HELLO NEPAL

The Himalayan Times 26 May 2016 End political deadlock The level of frustration of the general people towards the political parties is growing so high which could be detrimental for them in the long run in terms of their political existence. It is the time for the ruling parties to be sensible and sincere in resolving the current political impasse with the disgruntled parties without wasting any more time. It is not only the UDMF now in the streets. The Janajati and other disadvantaged groups have also joined the political struggle thus complicating the political environment for the Oli led government. They have continued their Kathmandu-centric agitation to exert pressure on the government which should not be undermined by the major parties. If both the ruling and agitating parties continue to argue on constitutional issues, there seem to be dismal chances of coming to consensus in the near future. Simply inviting for talks without doing proper homework will no...

The Kathmandu Post 20 May 2016 GENUINE VOICES The possibility of political consensus between the ruling and disgruntled parties seem unlikely in the near future with PM Oli terming the continuing Madhes agitation a farce. However, the agitating parties are continuing with their ongoing Kathmandu-centric agitation (“Encouraged, protesters to keep stir flame alive” 18 May, Page 3). If this situation continues to persist due to PM Oli’s stubborn nature and acerbic comments, serious political confrontation between the ruling and agitating parties is possible, thereby pushing the country into another political uncertainty. It is therefore imperative for the political leaders to engage in productive dialogue and resolve the current political and constitutional crisis rather than wasting time feeling the pulse of each other. The Janajati and other disadvantaged groups have also joined hands with the Madhes based parties to exert pressure on the government. Had the gover...

The Himalayan Times 18 May 2016 Show political sincerity Listening to PM Oli terming the Kathmandu centric ongoing agitation of the Federal Alliance (FA) simply a farce “Federal Alliance to protest outside PM’s house today” (THT, 17 May, Page 1), it does not seem that there is a possibility of political consensus between the ruling and agitating parties in near future. If this situation arises, there seems to be appearing another serious political confrontation between them thus creating another political uncertainty. PM Oli led government seems to be prepared to crack down on the FA’s agitation using excessive force which could be very unfortunate for both the government and the agitating forces. They need to sit together for fruitful dialogue without wasting any more time in order to come to consensus and resolve the current political and constitutional crisis rather than feeling the nerves of each other. Security personnel need to exercise more restraint in or...

The Kathmandu Post 13 May 2016 CONTROVERSIAL PLAN It seems that that there must be some clandestine political agenda for the Oli led government to announce that the local polls will be held by December. Otherwise, given the current political mess in the country, it does not seem possible by any means to hold local election by December. However, for many good reasons, it is now imperative to hold this election rather than to keep postponing it for indefinite period. It has not been held for several years. Had it been held earlier, rehabilitation and reconstruction programmes in quake affected areas could have been properly implemented and the development budgets allocated for VDC based projects would also have been appropriately utilised thereby benefiting thousands of local people. The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has been repeatedly claiming that millions of rupees of development budgets have been grossly misutilised by the representatives o...

The Himalayan Times 12 May 2016 Uniformity in fee structure Almost all the private schools in the country seem to be charging exorbitant fees in the past several years due to lack of clearly spelled out policies of the government. If there were any such rules and regulations regarding the fee structures, they did not seem to be strictly followed. There was no proper supervision and monitoring mechanism of the concerned ministry and department to control these irregularities. Each of the private schools collects school fees in its own ways. There is no uniformity and similarity in the fee structures. However, it was interesting to know that the government has now formed high level teams to monitor school fees and physical facilities of the private schools “Joint secy-led high level teams begin school fee monitoring” (THT, 10 May, Page 2). The findings of these monitoring teams should be made public. Based upon their recommendations, the government should be serious...

The Kathmandu Post 8 May 2016 BLAME GAME It is natural in a democracy for the opposition to challenge the performance of any government that does not meet the aspiration of the people. The Oli led government has not been performing well for the last seven months. It has been giving only false promises to the people whose daily lives have been hit hard due to the government’s apathy. Even though unofficial blockade was lifted two months ago, the government has not ensured smooth supply of essential goods. It has not been able to reduce load shedding and control inflation either. It seemed a key coalition partners, the UCPN (Maoist) was also unhappy with the way the government was functioning (“Storm brewing in ruling coalition?” 4 May, Page 1). It would not be surprising if there is a change in government now. In the last ten years, Nepal has seen eight Prime Ministers. But it would not be surprising either if the present government survives for a while. People d...

The Himalayan Times 5 May 2016 Wrong Move It seems that the decision of Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) for detaining Sajha Yatayat Chairperson Kanak Mani Dixit on the charge of amassing property of Sajha Yatayat was not in accordance with the established rules and regulation of Nepal . Also the Special Court ’s earlier order to detain Dixit for further investigation seems to be flawed. Otherwise, why should he be asked by the Supreme Court (SC) to immediately release him from the detention? If he was involved in any wrongdoings based on the black and white proof of CIAA, then the decision of the Special Court to detain him should not be over-ruled by the Supreme Court. It is not the first such case of contradicting decisions of the Supreme Court and the Special Court . There were other corruption cases also in the past which were reversed by the Supreme Court. It is difficult to understand by the common people as to why a court gives p...

The Kathmandu Post 1 May 2016 ACT SOON Many quake victims are still living and languishing in temporary shelters even after one year of the killer quake. Many of them have not even received relief materials and grant money for buying GI sheets. The government took many months to establish National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) which is still understaffed. It is struggling to equip it with adequate staff. The expertise of the chief of NRA has been questioned. However, we still hope that it will realize its vital role and start working with extraordinary efficiency. The quake survivors have kept alive their hopes of receiving grant money from the government so that they can rebuild their permanent shelters before the onset of monsoon. However, lengthy bureaucratic process has been a hurdle. It was encouraging to know that around two dozen Nepali Congress lawmakers have now realized that reconstruction is moving slowly and exerted pressure on Prime Minister K.P. Ol...