The CA has started the constitution making task in view of the landmark agreement, and

during the process, vague points should be clarified

The four major political forces that command an overwhelming majority in the Constituent Assembly reached a landmark agreement towards Monday midnight, clearing the main hurdles that had kept the new constitution from being made for the past several years.

The accord signed by the heads of the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML, the UCPN-Maoist, and MJF-Democratic removed the long-drawn disputes over the number, delineation and naming of the provinces, forms of governance, and election systems.

In doing so, all the four forces yielded some ground. The centerpieces of the accord are the creation of eight Pradeshes (provinces)—the boundaries of which are to be recommended by a federal commission and which are to be named by the elected Pradesh assemblies—the adoption of a parliamentary system of governance, with the Prime Minister to be elected by the Lower House and a constitutional President to be chosen by an electoral college; the adoption of a mixed-election system for the composition of the House of Representatives—60 percent of the 275 seats by direct election and 40 percent by proportional representation—as well as the formation of the 45-seat National Assembly, five members returned by each of the eight Pradesh Assemblies and five to be nominated by the government.

The agreement should be welcomed as it goes towards institutionalizing the major changes brought about by the people’s movement of nearly ten years ago and others interpolated afterwards by the political parties in whatever manner. These and the need to reconcile the interests of the various political parties, including their narrow interests, have certainly left a lot of room for reservation about some of the provisions of the agreement and some other agreed points for the new constitution. But given that, without doing so, delivering the constitution would take an indefinitely long period of time, the historic breakthrough is expected to receive general support. The political parties and CA Chairman Subas Chandra Nembang are aiming to give the constitution by the end of July, by shortening the CA procedures.

With the promulgation of the new constitution, transformed parliament will elect President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, Speaker and Deputy Speaker. This goes well with the Interim Constitution, and also with the agreement reached between the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML before forming the present coalition. The UCPN-Maoist leadership should also be thanked for showing the flexibility, though quite belatedly, which they had not shown before either during the tenure of the first CA and prior to the major earthquake of April 25, particularly on the issues of federalism, and for emerging out of the trap they had fallen into. This right step will do both the nation and the party good. The CA has started going about the constitution making task in view of the landmark agreement, and during the process, vague points should be clarified, such as whether a lawmaker elected under PR can become PM, threshold for getting elected under PR system, etc.

Radars for weather

The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology is all set to install sophisticated radars in three places – Udaypur, Palpa or Nawalparasi and Surkhet – to gather information relating to precipitation in watershed areas so that the people living downstream of the major rivers can be given early warning about impending floods. The concerned officials have said the radars will be installed within two-three years.

The department is seeking a frequency from the Ministry of Information and Communications to make its radars functional. It is expected that the radars to be installed in three locations will cover the entire hilly and mountainous regions from where the major rivers origin. A weather radar can cover a radius of about 200 KM and can send signals about the gathering of clouds in the given region. Based on this information, the weathermen can forecast the amount of precipitation and warn the people living in the plains and hills about the possible dangers of floods. The authorities will also be able to evacuate people to safer places from the flood prone areas before it becomes too late.