CA polls to be held on November 22

KATHMANDU, June 13: The coalition government of Nepal Sunday announced November 22 (Mangsir 6) as the date for the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections leaving 152 days for the elections.The cabinet meeting held at the Prime Minister's office at Singha Durbar fixed the date for holding the elections."The cabinet or the government is fully confident that the elections will be held on November 22," Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Minister for Information and Communications told journalists coming out of the meeting. "Some of the situations for the elections have already been put in place and we will make progress for creating environment for the others in the days ahead," he said in response to the queries of the journalists. Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Ram Chandra Paudel and Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula only said, "The government fixed the date of CA elections to be held on November 22." The cabinet meeting lasted for about two hours took the decision, but Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala exited at 3:45 pm after about half-an-hour of the meeting.This is the first time in the history of Nepal that the Nepalese people will be going for making constitution through their elected representatives.

The cabinet also provided the Electoral Constituency Delineation Commission 21 days to submit its report. The government, after the parliament passed the second amendment in the interim constitution, had attributed the commission formed under the coordination of former Supreme Court Justice Arjun Prasad Singh to review some technical matters of its earlier report.Fifty-five years ago in 1951 (2007 BS) late King Tribhuwan while declaring the end of Rana oligarchy and establishment of multi-democracy in the country had announced that the people themselves will make their constitution through CA elections. But the election was been put off time and again under different pretexts and never happened.The first ever election to the House of Representatives was held in 1959, with Nepali Congress garnering two-thirds majority, but two years later late king Mahendra couped against the elected government in 1961 and started his direct rule under Panchayat system, which lasted for 30 years until 1990.The interim constitution, which was promulgated on January 15, 2007, had provisioned to hold the constituent assembly elections by mid-June. It could not take place, and the parliament amending the provision on June 13 provisioned that the elections should be held by November.

Earlier Nepal has promulgated five constitutions, the first in 2004 BS which was not implemented, and then in 2007, 2019, 2047 and 2063 BS. None of them were made by the representatives of people. The eight-party meeting held on Saturday had suggested the government to fix the date of the CA elections between November 22 to 26. The interim parliament has already approved four bills related to the elections. People will follow mixed system in the elections as per the 'Constituent Assembly Members' Election Act'. The system includes two methods for the elections ? first past the post and proportional representation systems. People need to cast two votes in separate ballot papers. Under the two methods, each will have 240 seats, making the total number of elected representatives for the assembly at 480. There is also provision for nomination of 17 members by the cabinet from among individuals from different walks of national life making the total strength of the CA as 497.The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly will decide the fate of monarchy as per the provision of the interim constitution.

Source: The Rising Nepal, June 25, 2007

Upcoming Interim Plan Achieving Human Prosperity

Lok Nath Bhusal

Amid the ongoing political transition, the National Planning Commission (NPC), the apex planning authority, is trying its best to craft an Interim Plan (IP) for the next three years rather than go ahead with the 11th Five-Year Plan. The Interim Plan is expected to bridge the gap between the current 10th Plan and upcoming 11th Plan. Indeed, it is assumed that the election to the constituent assembly, parliamentary polls and the formation of a new government will take place in the next three years so that the new government is better placed to bring about the 11th Plan. The unique feature of this plan has been its participatory process of formulation as the major political parties are represented in the government and Planning Commission.

ExpectationsNo doubt, given the incompatible ideologies among the different political parties, it will not be easy for the NPC to formulate a quality Interim Plan by synchronising the differences. However, the NPC, with its inclusive formation, expertise and 50 years of planning experience, has been trying hard to bring about a consensus Interim Plan. Essentially, the Interim Plan would be an instrument towards making a modern, prosperous and just Nepal at a time when the country is undergoing a profound political and economic transition.Looking back, Nepal has implemented nine successive development plans, and the current 10th Plan is in its final year. Despite some achievements in the areas of infrastructure and human development, and poverty reduction, this has not been commensurate with the expectations. The Living Standards Survey 2003/04 concludes that absolute poverty has declined by 11 percentage points from 42 per cent to 31 per cent in the last 10 years due to increased agricultural and non-agricultural wages, urbanisation, increase in the active population, and the massive inflow of remittances. However, income inequality, as measured by the Gini Coefficient, has increased from 0.34 to 0.41. In addition, according to the Human Development Report 2006, Nepal has dropped to 138th position from its earlier 136th. However, the Demographic and Health Survey 2006 has revealed that the birth rate, infant and child mortality rate have improved significantly.

One of the most crucial issues has been the inequitable distribution of the fruits of development in the past. The socio-economic status of the dalits, Janajatis, women and people from the remote areas have not improved, and reforms have not been sufficient to address the aspirations of those marginalised groups. Despite the reduction in the overall level of poverty, there are mounting disparities across various ethnic groups. A study ?Unequal Citizens: Gender, Caste and Ethnic Exclusion in Nepal (GESA)?, carried out by the World Bank and DFID, has demonstrated that 47 per cent of the dalits, 44 per cent of various ethnic communities in the hilly region, and 41 per cent of Muslim households live below the poverty line. Obviously, these figures significantly surpass the national average of 31 per cent, 14 per cent for the Newars and 19 per cent for the Bahuns. As a result, majority of the people lacked the feeling that there exists a state favouring them. The major responsibility of the state is to institutionalise the achievements of the historic Jana Andolan II. The upcoming Interim Plan should be based on the people?s spirit expressed during the Jana Andolan, the declaration of the House of Representatives, various agreements signed on the political fronts, and the directive principles and the policies in the proposed constitution. However, according to a study jointly conducted by the National Planning Commission and UNDP, all MDGs are likely to be achieved by 2015 except the ones concerning Universal Primary Education and HIV/AIDS.

The recent political development has provided numerous opportunities for a brighter future. The settlement of the decade-long conflict has brought the political actors closer, opening the doors towards creating an inclusive political landscape. Moreover, a peaceful political environment, commitment to human rights, good governance and the establishment of a loktantric system of government have been very conducive to attracting foreign assistance both in the form of grants and direct investment. The friendly relationships with the giant economies of India and China, with their historic economic growth rates, can be good marketplaces for Nepalese exports, and, thus, ways to earn foreign currency. Indeed, this has created ample opportunities for Nepal?s rapid economic development and to creating an affluent society. Also, the existing cultural, linguistic and regional diversity, and hardworking people would be Nepal?s true human capital towards making a New Nepal.

Furthermore, the mounting tourism potential, if fully exploited, would be instrumental in earning foreign exchange and creating lots of employment opportunities. Likewise, the physical and social infrastructure, efforts and experiences towards good governance and decentralised system of governance made in the last 50 years have provided a solid basis for rapid development. Now the time has come to proceed with these achievements along with innovative ideas and new dynamics. The upcoming Interim Plan should come up with a long-term vision for creating a prosperous, modern and just Nepal. Indeed, prosperity would offset absolute poverty and ensure social empowerment and easy access to quality services. Similarly, a modern Nepal would bring improvements on the thinking of the people about the social, economic and financial status, ensuring the adoption of appropriate technologies and lifestyles. A just Nepal would bridge the gap between the affluent and poor people, and end the legal, social, economic, ethnic and geographical discrimination. Indeed, this would ensure inclusive development, social justice and good governance.

Human prosperityIn order to realise this long-term vision, the major goal of the Interim Plan should be to reducing poverty and attaining economic and human prosperity through good governance, social justice and inclusive development approaches. Essentially, the major goal of the Interim Plan should be to reduce absolute poverty through the creation of employment opportunities, inclusive growth, reconstruction, rehabilitation and reintegration. The major strategies should touch upon employment-oriented, broad-based and inclusive economic growth; good governance in development works and service delivery; emphasis on rural and urban infrastructure development; and adoption of a socially inclusive development approach. The upcoming meeting of the National Development Council will try to address these issues, and formally recommend the government of the approval of the Interim Plan.

Source: The Rising Nepal, June 25, 2007

Enforcing Life Sustaining Rights

Madhavji Shrestha

Respect for human rights in behaviour and action implies the observance of the fundamental rights of citizens that include economic, social and cultural rights. However, situations prevalent in the developing and underdeveloped societies are not conducive for the much-needed economic, social and cultural rights, despite the fact that a democratic environment enables citizens to enjoy civil and political rights. Economic rights are more significant especially in the want and hunger-afflicted societies than civil and political rights, because the former rights lie at the roots of life that nourish the latter civil and political rights. This realisation is now nudging every political party and civil society to call for the creation of a situation amenable to the genuine observance of the economic, social and cultural rights. There is a bigger demand to make these life-sustaining rights enforceable, just like the civil and political rights.

ConditionsHowever, it is very difficult to keep both civil and political rights alongside the economic, social and cultural rights. In a developing country with a nascent democratisation process, it is not only hard but also looks impossible to enforce these rights. At least, three conditions are responsible for the non-enforcement of these rights. First, the political will on the part of the politicians at the helm has not come forth; second, the ability of the government is highly limited in enforcing such rights, and third, the expectations of the people are ever growing. Of course, other factors like socio-economic stagnation and lack of awareness among the masses are also responsible for the non-fulfilment of the much-needed humanitarian needs.However, the recent development in Nepal, in particular, in the political domain and activities seems encouraging and sounds positive in enforcing the economic, social and cultural rights. Undoubtedly, this is an apparent consequence of the people's movement of April 2006 and the subsequent socio-political events following the democratisation process. Various provisions incorporated in the interim constitution of Nepal promulgated on January 15, 2007 point toward the direction of making the Nepali society egalitarian and democratic. However, their implementation is eagerly awaited as the country now being run by the interim coalition government of the eight political parties of various leanings is facing political and sectarian hurdles. The ability of the current government to deliver the goods is being questioned everywhere, even by the politically non-interested man. They point out to the continued dismal failure of the government to maintain even the primary condition of the law and order, leave alone any noticeable measure ever taken for the upliftment of the socially and economically downtrodden people. Discontent among the common people is fast spreading.

The insertion of the right to employment and other economic, social and cultural facilities as fundamental rights in the interim constitution of Nepal is politically significant, indicating the political parties' willingness to give greater impetus to the welfare and progress of the needy people. This has come about as a consequence of the people's pressure, on the one hand, while, on the other, this has been clearly encouraged and guided by the resolution on the International Covenant on the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as adopted by the UN in 1966, which was decreed to come into force in 1976. However, to the surprise of all, the provisions contained in this internationally important resolution remains the pious wishes of the United Nations. They also resemble the content of the Directive Principles of the State Policy inserted at the beginning of any progressive and democratic constitution of a nation especially after the end of the Second World War. So in the case of Nepal, the insertion of the progressive economic and social rights in the interim constitution has, thus, given the impression that they are non-implementable and has hardly generated hope for the people.If the politicians at the helm genuinely desire to implement the important provisions of the economic and social rights in a convincing way, they must be resolute with unshakable political will and firm determination to pursue the concerned matter to its hilt. All major political parties, too, must brace up to prod the government to make its capability effective in implementing the provisions. To help realise these rights, due attention needs to be paid to the following propositions in the prevailing Nepali context.

Requisite financial resources can be found within the budgetary management of Nepal. Huge expenditures spent on the military and armed forces and the larger amount of money spent by the government for intelligence purposes are indeed non-productive and in a way hamper socio-economic development. The drastic curtailment of such non-essential expenditures is possible and lies within justifiable parameters. These financial resources, thus, saved could be diverted towards the direction of creating conditions for the observance of economic, social and cultural rights of the people, especially the important rights requiring expenditure from the state coffer.The federal structure as agreed by the eight political parties a few months earlier will naturally become an example of granting the socio-cultural rights to the people of different ethnic origin and various regions of Nepal. However, the federal structure itself will be hardly sufficient to grant the socio-cultural rights unless what the political experts call non-centralisation is maintained both in spirit and letter. The provisions contained therein ought to be put in action not only between the central and state governments but also among various ethnic, religious and linguistic groups living within the state units of the federal system. Among the social and cultural rights, educational, health and ethnic identity-related rights are far more important than any other rights. Specific provisions need to be put in place for the observance of these rights.

Although the UN had passed the resolution on the economic, social and cultural rights four decades ago, the world body has remained passive in forcing the member-states implement the provisions. The UN as a universal organisation commanding respect of the developing countries, in general, should move towards providing convincing schemes and programmes to the needy member-states with assistance from certain funds. It would be even better to link these rights with the much-hyped Millennium Development Goals now in progress worldwide. The UN must be able to stand for reinforcing respect for the economic and social rights of human beings.Moral obligationThe developed democracies also have some important obligations to enforcing these economic and social rights in Nepal. After all, these rights are, in essence, the human rights of the citizens of Nepal. If they are very watchful over the question of human rights, they should, in no way, remain behind in giving the required assistance for the maintenance of these rights.If the election to the constituent assembly, albeit delayed by several months, could be held by mid-November this year satisfactorily, it will certainly come to play an exemplary role in the political history of Nepal. The constituent assembly will be a political organ in ensuring the observance of the economic, social and cultural rights.

Source: The Rising Nepal, June 25, 2007

Bandarmude

The members of the eight party alliance, the general public, the international community, and everybody who is concerned about the deteriorating situation in Nepal have gone hoarse demanding that Maoists respect the rule of law and stop taking the law into their own hands. Instead of abating the spree of violence and highhandedness, the Maoists have been emboldened by the apathy and ineptitude of the government to maintain the security situation in the country. The height of highhandedness has been exposed recently when the Maoists' youth wing Young Communist League (YCL) threatened to kill the people who were injured in the worst-ever killing of innocent people by the Maoists during the insurgency, at Bandarmude of Madi Chitwan on June 6, 2005 in an orchestrated landmine blast: 39 people were killed and 72 were injured.

The threat to Madi victims came for their nine-point demand and also for the dispute about the memorial to be erected. The chairman of the Victims Committee Mukti Neupane, vice chairman Krishna Adhikari and two members Sudeep Niure and Shyam Bista have been threatened with death by Maoist cadres for their strong voice against the Maoists, and the demand for compensation and medical treatment among others. The issue of mentioning the Maoists, as being responsible for the incident, in the plaque of the memorial that is being planned to be erected at the blast site has also created a rift between blast victims and local Maoist leaders. The Maoists, as reported, are creating the scene just to avoid mention of their party's name as the culprits for the blast. The cause of the blast is a crucial issue, so without mentioning the name of the perpetrators, there would be no point erecting a memorial.

The Maoists could have utilized Bandarmude as an example of their changed attitude. Instead, they used the issue to prove that the party has not given up threats and violence to terrorize people and suppress voices against them. The YCL cadres have even threatened victims not to contact journalists, which is an example of their unchanged attitude. Even CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Nepal -- who has been talking of a left alliance -- has been compelled to mention that YCL atrocities against hapless people are actually worse than reported. Nepal has come to the conclusion after visiting different districts. And we believe he is right. It is high time Maoists took the complaints against them seriously, and changed their attitude and behavior. The top leadership is turning a deaf ear to the complaints because they think otherwise the party dissenters would win over the violence-loving cadres. However, the Post strongly believes that if they can convince the cadres to behave well, they could become popular and would be able to erase the negative image of their past.

Source: The Kathmandu Post, June 25, 2007

Democratic practice : Will it be sustainable in Nepal?

Ganga Thapa

Scholars studying the fragmentation of authoritarian regimes and their transition to democracy do not believe that political, social and economic institutions must be strengthened before the regime is strong enough to face future crises. Realists, however, note that transition to democracy is a more delicate issue than stabilisation in war-torn states, hence it is preferable to go about political accommodation slowly and steadily. Since the April Awakening, the problem of governance has acquired prominence. Indicators suggest that the support for democratic institutions is deteriorating due to the lack of reform and political transformation. The challenge of transition to democratic rule is hence formidable.The issues of regime change are closely linked with the state as conceived in the Weberian term: No state, no democracy.

In other words, the process of regime change that leads to state decay or state collapse reduces the prospect of democracy. Nepal’s is a case of systematic failure stemming from inequality, social exclusion, bureaucratic politics and ignorance. In fact, the pressure to democratise in 1990s has resulted in relative political party stability and the emergence of new political and social forces. But the failure to create a new reality has only increased inequality and created chaos. In Nepal’s context, neither the level of social trust nor the number of political parties is correlated with the level of democracy. Even if we consider Nepal a democracy in the aftermath of the royal autocracy, the overall response must come as a revolutionary change of the whole system, particularly by adopting political strategies to combat exclusion, racism, oppression and achieve recognition and legitimacy for the establishment of a free and democratic state. That requires an egalitarian society and large-scale public trust for democracy, political institutions, and system of governance.

Nepal’s is a clear example of what Princeton Professor Kohli describes as ‘two-track’ democracy, involving ‘realistic utopia’ in which common people are needed only at election time. Then they are expected to let the elite run the pro-business show, whether through autocratic or democratic means. Conflict lies at the heart of politics. It might be described in multiple ways like “privatisation of politics” and “new aristocracy” and its magnitude gauzed through the institutional dimensions of democracy, viz representation, participation, deliberation and inclusion. While many casual factors have to be taken into account to determine whether a state is sufficiently democratic, the prospects of democracy are enhanced when opposition demands are amenable to negotiated resolutions, even in “weak” or “failed states”.All post-autocracy regimes focus on developing necessary conditions for successful transition to democracy, but the mainstream politics will still be subject to contestations. Almost all the ruling elites, the principal agents of democratisation, have become inherently non-democratic of late. The end of the Cold War heralded a tectonic shift in international politics and exposed the societies to the challenges arising from cultural diversity and pluralism. Nepal was no exception, with its state apparatus marked with authoritarian centralisation. When the fact that the stability of political system depends on whether or not the elites follow democratic norms is realised, the current deficit of political pluralism will stand exposed. In fact, all efforts to conceptualise democracy should explicitly acknowledge the multidimensional nature of the concept of democracy.

The sustainability of democracy depends on popular sovereignty, economic growth, social inclusion, freedom of expression and freedom from all forms of economic exploitation. When a country passes a threshold marked by deeper problems of citizens’ participation, economic growth, democratic values and education; connivance among political circles, mafia-like economic structures; and lacks serious commitment to address them, we reach a dead-end. Nepal has time and again suffered at the hands of the political leaders who develop vested interests. For example, PM Koirala presents himself as a political moderate, but he has an immoderate mindset, with all its ambiguities and contradictions.There seems to be an unceasing quest for a political system that would bring about stability and peace, yet, according to Immanuel Kant, a republican order is the first condition for peace. Indeed, in a democracy, all social groups should have access to policymaking with the elites actively sharing power. The rise of communist forces – especially those who want Lenin and Mao’s ideology to be elevated to the status of state religion — unwittingly provide a basis for right-wing extremism or ‘crypto-fascist’ tendencies. Democracy entails representation of diverse interests. At present, populist leaders are posing as its major threats.

Source: The Himalayan Times, June 20, 2007