Shows
Nepal Now: On the MoveAre there still reasons to be optimistic about Nepal?Gyanu Adhikari is co-founder of The Record, the online news portal that published from 2014 to 2024. With 10 years’ experience running a media outlet that not only innovated in its content – offering long reads, history series, and podcasts, for example – but also experimented with funding—using a subscriber model—Gyanu has lots to share about media in Nepal. But surprisingly, he was most eager to talk about the state of the country—and more optimistic than most people I speak to about the future of Nepal. This episode was first published in 2024. I’m re-posting an episode today for the first time...2025-05-2729 minNepal Now: On the MoveA 30-year study of Chitwan's people reveals migration trendsIf I told you about a 30-year study that has already resulted in 261 research publications, you’d be impressed right?And if I added that the study is based in Chitwan, and co-led by a Nepali, Prof. Dirgha Ghimire? I think you’d be even more enthusiastic. At least I was when I learned about the Chitwan Valley Family Study just a month ago. I’m not sure how I missed it over the past two decades that I’ve lived here but I’m a firm believer in the adage ‘better late than never’. Before we get...2025-05-1432 minNepal Now: On the MoveWho is choosing to study and work in Nepal?I’ve said it to you listeners more than once: it seems that almost every young person I've met in Nepal in the last couple years was planning to go overseas, or knows someone who's doing so. Now I have proof, kind of. Yesterday I spoke to a researcher whose team surveyed a high school graduating class. 40% of the students said they want to go study abroad after graduation; another 40% said they hope to go work overseas. That's 80% — a huge number, but I'm not surprised. So when I meet someone in their 20s who graduated high s...2025-04-2924 minNepal Now: On the MoveShould students going abroad use education consultancies?Just like coffee shops, it seems that education consultancies are multiplying faster than rabbits in Kathmandu. I’ve always wondered why prospective students spend tens or even hundreds of thousands of rupees to have someone fill out their overseas college and university applications for them. After all, if they've made it to Grade 12 or beyond, surely they must be able to do it themselves. So I was very happy to have nursing expert Radha Adhikari on the show to explain some of the reasons why it's not quite as simple as I thought. I think you...2025-04-1527 minNepal Now: On the MoveMaya migrated to support her family, got shamed by her communityIt’s been more than a dozen years since Maya Sherpa returned from working in Kuwait. Today she devotes herself to helping other returned female migrant workers readjust to life in Nepal. One reason why she's so committed to that work is because of the violent reaction she faced, not as a migrant in Kuwait but after she returned to her community in Nepal. My three takeaways from today's conversation are: Women continue to be stigmatized as 'fallen' or immoral, and accused of sexual misconduct when they migrate to work; Surprisingly, there is a class...2025-04-0122 minNepal Now: On the MoveHis children all migrated but Rajendra is happy in NepalHi everyone. I have to admit that I had a pretty good idea of what this episode was going to be about, how it was going to unfold, as they say. I was talking to the father of three daughters, grown daughters, all living overseas, and I thought that he and his wife were planning to go live with them in the US, but I was wrong. You're gonna have to listen to find out exactly how I was wrong, but I will say that it was one of the most enjoyable interviews I've done in a lo...2025-03-1826 minNepal Now: On the MoveNo-cost, or low-cost, labour migration is not just a dreamKhakendra Khatri paid 7 lakh or 700,000 Nepali rupees (about 5,000 USD) for a job in Russia, but soon after arriving he realized that he was being sent to the front line of the Russia-Ukraine war. Desperate, he bribed a commander, and then escaped by walking through a forest overnight with a group of other trafficked Nepalis. Needing work to feed her children, Sushma found a recruiter to send her to join her aunt working in Kuwait but got sick and returned to Nepal after three months. The recruiter’s calls began soon after she returned, demanding that she pay him...2025-02-2529 min