HELLO NEPAL

The Himalayan Times 27 January 2022 Flaws in the constitution? Constitution of Nepal 2015 is the present governing Constitution of Nepal, which came into effect on September 20, 2015, replacing the Interim Constitution of 2007. Nepal entered into the new political era with the promulgation of this constitution. In doing so, it has formally ended centralized and unitary system of governance, and established a people centered democratic republic federal state. The people of Nepal have become the ultimate sovereign power of the nation. The Constitution introduces a competitive multi-party democratic system, civic freedom, fundamental rights, human rights, periodic elections, voting rights, full freedom of the press, and an independent judiciary. It provides a vision of a prosperous nation, built on principles of socialism, the rule of law, democratic values, durable peace, good governance and sustainable development. Having said these about the constitution, the five-party coal...

  The Himalayan Times 20 January 2022 COVID and corruption More than 200 countries, including Nepal, around the world have been affected by the COVID-19 for the last two years with more than 300 million confirmed cases and more than five million deaths as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its recent news bulletin. Now, the new variant Omicron, which originated in South Africa, has started creating panic in the people in many countries, including Nepal where the number of infected cases seem to be gradually increasing. WHO opines that COVID can spread through small liquid particles, which range from larger respiratory droplets to smaller aerosols released when an infected person coughs, sneezes, speaks, sings or breathes. It spreads mainly between people who are in close contact with each other, typically within 1 metre. It can also spread in poorly ventilated and/or crowded indoor settings where aerosols remain suspended in the air or travel farther than 1 ...

  The Himalayan Times 6 January 2020 Parties’ conventions Nepal and the people saw a series of major political parties’ general conventions in the recent days, generating both expectations and frustrations from the outcome of the conventions. In line with their parties’ constitution and the requirement of the Election Commission, all the political parties are supposed to hold their general conventions every four to five years depending on their constitutional provisions. Peoples’ major concern and curiosity were on the outcome of the UML, RPP, NC and CPN-MC conventions, who wanted to see the senior leaders of these major parties replaced by the second-rung leaders. This, however, did not happen in the three major political parties, except in the RPP “Party conventions of UML, RPP, NC and MC” (THT, January 4, Page 4). UML’s Bhim Rawal showed courage by challenging his boss K.P.Oli but failed to garner a sizable number of votes against the later which indicated that the major...

  The Himalayan Times 30 December 2021 No to identity politics The end of the decade-long people’s war, fought by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) and led by Prachanda against the state, after the signing of the 12-point Comprehensive Peace Agreement with the then seven-party alliance in New Delhi had brought high hopes among the people of seeing a peaceful and prosperous Nepal. Since it entered into mainstream politics in 2063 B.S., this party has gone through a number of radical transformations, shifting from a guerrilla warfare unit to a key democratic force within Nepali politics. However, the party has poorly performed and failed to fulfill its promises made to the people, especially, low-income individuals and groups, during its decade long insurgency “Shrestha identifies key priorities of Maoist Centre “THT,December 26, Page 3) As it entered the competitive politics, the CPN (Maoist) revised its ideological goal from “New People’s Democracy” to “Democracy in th...

    Discard MCC  I am sure, you will find this VDO very interesting, if you haven't watched it, listening to Dr. Bhim Rawal boldly disclosing about the highhandedness of his boss K.P.Oli in his party related matters and accusing him of manipulating the party for his personal benefits. He had dared to challenge Oli for the UML Chair during the recent UML national convention and was defeated. However, it was encouraging to see him vying for the party's high post. Jibram Bhandari of YOHO Television interviewing Dr. Bhim Rawal If he was telling the true story about the on-going conspiracy for passing MCC through the Parliament, and other issues related to national integrity and sovereignty, then time looks running out of hand for the people to wake up for saving the nation from being semi-colonial nation through the MCC.    VDO link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uycNGJtQEMc  

  The Himalayan Times 17 December 2021 Old vs young generation Nepal has seen national conventions of the major political parties in the past few days. These political parties are supposed to hold their conventions in every four or five years to choose their new leaderships as per their constitution and party charter. All these parties are required to register with the Election Commission upon fulfillment of the procedures as established by law. If they fail to hold their conventions within the stipulated time, their registrations and recognition as the political parties will remain invalid.  In accordance with its constitution, the CPN-UML, one of the major political parties, held its 10 th national convention on November 26 to 28 in Chitawan with much publicity. As expected, K.P.Oli won the CPM-UML leadership by a huge margin against his opponent Bhim Rawal “UML National General Convention: KP Oli wins against Bhim Rawal by sweeping majority” (THT, Online November 3...

  The Himalayan Times 9 December 2021 MBBS course in Jumla It was wonderful news to read “Jumla welcomes first batch of students for MBBS course” (THT, December 7, Page 1). Ten years after the establishment of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences (KAHS), medical education and services have finally begun in Jumla, one of the least developed districts in the mid-western region of the nation. It is now no longer inaccessible in terms of medical education and health care. A decade after its inception, the KAHS has launched the much-awaited MBBS classes and services with much vigour, enrolling the first batch of students for the medical course.    With this new move, it is natural for the local people, who were deprived of getting basic health services for decades, to have high expectation from this new medical college. The Academy has begun the MBBS classes based on the decision of the Medical Education Commission to allow it to admit 20 MBBS students. Of these total 20 s...

  The Himalayan Times 2 December 2021 Nepal’s graduation It was wonderful news to read the editorial “LDC graduation“(THT, 30 November, Page 4) about Nepal, which is waiting for its graduation from the Least Developed County (LDC) category to a middle-income developing country by December 2026. Last Wednesday, the 40th plenary of the 76th Session of the UNGA had unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing the graduation of Nepal from the LDC category after an extended preparatory period of five years – instead of the usual three years – for the smooth transition. The two extra years have been given so as to plan for post-COVID recovery and implement policies to reverse the damage done by it.  The United Nations defines LDCs as per the following three criteria: first one: countries must have an average per capita income of below USD$1,018 for inclusion in the LDC and above USD$1,222 for graduation. Likewise, countries must have a low score on the Human Assets Index (HAI), ...