HELLO NEPAL

MAKE CIAA STRONGER In Nepal , the attire of anti-corruption body known previously as Commission for Prevention of Abuse of Authority (CPAA) and now Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) kept changing as per the wish and intention of lawmakers based upon their vestigial interests. Now, the draft constitution has further tried to clip its wings limiting its role of taking action against corruption charges. It has been relieved from taking actions against improper conduct that used to be one of the major role of existing CIAA (“Off the hook” by Narayan Manandhar, 15 July, Page 6). The existing number of six commissioners has been proposed to reduce to five without citing any reasons whatsoever. It is not known whether it will retain corruption prevention and anticorruption education and awareness functions. It is known to everybody that Nepal is continuously sliding down in corruption index as one of the most corrupt nation. Instead of strengthening the ...

Encouraging programme The local health delivery system of Nepal is one of the best systems in the Asian region considering its organizational structure. In each 4300 VDCs, we will find one service outlet that is rendering primary health services to the local population. Nonetheless, its effectiveness in providing health services throughout the year is questionable for many good reasons. Lack of trained health workers, inadequate supply of medicines and lack of proper infrastructures are the major problems which have been the hindrances in providing quality health services. The announcement of gradual implementation of “One village, one Doctor to ensure basic health for all” (THT, 15 July, Page 2) made by the government in its 2015-16 annual budget seems interesting and encouraging. However, unless the government becomes serious in implementing this program, it will remain only in black and white. The government had not even been able to recruit and assign field level hea...

The Kathmandu Post 12 July 2015 PUNISH THEM It was sad to read the news (“Woman expelled from her house” 8 July, Page 4) at such a time when the women activists are clamouring about violence against women. Lalita Raya of Belbari in Morang district was expelled last year by her husband and in-laws from her house for giving birth of a girl instead of a boy. I was surprised to know that even after one year, no legal action has been taken to punish her husband and in-laws who are now demanding Rs 200,000/- and a motor-cycle from Lalita as a precondition to letting her stay in the house. She had already paid Rs. 700,000 and two tolas of gold as dowry. Asking for and taking dowry is legally punishable. Nonetheless, this anti-social and inhumane system continues to exist, especially in the Tarai. Lalita is   one of the representative victims of such illegal activities which are still in practice with or without the knowledge of concerned authorities. We must be proac...

The Himalayan Times 9 July 2015 Cart before the horse This is with reference to the news story “CA in hurry to resolve row over federalism (THT, 7 July 2015 ). Despite the Supreme Court’s interim order to halt the drafting process of the new constitution, the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) continued drafting it and presented it to the CA for deliberation. Many CA members strongly suggested naming and demarcating the boundaries of federal units before finalizing the draft constitution. Now, the draft copy will be sent to the general public for feedback. Protesting the 16-point-deal reached among the four major political forces, four Madhes based parties boycotted the CA deliberations and have even threatened to quit the CA if their demands are not addressed while preparing the final draft of the new constitution. Undermining the importance of CA role, four major political forces had signed 16-point-deal on June 8 in order to facilitate the drafting process of n...

The Kathmandu Post 5 July 2015 BE SENSIBLE It was a pleasure to read the news (“CA gets constitution draft” 1 July, Page 1) at such a time when the general people were wondering whether or not the 16 point-deal reached among the four major political parties could be materialized. Now, the time has come for the CA members to be serious in extensive deliberation and give the new constitution to the people on time. Nonetheless, there seem to be several challenges ahead, considering the concerns shown by the CA members of three Madhes based political parties who tore up copies of the draft in protest of the 16 point-deal and numerous other provisions of the new constitution. Despite the Apex court’s interim order to halt the drafting process of new constitution, the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) continued with their work and presented it to the CA for deliberation. The consequences of that are still unknown. If we look at the universally accepted democratic ...

The Himalayan Times 2 July 2015 Implement it It is known to everybody that the recommendations made by the government formed different high level task forces have been hardly followed and implemented in the past. Recently, Kedar Bhakta Mathema -led high level task force formed by the government to address the inconsistencies prevalent in medical education in the country had submitted its report with several recommendations to the Prime Minister Sushil Koirala. This task force was formed to address one of the demands put forward by Dr. Govind K.C. during his fast-onto-death protest staged in Kathmandu a few months back.   Several key recommendations have been made keeping in view the existing malpractices found in the field of medical education in the country. If the government sincerely implements these recommendations, the chances of removing anomalies from medical educations are very high. However, I see slim chances of implementation of these relevant rec...