Electronic Voting

I visited Estonia during the summer break to check on my accountants who were doing the fiscal year closing. My accountant told me that they have the local election, and he was doing online internet-based voting, which excited me to delve into the prospect of such a mechanism.

Elections are the bedrock of democracy; however, it is a costly endeavour. As the Nepali general election will be held on November 20, 2022, the government has allocated about Rs 8 billion for it. Imagine how much we could save if only we invested and created an electronic voting mechanism (EVM).

Many countries are exploring and experimenting with different approaches to enable more streamlined voting that is secure, efficient and auditable. There are some advantages of e-voting, such as increased efficiency and improved accuracy.

Technically, to implement e-voting, we can use e-identification through the banking system to identify a person. Second, we could implement deep facial recognition together with biometrics. Finally, voters can identify with their digital voter ID card through future e-voting platforms. No vote should be recorded for those who could not pass through the eligibility verification process (it should not be that somebody else votes on my behalf). All ballots must be kept confidential during and even after the polling.

Still, there are some disadvantages of e-voting. For example, there is no guarantee if voter turnout will be more or less because of online voting. The technology solution will only make things messy if not done right. And there are high chances that technology is constructed without giving due thought and diligence. As a result, it may inevitably create more problems, so the solution lies in designing the process rather than the tech of e-voting itself. Perhaps, blockchain can provide cryptographic solid verifiability and solutions if appropriately used, which could increase transparency while allowing more fluid and decentralised decision-making.

The government should start a feasibility study on internet and electronic voting, to produce information that can be used to define the premise and possible acquisition of e-voting platforms. Besides, a working group should be formed to collect international experiences related to the digitalisation of elections and monitor such activities in the future.

Every citizen should be allowed to participate through online voting regardless of where they live, travel or work. Possibly e-voting will be the right solution to choose the best candidate and will hit hard on those politicians who are now playing "musical chairs" in the game of politics.

Published: The Himalayan Times
Nepal's leading daily newspaper

Getting Rid Of Garbage Mess For Good

 Many developing countries are presently facing severe environmental degradation and health risk associated with mismanagement of domestic waste. The overall status of garbage problems is now a challenging ecological issue in Katmandu. Over the past decade, the Katmandu Valley has encountered rapid population growth, dumping of garbage near water bodies, unplanned waste disposal, excessive urbanisation, and an imperfect solid waste management system. In addition, issues in the reliable waste management systems have now encountered a lack of public understanding of the stable waste system, unplanned urbanisation, the introduction of environmentally unfriendly commodities, and changing consumer habits.

 

 

Crucial role

The Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) is a tiny area with more than a million individuals. The garbage management system is mainly a door-to-door waste pickup service by KMC. Still, much garbage is unmanaged and ends in rivers or dumped near streets. A landfill site near Kathmandu is said to have already reached capacity despite a spread of over 37.65 hectares. According to KMC, the Kathmandu Valley generates about 853 tons of waste daily and 70,080 tons annually.  The Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) plays a crucial role in developing plans and policies, including sanitation and drainage. For Katmandu, the KMC Office is the principal jurisdiction in executing the solid waste management (SWM) system. 

The majority of households (89 per cent) want to segregate the organic and non-organic portions of their waste. Lack of proper lining, raw solid waste from the city's dumpsites leaches into river water, causing contamination and degrading the quality of the water. Despite the initial effort made by the newly-elected Mayor of KMC Balendra Shah, city dwellers are still facing many problems due to garbage. Tourists suffer from the bad smell while passing the massive piles of rubbish. Every day, the 18 municipalities in KMC generate over 1,200 metric tons of solid waste. Recently, as the Bancharedanda road has been under construction, Kathmandu has now been unable to collect garbage for several days. 

With continuous growth in population density and urbanisation, waste generation in Katmandu is rising dramatically. In 2014, the Ministry of Health and Population had identified SWM as the country’s most crucial challenge. There is only one waste collection and transfer station at Teku, where wastes from Kathmandu and other cities are transported. This station transports waste to the Bancharedanda Landfill now. Kathmanduites have been facing problems with garbage transportation during rainy and monsoon seasons along the 27-km road that stretches to Sisdole and Bancharedanda. Because of the rainy season and transport issues, the city uses 40,000 square feet of plastic tarp to cover the ever-growing garbage problem at Teku transfer station.

The segregation of garbage is also a big problem. Furthermore, many remote areas and slums of Katmandu do not have sufficient financial capacity to collect and manage waste. Moreover, open dumping is a common practice in Kathmandu. As a result, waste is scattered on roads, drainage, and open spaces. To solve the problem of garbage segregation, a pilot project was started in 2020 but did not work correctly. Besides municipal solid waste, healthcare waste is another major challenge for KMC. According to the Health Management Information System of Nepal, within the small city of Kathmandu, the number of registered public and private healthcare facilities (HCFs) in 2019 is more than 1,070 and combined with unregistered HCFs, the number is around double, and these HCFs produce more than a ton of hazardous wastes.

In addition, Metro City Waste Management picks up on-hazardous waste generated from these HCFs. Still, no central management system is practised for dangerous wastes in the KMC. Moreover, few HCFs are individually practising incinerations for hazardous waste; in many cases, body parts have been found to mix with general waste. Nepal has adopted numerous legal facilitating regarding solid waste management in KMC, for instance, Solid Waste (Management and Resource Mobilisation) Act and rules, 1987, Solid Waste Management National Policy, 1996, Solid Waste Management Act, 2011 and Solid Waste Management Rules 2013. Despite having laws and policies, KMC has considerably not guaranteed a sound management system primarily because of a lack of economical implementation of actions and policies. 

Eventually, the garbage situation within Katmandu has reached a critical level. KMC has now taken initiatives to work with private agencies for solid waste management systems like private sector participation (PSP) as a crucial role for SWM. But unfortunately, it is not working well due to insufficient funding. According to the world population review (2021), like other cities, Katmandu will protect its individuals by providing a healthy environment, a good solid waste management policy and economic opportunities. In some areas of Katmandu, private organisations and local communities work together for waste management. 

Suggestions

In conclusion, KMC must integrate solid waste management from collection to final disposal to minimise environmental impacts and facilitate clean city and resource recovery materials. It is necessary to sort waste at home before taking it to a waste container and create good collection points and sorting containers. Sorting should be based on biowaste, paper, cartoon, glass, metal, plastic, mixed waste. There is also need to create separate collection points for hazardous waste, e.g. batteries, broken computers, electrical equipment. 

We should learn from Scandinavian nations like Finland and Sweden on how to implement an efficient waste management system where the overarching mission is simple - to stop sending waste to recycling in the first place. Finally, KMC must plan to transform the waste disposal system from open dumping to an engineered landfill site which may require investment with a commercial vision to address and align tech, policy, and environmental possibilities. Hopefully, with everyone's concerted efforts, Kathmandu will become garbage-free metropolis, where sustainability and a smart city vision can prosper in the future. 

 

Published: The Rising Nepal
Nepal's first English broadsheet daily

Shady cooperatives’ practices

Lately, a friend who deposited millions in a cooperative bank came to me and said he had lost his life savings because the owner had run away with all the money. He said more than a thousand depositors had lost their money in the scam, and a police complaint had been filed. This is not an isolated incident. They are happening across the country for multiple reasons.

Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel laureate, created the concept of Grameen Bank, a cooperative banking system in Bangladesh. It became widespread, providing micro loans to the marginalised, average and lower middleclass people. More than 16 million people who had no access to the traditional bank loans benefitted from the scheme. Somewhat inspired by the popularity of these cooperative banks, aspiring bankers and Nepali entrepreneurs started to found cooperatives here, too.

According to recent government data, there are more than 25,000 cooperatives (saving and credit as well as multi-purpose cooperatives) with more than 7 million members across the country. One regulatory body, the Department of Cooperatives, governs these co-op organisations. However, thanks to nominal or no monitoring by the so-called Department of Cooperatives, many depositors are being cheated almost daily.

 

Perhaps, it is a debatable and controversial topic. But are the Class A banks, categorised by the Nepal Rastra Bank as such, any better or worse than the coops? Still, of the many sectors and industries, the banking sector is an outlier and one of the most-profitable businesses. Among the many reasons, co-ops became highly popular here because of the higher interest rates that were provided than the big banks, which was lucrative for the middle and lower-middle income people. As a result, the number of cooperatives has mushroomed in recent times, and depositors' complaints have also increased drastically.

Moreover, once there were enough deposits, some of the founders of these co-ops started to invest for their personal benefit, such as real estate property, contributing to political parties, and building big shopping complexes and malls. Consequently, some ran away, swindling depositors of their money. I know that my friend's life savings are now lost forever, and it will be a dream to recover any of that amount.

In a nutshell, some other reasons that result in market fraud are weak or no monitoring or lack thereof, unethical co-op practices, lack of effective regulations, way too many co-ops in the provincial and local units, syndicated markets with cartels, political influence on lawmakers and shady business practices.

 

Published: The Himalayan Times
Nepal's leading daily newspaper