HELLO NEPAL

No excuses The young Republic Nepal has been facing political ups and downs for long due to insensible acts and political egoism of major political parties. Even after dethroning the king through the first Constitutional Assembly, these parties continue to display irresponsible political behaviour undermining universally accepted democratic norms and values. They have not been able to perform to the minimum satisfaction of the general public. This is not to discredit them but to present the ground reality to the readers of this column. In a true and people’s democracy, the political parties are must to represent the people in the parliamentary democracy. However, in Nepal, they have continued to play self-centred politics. As a result, we have seen more than dozen Prime Ministers after the first Jana Andolan that took place in 2062/63. Even the President had to call the big shots of seven major political parties to her palace to remind them the importance of holding local ele...

The Himalayan Times 9 February 2017 Give fair justice Conflict victims of the decade long insurgency have been waiting for justice from the state. The government had formed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) two years ago. All the members were picked and nominated under the major parties’ quota system. And, now the process of one year extension of these bodies tenure is in progress. However, conflict victims have cast doubts over their efficacies because of their political affiliations “Conflict victims question TRC’s efficacy” (THT, 7 Feb. Page 1). Both the commissions have not yet been able to produce any concrete results even after collecting thousands of conflict era complaints from the affected people. Internal rifts among the members of these transitional justice bodies being surfaced from time to time does not give a positive indication of its capabilities of settling Maoist in...

The Kathmandu Post 4 th February 2017 BUDGET TO SPEND The normal practice of the government at the beginning of every fiscal year is to send budget spending authorization (BSA) letter to their respective ministries once the budget is approved by Parliament. This is done by the Ministry of Finance (MoF). After getting this authority from MoF, each ministry is responsible for sending BSA letter to their respective departments and regional directorates which, in turn, forward their BSA letter to their district based offices. Because of this tiring and lengthy process, most of the district based offices get their BSA letter after three or four months. This traditional way of releasing the BSA from the centre down to the district level is one of the main reasons behind low level of capital expenditure. Another hindrance is lengthy tender process of selecting the lowest bidder for large infrastructure projects. Looking at these hurdles, it is not surprising to know that the ...

The Himalayan Times 2 February 2017 Basic health services It was encouraging to know that 62 percent of health centres offer basic health services related to child health, family planning and antenatal care. It was revealed by Nepal Health Facility survey 2015 report “62 per cent health centres offer basic facilities” (THT, 31 Jan. Page2). This can be taken as great leap forward of the government towards improvement of local health delivery system. However, it has still a long way to go to provide other basic health services from its VDC level health posts throughout the country. Most of these health posts, especially in the rural areas, are not properly equipped with appropriate equipments, adequate supplies and other physical facilities. Not all these health facilities have also proper pro-client latrines and drinking water system. Medicines supplied by the government to these health facilities hardly last six months.  Unless the government improves its medicine s...

Be responsible It was not surprising to know that the text books for the new academic session will not be adequately printed and delivered to the remote districts on time this year also. The government owned Janak Education Material Centre (JEMC) has always failed to print adequate number of text books before the beginning of new academic session. As a result, the students, especially from the rural and remote areas, had to suffer a lot. Same problem seems to be repeated this year “Manage adequate textbooks for new academic session, govt told” (THT, 18 January, Page 2). This problem has continued to persist for the last several years. The government has not put any effort to solve this problem. Millions of government and donor funds have been invested in the education sector in the name of “education for all”. According to JMEC, a total of 130,000 textbooks are required for grade VI to IX for the country. It has printed only 80,000 textbooks so far. However, it is interesting...

The Himalayan Times 12 January 2017 Political gap not healthy It is frustrating to see the ongoing political environment in the country at a time when the major political parties should have set aside their political differences and been ready for the local elections. This does not show a healthy political trend. The political gap between the ruling and the opposition parties is widening which is not a good indication. The ruling parties have started playing number games in Parliament for getting through the constitution amendment bill. The opposition parties led by the UML do not seem to budge a single inch from their political stand. However, NC general secretary Shashank Koirala seems to be in favour of political consensus among the parties for going to the polls (“Political consensus must for polls: Shashank” 10 January, Page 3). But, will he be able to convince other Congress leaders to be serious in having political dialogue with the opposition and the other agita...

The Kathmandu Post 8 January 2017 ALARMING SITUATION It seems that the ongoing political situation in the country may either end productively or create constitutional crisis. The transition period has not been conducive for constitution implementation. The government has hardly a year’s time to hold three tiers of elections, which does not seem likely given the ongoing stalemate. If the government fails to fulfil its duty on time, the chances of a crisis are very high. After going through the article (“Between a rock and a hard place” 4 January, Page 6), I am sure, many readers will have been nervous, considering the governing parties on one side and the UML led opposition and Madhes based parties on the other side at a time when they should have resolved all political differences and been ready to participate in local elections. The current political situation demands two things; first, the government has to sit with the Madhes based parties to come to a consensus. Unles...

The Himalayan Times 6 January 2017 No alternative to talks One should not get surprised if the three major will come to consensus in near future to save their face as they did in the past “Parties mull face-saving formula for consensus” (THT, 3 rd January, Page 1). Looking closely at the ongoing political dialogue among these major parties, there seems to be a chance  of the government withdrawing its bill related to constitution amendment and holding the three tiers of elections before January 21, 2018. Both the government and the opposition seem to be softening their stands. There is no alternative for them to forging consensus and going for the election. Otherwise, there will be political and constitutional crisis in the country if they fail to implement the new constitution. However, the UML led opposition parties have continued to obstruct the House proceedings for the last one month to exert pressure on the coalition government to withdraw the amendment bill. O...