HELLO NEPAL

The Himalayan Times 30 January 2020 Is it right or wrong? Nepal has been practicing multi-party parliamentary democracy for the last three decades. A multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for local, provincial and national elections, and all may have the opportunity to run the government, separately or in coalition. Political parties field their candidates for the elections. People elect their representatives through ballots who would then enter the parliament, which is the supreme legislative body, as a lawmaker responsible for multiple functions such as enacting and debating proposed new legislation, scrutinizing the actions of the government and attending parliamentary party meetings. There has been a growing interest more than ever before in issues related to democracy and good governance around the world. This may be a reflection of the increasing acceptance of the fact that democracy...

The Himalayan Times 23 January 2020 Patriarchal mindset People have seen many political ups and downs in the past that always remained to be their prime concerns for many good reasons. The Maoist’s ten year long war, the second Jana Andolan, promulgation of the new constitution, election of three tiers of elections were the turning point in Nepal’s political history. Political uncertainty in the country continued to bother the people in many sense until the general elections held under the new constitution. People had participated in elections, hoping to see political stability in the country resulting in peace and prosperity in the long run.   All the political parties, j ust before drafting the new constitution, used to talk a lot about the inclusive democracy, which would install a truly independent and democratic system of governance with equitable participation of different communities, women, Dalits, Indigenous peoples and Madhesis.   ...

The Himalayan Times 16 January 2020 More authority to CIAA? Democracy does not flourish well unless the concerned players are committed to the universally accepted standard norms and values. Meritocracy, transparency and accountability are its key elements. According to the Universal Declaration 0n Democracy, democracy is a universally recognised ideal as well as a goal, which is based on common values shared by peoples throughout the world community irrespective of the cultural, political, social and economic differences. It is founded on the primacy of the law and the exercise of human rights.  I am wondering these days whether our constitutional bodies have been given the liberty to fully and impartially carry out their assigned functions. For example, the Interim Constitution of 2007 had given the CIAA authority to probe improper acts of public office holders and that of private organizations as these improper acts used to be closely linked with the co...

The Himalayan Times 9 January 2020 Respect people’s voice Nepal is known for its varied geographical structure and its multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic population living together harmoniously for decades. Since its inception, it never had to face any communal and religious disturbances and violence by its people, who always respected each other’s coexistence and dignity. Respecting each other’s culture and religion, people of different social background and castes used to and hopefully will continue to live happily together. Due to ups and downs in the political situation, the harmonious environment was however, disturbed, especially during the 10 year-long Maoist movement. Age- old social and cultural bonds among the people were disturbed and had to live with suspicious and fear. Thousands of innocent people lost their lives in the name of political change. However, soon after the Comprehensive Peace Accord was signed between the seven-party allia...

The Himalaya Times 2January 2020 Health delivery system Among the South Asian Countries, Nepal, despite its varied topographical structure, has a very good health delivery system at the local levels. The government’s initiation to establish sub-health posts and health posts, in-spite many difficulties and constraints, in the then every Village Development Council (VDC) in the past was noteworthy. In addition, the establishment of Primary Health Care Centre(PHC) at each Ilaka level was remarkable. Additionally, the presence of District Hospital in all the 75 districts had played a significant role in monitoring and supervision of all those local level health service outlets. All these local level health service outlets were and are responsible to provide basic health services to the local people at their door steps.   However, the effectiveness of these health service outlets in providing quality health service totally depends on the regular supply of medicines...