The basic objective of this article is to examine the birth and rise of “Generation Z” (henceforth Gen Z) in recent world history and in Nepal, and to explore what this rise may imply for national political systems in Nepal and elsewhere. It is argued here that distinctive and “named” generations such as Gen Z are products not of biological (jaivik) reproduction such as those we evoke when we speak of generations (vansa, pusta, etc.) of parents and those of their children and grandchildren. The distinctiveness of such generations is rooted in distinctive social (i.e. economic, political, cultural) and historical periods they were born into and in distinctive social and historical currents they themselves push forward. In particular, such generations are products of a very rapid flow of history. It is this rapid flow that leads to the regime of named generations in the first place. In addition, it is argued that Gen Z and similar other generations are not the same the world over; it is, instead, necessary to locate sets of Gen Zs within specific regions and countries, i.e. within specific social and historical contexts. The world today is one single historical whole inasmuch as it is intricately integrated across all major dimensions of production and exchange. Yet, the world is highly differentiated, uneven and unequal and it is becoming more so. As such, even as the nature and dynamics of the world today does provide an overall framework for analysis, the specificity of the local and the present must be valorized. It is further argued that the rapid shift in social-historical generations is likely to lead to a move away from the older framework of a durable, ideologically-based, cadre-based, “principled” and ordered political party formation to a formation that is much more populist and, therefore, geared to a shorter time frame, principal-leader-based, less long run and ideologically and programmatically flexible. Populist politics in peripheral countries such as Nepal today is also more “manipulable” at the hands of powerful forces inside and outside the country and, increasingly during the last two decades, along the liminal (mainly cyber-borderland) spaces inhabited mostly by young and Gen Z cyber-denizens of specific but anonymous hues and interests. Finally, and in the context of news reports on initiatives on amendment of the existing constitution, a brief conclusion identifies three key provisions that ought to be honored for a better future.
Material possession and consumption have become prominent features of recent urbanism in Nepal. Urban dwellers tend to associate urban identity with the possession of certain materials, as evidenced in their choices for daily household use, housing design, clothing style, and other lifestyle elements. This paper examines how urban materiality has become ingrained in the daily social and cultural lives of the dwellers of these areas and how they use it to create their distinct space in the neighborhood. It also explores how new dwellers form mental associations with materials associated with urbanity in their homes and neighborhoods, striving to integrate them into their daily lives. It also analyzes how urban dwellers use such materials as signifiers of distinction and identity within the neighborhoods. Based on an analysis of first-hand qualitative data generated through ethnographic fieldwork in popular migrant destinations in Butwal city, such as Devinagar, Shankarnagar, Drivertole, and Manigram, this paper shows that urban residents in these areas prioritize urban material culture in their homes and neighborhoods, integrating it into daily life to shape social status and identity. It further demonstrates how objectively neutral material items become subjective, value-laden entities that contribute to social segregation in the neighborhood. Ultimately, it concludes that urban materiality reinforces family status within neighborhoods, thereby distinguishing and segregating families from one another.
This ethnographic study explores the ritual practices of the academically under-researched area of the Magars of Chaunna Kuriya, Myagdi, Nepal. This study employed conversational interviews, observations, and Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) to determine how these rituals are performed and adopted Barth’s (1969) assertion that ethnic groups are maintained through boundaries rather than cultural content alone. The Chaunna Kuriya Magars’ practices, such as restricting outsiders' presence during rituals, serve as active mechanisms for demarcating and preserving group identity. The key findings include historical traditions of ritual practices; collective assets of ritual practices; linkage of ritual practices with seasons, weather, and natural resources; connection of ritual functions with nature; and the tie of ritual practices with livelihood. As a nodal study of ritual practices, this research aids young scholars, academicians, policymakers, and government authorities in understanding rituals in general, and those of the Magars of Chaunna Kuriya in particular.
E-Governance has emerged as a transformative tool to enhance democratic governance, transparency, accountability, and inclusive service delivery. This paper critically examines the evolution, status, challenges, and opportunities of e-governance in Nepal, drawing on policy documents, academic literature, and reports from bilateral agencies and civil society organizations. The study assesses how digital governance initiatives, such as the e-Government Master Plan 2006, the Digital Nepal Framework 2019, and the 16th Five-Year Plan, have shaped the country’s digital trajectory. While significant progress has been made in digital service adoption and citizen engagement, strengthened by expanding telecom infrastructure and the COVID-19 pandemic, Nepal’s E-Governance landscape remains constrained by inadequate human capital, digital divides, weak political will, poor implementation mechanisms, and infrastructural deficits. This review aims to contribute to ongoing discourse by identifying policy gaps, stakeholder engagement needs, and strategies to mainstream E-Governance into Nepal’s democratic and socio-economic development processes. This study employs a desk review methodology to synthesize diverse secondary sources and examine the existing policy framework on e-governance in Nepal. The findings show significant progress through initiatives such as the e-Government Master Plan, the Digital Nepal Framework, and expanded digital service delivery across the country. However, full implementation remains constrained by digital divides, weak infrastructure, socio-political barriers, limited skilled human resources, and low public awareness. Finally, this article underscores the potential of E-Governance to catalyze inclusive development and democratic deepening in Nepal.
This study explains the structural relationships among service quality, tourist experience, and tourists' satisfaction levels, in turn, with their intention to revisit and recommend the destination. It also examines the mediating role of tourist satisfaction in these relationships, particularly among international tourists visiting Nepal. The study used a quantitative approach and a cross-sectional survey research design, in which the required data were collected from 405 foreign visitors using self-administered, structured questionnaires. The relationships of service quality, tourist experience, tourist satisfaction, and behavioral intentions were analyzed by using PLS-SEM to identify direct and indirect relationships among the study variables. The results indicate that service quality and tourist experience are important determinants of satisfaction. Satisfaction, in turn, positively influences the intention to recommend and revisit the destination. As a mediating effect, the direct influence of tourists' experience on revisit intention was not significant, but its indirect influence via satisfaction was substantial. The analysis establishes the relevance of Planned Behavior and the Expectation-Confirmation theories, while explaining the tourist behaviors. Tourist satisfaction also forms an important mediating factor between perceived service quality, perceived service experience, and behavioral intentions. The key strategies to promote destination loyalty are to deliver high service standards and to create greater experiential value for international tourists. Thus, the strategy that must be given priority by the tourism stakeholders is the process of enhancing the quality of service, memorable moments to boost satisfaction, foster repeated visits, and positive publicity. Finally, this study contributes empirical knowledge regarding the mediating effect of tourist satisfaction in both prominent and emerging tourism destinations. Besides, it has theoretical and practical implications for sustainable tourism transformation and development.
In late 2019, viral outbreaks, such as SARS and SARS-CoV-2 (coronaviruses), began to spread globally, severely affecting public health and disrupting the national and global economy. The pandemic lasted for more than two years and posed a serious threat to human health. Even after the virus was controlled, its long-term effects, commonly called post-COVID-19 conditions, continued to affect the quality of life of many individuals worldwide. This study explored how post-COVID-19 conditions influenced sociocultural activities and quality of life in Baglung District, Western Nepal. The research acknowledges diverse personal and community experiences, adopts a mixed-methods and explanatory design, and collects both qualitative and quantitative data between September 2022 and January 2024. The findings inform a variety of behavioral and psychological changes among people recovering from COVID-19. These include reduced motivation for teaching and learning, economic disruptions, and increased physical and emotional strain. However, cultural activities played a key role in helping people adapt to these challenges, supporting knowledge sharing, economic recovery, social cohesion, and cultural continuity.
Dr. Prem Bhandari is a distinguished social scientist and a member of the International Advisory Board of Dhaulagiri Journal of Sociology and Anthropology (DJSA). Dr. Bhandari was born and raised in rural Nepal, where he began his academic pursuits. His educational journey continued across Kathmandu, Chitwan, Thailand, and the USA, covering diverse fields of study including biology, agricultural economics, rural development planning, and rural sociology and demography. Dr. Bhandari completed his PhD in Rural Sociology and Demography from the Pennsylvania State University, USA. His research interests are broad, spanning fertility, migration, rural livelihoods, population health, and the socio-economic and cultural determinants of social change, with a particular focus on Nepal and South Asia. His current research focuses on factors contributing to profitability in agritourism, visitor attractions, and activity diversification in agritourism. His academic career spans several prestigious institutions, including Tribhuvan University, Nepal; the University of Alberta, Canada; the University of Michigan; and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. In Nepal, Dr. Bhandari has contributed to applied research in social science through the Institute for Social and Environmental Research-Nepal (ISER-N). In addition to his roles in teaching, research, and Extension, he has been deeply engaged in national and international research collaborations, hosting and participating in conferences, mentoring scholars in Nepal and the U.S., and serving as an editor for academic journals. His positive attitude, warm heart, simplicity, and willingness to share his valuable time, experiences, and skills, and his contribution through publishing research articles in food security, migration, and research methods for the DJSA have encouraged us to get to know him better. We believe his life trajectory will serve as a profound source of inspiration for emerging scholars to shape their own lives. We are thankful and extend our sincere gratitude to Dr. Bhandari for accepting the proposal for a written interview, in which he has generously and thoughtfully engaged.
This study analyzes remittance patterns between the third Nepal Living Standards Survey (NLSS) in 2010/2011 and the fourth in 2022/2023. This analysis examines ten years of remittance-receiving and utilization trends in relation to household livelihoods, social transformation, trust in financial institutions, and policy implications. It examines current sources, transfer methods, and household uses of remittances from national data. Analysis shows that remittances are essential to household income and livelihood. The remittance data show a significant contribution to economic and social resources. It shows that families are employing various strategies to manage risks to their livelihoods in the current context. As illustrated in NLSS-2022-23, formal banking systems have replaced the traditional cash exchange system. Daily expenses of remittance-receiving families continue to provide substantial support for family needs. Rising loan repayments among migrants’ households have significantly reduced their capability to save remittances. It indicates the possibility of debt dependency at the family level. However, remittances promote social mobility and contribute to economic transformation at the local level. This study concludes that effective policy interventions are essential to achieve social empowerment through remittance. The government also needs to provide migrants with the skills and knowledge necessary for entry into the workforce through appropriate policy initiatives. Local government policies may promote profitable investment that supports migrants’ sustainable lives.
By and large, public policy is understood as an administrative construct, comprising institutional mechanisms, economic priorities, and political choices. In the spaces where it is duly enacted, policies face challenges and are reshaped by the sociocultural rhythms at large. In Nepal, policy research basically focuses on statistics, procedures, and formal rules, often neglecting the lived experiences of local people and their indigenous knowledge. Recognizing these processes revealed deep entanglement with people’s experiences and cultural performances, echoing the relational knowledge of the policy researcher and the people being studied. Drawing on this excerpt, I employ anthropological approaches in Nepal and reimagine sociocultural constructs that shape policy. This study is guided by post-qualitative inquiry; my engagements with policymakers, anthropologists, public policy experts, and practitioners unfolded conversations in homes, teahouses, and cafés, where knowledge is co-constructed with my research companions. Employing Anthony Giddens’ (1986) Structuration Theory, I explored how structures or systems and human actions constantly shape and reshape one another in everyday life. In Nepal’s policy landscape, anthropology is sidelined, as technocratic approaches, bureaucratic frameworks, and rigid institutional mechanisms largely limit policies. These constraints are never absolute. Individual actors, including policymakers, scholars, public policy experts, and advocates, continue to introduce culturally sensitive and context-aware approaches into policy spaces. Anthropology thus becomes visible not only in policy documents but also in how policies are lived, interpreted, and negotiated across different contexts, as these entanglements imply that policy knowledge is largely relational, embodied, and evolving, not static. Anthropological insights not only complement policy research but also reshape how policy is enacted, making it more inclusive, culturally grounded to address people’s pressing issues, and responsive to policy ecosystems in Nepal.
This study explores Everest tourism's role in building resilience and reshaping livelihoods of Sherpa households in the two settlements- Namche Bazaar and Thulo Gumela in the Everest (Khumbu) region of the Nepal Himalaya. Employing a comprehensive framework that integrates economic, social, cultural, and environmental facets, this research primarily scrutinizes the primary data gathered through face-to-face interviews, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions, with an equal number of participants from each study site. The findings reveal a significant disparity in terms of economic opportunities. Namche Bazaar, strategically located along the main trail of Khumbu to Everest Base Camp, benefits substantially from Everest tourism. Whereas Thulo Gumela, situated off the main route, faces economic disadvantages and limited access to local tourism initiatives. While both villages share similar social, cultural, and environmental influences of tourism, notable discrepancies emerge between them. These differences are largely driven by the exponential growth of tourism in the region, the establishment of Sagarmatha National Park, and the rapid rise in visitor numbers. They are further shaped by unequal access to tourism opportunities and the broader influences of modernization and technological advancement. These interconnected and underlying forces have reshaped Sherpa livelihoods, stimulating their resilience and adaptive capacities, creating both opportunities and challenges. The study offers policymakers and development practitioners insightful information, advocating strategic tourism planning and management for Khumbu. The study highlights acknowledging and promoting potential tourism products of underrepresented villages like Thulo Gumela. This approach helps promote equitable economic growth across all villages of Khumbu while safeguarding Sherpas’ unique sociocultural heritage and rich biodiversity, thereby offering opportunities for all communities within this historic region to benefit from tourism.
This paper explores the efficacy of social security allowances (SSA) on elders of Muslim community in Rupakot Rural Municipality, Gandaki Province of Nepal through purposive selection. The study was conducted using both exploratory and descriptive research design. The data was primarily gathered using a five-point Likert scale and descriptively analyzed. The focus of the study was on Muslim elders aged 60 and above, out of 707 persons receiving allowances of different categories. Among the 27 senior citizens receiving SSA, one is widowed and one is partially disabled. The majority of SSA recipients are male, married, aged 70-75, engaged in agriculture, families with 2-4 members, and elders having ownership of assets. SSA program has shown to improve healthcare access, quality of life, lifestyle changes, poverty reduction, social respect, recognition, social participation, and self-dependency among elders in the Muslim community. Most elders use their SSA for essential daily living expenses, donation, supporting their own children and families, and contributing to educational and spiritual activities. Overall, SSA is seen as a financial relief rather than a burden within this community. This study suggests further research for exploring the long-term impact of SSA on diverse demographic groups in Nepal, to inform future policy decisions. Additionally, it recommends implementing educational awareness programs for elders to effectively manage SSA funds, and enhances policies to ensure timely and adequate disbursements of SSA.
Authorship and contributorship are among the most important, sensitive, and complex areas of academia and thus demand critical awareness among the authors, editors, and readers.
There is evidence of the impact of the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) program on students’ learning, nutrition, and health. Still, there is no exploration of the perceptions and experiences of community school stakeholders on this issue. This gap led to the research question: how do stakeholders perceive the impact of the MDM program on students' education and health in community schools? This study employed an exploratory qualitative design and worked with the purposively selected 21 participants in two community schools in Musikot Municipality, Rukum West district, Nepal. It used in-depth interviews for gathering qualitative data, which were transcribed, translated into English and analyzed thematically. The results showed that most participants expressed positive responses. Some participants noted that managing MDM in their respective schools is not easy. The program helped increase student enrollment, attendance, and retention, and enhanced their hygiene and general wellness. It strengthened positive social skills, motivated the students in class, and improved educational quality. Participants reported that inadequate human resource is common barrier to the operation of this program. The findings imply that the collaboration between local, provincial, and federal governments, as well as stakeholders, is needed for the program's success to continue further.
Malnutrition among children which includes stunting, wasting, and underweight remains a serious public health concern in Nepal. It exists despite tremendous progress since 1996, especially for children from the poorest households, those born to mothers with lower levels of education, and those living in rural areas. To achieve SDG 2.2, which calls for the eradication of all forms of malnutrition by 2030, it is crucial to understand trends and disparities in nutritional status to guide targeted interventions. The study examines trends in stunting, wasting, and underweight among children under five years old, using data from the Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys (NDHS) and other national surveys. The analysis focuses on variations by residence (urban/rural), gender, mother’s education level, child’s age, and household wealth quintile. Child malnutrition has been found to have significantly declined, as per analysis of NDHS data for the period 1996 to 2022. The rate of underweight decreased from 42.3% to 18.7%, wasting decreased from 14.8% to 7.7%, and stunting decreased from 56.6% to 24.8%. However, the prevalence of malnutrition is found to be higher among the children from the lowest wealth quintile, children of uneducated mothers, in rural areas. Also, there is some level of gender variations in malnutrition, which peaks between the ages of 18 and 35 months. Despite the substantial nationwide improvements in child nutrition from 1996 to 2022, inequalities persist in terms of rural-urban residence, mothers' education, wealth quintile, and the period of 18–35 months as a vulnerable period. It demands targeted, equity-focused interventions to sustain progress and achieve national and global nutrition targets
Born on March 7, 1952, into an educated and socially active family, Professor Samira Luitel is a distinguished sociologist and education consultant based in Kathmandu, Nepal. With a professional career spanning over four decades, she has made substantial contributions to the fields of education, gender studies, and social inclusion. Since her retirement in 2013, she has continued her work as a freelance consultant. Professor Luitel has held significant academic and research positions, including Senior Researcher at the Research Centre for Educational Innovation and Development (CERID) and Professor at the Central Department of Sociology/Anthropology at Tribhuvan University. She has also served as a Supplemental Professor at the University of Delaware, USA. Her research focuses on the intersection of education and development, particularly concerning women, ethnic minorities, and other disadvantaged groups, employing both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. She holds a Ph.D. in International Intercultural Education from the University of Alberta, Canada. Her dissertation explored literacy and empowerment among Maithili women in Nepal. Professor Luitel has authored several publications, including books, manuals, and over two dozen research reports on gender, education, and social issues. As the first female professor of Sociology in Nepal and an active member of numerous academic and development organizations, she has significantly influenced policy-making, curriculum development, and capacity-building initiatives. Her contributions have been recognized with the Mahendra Bidhya Bhushan award for academic excellence. Professor Luitel continues to impact Nepal’s education and social development sectors through research, teaching, and advocacy. This interview was conducted in March 2025 by Professor Madhusudan Subedi and Dr. Man Bahadur Khatri, and the excerpts are presented in the order in which the questions were asked.
This study investigates the economic consumption of Nepal, focusing on the roles of remittances, financial development, inflation, and income. The aim is to assess both short-term and long-term relationships and provide policy insights. The research employs the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to analyze time-series data spanning from 1975 to 2023. Data were sourced from the Ministry of Finance, Nepal Rastra Bank, and World Bank databases. Key variables include remittances, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, consumer price indices, urban population, and private credit. Diagnostic tests ensured the model’s reliability and stability. The findings reveal significant influences of remittances on private consumption, with urban population growth exhibiting a strong positive short-term effect. Remittances initially have a negative impact on consumption but display significant long-term benefits. Inflation shows a short-term stimulatory effect on consumption, while financial development (proxied by private credit) demonstrates a delayed negative impact. Cointegration tests confirm a highly significant error correction term (-1.49), indicating long-term equilibrium and an effective adjustment mechanism, with deviations corrected within approximately 8 months (0.67 years). Private consumption in Nepal is shaped by a dynamic interplay of socio-economic factors. Urbanization and remittance inflows are key drivers, emphasizing the need for policies fostering urban planning and remittance management. Addressing inflationary pressures and enhancing financial inclusion could further optimize economic consumption, contributing to sustained economic growth and stability.
This paper examines the detailed narratives and experiences of survivors of the 2015 Nepal earthquake, capturing their vivid accounts of where they were, what they felt, and how they reacted in the immediate aftermath. Drawing on local people’s embodied narratives as a crucial site of disaster memory, it illustrates how storytelling becomes a means through which they make and remake their post-disaster world inhabitable and comfortable again. These narratives offer insights into how solidarity and unity initially shaped survival efforts and reveal how, as large-scale aid began to arrive, perceptions of unfairness, injustice, and fraud in its distribution led to growing dissatisfaction among villagers. In doing so, the paper further shows how relief distribution deepened social divisions, reinforcing Tol (area) membership as a criterion for receiving aid and fragmenting the community into lower and upper Tol. Based on ten months of ethnographic research—including semi-structured interviews and key informant interviews—conducted for my PhD dissertation between 2019 and 2024 in the villages of Kot, Gunsa, and Dhap (Panchpokhari Thangpal Rural Municipality, Sindhupalchok), this ethnography contributes to disaster anthropology in Nepal. It examines how locals collectively experienced suffering (pain as subjectivity) and, crucially, how they transformed this suffering into an agentive force. Rather than remaining passive aid recipients, they deployed their extended kinship networks to counteract social divisions and mitigate suffering during the aid distribution process..
This article explores the role of Bhalmansa, an indigenous governance institution of the Tharu community, in enhancing community access to municipal services. The primary objective is to examine the intersection between Tharu indigenous governance practices and the contemporary local governance system to understand socio-culturally resonant service delivery. Using a sequential mixed-methods approach, data were collected through a household survey, the Key Informant Interviews (KII) and Kuragraphy (informal discussion). The quantitative findings reveal that two-thirds of those who accessed public services required more than three attempts, relying significantly on informal channels such as friends and family members to navigate the challenge of getting services. The qualitative study findings show that, despite the Bhalmansa system’s enduring role in securing community ownership of local development and public service delivery, its influence has weakened. This decline is primarily due to non-recognition by local governments and rigid bureaucratic procedures that undermine the indigenous governance system. The study’s findings underline the need for local policy reforms that integrate indigenous structures like Bhalmansa into local governance. Such integration can foster co-creation and co-production in service delivery and access to education, transforming inclusive public service delivery from a rhetorical commitment into a genuinely community-driven practice.
Postharvest loss in agriculture is considerably high in developing countries due to the lack of infrastructure and technology. Changes in agricultural practices and climate variability further aggravate the risks of postharvest losses. Postharvest loss can be minimized using technologies, including generationally tested local knowledge of Indigenous Peoples, where women play critical roles. Despite its significance in developing new knowledge and technologies, Indigenous knowledge in postharvest management and its resiliency to climate change, particularly the contribution of women, is poorly documented in Tharu communities in Nepal. This paper thus documents the roles of Tharu women and Tharu Indigenous knowledge to ensure food security and promote resilient agriculture in general and postharvest improvement in particular. The study utilized qualitative research methods to explore and document postharvest management practices and technologies of the Tharu from gendered perspectives, considering cases from the eastern region (Bara), central region (Chitwan), and western region (Bardiya) of Nepal. The research revealed that the Tharu have locally evolved postharvest practices and technologies, such as sun drying after harvest and dehari or kothi grain storage technology, that minimize postharvest losses from insects, fungus, rodents, and climatic stresses. Women are central in postharvest processing, storage, and conserving seed grain. Therefore, development approaches that enhance women’s knowledge, capacity, and efficiency in agricultural postharvest management can contribute to household and community food security and income.
Truck literature is calligraphy writing on the back, side, or front of trucks and public buses. They contain messages on social awareness, love, and political satire. While such inscriptions often serve to spread social awareness, many contain humorous, romantic, or gender-biased messages that implicitly reflect and reinforce the dominance of a single stratum of people, male. To understand how truck literature is reflecting and reinforcing masculinity and male dominance, 37 vehicles were selected on an opportunistic sampling basis. The truck literatures were collected at three different highway locations in Nepal. The collected truck literature were clustered into two themes: other (general truck literature such as awareness, love, and political satire-related messages) and gender biased messages. The study found that more than half of the sample vehicles had messages about the dominance of masculinity over femininity. These examples of truck literature often employ humor to normalize and perpetuate male dominance over women. Knowingly or unknowingly, the messages in those moving canvases were hilarious; notwithstanding, these works of literature are meant to reinforce traditional gender roles and sexuality and to stabilize the dominance of masculinity over femininity.
