Those exercises of the National Assembly

After being elected to the National Assembly, I sat in the Drafting Committee of the National Assembly Operating Regulations. The opportunity to make regulations was a pleasure for me. Got an opportunity to know and understand the regulations. With the passing of the regulations, thematic committees were formed. Among the four thematic committees of the National Assembly, I was unanimously elected as the chairman of the National Concerns and Coordination Committee. The opportunity to preside over the meeting was new and important for me.

With the election of the Speaker, on the one hand, he had to play an effective role in the House, and on the other hand, he had to play a coordinating and leadership role in the committee. In the early days of working in the parliamentary sector, I was worried whether I would be able to do my job properly or not. However, I was not allowed to fail and be weak. The committee led by me included the then leader of the opposition party Surendraraj Pandey (currently the chief minister of Gandaki province), the chief whip of the ruling party Khimlal Bhattarai and other top leaders. They all played a coordinating and positive parenting role. The

committee prepared a study report on the role of the federal government in the implementation of federalism, projects of national pride, backward areas and communities, culture, national parks, human-wildlife conflicts in protected areas and reserves and submitted them to the assembly. The implementation of such study reports can help in the formulation of state policies and public service facilities for the people. We have had enough discussions on matters of national importance and public concern. We have called the Prime Minister and Ministers of the Government of Nepal and instructed them to implement the findings of the committee. We have given guidance and suggestions on every proposal through positive discussion and consensus. The committee's directives have also been measured and made public.

Parliament's important job is to make laws and monitor the work of the government. But the monitoring for parliamentary monitoring is not systematic. There is a dilemma as to whether it is monitoring or observation. A clear basis and criteria for parliamentary oversight should be developed and implemented. That alone establishes the importance of parliamentary oversight. If uniformity is maintained in the supervision of the committees, the government can be held accountable and responsible for implementing the directives of the committee. The

committee has and should maintain both formal and informal relations with the government. Before issuing instructions, the committee practiced discussions at various stages, took the opinions of experts, and gave instructions and suggestions to the government based on study and analysis. On the other hand, every ministry should have a contact person for the parliamentary desk and the parliament, so that even when the government and the minister change, the conclusions, decisions and instructions of the study prepared by the parliamentary committee in the parliamentary desk of the government remain in the institutional memory of the government. The committee at that time also gave instructions and suggestions to the government.

Many parliamentary committee meetings are adjourned without reaching a quorum. When I led the committee for 5 and a half years, I did not face the problem of quorum in conducting the meeting. The committee was always attended by more than two-thirds of the members. Also, the National Assembly meeting was not adjourned due to the quorum problem.

The first year I came to the House, I raised the issue that it is necessary to make a calendar of the Parliament. After six years, both the Houses of the Federal Parliament are happy to have started the calendar even though it is monthly. It is believed that the effectiveness of both the government and the parliament will be better if the annual calendar can be made in cooperation with the government and the parliament. During my 6 years in parliamentary responsibility, I raised the important concerns of the country and the people many times in the assembly. Zero time is left except for one. I tried to speak as many times as possible during the special time as the special time is given according to the status of the party. I spoke on many issues of public concern, citizens' public service issues, laxity, corruption, violence against women, gender violence, high prices, black market, farmers, workers and students' issues, national security, border issues, etc. I was the first to raise the much-publicized fake Bhutanese refugee case in Parliament. I tried to play a leading role in registering proposals and resolutions of urgent public importance.

It has been 8 years since the constitution was promulgated. Article 47 of the Constitution has a provision to make legal arrangements within three years for the implementation of fundamental rights, but so far, a dozen laws related to fundamental rights have yet to be made. We presented and discussed a resolution in the assembly that it should become a law by the time the ninth Constitution Day is celebrated on October 3. The government's commitment has come, the assembly has also made a ruling.

Many families are affected and suffer from car accidents. Many have lost family members. In recent times, the number of injured and dead has increased tremendously. When the message was sent to the international community that Nepal's roads are unsafe, we registered a proposal of urgent public importance on road safety and reduction of road accidents in the Assembly. The matter is yet to be discussed in the assembly and instructions to the government from the assembly.

If the MP is effective, the assembly and the committee are effective. We have made many studies and observations as part of the committee and published the conclusions. We have studied about the Sinja civilization. Greek civilization is discussed in the world, Sinja civilization of Nepal is important. We have studied the lifestyle and behavior of various castes, languages, religions developed from the Sinja civilization and submitted a report to the assembly. We have submitted a report to the Assembly after studying the inter-relationship and coordination at the provincial and local levels. We have sent suggestions to the National Planning Commission regarding policies and programs to be included in the sixteenth five-year plan after extensive discussion in the committee with stakeholders from various sectors.

We have not stalled the bills that came to the National Assembly, we have passed them unanimously. In the meantime, many good practices and new standards have been established in the National Assembly. Towards the end of the six-year tenure of the assembly, we revised the rules based on experience. We have kept provisions such as question-and-answer session with the Prime Minister in the National Assembly in the revised regulations.

The regulation has been made to further clarify the arrangement of time, the names of the committees and the scope of work to discuss local and provincial issues in the Assembly. We have established the National Assembly as an assembly of consensus. A new standard has been established for the National Assembly and its committees to commence their proceedings at the appointed time. It is the responsibility and obligation of the future leadership to continue the good practices done by the National Assembly and the committees under it.

- Thapa is the former chairman of the National Affairs and Coordination Committee of the National Assembly.