HELLO NEPAL

The Himalayan Times 31 March 2016 Publicity Fighting against corruption has been one of the cheapest slogans of all the political parties in Nepal . Likewise, wiping out corruption from the country used to be one of the main manifests of Prachanda led UCPN (Marxist) when they were outside the mainstream of politics. Soon after they joined the parliamentary system, curbing corruption for them remained to be merely a distant talk. Their influential leaders were found to be deeply involved in huge amounts of irregularities. However, none of them have been so far formally charged with corruption. Corruption has been very much institutionalized in Nepal . Even in the government and semi government organizations, service seekers are compelled to bribe the concerned officials while seeking their services. This is completely shame on the part of the government. No concrete measures are found to be in place to punish the culprits. Albeit, the CIAA seems to be doing its jobs,

The Kathmandu Post 22 March 2016 WORLD WATER DAY Here comes another World Water Day (WWD). This year too, many programmes are being planned by various organizations (“Programmes lined up for World Water Day” 16 March, Page 2). Many non- governmental organizations are involved in water related projects in Nepal . The government has its own machinery to look after the management of drinking water system all over the country. It is said that half of the world’s workforce (1.5 billion) is engaged in water related sectors. But the workers’ jobs are not fully recognized or protected by basic labour rights. In Nepal , most of the water related jobs are focussed in the urban areas where the availability of fresh water is shrinking due to heavy and haphazard urbanizations.   Nepal has also been unable to harness its water resources due to lack of political commitment and poor vision. Many promises were and are being made by the government for providing safe drin

Child marriage It is common in Nepal and other South Asian countries to hear about the child marriage that still takes place among the poor communities in the rural areas. However, the level of such marriage varies from one place to another place. Nepal ranks tenth in the world and third after Bangladesh and India in South Asia as claimed by C K Singh of Child Marriage and Dowry Elimination National Campaign Nepal . Saptari has outnumbered the other districts in child marriage according to the recent research findings of this organization “Child marriage rampant in Saptari” THT, March 13, Page 5).   More than 83 % marriages were held between the couples of under 18 years of age. The main reason behind this child marriage was found to be the increasing trend of dowry system which has been rampant in the Tarai districts. If the girl is educated, she has to find an educated groom for which her parents have to pay heavy dowries. Due this practice, most of the parents

The Kathmandu Post Mar 13, 2016- Finally, Sher Bahadur Deuba fulfilled his dream of becoming the party president of the Nepali Congress (NC) in his third attempt by defeating Ram Chandra Poudel by a wide margin in the recent election at the party’s general convention (GC) (‘Deuba defeats Poudel’, March 8, Page 1). Deuba, who has already served as Nepal’s prime minister three times in the past, has gained ample experience in running the government. However, there are many challenges facing him in the days to come given the factional politics within the NC. It is yet to be seen how he will manage and run his party at a time when a new and controversial constitution has to be implemented. The NC should now leave behind its factional politics and move ahead united to face the political challenges. In the past, it has made a number of political blunders due to its factional politics, leading the country towards political instability. Its senior leaders have played egoistic an

Standing ovation to CIAA During the recent past days, Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has been found active in registering corruption cases against some corrupt political leaders, civil servants and police personnel at the special court seeking appropriate punishment for misappropriating millions of rupees. It deserves appreciation for its effort to put criminals behind bars. This time, CIAA has filed cases against APF’s former Inspector General Sanat Kumar Basnet and six other serving police officers for embezzling millions of rupees by preparing and producing false bills and receipts (“CIAA charges APF’s former IG Basnet with graft” THT, 1 March, Page 1). Nepal has been named as one of the most corrupt nation in the world as per the Transparency International Nepal’s (TIN) recently published Annual Report. It will continue to slide down the corruption index in the coming days also if the government does not make any firm commitment to

The Kathmandu Post 4 March 2016 TIME TO GO? The statements made by Prachanda, Chairman of UCPN(M) during different occasions about the possibility of new government soon after the Nepali Congress’s general convention sounded a bit controversial at a time when PM K P Oli is found to be boasting loudly about his state visit to India (“New govt after NC convention: Dahal” 2 March, Page 3). Is it politically correct for Prachanda to make such statements when the coalition government had just completed its five months in the office? Are his any clandestine petty interests behind this?   Does it mean that the same old game of changing the government has started again in Nepal ? There are many things left to be implemented by PM Oli that he has promised a number of times to the people. It is yet to be seen whether every kitchen gets connected to a gas line. The people are also anxiously waiting to see the reduction of current 85 hours weekly load shedding to zero hours