Working in slow motion
"None of the parties in the CA seems to be interested in getting things rolling" Nepal's Constituent Assembly (CA) is in its eighth month of existence. Even after this long period of inactivity, …
Opinions
Articles, interviews and notes in English and Nepali.
359 entries
The Silent Cry
"When the country is passing through difficult times, the rulers should be sincere" Can Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who spearheaded the republican movement, dethroned the king and establi…
Constitutions galore
Populism in constitution making is not a new phenomenon. Hardly any systematic study exists in this area. But this phenomenon exists, and exists in the most powerful sense. Nepal is definitely go…
Opposition in the Constituent Assembly
It is already about five months that the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly (CA), on 28 May 2008, to abolish monarchy and declare the country a republic, was held. The Assembly is function…
Constituent Assembly threatened?
The recent assertion of Prime Minister Puspa Kamal Dahal that Nepal will neither adopt a complete communist system of governance nor will it accept the system of parliamentary democracy within it…
Controversies at Constituent Assembly
Disagreements over two major issues are said to be obstructing the passage of the draft Constituent Assembly Rules of Procedure. The first relates with the appropriate size of the proposed Consti…
Does Khasan deserve recognition?
Nepal has been declared a federal state by the Interim Constitution. Although this does not establish ethnicity as the fundamental principle of the federal system of government that Nepal is goin…
The nature of Presidency
What once a courtier of King Charles II (1630 – 1685) of England wrote on the door of the Royal Bed Chamber remains more or less a fair description of the British constitutional monarchy even aft…
Details on fifth amendment
Under a compromise brokered between the major parties and the CPN (Maoist), the Constituent Assembly has finally passed the Interim Constitution Fifth Amendment Bill 2008. The present amendment t…
Repeating classic constitutional blunders
President Dr Ram Baran Yadav, who is the first elected head of the state, and bears principal responsibility to uphold the Constitution and abide by it, has asked the Constituent Assembly (acting…
New Crown
Nepal turned the palace of the besieged king Gyanendra into a museum after ending the Shah dynasty and declaring a republic last month. As one can guess in any democratic society, the Communist P…
The May 28 proceedings
A constituent assembly is not a degradation ceremony. It has to treat itself as worthy of honor, dignity and self-respect which a body worth this name unconditionally needs to maintain its sancti…