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.

Saturday 21 June 2008

Freedom of Expression - Absolute or to Some Degree

Although every citizen may prefer absolute Freedom of Expression (not only Freedom of Speech), (by the way, freedom of speech relates to speech alone whereas the freedom of expression covers all forms of expression including the media which is rather powerful nowadays), the rulers might like less so since it may be difficult to govern a country given absolute Freedom of Expression. I guess most democratic countries still have some kind of restrictions although they preach Freedom of Expression here, there and everywhere. Perhaps absolute Freedom of Expression is quite difficult to manage from the administrative perspective so some kind of restrictions may be recommended by the ruling party!

As citizens of the newest republic in the world, do we want absolute Freedom of Expression? As long as one's expression does not deprive another of their rights and dignity, then why not? But if you have a government leaning towards Communism (China, North Korea) or dictatorial structure (Myanmar, Zimbabwe) then there will be no freedom of speech, let alone expression which are proven by the latest world news of Olympic Torch relay in China, locking up of Aung San Su Ki in Burma and Mugabe's election farce in Zimbabwe. [Let us move forward and not go into the Maoist actions during recent revolution (torturing, shooting/stabbing of teachers, examiners and anyone who did not like their way of life) which were by far the worst in the recent civilisation amounting to barberism and there is no denial from any human about it, I guess].

Should we have the absolute Freedom of Expression or should we implement the Freedom of Expression to some degree (to help the ruling government at the expense of citizen's right)? Logical argument and proven evidence please?

No comments: