Kathmandu, May 6 -- The most glaring failure of the past year has been the state's abdication of responsibility towards public welfare and safety during the country's unprecedented health emergency.

Nepal's leadership underplayed the seriousness of the pandemic, dithered, reacted too late with too little, peddled misinformation about quack cures, dabbled in superstition, held super-spreader political rallies, bungled on Covid-control measures, failed in implementation, tried to make money off contracts for medical material, engaged in a bitter blame game.

Countries that have fared the worst in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic have been the ones with elected populist demagogues: Trump's America, Bolsanaro's Brazil, Modi's India. The Un...