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The most crucial aspects whenever we discuss antenatal care services are the coverage of antenatal care contacts and the contents of antenatal care during pregnancy. During the ANC contact, women get counselling and medical check-upfor their pregnancy which preventsnot only women but also the newborn babiesfrom preventable death. It is a window of opportunity for offering preventive measure to save the mother and newborn’s life. But despite the significance of antenatal care content in Nepal, many women are still being left behind, either directly or indirectly. Women empowerment and adequate content of care during ANC visits are both concerns about women's reproductive rights. Women who have greater power usually use antenatal care facilities. In this regard, the goal of this study is to look into the relationship between women empowerment and adequate content of care. This study is completely based on Nepal Demographic Health Survey, 2016. The main target populations of this study were women who weree currently married and had had at least one child in the two years before the survey. The content of care was found to be inadequate. Thus, women who had been left behind should be empowered to increase the adequate use of ANC services. Likewise, policies and activities should be tailored to serve the most marginalized, poor and vulnerable populations to offer sufficient, timely, and adequate ANC services in Nepal.

The utilization of antenatal care service (ANC) in Nepal is in an increasing trend; however, the utilization pattern differs from socioeconomic factors. Issues are the same but the utilizing pattern of ANC is not the same among women of the same age groups. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has also focused on inclusive and equitable health services, and promised to no one left behind. In this regard, this study aims to explore a decade of inequality between the rich and the poor in utilizing the ANC in Nepal using the three consecutive Nepal Demographic Health Surveys i.e., 2006, 2011 and 2016. Results suggest that women's household economies divide the pattern of ANC utilization. Despite the tremendous progress in health technologies, the utilization of ANC coverage gap between the rich and poor are still prevalent. The evidence from a decade inequality between the rich and the poor suggests that ANC services should be improved in Nepal, especially among the poor women who are concerned about their own health as well as the newborn health.

This article aims to explore the foundational and functional phases of the Khuwalung resistance movement. It is based on grey literature documents. To synchronize the significance of an indigenous movement, the first part of this study briefly presents the context of the hegemonic ideology of the ruling elite persisting in Nepal with reference to Khuwalung. The second part covers the phases of the resistance, which look far more constrained as a counter-resistance. The last part presents potential insights related to Khuwalung for transforming this counter-resistance into an organic indigenous movement in Nepal.

This article overviews the distress situation of the Nepalese ethnic subaltern concerning Trishna Gurung’s five selected songs- “Sajha Ko Bela”, “Gainey Dajai”, “Khani Ho Yahmu”, “Rail Lai Ma” and “Maya Man Bhari” and explores how the aesthetic expression and the pathetic predicament of the subaltern come to be a subtle form of resistance. Her songs hold the spirit of remoteness and auratic root and counter the western musical hegemonic propensity and the dominant music culture of Nepal. Articulating subaltern sighs as a major concern of her songs in the auditory and visual representation she presents the repressed aesthetics as a constructive and creative space formation for the resistance.

This paper, qualitative in nature, aims to explore the experience of solo woman travellers who were selected in solo travel challenge of Swo-Yatra. For the study purpose, 15 solo female travellers among 50 have been studied in terms of diverse identities, destinations and challenges they faced during their solo trips. There are several difficulties within the gender stereotypes in the Nepalese social structure. Women have not stopped travelling solo; rather, more solo women travellers are participating in the challenge. Despite various limitations, the fragments of their experiences are worthwhile to initiate the narratives of self-discovery and inner freedom of women in Nepal.

This article overviews the resistance of the subaltern and the ongoing debate on seeking the subaltern consciousness within and outside the elitist structure. The first part of this article exposes the notion of subaltern and subaltern resistance consciousness concerning the development of the Nepali film industry. The second part discusses different dimensions of resistance of the subaltern in shifting politico-cultural contexts. It also unfolds the structure of representation of the subaltern transformed within transitions which are observed more vehemently through the different politico-cultural scenarios of filmmaking, particularly before and after the Maoist insurgency. The last part analyses the aspects or efforts of the self-formation of the subaltern in terms of- along with class- caste, ethnicity and gender with references to representative Nepali movies, i.e. Numafung, Batomuniko Phool and Uma flash hope within hopelessness.

The proper use of antenatal care (ANC) visit is the first step to prevent both mother and child health. This is also one of the key components to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The study is an attempt to assess the relation between mother’s education and utilization of ANC services in Nepal. It is completely based on data of national representative 2016 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey that covered 2,746 currently married women, aged 15-49 years who had at least one child in the last three years preceding the survey. Logistic regression was used to analyze the effect of education on the utilization of ANC services. Results showed that a higher level of maternal education increased the chance of utilizing ANC services than those with little or no education. The importance of maternal education continued even when other socioeconomic factors are taken into account. This indicates that mother’s education contribute to increase the use of proper ANC services.

Contraceptive choices have an enormous impact on health, schooling and employment prospects. Access to full range of contraceptive method is vital for ensuring the health of youth. This study examined the association between youth empowerment in the domestic sphere and contraceptive use among currently married female youth in Nepal using the data of Nepal Demographic Health Survey, 2011. A sample of 2,553 currently married women of reproductive age 15-24 were chosen for this study. Bivariate analysis with cross tabulation and chi-square test were used to examine the association between each independent and dependent variables. Logistic regression model was employed for examining the effect of each independent variable as well as control variable on dependent variable. Result showed that the effect of youth empowerment remains statistically significant and has influence on their use of contraceptives, even after adding the control variables into the model. Youth who are empowered they use contraceptive about 2 times higher than those who are not empowered. Influence of some selected socio-economic and demographic variables on contraceptive are also examined. The study shows that the presence of son at home on contraceptive use is strongly associated (OR=4.58). Thus youth empowerment is necessary to increase contraceptive use.

Repatriation is not just a physical return to ‘home’ but a complex political process. With the deadlock of repatriation, resettlement came to be the only practical solution to most of the Bhutanese refugees, which weakened repatriation movement in the sense both local integration and third-country resettlement couldn’t be a durable solution. Bhutanese refugees faced severe pain in exile, got international attention when they began efforts of repatriation. After the peace marches to Bhutan failed in 1996 & 2007, repatriation voices got gradually muted an activist-less eloquent. The repatriation persuaders (the eloquent and visible leaders) excluding few exceptions chose the third-country resettlement and disappeared from the activism. A paucity of unified permanent persuaders weakened the vibrancy of repatriation movement. For restoring the vitality of activism, repatriation movement of Bhutanese refugees anticipates permanent persuaders as a historic necessity to a logical conclusion.