Leaders assess session, flay attacks on infrastructures

Kathmandu, Apr. 17 (RSS): Leader of the opposition and CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal has said that the current session has been an important session because of the passage of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) second amendment bill, the corruption control bill, the impeachment bill and bills concerning political parties, women’s rights and trafficking in humans.

Giving a concluding speech at the second meeting of the House of Representatives today, Nepal criticised the government for failing to bring any proposals on amendment to the Constitution despite the commitment made by the Prime Minister.

He said amendment of the Constitution could sweep away evils and aberrations by bringing economic, cultural and social reforms and resolve the Maoist problem.

Although the problems are created by the political parties, they are themselves capable of resolving them, he said, adding that we now have to fight against status quoism, the Nepali people will never accept regression, and dynamism for changes is the need of the day.

Nepal said no one should tarnish the morale of the security forces, adding that the Maoists should not undertake acts such as dismantling of physical infrastructures and organising Nepal Bandh programmes and called on them to create an atmosphere for talks by stopping murder and violence.

Nepal said the government should find alternate ways for resolution of the Maoist problem and urged the government to establish a nationalities academy.

President of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party Surya Bahadur Thapa wished that the new year will help resolve the problems faced by the country.

He said the remarkable aspect of the session is the passage of important bills including
those concerning the CIAA, impeachment, and corruption and that now there no longer remains any pretext for the bodies not to take action against the corrupt.

Thapa accused the government of not acting with readiness to amend the Constitution and not taking a liberal view on social reforms.

The country’s problems should be resolved through national consensus, Badri Prasad Mandal of the Nepal Sadbhawana Party said, and asked for evaluation as to what the 21st session gave to the poor of the country and called for socio-economic changes.

He said amendment of the Constitution is necessary for radical changes to resolve murder and violence, unemployment and poverty.

Chitra Bahadur K.C. of the Rastriya Janamorcha said the country has been facing murder and violence never seen by the country in all its history, and alleged that efforts have been made to snatch away the achievement of the 1990 people’s movement and called on the ruling and opposition to be alert over this.

Ratification of bills on prevention of abuse of authority and corruption control in the current session can be taken as an achievement of the 21st session of Parliament, he said, expressing the view that it would have been a great relief to the people if amendments could have been made in the Constitution.

Lila Mani Pokharel of the United People’s Front said that several important bills have been passed by the current parliamentary session.

The endorsement of the state of emergency by Parliament has further intensified the sense of insecurity and so many people lost their lives during the period, he said, adding that proposals such as those for a constituent assembly and constitutional amendments had also come up during this period as a way towards resolving the problem.

Narayan Man Bijukchhe of Nepal Workers and Peasants’ Party drew the attention of the House to several problems dogging the country and pointed out that the two major political parties of the country should not bully the smaller ones.

House benchmarks: 15 bills endorsed

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Apr. 17: The 21st session of Parliament, which came to an end today, has approved 15 bills, a record number of such approvals in seven years.

The bills passed by both Houses of Parliament include four much-talked about bills on the Commission for Investigation of the Abuse of Authority, Corruption Control, the Impeachment Act, and the Provision for a Special Court. Political parties including the ruling and the main opposition benches had lobbied for the passage of these bills for the past few months.

One major achievement of the session was to approve the Women’s Bill giving them equal property rights as men.

The two-month long session of both the Upper and the Lower Houses, which began on February 10, saw two ordinances brought to control terrorism and disruptive actions and to increase revenues get through with a whopping majority.

The National Assembly or the Upper House of Parliament played a crucial role in approving and making amendments in bills. The Assembly, where representatives from the opposition political parties outnumber the ruling lawmakers, passed two bills, one each on CIAA and on Corruption Control with some amendments on them yesterday.

With the National Assembly’s approval, the newly enacted Corruption Control Law would prohibit any convicted politician from taking part in elections for a period of five years.

However, the much-talked about bill on the Constitution Amendment was, not tabled at the Parliament, which dashed hopes of the Opposition parties who were earlier rallying behind such a bill.

The bill session of Parliament endorsed bills on the Political Parties, the Civil Code, the Copyrights Act, the Road Board, the Foreign Exchange and the Financial Act. It ratified the bills on the provision for Nepal Chartered Accountant and National Loan Acts.

21st session significant

Kathmandu, Apr. 17 (RSS): At the meeting of the National Assembly today, chairman Dr. Mohammad Mohsin provided the information that the 21st session began on February 10 and concluded today on April 17, that is, it continued for 67 days and during the period, meetings were held 37 times on 31 days while 52 hours and 10 minutes were spent on deliberations.

Two of the bills that originated in the National Assembly during the session are in the stage of clause-wise discussions at special committee while three of the four bills under consideration from past sessions at special committee were passed together with reports. The National Assembly also approved the message along with the report of the House of Representatives concerning two passed bills.

Twelve bills originating at the House of Representatives were tabled at the meeting of the National Assembly. Among them, four finance bills were were sent back with suggestions, four finance bills were sent back without suggestions and three other bills were sent back without suggestions. One of the bills has been sent to special committee for clausewise discussions.

The National Assembly adopted with suggestions and amendments six of the bills originating at the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives approved the sugestions and amendment.

Likewise, the Terrorist and Destructive Activities (prevention and control) Ordinance 2058 and the Finance (first amendment) Ordinance 2058 were presented in the session.

The session held discussions on a motion of public importance tabled by Dr. Rup Jyoti.

Twenty-one oral and two written questions were asked in the session. Also, replies to 17 oral and two written questions were tabled.

During the session, the National Assembly expressed profound grief at the demise of its former member Rohini Dev Bhatta, sitting MP Gajendra Narayan Singh and Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Lower House of Indian Parliament, G.M.C. Balayogi and adopted condolence resolutions.

Earlier, an annual report of the National Human Right Commision 2058 was tabled.

Likewise, the second report of the social justice committee 2058, fourth report of the remote region committee, 2058, fifth report of the governmental assurances committee 2058 and the first report on the monitoring and evaluation sub committee of the government assurances committee were presented to the National Assembly.

During the session, the Prime Minister gave information on the incidents at Achham triggered by the Maoists and also on his official goodwill visit to India. He also replied to questions on the views expressed publicly by the Chief of the Army Staff. Other ministers also gave statement of public importance on eight various topics.

Assets declaration forms reach PM, high officials

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Apr. 17: The new form for the declaration of the assets and properties are developed to minimise the chance of hiding wealth and property.

"The new forms require the fillers to disclose all their property, both movable and fixed, both personal, members of family and of the relatives, if needed," said Bhairab Prasad Lamsal, Chairman of the High-level Judicial Commisson for the Investigation of Property.

The Commission sent Tuesday the property declaration forms to over 500 politicians, MPs, judges and justices and high government officials requiring them to submit the forms within 15 days of receiving them.

Lamsal said they include Prime Minister and the members of the cabinet, chief justice and justices of the Supreme Court, judges of the Appellate Courts, members of both the houses of the parliament, chief of the constitutional bodies, chief secretary of the government and special class officials, general managers of the public enterprises and other autonomous bodies, chairman and deputy of the District Development Committees, mayor and deputy mayors, ambassadors and other politically appointed persons.

The members of the commission and all the staff are also required to fill the form.

All forms will be investigated and will be verified through banks, stock market, land tax offices and from other sources, Lamsal said.

"We may even ask the public for information if we are suspicious about any form," Lamsal said. The commission has even the authority to call the person for explanation and to search the houses, he said.

Lamsal said that the declarations would not be made public until the report is submitted to His Majesty the King.

The commission was formed by His Majesty on March 8 in an attempt to fight corruption, which is often alleged to have marred the government sector. The commission is authorised by law to make investigations in whatever way it thinks appropriate to discharge the duty given to it.

Lamsal said the 500 or so in the first lot is only a beginning. The first lot contains government officials of first class and above. We will be sending firms to lower level bureaucratic officials, Lamsal said. But Lamsal said their job is only to investigate and submit the report to the government with suggestions. "It is the government which has to take action," he said.

Nepal’s population 23,151,423: Census

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Apr. 17: Nepal’s population reached 23,151,423 by June 21 last year. The number of males stood at 11,563,921 and that of females 11,587,502.

Of all the Nepalese, 14.20 per cent (3,227,879) live in urban areas and 85.80 per cent (19,923,544) in rural areas. The total number of households was 4,253,220.

The population growth rate during the last decade was 2.24, down from 2.27 earlier.

The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) today said terrorist activities hindered data collection in most of the Village Development Committees (VDCs) in Salyan and Kalikot and in some VDCs of Jhapa,
Siraha, Sindhuli, Dolakha, Sindhupalchok, Surkhet, Dopla, Jumla, Mugu and Bajura. The CBS could not get any data from 83 VDCs.

The CBS estimated that the population in 78,846 households in 957 Wards of these districts was 414,489 with 204,543 males and 209,946 females.

Excluding the estimated figures, the total population stood at 22,736,934 with 11,359,378 males and 11,377,556 females.

Of all these people, 6.97 per cent live in the mountain region, 43.97 per cent in the hills and 49.06 per cent in the plains.

According to the National Population Census 2001 report made public this afternoon, 23.25 per cent people live in the Eastern Development Region, 35.13 per cent in the Central Region, 20.10 per cent in the Western Region, 11.91 per cent in the Mid-western Region and 9.60 per cent in the Far-western Region. The census had been held during the second and third week of June 2001.

Of all the people, 80.62 per cent are Hindus, followed by 10.74 per cent Buddhists, 4.20 per cent Islam and 3.60 per cent Kirats.

Over 88 per cent people own houses while 8.91 per cent live in rented accommodation.

The CBS report showed that 75.6 per cent of the households have agricultural land while 24.4 per cent own none. According to the report, 71.5 per cent of households keep livestock and birds.

In only 5.51 per cent of all households, the women own the house; in 10.84 per cent of households they own land, and in 7.24 per cent they own livestock.

Over 20 per cent of all the households are involved in small-scale non-agriculture activities.

The report said that over 65 per cent of households use firewood as fuel, followed by 13.5 per cent using kerosene, 9.97 per cent cow dung, 7.67 per cent liquid petroleum gas, and 1.66 per cent bio-gas. Nearly 53 per cent of all households do not have a toilet.

Of all the households, 53.40 per cent have a radio, 23.80 per cent have television and only 6.33 per cent have a telephone line.

Only 9.0 per cent of all people over six pass the School Certificate Exams and only 2.68 per cent are college graduates. Nearly 40 per cent of all people over six cannot read and write.

The number of people living abroad is 762,181, among them, 82,712 women.

The report said 0.45 per cent of the population are disabled.

End of terror state priority: PM
Closing address at Parliament

Kathmandu, Apr. 17 (RSS): Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has expressed confidence that the 21st session of Parliament, which has successfully concluded even in circumstances when the country is having to grapple with unfavourable situation, has further consolidated and reformed Nepal’s democratic system based on constitutional monarchy and parliamentary system.

In his concluding remarks at the House of Representatives at the end of the 21st session of Parliament today, Prime Minister Deuba expressed hearty gratitude on behalf of His Majesty’s Government for the parliamentary partnership and cooperation received from MPs and political parties represented in Parliament.

He said that the terrorists, in the name of Maoists, were making an inexcusable assault on the nation, democracy and civil liberties by dismantling the basic infrastructures of public service, using the general public as a human shield, engaging in manslaughter and creating panic and terror in society.

The country is in a difficult situation at present as they (Maoist terrorists) are engaged in crime against humanity, he added.

All the security agencies of the country including the Royal Nepal Army are at present engaged in the task of maintaining peace by reining in terrorism, Prime Minister Deuba said, adding that the endorsement of the state of emergency by an overwhelming majority of Parliament and the full approval by Parliament of the bill designed to replace the ordinance promulgated in a bid to controlling terrorist activities have established the fact that the entire country is one against terrorism.

Prime Minister Deuba remarked that the moral and physical support Nepal has received from the international community in its fight against terrorism was an outcome of that solidarity against terrorism.

In this context, I would like to give my special thanks to the people and government of India for the cooperation which has started coming from the southern neighbour in the task of searching for the Maoists who have escaped to India after carrying out terrorist activities in Nepal, he added.

Pointing out that the foremost priority of the state at present is to restore peace in the country by putting an end to the series of killings, violence, looting and terrorism, he expressed the view that democracy cannot be strengthened, people cannot get basic services and facilities and development works cannot be pursued smoothly unless the country is freed from the grip of terrorism.

All the security bodies are fighting bravely in the remote areas of the country by remaining active for the protection of democracy and restoring peace, Prime Minister Deuba said and added that it is the duty of us all to provide every possible cooperation to them for boosting their morale in their task of reining in terrorism.

The solidarity against terrorism shown by political parties and MPs in course of the current session of Parliament is an important step towards that end, he said, adding- at this hour, I salute the audacity and the sense of duty shown by all the security personnel who are working faithfully for the sake of restoring peace in the country, while at the same time holding in high esteem the brave sons of mother Nepal who have sacrificed themselves in protecting the country.

He recalled that the ratification by Parliament of the Bill on controlling corruption, which stands as the main obstacle for the socio-economic development of the country, and many other bills including the bill on empowerment of women would prove to be milestones for socio-economic transformation.

He said provisions of long-term importance such as the commission for corruption investigation, the women and Dalit commissions and the Janajati Academy constituted by His Majesty’s Government and the women’s rights bill and the bill on corruption control passed by Parliament can be expected to prove important in bringing about transparency in governance and uplifting the backward communities.

Prime Minister Deuba observed that the political consensus, the convergence of views of different political parties on major national issues and the unequivocal concern and views expressed on protecting the fruits of the 1990 people’s movement that have developed in course of this session have contributed in injecting extra energy for the protection and promotion of our democratic system.

We have got to undertake many tasks together speedily through partnership, he reiterated.

The continuous interaction between the political parties and sharing and exchange of goodwill and cooperation with a sense of duty towards the state are some of the important aspects of this session, he said, adding that garnering all-party consensus on issues of national importance and moving ahead on the basis of that has become a part of the working style of the present government.

In this connection, I heartily thank all the political parties for the goodwill and cooperation extended by them, the Prime Minister said and reiterated that His Majesty’s Government was and is always ready to work in cooperation with all in future also on matters concerning fighting terrorism, socio-economic reforms and any other issues of national interest.

The Prime Minister concluded his speech by extending best wishes on the occasion of the New Year 2059 and wished that the new year would be a year of bliss and happiness for the country and for all the MPs at a personal level.