HELLO NEPAL

The Himalayan Times 31 August 2017 Should or shouldn’t It was difficult for the common people to understand whether Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba should have made remarks about the recent constitution amendment bill, that could not get through the parliament, during a joint press conference with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi held in New Delhi. However, he tried to defend his position in the Parliament by saying that it was not unusual to apprise the national and international community of a country’s agenda “PM defends his position in Parliament (THT, Aug. 29, Page 1). The PM further assured the House that he had not struck any deal with anyone regarding implementation of the constitution. If so was the case, why should someone try to make such a fuss about it? The UML boss K.P. Oli, before his departure to Bangkok for his regular health check-up, came down heavily on the PM about this issue citing that it was great mistake made by the PM to speak about the iss

The Kathmandu Post 25 August 2017 JUMBO CABINET It seems that the big three parties want to compete among each other in forming the largest cabinet in Nepal’s history. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba formed the largest cabinet in Nepal’s history with 48 ministers in 1996. He was then followed by Baburam Bhattarai with 49 ministers, KP Oli with 40 ministers and Pushpa Kamal Dahal with 46 ministers. Two decades later, Sher Bahadur Deuba broke all the records by installing a 50-strong Council of Ministers, the largest ever in Nepal’s history (Deuba’s Cabinet largest ever” Aug. 23, Page 1). According to the new constitution, Cabinets with more than 25-members are clearly prohibited. Isn’t it the prime minister supposed to follow the elements and spirit of new constitution? They should be safeguarding the new constitution instead of violating it? Is it necessary for them to compete with each other to satisfy the desire of lawmakers by appointing them as ministers? Don’t they

The Himalayan Times 24 August 2017 New political course It was not surprising to know that the amendment bill that was put to vote by the ruling parties on Monday could not garner two-third majority in the parliament “Amendment bill falls through in Parliament” (THT, Aug 22, Page 1). The UML led opposition block was dead against the amendment bill from the beginning of registering it in the parliament. The Rastriya Janata Party- Nepal (RJP-N) did not participate in the first and second phase of local elections citing they would not participate in the elections until their demands were met. One of their demands was to amend the constitution. The other demand among others was to increase the numbers of local level units in Province 2 which was earlier rejected by the Supreme Court and has now been okayed by it. However, the RJP-N had recently shown flexibility in its political stance saying that it would accept the outcome of the parliamentary process and would participate

The Himalayan Times 17 August 2017 Lessons from the floods The havoc created by incessant rain in most of the Tarai districts and in some hilly areas has been extremely painful and highly alarming. Many villages in Tarai districts were inundated. Many innocent people lost their lives and thousands were displaced. Thousands were stranded and were at risk of being swept away by the floods. Many houses were submerged and completely destroyed making the people homeless. Bridges collapsed. Highways were blocked and damaged barring people from reaching their destinations “Thousands stranded on Koshi Tappu” (THT, Aug 15, Page 1). The government and its mechanism seemed helpless albeit they tried their level best to reach the victims. However, due to lack of any institutionalized mechanism responsible for taking care of the level of such disaster, timely rescue and rehabilitation of affected people felt below expectations. The relief materials could not reach the victims on tim

The Kathmandu Post 13 August 2017 SHAME ON MOFA It was shocking to hear how the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) failed to act on curbing and controlling human trafficking to Gulf countries in accordance with a report released by a team of parliamentarians headed by Prabhu Sah, the then Chairman of the sub-committee of International Relation and Labour Committee of Parliament. The team found out that the officials of the other state agencies and even the immigration department colluded with the human traffickers(“MoFA failed to act, says House panel report” August 9, Page 1). More than 60 % of domestic workers who reached the Gulf were found to have travelled through Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA). This indicates that there is a well established network between the concerned officials and human traffickers. There seems to be serious flaws in the immigration system which needs to be immediately corrected in order to curb human trafficking However, the question h

The Himalayan Times 10 August 2017 Hold polls together Time has come for the government to be serious in holding the third phase of local polls  in Province 2 scheduled for September 18 and the other two tiers of elections- provincial and parliamentary- by January 21, 2018. If it fails to complete these tasks on time, the nation will plunge into political and constitutional crisis. The new constitution says that all kinds of elections should be held before January 21. Looking at the ongoing political scenario, it is a tough job for the Deuba led government. When there was ample time to implement these tasks, all the previous governments and the major political parties were busy in power struggling for the sake of their own political gains. Now, the time is running out from their hands and the government and the major political seem panicking now talking about holding the provincial and parliamentary election together “Hold provincial, parliamentary polls together, PM tells EC

The Kathmandu Post 4 August 2017 CRITICAL SITUATION The date for holding local elections in Province 2 is fast approaching. The voters’ registration process is in full swing in all the election areas. Both the first and second phase elections have been held successfully. People in all the six provinces have enthusiastically participated in the polls. The CPN-UML was able to win mast of the mayoral seats. Now, the major political parties have started speeding up their political campaign to lure voters in Province 2. However, the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N) seems stuck on its demands for statute amendments (“A ‘weakened’ RJP says its agenda still alive” August 3, Page 1). It should have participated in the first and second polls; this would have enabled it to keep their three demands alive through local representatives. The RJP-N has made a political blunder; and it seems to have realised that its movement was weakened by abstaining from participation in the first

The Himalayan Times 3 August 2017 Wonderful news Finally, the government has realized the problem of migrant workers who are compelled to spend hard days doing tough manual jobs in foreign lands. It was encouraging news to read that that the government has decided to increase double the welfare sum to Rs. 7 Lakh from Rs. 3 Lakh. “Welfare sum for migrant workers’ kin doubles” (THT, August 1, Page 1). This amount will be given to the kin of migrant workers who pass away, suffer serious injuries or become critically ill while working abroad. This new provision will definitely give a huge relief to the immediate family members of the migrant workers who are the sole bread owners and compelled to leave this land of less opportunity due to poor vision and irresponsible acts of the political leaders who claim to be the champion of people’s representatives.  Following the amendment to Foreign Employment Regulation, a new clause has also been introduced that allows migrant workers