Nepal, Aug. 15 -- Every person who has waited in a malpot (Land Administration) office for a copy of lalpurja (Land Ownership Certificate) knows that moment. Someone walks into the back room and comes out with the srestha, a ledger too heavy to fit flat on the table. He dips his thumb in water, flips through pages and locates your record. Whatever is written, there is the truth about your land, as far as the state cares. Since those ledgers were burned in the Gen Z protests of September, all the land transactions in some districts just ceased, waiting for someone to recreate a ledger again, one owner at a time.

This week, the Auditor General Toyam Raya told the Public Accounts Committee how much we lost. Records of 179 public bodies were...