Unpalatable state

Even as the country needs more brainstorming of the positive kind to the verge of consensus among the major political players, there seems to be more storm brewing with the UCPN (Maoist) going ahead with their hyped protest programmes as the four-point agreement with the government a month back has not been put into practice. The breather that the Legislature Parliament had received for a month has now come to a screeching halt with the Maoists’ obstruction of the proceedings. The UCPN (M) may have a point in that the government had agreed to look into its demands, but no headway has been made as yet. But, with the tactics to hold the House hostage to their demands, the Maoists are not playing fair as their actions have impacted on the constitution drafting works and the peace process itself, which for the most part revolves around their own interests. The individual party cause has seen the disruption of the House many times, which has been quite unfortunate for the fledgling republic. More than the interest of the people in general, the Maoists seem to focus on their interests only. Already in the doldrums as far as political stability is concerned, the present spate of protests announced by the Maoists cannot do anyone any good—neither will it help the Maoists gain credibility nor the welfare of the others can be guaranteed.

Arriving at this critical juncture in the march ahead for the political empowerment of the people, the same party that claims to vouchsafe the rights of the people is playing a truly dangerous drama. They have with audacity played havoc with the aspirations that the people had so hopefully had on their agenda with the successful conclusion of the Constituent Assembly elections. The post-CA polls did not see the major political parties moving along with the rules of the game. Petty issues made the House work stalled. With the momentary breaks from the obstructions, the major House business could not take off considering the almost 290 days now left for the statute draft to be readied. At this pace, the possibility that the draft will be complete within the timeframe is next to bleak. The Maoists themselves had been vocal on the issue during the tenure of the Maoist-led government, but they seem to have back-tracked. For them to register their resolution motion on the President’s move has a larger than life meaning than letting the House proceedings move smoothly with the immediate tasks at hand, particularly the budget approval and, more importantly, giving speed and focus to statute drafting and the peace process.

The ego trip that the top leadership of the stakeholder parties have embarked sees no immediate solution. There is no let up in rhetoric citing consensus as being the greatest solution to end the state of uncertainty. Without any budging of positions by any of the parties there can be no way out. For the Maoists, getting at the helm of affairs seems to be of prime concern rather than supporting the government to contribute its bit in the mandated tasks. Talks of civilian supremacy without credible actions to back it up cannot be the reassuring gesture from the Maoists.

Getting away

Despite the setting of the recommended fee structures for private schools it is found that whether the schools are abiding by this provision is not being monitored by the government even four months after the start of the current academic year. This has enabled some of the schools to charge higher fees and go unscathed in the process at the cost of the guardians and teachers for many of them are charging more fees than the facilities they provide to the students and teachers. It is an open secret that these schools have rated themselves higher than the facilities they are providing so that they can get away with charging extra fees.

The fee structures had been determined so as not to burden the guardians and also to ensure that the teachers were not exploited by the schools. An understanding had been reached to rate the schools according to the facilities they were providing. But even now it is found that some are charging more than what had been recommended. It is high time the authorities took action against the erring schools which are only after minting money at the expense of the hapless guardians and make it clear to all concerned that they mean business.