately removing Bhandari in the
seventh over and Khanal in the ninth to keep the Wolves in the contest.
Bhandari scored 26 runs off 13 balls. Khanal top scored for the home team with 47 runs off 25 deliveries.
Nepal were well-placed at 116-3 after nine overs but
surrendered the game after the remaining batters failed to build on the good start.
Basir Ahamad made a struggling 27, Aarif Sheikh played 10-ball 14, Pawan Sarraf scored 10 and Kamal Airee 11. Kiran Thagunna, Rashid Khan, Bipin Khatri could not touch double digit figures.
White was the pick of the Irish bowlers, taking 3-29. Hand and Thomas Mayes also took two wickets each, while Matthew Foster and Gareth Delany pocketed one each.
Earlier, the Wolves, who were invited to bat first, scored 224-6 from their 20 overs after Peter Moor and captain Neil Rock scored half-centuries.
Openers Ross Adair (17 runs off 20 balls) and James McCollum (26 runs off 13 balls) gave Ireland a steady start with a 37-run partnership.
But Sagar Dhakal hit back dismissing both the openers and Stephen Dohney for a cheap four.
Cade Carmichael also departed soon after scoring one, leaving the Wolves at 66-4.
But Moor and Rock put on a 61-run stand for the fifth wicket to guide the tourists to a big total.
Moor scored 65 runs off 26 balls that included three boundaries and seven maximums.
Rock played an unconquered knock of 34-ball 71, hitting one four and seven sixes.
Airee and Sarraf also took a wicket apiece for Nepal-A.
The third and final T20 is scheduled for Monday.
Ireland Wolves will also play three ODs against Nepal-A following the conclusion of the T20 series.

LONDON, March 30
Newcastle staged a sensational
fightback to beat West Ham as Harvey Barnes’ late double sealed a dramatic 4-3 win at St James’ Park on Saturday.
Eddie Howe’s side trailed 3-1 after Alexander Isak’s early penalty was erased by goals from Michail
Antonio and Mohammed Kudus
before half-time.
When Jarrod Bowen scored West Ham’s third immediately after the break, Newcastle looked set for another dispiriting defeat in a troubled campaign. But Isak converted a second penalty to give the Magpies hope and Barnes came off the bench to equalise before snatching the winner in the 90th minute.
Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon was sent off for a second booking in stoppage-time, but the hosts clung on for a much-needed victory.
Newcastle grabbed the lead in the sixth minute with a helping hand from West Ham defender Vladimir Coufal.
Coufal’s rash challenge on Anthony Gordon conceded a penalty that Isak fired past Alphonse Areola.
Antonio took advantage of the uncertainty caused by Newcastle’s defensive reshuffle, piercing their creaky offside trap in the 21st minute.
In acres of space after accelerating onto Lucas Paqueta’s lofted pass, Antonio’s clinical finish from 12 yards gave Martin Dubravka no chance.
Deep into first half stoppage-time, Bowen ran onto a quick free-kick and teed up Kudus, unmarked inside
the area, for a powerful strike that Dubravka could only push into the top corner.
Newcastle were furious that play wasn’t stopped for an injury to Fabian Schar, but the goal stood.
Adding insult to injury, Bowen
netted West Ham’s third goal in the 48th minute.
Kudus ignited an incisive counter-attack with a superb long pass to Bowen, who scampered to the edge of the area before drilling low past Dubravka for his 15th league goal
this term.
Tino Livramento, Emil Krafth and Miguel Almiron were all forced off with injuries to add to Newcastle’s woes.
But Newcastle were handed a lifeline by Kalvin Phillips when the
hapless West Ham midfielder’s nightmare loan from Manchester City took another turn for the worse.
Lunging into a needless foul on Gordon, Phillips conceded a 77th minute penalty that Isak stroked home for his 14th league goal this season.
With West Ham suddenly looking anxious, Newcastle equalised six
minutes later when Barnes surged clear to slot a cool finish past substitute keeper Lukasz Fabianski.
And the spectacular comeback was complete in the 90th minute as Barnes took a turn on the edge of the area and turned to curl a brilliant strike into the top corner.
Gordon’s late red card for kicking the ball away ensured a tense finish, but Newcastle’s nerve held.

KATHMANDU, March 30
Kailash Helicopter won the RNGC Scramble Golf Tournament at the Royal Nepal Golf Club in Kathmandu on Saturday.
Kailash led by professional golfer Santosh Rokka scored 14-under 54 to win the title.
A total of 29 corporate houses competed in the one-day tournament. Each team consisted of one professional golfer and three amateurs. The Kailesh team consisted of Rokka, Ang Norbu Sherpa, Narendra Rawal and Ashis Sherchan. Pro Rokka won a cash prize of Rs50,000.
Matrika Eye Center-A team consisting of pro Rabi Khadka, Sangam KC, Deepak Karki and Manav Agrawal finished as runners-up with a score of 13-under 55. Khadka bagged a purse of Rs30,000.
The Support Nepal Foundation team became third. Their team of pro Bhimsen Chaulagai, Purna Man Shakya, Tara Chitrakar and Prakrit Tamang scored 12-under 56. Chaulagai walked home with Rs 20,000.
Support Nepal’s Mithun Rai won the Straight Drive and Road House Cafe Pvt Ltd’s Swadesh Gurung won the Closest To The Pin titles. They were rewarded with trophies and
gift hampers.

Adorned in a daura-surwal and dhaka topi set, Nelson Ferreira welcomes visitors to his PlatiGleam exhibition at Nepal Art Council, on display until April 2.
Upon entering, visitors are greeted by seemingly blank white canvases hanging on the walls. Even if you get really close and stare for hours, you won’t see much. But don’t give up just yet!
To view the paintings, stand back, use your phone’s flashlight, and shine it towards the canvases. The farther you stand, the clearer the images become. Seeing the paintings feels like an out-of-this-world experience.
Portuguese artist Ferreira is the creative force behind this unique light-based art. His PlatiGleam series, comprised of five paintings showing the Monastery of the Dominicans
of Batalha, doesn’t use any paint or
pigments.
Ferreira is renowned for his expertise in ancient techniques and diverse cultural interests, focusing on traditional European methods like Primitive Flemish oil painting and 19th-century academic style. He teaches Flemish oil painting techniques at the Museu de Arte Antiga (Portugal’s National Gallery), University of the Arts London (UAL) and Galeria Monumental, and classical drawing techniques at the Victoria and Albert Museum. He is also a guest artist for the National Portrait Gallery.
His expertise extends to Russian and Greek iconography, Turkish marbling, and Indian miniature painting, which he shares globally, including in London, Portugal, and through workshops during his tours in Bangladesh and Nepal.
In an interview with the Post’s Aarati Ray, Ferreira talked about his ongoing exhibition of PlatiGleam
artworks, the origin of the technique, his experience touring Asia, the
challenges faced by current artists.
What is the PlatiGleam technique?
PlatiGleam is an innovative reflective technique that doesn’t rely on pigments. It creates different reflective effects based on how light hits it, encouraging viewers to engage actively and pay close attention. Sometimes, viewers use a flashlight or mobile phone to enhance their experience.
The artworks were made at night in the historic mediaeval monastery of Batalha, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Portugal, and were also
displayed there.
How did the idea of PlatiGleam come about?
Every morning, I would write down all my thoughts in a diary, but then I would forget about them later. After three months, upon revisiting these pages, I was surprised to find that by piecing together different fragments and details, they revealed the secret to the PlatiGleam technique.
How was your first painting using the PlatiGleam method?
My first painting using the PlatiGleam method was a disaster. One thing I didn’t realise at the time was that the liquids spread uncontrollably, similar to Japanese and Chinese paintings on rice paper.
Humidity caused the painting
to turn black, which completely
flabbergasted me. It was only very later I found out that it would revert
to its normal state when dry. Even
if you put water on it, it dries and
can be displayed without exterior
protection.
Did you paint the cathedral because it holds significance related to Portugal’s independence?
No, my motivation for painting the Monastery of the Dominicans of Batalha’s cathedral wasn’t tied to Portuguese independence. I don’t see countries as real, tangible entities. I admire this historian, Yuval Noah Harari, who says if you want to know if something is real, ask if it can suffer. Portugal can’t suffer, but Portuguese people can. Countries don’t have feelings, they’re not real in that sense.
I painted the monastery for its aesthetic appeal, especially its captivating energy at night.
Do artists nowadays often mix
political ideas with their art?
Yes, it’s a common trend in contemporary art. Many artists today like to incorporate political messages into their work. Personally, I don’t like it when art tries to dictate what people should think. It reminds me of dictatorships and propaganda art. I prefer art to be free from trying to persuade or influence. I hate when art becomes a pamphlet.
What do you think about art
combined with activism?
I believe activism is important, but I don’t think art always needs to be mixed with it. It’s a choice, not an obligation. Nowadays, there’s a trend where paintings are judged based on how political they are, and nonpolitical art is being dismissed by museums. I’m pushing against this trend by making deliberately non-political art.
The great power of art is to create a divergence of thoughts. Ask twenty people what they think about one piece of art, and you will get hundreds of different interpretations. Art was always important as a seed for democratic thoughts, for a plurality of thoughts. If we tell what to think, we are murdering one of the biggest
qualities of art, which is the plurality of thoughts.
I feel it’s a civilisational failure to attack the non-political art. Just as scientists aren’t pressured to make certain statements in their experiments, artists should be free to create without being pressured to make political statements.
Has your admiration for mediaeval- style buildings influenced your art?
Yes, it has. I’m like a chameleon in my approach to art. While many artists stick to one specific style, I deliberately change my style every year or two. This surprises people because my paintings always look different. For example, my PlatiGleam series is nothing like my Blue series, and neither of them resembles my black paintings much.
I started as a contemporary artist. But as I learned more about art, I realised that contemporary art wasn’t as relevant as I thought. I saw how much better the old masters were at painting than I was, so I decided to learn proper techniques from them. Learning classical techniques involves many corrections and humbles your ego because you realise how many mistakes you’ve been making.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many institutions in the West where classical techniques are taught extensively, except for expensive private schools. Nevertheless, I’m committed to learning, teaching, and incorporating classical painting techniques into my work, including the PlatiGleam paintings.
You mentioned that each of your paintings is unique. If you were to select a favourite among your series, which would it be?
My favourite series is the one I
haven’t made yet. The best painting is always the one in your imagination, your next dream. Right now, I’m focused on exploring more of PlatiGleam series. I envision creating huge pieces once I have proper sponsors. These paintings will be the best I’ve ever done.
I dream of painting entire rooms using the PlatiGleam technique. Imagine walking into a room and turning on the lights on your phone, only to see the entire room flashing with paintings on the floors, walls and ceilings.
In the future, I also aim to collaborate with architects to create large murals that reveal hidden images under specific conditions like car lights at night or humidity levels. Currently, I focus on small paintings for exhibitions until I secure sponsors for larger projects. Once these murals are realised, my creative potential will be limitless.
What challenges do artists face today?
During the Renaissance, art flourished thanks to visionary and wealthy patrons who realised the importance of art. Today, because of capitalism and consumerism, artists face the challenge of creating art first and hoping to sell it. We need more support for artists to produce meaningful work that shapes our civilisation. If you have the means, please financially support artists.
Masterpieces take time, and artists struggle without proper backing. I believe it is the responsibility of people in power to support intellect, genius and vision. Censorship is another big challenge for today’s artists.
Some individuals in the art world find PlatiGleam revolutionary. Would you consider yourself a pioneer of the technique?
It could be revolutionary because the PlatiGleam technique’s durability, demonstrated through accelerated ageing tests, surpasses that of acrylic and other paintings. It can withstand outdoor conditions for centuries.
I have done extensive research and I am still researching but I have not found anything even remotely close to the PlatiGleam technique. So, I believe this might be the first time anyone has worked on PlatiGleam. It’s plausible that someone else may have experimented with it but perhaps they didn’t put it online.
Where is your next destination for PlatiGleam?
After Nepal, I will be off to the Czech Republic and then Saudi Arabia. After that, I’m gearing up for possibly the biggest exhibition of my career in the UK. It will be my debut in the country, and I anticipate the attendance of all my former students—they better show up! (Laughs)
You have toured in different parts of the world. Did you find any cultural differences in terms of how people perceive your art?
In Europe, particularly, I observed a phenomenon I call “zombification”. Many museum visitors seemed
more focused on taking photos and selfies due to the influence of social media, rather than truly engaging with the artworks, leading to a
sense of detachment. In the West, I’d estimate that less than five percent
of the public genuinely engages
with the art.
Conversely, my experience in the East, particularly in Indonesia, was quite different. There, traditional customs of tactile interaction with paintings posed an unexpected challenge, as people often touched the artworks. While this wouldn’t have been an issue with PlatiGleam pieces, it caught me off guard since I was exhibiting charcoal paintings.
In Bangladesh, I saw contradictory reactions. Some people loved my paintings, while others seemed
genuinely displeased, which I found puzzling.
In Nepal, I was pleasantly surprised by the keen interest and proactive support from the media fraternity in promoting art exhibitions and the arts in general. I am noticing huge differences in different parts of the world. I am very curious about the reaction in Saudi Arabia.