KATHMANDU, JUNE 26
Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota said the Parliament was preparing to pass the citizenship bill in the current budget session.
Launching the book 'Sansadiya Samiti Abhyas' (Practices of Parliamentary Committees) published by Society of Parliamentary Affairs Journalists here today, Sapkota said delay in passing the new federal citizenship law had given untold miseries to thousands of children of Nepali citizens.
I have received dozens of delegations from the rights activists and politicians who seek passage of the citizenship bill. Those who deserve citizenship have lost many opportunities due to non-passage of the citizenship bill. It's a great injustice to those who have lost their working age in the absence of a new citizenship law, Sapkota said. He said he would ensure passage of at least a dozen urgent bills, including replacement bill.
The speaker said that he would take all suggestions given in the book Sansadiya Samiti Abhyas seriously and would try to reform the parliamentary process.
Chair of Society of Parliamentary Affairs Journalist Sanji Bagale said that the book would be good material for those interested in knowing about the functions of the parliamentary panels and challenge facing those panels.
Editor of the book Thira Lal Bhusal said the book offered facts and figures about the parliamentary panels formed in all the parliaments since 1960 till date, their functioning and effectiveness.
He said chairpersons of parliamentary panels had powers akin to those of the speaker but the parliamentary panel chairpersons had not exercised their powers fully.
Chief Editor of www.ekagaj. com Hari Bahadur Thapa said that book offered some good insights into the functions of parliamentary panel. He said in the past, members of parliamentary panel would work on non-partisan basis without caring about party whips but these days, members were showing partisan interests in the panels.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 27, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.