Nepal Now: On the Move
We're talking with the people migrating from, to, and within this Himalayan country located between China and India. You'll hear from a wide range of Nepali men and women who have chosen to leave the country for better work or education opportunities. Their stories will help you understand what drives people — in Nepal and worldwide — to mortgage their property or borrow huge sums of money to go abroad, often leaving their loved ones behind.
Despite many predictions, migration from Nepal has not slowed in recent years, except briefly during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. About 1 million Nepalis leave every year to work at jobs outside the country. Tens of thousands go abroad to study. Far fewer return to Nepal to settle. The money ('remittances') that workers send home to their families accounts for 25% of the country's GDP, but migration impacts Nepal in many other ways. We'll be learning from migrants, experts and others about the many cultural, social, economic and political impacts of migration.
Your host is Marty Logan, a Canadian journalist who has lived in Nepal's capital Kathmandu off and on since 2005. Marty started the show in 2020 as Nepal Now.
Nepal Now: On the Move
We're all online—But who's in control?
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Nepalis are online. Full stop. We can no longer say that Nepalis in cities are online, or that educated Nepalis are online. In a 2020 survey, 89% of Nepalis said that they used Facebook. 62% of the mobile phones that people carried around were smartphones, and the figure was growing. The Covid-19 pandemic has surely caused it to rise further.
This has huge implications for many aspects of people’s lives. In this episode I talk about a number of those with Shubha Kayastha of Body & Data. Do people know who’s watching them when they’re online? Or who is able to watch them? Do they know what steps they can take to find out? Is Big Tech really trying to make it easier for you to protect your privacy online? What about the government?
We discuss how women, queer people and members of other marginalized groups are trolled and bullied. Hint: it’s got a lot to do with power distribution, and echoes what happens in the physical world.
I really enjoyed this chat—it made me think about some pretty basic things in very different ways. I guess that’s why this episode is a bit longer than usual, but take the extra time if you can—it’s worth it.
If you like what you heard, please give us a rating on Apple Podcasts. Or buy us a coffee, by clicking on the link under Resources. Keep up with the show between episodes on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. We’re Nepal Now or Nepal Now pod. You can send me your feedback, ideas or just say hi, at marty@martylogan.net.
Thank you to Suraya Logan, for her work on the show’s social media. I’m Marty Logan. I produced this episode and will talk to you again soon.
Resources
Nepal Now social links
Thanks as always to Nikunja Nepal for advice and inspiration.
Music: amaretto needs ice ... by urmymuse (c) copyright 2018 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/urmymuse/57996 Ft: Apoxode
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Music by audionautix.com.
Thank you to Himal Media in Patan Dhoka for the use of their studio.
