ANOTHER ROUND OF DISCUSSIONS TO EXTEND CA TENURE

BIG THREE, MADESHBADI FRONT CRUCIAL MEET BEGINS TO DISCUSS CA TENURE EXTENSION

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 27 Nov.: The Big Three parties and constituents of six-party Madeshbadi Morcha in government began a meeting Sunday morning to discuss the duration of the constituent assembly (CA) tenure after 30 November.
Government has sought a six-month extension but parties outside government are divided whether the extended duration should be three or six months.
The parties are also discussing Friday’s landmark supreme court (SC) ruling that says the CA can’t be extended again even if a basic law isn’t promulgated.
Major parties are reviewing progress in drafting a constitution in the last three months when the tenure was extended by three months; virtually no progress has been recoded in constitution drafting.
SC ruled referendum, fresh CA elections to renew its mandate or other options should be put in place by the assembly if it can’t fulfill its mandate.
Clearly, the doctrine of necessity invoked by government seeking repeated extensions won’t apply any longer.
The supreme court chided the CA in a scathing criticism.
“It has been widely felt that the CA has also made a mockery of constitutionalism, rule of law and governance accountable to the people.
Despite the opportunities given by the SC, to work on promulgation, the CA is found not to have given serious attention to accomplishing its task.
“It has been found that the constitution making process couldn’t be prioritized inside the CA,” a translated version of the verdict n Nepali language said.
The verdict didn’t specify a deadline for the promulgation.
Chairman Pachanda, Prime Minister Babura Bhattarai, NC President Sushil Koirala, UML Chairman Jhalanath Khanal and other leaders attended the early morning meet.
Parties Sunday are also discussing preference of more than 6,500 Maoist former combatants for integration when a 6,500 quota has been set.
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TRAFFIC MOVEMENT DISRUPTED IN SUNSARI DEMANDING ARREST OF KILLERS OF MUSLIM LEADER

Kathmandu, 27 Nov.: With little progress in nabbing persons involved in murder of a Muslim, a concerned protest committee Sunday amid protests disrupted movement of vehicles in Sunsari Sunday demanding arrest of killers of Faijan Ahmed, General Secretary of Islamic Sangn in the capital.
Ahmed was gunned down two months ago by suspected Indian hired killers in the near Ghantaghar after coming out from an adjoining mosque opposite a police office complex after prayers.
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HEALTH MINISTRY TO BOLSTER PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
Kathmandu, 27 Nov.: Although the government has strengthened the preventive health components, almost 70 per cent people are choosing outdoor services for treatment, The Rising Nepal reports.
Dr. Pravin Mishra, secretary at the Ministry of Health and Population, said the government should strengthen the curative system in the coming days.
The Ministry of Health and Population has been investing in preventive measures for many years and it has made some achievements, Dr. Mishra said. However, no approaches have been taken for curative measures leading to the lost credibility of the government health system, Dr. Mishra added.
Speaking at the Annual Progress Review Meeting, organized by the Department of Health Services, Dr. Mishra indicated the need of new approaches and investments for strengthening the curative health system.
The three-day review meeting concluded Saturday after analyzing the health indicators where the government saw successes and failures.
Earlier, review meetings were held in five regional directorates.
While speaking at the programme, Minister for Health and Population Rajendra Mahato said that the meeting was a milestone to adopt new programmes for the government in health sector.
The government’s investment and responsibility was not enough in health sector. People are not satisfied in the services provided by the government, Minister Mahato said.
He also asked the concerned authorities for proper and timely use of the health budget. Although they always criticized the lack of budget allocated in the health sector, budget amounts froze everywhere.
Saying that the government should identify the national health goal, Minister Mahato added that the health policy should be reformed to address the need of the population.
The 20-year-old health policy and programme can not meet the new emerging health burden of the people, he said.
As per the new health policy, an MBBS doctor should be deployed in VDCs across the nation, Minister Mahato said.
Although the posts of health workers should not be vacant even for a single day, there are a number of posts vacant in health sectors for a long time which is a shameful matter for the government, he said.
According to the report presented in the review meeting, Nepal has been continuously doing well in expanding immunization coverage like, BCG, DPT-Hep B-Hib 3 and measles coverage since 2065/66.
Similarly, the report also showed that nutrition programme and child health programme were also successful.
However, safe motherhood programme and family planning programme are not doing as per the expectation. There is very slow progress in tuberculosis programme.
Due to the regional level preparedness and planning as well as integrated campaign, no diarrhoeal outbreaks were reported this year, the report mentioned.
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GOVT. SHOULD GET CONTINUITY SAYS MINISTER GUPTA
Kathmandu, 27 Nov.: Information and Communications Minister Jay Prakash Prasad Gupta Saturday said that the present government should be given a shape of the national consensus government, The Rising Nepal reports from Lekhnath, Kaski.
"The statue drafting should be taken to a logical end by giving the present government a national consensus shape," said Gupta.
Speaking at a felicitation programme organized by Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), Kaski, Gupta said that after the completion of some significant tasks, Nepali Congress and CPN-UML should also join the present government.
Saying that participation of NC and CPN-UML would pace up the statute drafting process, Gupta urged the two parties to work towards giving the national consensus shape to this government.
Claiming that the present government was the first one to work for the integration of the combatants, Gupta said, "The present government alone can conclude other related works of the country."
Gupta said that the tenure of the constitution should be prolonged either to three or six months.
However, Gupta clarified that his party was not in favor of prolonging the tenure of the constitution.
Gupta said that the national consensus is crucial for promulgating the constitution within the stipulated time frame and added, "Peace process is the foundation of constitution drafting process."
Senior journalist Narayan Bhattarai and Navaraj Subedi were felicitated at the programme.
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