The Constitution of Nepal defines Nepal as a “socialism-oriented federal democratic republican state.” Multiple election cycles since the Maoist insurgency suggest that democracy has matured considerably. Political parties broadly operating within the republican democratic framework have consistently remained at the center of political competition. The most recent election, following the Gen-Z movement, arguably strengthened the foundations of the republican system. Political actors advocating a return to monarchy remained on the margins and failed to translate public unrest into electoral dominance. Historically, pro-monarchy sentiment tends to gain visibility when governments fail to deliver expected outcomes. The Gen-Z movement represented perhaps the…
Academic world and universities used to be the one of the most innovative places to work. Generally speaking, pre-21st century, the most of the innovative break-through happened in the university settings. However, lately, universities are accused of being less innovative and more routined task of publishing, getting tenured, and getting grant. I found that these accusation are not just “accusation” but something real that are being felt by some academicians even though several of them believe that academia is the most innovative place (which, I don’t totally disagree!). Last week during USAEE/IAEE meeting, I get some sense of how academic…
Watching policy dialogues originated from Nepal in youtube has become my routine since last few years. I find time to watch such debates as much as I can. Sometime I add them to my “watch later” list on youtube if I do not find time to watch them. As a Nepali citizen policy debates about issues in Nepal are interesting to me. These discussions further help me to find a new research topics that I am interested in. Lately, hosting policy debates in English has become a popular trend. Some of the debates are interesting to watch. Most of them…
The year 2023 started with a better understanding of the research project I am currently involved in as a post-doc at Auburn University. I am involved in a research project that aims at colocating agricultural crops with a solar energy generation system–also called as agrivoltaic system–to meet dual purpose of food and energy production and reduce carbon emission from fossil fuels and coals. Even though I was supposed to design an economic optimization model, delay on the data acquisition shifted my focus towards solar developers survey design. I started designing survey from February. The initial plan was to develop choice…
Nepal can reduce rural poverty, balance trade, and earn foreign currency through sustainable forest management.
