HELLO NEPAL

The Himalayan Times 23 August 2018 Haphazard taxation The government at the centre led by K.P Oli has completed its six months tenure with not much satisfying performances. People seem unhappy with the way the central government is running the country. Likewise, the performances of the local and provincial governments have been questioned by the local people raising the concern about the purpose of the federalism. This does not indicate the good start of the new political structure. However, the country has moved forward with the federal structure which should be gradually strengthened by winning the hearts of the people rather than undermining their voices and concerns by flexing political muscle based on the numerical numbers of lawmakers in all level of parliaments. The haphazard collection of taxes on consumable and non-consumable items by the local and provincial governments has been the talk of the town and widely criticized by all walks of life. Main oppos...

MAKE DEMOCRACY WORK It is a known fact that Nepal has experienced much political movements in the last seven decades in the name of restoring democracy. Common people, who were out in the streets, had knowingly and unknowingly listened to the political leaders with the expectation of seeing prosperous nation and better lives. These movements remained to be successful simply in terms of changing the regimes but terribly failed to consolidate the achievements, strengthen democracy and fulfil people’s aspirations. It seems now that the common people were misguided simply to support the political leaders who cleverly created the problems for their own sake. In fact, the people were wrongly motivated or instigated to fight among each other for unwanted problems created by the political parties and their leaders. So far, it seems that, until now, political leaders of different political parties have used politics to serve their own vestigial interests. It is said that powe...

The Himalayan Times 9 August 2018 Brutal killings Nepalis around the world were and are still known to be the most humble, sober, friendly, loving, caring, religious, and culturally rich people. However, will we be able to maintain these wonderful sayings in the days to come considering the ongoing political and social nuisances? I am worried about the growing imbalanced living standard of the people and temptation of the people of spending luxurious lives. I am much worried about the social and cultural differences that could arise in the country if the political and economical affairs are not properly handled among the newly established provinces. We have started experiencing the political power tussle between the federal and the provincial governments in the recent days. People do not seem happy with the government’s performances. No concrete solutions have been sought to improve the painful and horrible conditions of the roads inside and outside the capital cit...

The Kathmandu Post 3 August 2018 DEMOCRATIC RESPONSIBILITIES The main opposition of the ruling Nepal Communist Party, Nepali Congress (NC), staged nationwide protests against the K.P.Oli government on Tuesday   accusing it of running the government in an authoritarian way (“NC stages nationwide protests” August 1, Page 3).   As NC claimed, the nationwide protests were not to replace the government but to warn it to correct its wrongdoings-from its attempt to muzzle the freedom of media, to not following the constitution and to not fulfilling the promises it made to its citizens. Nepal has passed through much political turmoil following the restoration of democracy in 1990. None of the past governments were able to run the country for a full term due to inter and intra party political bickering. A decade long Maoist’s insurgency against the state was another impediment for the country to grow. As a result, the country and its people had to politically, soci...

The Himalayan Times 2 August 2018 Make reforms in SWCN Since long, the government has been allowing local non-government organizations (NGOs) and international non-government organizations (INGOs) to work in various parts of the country with the intention of improving the living conditions of the local populations. These organizations were/are engaged in implementing different kinds of development programmes related to formal and non-formal education, community health, income generation and women empowerment.   Around 48,000 NGOs are currently registered with the Social Welfare Council Nepal (SWCN); however, not all of them are active. The SWCN is the umbrella organization at the centre. One of its responsibilities is to monitor the activities of these organizations which have not been effective due to its limited human and financial resources. These shortcomings of SWCN have made most of the I/NGOs implement their activities in their own ways, hampering th...

The Kathmandu Post 29 July 2018 SOUNDS OPTIMISTIC The Oli led government is set to establish an Immediate Problem Solving Centre at the Prime Minister’s Office which will be known as the “Action Room” in order to address legal, institutional and administrative issues at priority projects and service delivery of the government and its agencies (“Government to set up ‘Immediate Problem Solving Centre’ July 22, Page 2) . As the prime minister, Baburam Bhattaria too had started the “Hello Sirkar” programme, with the intention of addressing people’s problem and concerns. However, the programme could not be effective due to several reasons. Over the years, Nepal has passed through many political changes which taken place based on the whims of the political leaders and their parties. However, these changes have failed to bring about substantial improvements in the social and economical sectors and the demands of the common people. Now, the rich have become richer and the ...

The Himalayan Times 26July 2018 Outrageous remarks The ongoing social and political tussles between the ruling parties on one side and the civil society members, human rights activists, medical professionals and students, educationists, editors, intellectuals and common people on the other indicates that the coming days might not be favourable for the ruling party to smoothly run the government as it might have thought, largely due to its egoist politics and high-handedness on the state affairs. It has not been able to address the suffering of the common people. Market prices of commodities have skyrocketed. The common needs of “education and health services” of the majority population have become dearer. While Dr. Govind K.C is on his 15 th hunger strike for reforms in medical education in Nepal, the recent unethical statements, which were directed against the character of Nepali female medical students in Bangladesh, made by law minister Sher Bahadur Tamang and Ex...

The Himalayan Times 19 July 2018 Hopes dashed Soon after the country entered into federal structure and the leftist government with almost two-thirds majority took the political helm, people had high expectation from this change. Almost five months have passed for this federal government led by Prime Minister K.P.Oli.   There are no any specific and significant activities implemented directly benefiting the common people to be pointed out here except PM’s official visits to neighbouring countries. Some of the recent unpopular and undemocratic acts of the government have gripped the nation and irritated the human rights organizations, civil society members, social activists and even its well wishers also. Among them was the government’s decision to ban protest at Maitighar Mandala and other key places in Kathmandu. Maitighar Mandala was the key place in the past also to express people’s concerns and show their solidarity against the government’s unpleasant and und...