A chance to reform the republican system

The things that can be done without amending the constitution to make the state agile can only be mitigated to some extent if the government shows caution.

Ashad 4, 2082

Bishnu Rijal

A chance to reform the republican system

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Even those who claim to be monarchists themselves do not believe that the dead monarchy will return to Nepal, but their efforts to dispel the discontent among the citizens have been seen on the streets to some extent. Although it is beyond the imagination of any conscious citizen that a republic will be replaced by a monarchy in the 21st century, if the distortions and challenges in the existing system of government are not resolved, it will not be possible to address the dissatisfaction of the citizens and the republic will weaken.

The main three parties, Congress, UML and Maoist Center put aside their differences and said that they are of one mind to fight against the republic after realizing that there is a challenge against it, there is a need to discuss and cooperate once again on the concrete issue of correcting the weaknesses that have appeared in the republic. An agreement between the ruling Congress-UML and the opposition pro-republican parties including the Maoists will not only solve the questions that are being raised now, but will also give new hope to the citizens that something will happen now. 

It has been 10 years since the constitution was promulgated. In the meantime, most of the works of implementing the constitution have been done. Elections at all three levels have been completed twice, constitutional structures have been established as per the constitution, provisions guaranteed by the constitution have also been implemented. The experience of 10 years has made the need to update the constitution urgent. When Congress and UML reached a seven-point agreement on 17 June 2081 to make a new equation, constitutional amendment is one of the issues that were given priority. While justifying the formation of a government by the two main competing parties, it is stated in the second point itself, "The government of national consensus will review the strengths and weaknesses and complexities that have emerged in practice after the commencement of the constitution, and prioritize the necessary amendments to the constitution for political stability and the creation of appropriate laws." However, numbers play a key role for this, which alone is not enough for the ruling party. There is an example of withdrawing the Ordinance related to land because Congress-UML alone does not reach two-thirds in the House of Representatives, and there is not even a simple majority in the National Assembly. Constitutional amendment is not only a matter of Congress-UML, the participation of Maoist and Madhesi parties is also necessary. Since they played an important role in the making of the constitution, the participation of the Maoists in the amendment of the constitution is also expected. If you shirk from this responsibility and focus only on empty power and do the necessary work, the public opinion of the Maoists will be further lost. 

The focus of the main parties is on the 2084 general elections. The parties are saying Mission-84 that they want a majority in the sense that they could not work according to their agenda when two or more parties came together. However, under the existing mixed electoral system, no single party is likely to win a majority on its own. Even if a party wins the majority i.e. 83 seats in the 165 seats in the 275-member House of Representatives, no party can get 50 percent of the votes in the 110 proportional seats. If we look at the election history since 2015, no single party has been able to win 40 percent of the votes in Nepal. In the 2079 election, UML, which received the most votes, has secured a total of 26.95 percent of votes.

Since the Nepali society is basically stable politically, despite the ups and downs that come from time to time, the overwhelming vote of any party will not increase or the overwhelming vote of any party will decrease. The votes of the Maoists that appeared in 064 and the RSVP that appeared in 079 are not much more than dissatisfaction with the Congress-UML. Therefore, in the next elections too, the contest will basically be between Congress and UML, in which there is no possibility of a big difference. In such a situation, the hope of change in the country is automatically weakened after it is ensured that the election conducted by the coalition government will not make any difference other than the formation of a coalition government. To overcome this, the existing mixed election system should be changed and the lower house should be directly elected and the upper house proportional. For this, the size of the upper house can be increased to maintain proportionality and inclusiveness by maintaining the number of lower house at 165. 

The capacity of the state is decreasing instead of increasing. Hardly 20 percent of the total budget is spared for capital expenditure. Talking about the current financial year, a total of 40 percent has been spent in 11 months. Even if only 20 percent has been spent in the remaining one month, it will reach only around 60 percent. However, the expenditure of the unproductive sector on the part of the state is increasing. Because our constitution is based on rights-oriented concept, there are similar structures one after the other.

10 years of experience shows no basis to justify those structures. It is enough to merge the remaining nine commissions except the Public Service Commission, Commission on Abuse of Authority and the Election Commission to form one national inclusive commission. It happens when women, Dalits, Tharu, Madhesi, Muslims etc. are represented by forming a single commission and working from it. When there are more and more political appointees, it is known how people get there. Also, the experience of these structures being turned into a platform for fighting for their own services rather than doing anything concrete for the respective communities should also be taken into account. 

It is not possible to find an alternative to federalism now. Inclusivity doesn't have to be viewed negatively either. However, if these issues are not managed, the democratic republic will be injured by the weight of them. Federalism is a bad thing and all these distortions are happening because of federalism. The things that can be done without amending the constitution to strengthen the state can only be mitigated to a certain extent if the government shows caution. It is good for the government to initiate a review of government bodies that are similar in nature, duplicated and irrelevant. Prime Minister and 

With the news that the cabinet office has completed its homework, it can be believed that the duplication of government agencies will be removed. The bodies that were opened in a rush due to pressure and pressure have neither established any purpose nor achieved anything. 

For example – every government body issues its own advertisement/notification but advertisement board is maintained under Ministry of Communication to provide continuous job to particular person. According to homework, it is concluded that about 500 such government agencies are unnecessary. By bringing some Nepal Law Amendment Bills, as much as possible, such bodies can be abolished, adjusted or transferred, the faster it will contribute to the reform of the government system. 

Citizens in general are increasingly disillusioned. There is a growing experience that the whole state system is ineffective, not because of any particular leader or party. Many patterns of political use in Nepal have failed one after the other. Counting only since 2007, experiments ranging from the direct rule of the king, constitutional monarchy, parliamentary rule, all-party government to non-political government have failed. There is no doubt that the most advanced form of governance in terms of citizen awareness, participation and rights is the republic.

In the twenty-first century, no self-respecting citizen can even think of any possibility of succeeding in the attempt to turn citizens into slaves, slaves and commoners. However, the fact that the Ainjeru growing in the system is making its beauty ugly cannot be ignored. Therefore, the wearer knows exactly where the shoes hurt. Under a republican constitution, there is no one left to go into government. Congress, UML and Maoists have taken turns in leadership while Janata Samajwadi Party, RSVP to RP have joined the government. The main parties should stand together to strengthen the democratic republic by getting rid of the tendency of not seeing much problems while in power but seeing the country full of problems after coming out.  Being a

political party, focusing on the election was not the case. However, carrying the old issue in the new election cannot suppress the anger of the people. Certainly populists do not live long. But he can increase the calculation in the election. We have already seen an example of how those who are not visible, who are not counted and who have no established political existence can influence the election results by fueling the frustration and anger of the people. Like a dewdrop, such influence will dry up by the next election, but the mainstream parties are in danger of being hijacked if they do not address new issues in a new way.

Therefore, before going to the 2084 elections, there are two main things to be done by the main parties - amendment of the constitution for political stability and comprehensive modification of the government structure for the effectiveness of the state. Without these two tasks, if the election is only called Mission-84, then that election cannot instill new enthusiasm and hope in the people. When a coalition government is replaced by a coalition government of another coalition, it cannot be expected to do any reform work except to cut off the days and keep claiming to be the government again and again.

 

In terms of numbers and strength, a stronger government than UML and Congress is not possible in Nepal. However, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's constant hustle, continuous hard work and commitment to give a result-oriented government is not his weakness. Since it takes one and a half months to appoint a governor, the trend of giving political appointments from other parties even under the ministries held by the leaders of their own party is the result of the structure of the government rather than the weakness of any individual.

If this trend continues, on the one hand, the government will not be able to work effectively, on the other hand, there is a danger that the choices of the citizens will be reduced. Therefore, especially UML-Congress should focus on leading and take other parties along with them and start amending the constitution. The main parties should use this opportunity to give a swift response to the challenge being posed to the republic.

Bishnu

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