HELLO NEPAL

The Kathmandu Post 23 September 2016 TIME FOR SERIOUSNESS It was encouraging to read the news article (“Serious crimes will be prosecuted: PM” 22 Sept, Page 1) when the country is currently led by Prime Minister Pushpa K. Dahal who headed the decade long insurgency against the state. Speaking at a programme organized to mark the International Day of Peace in the Capital, PM Dahal vowed to bring the perpetrators of serious crime to book. Doing and saying are two different things. Many promises were made to the people by the senior leaders of all the major parties at different times. Most of those promises remain unfulfilled. It is time for the Dahal led government also to complete the peace process. Such an opportunity may not come for him if he does not take it seriously given that he himself is currently at the helm of the government. Everybody knows that the conflict victims are still waiting for justice and fear that there could be blanket amnesty allowing the perpet...

The Himalayan Times 22 Sept. 2016 Resolve the crisis The government does not still seem to be ready to swiftly act on resolving the ongoing political and constitutional problems which had surfaced immediately after promulgation of the new constitution one year ago. For unknown reasons, the major parties wanted to promulgate the new constitution in-spite of taking more time to resolve the critical issues raised by disgruntled parties. As a result, more than 50 innocent people lost their lives due to excessive use of forces. Ordinary people had to excessively suffer from the Indian blockade and Madhes unrest. It was so sad and unfortunate to see the people in the tarai protesting against the new constitution hoisting black flags and burning tyres here and there on the first constitution celebration day as the black day “Black Day observed to protest constitution” (THT, 20 September, Page 7). Here in the capital city, government had celebrated this day with much hi-fi. Pr...

The Kathmandu Post 11 September 2016 TIME RUNNING OUT Time seems to be running fast for the government to implement the new constitution. In the remaining 18 months, all the three tiers of elections should be held without any excuses. Unless the Dahal led coalition government bring out a detailed work plan for the next 18 months and try to strictly follow it, the chances of Nepal to be federated seem dismal. Question may arise here as to what will happen if the government failed to enact the law related to the elections on time. What will happen if the government fails to implement the new constitution by the end of the remaining 18 months? Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, while directing the members of High-level Federalism Implementation and Restructuring Directive Committee in his office, has instructed them to work firmly for the implementation of federalism (“Work firmly to implement federalism: Pm to officials” 7 September, Page 3). But saying and doi...

The Himalayan Times 8 September 2016 Impossible There are many challenges and opportunities for the Prachanda-led coalition government. His government needs to be committed to resolving the political and constitutional problems first that has gripped the nation for long. Unless these problems are sorted out, there does not seem any possibility of holding polls as claimed by the government “Govt. committed to holding local polls, says PM” (THT, 5 September Page 6). So far, there does not seem any indication of resolving the demarcation of Pradeshes which is one of the major demands of the disgruntled parties. On the other hand, the Election Commission (EC) has been claiming that it could hold all the three tier of elections provided it receive the necessary laws on time. EC needs at-least 90 days to prepare for holding the polls. If the government could enact the necessary laws by mid September as claimed by Prime Minister Pushpa K. Dahal, the chances of holding t...

The Kathmandu Post 4 September 2016 PRIDE FOR NEPAL There was a time when not many Nepali women used to show enthusiasm and interest in joining the army and other security forces. Now, the times have changed. Women’s numbers have significantly increased in the security forces. Each force has now separate units for women personnel motivating more of them to join and serve the nation and its people. Once Nepal started sending its women army members to peace keeping mission in Lebanon from 2012, their jobs as peace keepers were found to be outstanding and was praised by the UN. (UN seeks more Napali female peacekeepers” 31 August, Page 1). The Minister for Foreign Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat said that it was a matter of pride for Nepal while receiving a visiting UN official in his office. The UN has requested Nepal to increase female participation in peace keeping operations in line with the former’s goal of having more women in its mission globally. It is sa...

The Himalayan Times 31 August 2016 Market Monitoring The government is yet to make its market monitoring and supervision mechanism more effective to ensure that the service seekers and consumers are not being cheated by the service providers and wholesalers, retailers, hoteliers, restaurants, medical stores, pharmaceuticals, dairy production houses and so on.   It does so in its own ways rather than doing on a regular basis. However, it was encouraging to know that the Department of Supply Management and Consumer Protection has started doing market monitoring “Two pathology labs sealed; grocery, meat shops warned” (THT, 30 August, Page 2). The government has its all the systems and mechanisms. However, most of them are in dormant condition, slow, inactive, ineffective and corrupt.   Some of them only are found to be effective. Because of these reasons, the consumers and service seekers continue to be harassed and cheated on a regular basis. No body liste...