Excluded Constitutional Commission

The Commission, one of the 13 constitutional bodies, protects, uplifts and empowers the rights of the Dalit community; The law provides that the overall situation should be studied, researched, policy and legal problem identification, formulation and implementation of policies and programs related to the community should be recommended. To do all these things, the government gave a total of 4 lakh rupees to the commission in the financial year 2080/081.

"Government gave us appointments, crores of rupees are being spent to maintain officials and employees," said President Devraj Vishwakarma, "The budget has not been given to carry out the work stipulated by the constitution and the law. We have reached the dilemma of neither resigning nor staying in office."

Not only Dalit Commission, Madhesi, Muslim, Tharu and Women's Commission are also in the same situation. They also spend 25 to 30 lakh rupees annually on house rent alone. Staff and office operating expenses are the same. But there is no budget to do the work according to the purpose.

In the financial year 2079/080, the program budget of the Dalit Commission was 14 lakh rupees. Of that, 10 lakh rupees was spent on listing the surnames of Dalits and the rest of the money was spent by the commission to make a special program and report on the Elimination of Caste Discrimination Day.

"The government has listed the surnames of the Dalit community, but those who wrote the missing surnames are still not getting the facilities that Dalits get," President Vishwakarma said, "We have been given Rs. We have spent and have recommended to the government to list the missing surnames.

Even though a decade has passed since the constitution was enacted, neither laws have been made to ensure the rights of the target communities, nor policies and programs have been made for their upliftment. Although commissions have been formed to protect the rights of various excluded communities, the government has made them useless.

The first reason for the Commission not being able to work on the reports submitted by the Commission to the President for the last five years is lack of budget.

Writer Sushil BK expresses his regret that the government has rendered the constitutional commissions that were created to establish the rights of Dalits and marginalized communities without a budget. He says, "It is a shame that the constitutional commissions have to walk around saying that they are unable to work because there is no budget. The government should either give a budget to the commissions, or else the commissions should be canceled and they should be able to proceed."

In Part 27 of the Constitution of Nepal 2072, Article 252 to 265, under other commissions, there is provision for Women, Dalit, Inclusive, Tribal Tribes, Madheshi, Tharu and Muslim commissions.

This commission, which consists of five officers consisting of a chairman and four members, has been prescribed by the constitution to carry out various tasks for the protection, upliftment and empowerment of the rights of the respective communities. Separate Acts have also been made for the formation and operation of all commissions. But none of the commissions said that they were able to work.

President of Muslim Commission Samim Mian Ansari says, "Earlier, the staff structure was such that experts and researchers were also appointed along with special category secretaries. But now the government has sent 5/7 employees under the leadership of the joint secretary who is about to retire."

In the act made when the commission was formed, it was arranged that special category secretaries would be appointed in other commissions as well, the government through the 'Amendment of some Nepal Acts' bill gazetted in the year 2075 to provide staff secretaries of the first class (co-secretary) level.

Also, the government did not set up the commissions on time. After the promulgation of the constitution in 1972, the commission's offices were established in Kathmandu, and staff were appointed. But the government took five years to appoint officials. The government, which has repeatedly appointed officials, completed all the commissions only in August 2078.

The government has also provided cars, drivers, PSOs and personal secretaries for all seven commission officials. Officials go to their office every now and then, but there is nothing visible.

Ram Bahadur, who has been active in the social and political fields for three decades, says that his scope has narrowed after becoming the chairman of the Thapamar Tribal Commission. After becoming the chairman of the Constitutional Commission, he could not go where he got. He said, "He came to the office every day. There is nothing but staying updated on current events.' If there is any complaint regarding the rights of the tribal community, they discuss it in the

office. They also participate in regular meetings and debates. But since there is no budget, the Commission itself has not been able to call the stakeholders and have a comprehensive debate and discussion. "All friends come with the expectation of problem solving and assistance from the commission. But there is no help except verbally. Created a new program, the government does not give the budget. He gave a policy suggestion to the government on an issue, but the government did not implement it. I feel as if I am tied myself.

The Dalit Commission is empowered by the constitution to recommend the concerned body to register a case of caste discrimination or untouchability. But there are dozens of cases where the police did not proceed with the action process even though the commission recommended it.

In December 2007, Hark Sampang, mayor of Sunsari's Dharan sub-metropolitan city, wrote a status on social media that was racially discriminatory. The Commission informed the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Police Headquarters and recommended action, but the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Police did not take any action as per the recommendations of the Commission.

After the formation of the commission, the biggest work done so far is the recommendation of surname listing. Not only the Dalit Commission, but also the Madheshi, Tribal Tribes and Muslim Commissions have recommended the listing of surnames. But the government has not listed those surnames as recommended by the commission. Due to the fact that the government has not listed, those communities have to face difficulties to get the facilities from the state.

According to the 2078 census, the population of the Dalit community is 15 percent. But on the basis of population, there is no proportional representation of Dalits in any body of the state. Dalit participation in the decision-making process is zero.

According to the Ministry of Land Management, Poverty Alleviation and Cooperatives, 1.5 million Dalit households are landless across the country. Similarly, according to Economic Survey 2079, poverty in the Dalit community is 42 percent, while the country's average poverty rate is only 20 percent.

Among other commissions, the current financial year In 2080/081, the Tribal Commission also got a budget of 34.2 million rupees. Out of that, the commission can make a program and spend the budget It was only 13 lakh rupees. The Muslim Commission was also given a budget of 54 lakh rupees by the government in the financial year 2080/081. Last year it was Rs. 80 lakh.

"I have also met the Prime Minister many times and told him. The purpose for which the commission was formed, the government did not allow it to work according to it, it has kept it hostage," said Ansari, chairman of the Muslim Commission, "There is no budget, no staff. And how will the constitution be implemented by appointing five community members to the commission? How about proportional inclusion?”

Madhesi and Tharu commissions are also the same. "There are dozens of tasks prescribed by the law, but there is no budget," says Vijayakumar Dutt, chairman of the Madhesi Commission.

Tribal Commission has not been able to implement its strategic plan due to lack of budget. "When making a budget, a plan is required. We send a scheme worth Rs 5/7 crore," said Thapamargar, Chairman of the Tribal Commission, "The government wants to allocate Rs 5/7 lakh."

The officers of the Constitutional Commission, demanding budget and rights, have drawn attention not only in their annual reports, but also by meeting the Planning Commission, the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister. "There is a good response at that time. But the budget does not come," says Vishwakarma, chairman of the Dalit Commission.

According to Joint Secretary Uttar Kumar Khatri, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance, due to the growing economic crisis in the country, all the constitutional commissions have not been given the budget as requested. He said that the political leadership should solve it. At present, MP Prakasharan Mahat, a large party of the Parliament of the Parliament, claims that his dignity has been raised and he has become jobless even when he was the finance minister He said, "According to the constitution, the oppressed communities and groups should be given a budget," he said.

At the time of appointment of officials in these commissions, the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had made a decision by majority to amend the Constitutional Council Act and recommended the appointment, but at that time the parliamentary hearing could not even be held because the commission officials were being questioned about the appointment It is still under consideration in the Supreme Court for two years, which has become another form of exclusion.

There are 13 provisions related to the constitutional parts of the constitution in 072 There is a provision in the constitution to be reviewed by the federal parliament after 10 years. According to this, the time for the review of these commissions is approaching

former judge Balram KC says that it is necessary to strengthen these seven commissions as other constitutional commissions. "Constitution has adopted the policy of positive discrimination to remove the inequality in Nepalese society. But the government did not follow the spirit of the constitution," KC says, "that's why the constitutional commissions have come to this situation."

He claims that the Constitutional Council and the Constitutional Commissions have failed due to the brutality of the political leadership. "The constitution did not envisage that the prime minister, the chief justice, and the speaker of the assembly look after the interests of the country and their personal interests, the constitution only looked at the dignity of that position," he says, "The constitutional commission is not a place to get a job."

Member of the House of Representatives, Jeevan Pariyar, who also worked on the draft of the constitution, says that due to the delay in the implementation of the constitution, the commissions should be given more time to work. "The full implementation of the constitution has not worked," he says. Rather, the government should make the commission powerful and give it the environment to work.”