The import of LPG cylinders has grown 4-fold in the past 10 years. Even remote areas of the country now have shops that stock the red cylinders. This has reduced the pressure on forests, and cleaned up indoor air pollution that was making many sick.

However, the payment for every cylinder goes to the Nepal Oil Corporation, where corruption is rife, and a sizeable chunk goes to the government as tax. The rest of the money goes to India and contributes to Nepal’s huge and widening trade deficit with the southern neighbour. India buys the gas from the Gulf, so a chunk of the money that Nepali migrant workers send home goes to pay for the LPG we import from the countries where they work. Growing use of this fossil natural gas has also increased the per capita carbon footprint of Nepalis.

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But there is a cleaner and potentially cheaper energy alternative: electricity. This year, the Kulekhani reservoir reached maximum level in a matter of days due to heavy rains. Normally, it takes months to fill this rain-fed hydropower storage plant. This is a real opportunity to wean Nepalis from their LPG stoves to cook with electric rice cookers, and use the induction stove at least during the day time.

There are many ways to define nationalism, and one simple action that could help make Nepal energy secure in light of the Indian blockade is to begin to cook at least one meal of rice in home electric cookers. Pre-heating the water using solar water heaters and soaking the rice and lentils a few hours earlier could save a lot of money we would otherwise spend on imported energy.