Cabinet Expansion

THE long spell of curiosity is now over as Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has expanded the Council of Ministers formed almost three months back. The new 41-member cabinet consists of 18 Ministers, 16 Ministers of State and seven Assistant Ministers. The cabinet consists of more than half new faces and energetic figures, while the rest are experienced hands, who have already served in the cabinet more than once. Prime Minister Deuba has given appropriate geographical, racial and regional consideration. The expansion of the cabinet had long been due as some ministers had been holding more than one portfolio. As the country is beset with numerous social, economic and political problems, an effective cabinet was of urgent necessity to cope with them. Now the 20th session of parliament is also over and the cabinet has also been expanded, the government seems to be serious to get down to business to tackle the problems of the country and at the same time raise the social and economic status of the people and the nation. The size of the cabinet, undoubtedly, appears to be a little large given the country’s size, its economy and population. For this, the Prime Minister Deuba may have to face criticism from certain quarters. One thing needs to be made clear here is that Prime Minister Deuba, on the one hand, has had the responsibility to maintain political equation within his own party while it was also necessary to make the cabinet more efficient so that it could deliver the goods to the people as per their expectations. The foremost task that the government has in front of it is to provide a sense of security to the people by containing the Maoist insurgency, for which peace talks have already been initiated. At the same time, it has to engage itself in the task of socio-economic transformation of the country for the better. This is the need of the hour. Given the complex situation of the country and the numerous problems, the Council of Ministers must concentrate all its energy in effectively dealing with every contingency. Though a large cabinet definitely creates more pressure on the exchequer, the country would be facing more problems and economic crisis if the cabinet becomes ineffective in the name of making it small for austerity reasons. At present, it is important and necessary to give greater consideration to efficiency instead of counting the number of cabinet members. The present cabinet is expected to prove its worth by taking off seriously, effectively and efficiently for the greater welfare of the people and the country.

Fruitful Session

THE 20th session of Parliament was prorogued the other day. The session had run for almost four months. Starting from June 25, it lasted some 116 days with meetings taking up over 269 hours. But what made the session was special was that the Bills that could not be passed in the 19th session were able to get the approval of both the Houses of Parliament. It may be worthwhile noting that the winter session dubbed as the Bill session could not see any Bills getting through. In that sense the 20th session could be said to be fruitful in that altogether 22 Bills were passed including 4 new ones. Of course, besides the very important Bill related to land reforms, many Bills related to vital issues like the one on property rights to women are to be presented in the next session. This shows that though the session was quite extended the commensurate achievement did not come about. Despite this, the just concluded session must be acclaimed as being fruitful.

The session saw noisy scenes in the beginning with the main opposition party CPN (UML) demanding the resignation of the then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. Before Deuba became the Prime Minister, the main opposition party did not allow the House to conduct its business. It was at this juncture that the government overtures paid off with the Maoists agreeing to sit down for talks. Together with it came Prime Minister Deuba’s declaration of a revolutionary land reform programme that included a ceiling on land holdings. Despite the bright side of the land ceiling the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP) stalled the House proceeding demanding a ceiling on property, howsoever it was not in tune with the times. However, the House proceedings were able to move and that saw the Bills being passed. He also gave the assurance that the Bills over which the other political parties had reservation and which could not be passed in the session would be presented in the next session with appropriate amendments based on national consensus. Meanwhile speaker of the Lower House Taranath Ranabhat felt that positive signs had emerged as the government and the opposition parties are seeing eye to eye on important national issues.