HELLO NEPAL

The Himalayan Times 29 January 2014 Government formation It is encouraging to read the news report “NC bids to bring all under unity govt” (THT, 28 Jan. Page 1) at such a time when the common people are anxiously waiting to see a strong and reliable government in place under the NC leadership at the soonest possible. It has been a high time the NC leadership reached out to all the political parties represented in the second CA to form a unity government without wasting any time and started working on the process of drafting new constitution within one year as promised during the CA election. Since the President has already asked all the political parties to form a consensus government by February 2, it is the prime responsibility of the NC leadership to speed up the process for the same. If they fail to form such government, then the President will have to call for a majority government. In both the situation, it is the NC that has to take initiatives which does not

Unnecessary political interference It is sad to see the government’s apathy towards the demands made by Dr. Govind KC, who is on hunger strike for the last twelve days, against the political interferences in the management of Institute of Medicine (IOM). It is not new for the people to remember that DR. KC had staged similar hunger strike demanding the end of political interferences in the internal matters of IOM. The previous government was made compelled to listen to and fulfil his demands. Thousands have shown solidarity with his demands. The resident and MBBS doctors have already stopped attending the outpatients department services in support of Dr’ KC’s demands. This situation has gravely affected the patients visiting the TUTH for seeking the treatment. Now, the Nepal Medical Association (NMA) has extended its support and given a 24-hour ultimatum to the concerned authorities to address his demands as reported in “Doctors threatened nationwide strike” (THT, 1

The Himalayan Times 13 January 2014 Frustration The time is ticking fast and the people counting the number of days gone by after the election of second CA that took taken place on 19 November 2013 have started expressing their frustration as reported in “People say ongoing political bickering irks them no end” (THT, 8 Jan. 2014, Page 1). The people had enthusiastically participated in that election with high hopes of seeing the major political parties would move ahead with fresh mandate to fulfil the promises made in their election manifestos. But, the parties are now found in engaging themselves in inter- and intra-party blame games and wasting time. The level of frustration of the common people is so high that they seem loosing interest and faith on the political parties seeing their undemocratic and insensible working styles. The question of nominating 26 candidates to the CA is another serious issue that is yet to be decided. Unless they are nominated, the legit

The Himalayan Times 6 January 2014 Misuse of PR seats It is sad and unfortunate to see that most of the political parties, those are set to enter the CA hall, are engaged in intra-party conflict with regard to the selection of candidates for the PR seats which are supposed to be proportionately distributed to represent all the social groups of Nepali society. However, looking closely at the names of nominated candidates for the allotted seats, the PR seats seem to have been made for senior leaders to nominate their relatives and bootlickers. Where are the concepts of inclusiveness gone? It seems natural to oppose these immoral and undemocratic acts of the senior leaders by the dissident leaders as reported in “Bhattarai, Shrestha up the ante against Dahal” (THT, 2 Jan. Page 1). All the senior leaders talk much about the democratic principles, its norms and values. However, they are found doing undemocratic acts creating internal conflicts and delaying the smooth pol