Amendment Of The Constitution
Is It The Only Way Out?

By Prem N. Kakkar

THE country cannot be said to be going through easy times seeing the Maoist violence and the noticeable economic slackness. One of the basic foundations of the Nepalese economy is tourism and this has suffered greatly owing to the negative publicity in the tourist generating markets. Moreover, with the terrorists targetting communication and power generating infrastructures, problems have cropped up not only with the industrial sector but also with the general life of the people in some specific areas.

The declaration of the State of Emergency on November 26 last year greatly checked the spree of violence that had disturbed the very fabric of normalcy. But with the declaration of emergency and the sustained efforts of the security personnel in many parts of the Kingdom, much relief has been generated. Despite the losses sustained by the security personnel while in action, the morale has not dampened. The losses on the part of the terrorists are quite high and the amount of arms and ammunitions seized from them suggests that the Maoists do not want peace to return to the country. But, their intention has been foiled in that they are now far weaker than ever before.

The Maoist terrorists are bent on creating havoc, which, in fact, does not suit a Nepalese citizen. When all the Nepalese should unite to take the country forward, the destruction of development infrastructure and creating terror among the ordinary folks cannot be justified in any way. The disruption of daily life is costing the country much. Yet the Maoists do not pay heed to it and are still resorting to hit and run tactics. It is a well known fact that violence does not pay in the end.

In this connection, terrorising the people cannot work as it is the same people who have to be taken into confidence. The government has done well by mobilising the army but there is some amount of restraint lest the innocent citizens suffer. The army is very sensitive to the issue and is gallantly fighting the insurgents. The target is the Maoist terrorists only and not innocent people. One the one hand the security personnel are seeing that the common people receive adequate protection but on the other hand the terrorists have resorted to killing, kidnapping and torturing the village folks and this is quite unfortunate.

There was once a hue and cry by some political leaders calling for ending the duration of the state of emergency at the earliest. But considering the fact that the terrain where the terrorism is taking place is rugged and provide ample hideouts to the Maoists. The "war against terrorism" may be slow but positive results can be predicted. Only victory over the wayward element can usher peace, security and maintain law and order in the country.

On this score, it may be worthwhile mentioning that a majority in the House of Representatives was for extending the State of Emergency for another three months. To say that 194 lawmakers were in favour out of the present total of 201 MPs indicates the positive response of all in to move forward in cracking down on terrorism.

Even the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), which had spoken of reservations on the issue before the voting took place, came out in favour. This shows that every party whether the ruling or those in the opposition have the genuine desire to see peace return to the country. It is not an emotional issue that can be seen differently from any angle one feels convenient in. This is a question of the national interest and no party can afford to neglect its responsibility and duty. What all the parties represented in the House have done is commendable.

Herein it may be remembered that ‘conditional’ and ‘unconditional’ are two terms which are very often used in politics. The CPN(UML) had one condition to vote for extending the State of Emergency and that was for making amendment in the constitution and that too to take place in the current session of Parliament. To propose amendment in the constitution is a daunting task as the agenda has to be clear and transparent.

Without mentioning any specific points, just saying that the constitution needs amendment does not make sense. Foolproof proposals have to come forward. Constitutional amendments as such are not something unique or out of this world but the focus must be on what needs to undergo amendment and the benefits that might accrue from it for the people in general on whom sovereignty has been vested. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba too is willing to support the proposals for constitutional amendment if there is an all party consensus on the issue. After all, the House cannot discuss issues just because an MP or two wants the changes to be effected.

In recent House session, many leaders have voiced the need for amendment in the Constitution but one thing is not as yet clear as to what amendment are they hinting at. However, one thing is clear that the many legislators have said that amendment in the constitution is going to solve all the problems that the country is facing. How true it is cannot be predicted. The Constitution, in fact, has not hindered with the normal functioning of the country’s affairs. It is only some who bring out strange issues and then go on to say that the Constitution lacks in something or the other. There is no reason why everything cannot be resolved remaining within the confines of the present Constitution itself.

In this context, the functioning of the governments in the past twelve years also merits attention. Have they acted in consonance with the Constitution all the way or they have played the hide and seek game? The number game and horse-trading are incidents that are fresh in our memory. This is just to pinpoint the reality that political leaders and especially the lawmakers should provide the role model. All those who were a part of it must accept self-realisation and analysis together with criticisms for the wrong doings. Only then will a new dawn emerge to the delight of all including the misguided elements that are fomenting trouble in the form of violence and intimidation.

Ensuring People’s Participation In Development

By Jhabindra Bhandari

PEOPLE of Rupakot village of Gulmi—a remote western hill district are now proud of themselves when they experience remarkable changes in their livelihoods. More importantly, they are now learning on and realising the real significance of people’s participation in development.

More specifically, they have made significant achievements in community forestry— and have equally worked hard in the development of rural infrastructure, water supply and sanitation, irrigation and agriculture—though there was technical support from government and other external development partners in all such development projects.

More importantly, people’s participation is most vital—be it in the form of voluntary labour or planning, in order to make all these initiatives a success. True, as the local people are the real beneficiaries of all these development efforts, the logic of their interest, choices and priorities is extremely important to yield maximum impacts.

Like other seasonal crops, the people in the village are gradually starting vegetable farming for income generation. Furthermore, irrigation facilities in the plains have significantly improved agricultural productivity. In this way, the rural farmers of this village are benefiting from agriculture.

Now situation of drinking water supply is also greatly improved and there is now easy access to tap water in the communities. "In the past, we used to get up very early in the morning, and had to walk almost an hour to bring drinking water. That was really difficult time for us to meet the increasing needs of water in the households," says Sita Kharel in her early 50s in the locality.

Almost fifteen years back, Sotabagar—previously a complete naked land where cattle used to be brought for grazing in the plains is now with greenery of forest. In the rainy seasons, Kalikhola—a seasonal river used to be a big fear due to heavy floods in the locality now have no harms with such a development of community forestry.

"Now, it is hard to think of such progress. The greenery in the Sotabagar now presents a perfect example of people’s participation in community forestry development—that has been benefiting local people," says Bed Prasad in the village. Besides, the hilly village has access to roads and basic communication services.

Like Rupakot village, there are many excellent success stories of other village development committees in different rural parts of the country where social mobilization is an important process. The point here is to raise that people’s participation and local resource mobilisation are key to socio-economic development. This is why, local development efforts are focusing on participatory planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation for sustainability.

In a country like ours, where majority of the total population live in the rural areas and rely on subsistence agriculture, the challenges of development are increasingly emerging in the national development agenda. In order to reach the poorest of the poor, participatory approach to research and development is receiving significant recognition in integrated community development initiatives.

In the way, participatory approaches have become more widespread in development institutions, NGOs and donor agencies, though its use and applications are emerging more diverse in recent years. There has been a remarkable shift from Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) to Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) in early 1990s.

The early 1990s is also regarded as the boom period as there was much experimentation in methods for PRA and other similar participatory methodologies.

Be it PRA or PLA,— this is actually a family of approaches, methods and behaviours that enable people to express and analyse the realities of their lives and conditions to plan themselves what action to take and, to monitor and evaluate the results.

Participatory research methods are very closely associated with such participatory approaches. In principle, they have focus on cumulative learning and that leads to action. Moreover, there is tremendous scope of active involvement of local people in processes that affect their livelihoods and well being.

With such remarkable strengths of these approaches, a large number of international and national NGOs in the country are collectively trying hard to empower majority of the people who are very poor, socially disadvantaged and marginalised sections of the society. Despite their concerned efforts, achievements are still minimal. This is largely because implementalised aspects of participatory approach is more critical as this strongly demands a positive attitude and behaviour.

Undoubtedly, people’s participation in development is closely associated with empowerment of people so that the goal of more equitable access to and distribution of resources can be achieved. In this regards, there are unmet needs of advocacy and capacity building of both government’s line agencies and NGOs working in the field of participatory development for institutionalising participatory development process.

Similarly, innovative strategies for capacity building of village development committee in the area of participatory planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and gender sensitization are felt crucial. Therefore, decentralised planning and management approach should be a matter of high priority for local governance.

Participatory development efforts of government and civil society which are meant to improve the livelihoods of people, should therefore bring positive change in the lives of people. With all these realities, policy makers and planners should ensure people’s participation in development so that their choices and determinations are better fostered for sustainable socio-economic development.