COVER STORY
Nepal’s youth-led protests mark a historic challenge to government corruption
Outlook Magazine - Nepal Gen Z Sets Boundaries - 01 October 2025 Issue
Outlook's October 1, 2025 issue opens with, 'Nepal: Gen Z Sets Boundaries', where the restive energy of a new generation takes over the streets of Kathmandu and reshapes the conversation about democracy. In 'OK, Boomer, Time's Up', writer and academic Dinesh Kafle recalls his own days of protest against the monarchy. Emmy-winning documentarian and writer Ruchira Gupta turns the clock back in 'Throwback to the 80s', drawing on her years as a journalist in India, covering democracy in Nepal. Seema Guha adds a regional frame in her essay on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his diplomatic relations with Nepal. The issue then travels to Punjab, where the rivers Chenab, Ravi and Jhelum carry both memory and menace. This edition also brings Snighdendhu Bhattacharya’s ground report from Nepal and a sharp legal update from Nizam Pasha on the Supreme Court’s (interim) ruling on Wakf properties.
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As Nepal’s young and restless set ablaze the remnants of an old regime, one can’t help but wonder, why them and not us?
The Gen Z protesters, who toppled the Nepal government to save their country from the jaws of corruption and nepotism, have a Himalayan task ahead, with a myriad issues and interests at play
Nepal’s Gen Z protesters brought down a government in under 48 hours. With their trust in the country’s political system shattered, they chose the country’s next leader in a manner unprecedented for any electoral democracy— through a virtual poll on Discord. Youth were at the centre of everything that transpired in the Himalayan country over the past two weeks. Here are a few voices that talk about the protests, the way forward and what it means to be a Gen Z living in Nepal.
Discord polls by youth activists in Nepal chose former Chief Justice Sushila Karki as the interim prime minister from the five candidates.
People and politicians came together to establish democracy, and then they parted ways. Now they are faced with the challenge of putting the democracy back together
The changes in Nepal offer a sublime chance to New Delhi to recalibrate its policy provided it proceeds with caution and humility
In Nepal, the struggle for democracy is not an event; it is a craft practiced across generations, passed like a lamp from hand to hand
As people join hands to pick up the pieces of lives disrupted by Punjab’s worst flood since 1988, the spotlight turns on the management of water resources as an arena for inter-state and state-Centre sparring
In the last 50 years, Punjab has witnessed several devastating floods that have left deep scars on its landscape and people.
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As Nepal’s young and restless set ablaze the remnants of an old regime, one can’t help but wonder, why them and not us?
-
The Gen Z protesters, who toppled the Nepal government to save their country from the jaws of corruption and nepotism, have a Himalayan task ahead, with a myriad issues and interests at play
-
Nepal’s Gen Z protesters brought down a government in under 48 hours. With their trust in the country’s political system shattered, they chose the country’s next leader in a manner unprecedented for any electoral democracy— through a virtual poll on Discord. Youth were at the centre of everything that transpired in the Himalayan country over the past two weeks. Here are a few voices that talk about the protests, the way forward and what it means to be a Gen Z living in Nepal.
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Discord polls by youth activists in Nepal chose former Chief Justice Sushila Karki as the interim prime minister from the five candidates.
-
People and politicians came together to establish democracy, and then they parted ways. Now they are faced with the challenge of putting the democracy back together
-
The changes in Nepal offer a sublime chance to New Delhi to recalibrate its policy provided it proceeds with caution and humility
-
In Nepal, the struggle for democracy is not an event; it is a craft practiced across generations, passed like a lamp from hand to hand
-
As people join hands to pick up the pieces of lives disrupted by Punjab’s worst flood since 1988, the spotlight turns on the management of water resources as an arena for inter-state and state-Centre sparring
-
In the last 50 years, Punjab has witnessed several devastating floods that have left deep scars on its landscape and people.
OTHER STORIES
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Multiple massive glacial lakes in the Sikkim Himalayas have been identified as ‘high risk’ to sudden breaching
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Judgement of Delhi High Court denying bail to Umar Khalid and others calls for a serious debate on the law of bail and the functioning of the prosecution as well as the judiciary in the country
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The petitions challenging the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, could remain in cold storage while the evil inherent in the statute plays itself out
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This genre-defying novel elegantly melds memoir, travelogue and fiction
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This story is not about Banaras, or the ghaats and chaat, it’s about Dhanushdhari, an ordinary man with child-like enthusiasm and a charming smile.
