Nepalko Bhavi Sambidhanma Kasta Kuraharu Bhaye Hunthyo?

What do you think the new constitution of Nepal should offer us?

I guess the constitution should provide an EQUAL OPPORTUNITY to ALL its citizens irrespective of their caste or race, religion, gender, age, origin, background and ability (et al). This literally means that you will be treated equally by the state whether you are a Muslim/Christian or Hindu/Buddhist, straight, transgender or gay, Shudra/Vaishya or Chhetri/Brahmin, 19 or 90 year-old, able or disabled, Madhesi/Pahade or Bhote, Oriental or Aryan, PhD holder, an illiterate or in-between!

It is fairly easy to say this but in order to offer such a fair opportunity to all we need a very transparent system in place in every walk of life. My philosophy is very simple: most good things including the Internet have now been invented by the rest of the world, we simply need to import good ones into our constitution and implement them! Most of them are tried and tested already by the world and we can only pick up those that are the BEST!

I have got a proposal: Hundreds of thousands of Nepalese live abroad now, some commanding fairly good positions where they have seen something work very well in their neighbourhood. I suggest they all suggest "best practices" from their walk of life to be considered in the new constitution of Nepal so that we will be heading towards having one of the best constitutions in the world!

I have got areas that I would like to mention in this site. If you have any reasons why they should or should not be included please list your reasons. Only constraint is that you should list commonsensical, logical (mathematically or scientifically), proven (those implemented successfully somewhere in the world) or tested (piloted successfully in some areas) issues with valid argument either for or against your points.


If you wish to read constitutions of other countries in the world, please follow these links (I think everyone involved in the making of the constitution of Nepal should visit these sites too):

http://confinder.richmond.edu/alpha.php

http://www.constitution.org/cons/natlcons.htm

http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/const.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_constitutions_by_age

I suggest you read points raised here and make comments by clicking on "comment" at the end of each point, either anonymously or by logging in with your genuine address.

Thursday 12 June 2008

Automatic Right to Parental Wealth or Inheritance via a Will

Current Nepalese law allows every adult son and unmarried daughter (of certain age) to seek a share of their parental wealth as if they had earned it themselves (please advise if this is not the case).

Automatic inheritance to sons, in a sense, may be counter-productive to children since such right may discourage them from working hard to earn something of their own. Due to such right, sons do not necessarily have to work at all (in some cases) whilst some daughters (who end up getting married to a less-wealthy person) may be struggling.

When analysing from the other side of the coin though, if you are a Hindu and believe in your sons performing your death rite on your demise, sons may be less enthusiastic about this 13-day-marathon "kiriya" if they do not automatically inherit the parental wealth.

Should we encourage parents/adults to make a will, like in the West, in order to allow distribution of their wealth as they see fit? If they fail to make a will, then all assets to be passed down to the living spouse or distributed evenly amongst their children (or nearest relatives etc) if the deceased did not have a spouse! What would be the fairest solution which encourages children to earn their own whilst keeping harmony in the family and eliminating conflict to the culture and religious practices? I think a will is the solution. Do you have something more effective than a will, please discuss.

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