Political parties in the House could resolve the citizenship issue as per the SAGGC
A 25-year-old youth from Katahari in Morang district attempted self-immolation at the Maitighar A Mandala on Tuesday to protest against the Supreme Court's short-term interim stay order on the immediate distribution of citizenship certificates. President Ramchandra Paudel had authenticated the Citizenship Bill – which was twice passed by both the Houses of the Federal Parliament but rejected by then president Bidhya Devi Bhandari before the November 20 general election – on May 31, the very day that Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had embarked on a four-day official visit to India. A single bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Sharma issued the interim stay order on June 4, and it has been continued further by yet another double bench of the apex court until the next hearing on July 18. Niraj Kamat attempted self-immolation publicly by dousing petrol on his body protesting against the Supreme Court's extension of the interim stay order. However, the police stopped him from doing so, and he was taken to the National Trauma Centre for medical treatment. His supporters said that his condition was stable.
It has become known that Niraj's grandfather and father had obtained Nepal's naturalised citizenship papers way back in 1986 and 2007 respectively. As per the constitutional provision, children of naturalised parents shall be entitled to obtain Nepali citizenship certificate by descent. But the Citizenship Act-2063 B.S. needs to be amended to meet the constitutional requirement. Around half a million children born to naturalised parents and a similar number of children born to single mothers or those whose fathers cannot be traced have been waiting for the bill to be amended so that they can obtain the essential paper, without which they cannot pursue an education, obtain a passport for foreign jobs, open bank accounts or get a driving licence and SIM cards.
The issue of citizenship has been a perennial problem since the restoration of democracy in 1990. The 'cut-off dates' set by the governments every time the country undergoes a major political change over naturalised citizenship is the main reason. The problem arose after the ruling parties, led by then prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba government, refused to accept the provisions agreed upon at the parliamentary State Affairs and Good Governance Committee (SAGGC). There was no problem in issuing citizenship papers to the children born to naturalised parents. But the major political parties fell apart over the duration required to issue citizenship papers to those foreign women married to Nepali men. Earlier, the SAGGC had agreed to place a waiting period of seven years for those foreign women married to Nepali men to obtain matrimonial naturalised citizenship. But this provision was deleted when the Deuba-led government tabled the bill in the House, which passed it as it is. Now the issue has landed at the apex court, which will take time to deliver its verdict. One of the best options to resolve the issue is to re-introduce the bill in the new parliament, where the political parties could discuss it in detail in line with the SAGGC. As the constitution has given clear outlines about the processes necessary for obtaining Nepali citizenship, the political parties should come together to decide on the waiting period.
Taxi categories
The government is to classify vehicles operating as taxis into ordinary, deluxe and luxury categories. The fares charged by the three different taxi categories will differ according to their size, mechanical capacity and available facilities. The Department of Transport Management has proposed an extra 100 per cent fare for luxury taxis compared to ordinary ones. Indeed some of the measures being introduced, such as the installment of lights on the roofs to indicate whether a taxi is occupied, free or off-duty or making it mandatory to have a digital fare metre together with a printer and GPS navigation system with display, are most welcome.
Hiring a taxi in Nepal can be a nightmare, with the drivers constantly trying to cheat the customer by haggling over the fare. This is the reason why rides sharing service providers such as Pathao and Indriver have become popular among the people. Additional measures must thus be taken to make the drivers accountable so that they cannot cheat the customers or refuse service. One way would be to allow only cab companies with sizeable number of vehicles to operate their services instead of giving permits to individual taxi owners. The country must move with the times and bring changes accordingly.
