KATHMANDU, May 27: Parliamentarians have drawn the attention of the government on rising insecurity, violence and sexual harassment against women.

Speaking in the meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) on Monday lawmakers Lalkaji Gurung, Bahadur Singh Lama, Shanta Chaudhary, Satya Narayan Sharma Khanal, Satya Pahadi, Samina Husen, Sarita Kumari Giri, Sita Devi Yadav, Smriti Narayan Chaudhary, Sujata Pariyar, Hariraj Adhikari and Gyam Kumari Chhantyal had drawn the attention of the government on these issues.

They have urged the government to maintain peace and security in the country and to hold talks with Netra Bikram Chanda-led party for a peaceful solution of the protest launched by the party. RSS

KATHMANDU, August 24: Lawmakers in today’s meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) have demanded for stern actions against the culprits of violence against women.

While participating in the deliberations on the resolution proposal presented in the meeting today, they have stressed to prioritize for violence free society as it is the first priority of prosperity.

The speakers have further opined for practically ending all kinds of violence after introducing strong laws.

Lawmakers have focused on effective and reformed laws, raising awareness against the VAW and ending economic and social discrimination against women.

They have further stated that cases of sexual harassment and rapes were on rise therefore, the Parliament and government should enact stern laws to control the crimes.

Lawmaker Binda Pandey opined for introducing new curriculum in school level to raise awareness to control such crimes. She also urged the government to be serious regarding the issues of violence against women.

Pushpa Bhusal shared that the resolution proposal was tabled to end the cases of violence against women (VAW) and children that is increasingly in a staggering number lately.

Yashodha Gurung stated although there were laws against the violence against women, the women and children were increasingly falling prey to the violence due to the lax implementation of those rules.

Rekha Sharma opined that a social campaign on violence against women should be launched to the grassroots level.

Similarly Durga Paudel emphasized on a common resolution to end the cases of VAW.

Laxmi Pariyar commented that the cases of rape on girl child were rising lately due to the lack of social awareness and ranted that the culprits were moving scot-free in the public.

Radha Kumari Gyawali demanded devising a special high-powered mechanism that would be operative for round -the-clock and would take action against the cases of VAW. She also demanded capital punishment for those attempting rape or raping the minors.
Khagaraj Adhikari reaffirmed his committed to work against VAW till his last breathe. He vowed that he would vacate his position in his party if situation would arise when women were elected unanimously.

Amresh Kumar Singh argued that the cases of VAW were increasing owing to legal, social and economical issues and spoke of the need to empower women economically and socially.

Krishna Bhakta Pokharel underscored the need for the civic societies and the political parties to launch a special campaign against VAW. He recalled that Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s policy of zero toleration against VAW.

Padam Giri remarked that the cases of VAW were increasing day by day due to lack of stern action against the culprit of VAW.

Nirudevi Pal and Nabaraj Silwal asserted that the cases of VAW would not wane unless deeply rooted superstitions are uprooted from our society. They demanded life imprisonment with confiscation of all properties to the culprits in such heinous cases. RSS

KATHMANDU, August 23: Lawmakers have drawn the attention of the government towards various contemporary issues including Kanchanpur rape case and increased tax collection by the local-level.

During the special-hour of today’s meeting of the House of Representatives, Sujata Koirala of Nepali Congress criticized the government’s move of increasing tax to add woes to the people’s life, even at a time when the opposition party has expressed commitment to fully support the government if it leads the country towards prosperity.

Koirala said that the government should pay special attention over the issue of tax as local-levels have been imposing tax haphazardly.

Similarly, Surya Pathak of the Communist Party of Nepal expressed the view that the incumbent government has been working for appropriate foreign policy, federalism implementation and establishment of good governance.

He said, “The policy forwarded by Nepal to establish balanced relation with China and India after the formation of the incumbent government has been widely welcomed. The opposition party has spread rumour unnecessarily regarding tax imposed by the local levels.”

Likewise, lawmaker Deepak Prakash Bhatta drew the attention of the House towards the attempts made to save the real culprits by implicating people not involved in the incident.

Briefing the House about the loss of lives and property due to landslide and flooding at different places of Rasuwa, Mohan Basnet sought the arrangement for relief to the victims.

Lawmaker Amrita Agrahari questioned why and on what basis the victory certificate was not given to Resham Chaudhary, elected by the people, accusing the government of discriminating against the Madhes and Madhesi people while Sarita Giri drew the government’s attention over the obstruction to the expansion of power grid from Dhalkebar of Dhanusha to Itahari of Sunsari in Kadariya village of Lahan municipality. RSS

KATHMANDU, August 21: Lawmakers have drawn the attention of the government towards various issues including flooding, landslide and tax in today’s meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR).

During the special-hour of the meeting, Agni Prasad Sapkota drew the government’s attention towards increasing cases of natural disasters like flooding and landslide in Sindhupalchowk and urged to run disaster reduction program.

He also raised the question which factor has been obstructing the government to bring Tatopani check point, border of Nepal and China, into operation.

Similarly, Gagan Kumar Thapa said that Commission related to Distribution of Natural Means and Resources should be formed soon as per the Constitution. He said, “Prime Minister will be successful only if federalism becomes successful.”
Laxmanlal Karna questioned when Parsa-based Sugar Mill would be brought into operation again? Drawing the government’s attention towards losses of lives and property due to flooding and landslide in Jajarkot, Salyan and Rukum districts, Jatnardan Sharma asked the government to provide additional relief material there immediately.

Likewise, Binod Kumar Chaudhary stressed the need of utilizing Rs 22 billion of Social Security Fund while Khagaraj Adhikari said that the Prime Minister should not been linked with the tax imposed by local level.

Bahadur Singh Lama, Atahar Kamal Musalman and Mahesh Basnet also expressed their views. RSS

KATHMANDU, July 31: Lawmakers have registered amendment proposal on the National Medical Education Bill-2075 BS.

Deadline for the amendment proposal on the Bill is until 2:00 pm on Wednesday. The Bill was tabled by Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Giriraj Pokharel, in the Parliament.

As per the House of Representatives, Bill Department, lawmakers—Anil Kumar Jha, Ganga Chaudhary, Laxmi Chaudhary, Asha Kumari BK, Bharat Kumar Shah, Sanjay Kumar Gautam, Dilendra Prasad Badu registered the amendment proposal.

Similarly, Dev Prasad Gurung, Shanta Chaudhary, Krishna Bhakta Pokharel, Til Bahadur Mahat Chhetri, Bimala BK, Pushpa Kumari Karna Kayastha also registered amendment proposal.

The lawmakers registered the amendment proposal as per the nine-point agreement reached between the government and Prof Dr Govinda KC on July 26. RSS

KATHMANDU, July 1: Lawmakers have drawn the government’s attention to various pertinent issues during the special hour of the House of Representatives session on Sunday.

Pampha Bhusal demanded the government that it implemented the Tarai-Madhes Fast Track in Bungmati area from outside the ring road.

Pushpa Bhusal (Nepali Congress) urging the government to bring all bills required to enforce the constitution, made it clear that her party would not walk off the parliament.

Amrita Agrahari informed the government about a shortage of fertilizer and diesel in Tarai Madhes in the paddy transplantation season, seeking the solution to the problem. Umashanakar Agariya expressed his concern over zero-budget allocation to Dhanusha to control floods.

Prem Suwal questioned what the government was doing when Nepali border land continues to be encroached by others. Construction of river embankments along the border area has resulted in the problems of inundation every year in Nepaliterritory.

Hridayesh Tripathi demanded the announcement of protected and special zones while restructuring the state in line with the constitution while Rajendra KC was of the view that increase in prices of petroleum products has its impact on every aspect of life, accusing the government of mocking at democracy by imposing the prohibited zones.

Maheshwor Gahatraj called on the government to pay heed towards the flood control in the Tarai-Madhes districts.

Nar Bahadur Dhami demanded the government sends 27 additional doctors to the Mahakali Zonal hospital to fill the quota.

Dal Bahadur Rana urged the government to pay attention to the infrastructure development in community schools and adjustment of teachers’ quota.

Nawraj Silwal insisted on the need of bringing a special programme to address the issue of pollution in the Kathmandu Valley while Durga Poudel urged the government to address demands of Prof Dr KC.

Likewise, lawmakers airing their views in a zero-hour of the parliament session today, drew the government’s attention to bringing a land-use policy, addressing the issues of landless squatters and creating atmosphere for NRNS to invest in Nepal

Effective enforcement of constitutional provision on citizenships in mother’s name, control of price hike, and preventive measures against natural disasters were other issues raised by them. Ambika Thapa, Asha Kumari BK, Krishna Kumar Shrestha, Krishna Bhakta Pokhrel, Khagraj Adhikari, Ganesh Pahadi, and Chhaka Bahadur Lama spoke in the zero hour. RSS

KATHMANDU, June 22: Lawmakers, taking part in the discussions over various headings of the Appropriation Bill-2075 BS, in the House of Representatives meeting on Friday, demanded guarantee of employment opportunities and equal education within the country.

The topic-wise discussions were related to the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security; Ministry of Commerce and Supplies; Ministry of Science and Technology; Ministry of Health and Population; and Ministry of Defence.

Dev Prasad Timilsina and Narmaya Dhakal demanded the guarantee of jobs and education to the people under the poverty line. Likewise, Krishna Bhakta Pokhrel said the trend of sending Nepalis as workers abroad without training and proper orientation has risked their lives. Foreign job seekers should be given training before sending them to the international job market.

Lawmaker Yagya Bahadur Sunuwar demanded the government to make appropriate arrangement of budget as health and education are the fundamental rights of the people.

Likewise, Ghandhyam Khatiwada, Divya Maniraj Bhandari, Ganesh Singh Thagunna, Maina Kumari Bhandari and Chandra Kanta Chaudhary expressed their views that the issues like basic education to people and easy access of people to health service should be included in the budget with priority as education and health are very crucial things in human life.

Other lawmakers—Pabitra Niraula Kharel, Surya Prasad Pathak, Sujita Shakya, Rekha Kumari Jha and Gajendra Bahadur Mahat, among others also expressed their views.

The next meeting of the House of Representatives has been scheduled at 2:00 pm on June 24.

KATHMANDU, June 22: Lawmakers, speaking in the special time of the House of Representatives on Friday, drew the government’s attention towards the control of price hike and black marketing.

Prakash Rasaili, Prem Suwal, Durga Poudel and Dev Prasad Timilsina expressed their concern over increasing market price, insisting on the government interventions to curb it.

They took the time to apprise the government about impact on multiple areas due to continuous increase in the prices of petroleum products, objecting to the government ‘apathy’ towards voices of students to this regard.

Lawmaker Shanta Chaudhary said that despite the formal abolishment of Kamlari system (a kind of bonded labor), around 100 women are still forced to work as Kamlaris in western Nepal.

She demanded an investigation into the death of 11 year-old girl Asmita Tharu. “Though the incident has been presented as a suicide, she said nail injuries on her both hands and black and blue marks on multiple parts of the body has made the case suspicious,” she said, urging the Home Minister to bring facts surrounding it. RSS

KATHMANDU, June 14: Lawmakers at the meeting of the House of Representatives on Thursday have drawn the attention of the government to difficulties in realizing its goal to attract 2000,000 tourists in next two years due to failure to conserve lakes.

Speaking at a discussion on various subjects under meeting, lawmaker Khagraj Adhikari complained that the budget fails to focus on the conservation and protection of lakes and infrastructure management necessary for attracting tourists despite tourism being main basis for economic prosperity.

Taking part in the discussion under different subjects under the Ministries of Finance, Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation and Youth and Sports under the Appropriation Bill, 2075 BS, he suggested developing physical infrastructures for increasing influx of tourists.

Sanjaya Gautam complained that the budget fails to concentrate on physical infrastructure development of Bardiya National Park.

Laxman Lal Karna urged promotion of religious tourism and plans to be in place for Nepali citizens to take a tour of the country themselves.

He also stressed the need for developing stadium in various places of the country for the development of sports.

Chhakka Bahadur Lama said that the government was not serious in reforming the Simikot Airport. Lawmaker Kamala Roka stressed on developing the infrastructures for tourism development and invite foreign tourists in the country.

She also opined for developing the ‘war tourism’ after constructing infrastructures for the same.

Similarly, Dila Sangraula focused on promoting cultural and religious tourism in the Province-1.

Yashoda Subedi said that new destinations for tourism should be developed in the country. Lawmaker Meen Bahadur BK said that the budget allocation under the influence of powerful leaders was wrong. RSS

KATHMANDU, June 14: Lawmakers have presented proposal to diminish expenditure on different topics of different ministries in a discussion on Appropriation Bill-2075 BS.

On Thursday’s meeting of the House of Representatives, they presented the proposal, saying more amount has been allocated under the topic in comparison to programs.

Taking part in the discussion, lawmaker Dr Minendra Rijal opined for deducting the expenditure of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. He also stressed the need of developing physical infrastructure to bring 2000,000 tourists in the country in upcoming fiscal year.

Rijal said the proposal of expenditure reduction was presented, saying deadline of airport construction and budget allocation have no connection.

Similarly, Prem Suwal proposed to curtail the expenditure of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation; Youth and Sports and Finance Ministries, saying attention was not paid in preservation of cultural heritages enlisted in the World Heritage.

Likewise, Pramila Rai presented the proposal to reduce the expenditure of Youth and Sports Ministry while Prakash Rasaili proposed to curtail the expenditure of different topics of Finance Ministry.

Saying attention was not paid in development of rural tourism, Durga Poudel stressed the need of reducing the budget of Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. RSS