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.

Monday 14 July 2008

Salary and Allowances of Assembly Members or Parliamentarians

In most countries the salaries, perks and allowances of the parliamentarians (Saamsad) is decided by themselves. If you can yourself decide how much money to take from an open purse you will always take as much as you like without worrying to much about whether someone will make fuss or not ( "Dhan Dekhe Mahadevka Tin Netra"), won't you?

In Britain, one of the finest democracies in the world, some parliamentarians have been known to have collected so much money in perks, expenses and allowances each month without being transparent. They have been known to employ fictitious people as their secretaries and have known to have done up their houses from the state coffers.

This may have happened in Nepal in the past too (one can always find Kishunji as an exception) but in order to be transparent in the new Nepal I think the salaries, perks and allowances of all parliamentarians and political persons (including Ward, District and Zonal members) should be decided by a body of a non-aligned and non-political organisation represented by at least 10 people from different walks of life and NOT by themselves, and reviewed annually. Their accounts should be scrutinised by a non-aligned and non-political organisation too. This will help parliamentarians to have the same increase in their salaries as per annual inflation rate which should also equally apply to people working in other sectors and government establishments. This will also avoid strikes about pay and allowances by employees in other sectors since they will be getting increments at the same rate as their members of the parliament.

Don't you think transparency and fairness should be incorporated in our new constitution? If not, why? Please suggest if you have a better practical idea than this?

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