Leaders for constitutional amendment to tackle problems

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Mar. 14: Political leaders, journalists and intellectuals today agreed that the media had a crucial role in consolidating Constitutional values and democratic culture.

They shared the view that freedom of the press and right to information should not be curtailed even during the emergency period. The participants also stressed that the amendment in the Constitution should address the burning social and economic issues and the Maoist terrorist problem facing the nation.

They were speaking at a seminar entitled ‘Media and Constitutionalism’ organised by the Federation of Editors and Publishers, Nepal (FEPN), in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) here today.

Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala said that his party had forwarded the idea of amending the Constitution to address the Maoist problem.

"Constitutional amendment is a step to open the door for the Maoists to join the mainstream politics of the country. I have raised this issue to find a meeting point between the Maoists and parliamentary parties," NC chief Koirala said and added that the move would help parliamentary parties and the Maoists to find a solution to the problem.

"The Maoists should come forward and say what they want incorporated in the Constitution," Koirala said.

The political parties should give a message that the parliament is a strong authority to tackle the issue, Koirala remarked. "The political parties should contribute to strengthening the parliament."

"If the press can convince the Maoists that all parliamentary parties are united against them, the Maoists will eventually come into the mainstream politics," Koirala said and added that ultimately it was only through dialogue that the Maoist problem would be resolved.

CPN-UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal said that there must be constitutional provisions to ensure free and fair elections,
curb corruption, empower constitutional bodies and bring massive social and economic reforms in the country.

"Those who stand against the Constitutional amendment are posing the obstacle to curbing corruption and radical reforms in the country. And those who completely negate the present Constitution are undermining achievement of the Popular Movement of 2046 BS," General Secretary Nepal said.

He expressed the confidence that the amendment would open the doors for the Maoists to come into a negotiating table, promote decentralization and empower the women, downtrodden and ethnic communities. The government must develop certain legal mechanism to wipe out evil forces of the society, Nepal noted.

The proposed Constitutional amendment must incorporate the popular sentiment, he noted.

Kamal Thapa, spokesman of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party said that the political parties must hammer out a minimum understanding for wider reforms in the social, political and economic fronts to free the country from the current crises.

"The Constitutional amendment should be a part of the extensive reforms. The amendment itself is not a panacea to all problems," Thapa added.

He said that bad governance, social inequities and lack of self-autonomy of local bodies were responsible for the present crisis facing the nation.

He said that monarchy should not be dragged into the controversy while raising the issue of Constitutional amendment.

Prakash Saran Mahat, press advisor to the Prime Minster, said that there still existed feudal mentality among the political leaders, which had posed obstacles to institutional development of democratic set-up and constitutional values.

Pointing out the need of self-evaluation by the leaders, Mahat said national consensus was necessary for the Constitutional amendment. "We are suffering from negativism. We should disseminate achievements of the 12-year-old democracy by rectifying shortcomings of the system," he added.

FES’s Country Representative said that media played a role to promote constitutional and democratic culture. "There need a wider commitment and homework on the part of political parties while discussing the issue of amendment of the Constitution," he added.

From the chair, FEPN President Devendra Gautam said that the freedom of the Press should not be infringed during the emergency period.

FEPN Vice-President Sambhu Shrestha said that right to information would ensure better communication among the people and thus help the government for the systematic management of the emergency.

Meanwhile Professor Anand Aditya presented a paper on "Media and Constitutionalism" in the second session of the seminar presided over by senior journalist Shiris S. Rana. Kulchandra Wagle, president of Nepal Press Union, Sambhu Shrestha, president of Press Chautari and Professor Ananda Shrestha commented the paper.

Her Majesty opens pediatricians’ conference

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Mar. 14: Her Majesty Queen Komal Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah inaugurated the first three-day conference of Paediatric Association of SAARC Countries (PASC) and the 11th Nepalese Congress of Pediatrics by lighting an oil-fed lamp amidst a special function here this afternoon. His Royal Highness Crown Prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah Dev was also present on the occasion.

During the function, Her Majesty the Queen also presented Sardar Vishnu Mani Acharya Gold Medal to Dr. Paras Bhattarai for the year 2000 and Dr. Sudha Basnet for the year 2001 in recognition of their contributions in child health sector.

The conference is being held here for the first time in its three-year-old history with a view to discuss ways of mutual cooperation and exchange of ideas and assistance for improving child health in the region.

Organised by Nepal Paediatric Society (NEPAS), the regional conference and 11th Nepalese Congress of the Pediatric professionals is participated in by 130 Nepalese pediatricians and over 150 others from countries in the region.

Addressing the function, Minister for Health Sharat Singh Bhandari said that the meet would provide a forum for the health professionals of the region to share ideas and come up with solutions to diseases and hazards seen among the children of South Asia.

Minister Bhandari lauded the role played by Kanti Children’s Hospital in improving the child health status of Nepal and informed that it would be expanded into a 300-bed specialty and super specialty hospital in the near future.

He also praised the role the NGOs and INGOs played in the pediatric health sector and said that child health related projects were always welcome in the Himalayan Kingdom.

He also said that the government was effortful in improving the child health condition, adding the result was satisfactory during the past decade.

NEPAS president Dr. Narayan Bahadur Thapa, President of PASC Dr. M. R. Lokeshwor, World Health Organisation representative Dr. Klaus Wagner, UNICEF representative Stewart McNab and representatives of PASC member countries also addressed the function.

Training for women representatives fruitful

By Pramod Joshi

Kavrepalanchowk, Mar. 14: Bhagbati Adhikari, 41, an elected woman ward member, is confident that she will contest elections again: now for the ward chair. Adhikari, a member of ward-4 of Panchakhal village in Kavrepalanchowk, developed the confidence after attending

a training for women representatives on their capacity building.

"I was persuaded by other local people to fight ward level elections," Adhikari says. "I did not have any interest in politics then."

She thought she lacked knowledge, awareness and confidence to work as a local representative. "I still feel I was not able to fulfil my roles and responsibilities."

But now after receiving the training, entitled Capacity Building of Elected and Nominated Women Ward Representatives (ENWWRs), under a component of Mainstreaming Gender Equity Programme (MGEP), she is aware of her roles and responsibilities as a ward’s representative and confident that she can work for the local people.

The training is launched in ten districts of Country, two from each development region. They are: Dadeldhura, Kailali, Banke, Dang, Baglung, Myagdi, Kavre, Bhaktapur, Siraha, and Udayapur in their selected VDCs.

MGEP is working with five national level Non-Government Organisations towards empowering ENWWRs.

Dol Kumari Lama, 60, the nominated ward chairman of Dapcha VDC of Kavre district says that she did not know what actually she was supposed to be doing as the ward chair. Lama says she used to attend the VDC meeting as a passive participant. "But this training has helped me to do my work better and I’m now aware about the provisions for women’s development in the VDC," she says.

Lama says that most women cannot face the masses and enter into conversation with them. "Another problem is that the male colleagues do not encourage women to participate in these trainings and social works," says Lama.

Women members could not give their time in programmes launched by VDC and they used to attend the committee’s meeting just two times a year and used to be inactive during that period, says Tej Prasad Poudyal, chairman of Dapcha VDC. "Now the door has opened for them through this training. Women have changed after the training, they have now started talking about their problems in the meetings and they do it boldly," says Poudyal.

Women representatives of Dapcha VDC also encountered threats from their husbands. Some were even beaten up by their husbands for going to the programmes. Mithu Tiwari, elected member of ward-1 of Dapcha VDC also fell prey to her husband’s anger. "I was beaten three times," she says.

However she continued to come forth and manage to participate in the training. "Now I’m aware about discrimination against women and the attending legal rights.

Women should also come forward equally as men, says Tiwari. Some have done well: Women of Dapcha have successfully brought tap water to their village and are now working to open kindergarten and nursery classes for local children.

Those women who have been trained say that they now know that they should come together and become united for their own political empowerment. Despite social, economic, political and ideological differences they should work together for the cause of women’s empowerment.

They have pointed out that the training should be given to male counterparts as well. Then they will realize how they should behave and change their attitude towards women, says ENWWRs. "Otherwise they will continue to harass us and beat us every evening as before."

Subhadra Adhikari, 34, a nominated woman member of Panchkhal VDC-4, says that although the programme came late, it has encouraged us to come forward in the society.

She said that their male representatives have been helpful till now. "If they ignore us, we are now better equipped to act for our own cause."

Rudra Bahadur Baniyan, chairman of Panchkhal VDC, informed that women had not brought any proposal so far for their own development. Following the training, however, women seem to be coming forward.

Maintaining the importance of programme Indu Pant Ghimire, national programme manager of MGEP, said that this programmee is launched to provide assistance to government in the critical area of mainstreaming gender considerations in national development and to implement the outputs of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and Bejing Platform for Action.

She informed that Promoting women’s leadership and decision making in the public sector is one of the components of MGEP. Its main objective is to raise the level of consciousness of legislators, particularly the women parliamentarians, to gender issues and mobilising ENWWRs for building regional networks and a national federation, which will enable learning among ENWWRs through inter-district workshops and regional/national study tours.

Seminar on roads kicks off

Kathmandu, Mar. 14 (RSS): A two-day workshop on plan formulation for repair of roads in the Kingdom under the Department of Roads began here, today.

Ten per cent of the total investment in roads each year has been allocated for the repair of 15,903 kms of road in the Kingdom carried out by the five regional directorates and 25 division offices.

Inaugurating the workshop, Director General of the Department of Roads Madan Gopal Maleku called for proper use of available resources for the development of transportation.

Coordinator of SMD project Pawan Man Shrestha said positive achievement has been made under the consolidated repair division programme since the year 1993/94 with cooperation from the Swiss Government’s technical help for planned repair of roads.

Separate progress reports and future programmes will be presented on repair of roads by the 25 division offices.

Participating in the workshop are senior officers of the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works, Directors at the Department of Roads, chiefs of regional directorates and representatives of donor agencies.