Whiff of change

After a long while, people felt the presence of the state at a difficult time.

A magical sight awaited the residents of Kathmandu Valley on Sunday as they watched the early winter sun beat down through big patches of blue sky. Just a day earlier, they had been bracing for perhaps the worst monsoon rains in decades, with three unrelenting days of downpour forecast. Those in other parts of the country, which also saw record precipitation, also breathed a collective sigh of relief when rains relented on Sunday. Yet, on Saturday, even as Nepalis expected the worst, they were reassured by the preparations and response of state agencies. At this time a year earlier, as rains battered much of the country and there were frequent floods and landslides, the response of then-KP Oli government was woeful. Preparation was poor and when disaster struck, people were left to fend for themselves. When Prime Minister Oli was quizzed on the sluggish response, he shamelessly replied that the government had no prior information on which exact places would be affected by the rains—and hence it was impossible to prepare. It was one more instance of an uncaring government shrugging off its responsibility to protect its people.