The Nepali Diaspora Digest is a written newsletter/blog and accompanying podcast which delivers the latest news, stories, and insights from Nepal and the global Nepali community. Hosted by our friendly, sometimes funny, and analytically sharp Nepal-AI agents, this weekly podcast keeps you updated on curated topics and headlines that matter—news, sports, lifestyle, and diaspora achievements. We monitor the news daily so you don’t have to, wrapping it all up in a 15-20 minute podcast and an accompanying newsletter to keep you connected, informed, and inspired—wherever you are. <br/><br/><a href="https://www.nepalidiaspora.net/s/digest?utm_medium=podcast">www.nepalidiaspora.net</a>
Nepal Diaspora News Digest
Claim This Podcastby Your weekly dose of curated news, stories, and insights from Nepal and the global Nepali community—keeping you informed, inspired, and connected.
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The Nepali Diaspora Digest is a written newsletter/blog and accompanying podcast which delivers the latest news, stories, and insights from Nepal and the global Nepali community. Hosted by our friendly, sometimes funny, and analytically sharp Nepal-AI agents, this weekly podcast keeps you updated on curated topics and headlines that matter—news, sports, lifestyle, and diaspora achievements. We monitor the news daily so you don’t have to, wrapping it all up in a 15-20 minute podcast and an accompanying newsletter to keep you connected, informed, and inspired—wherever you are. <br/><br/><a href="https://www.nepalidiaspora.net/s/digest?utm_medium=podcast">www.nepalidiaspora.net</a>
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Recent Episodes
July 3, 2026
'No Petrol' Boards, No Bail for Paudel & Half a Million Birds Gone
<p>Namaste, diaspora family! This was a week of things running short back home. Fuel got cheaper on paper and then vanished from the pumps overnight, an outbreak of bird flu emptied poultry sheds and shut the country’s only zoo, and the Supreme Court declined to free the opposition heavyweight the anti-corruption drive is holding. There was harder-edged news for the diaspora too, as the draft of a long-awaited NRN law quietly left a whole community out, even while the numbers show our footprint abroad growing faster than ever. And a clock is ticking on Nepali football. Let’s get into it.</p><p>🌍 Diaspora & Globalisation</p><p>The Promise With Fine Print</p><p>For months the government’s pitch to the diaspora has been a warm one, summed up in a slogan you have probably seen: “Once a Nepali, Always a Nepali.” The Shah administration has dangled property rights, voting rights, and a headline diaspora bond worth as much as <strong>Rs 100 billion a year</strong> to pull overseas capital home, even floating the idea of recognising NRNs as a special class of investor. This week the fine print drew scrutiny. A circulating draft of the amended <strong>Non-Resident Nepali Act</strong> turns away from the roughly <strong>140,000 Nepali-Bhutanese</strong> of the diaspora, the community pushed out of Bhutan decades ago, leaving them outside the very promise the slogan makes. The Nepal Policy Institute, a think tank run largely by diaspora professionals, is urging the government to treat this rewrite as a rare chance to define its relationship with an estimated <strong>3 million Nepalis abroad</strong>, not narrow it. For a readership that spans continents, the lesson lands cleanly: a law is only as generous as who it decides to count (<a target="_blank" href="https://kathmandupost.com/columns/2026/05/27/once-a-nepali-always-a-nepali-the-nrn-bill-draft-begs-to-differ">The Kathmandu Post</a>).</p><p>The Australia Chapter Gets Bigger</p><p>If you want to see where the diaspora is heading, look south. A study by the Institute for Integrated Development Studies, backed by Australia’s foreign ministry, found the Nepali-born population in Australia has jumped to about <strong>213,580</strong> by mid-2025, nearly doubling from 122,506 in 2021. This is not the old story of remittance and return. Some <strong>61 percent</strong> arrived for higher education, close to half now earn between <strong>AUD 65,000 and 120,000</strong> a year, and about a third have made formal investments. It is a young, credentialed, increasingly rooted community whose contribution is shifting from money sent home to businesses built, networks opened, and knowledge shared. Foreign Minister <strong>Shishir Khanal</strong> has called this diaspora “central” to the Nepal-Australia relationship, and the figures make the case for him. The challenge now sits with Kathmandu: whether its policies can keep pace with a community that is clearly not waiting around (<a target="_blank" href="https://theannapurnaexpress.com/story/64444/">The Annapurna Express</a>).</p><p><strong>In Brief:</strong> A few more notes from across the diaspora.</p><p>* Balancing both neighbours. Foreign Minister Khanal followed a visit to New Delhi with four days in Beijing, meeting <strong>Wang Yi</strong> to talk connectivity, border management, trade and technology transfer. Wang called Nepal important to China’s neighbourhood diplomacy, and the back-to-back trips signal a deliberately even-handed foreign policy from the new government (<a target="_blank" href="https://english.nepalnews.com/s/diplomacy/foreign-minister-khanal-arrives-in-beijing-for-four-day-official-visit/">Nepal News</a>).</p><p>* The lifeline holds. Even as fewer workers leave, remittances still run near <strong>a quarter of the entire economy</strong>, with inflows for the first nine months of the fiscal year around <strong>$11.55 billion</strong>, up roughly 39 percent year on year. It remains the number that keeps Nepal’s accounts standing (<a target="_blank" href="https://nepyork.com/2026/05/29/experts-urge-nepal-to-update-diaspora-policy-as-51-of-nepali-americans-hold-college-degrees-and-remittances-hit-25-3-of-gdp/">NepYork</a>).</p><p>🏛️ Politics & Governance</p><p>The Court Keeps the Cell Door Shut</p><p>The biggest test yet of Nepal’s anti-corruption drive played out in the Supreme Court this week, and the drive held. A joint bench of Justices <strong>Binod Sharma</strong> and <strong>Nityanand Pandey</strong> dismissed the habeas corpus petition filed by Domaya Paudel on behalf of her husband, <strong>Bishnu Prasad Paudel</strong>, the CPN-UML vice-chair and eight-time former finance minister arrested on <strong>June 22</strong> in Surkhet in a money-laundering probe. With the petition rejected, the Special Court’s order keeping him in judicial custody for further investigation stands. For a figure this senior in the main opposition, that is a heavy outcome, and the UML has not softened its line, calling the arrest politically motivated and its chair KP Sharma Oli branding it “illegal.” The government insists this is the law finally reaching the untouchable. The distinction between reform and revenge is now the argument running through Nepali politics, and this week the courts, at least, declined to hand the opposition an early exit (<a target="_blank" href="https://english.nepalnews.com/s/crime-news/supreme-court-dismisses-bishnu-paudels-habeas-corpus-petition/">Nepal News</a>).</p><p>Trying to Unjam Parliament</p><p>While the courts moved, Parliament sat stuck. <strong>Rabi Lamichhane</strong>, freshly re-elected as chair of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, spent the week playing fixer, holding consultations with Prime Minister <strong>Balendra Shah</strong> and convening an all-party meeting to break a legislative standoff that has slowed the government’s agenda. The timing is pointed. Only days earlier, at his party’s convention, Lamichhane floated a wholesale redesign of Nepal’s system, a directly elected executive and a fully proportional electoral model, ideas the old parties treated as an attack on the parliamentary order itself. So the man questioning whether the current system works is now the one trying to make it function week to week. For a diaspora long weary of coalition churn, it is a familiar bind: the reformers need the old machine to keep running even as they argue for replacing it (<a target="_blank" href="https://english.onlinekhabar.com/">OnlineKhabar</a>).</p><p><strong>In Brief:</strong> The rest of the week in governance.</p><p>* A body built for the money trail. The Council of Ministers discussed creating a separate, more powerful agency dedicated to financial crimes including money laundering, a sign the government wants permanent machinery, not just a moment, behind its graft crackdown (<a target="_blank" href="https://kathmandupost.com/politics">The Kathmandu Post</a>).</p><p>* An old idea returns. A campaign for a Hindu state and the restoration of the monarchy, fronted by former RPP figure Dhawal Shumsher Rana and activist Durga Prasai, is set to launch from <strong>Madhesh Province on July 6</strong> (<a target="_blank" href="https://english.nepalnews.com/">Nepal News</a>).</p><p>* The passport case grinds on. The CIAA’s <strong>Rs 10.13 billion</strong> graft case over rigged e-passport procurement continues against 18 people, even as booklet stocks run below 47,000 (<a target="_blank" href="https://kathmandupost.com/national/2026/06/23/ciaa-files-rs10-13-billion-passport-graft-case-against-18">The Kathmandu Post</a>).</p><p>💸 Economy & Development</p><p>Cheaper Fuel Nobody Would Sell</p><p>Here is a Nepali paradox for the week: the price of petrol fell, and petrol disappeared. On <strong>July 1</strong>, the Nepal Oil Corporation cut petrol by <strong>Rs 20 a litre</strong> and diesel and kerosene by <strong>Rs 30</strong>, the kind of relief households rarely get. Within hours, private pumps across the Kathmandu Valley hung “No Petrol” and “No Diesel” boards and simply stopped selling, unwilling to move fuel they had bought at the older, higher price without eating the loss. Only stations run by the Army, Police and Armed Police Force stayed open, drawing long, frustrated queues. The NOC dispatched three monitoring teams, insisted there was “no shortage,” and by later reports declared the disruption resolved with fresh supplies pushed out from the Thankot depot. It is a small drama with a familiar shape, the gap between a policy announced in Kathmandu and what actually reaches the consumer, and this time it played out at the pump in a single day (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.spotlightnepal.com/2026/07/01/nepal-oil-corporation-reduced-prices-petroleum-product/">New Spotlight</a>).</p><p>Fixing the Plumbing</p><p>Away from the pumps, the government kept working on the unglamorous machinery of the economy. The <strong>Asian Development Bank</strong> approved a <strong>$50 million</strong> policy loan to modernise Nepal’s customs and logistics, funding digital systems, risk-based inspections and streamlined procedures meant to move goods faster and cut the friction that inflates prices. In the same stretch, the House of Representatives passed the <strong>Public Procurement (Second Amendment) Bill</strong>, another piece of the reform agenda the Shah government has staked its credibility on. Neither headline will thrill anyone, but for a diaspora that has watched projects stall for years in paperwork and leakage, better customs and cleaner procurement are exactly the sort of plumbing that decides whether the bigger promises, the diaspora bonds and investment pitches, ever hold water (<a target="_blank" href="https://kathmandupost.com/money/2026/07/02/adb-approves-50-million-loan-to-modernise-nepal-s-customs-and-logistics-sector">The Kathmandu Post</a>).</p><p><strong>In Brief:</strong> A few more figures worth filing away.</p><p>* The market drifts down. NEPSE slipped to around <strong>2,608</strong> on June 30, down nearly a percent, before clawing back a few points midweek on turnover above Rs 4 billion, with commercial banks leading the small rebound. The post-election glow has well and truly faded (<a target="_blank" href="https://english.nepalnews.com/s/business/nepal-news-evening-economic-brief-june-30-2026/">Nepal News</a>).</p><p>* Tourists keep coming. Nepal welcomed <strong>91,363</strong> foreign visitors by air in June, up <strong>19.5 percent</strong> on last year and above pre-pandemic levels. South Asia supplied more than half, with India alone sending <strong>41,809</strong> (<a target="_blank" href="https://ekantipur.com/business/2026/07/02/en/foreign-tourists-visiting-nepal-increase-by-195-percent-in-june-15-52.html">ekantipur</a>).</p><p>* Money for the unfinished. The infrastructure ministry set aside <strong>Rs 2 billion</strong> for the coming fiscal year to complete stalled roads across <strong>39 districts</strong> under the constituency road program, a nod to how many projects sit half-built (<a target="_blank" href="https://english.nepalnews.com/s/business/nepal-news-evening-economic-brief-july-1-2026/">Nepal News</a>).</p><p>⭐ Social & Cultural</p><p>The Flu That Emptied the Coop</p><p>A quieter crisis has been building on Nepal’s farms, and this week the scale of it came into view. Since the first cases in <strong>mid-March</strong>, an outbreak of bird flu has forced the culling of more than <strong>596,000 poultry</strong> and the destruction of over <strong>a million eggs</strong>, and it has now closed the country’s only zoo, the Central Zoo in Jawalakhel, as a precaution. For farmers this is a livelihood emptied out overnight, and for households it means pressure on the price and supply of eggs and chicken, staples of many Nepali kitchens. Bird flu has visited before, but the numbers this year are large enough to ripple through markets and dinner tables alike. Authorities are leaning on the blunt tool that works, widespread culling, while trying to keep the outbreak from crossing into people. It is the kind of slow-moving story that rarely leads the bulletins but reaches almost every plate (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.nampa.org/text/22957026">NAMPA</a>).</p><p>Football’s Ticking Clock</p><p>Nepali football spent the week watching a calendar. After <strong>FIFA suspended the All Nepal Football Association on June 24</strong> over what it called third-party interference, the fallout now comes with hard dates. Nepal can still contest the <strong>AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers</strong> if the suspension is lifted by <strong>July 13</strong>, just before the July 16 draw, and the <strong>U20 Asian Cup qualifiers</strong> if it is cleared by <strong>August 1</strong>. Miss those windows and the youth teams are simply struck from the competitions, on top of an AFC Women’s Champions League slot already lost. FIFA’s terms are specific: revoke the National Sports Council’s March order against the ANFA executive, reinstate that committee, and let the stalled elections finish. Sports Minister <strong>Sasmit Pokharel</strong> has acknowledged the federation long suffered political interference and corruption, which is part of how it landed here. The governance fight is real, but so is the cost, and right now it is measured in young players who may not get to take the field (<a target="_blank" href="https://kathmandupost.com/sports/2026/07/02/nepal-can-still-compete-in-two-afc-tournaments-if-fifa-s-suspension-is-lifted-in-time">The Kathmandu Post</a>).</p><p><strong>In Brief:</strong> A couple of last notes as the monsoon settles in.</p><p>* The rains bite early. With forecasters warning of extremely heavy rain, authorities barred night travel between 5pm and 5am on the <strong>Hetauda-Kathmandu Kanti Highway</strong> at the turn of the month, citing the risk of landslides, flash floods and rising rivers. A reminder that monsoon season is as much about roads closed as skies opened (<a target="_blank" href="https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/">myRepublica</a>).</p><p>* A nation watching on its phones. Nepal’s sporting life is increasingly lived on the mobile screen, with <strong>16.6 million</strong> internet users and <strong>32.4 million</strong> mobile connections nationwide, and cricket the common thread, as local Nepali-language broadcasts bring the big tournaments to fans far from any stadium (<a target="_blank" href="https://kathmandupost.com/cricket">The Kathmandu Post</a>).</p><p></p><p><strong>Let’s connect</strong></p><p>Enjoying this issue? 📩 Share it with a friend & let’s keep Nepalis worldwide in the loop! Got thoughts? Hit reply—we’re all ears! Or let us know what you think via our <a target="_blank" href="https://forms.gle/UNCnAcDEzecN2Tho7">Feedback form</a> or follow us on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572621663505">Facebook</a> | <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/106315531/admin/dashboard/">LinkedIn</a></p><p>P.S. Got a story or issue you’d like us to cover next week? Drop us a reply — we’re building this space together.</p><p><strong>About Nepali Diaspora Digest:</strong></p><p>The Nepali Diaspora Digest connects the global Nepali community with curated news, insights, and stories that matter most. Join us as we celebrate and explore the diverse voices and achievements of Nepalis worldwide.</p><p><strong>Partner shout out</strong></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://belayat.uk/">belayat.uk</a>: helping Nepalis connect in the UK on <a target="_blank" href="https://belayat.uk/listings/jobs">jobs</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://belayat.uk/listings/housing">housing</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://events.belayat.uk/">events</a> and finding <a target="_blank" href="https://belayat.uk/listings/business">local Nepali owned businesses</a></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://www.nepalidiaspora.net?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1">www.nepalidiaspora.net</a>
June 26, 2026
An Opposition Heavyweight Cuffed, FIFA Locks Nepal Out & Two Gods Fly Home
<p>Namaste, diaspora family! It was a heavy week back home. The anti-corruption drive that put establishment names on notice finally reached the main opposition, with former finance minister Bishnu Paudel arrested and his party calling protests. The war in West Asia kept tightening the Gulf job market that so many of our families depend on, and football took a blow few saw coming when FIFA locked Nepal out. But the week also handed us two reasons to smile, both shaped by the diaspora itself: a pair of stolen gods flew home from New York, and the courts moved Nepal closer to full marriage equality. Let’s get into it.</p><p>🌍 Diaspora & Globalisation</p><p>The Gulf Door Narrows</p><p>For two decades the Gulf has been the default answer to the question every young Nepali eventually asks: where do I go to earn? This week the data showed that door swinging halfway shut. Labour-permit approvals fell <strong>19 percent</strong> in the first ten months of the fiscal year, to <strong>367,100</strong> from 452,311 a year earlier, as the US-Israeli war on Iran and post-Gen Z visa tightening drained demand. The UAE, long the single biggest destination, saw its share of new permits collapse from nearly 40 percent to <strong>25 percent</strong>. Qatar recruitment dropped from roughly 30,000 a month to a few thousand, and halted construction at Saudi Arabia’s NEOM added to the freeze. New paperwork costs are piling on too, with Saudi skills-verification and UAE police-certification fees adding close to Rs 30,000 between them. “Most hotels are not even 20 percent booked right now,” said one Nepali hotel worker in the Emirates, Suraj Sharma. For a country where roughly 1.9 million people worked the Gulf before the conflict, this is the labour map being redrawn in real time (<a target="_blank" href="https://kathmandupost.com/national/2026/06/23/west-asia-conflict-slows-down-intake-of-nepalis-in-foreign-jobs">The Kathmandu Post</a>).</p><p>A Hard Warning From Japan</p><p>If the Gulf is the old frontier, Japan is the new one, and this week brought a sobering account of its cost. Foreign Ministry figures show <strong>67 Nepalis died in Japan</strong> in roughly ten months, between mid-July 2025 and the start of June, and <strong>25 of those deaths were suicides</strong>. Most of the dead were student-visa holders, young people juggling classes with the part-time work that a 28-hour weekly cap is supposed to limit. Japan now hosts about <strong>116,000 Nepali students</strong> and some 309,000 Nepalis in all, alongside an estimated 6,000 Nepali-run restaurants and hotels, so this is no longer a fringe destination. “Living costs in Japan are high, and earnings from 28 working hours a week are not enough for rent, food and tuition,” said NRNA Japan secretary Sachin Acharya. Because many students never hold formal labour permits, embassy help is harder to give, and bringing a body home can cost around Rs 1.2 million. The dream of Japan is real, but so is the pressure underneath it (<a target="_blank" href="https://kathmandupost.com/nepali-diaspora/2026/06/25/67-nepalis-die-in-japan-in-over-ten-months-25-by-suicide">The Kathmandu Post</a>).</p><p><strong>In Brief:</strong> A few more notes from across the diaspora.</p><p>* The map shifts east. As the Gulf cools, <strong>Malaysia</strong> has been Nepal’s top labour destination for four straight months, and a remarkable <strong>61,072</strong> Nepalis received foreign-employment permits in the single May-to-June window. Officials credit better wages, overtime and insurance under Malaysia’s revised policies (<a target="_blank" href="https://english.nepalnews.com/s/main-left/nepal-news-evening-briefing-wednesday-june-24-2026/">Nepal News</a>).</p><p>* A blast in Ras Laffan. An explosion and fire at the <strong>Barzan gas plant</strong> in Qatar killed 13 people and injured 66, including Nepali workers, none of them reported among the dead. QatarEnergy’s chief executive called it a “technical accident” rather than sabotage, a small reassurance for families who feared the worst (<a target="_blank" href="https://kathmandupost.com/nepali-diaspora/2026/06/23/nepali-workers-among-injured-in-qatar-gas-plant-explosion-13-killed">The Kathmandu Post</a>).</p><p>* Korea pulls up the ladder. South Korea cut its 2026 EPS intake to <strong>80,000</strong> worldwide, down 52 percent from 2024, which could push Nepali placements from around 18,000 to as few as 6,000. Selected workers already left in limbo have begun protesting, and a labour-ministry delegation is preparing for talks in Seoul (<a target="_blank" href="https://epsnepal.gov.np/">EPS Nepal</a>).</p><p>🏛️ Politics & Governance</p><p>The Crackdown Reaches the Opposition</p><p>The anti-corruption wave that carried Balendra Shah’s government to power has spent months working through bureaucrats and middlemen. This week it reached a heavyweight. On <strong>June 22</strong>, the Department of Money Laundering Investigation arrested CPN-UML vice-chair and former finance minister <strong>Bishnu Prasad Paudel</strong> in Surkhet, an eight-time minister and one of the most senior figures in the main opposition. Investigators allege he leaned on a businessman to sell company shares far below value, a stake worth around Rs 300 million handed over for Rs 37.5 million, to a firm tied to the controversial businessman Deepak Bhatta, in exchange for official favours. A Special Court remanded him for seven days, and on <strong>June 25</strong> the Supreme Court declined to order his immediate release, issuing a show-cause notice instead, with a full hearing set for June 30. The UML is not taking it quietly. The party announced nationwide protests and party chair <strong>KP Sharma Oli</strong> branded the arrest “politically motivated” and “illegal.” Whether this is reform reaching the untouchable or a government settling scores is now the argument consuming Nepali politics, at home and in the diaspora (<a target="_blank" href="https://kathmandupost.com/national/2026/06/22/uml-vice-chair-bishnu-paudel-arrested-in-money-laundering-probe-linked-to-bhatta-case">The Kathmandu Post</a>).</p><p>A Party That Wants to Rewrite the Rules</p><p>While one party fought a courtroom battle, another used its big week to question the system itself. At its first general convention in Chitwan, the <strong>Rastriya Swatantra Party</strong> re-elected <strong>Rabi Lamichhane</strong> as chair unopposed, with PM Balendra Shah among those proposing him. More striking than the coronation was the agenda. Lamichhane tabled proposals to scrap the parliamentary system for a <strong>directly elected executive</strong>, adopt a <strong>fully proportional</strong> electoral system, and turn the National Assembly into a non-partisan house of experts chaired by the Vice President. “We support a fully proportional electoral system instead of the current, highly expensive one, to ensure the representation of all communities,” he said. The old guard pushed back fast. Nepali Congress leader Pushpa Bhusal countered that “the parliamentary system is the one that remains closest to the people,” and the UML argued stability is achievable within the existing rules. For a diaspora that has watched coalition after coalition collapse, the question of whether Nepal needs a new operating system, not just new operators, is more than academic (<a target="_blank" href="https://kathmandupost.com/politics/2026/06/25/rsp-s-push-for-a-directly-elected-executive-and-fully-proportional-representation-sparks-political-debate">The Kathmandu Post</a>).</p><p><strong>In Brief:</strong> The rest of the week in governance.</p><p>* The passport case goes to court. The CIAA filed a <strong>Rs 10.13 billion</strong> graft case against 18 people over rigged e-passport procurement, naming the passport department’s former director general and executives of the German firms Muehlbauer and Veridos. Former foreign minister Arzu Rana Deuba, summoned last week, was not listed as a defendant, though the inquiry into her continues. Passport booklet stocks have meanwhile fallen below 47,000 (<a target="_blank" href="https://kathmandupost.com/national/2026/06/23/ciaa-files-rs10-13-billion-passport-graft-case-against-18">The Kathmandu Post</a>).</p><p>* A hundred days, graded. A near-100-day review of the Shah government found real wins on plumbing, ministries cut from 25 to 17, e-procurement rolled out, exam results published on time, betting sites shut overnight, but weak revenue, soft investment and a warning that actual corruption convictions “will take much longer” (<a target="_blank" href="https://peoplesreview.com.np/2026/06/26/balen-govts-100-point-agenda-gains-ground-results-lag-behind/">Peoples’ Review</a>).</p><p>* An old idea stirs again. A new campaign for a Hindu state and the return of the monarchy is taking shape, with former RPP figure Dhawal Shumsher Rana and activist Durga Prasai planning to launch it from Madhesh Province on July 6 (<a target="_blank" href="https://english.nepalnews.com/s/main-left/nepal-news-evening-briefing-wednesday-june-24-2026/">Nepal News</a>).</p><p>💸 Economy & Development</p><p>Someone to Mind the Market</p><p>After years in which Nepal’s stock market has felt like a casino with no one watching the floor, the government finally named a referee. On <strong>June 19</strong>, the Cabinet appointed <strong>Dr Gopal Prasad Bhatt</strong>, a former Nepal Rastra Bank executive director and capital-market analyst, as chairman of the <strong>Securities Board of Nepal</strong>. The seat had sat vacant long enough that brokers openly called it a source of investor unease. He arrives at a low moment. The NEPSE index has slid to around <strong>2,660</strong>, down roughly 8 percent since March after a post-election rally fizzled, and share turnover over the first eleven months of the fiscal year fell about <strong>22 percent</strong> year on year. The stock exchange itself only just got a new chief after six weeks without one. None of this is fixed by an appointment, but the budget’s promises of capital-market reform and diaspora bonds need a functioning regulator to mean anything, and many NRNs are among the retail investors who have been waiting for one (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.sharesansar.com/newsdetail/government-appoints-dr-gopal-prasad-bhatta-as-new-sebon-chairman-2026-06-19">ShareSansar</a>).</p><p>The Gap Only Remittances Can Hide</p><p>The fiscal year’s near-final trade numbers tell the same story Nepal has told for years, only larger. In eleven months the <strong>trade deficit widened to Rs 1.616 trillion</strong>, up almost 16 percent. The good news is genuine, exports grew <strong>12.28 percent</strong> to Rs 277.97 billion, the kind of figure officials like to quote. The trouble is that imports grew faster, climbing past <strong>Rs 1.89 trillion</strong>, with petroleum still the single biggest line. India accounts for the bulk of the imbalance, a deficit of close to Rs 864 billion, with China adding another Rs 381 billion. What keeps this from becoming a crisis is the one number that always rescues Nepal’s accounts: remittances, now running near a third of the entire economy. It is a precarious kind of stability, an import-hungry country kept solvent by the earnings of the people it sends abroad, and this week’s data is a reminder of how thin that cushion really is (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.spotlightnepal.com/2026/06/23/trade-deficit-remains-high-both-imports-and-exports-increase/">New Spotlight</a>).</p><p><strong>In Brief:</strong> A few more figures worth filing away.</p><p>* The lifeline holds. Even as worker outflows fall, remittances hit a record <strong>Rs 1.916 trillion</strong> in ten months, up <strong>41.2 percent</strong> year on year, with a single-month peak above Rs 257 billion. Fewer people are leaving, yet those already abroad are sending more than ever (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.nrb.org.np/red/current-macroeconomic-and-financial-situation-english-based-on-ten-months-data-of-2025-26/">Nepal Rastra Bank</a>).</p><p>* The off-season that wasn’t. Heat-fleeing Indian travellers turned the slow season into a boom, with <strong>Mustang</strong> drawing nearly <strong>66,000</strong> visitors in a month, 94 percent of them Indian, and Pokhara hotels so full that some visitors slept in tents by the lake (<a target="_blank" href="https://nepalitimes.com/indian-off-season-tourism-boom-in-nepal">Nepali Times</a>).</p><p>* Industry’s wishlist. The Confederation of Nepalese Industries handed the central bank its asks ahead of the new monetary policy, calling external indicators “encouraging and strong” but the domestic economy “out of rhythm,” and pressing for cheaper credit, a startup loan facility and a modernised interest-rate system (<a target="_blank" href="https://english.ratopati.com/story/68011/confederation-of-industries-gives-suggestions-to-nrb-on-monetary-policy">Ratopati</a>).</p><p>⭐ Social & Cultural</p><p>FIFA Locks Nepal Out</p><p>This was the week Nepali football fans dreaded and could see coming. On <strong>June 24</strong>, FIFA suspended the <strong>All Nepal Football Association</strong> until further notice, citing “third-party interference” by the government-linked <strong>National Sports Council</strong>, which had refused to recognise ANFA’s own electoral process and forced its election to be postponed. The consequences are blunt. Until the ban lifts, no Nepali team can play in any FIFA or AFC competition, the men’s side, the women’s side, the age-group squads and the domestic clubs all locked out, and the funding, coaching courses and development money that flow from world football stop with them. FIFA and the AFC had warned the Sports Council to back off in March and again in April, so the suspension is less a bolt from the blue than the end of a slow collision. The way out is equally clear: the council must withdraw and recognise ANFA’s independence, and the ban can be reversed before the next FIFA Congress. Until someone in Kathmandu blinks, a footballing nation sits on the sidelines of its own sport (<a target="_blank" href="https://kathmandupost.com/sports/2026/06/25/fifa-suspends-anfa-over-third-party-interference">The Kathmandu Post</a>).</p><p>Two Gods Fly Home, and We Brought Them</p><p>Here is the week’s reason to feel proud, and it has the diaspora’s fingerprints all over it. At the Nepali Consulate in <strong>New York</strong> on <strong>June 23</strong>, US authorities formally returned two sacred statues looted decades ago: a 13th-century bronze of <strong>Padma Pani</strong>, taken from Tham Bahil in Kathmandu sometime in the 1970s, and a 16th-century wooden figure of <strong>Nrityadevi</strong>, the goddess of dance, trafficked from a Patan courtyard and later recovered from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Consul General <strong>Dadhiram Bhandari</strong> and Colonel <strong>Matthew Bogdanos</strong> of the Manhattan District Attorney’s antiquities unit signed the handover, but Bhandari was quick to share the credit, pointing to “the longstanding contributions of the Nepali diaspora, particularly Newa Guthi, New York.” The community group did more than lobby; it helped coordinate the journey and accompanied the gods on the flight home, where they were handed to the Department of Archaeology on June 25. For a diaspora that often worries about what its children will inherit of Nepal, here is an answer: sometimes you are the ones who carry it back (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.spotlightnepal.com/2026/06/24/nepal-receives-two-recovered-cultural-antiquities-united-states/">Spotlight Nepal</a>).</p><p><strong>In Brief:</strong> A few more moments from the week.</p><p>* A step toward equality. Following a Supreme Court ruling that Nepal must extend full marriage rights to same-sex couples, moving beyond the limited 2023 registration and putting Nepal among the first in Asia to do so, the <strong>Blue Diamond Society</strong> urged Parliament to update the civil code. “The Supreme Court has spoken clearly,” said executive director Manisha Dhakal (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonblade.com/2026/06/23/nepalese-supreme-court-issues-landmark-marriage-equality-ruling/">Washington Blade</a>).</p><p>* A scare in Jawalakhel. The country’s only zoo closed for at least two weeks after an <strong>H5N1</strong> outbreak killed more than 40 animals, including a common leopard. The zoo had stayed open for five days after a positive test, and its chief was relieved of duty and placed under investigation for allegedly concealing the outbreak (<a target="_blank" href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/nepals-central-zoo-faces-questions-over-its-bird-flu-response/">Mongabay</a>).</p><p>* Medals beyond the mountains. On Olympic Day, the Nepal Olympic Committee handed out its annual awards, naming karateka <strong>Arika Gurung</strong> and wushu athlete <strong>Bijaya Sinjali</strong> the year’s best, a welcome reminder that Nepali sport runs deeper than cricket and climbing (<a target="_blank" href="https://kathmandupost.com/sports/2026/06/24/nepal-olympic-committee-award-honours-athletes-coaches-association-and-journalists">The Kathmandu Post</a>).</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Let’s connect</strong></p><p>Enjoying this issue? 📩 Share it with a friend & let’s keep Nepalis worldwide in the loop! Got thoughts? Hit reply—we’re all ears! Or let us know what you think via our <a target="_blank" href="https://forms.gle/UNCnAcDEzecN2Tho7">Feedback form</a> or follow us on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572621663505">Facebook</a> | <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/106315531/admin/dashboard/">LinkedIn</a></p><p>P.S. Got a story or issue you’d like us to cover next week? Drop us a reply — we’re building this space together.</p><p><strong>About Nepali Diaspora Digest:</strong></p><p>The Nepali Diaspora Digest connects the global Nepali community with curated news, insights, and stories that matter most. Join us as we celebrate and explore the diverse voices and achievements of Nepalis worldwide.</p><p><strong>Partner shout out</strong></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://belayat.uk/">belayat.uk</a>: helping Nepalis connect in the UK on <a target="_blank" href="https://belayat.uk/listings/jobs">jobs</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://belayat.uk/listings/housing">housing</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://events.belayat.uk/">events</a> and finding <a target="_blank" href="https://belayat.uk/listings/business">local Nepali owned businesses</a></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://www.nepalidiaspora.net?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1">www.nepalidiaspora.net</a>
June 19, 2026
A Scandal Reaches the Deubas, New Rails for Our Money & Nepal's First Cannes Win
<p>Namaste, diaspora family! This week the anti-corruption story that has been simmering for months reached one of the biggest names in Nepali politics, with the CIAA summoning former Foreign Minister <strong>Arzu Rana Deuba</strong> over the e-passport contract. There was lighter news too, and some of it touches our wallets directly: India and Nepal switched on a remittance link that lets money move home in seconds, and a small Nepali film made history at Cannes. Add seven provincial budgets, a tourism charm offensive, and a quiet rise in the price of daal, and you have a week that ran from the courtroom to the red carpet. Let’s get into it.</p><p>🌍 Diaspora & Globalisation</p><p>New Rails for the Money We Send Home</p><p>For anyone who has stood in a remittance queue or watched a transfer take three days to clear, this is the development of the week. India and Nepal have switched on a direct link between India’s <strong>UPI</strong> and Nepal’s <strong>National Payments Interface</strong>, allowing instant, person-to-person money transfers between bank accounts and digital wallets in both countries. What makes it notable is the word “person-to-person.” Earlier UPI tie-ups abroad mostly let Indian tourists pay shopkeepers; the Nepal corridor is the first to send money both ways, directly between individuals. The plumbing was built by <strong>NPCI International</strong> on the Indian side and <strong>Nepal Clearing House</strong> on ours, and it makes Nepal the ninth country wired into India’s payments network. For the millions of Nepalis whose lives straddle the open border, and for families splitting earnings across Kathmandu and Indian cities, it promises cheaper, faster transfers and one less reason to carry cash across a checkpoint. The real test, as always, will be the fees and the daily limits, but the direction of travel is clear (<a target="_blank" href="https://asianews.network/india-nepal-launch-cross-border-remittance-linkage-for-instant-digital-payments/">Asia News Network</a>).</p><p>The Gulf State That Keeps Calling</p><p>If India was the week’s big structural story, the Gulf supplied its diplomacy. On <strong>June 18</strong>, the UAE’s ambassador to Nepal, <strong>Abdulla Saeed Mubarak Jarwan Al Shamsi</strong>, called on Speaker <strong>Dol Prasad Aryal</strong>, and the agenda read like a summary of the diaspora’s whole relationship with the Emirates: employment, investment, trade, tourism, air services, even artificial intelligence. Aryal used the moment to press a very practical grievance, asking the UAE to ease the police-report requirement that slows down visas for Nepali workers, a piece of paperwork that costs time and money for people who can spare neither. He also welcomed the start of daily <strong>Pokhara to Dubai</strong> flights from <strong>September 23</strong>, a real boost for the new international airport that has struggled to fill its schedule, and floated reviving the Dubai to Bhairahawa route. The UAE is home to a large share of Nepal’s migrant workforce, so easier visas and direct flights are not abstractions. They are the difference between seeing family once a year or once every two (<a target="_blank" href="https://english.nepalnews.com/s/main-right/nepal-news-evening-briefing-thursday-june-18-2026/">Nepal News</a>).</p><p><strong>In Brief:</strong> A few more notes from across the diaspora.</p><p>* The other side of the wire. As remittances break records, the workers behind them are feeling the Gulf’s downturn. Reports this month describe Nepalis sent on unpaid leave, salaries frozen and contracts canceled as regional conflict slows construction and tourism, with one group of 36 workers in Qatar left unpaid for eight months (<a target="_blank" href="https://kathmandupost.com/nepali-diaspora/2026/05/23/thirty-six-nepali-workers-in-qatar-unpaid-for-eight-months">The Kathmandu Post</a>).</p><p>* A community that keeps growing. NRNA Australia welcomed the new budget’s provisions for migrant workers, from skills recognition to social-security enrolment, as fresh figures put Australia’s Nepali-born population at <strong>213,580</strong>, nearly double the 2021 count (<a target="_blank" href="https://english.nepalnews.com/s/diaspora/nrna-australia-welcomes-nepals-fy-2026-27-policy-and-program/">Nepal News</a>).</p><p>* A new dot on the map. Himalaya Airlines began direct scheduled flights between Kathmandu and <strong>Shenzhen</strong>, opening another link to southern China for traders, students and tourists (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article/nepal-tourism-in-2026-shows-robust-growth-yet-faces-major-risks-and-infrastructure-constraints-that-could-impact-long-term-competitiveness/">Travel and Tour World</a>).</p><p>🏛️ Politics & Governance</p><p>The Passport Scandal Reaches a Deuba</p><p>The corruption case that has slowly engulfed Nepal’s passport department took its most politically charged turn yet. On <strong>June 18</strong>, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority summoned former Foreign Minister <strong>Arzu Rana Deuba</strong> over the e-passport procurement contract, serving notice at her Budhanilkantha home and giving her three days to appear. The CIAA alleges that close to <strong>Rs 8 billion</strong> in irregularities ran through the printing and supply deal, and more than thirty-five people are now under its lens. Several are already in custody, including the passport department’s former director general <strong>Tirtharaj Aryal</strong>, a director, and the Nepali agent of the German firm Muehlbauer; the agent of a second German firm is reported to be absconding. The pressure does not stop at her. Her husband, former Prime Minister <strong>Sher Bahadur Deuba</strong>, faces a parallel money-laundering inquiry. Deuba, a senior Nepali Congress figure, replied by email that she is abroad for medical treatment and cannot meet the deadline, but pledged to cooperate. For a government that rode to power on an anti-corruption wave, watching the establishment’s biggest names answer summonses is exactly the spectacle its voters wanted (<a target="_blank" href="https://kathmandupost.com/national/2026/06/18/ciaa-summons-arzu-rana-deuba-in-passport-procurement-corruption-probe">The Kathmandu Post</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://english.onlinekhabar.com/ciaa-e-passport-probe-arzu-rana-deuba.html">OnlineKhabar</a>).</p><p>Seven Provinces, One Calendar</p><p>While the capital chased a scandal, the rest of the federation did its annual arithmetic. On <strong>June 15</strong>, the first day of Asar, all seven provincial governments tabled their budgets for the coming fiscal year, as the constitution requires them to. The numbers map the country’s uneven geography of money. <strong>Bagmati</strong>, anchored by Kathmandu, unveiled the largest at <strong>Rs 66.93 billion</strong>, with Lumbini at Rs 37.38 billion and Gandaki at Rs 32.99 billion. None of this happens in isolation: the federal budget set aside <strong>Rs 424.27 billion</strong> in transfers to sub-national governments, split between the seven provinces and the country’s 753 local units. The provincial plans lean on the familiar promises of roads, clinics, irrigation and tourism, with pledges to keep day-to-day spending in check. Ten years into federalism, these budgets are less about headline drama and more about whether the system can actually deliver closer to home, a question the diaspora, much of which left because services never reached their villages, has a personal stake in (<a target="_blank" href="https://risingnepaldaily.com/news/81908">Rising Nepal Daily</a>).</p><p><strong>In Brief:</strong> The rest of the week in governance.</p><p>* A crack on the bench. The senior-most Supreme Court justice, <strong>Sapna Pradhan Malla</strong>, stayed away from a Full Court convened by Chief Justice <strong>Manoj Kumar Sharma</strong> to finalise the judiciary’s digital plans, a public sign of friction at the top of the court (<a target="_blank" href="https://english.nepalnews.com/s/main-right/nepal-news-evening-briefing-thursday-june-18-2026/">Nepal News</a>).</p><p>* The remark that lingers. Opposition parties kept disrupting parliament, demanding that PM <strong>Balendra Shah</strong> retract his earlier comment that Nepal too had encroached on Indian land, a line they say undercuts Nepal’s own border claims (<a target="_blank" href="https://thehimalayantimes.com/">The Himalayan Times</a>).</p><p>* Money for classrooms. Education and sports drew <strong>Rs 218.3 billion</strong>, or 10.28 percent of the national budget, funding skills training, school buildings, smartboards in community schools and the midday meal programme (<a target="_blank" href="https://english.nepalnews.com/s/main-right/nepal-news-evening-briefing-thursday-june-18-2026/">Nepal News</a>).</p><p>💸 Economy & Development</p><p>Wiring a Country That Sells Light</p><p>Nepal’s defining economic ambition is to turn falling water into exportable power, and this year’s energy program lays out how far that dream still has to travel. The Energy Ministry’s plan for the new fiscal year aims for <strong>15,000 MW</strong> of generation by <strong>2030</strong>, a target that would move Nepal from chronic shortage to surplus and seasonal export. The less glamorous half is the wiring: extending 66 kV transmission lines to <strong>7,808 circuit kilometres</strong> and 33 kV lines to <strong>8,429</strong>, with a dozen major transmission projects slated for completion, plus modest additions of 43 MW from micro-hydro and 99 MW from solar. Transmission is where Nepal’s hydropower story has repeatedly stalled, with finished plants left unable to sell because the lines to carry their power were years behind. The big builds still in progress, Arun 3 at 900 MW and Betan Karnali among them, will only matter if the grid catches up. For a diaspora that pays the country’s bills in remittances, a Nepal that earns from electricity rather than only exporting workers is the more hopeful future (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.investopaper.com/news/hydropower-projects-with-construction-license/">Investopaper</a>).</p><p>A Decade On, the Quake’s Last Repairs</p><p>Ten years after the 2015 earthquake flattened homes, clinics and temples, the rebuilding reached a milestone this month. India’s External Affairs Minister <strong>S. Jaishankar</strong> formally handed over <strong>72 health facilities</strong> and <strong>12 cultural heritage sites</strong> reconstructed under the post-quake programme, after talks with Foreign Minister <strong>Shishir Khanal</strong>. The same meeting launched the UPI to NPI remittance link and signed an agreement between India’s <strong>Bhashini</strong> platform and <strong>Kathmandu University</strong> to build a “voice first” Nepali-language translation tool, a small but interesting bet on technology that works in Nepali rather than only English. The handover is a reminder that earthquake recovery, so urgent in 2015, became a slow decade of paperwork and half-finished sites. Completed clinics and restored monuments are real gains, even if they arrive long after the headlines moved on. They also sit inside a wider India-Nepal agenda of hydropower, connectivity and trade that quietly shapes daily life on both sides of the border (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.spotlightnepal.com/2026/06/07/external-affairs-minister-jaishankar-hands-over-72-health-facilities-and-12-heritage-projects-nepal/">New Spotlight</a>).</p><p><strong>In Brief:</strong> A few more figures worth filing away.</p><p>* The cost of living creeps up. Year-on-year inflation reached <strong>5.04 percent</strong> in the tenth month of the fiscal year, up from just 2.77 percent a year earlier, a reminder that record remittances are landing in households whose grocery bills are rising too (<a target="_blank" href="https://english.nepalnews.com/s/business/everything-you-need-to-know-about-nepals-macroeconomic-and-financial-situation-in-mid-2026/">Nepal News</a>).</p><p>* Markets hold their nerve. The NEPSE index steadied near <strong>2,736</strong> after an early-week dip, though banking stocks stayed soft under the weight of rising bad loans (<a target="_blank" href="https://english.nepalnews.com/s/business/nepal-news-evening-economic-brief-june-13-2026/">Nepal News</a>).</p><p>* Business likes the budget. The Nepal-India Chamber of Commerce endorsed the <strong>Rs 2.124 trillion</strong> federal budget, backing a higher tax-free income ceiling, a lower top rate, and the new <strong>diaspora bonds</strong> meant to draw NRN savings into Nepal (<a target="_blank" href="https://english.nepalnews.com/s/business/nepals-budget-for-fy-2026-27-a-40-point-breakdown/">Nepal News</a>).</p><p>⭐ Social & Cultural</p><p>Nepal Walks the Croisette</p><p>Here is the week’s reason to feel proud. </p><p>, the debut feature by director <strong>Abinash Bikram Shah</strong>, has become the first Nepali film to win an award at the Cannes Film Festival, taking the Jury Prize in the <strong>Un Certain Regard</strong> section. On <strong>June 12</strong>, the French Ambassador to Nepal, <strong>Virginie Corteval</strong>, hosted a reception for the cast and crew at her residence, with Acting Kathmandu Mayor <strong>Sunita Dangol</strong> among the guests, turning an international honour into a hometown celebration. The film itself refuses the postcard version of Nepal. Set in the Terai plains, it follows <strong>Pirati</strong>, the leader of a marginalised <strong>Kinnar</strong> community, whose world unravels after one of her daughters disappears. A co-production spanning Nepal, France, Germany, Brazil and Norway, it carries a story that rarely reaches a screen this big. For a film industry long overshadowed by its Bollywood neighbour, and for diaspora parents who want their children to see Nepal as a place that makes art, not just news, the win lands as something close to validation (<a target="_blank" href="https://kathmandupost.com/art-culture/2026/06/15/french-embassy-celebrates-cannes-success-of-elephants-in-the-fog">The Kathmandu Post</a>).</p><p>Selling the Mountains, Again</p><p>Nepal spent the week reminding the world it is open for visitors. The Nepal Tourism Board took a delegation of eight tourism firms to <strong>ITE Hong Kong</strong> from <strong>June 11 to 14</strong>, pitching the country’s mix of heritage, adventure and wellness travel to one of Asia’s busiest source markets. At home, the sixth <strong>Himalayan Travel Mart</strong> wrapped up after drawing more than <strong>600 delegates</strong> from 27 countries and arranging some 2,400 business meetings between Nepali operators and foreign buyers. Running underneath it all is a new <strong>Wellness Tourism Strategy</strong> for 2026 to 2035, an attempt to sell Nepal as a place to slow down and heal rather than only to climb. The pitch makes sense for a country whose biggest tourism risk is being seen as a one-trip destination for hardcore trekkers. Whether the strategy translates into hotel rooms booked and yoga retreats filled is next year’s question, but the diaspora, often the first to bring foreign friends home, is part of how that story spreads (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article/jhc2imuz2wkj/">Travel and Tour World</a>).</p><p><strong>In Brief:</strong> A few more moments from the week.</p><p>* Music without borders. The International Music Festival 2026, hosted by Tribhuvan University’s <strong>Lalitkala Campus</strong>, gathered musicians, scholars and teachers from several countries, putting Nepali classical traditions and instruments in front of a global audience (<a target="_blank" href="https://manasukhdhvani.com/international-music-festival-2026-in-nepal/">Manasukh Dhvani</a>).</p><p>* Monuments come home. Among the India-funded reconstruction handovers were <strong>12 cultural heritage sites</strong> rebuilt after the 2015 quake, restoring temples and monuments that anchor both faith and tourism (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.spotlightnepal.com/2026/06/07/external-affairs-minister-jaishankar-hands-over-72-health-facilities-and-12-heritage-projects-nepal/">New Spotlight</a>).</p><p>* A meal and a smartboard. The headline education number had a human edge: continued funding for community-school smartboards and the midday meal that keeps many children in class through the lean months (<a target="_blank" href="https://english.nepalnews.com/s/main-right/nepal-news-evening-briefing-thursday-june-18-2026/">Nepal News</a>).</p><p></p><p><strong>Let’s connect</strong></p><p>Enjoying this issue? 📩 Share it with a friend & let’s keep Nepalis worldwide in the loop! Got thoughts? Hit reply—we’re all ears! Or let us know what you think via our <a target="_blank" href="https://forms.gle/UNCnAcDEzecN2Tho7">Feedback form</a> or follow us on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572621663505">Facebook</a> | <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/106315531/admin/dashboard/">LinkedIn</a></p><p>P.S. Got a story or issue you’d like us to cover next week? Drop us a reply — we’re building this space together.</p><p><strong>About Nepali Diaspora Digest:</strong></p><p>The Nepali Diaspora Digest connects the global Nepali community with curated news, insights, and stories that matter most. Join us as we celebrate and explore the diverse voices and achievements of Nepalis worldwide.</p><p><strong>Partner shout out</strong></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://belayat.uk/">belayat.uk</a>: helping Nepalis connect in the UK on <a target="_blank" href="https://belayat.uk/listings/jobs">jobs</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://belayat.uk/listings/housing">housing</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://events.belayat.uk/">events</a> and finding <a target="_blank" href="https://belayat.uk/listings/business">local Nepali owned businesses</a></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://www.nepalidiaspora.net?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1">www.nepalidiaspora.net</a>
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