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...