Beyond Money: How Migration Is Reshaping Nepal’s Political Landscape

There is a popular meme online that refers to Australia as the eighth province of Nepal. Given the share of international students that Nepalis constitute, it is understandable where this jovial exaggeration stems from. And yet, it is not just Australia but many different countries where the Nepali diaspora is aggregating. The movement from developing parts of the world to more developed parts is one of the most common and most rational processes to unfold. If a person from the far west or the east can spend nine hours travelling to Kathmandu to find work, which is something considered entirely understandable, why would they not spend nine more hours, if that, should they be able to afford it, to reach any other part of the world and double, triple, or quadruple what they could earn here?