Gandhinagar, Sep 10: The Gujarat government has completed DNA sample collection from relatives of 29 of the 30 people from the state, including Non-Resident Gujaratis (NRGs), who remain missing or uncontactable following the August 26 flash floods in Nepal, particularly along the Nepal-Tibet border and Bhote Koshi River corridor.

The samples are being processed for DNA profiling to help identify bodies and human remains recovered in the disaster. The process for the remaining missing person is also underway.

The Gujarat State Non-Resident Gujaratis’ Foundation (NRGF), under the NRI Division of the General Administration Department, has been coordinating with the families and authorities in India and abroad to facilitate the DNA collection and identification process.

The initiative is being carried out in accordance with guidelines issued by the Central government, under which designated forensic laboratories have been identified for DNA sample collection and profiling of first-degree relatives of missing persons.

DNA profiling at laboratories designated for the purpose is being undertaken free of cost, as directed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Six designated laboratories in Gujarat are facilitating the process, with DNA profiling being undertaken in Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Junagadh and Rajkot.

The National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) in Gandhinagar, is coordinating with the Ministry of External Affairs on DNA profiling of samples collected in India and their linkage with the identification process in Nepal.

A 10-member NFSU forensic team has also been involved in the identification efforts in Nepal. Nepal Police has separately initiated DNA profiling of recovered bodies and human remains following the incident.

NRGF has been personally contacting relatives of each missing person and guiding them about the designated laboratories, available facilities and the procedure for DNA sample collection and profiling.

It has also been coordinating with NRGs and relatives living abroad to ascertain the action taken by local authorities in their respective countries.

In cases involving relatives in New Zealand, the United States, Canada and African countries, NRGF has obtained information about DNA samples collected by authorities in those countries and the status of the identification process.

In several cases, samples of relatives living abroad have already been collected through the respective local authorities.

The DNA profiling reports are being sent directly by the designated laboratories to Nepalese authorities through the official email addresses and contact numbers notified by the them for the identification exercise.

Nepal Police has also requested first-degree relatives of missing people living abroad to undergo DNA profiling at authorised forensic laboratories in their respective countries.

The Gujarat Government, through the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC), district administrations and NRGF, has been coordinating efforts to trace people from the state and Gujaratis living abroad who were reported missing or remain uncontactable after the floods.

A consolidated list of missing and untraceable persons prepared by SEOC and NRGF has also been shared with the Nepal government. So far, 30 people, including NRGs, remain untraceable from the flood-affected areas.

Those reported missing or out of contact include people from Ahmedabad, Anand, Banaskantha, Kheda, Gandhinagar, Surat, Valsad, Rajkot and other parts of Gujarat. Several had travelled to Nepal for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through different travel agencies and routes.

The scale of the disaster has made conventional identification difficult in cases where bodies or human remains have been severely damaged or recovered in parts.

Nepal has therefore begun a large-scale DNA identification exercise, with samples being collected from relatives and compared with DNA obtained from recovered remains.

The DNA-based process is expected to help establish the identities of victims from Gujarat and other parts of India, as well as foreign nationals, and provide families with confirmation about the fate of relatives who remain missing.

Kathmandu, Sep 9: Nepal witnessed a Gen-Z movement on September 8 and 9 last year, that eventually brought down the government led by then Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli. It also paved the way for an interim government, parliamentary elections on March 5 this year, and the emergence of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), established in 2022, as the largest political party with nearly a two-thirds majority.

On the first day of the protests, the state was accused of using excessive force, resulting in the deaths of 19 people.

Violent protests followed the next day, leading to widespread destruction of public and private property. Buildings inside Singha Durbar, the country’s main administrative centre, as well as the Supreme Court, the Prime Minister’s Office, the President’s Office, and several other government facilities were attacked.

Shopping centres belonging to the Bhat-Bhateni Group and hotels, including Hilton Kathmandu and Hyatt Regency Kathmandu, were also targeted with arson and vandalism.

As many as 77 people lost their lives in two days in separate protest-related incidents.

For the ruling RSP, which is the biggest political beneficiary of the Gen-Z movement, September 8 is remembered as the day when young protesters, who took to the streets demanding good governance and accountability, became victims of excessive use of state force.

The RSP and the government led by the party have sought to highlight state repression and the deaths of Gen-Z protesters on the first day, while playing down the destruction of public and private property that occurred the following day.

The old political parties and their leaders, meanwhile, have focused on the destruction caused on September 9 while downplaying the Gen-Z movement’s protests against alleged corruption and misgovernance.

As the government and ruling RSP marked the first anniversary of the Gen-Z protests on Tuesday, opposition parties — including the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), or CPN-UML, led by former Prime Minister Oli, and the Nepali Communist Party led by former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal — remained largely silent.

Nepali Congress President Gagan Thapa, however, issued a video message on Tuesday paying tribute to those who lost their lives during the Gen-Z movement.

On Wednesday, Oli and Dahal issued separate statements marking September 9, when the country witnessed massive destruction of public and private property, including the homes of political leaders. The estimated damage caused during the protests stands at more than NPR 84 billion, according to the government.

In his statement, Oli alleged that the arson, vandalism and destruction on September 9 last year were not simply an expression of anger among young people but the result of a planned attempt to reverse the “progressive course” of democracy and the Constitution.

Oli described the attacks targeting the President’s Office, the Prime Minister’s residence, Singha Durbar, the Parliament building, the Supreme Court, political party offices, and public and private property as acts of planned destruction.

“The fact that these events occurred even after the then Prime Minister had resigned makes it clear that the tragedy of September 8 was not an impulsive or angry reaction triggered by the deaths of young people the previous day,” he said. “Rather, it was the manifestation of a deadly plan to reverse the progressive course of nationalism, democracy and the Constitution and push the country toward authoritarianism, anarchy and geopolitical conflict.”

Oli called for a thorough investigation into the September 9 incidents. He said the truth must be brought to light about how a protest that had been permitted as a peaceful demonstration turned violent and who was responsible for it.

Accusing the authorities of attempting to arrest and prosecute the then Prime Minister and Home Minister in a retaliatory manner by holding them responsible for the incidents, Oli said a report on the role of the security agencies in the violence had also been kept secret.

He accused the authorities of granting impunity to those accused of involvement in the September 9 destruction and halting investigations and prosecution processes initiated against them, saying such actions had “institutionalised the criminalisation of politics.”

Oli also questioned why the security agencies had failed to prevent attacks on the state’s key institutions and democracy.

“The question of why the state’s security agencies could not prevent attacks on the main institutions of the Nepali state and on democracy remains unanswered even today,” he said.

Former Prime Minister Dahal, who remained silent on Tuesday while the first day of the Gen-Z movement was commemorated, said in his statement on Wednesday that suspicious elements who had been deliberately mobilised had hijacked last year’s movement.

Dahal, however, acknowledged that the Gen-Z protests were driven by concerns over freedom of expression, good governance, accountability over corruption, and the future of the younger generation, and were also fuelled by social media.

He said that instead of taking young people’s voices seriously and working to address their concerns, the government at the time chose the path of state repression.

“To view the incidents of the two days in the same way would be unjust both to history and to the truth. In reality, the counter-revolutionary destruction turned September 9 into a black day in the history of Nepal’s democratic movement,” Dahal said.

RSP President Rabi Lamichhane, meanwhile, issued a statement on Tuesday honouring those killed during the Gen-Z movement and vowing to uphold its spirit, which was directed against alleged misgovernance by the older political parties and their leaders.

He said last year’s protests represented a spontaneous awakening of Nepal’s young generation against corruption, partisan power-sharing, institutional inefficiency, restrictions on fundamental rights and a lack of opportunities.

“The movement delivered a powerful message: this is a generation that grew up in the digital age, carries global awareness, is self-respecting and seeks its future within its own country — and it will no longer accept misgovernance,” Lamichhane said in a statement issued Monday.

He said the movement was not launched at the call of any particular political party but was a completely spontaneous uprising, warning political parties and leaders against using it for narrow political interests.

Home Minister Sudhan Gurung accused the old political parties of disrespecting the Gen Z movement under various pretexts. Speaking at a mass gathering organised in memory of those who lost their lives during the Gen Z movement, he said the old parties remained silent on Tuesday even as the state honoured those who lost their lives during the movement.

New Delhi, Sep 9: Asking Indians to step away from the jewellery counter ahead of the festival season carries political risks. Gold in India is more than a commodity. It is a form of savings, an intergenerational asset and a deeply entrenched cultural tradition. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public plea to avoid unnecessary gold purchases puts concern about the import bill up against long-standing buying habits and the interests of the domestic jewellery trade.

The electoral calendar adds a political dimension. Next year, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab head to the polls. The domestic gold trade includes merchant communities that have traditionally formed part of the BJP’s support base.

A sustained decline in gold buying could depress jewellery sales and unsettle sections of that constituency ahead of these elections. The appeal suggests a willingness to deliver an uncomfortable economic message, although its political cost will depend on whether consumers respond and how the trade is affected.

The economic concern is the rising bullion import bill amid wars and global uncertainty. Higher international gold prices have increased the cost of meeting Indian demand, even as import volumes have declined. According to data reported by The Economic Times, India’s gold imports rose more than 24 per cent to an all-time high of $71.98 billion in 2025–26. This occurred even as the volume imported fell nearly 4.8 per cent to roughly 721 tonnes.

India bought less physical gold but paid a substantially higher dollar bill. Gold imports add to the demand for foreign exchange. A surge in festive buying can therefore widen the trade deficit and, depending on other external flows, add to pressure on the rupee.

However, framing PM Modi’s appeal purely as a response to global gold prices offers incomplete context. It also draws attention to the government’s limited progress in reducing dependence on imported crude oil. Earlier ambitions to bring down that dependence have proved difficult to realise.

With limited scope to curb essential oil imports without affecting economic activity, discretionary imports become a more accessible target. Gold is an obvious candidate, although restraining purchases would not resolve the underlying dependence on imported energy.

Nor is all gold buying simply consumption that households can readily postpone. For many buyers, it is also a means of saving and providing financial security. That complicates the attempt to influence demand through an appeal for restraint.

Reducing gold imports requires more than a Prime Ministerial plea. It also requires more effective ways to bring existing domestic holdings into circulation and offer alternatives to those buying gold primarily as an investment. Indian households and religious institutions are estimated to hold 20,000 25,000 tonnes of physical gold. This represents substantial wealth, but much of it remains outside formal financial channels. Efforts to mobilise it have met with limited success.

The Gold Monetisation Scheme struggled to attract household gold, partly because families are reluctant to melt down ancestral jewellery in return for interest. Sovereign Gold Bonds offered an alternative for investors seeking exposure to gold prices, but could not substitute for jewellery bought to wear, gift or pass on.

The distinction matters. A gold-linked financial investment and a family heirloom serve different purposes. The difficulty is not simply that policy has failed to turn physical gold into a financial asset. It is that financial products cannot fully replace the cultural and practical uses of jewellery.

Without addressing those differences, efforts to shift demand away from physical gold will have limits.

There are precedents for PM Modi taking decisions that unsettled established interests, including sections of his own support base. But comparisons between the gold appeal and structural reforms need care.

As Chief Minister of Gujarat, he implemented the Jyotigram Yojana, which separated agricultural power feeders from those supplying other rural consumers. The programme faced resistance from sections of the farming community but changed how rural electricity was supplied.

As Prime Minister, his government introduced the Goods and Services Tax, seeking to create a unified national market. The transition brought significant adjustment and compliance costs, particularly for smaller businesses and traders, including communities traditionally associated with the BJP.

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code similarly challenged the position of established business promoters. It provided creditors with a framework to resolve defaulting companies, potentially displacing existing owners. Its implementation has also exposed shortcomings requiring further reform.

These measures changed institutions, rules and incentives. An appeal to avoid gold purchases relies instead on voluntary restraint. It may reflect a willingness to challenge established preferences, but it is not equivalent to a change in taxation, credit rules or the organisation of an essential service.

Its economic effect will depend on whether households alter their buying decisions. The intention to ease external pressures is clear; the scale and durability of the response are not.

Demonetisation in 2016, ahead of the following year’s Uttar Pradesh election, provides another example of a disruptive intervention before a major political contest. It does not, however, establish that taking an electoral risk necessarily produces economic gains.

The gold appeal is also materially different. Rather than imposing a sudden policy change, PM Modi is asking consumers to give greater weight to the national economic cost of their purchases. Whether that argument outweighs considerations of tradition, savings and expected returns remains uncertain.

The immediate gamble is that some households will defer buying without a wider backlash from the jewellery trade. Even then, postponed purchases may return later, limiting the lasting effect on imports.

PM Modi’s intervention brings the foreign-exchange cost of gold into the public debate. But the test is not the boldness of the appeal. It is whether the appeal changes demand, and whether policy can provide credible savings alternatives and make better use of gold already held in India. Political gains, should they follow, would be a separate outcome.

(Rakesh Khar is a seasoned editor. He writes at the intersection of politics, business, technology and society. Views expressed are personal)