“We need a new system where individual rights are respected and the state plays a responsible role in providing security to those who need it” – Baburam Bhattarai

On 14 November Dr Baburam Bhattarai, former Prime Minister of Nepal and Chair of the new Naya Shakti (New Force) party, spoke at LSE on ‘New Politics and Policies for Nepal’. While he was in London, Pragya Kc and Manoj Paudel interviewed Dr Bhattarai about the 2015 earthquake, development, Nepal’s relationship with India, and youth engagement in politics

Herpetofauna of a Ramsar Site: The Beeshazar and Associated Lakes, Chitwan National Park, Nepal

The Nepalese herpetofauna has been poorly studied, and little is known about the distribution of the country’s amphibians and reptiles. We surveyed the herpetofauna at Beeshazar and associated lakes, a Ramsar site situated in the buffer zone of Chitwan National Park, Nepal. We conducted surveys between June and July 2015 using line transects, and nocturnal and diurnal visual encounter surveys (VES). We recorded 47 species comprising 13 anurans, 11 lizards, 18 snakes, four turtles, and one crocodilian. This document will serve as source material for outreach activities in conservation awareness of the herpetofauna in the buffer zone of the park. The present study suggests that the species composition of Beeshazar and associated lakes is likely to increase with additional systematic inventories

Royal Regression

There is no doubt that the supine parliamentary democratic system has been snuffed out and autocratic monarchy restored in Nepal. Hence the questions arise: How could the limited bourgeois democratic system established after 1990 be abolished and an autocratic monarchy restored so smoothly? Should not the wheel of history move forward rather than backward? For the correct answers to these questions, one has to grasp the laws of social development in a scientific and objective manner and correctly evaluate the weaknesses and limitations of the chronically infirm post 1990 parliamentary system.Nepal, monarchy, democracy, parliamentary system

Distinct effects of reward and navigation history on hippocampal forward and reverse replays

© 2020 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.To better understand the functional roles of hippocampal forward and reverse replays, we trained rats in a spatial sequence memory task and examined how these replays are modulated by reward and navigation history. We found that reward enhances both forward and reverse replays during the awake state, but in different ways. Reward enhances the rate of reverse replays, but it increases the fidelity of forward replays for recently traveled as well as other alternative trajectories heading toward a rewarding location. This suggests roles for forward and reverse replays in reinforcing representations for all potential rewarding trajectories. We also found more faithful reactivation of upcoming than already rewarded trajectories in forward replays. This suggests a role for forward replays in preferentially reinforcing representations for high-value trajectories. We propose that hippocampal forward and reverse replays might contribute to constructing a map of potential navigation trajectories and their associated values (a “value map”) via distinct mechanisms11Nsciescopu

Transmission of <i>Leishmania donovani</i> in the Hills of Eastern Nepal, an Outbreak Investigation in Okhaldhunga and Bhojpur Districts

<div><p>Background</p><p>In the Indian subcontinent, Visceral leishmaniasis is endemic in a geographical area coinciding with the Lower Gangetic Plain, at low altitude. VL occurring in residents of hill districts is therefore often considered the result of <i>Leishmania donovani</i> infection during travel. Early 2014 we conducted an outbreak investigation in Okhaldhunga and Bhojpur districts in the Nepal hills where increasing number of VL cases have been reported.</p><p>Methodology/Principal Findings</p><p>A house-to-house survey in six villages documented retrospectively 35 cases of Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL). Anti-Leishmania antibodies were found in 22/23 past-VL cases, in 40/416 (9.6%) persons without VL and in 12/155 (7.7%) domestic animals. An age- and sex- matched case-control study showed that exposure to known VL-endemic regions was no risk factor for VL, but having a VL case in the neighbourhood was. SSU-rDNA PCR for Leishmania sp. was positive in 24 (5%) of the human, in 18 (12%) of the animal samples and in 16 (14%) bloodfed female <i>Phlebotomus argentipes</i> sand flies. <i>L</i>. <i>donovani</i> was confirmed in two asymptomatic individuals and in one sand fly through hsp70-based sequencing.</p><p>Conclusions/Significance</p><p>This is epidemiological and entomological evidence for ongoing local transmission of <i>L</i>. <i>donovani</i> in villages at an altitude above 600 meters in Nepal, in districts considered hitherto non-endemic for VL. The VL Elimination Initiative in Nepal should therefore consider extending its surveillance and control activities in order to assure VL elimination, and the risk map for VL should be redesigned.</p></div

Number of VL (KA) cases retrieved in the study clusters over study period.

<p>^aCurrently present in the village.</p><p>Number of VL (KA) cases retrieved in the study clusters over study period.</p

Seroprevalence by age group.

<p>Seroprevalence by age group.</p

Dendrogram of <i>hsp70</i> sequencing.

<p>Dendrogram of <i>hsp70</i> sequencing.</p