PODS by PEI

EP. Br#009 To get an in-depth understanding of the Political Settlements Framework mentioned in this episode, please listen to EP. Br#008 - The Brief: Mushtaq Khan on Madhesh and the Challenge of Inclusive Federalism in Nepal - A Political Settlements Framework Analysis. In collaboration with SoAS school of London, PEI conducted a targeted survey of 352 SMEs in the tourism, agriculture, and light manufacturing sector across Bagmati Province, Madhesh Province, Lumbini Province, and Karnali Province. Out of the 352 surveys, 200 (56.8%) were conducted in Bagmati, 49 (13.9%) in Madhesh, 71 (20.2%) in Lumbini, and 30 (8.5%) in Karnali. This survey on SMEs was conducted to understand the characteristics of SMEs in Nepal better and support the diagnosis of the process of economic transformations in Nepal, especially in the post-federalism context. The core of the research is based on the Political Settlements framework, which is applied to assess the distribution of capabilities.   In this episode, PEI colleague Shreeya Rana sits with Dr. Pallavi Roy, where the two discuss the role of SMEs in accelerating inclusive economic growth, the organizational capabilities that SMEs should develop in order to expand their competitive base, the policy options that decisions makers should keep in mind while targeting economic growth, and how firms with low, competitive base tend to collude with politicians when they are forced to comply with regulations. They also talk about some of the relevant findings from the SOAS and PEI  jointly-implemented survey as part of the larger study on federalism through the application of the framework of the Political settlement, a framework we discussed in our last episode.   Dr. Pallavi Roy is a Reader in International Economics at the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at SOAS University of London. Her research focuses on applying institutional economics and, in particular, the political settlements framework to problems of industrial policy, anti-corruption, commodity markets, the political economy of clientelism, and economic development. She is also the joint lead for the Research and Evidence on Nepal’s Transition project, a four-year research implemented by SOAS, Yale University, Governance Lab, and PEI.

EP. Br#008 Contemporary economics and policy studies struggled with two main paradoxes: while on one hand policies previously successful in some countries remain futile in others, on the other hand, different approaches were capable of solving the same issues in different contexts. A Political Settlement Framework tackles this paradox by acknowledging the need to tailor policies to the idiosyncrasies of each society. Within the framework, the primary focus is on understanding the social context as it studies the interaction between groups (organizations) and the rules they are subjected to (institutions). In this episode, PEI colleague Khushi Rai sits with Prof Mushtaq Khan on his political settlements analysis of the Madhes Province. The conversation is based on an upcoming publication that he has co-authored, titled: “Madhesh and the Challenge of Inclusive Federalism in Nepal”. This briefing paper is based on a provincial settlement study drafted from a tracking exercise at the national, provincial, and local spheres of governance in Nepal by SOAS and PEI under the Research and Evidence on Nepal’s Transition project. Mushtaq is a Professor of Economics at SOAS University of London, where he heads the Anti-Corruption Evidence Research Consortium and is also the joint lead for the Research and Evidence on Nepal’s Transition project. He is a leading thinker on political settlements. The two explore the process of mobilization in Madhesh, the drivers of their movement, and how all of that culminated in the Constitution that was eventually promulgated. They also examine the role of Madhesh in the implementation of federalism, the evolution of new settlements with the emergence of newer actors, and what all this means for the future of inclusive federalism in Madhesh. They end with three plausible scenarios in this regard and also discuss the possible implications for federalism in Nepal.

Ep. Co#008 The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly referred to as COP27, took place this November in Egypt. One major achievement of this round of dialogue, which went down to the wire, was to establish a loss and damage fund, particularly for nations vulnerable to the climate crisis. While this may have been “a historic decision,” it raises more questions than answers, especially for countries like Nepal. In this second episode, Saumitra and Ajaya discuss the plausibility of Nepal reaching its ambitious goal of net-zero emission by 2045 and the impact of climate change on Nepal’s water, energy, and infrastructural development. They also discuss the transboundary nature of the water relationship in the region and how climate change can perturb the existing interdependencies. Mr. Ajaya Dixit, co-founder and advisor of ISET-Nepal is an Ashoka Fellow who has led different projects on climate change adaptation and resilience building, disaster risk management, energy, food security and water governance. He possesses MSc in Engineering from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK and undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from Regional Engineering College, Orissa, India. He has directed regional research that examined climate changes impacts on flood, drought and food system adaptation in South Asia. His research focused on exploring the approaches to develop strategies for resilience building against climate change vulnerabilities at sub national scale. He coordinated and edited Nepal’s first national disaster report, which was published in 2010. He is also the lead author of the book “Nepal maa Bipad” (Disasters in Nepal) that was published in 2016. He has published extensively in prestigious journals such as the Economic and Political Weekly. His opinion is highly regarded in the international arena and has been regarded as a climate change adaptation and resilience expert in Nepal and South Asia.

Ep. Co#007 The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly referred to as COP27, took place this November in Egypt. One major achievement of this round of dialogue, which went down to the wire, was to establish a loss and damage fund, particularly for nations vulnerable to the climate crisis. While this may have been “a historic decision,” it raises more questions than answers, especially for countries like Nepal. In this first episode, Saumitra Neupane, Executive Director of Policy Entrepreneurs Inc, and Ajaya Dixit, a leading voice in Nepal, and internationally, on issues of climate change adaptation, resilience building, and disaster risk management, discuss the outcomes of the recently concluded COP27, including the issue of loss and damage. They follow this up with a wider discussion on the issue of climate change and what it means for countries like Nepal and the Himalayan region. Mr. Ajaya Dixit, co-founder and advisor of ISET-Nepal is an Ashoka Fellow who has led different projects on climate change adaptation and resilience building, disaster risk management, energy, food security and water governance. He possesses MSc in Engineering from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK and undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from Regional Engineering College, Orissa, India. He has directed regional research that examined climate changes impacts on flood, drought and food system adaptation in South Asia. His research focused on exploring the approaches to develop strategies for resilience building against climate change vulnerabilities at sub national scale. He coordinated and edited Nepal’s first national disaster report, which was published in 2010. He is also the lead author of the book “Nepal maa Bipad” (Disasters in Nepal) that was published in 2016. He has published extensively in prestigious journals such as the Economic and Political Weekly. His opinion is highly regarded in the international arena and has been regarded as a climate change adaptation and resilience expert in Nepal and South Asia.

EP. Br#007 This episode is part of PEI's coverage of the 2022 General Elections. For our pre-election analyses, please read our policy brief and/or listen to EP. BR#005 - The Brief: Anurag Acharya and Avinash Karna on Inclusion, Coalitions, and the Power Dynamics behind General Elections 2022 As the results of the 2022 General Elections slowly trickle in, there are some interesting trends that are taking shape. To begin with, the voter turnout, reported to be 61 percent by the Election Commission of Nepal, has been lower than those from earlier elections, which analysts are taking as a signal that more people may be beginning to tune out from this democratic process. Number-wise, the initial results indicate that while the Nepali Congress will secure the largest number of seats, the UML has been able to hold its ground in second place. Perhaps the most unexpected outcome is the better-than-expected performance of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, an entity formed only several months before the elections. What is clear, however, is that the end result of this election is a hung parliament, leaving a lot of room for horsetrading among the political parties at the expense of stability and good governance. In today’s episode, PEI colleague Saurab Lama sits with noted political commentator Bishnu Sapkota to discuss the significance of the 2022 elections, the low voter turnout, the early results, and the implications for the political parties. The two discuss the better-than-expected performance of the Rastriya Swatantra Party and also of the pre-election movements such as the #nonotagain. The two end on the topic of a hung parliament and its implications for the future of policymaking in Nepal. Bishnu Sapkota is a noted columnist and political commentator. He taught at Nepal's Tribhuvan University for nearly a decade prior to getting into international development work. He managed a national dialogue program called Nepal Transition to Peace (NTTP) during Nepal's crucial phases of Maoist insurgency through the 2006 People's Movement, ensuing ethnic upheavals, the Constituent Assembly, and finally promulgation of the new constitution in 2015. The NTTP forum was an inclusive national dialogue platform by major political parties, government, and civil society. He led UNDP/Nepal's Conflict Prevention Program between 2014-2015. He is currently based in Cambodia with an international organization, working in the sector of democracy and governance. Mr. Sapkota is also affiliated as an Asia Fellow to the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, USA. Over the past decade, he has given talks and presentations on Nepal's peace process experiences at a number of international conferences and platforms.

Ep. Br#006 In 2018, the Supreme Court of Nepal, in response to public interest litigation filed by a group of human rights lawyers, issued a verdict to grant “external voting rights” to the Nepali diaspora. Today’s episode is a discussion between Anuj Tiwari, Senior Researcher at PEI, and Anurag Devkota, one of the lawyers responsible for that public interest litigation, about the issue of voting rights, or the lack thereof, for the Nepali diaspora. The discussion is based on Anurag’s 2020 op-ed piece, Nepal’s Own Mail-In Voting Crisis, which was published in The Record. The topic, however, is more relevant today as Nepalis get ready to partake in the 2022 general election in a matter of days, but without the Court mandated provision.   The two discuss Anurag’s reasons behind filing the public interest litigation in 2017 and his take on the failure of the Election Commission of Nepal to implement the verdict of the Supreme Court. Anurag argues that the lack of political representation of the Nepali diaspora, especially those who are out for labor migration, is a key reason behind the vulnerability that has resulted in the active exploitation of their human rights. And that it is our responsibility to ensure their right to vote, given that the country relies so much on their contributions. We also discuss some of the systemic and political challenges to implementing external voting, including logistics, cost, and political will, and the practices of several countries in Asia and Africa that are similar to Nepal.   Anurag is a human rights lawyer at the Law and Policy Forum for Social Justice. He holds an LLM degree from Loyola University Chicago. He is the incoming Global Criminal Justice Fellow at the Center for Criminology at Oxford University and the Civil Society and Public Administration Fellow at the Toronto Metropolitan University. He also runs “Rights Lab,” a research institution that works on the issues of rule of law, democracy, human rights, and migration governance. 

Ep. Br#005 PEI, in collaboration with SoAS, University of London, has been undertaking a research project that examines how federalism is being operationalized in Nepal. As part of this research, PEI followed the municipal elections held earlier this year in May and produced an election brief highlighting the concerns regarding candidacy selection by political parties and its implications on the potential representation of women and marginalized groups. The brief also pointed out the discontent among local leaders who had lost out on the candidacy, resorting to intra-party feud and violence and defections to rival parties. In this Episode of The Brief, PEI’s Shreeya Rana discusses with Anurag Acharya and Avinash Karna the key trends that we have observed in the run-up to the upcoming general elections. These observations are based on PEI’s ongoing sub-national research on federalism in Nepal, done in collaboration with SOAS University of London. The research tracks issues of inclusion and representation, the nature of political alliances, the nexus of business and politics, and how this warrants a more vigilant role of the election commission.  With Nepal all set for the November 20, 2022, general elections where more than 17.9 million registered voters will directly elect 165 members to the House of Representatives under the first-past-the-post system, while another 110 members will be elected through a proportional representation (PR) system. Anurag is PEI’s Director of Practice, with a background in international relations and journalism. He is a well-known political commentator and has written extensively on Nepal and South Asia for national and international publications. Avinash is PEI’s coordinator of subnational programs. He has a decade-long experience working in the areas of peacebuilding and governance.

Ep. Br#004 Nepal and India do not only share borders but also relationships with rivers. More than 6000 rivers flow from Nepal to the Bay of Bengal through India. Koshi, Gandak, and Karnali river systems are the three most important river ecosystems that feed and foster the Ganges river ecosystem. Annually these rivers swell up during monsoon season and flood the downstream area in the southern part of Nepal and the States of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in India, affecting the lives and livelihood of people, and raising the vulnerability of those living in the floodplain. With the changing climate, the floods are becoming more disastrous, claiming thousands of lives and affecting the food-energy-water nexus of millions of people on each side of the border. There is animosity against each other, especially regarding the cause of the flood issue. However, for this shared problem, India and Nepal need to explore together and benefit from a critical ecosystem through transboundary cooperation alongside flood management. In this episode of The Brief: Lasata discusses with Santosh Dahal, a humanitarian and disaster management professional with work experience for over a decade, on the latest paper he co-authored, “Rich water, poor people: Potential for transboundary flood management between Nepal and India”. The article explores flood-related transboundary challenges, particularly in Koshi and Gandak river basins, and potential actions for transboundary flood management. They would be discussing the changing pattern of floods in the region and the challenges faced. by the vulnerable communities in flood-prone areas and efforts at the Nepal-India Border for flood management. Santosh Dahal has experience in various capacities, especially in the sector of emergency response, and disaster risk management. In the course of his professional career, he has experience in technical assistance in social mobilization, governance, advocacy, and capacity building including coordination with central-level government stakeholders, local government authorities, national Red Cross society chapters, and local partners. He is currently working as a senior technical advisor in Plan International and a visiting faculty for climate change and disaster management courses prescribed for master’s level students of Environment Science at Tribhuvan University.

Ep. Br#003 As the world gathers in Egypt for COP 27 this week, the discussion on climate change, its global impact, and the need to curb dependency on carbon-intensive sources of energy take center stage. Joining this spirit of climate consciousness and innovative rethinking, PEI colleagues - Saurab Lama and Nirjan Rai - discuss PEI’s 2021 paper “The Political Economy of Mainstreaming Renewable Energy in Nepal.” The two discuss the hydro-dominant narrative of Nepal’s electricity sector and the significance of other-than-hydro renewable energy sources in pursuit of its energy goals. They go further into the politics of institutions in the sector and how the extant interests and incentives in the sector are obstructing mainstreaming initiatives. They conclude with recommendations on the need to increase the electricity consumption of the average Nepali and to change the sector narrative that includes issues of climate change and energy security,  Nirjan is a researcher with over a decade of experience in designing, managing, and leading analytical studies on Nepal's energy and water governance. He helped establish Policy Entrepeneurs Inc and Niti Foundation, two Nepali policy research institutions, and has worked at the Asian Development Bank and The Asia Foundation. He is also a United World College alum and an Asia Foundation Development Fellow. The paper is can be downloaded from PEI’s website

Ep. Br#002 The 2017 elections were lauded for their cognizance of the historically bleak presence of women in the political sphere of Nepal, to overcome this, the State mandated a Quota reserve of 40.4% of all nominee seats for women. The policy affirmed the presence and participation of Nepali women in politics, as approximately 14,000 women were elected into different positions in the Nepali Government. In this episode of The Brief: PEI colleague Khushi Hang sits with Sumina Rai Karki to discuss the latest paper she co-authored, “Beyond Capacity”. As the tenure of the first set of elected officials in this particular inclusion quota comes to an end, Sumina Rai Karki et al. gauge the effectiveness of the affirmative action policies for women against the backdrop of Nepali patriarchal psycho-social contexts in their paper “Beyond Capacity”. The two explore what gendered implications exist in the informal or unofficial aspects of Nepali elections that hinder women’s chances at merit-based political opportunities during candidacy and their agency once they assume office. Sumina shares their findings on the challenges that limit the supply of politically ambitious women and signals the need for smarter policy interventions from the State and Development Partners that address the barriers that prevent women from fulfilling the space and responsibilities of the quota. Sumina Karki is a development professional and researcher with ten years of experience in gender equity, social inclusion, governance, and peacebuilding. Currently, she is the Assistant Director of Social Development Programs at the Asia Foundation Nepal office. She is a founding member of Chaukath, a feminist collective that organized the Vote for Women Campaign and several feminist reading sessions along with March as Women in collaboration with Martin Chautari.