KATHMANDU: 2021 was a year filled with hopes, political ups and downs, and fear, which means that we have plenty to peek back at. Here’s the big picture in a summarized package.

After a year of political dramas, from politics to sports, Khabarhub looks back at the highlights, protagonists and antagonists of 2021.

The year 2021 did not begin with high hopes since the top political brass, instead of taking concrete steps to bring about drastic changes, political stability, economic prosperity, natural disasters, fulfill people’s aspirations, end corruption, among others, engaged in a power-centric tug-of-war.

If someone asked what the people got, the answer, like always, is simply “nothing concrete or significant”.

Khabarhub’s team takes the readers back to revisit the major events that occurred in the past 12 months in the country and outside.

A new COVID variant Omicron was detected that spread across the world, including a few cases in Nepal, in the past couple of weeks crumbling people’s hopes of returning their lives to normal as the COVID-19 pandemic was subsiding.

As always, ministers and political leaders frittered the year with hollow promises. Cabinet ministers splurged themselves in inaugurations, dribs and drabs, assurances, and speeches!

Other factors, too, made the year 2021 exhilarating such as the dissolution of the House of Representatives by then Prime Minister KP Oli, a general convention of Nepali Congress re-electing Sher Bahadur Deuba to the post of party President, Rastriya Prajatantra Party’s general convention electing Rajendra Lingden as the new party Chairman, CPN Maoist Center’s general convention reelecting Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” as its Chairman, among others.

Nepal also welcomed Vice President of the US agency for Millennium Challenge Corporation Fatema Sumar and Assistant Vice President Jonathan Brooks in September 2021.

Nepal witnessed a constitutional crisis when President Bidya Devi Bhandari on the recommendation of the then Prime Minister KP Oli dissolved the House of Representatives for the second time on May 22.

Along with the House dissolution, she also announced to hold mid-term elections on 12 and 19 November when PM Oli was leading a minority government after losing a trust vote in the House of Representatives.

The opposition political parties alleged then PM Oli for taking an “unconstitutional and regressive” move but PM Oli defended his move to dissolve the House as “constitutional” saying the country needed fresh elections to further consolidate democracy in the country.

Likewise, the opposition also alleged President Bidya Devi Bhandari for not being neutral and working in favor of the then PM Oli.

The Supreme Court, in a landmark verdict, reinstated the dissolved House of Representatives (HoR) on Feb 23.

A five-member Constitutional Bench led by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana annulled the government’s decision to dissolve the HoR. Likewise, the SC also ordered the government to summon the House session within the next 13 days. President Bidya Dev Bhandari had dissolved the House parliament at the recommendation of Prime Minister KP Oli on December 20, 2020.

Amid political bickering and allegations, the Supreme Court, meanwhile, reinstated the HoR in May 2021 for the second time.

Despite its reinstatement, the main opposition CPN-UML continued to obstruct the proceedings of the House meetings alleging Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota for being biased and incompetent.

And yes, the second wave of Covid-19 wreaked havoc in Nepal as well with people fighting for beds in hospitals, desperately searching for oxygen cylinders. Several saw deaths in their families and friends’ circle.

Nepal, meanwhile, received a significant number of vaccines against Coronavirus from India, China, the United States, European countries, Japan, among others.

Meanwhile, the flooded Melamchi and Helambu rivers in Sindhupalchowk swept away more than a dozen houses in August.

More than three dozen people lost their lives in natural disasters, including floods and landslides in different parts of the country.

Last year, Nepal continued to undergo challenges when it came to moving forward and ratifying the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) from the parliament, creating hullabaloos in both the political and social spectrum.

The CPN Maoist Center and other fringe political parties protested the issue, others, including the CPN-UML remained divided while the Nepali Congress and the majority of intelligentsia circles were in favor of it.

Similarly, the country’s judiciary also underwent a crisis in 2021 this year – the first time in Nepal’s judicial history when Supreme Court justices protested against sitting Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana bringing the judicial process to a halt.

Nepal also welcomed Vice President of the US agency for Millennium Challenge Corporation Fatema Sumar and Assistant Vice President Jonathan Brooks in September 2021.

Meanwhile, in response to a letter of Nepal’s Finance Minister seeking clarifications on provisions of MCC, the Department of Compact Operations clarified that the Constitution of Nepal prevails over the MCC compact.

It clearly said that the MCC’s mission was to reduce poverty through economic growth in Nepal.

Likewise, Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, Donald Lu, arrived in Kathmandu on a two-day visit and met with government leaders, officials and civil society leaders and discussed MCC with them.

Their visit comes just ahead of the 75th year of diplomatic relations between the United States and Nepal.

In 2021, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba participated in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 26) held from October 31 to November 12 in Glasgow of the United Kingdom.

Similarly, the country’s judiciary also underwent a crisis in 2021 this year – the first time in Nepal’s judicial history when Supreme Court justices protested against sitting Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana bringing the judicial process to a halt.

The SC justices and Nepal Bar Association came down heavily on CJ Rana for what they said “trading verdicts” and seeking political and cabinet appointments.

Prime Minister Deuba addressed the welcome event being hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Nepal (APPG-N) and UK-Nepal Trade and Investment Forum in London on October 30.