Local Democracy
No Alternative To Local Polls

By Mukti Rijal

THE Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990 provides no explicit articulation of the local government scheme. The basic law of the land has not laid down any blueprint of local government units. The Preamble to the Constitution emphasises on the participation of people in the affairs of the state.

Balanced Development

In the chapter of the Directive Principle to the State Policies, the Constitution emphasises the goal of balanced development in various geographical regions of the country and mobilisation of natural resources in a manner beneficial to the national interest. Article 24 of the Constitution is more specific. It gives the state a responsibility.

Article 46 of the Constitution implies a structure for decentralised units. It provides that fifteen members - three from each of the development regions - shall be elected to the Upper House of Parliament (National Assembly) by an Electoral College consisting of the Chairpersons and Deputy Chairpersons of Village-level units, Mayors and Deputy Mayors of Municipalities, and Presidents and Vice-presidents of District Development Committees (DDCs). Implicit in this constitutional provision are two levels of decentralised units, which are Village (Town) and District.

The participation of local bodies in the election of the Upper House of the Parliament is a unique provision in itself. But those elected to the Upper House by the electoral college of local bodies have not been found truly representing the interest of their electorate specially when issues concerning the local bodies come up for consideration and deliberation in the Parliament.

No specific stipulation of local government in the Constitution has also been described as a historic error. Former Prime Minister and the communist leader Manmohan Adhikari who passed away some three years ago is on the record to have remarked, "It is my concern that the decentralised governance scheme has not been incorporated as a part of the Constitution. The status of decentralisation created by an act of parliament is weaker."

However, mere stipulation about local government and decentralisation in the Constitution is not sufficient. The statutory framework of decentralisation works successfully provided there exists political culture of decentralized governance and tradition of people's participation. Values, traditions and attitudes of politicians, officials and people can foster or endanger the implementation of a particular legal concept.

The Local Government Acts - the District Development Act, the Municipality Act and the Village Development Act - provided a legal framework for two-tier local government system in Nepal. According to these Acts which have now been replaced by the Local Self-governance Act, the District Development Committee is at the apex of the local government. At the lower level, there are Municipalities and Village Development Committees (VDCs).

The country has seventy-five District Development Committees and each DDC is subdivided into a number of areas (Ilakas) for the purpose of election. Each Village Development Committee is divided into nine wards while municipalities are divided into nine to thirty six wards. At present there are 3913 Village Development Committees and 58 municipalities in the country. Each local body District Development Committee, Municipality and Village Development Committee has its executive and legislative organ. The Acts had entrusted functions and responsibilities to the local bodies in the realm of education, health, agriculture, transport, social welfare etc. Local bodies were granted power to raise taxes, fees and charges to strengthen the local resource base. The Acts had given local bodies authority to resolve minor disputes at the local level. However, they were not authorised to award any kind of decisions resulting into win and lose of the disputes.

The Local Governance Act constitutes a consolidation of the three acts relating to VDCs, DDCs and Municipalities and brings them together into a comprehensive code. The Act is, indeed, a culmination of protracted process starting from the constitution of the High level Decentralization Committee in 1996 formed to recommend improvements in the decentralisation framework of the country. The Committee headed by the Prime Minister endorsed a report prepared by the Decentralization Working Committee (DWC). The report provided an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the existing legal framework and made recommendations in strengthening decentralization and local government system. The report pinpointed in no uncertain terms that the local bodies lacked institutional administrative capacity and financial mandates to develop themselves as the viable units of decentralisation and self-governance.

Finally, the Local Self-governance Act was enacted in the summer session of the parliament in 1998.
Important

The Act has been in operation for about three years and it has established an important basis in furthering decentralized governance in Nepal. However, gains achieved so far have been in crisis. The local bodies are bereft of the elected representatives. The government has pledged to hold local polls soon. There should not be any second thought on it. This will infuse life in local democracy and decentralised governance system.

France-Germany Elysee Treaty

THE Elysée Treaty, signed forty years ago between France and the Federal Republic of Germany by General de Gaulle and Chancellor Adenauer, sealed the reconciliation between our two nations and laid the foundations of a lasting peace in Europe.

It was this will to forge closer ties between France and Germany which gave rise to the European Economic Community, starting with the Schuman-Adenauer Declaration of 9 May 1950, followed by the establishment of the ECSC (European Coal and Steel Community) and the creation of the Common Market in 1957.

Brevity

The document of 22 January 1963 was not originally supposed to take the form of a treaty, but remain a simple written notification of the main areas in which our two countries had agreed to relaunch their cooperation. This explains its brevity (19 articles in total). It was the common declaration, signed at the same time, which was intended to give political force to the text.

Basically, it is a framework document, referring on many points to arrangements to be made subsequently (for example, regarding the Franco-German Youth Office (OFAJ - Office franco-allemand pour la Jeunesse). It laid down the major objectives of Franco-German cooperation and set out the institutional rules for their implementation. It rests on two key provisions:

-a binding schedule of regular meetings at every level (heads of State and government, ministers, senior civil servants) designed to instigate an instinctive desire for cooperation;

-a field of cooperation focused on three areas: foreign affairs, defence, and education and youth.
There has been only one modification of the Treaty, through two protocols signed on 22 January 1988, on its 25th anniversary, creating two new structures:

-the Franco-German Defence and Security Council

- the Franco-German Economic and Financial Council.

The Elysée Treaty brought about France and Germany's historic reconciliation by forging ties between the two countries' young people and developing the feeling that the Franco-German relationship is both necessary and special. It constitutes an essential symbolic point of reference.
The 40th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty (22 January 1963) provides an opportunity to appraise the results of the Franco-German cooperation which it has initiated.

There are many achievements in a host of spheres. The Treaty has also ushered in an era of unprecedented cooperation between our two countries. It has given a decisive boost to the task of building Europe. Our close dialogue and cooperation in the spheres of the economy, research and technology, culture and education are encouraging an increasingly high level of exchanges between our societies. Many cooperation mechanisms and structures already exist, such as the six-monthly summits, the informal Blaesheim process meetings [decision to hold regular joint meetings taken at the Franco-German Blaesheim summit in January 2001], exchanges between civil servants and many institutions such as OFAJ, the Franco-German High Council for Cultural Affairs, Franco-German University (Université franco-allemande [a network of French and German higher-education establishments created in 1999, with many campuses and an administrative headquarters in Saarbrücken). To give just one example, OFAJ, which will be celebrating its 40th anniversary on 5 July 2003, has provided the opportunity for over seven million young people to meet each other.

Today, it is right to pay tribute to those involved in this dialogue: local authorities, schools, universities and voluntary organizations.

Franco-German cooperation has been a source of innovation and has led to the establishment of original bi-national institutions including the ARTE television channel created at the end of the 1980s, which foreshadowed the European cultural television channel, and the Franco-German University. It has also blazed a trail in some essential spheres. Here it is appropriate to single out the role played by the Franco-German Brigade which has served as the basis for the European Corps.

Whilst the end of the Cold War and German unification marked the beginning of Europe's reunification, the achievements of forty years of cooperation augurs well for France and Germany's ability to take up the new challenges of globalization and pursue the task of building Europe at the time of the European Union's historic enlargement.

As President Chirac declared at the November 2001 Nantes summit, when the Franco-German engine is running smoothly, Europe moves forward, whilst it stagnates when the relationship between France and Germany marks time.

This is the spirit in which, at the last Franco-German summit held in Schwerin (30 July 2002), President Chirac and Chancellor Schröder expressed their determination to reach common positions at the forthcoming major European decision-making meetings. Accordingly, they have submitted joint contributions on the European Security and Defence Policy (CFSP) and on Justice and Home Affairs issues to the Convention on the Future of Europe. They are together preparing a common position on the European Union's institutions in the run-up to the Elysée Treaty's 40th anniversary.

The political declaration adopted at the Paris summit, the role of injecting momentum into the European enterprise, which France and Germany are determined to go on playing, particularly in the framework of the European Union's enlargement.

Drawn up by the two Foreign Ministers, at President Chirac and Chancellor Schröder's request at the Schwerin summit, this declaration will signal the overhaul and deepening of the Franco-German relationship. Accompanied by concrete measures of cooperation, it will demonstrate our countries' role as the engine of Europe.

Bearing a strong political message, the text, going beyond the achievements of Franco-German cooperation since 1963, is structured around three major ambitions: the determination together to promote tomorrow's Europe; the definition of an area of enhanced cooperation and identification of the priority fields of cooperation (foreign and security policy, economy and finance, development, research, culture and media, education and youth, administration and legislation); and strengthening our consultation process.

Powerhouse

At a time of EU enlargement, France and Germany are determined to work together to build a more
democratic Europe, which is more effective and stronger on the international stage. The Elysée Treaty remains the powerhouse enabling the two countries to take up this challenge together.

(The Embassy of France, Kathmandu)

Name Game

By Narayan Upadhyay

WHAT is in a name? was the question Shakespeare once asked, obviously to suggest that a person's status and character have nothing to do with his or her name. A modern man's thought and actions seem to be at variance with the Bard-of-Avon's pithy remark. Unlike the great dramatist poet, they have acquiesced the fact that a man's name has a direct relation with, if not with his or her character, maybe with the status and education of the parents.

The action of modern men speaks louder to prove this. They are always found battling with themselves to give their newborn an "appropriate" name, which, for them, must sound modern, and at the same time symbolise that they have an avant-garde civilised life style. Their search for newness has set in a new system in nomenclature for human beings.

Gone are the days when parents used to give their offsprings names that would be directly lifted from our religious books or mythology. Nowadays, no parents want to call their kids by the names Ram, Bishnu, Krishna, Hari Narayan, Shankar or even Bhagwan. The first names Radha, Gauri, Devi, Janaki, Ishwari, Shanti, or Parvati, for baby girls have become the names of past. These names have gone the God's way: He is present everywhere but is now seen nowhere.

Also true is the fact that the names that have some bearings of nativity are not heard of now. If you follow the people of your grandparents and parents' time in giving the first names, then you must be a lover of old things and therefore a misfit to the modern era.

This may be the reason why the city people are not brave enough to choose Bahadur as the middle and Bir and Dil as the first names. They love Maya no more either, and show no art to pick up Kala as the first names for their baby girls.

If you are a city dweller with a fair amount of education, you are likely to be perpetually guided by your modern way of thinking while selecting a name for your baby. Hence, your quest for names unique and unused before continues. Words that are not used for a person's name in the past are now taken care of. Kids are being raised with the first names such as Niyam, Bidhan, Sambidhan, Srinkhal, Abiral, Mahim, Umang, Utsav, Susan, Sunny, Sony, Doll, Annie, Angela or Charishma.

As if this is not enough, educated parents are having word-loans from neighbouring cultures and have come up with Suraj, Noor, Aamir, Shoheb, Johaib, Sarina, Salma, Sagarika, Aditi, Richita and so on as the first names for the kids.

Native people, however, can have a breath now. For, they are not the only who are being targeted for exploring foreign avenues for names. In the Western world too, people are looking for names that are modern and new. People there are no more willing to christen their offspring with William, Robert, Richard, Matthew, Paul or John. Nowadays, they prefer names like Ryan, Ethan, Jason, Ricky or even Jack.

These people have invented ways that even help old names sound modern. They shorten names in such a way that an old name sounds like a modern one. While calling William informally, they would call him Will or Bill and would call Bob instead of Robert and Mike instead of Michael. For them, Richard is Dick, Elizabeth, Liz and Jennifer just Jen.

The search for new is what human nature is known for. The modern men's quest for newness in names has continued and would not stop in future too. The parents, in their yearning for newness, sometime picks up names that sound outlandish, naughty or puckish, which may make the bearer of name an alien and thus a laughing stock.