Nepal Govt’s Policies & Programs for Fiscal 2006

On behalf of the hospitalized Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, Deputy Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Oli presented the 34-point policy and program document [1] of the Government of Nepal for the fiscal year 2006 (2063) at the House of Representatives on Sunday, July 09, 2006. The House of Representatives passed it by majority-voice votes on July 11, 2006. According to the media report, Deputy Prime Minister Amik Sherchan representing the People’s Front Nepal in the seven-party alliance (SPA) government did not approve the polices and programs, and his colleague Lilamani Pokharel wanted to make a note of dissent at the House of Representatives. Chairman of Nepal workers’ and Peasants’ Party, Narayan Man Bijukchhe was absent at the House during the passage of the policies and programs.

The policies and programs of the government was not responsive to the aspirations expressed by Nepalis during the people’s movement in April 2006, did not attempt to convert the people’s mandate into the constitutional mandate expediting elections for a Constituent Assembly (CA), and then crafting a people’s constitution through the CA.

Expressed during the people’s movement in April 2006, people’s mandate to the House of Representatives and the government to follow was to: (1) bring a lasting peace together with the Maoists, (2) set up inclusive democracy giving equal opportunity of proportional representation in the House of Representatives to women, people of various ethnic groups, and madhesies (people living in Terai Nepal), (3) make radical changes across the board in the governance system, and (4) work hard and fast for the people.

So far, neither the House of Representatives nor the Government of Nepal could work to this end. Hence, it was not surprising that the programs and polices presented by the government, and passed by the House of Representatives did not represent the people’s mandate.

The House of Representatives and the government needed to work in tandem to share the political power with the Maoists, merge the parallel government and militia run by the Maoists with the Nepal government and Nepal Army respectively to ensure a lasting people. As long as two parallel governments existed in a single country, a lasting peace would not be possible.

The current House of Representatives reinstated by the people’s power has been relapsing into regression. The regressive elements have been making their voices heard more than the voices representing the people’s aspirations. Nepalis have seen that a bunch of corrupt [2] members of parliament (MPs), and MPs loyal to the king would certainly not listen to the people’s voices, but act for the revival of the autocratic regime because they had benefited from such a regime in the past, and would like to have similar benefits from it in the future.

The last sentence of the Article 3 of the policies and programs states: “The Government of Nepal will build the national consensus on the issues of national importance while strengthening unity among the political parties for the establishment of democracy and sustainable peace.” However, the government failed to consult not only with the CPN-Maoist leaders but also with other party leaders in the SPA and other parliamentary parties such as Rastriya Prajantra party despite the provision of the Article 5 of the Eight-Point Agreement reached between the SPA Government and the CPN-Maoist for making consensus decisions on the issues of national importance having long-term implications.

One of the middle sentences of the article 25 of the policy and program document states: “The Government of Nepal will implement a policy on making the state-run Radio Nepal, Nepal TV, Gorkhapatra Corporation, and Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS) autonomous, self-reliant and competitive.” The state-run media have played a negative role in the People’s Movement in April 2006 airing and publishing tons of materials going against democracy and democratic movement and advocating for the autocratic king’s regime. Such state-run media have no right to exist at all. The government should immediately dissolve all the state-run media organizations.

The Article 26 states: “In accordance with the spirit and sentiments of the recently established democratic system in the country, the Government of Nepal will make timely reform in making the civil service competent, efficient and service oriented, and will carry out level-wise monitoring of service delivery putting special emphasis on checking the red tape and irregularities at different layers of administrative and public sector.” In the past, Five-Time Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala of the democratically elected one government after another had exerted political influences on the bureaucracy often forcing the civil servants to follow the orders of ministers or Prime Minister rather than the laws, rules and regulations. Consequently, the bureaucracy had weakened considerably, and the financial indiscipline had been rampant. The question is whether the same man sitting in the same chair would make influence on the bureaucracy or not.

The Article 28 states: “The Government of Nepal will provide the law courts with additional resources to ensure the access of the ordinary citizens to justice, and to make justice prompt, less expensive and easily available, and will make necessary legal and structural arrangements specifically for addressing the problem of citizenship in the Terai region as well as to provide citizenship based on the maternal relationship.” The judiciary should be independent and efficient. To this end, the House of Representatives should directly pass the budget for the law courts. In the past, the king had exerted influences on the Supreme Court. The Nepal government should immediately issue citizenship certificates to all the Terai people called madhesies pursuant to the Citizenship Act, rules and regulations.

Some people think if the House of Representatives and the government continued the current regressive activities soon Nepalis might not only withdraw their support for them but also might rise up against them giving the chance of making the October Revolution possible as in Russia in 1917 [3]. The current activities of the House of Representatives and the government were self-destructive and suicidal. The MPs should not think that they got the mandate from the people to do the business in their own interest. The attempts of the MPs to prolong the life of the House of Representatives would lead to early demise of it.

The Maoists have adopted the policy of ‘wait and see’ the moves of the House of Representatives, and the government. They have been carefully watching the activities of the MPs, the government and the House of Representatives, and have publicly complained at the regressive nature of their activities.

Let us see what others have to say about the programs and polices of the government.

Soon after Deputy Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli tabled a proposal for discussion at the afternoon session of the House on July 09, 2006 lawmakers belonging to various parties gave mixed reactions to the government's policies and programs. CPN-UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, NC Vice-president Sushil Koirala and NC-D President Sher Bahadur Deuba supported the programs and policies, and suggested the government to implement them honestly whereas members of the smaller parties criticized the government for not making the document as aspired by the people.

CPN-UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal said that the government gave top priority in the policies and programs to implementing the 12-point Understanding and the Eight-Point Agreement reached between the SPA and the CPN-Maoist. He said, "It has respected the people's aspirations and honored those who died and were injured in course of the people's movement.” He said the policies and programs were for the period until the formation of an interim government [4] that can introduce its own policies and programs. He said the policy and program have enough room for positive advice from Maoists.

NC Vice-president Sushil Koirala said that the policies and programs came at a time when the government was facing a challenge to restoring peace and consolidating democracy in the spirit of the people's movement. Asking everyone to be vigilant to any element that might disrupt the peace process, he said, "We must maintain the SPA unity for political stability without which we cannot achieve economic development.”

NC-D President Deuba said that the main objective of the program was to stabilize the jana-andolan's (people’s movement) achievements, restore peace and lead the country toward a prosperous democratic society, hence, the policies and programs were compatible with the historical proclamation made by the House of Representatives (on May 18, 2006), and would enhance the country's economy.

Chairman of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Pashupati Shumsher Rana complained at not giving the MPs enough time for preparing their comments on the policies and programs, which he said were not epoch-making as were the House Proclamation. He said, "The government has not been able to move along with the great change.” "The change (jana-andolan) was the major event after 1816 Sugauli Treaty but the program to address it is completely traditional," Chairman Rana said. He also expressed dissatisfaction at the exclusion of smaller parties including his own while preparing the policies and programs. He said that the policy document failed to specify concrete programs on the disadvantaged groups and a timeframe for CA elections.

Rajendra Mahato of the Nepal Sadbhavana Party-Anandidevi said that the programs and policies should have focused on building a consensus on setting the number of voters before holding CA elections.

Yagyajit Shah of the Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP) charged the government of failing to address the problems of the people displaced by the ten-year Maoist insurgency in the policy and program document. He said, "I myself have been displaced as the Maoists have seized my family farm in Kailali.”

Pari Thapa of People's Front Nepal (PFN) said the policy document was traditional and did not differ from the previous ones while Chitra Bahadur K. C. of another faction of the PFN complained at the government not consulting them while preparing it. K. C. proposed the government to address the problems of the victims of the insurgency in the policy and program document.

Narayan Man Bijukchhe of Nepal Workers’ and Peasants' Party also criticized the government for making the policies and programs not different from the traditional ones, and said the government failed to address the problems of the common citizens in the document. He proposed the government to take stern actions against all those who supported the regressive regime to suppress the people's movement.

Surya Bahadur Thapa cautioned the House to be alert to the Maoist's strategy of demolishing democracy. "If we conduct CA elections in haste without first managing the weapons, we might lose democracy as the Maoists will prevail with the help of their guns.” He said the policies and programs brought out by the government against the current historical background were disappointing. "It could be considered good in a normal circumstance," he said, "But it did not address the special situation of the country.” [5]

On Sunday, July 09, 2006, speaking at the Reporter's Club, Member of the Dialogue Team of the CPN-Maoist for the peace talks with the government, Dev Gurung hinted that hitches could arise in the implementation of the Eight-Point Agreement, as the government failed to consult his party about the programs and policies presented at the House of Representatives. "The government's reluctance to consult us before drawing up the programs and policies has violated the Eight-Point Agreement," he said. "We will not bear the responsibility for the consequences of the budget [6 & 7] might bring, as we have not been consulted," Gurung said.

Referring to the policies and programs of the government, CPN-UML Leader Dilli Raj Khanal stressed the need for slashing the palace expenditure heavily as well as other unproductive expenses that is currently being earmarked under various headings including security. "The palace expenses should only be provided for the king and the queen as we are yet to decide on the successor," he said. "As the palace employees will be replaced by civil servants and Raj Parishad has already been scrapped, Rs. 10-15 million budget is adequate for the palace," Khanal said. He also emphasized the need for consultation with the Maoists while making budget. [7]

Speaking at the session of the House of Representatives, Lilamani Pokharel of the People's Front Nepal (PFN) said though the process of presenting the policies and programs was "good", but the contents were condemnable. "The policies and programs couldn't live up to the expectation of revolutionary changes," said Vice-chairman of PFN, Pokharel, and “PFN wants to put in a note of dissent in this regard." Top priority areas under the policies and programs are peace building, economic recovery, and rehabilitation of displaced people and reconstruction of destroyed development projects. Vice-chairman of PFN, Pokharel also said not mentioning anything about the palace in the policies and programs the government was guided by an ill intention of hammering out "an unnatural compromise" with the monarchy. He said the government should announce the property owned by the king, and should nationalize the palace, and should make public the amount of money deposited by members of the royal family in foreign banks. [8]

The policies and programs of the government could not satisfy many MPs within and outside the SPA, and certainly not the Maoists as the government failed to consult with them about the policies and programs at the critical time when the government and the SPA needed to sail together with the Maoists and other political leaders for building a lasting peace, and then prosperity of the people. The SPA government formed with the people’s support would soon lose the people’s base and crumble with disastrous results if it does not correct its working style. Beneficiaries would be certainly the Maoists and the regressive forces that are always waiting for taking power when the parliamentary parties were weakened by their squabbling and mishandling the state power.

Footnotes

[1] The full-text of the Policies and Programs of the Government presented by Deputy Prime Minister is as follows:

Rt. Honorable Speaker,

1.Let me pay homage to all the martyrs who sacrificed their precious lives for the establishment of democracy and sustainable peace, I pray for speedy recovery of the injured.

2.It is known to all that the House of Representatives reinstated after the historic People's Movement (Jana-andolan) has made an important declaration to translate people's aspiration for total democracy into reality. The declaration has reaffirmed the people are the source of an invincible power, and the Nepalese people are sovereign. The Government of Nepal will make necessary legal arrangements for implementing the declaration of the House of Representatives.

3.The Government of Nepal is committed to establishing sustainable peace in the country ending the decade-long violent conflict. Accordingly, the Government of Nepal will take necessary steps to institutionalize the universally accepted democratic values and norms along with the competitive multiparty system of governance, human rights, political freedom and the concept of rule of law while safeguarding the achievements of the historic People's Movement. The Government of Nepal will build the national consensus on the issues of national importance while strengthening unity among the political parties for the establishment of democracy and sustainable peace.

4. The Government of Nepal will initiate an all-party Peace Campaign to maintain mutual harmony, goodwill and an environment of trust in the Nepalese society removing the difficult situation, the lack of trust, the wounds of attacks and counterattacks inflicted by the conflict. The Government of Nepal will develop a security mechanism efficient, accountable and sensitive to the people's security to guarantee the ordinary citizens peace and security. The Government of Nepal will manage the Nepal Army, the Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force in accordance with the changed context. The Government of Nepal will launch programs on relief, welfare and rehabilitation of the families affected and displaced by the conflict, and similarly, will make arrangements of scholarships as well as social security for the families of the People's Movement Martyrs. The Government of Nepal will pay special attention to the reconstruction of the damaged infrastructure.

5. The Government of Nepal will establish sustainable peace in the country in accordance with the aspirations of the people of Nepal holding elections for a Constituent Assembly in a free and fair manner and in an atmosphere free from intimidation, and is committed to implement the management of arms pursuant to various understandings and agreements reached between the Government of Nepal and the Maoists as well as the Seven Political Parties and the Nepal Communist Party-Maoist (CPN-Maoist) for a lasting peace.

6.There exists a huge gap between the people's expectations articulated through the People's Movement and the weak economy caused by the limited resources and means. In this context, it is imperative for us to efficiently manage and utilize the limited resources at our disposal. The Government of Nepal will allocate public expenditure and formulate economic reform programs focusing on the poor, disadvantaged, marginalized and suppressed communities, and will lay the foundation of new Nepal uplifting and empowering the people living in remote geographical regions, women, madhesies, indigenous people and nationalities that have not been adequately represented in the national life.

7.In accordance with concept of an inclusive state system and taking into account the past experiences, the Government of Nepal will promote the principle of partnership and collaboration between and among the Government, the people, the private and the non-governmental sectors in carrying out development activities, and will erect a foundation of nation building through the successful mobilization of people's infinite vigor and energy.

8. The Government of Nepal will give the priority to the projects that increase rural employment and income level, and the projects meant for infrastructure building. The Government of Nepal will select and implement development activities and services such as rural communication, drinking water and sanitation, health and education services, which can be run by the communities, with their direct and active participation. With a view to ensuring effectiveness in the implementation, the Government of Nepal will make arrangements for directly transferring resources and means to the local level by way of further devolution from the center. Apart from the annual grant being provided to the village development committees, the Government of Nepal will provided them with an additional grant based on the demand of the local people, to those village development committees that meet the specified standards for the implementation of the rural-level small projects such as rural electrification, road, irrigation and drinking water by the local communities.

9 The Government of Nepal will place emphasis on the mobilization of foreign assistance in the sectors meant for the development of rural infrastructure, poverty alleviation as well as sectors of national importance. Projects run with the foreign assistance have been affected by the delays in making decisions on procurement and in implementing construction projects causing the increase in the project cost. To improve it, the Government of Nepal will take initiatives for procedural reforms including the promulgation of a public procurement law.

10. As the large part of the country's territory remains deprived of the minimum service of surface transportation, the Government of Nepal will put special emphasis on the development of road transportation, will complete the road construction to link the headquarters of seven out of fifteen districts, which still remain deprived of the road transportation facilities, within the next fiscal year, and will formulate programs on connecting the remaining districts by roads within the next four years. In addition, the Government of Nepal will start the construction of the Trishuli-Syphrubesi-Rasuwagadhi road, which links north south borders, this year, and will initiate special programs on the improvement of the standard of the postal highway and other subsidiary highways in the Terai.

11 The financial sector of Nepal is weak. While the misuse of credit is rampant in the urban areas, the access to credit in the rural areas is gradually shrinking. The Government of Nepal will take necessary steps to remove distortions and anomalies existing in the financial sector, will adopt a stern policy against the willful defaulters, and will make legal and institutional reforms to increase the volume and efficiency of the rural credit market.

12. The Government of Nepal will take a step to establish an ‘Industrial Revival Fund’ with participation of the private sector to rehabilitate entire industries including tourism, small and cottage industries affected by the economic crisis over the last five years. In the changed democratic situation as well as in the context of the restoration of peace, the Government of Nepal will launch special promotional activities to increase the flow of tourists into Nepal, and will make air services reliable and trustworthy.

13. The Government of Nepal will make necessary reforms in polices and laws to increase investment and competitive capability in industrial and trade sectors. Affiliation with the regional and multilateral trading groupings such as SAFTA, BIMSTEC and WTO has not only created additional opportunities but also new challenges in the field of investment and trade in Nepal, the Government of Nepal will make efforts to the optimal utilization of the advantages of the multilateral trading system by working in collaboration with the group of the least-developed countries for the benefit of countries like ours in the ongoing process of negotiations under the WTO.

Rt. Honorable Speaker

14. The Government of Nepal will implement special programs on making the Terai region a granary, the hills a zone of horticulture and the high hills for livestock development. In addition, the Government of Nepal will launch shallow tube well and surface irrigation programs with special priority. 15. The Government of Nepal will launch special targeted programs on empowerment of and poverty alleviation for those communities that have not been included in the mainstream national economic development, and for the districts experiencing the grinding poverty due to the lack of the human resources development. The Government of Nepal will also launch special program on the economic development and minimum employment generation in the Karnali Zone, and will provide each household, which does not have electricity, with a solar lamp.

16. The Government of Nepal will give the continuity to the programs on the protection of bio-diversity as well as on the community and leasehold forestry. In addition, the Government of Nepal will make timely reforms in the existing forestry related laws and regulations, and implement them accordingly in order to encourage private-owned forests for maintaining a balance between the forest and the demands for forest products.

17.With a view to ending dual control over land, the Government of Nepal will carry out the task of separating the tenants’ and the owners’ share of land as a special program in a time-bound manner, and will increase the access of landless people to land through legal and institutional arrangements, and will provide the families of landless-free Kamayas (freed bonded-laborers) with a long-term loan at concessionary rate for the purchase of land.

18. The Government of Nepal will continue the ‘Education for All Program’ to ensure every one's access to and enhance the quality of primary education, and will make provisions for scholarship for all girl-students at the grades 1-10 in the Karnali Zone and for 50 percent of girl-students at the primary schools in the remaining 70 districts under this program, and will make provisions for scholarship, as an incentive, for the students coming from the dalit families and the communities living under the marginal poverty line, and will make special arrangements for the improvement in the quality of school education, special education and higher education.

19. The Government of Nepal will put emphasis on skill development, and will carry out necessary reforms in law to make the foreign employment, dignified, manageable and transparent, and will pay special attention to human resource development to generate self-employment opportunities within the country and to enhance the quality of foreign employment, and will make provisions for scholarship, as an incentive, for the children of disadvantaged communities and of martyrs to ensure their participation in technical education and vocational training.

20.Given the current state of the lack of participation of women in the mainstream national development due to the gender inequalities, the Government of Nepal will give priority to women's capacity development and empowerment programs, and will make the implementation of such programs effective reforming discriminatory laws and enacting laws to guarantee women the equality with men, and will continuously expand the women’s development program.

21.Remaining committed to the belief that health is a basic human right of the people; the Government of Nepal will launch health-related programs taking into consideration the interest particularly of the poor, helpless and marginalized people in villages, and will provide adequate assistance in the treatment of those who have become seriously disabled as a result of injury sustained during the People's Movement.

22.To meet the growing demand for electricity and to remove the load shedding, the Government of Nepal will take up the implementation of some medium-scale hydroelectricity projects immediately. The Government of Nepal will expand the community rural electrification to provide support for the rural economy. In addition, for intensifying rural electrification programs in the rural areas for enhancing access of the people to electricity and energy, the Government of Nepal will also place the emphasis on the development and expansion of solar energy, biogas, small-scale hydropower and alternative energy technology.

23.To make irrigation facilities dependable, the Government of Nepal will give emphasis to the continuity of the construction of large and medium-scale irrigation projects together with the utilization of underground water irrigation facilities available round the year by effecting necessary improvement in and maintenance of underground water irrigation systems and farmers-run irrigation systems.

24.To help planned urban development and to discourage the tendency to build houses haphazardly without infrastructure, the Government of Nepal will formulate and implement necessary legal framework and a national urban policy, and will adjust programs so as to complete the on-going drinking water projects within three years.

25. The Government of Nepal will ensure the right of the sovereign citizens to information pursuant to the democratic values and norms, and will make necessary institutional and procedural arrangements for providing the people with information on the subjects of public importance. The Government of Nepal will make access for all to the utilization of telecommunication and modern communication technologies easier, and will implement a policy on making the state-run Radio Nepal, Nepal TV, Gorkhapatra Corporation, and Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS) autonomous, self-reliant and competitive; and will encourage the private sector in the electronic and print media to be independent and dignified, and will expand telecommunication services in all areas including the remote areas.

Rt. Honorable Speaker

26.In accordance with the spirit and sentiments of the recently established democratic system in the country, the Government of Nepal will make timely reform in making the civil service competent, efficient and service oriented, and will carry out level-wise monitoring of service delivery putting special emphasis on checking the red tape and irregularities at different layers of administrative and public sector.

27.The Government of Nepal will provide its employees with relief from the growing cost of living making a provision for a dearness allowance based on a specific percentage of the rate of price increase, and will launch a planned housing project in major urban areas in the country with the participation of the Employees Provident Fund for the Government employees and the contributors to the Fund.

28.The Government of Nepal will provide the law courts with additional resources to ensure the access of the ordinary citizens to justice, and to make justice prompt, less expensive and easily available, and will make necessary legal and structural arrangements specifically for addressing the problem of citizenship in the Terai region as well as to provide citizenship based on the maternal relationship.

29. The Government of Nepal will make polity-related as well as structural arrangements for developing democratic, pluralistic and original national culture befitting the democratic polity, and will formulate necessary policies on making Nepal a secular state based on the declaration made by the House of Representatives.

Rt. Honorable Speaker

30. The Government of Nepal will make efforts to bring an early end to the Bhutanese refugees problem lingering for the last one and half decade as well as to repatriate them to their country with dignity.

31.On behalf of the people and the Government of Nepal, let me express heartfelt thanks to all the friendly countries, international organizations and the civil society for the goodwill and support extended to us in the course of the peoples’ peaceful struggle for the restoration of democracy. The Government of Nepal will give continuity to the foreign policy on maintaining friendly good relations with neighbors and all the friendly countries in the world based on the principles of sovereign equality and peaceful co-existence.

32. The Government of Nepal will mobilize Nepalese embassies and missions abroad for the promotion of the national interest in the areas such as tourism, trade, investment and employment, and will make additional efforts to mobilize knowledge, skill and capital of the non-resident Nepalis for the country's economic and social development, and will take necessary steps in the interest of the Nepalis abroad.

33. The Government of Nepal will seek necessary cooperation in an appropriate form from the United Nations on the ongoing peace process and on the tasks of arms management.

Rt. Honorable Speaker

34.The best interest and prosperity of Nepal and the Nepalis depend on the unity and sincere efforts of the Nepalese brothers and sisters. Given the present situation that the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist) is engaged with the Government of Nepal in the peace process to come to the path of peaceful multiparty competition giving up arms, it becomes a pious duty of all of us to take a step at a quicker pace in the direction to establishing peace. In this process, I am fully hopeful that support from the entire spectrum of society will be there for framing an interim constitution and for the establishment of the rights of the people through elections for a Constituent Assembly so as to create an atmosphere for all the Nepalese to be able, for long into the future, to participate in the all-round development of the country by maintaining mutual goodwill and discipline under a democratic system.

Jai Nepal!

[2] MPs such as Surya Bahadur Thapa and Kamal Thapa betrayed Nepalis several times. Surya Bahadur Thapa was one of the main actors in dissolving the democratically elected government in 1960, and then rigged the referendum on selecting between the improved Panchayat system and a multi-party democratic system for making the improved Panchayat as the choice of the people in 1982. He used the national forest for financing the referendum to make it in the government’s favor causing deforestation. Kamal Thapa has the background of hooliganism. The king made him a Home Minister in 2005 for suppressing the people’ movement brutally in April 2006. The Special Court convicted Chirangive Wagle for corruption, and sentenced him with two years of jail term. He was supposed to be behind bars but he was making loud voices in the House of Representatives. Commission on Investigation Into Abuse of Authority (CIAA) had filed corruption cases against Khum Bahadur Khadka, and Govinda Raj Joshi. They are the members of the House of Representatives representing the Nepali Congress (NC). CIAA had served subpoena to five-time Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala for questioning him about his assets. PM Koirala instead of going to the CIAA and getting cleared off from any suspicion about his assets went to the Supreme Court of Nepal challenging the legality of the CIAA serving him subpoena. The Supreme Court gave the verdict on the legality of the subpoena served by the CIAA but PM Koirala never bothered to go to the CIAA. Many other less known MPs were also involved in corruption. These corrupt MPs have been calling for impeaching the Chief of CIAA. Thus, MPs have been going back to the heydays of the corrupt politicians.

[3] The Russian communists called Bolsheviks seized the opportunity of making their revolution successful in 1917. However, current Nepal is not the Russia of 1917, and current Nepalis are not the Russians of 1917.

[4] The government inclusive of the Maoists and the representatives of other political parties supposed to be formed after the Eight-Point Agreement is an interim government.

[5] The Rising Nepal, July 10, 2006, Govt. policies receive mixed reactions; Ekantipur.com Kantipur Report SPA leaders welcome govt. policy, programs posted on 2006-07-09 20:13:31 (Server Time); Nepalnews.com pb July 10, 2006 Govt. policies, programs draw mixed reactions.

[6] The budget follows the programs and policies of the government.

[7] The Rising Nepal, July 10, 2006, Govt. didn't consult on policy, programs: Maoist Leader.

[8] Ekantipur.com Ruling SPA MPs reject govt. policies posted on 2006-07-10 21:11:39 (Server Time).

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar is a political analyst based in Kathmandu. His email address is srilaxmi @ wlink.com.np.

© Scoop Media