HELLO NEPAL

The Himalayan Times 27 February 2020 Mockery of constitution  The new constitution of Nepal was not able to win the hearts of all the people for one or the other reasons. The Janajati and Madhesi people had vehemently objected some of the discriminatory articles of the constitution. Quite a few Madhesis even lost their lives during street protest against the new constitution. However, their voices were never heard and have still not been heard. Even the government had to face border obstruction following the promulgation of the new constitution without addressing the grievances of Madhesi people.   The then Madhesi Janadhikar Forum led by Upendra Yadav had even joined the Oli led government after signing a two-point deal concerning constitution amendment, which recently decided to quit the government after the government failed to abide by the deal. That clearly indicates the government was not serious in addressing the concerns of large portion of the populati

The Himalayan Times 21 February 2020 Superficial claim Nepal is enjoying a near about two-thirds majority government of the   Nepal Communist Party (NCP), led by Prime Minister K.P.Oli for the last two years. This government is the most powerful one in the political history of Nepal. Besides this federal government, six out of seven provinces are run by the NCP provincial governments. Obviously the expectations of the people from these governments were and are very high, going by their election manifestos. Scrutinising the federal government’s performance in the last two years, there does not seem to be much room to be satisfied. However, the government has been claiming that it performed extraordinarily and exceptionally well “Govt performing extraordinarily” (THT, February 18, Page 3). People measure the government’s performance in terms of their improvement in living standard, access to basic needs and services, availability of employment opportunities, decrea

The Himalayan Times 13 February 2020 Have stance on MCC These days, Nepal and its government has been caught between the people and Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which is an innovative and independent U.S. foreign assistance agency that is helping lead the fight against global poverty. MCC was created by the U.S. Congress in January 2004 with strong bilateral support. It provides time-limited grants to a partner country aiming to promoting economic growth, reducing poverty, and strengthening institutions. MCC forms partnerships with developing countries that are committed to good governance, economic freedom and investing in their citizens. As per its mission, MCC projects tackle some of the most pressing challenges people face in developing countries. Major focus of its projects include anti-corruption, education, energy, finance and enterprise development, health, land rights and access to land, transportation infrastructure, water supply and sanitati

The Himalayan Times 6 February 2020 Politics and corruption Nepal has been practicing parliamentary democracy for long with representation of elected people in the House of Representatives. All the representatives are elected by the people through the election process. A majority or coalition government is run by the parliamentary-elected Prime Minister, with his cabinet holding executive powers. Nepal is now experiencing three levels of government under the federal structure. All these governments are facing public criticisms for being involved in institutional corruption. It was encouraging to know that Nepal has improved its rank in Global Corruption Index from 124 th to 113 th among 180 countries as per the recently published report of Transparency International “Political corruption” (THT, February 4, THT, Page 6). However, the government has been widely criticised for its inefficiency in controlling the level of corruption. In politics, corruption unde