20th House Session
AS summoned by His Majesty King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah
Dev, the 20th session of the parliament begins Monday. The session, which is also called
the budget session, is going to pass annual policies, programmes and budget of the
government for the Fiscal Year 2000/01. Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary
Affairs Mahanta Thakur said in an interaction programme in Kathmandu the other day that
all the necessary preparations have already been completed for the forthcoming budget
session. A total of 15 bills have already been registered in the Parliament Secretariat
for parliamentary passage and some more may be registered later. This session will have to
do additional work because some important Bills, which had been presented in the 19th
session of parliament, are pending because of continued disruption of the proceedings of
the House. In a parliamentary system of government, the parliament is the supreme body
where issues relating to the people and the nation are discussed. The people elected their
representatives to the parliament to raise their issues and have policies and programmes
made in their best interest and the interest of the nation. If the lawmakers lock horns
for their partisan interests ignoring the issues and problems of the nation, it would be a
mere waste of time and a betrayal to the people. National interest should always be kept
above individual and partisan interests. Conflicts and compromise are the essence of
democracy. Political parties do differ and disagree on different issues but they must
finally compromise and arrive at an amicable conclusion in the best interest of the
nation. But it seems that our political parties, both ruling and opposition, have not been
able to rise above their partisan interests. Now the country is marred by a host of
problems. Attacking poverty and raising the social and economic standards of the people
are the major challenges for development at present. Cooperation and collective efforts
among all political forces are indispensable to expedite development. At the same time,
certain elements are at work to defame and sabotage democracy for their petty interest. A
group of misguided people have waged an armed struggle in the name of Maoist movement,
which has created an atmosphere of terror in several parts of the country. As development
is not possible without peace and security, the attention of the political parties and the
government needs to be directed to maintain law and order and provide a sense of the
security to the people. These are the burning problems at present. The 20th Session of
parliament is, thus, expected to focus on these burning issues and problems. The need of
the hour is to brush aside individual and partisan interests and engage collectively in
the process of nation building.
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