The monsoon brings both joy and sorrow to Nepal. It brings joy because Nepalese farmers can plant rice in time as this is the rice planting season. Many farmers rely on the monsoon to plant rice, Nepal’s main food crop, in the absence of irrigation facilities. Our agriculture is rain-fed, which is a big irony in an agricultural country. So a good monsoon gives a big boost to Nepal’s economy, pushing the GDP upward. There is one more thing to rejoice when the monsoon arrives. Nepal has been suffering from constant load-shedding through the years. The reason behind the power outages is low production of power due to the decline in the water level in the rivers and reservoirs. At times, there have been power outages for upto 18 hours a day. The monsoon rains feed the rivers and reservoirs, pushing electricity production up and reducing the hours of power outage. But at the same time, the monsoon brings grief and sorrow for many Nepalese people. The monsoon brings heavy rain that causes floods in the plains, especially in the southern Terai belt, whereas people in the hills fall victim to landslides. Similarly, it is also during the monsoon season that various kinds of epidemics break out.

The monsoon fury, which is at its height, has already caused great sufferings to the people this year. Many people have lost their lives and many more have been displaced by the landslides and floods in different parts of the country. The situation has yet to take its worst turn, but plans to mitigate it are inadequate. The monsoon is a recurrent phenomenon, but the officials and concerned agencies seem least prepared to cope with such calamities. The tendency is to start working only when a disaster hits and starts causing immense problems. If necessary preparations were made in time and programmes to mitigate the gravity of the problem were to be launched accordingly, the people would not have had to suffer every year due to the preventable disasters. The government has created a separate agency to cope with such disasters and launch mitigation programmes. But these agencies remain idle until a natural disaster or calamity strikes. The government and the concerned agencies would do well to be on their guard and make proper preparations in advance to cope with the natural disaster so as to prevent the loss of lives and property every year.