Adevelopment professional and dipolmat Kul Chandra Gautam is set to launch his book, Lost in Transition: Rebuilding Nepal from the Maoist Mayhem and Mega Earthquake on December 12.

Gautam’s book deals with the challenges—economic and political—which Nepal faces and the measures that are to be taken to rebuild the nation in the wake of decade-long Maoist insurgency and  political transition, and the devastating April 2015 earthquake.

Gautam, who served as Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, has included an unsent letter to Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal that he wrote in 2005—urging the latter to give up the armed rebellion and make peace, and an epilogue on India’s de facto economic blockade against Nepal after the promulgation of its new constitution. He, who was one of the first persons to advocate for the UN’s good offices to resolve Nepal’s armed conflict, has dissected the bias of some members of the international community and UN officials in Nepal towards the Maoists after the former rebels joined the peace process.

Gautam calls for an end to Nepal’s seemingly endless political transition and shifting the nation’s focus to economic development and social progress without further delay.