Nepal: Cautious Welcome to Rebels in Government
The Maoists of Nepal, who ended 12-year-long armed insurgency to come to the mainstream politics, joined the government on April 1 taking up five ministries under premiership of Girija Prasad Koirala. More than 13,000 people lost their lives due to the insurgency and that was something peaceful poluation of the country hated most. Now with the Maoists joining the interim parliament and now the interim government, people are looking ahead for the peace. Dedicated to Daniel Pearl writes:
With the induction of Maoist in the government and the current unity among the political parties, I hope we will see a new Nepal in near future. The violence will stop, parties will act responsibly and we are proceeding towards bright and prosperous Nepal.
United We Blog! has the minute-by-minute updates of the rebels sworning in at the parliament. Satyakura has the list of all the ministers and the common program put forward by the main seven political parties and the Maoists. The most important task for the interim government is the election of Constitient Assembly which will then determine the future of the monarchy in its first meeting. The date annouced for the election is June 20.
While the Nepali bloggers were thrilled by the hopes of peaceful future, they cautiously welcomed the Maoists inclusion in the government. United We Blog! represented the feeling of all people:
The induction of the Maoists in the government has sent waves of hope to Nepali people who are desperately looking forward to the successful completion of the peace process.
And, Nepali Perspectives says the choice of ministries by the Maoists is interesting because they all are directly related to the people. It calls it a ploy to gain the people's confidence and questions Maoists’ honesty:
If the Maoists have accepted a multi-party democracy for Nepal, which they say they have, there is cause for optimism. But if the current participation in the government is just a tactical ploy, there is an imminent need to be on guard. The actions of the Maoists even after the signing of the Peace Accord do not provide much confidence as to their intentions.
There are many people expecting revolutionary changes from the Maoists but The Radiant Star believes that's not going to come. It asks people not to expect too much as the Maoists since coming to the mainstream politics have only been fighting for positions and driving Pajeros. Hamroblog hopes that the government is not an April Fool joke and that they will will together leading us to the elections. Nepali Netbook calls it a defeat conceded by the Maoists while Everest Eyes reports that many people who are chased out from their villages by the Maoists still couldn't return to their places.
1 comment
This is all well and good sign for new Nepal. Hope all arms insurgency ends in Nepal and general public enjoy free life. But there are many major problems in the hands of the present and future Nepal government.
1. The Nepal Government must look in to job creation in the country and plan for school leavers. As long as young buds (school leavers) are not trained and used for National productivity Nepal will not be able to go further.
2. The Nepal Government must stop corruption and seized illegally gained property of the present and previous government officials. I suggest to go as far as three generations behind. All properties must be investigated wether it is proportional to their official earning or not. IF GOVERNMENT DOES NOT TAKE ACTION then corruption again will be on the rise.
3. The Nepal Government must devise online payment of TAX. Each and every citizen of the country must pay TAX but it should not be leaked like in the past. Manual payment is no good because all government officials in the TAX department is corrupted! In addition self TAX evaluation forms should be introduced and records must be computerized. All TAX records should be online to avoid corruption.
4. The Nepal Government must release directives for all government offices. Currently all government officials are corrupted and harrass general public. None of the government officials work without paying them something. In this regard the government should enter provisions in the constitution of Nepal that general public should be able to file a case against government officials if they harrass or delay work in government offices.
5. The Nepal Government must work on establishing more indutries in the country and should be focus on daily necessities. Such as food stuff and apperals to minimize use of foreign currency to import.
6. The Nepal Government must conduct salary survey basing on family of maximum five (5) and look in to revision of salay scale for new Nepal. This is to stop corruption because many corruption go on because of their daily requirement.
7. The Nepal Government should look in to the foreign investment and must underline criteria to invest. None of the company should be given 100% foreign investment. All company must have National or local partners. This is for the National interest for longterm. If 100% foreign investment is given now Nepal will be totally epmty because Nepalese people do not have experience on investment so far.
8. The Nepal government of Nepal should plan to generate Hydropower as much as she can and export throughout the region. This will generate job in the country and bring sufficient resource in to the country. This helps irrigation in different parts of Nepal. In addition young school leavers can be trained for different profession to work in Hydropower generation projects.
9. The Nepal government should allow private sectors to build multi story properties with earth quake safety measures. With rapid growth of population defensive accommodation is a must. In addition sewargae and clean drinking water projects must speeded up.
There are many areas to be developed in new Nepal but I feel these are most important ones for priliminary development of the country.