Nepal’s annual sugar demand is 260,000 tonnes, the country produced 105,000 tonnes of the household sweetener in the last fiscal year.

This year’s budget has not addressed the crushing poverty of the endangered Chidimars, a community that remains marginalised for generations, struggling to manage basic needs.

There are several human settlements in the buffer zones of the Banke and Bardiya national parks where tigers have easy access to domestic animals and people. Two people suffered attacks on February 19 and 20.

Four people have been killed in separate tiger attacks in the district in the past three months.

As Rapti River swells, Nakhelal Mallaha who lives at the river bank, is taking no chances.