While writing this article, my mind swayed on four topics. First, the article "Is any river holy or impure?" by Mitra Madhav Chaulagai. Secondly, the curiosity of what my friends outside Karnali immediately remember when they hear the name of Karnali (or Karnali in pure Nepali).

Thirdly, the stories of Karnali's sorrows and pride revealed by the recent 'Jurukk Karnali' program. Fourth, my childhood memories of Karnali's Serofero and now my understanding of Karnali as an international development and governance scholar.

There is an argument of one person that 'Karnali is impure because it originates from the Rakshasa Lake of Tibet'. Actually, Karnali, which starts from Mansarovar at the foot of Mount Kailash and merges with the Ganga, is impure. How can rivers that are considered symbols of civilization be impure? Madhav Chaulagai has been raising a fair issue. Karnali is also counted among the cleanest rivers in Asia. Those who have seen the Mekong River that flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam will not take a second to know how clean Karnali is.

Yesterday-today I asked two-three of my friends - what do they immediately recognize when hearing the name Karnali? On one hand, beautiful Karnali, heaven-like Karnali, organic and herbal mine Karnali, Karnali with an ancient history of civilization, Karnali which is considered the main gate to Kailash, the abode of Shiva and Parvati, Karnali, the birthplace of Nepali language and a place with an old culture like Deuda, etc. Karnali, who has been neglected for decades, Karnali who has to go to Muglan every year to graze, etc., etc., which has been exposed in a touching manner by Sisnupani's 'Zurukka Karnali'.

I am not a historian, geologist or hydrologist but I have a close relationship with Karnali. I was born near Karnali and the initial days of my life till SLC were spent in Serofero of Karnali.

When I was young, when I was going to swim in the same Karnali river or in the rainy season, I used to stare at Ajang's Karnali river, which brings wood, mud, and firewood. But why is there a shortage of drinking water and irrigation water in the settlements 50-100 meters above Karnali? Why is this river named 'Karnali' so useless because of the sound? Can't the water at the bottom be pulled up? If the bridge is built, if you can cross Karnali within 10 minutes, if you go down for 1-2 hours, cross the river and reach the same crossing, why can't the bridge be built? Later, the memory of my Kathmandu college studies is fresh in my mind when the leaders of Bajura went round the Singha Darbar for twenty years to build a suspension bridge between the same two villages (Ya-Badhu). After

, while seeing the development of villages and towns along rivers in many countries of the world, I realized why Karnali has been so neglected even though a big river like Karnali flows nearby. If only the river is raised, it is possible to irrigate by 'lifting', generate electricity, raise fish, improve traffic in the river by building a dam, attract tourists by building a lake, etc. .

Another memory of my childhood about the Karnali river is that thousands of people used to come down to India from Nepal through the same Karnali coastal road, through Chisapani, the laskars were seen entering India for livelihood in the winter . Before the onset of rains, the relatives in the village were waiting for those who had gone to the country (to work in India) bringing clothes, sugar, salt and oil .

If you look at Karnali as a river, it looks like a long river flowing through 507 km in Nepal alone! Nepal's Humla, Mugu, Bajura, Kalikot, Acham, Doti, Dailekh, Surkhet, Banke, Kailali and Bardia are 11 districts of the river! Tibet, the corridor of the Silk Road connecting India and China to Central Asia in ancient times! Karnali with settlements and civilization from ten thousand years ago! Karnali itself is a large river system connecting the territory of three countries for more than 1,800 km and connecting more than 13 rivers including Bheri, Seti, Mahakali, Paschim Rapti, Chhoti Gandak.

Many riverside settlements in the world are considered indicators of development. The Nile River that flows through Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia has not only carried the ancient civilization of Egypt, it has also become a shining example of food security, transportation, hydropower, irrigation, drinking water, etc. in the modern era. Not to mention the developed countries such as London's Thames River, Paris' Seine River, Bonn's Rhine River, Prague's Vitava River or Vienna's Danube River, old and new civilizations and the development they achieved because of the river .

Karnali, which was considered a symbol of civilization in ancient times, why was it neglected when it came to Rana period, Panchayat period, Bahudal and Republic? It is not difficult to understand the geographical difficulty . However, even the Karnali Bridge of Chisapani built by America and Japan had to wait till 2051. And it was announced only a few months ago that Humla was connected to the road network. The meaning of federalism is to encourage backward areas to bring them closer to others, which is called the concept of union development and social justice. However, the budget of the entire Karnali province is only slightly more than that of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City.

However, in spite of this, the main achievement of federalism was - it gave identity to Karnali. There is no need to sneeze at someone as Jumli or Mugali or Humli . Be it an annual festival called 'Kunda Karnalika' or a program called 'Jurukk Karnali' to raise awareness, feelings, pride and hope of Sisnupani, these are examples of Karnali-identity. Apart from the

identity, Karnali province has got the opportunity to set its own priorities due to the federalism despite the few resources received from the union. As a development expert, I gave a presentation at the 'Kunda Karnali' festival a few years ago that 'Karnali also has the right to dream of development'. On the one hand, there is neglect of the state for years, on the other hand, Karnali should rise up from the lack of self-strength or sense of inferiority that ``Karnali development can be hindered''.

Those ruling from Kathmandu saw the beauty of Karnali while visiting Rara by helicopter for many years, but they did not see the need to build a road in Karnali. Even now, there is an illusion in the Kathmandu-centered elite (elite class) - giving more money to the backward Madhesh, Karnali or Far West will slow down the development of Bagmati, Koshi or Gandaki . It was proved by the Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda's 'Income Doubling Plan' of 1960 that the backward classes, regions or provinces are raised, the entire country will be raised. Japan has doubled its income in seven years due to plans to move large companies like Toyota out of the capital city of Tokyo and to increase investment in cities outside the capital city that are lagging behind in investment and production. To say

, it has been said for years - Karnali's electricity can shake Asia itself . It is estimated that 15,000 to 32,000 megawatts of electricity can be extracted from Karnali. According to the statistics department, almost one-third of the population of Karnali is out of reach of electricity.

I was once reminded of our Karnali River when I went to see the 14,000 megawatt hydropower project from the Itaipu Reservoir between Brazil and Paraguay. Itaipu's electricity, which was produced in 1984 with the help of the World Bank, will earn more than 1.5 billion dollars or 2 trillion 10 billion rupees every year, which is a 6-year budget compared to the Karnali government's one-year budget of 33 billion. And, the minimum income that the Karnali River can earn in a single year . In other words, the opportunity to realize Karnali's dream of development has been flowing with the water. A river is like life, the process of its flow is continuous and there is a saying of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, 'No man steps in the same river twice.' But, ironically, many of the development anomalies in the union shifted to the provinces. A health post is very necessary for delivery, but the view towers are being built . The quality of education should be increased, but within a year, Karnali government started spending about 2 billion only on seminars and seminars. Instead of considering the work of improving maternal health and bringing services to doorsteps as a success, the government began to publicize the regular emergency rescue work of the government as a big achievement, like rescuing the pregnant women by helicopter.

Not in the project of transforming the entire province, i.e. lifting Karnali, but by giving priority to political interests, the limited resources and means were scattered on thousands of small projects.

It is necessary to do two-three things to make the Karnali river the center of Karnali development- First, if the road of the Karnali corridor can be expanded as a tri-national highway, it will not only touch the 11 districts of Karnali, but it will have the ability to boost the development of the country. Even though there is no road, now around 50 flights to Mansarovar and Kailash have started arriving at Humla's Simkot Airport every day, while the route of Karnali Corridor is a tri-national highway, it will help to make a big leap in the employment and income of Karnali. As soon as the trade, transit and traffic to China and India increases, the progress of many sectors such as manufacturing, hotels, tourism, organic agriculture, herbs etc. will be automatic.