Demanding that they should be released unconditionally suggests that the business community does not want the rule of law to prevail when it comes to any of their members

Elsewhere in the world it is strange but in Nepal it is not unusual for umbrella associations to strongly protest against any official action against any of their members for indulging in illegal activities and to demand unconditional withdrawal of such action or release of members in the case of arrests. This is what the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) and the Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) did at their joint press conference in Kathmandu on Saturday when they said that the arrests on Friday of owners and officials of two pharmaceutical companies, the Lomus Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. and the Deurali-Janata Pharmaceutical Pvt. Ltd., on charges of making steep price hikes in life-saving medicines. The private sector’s umbrella bodies urged the government not to press the charges against them.

At the conference, the Association of the Pharmaceutical Producers of Nepal even warned that the pharmaceutical companies would halt the production of drugs if they were not released immediately. In support of the arrestees, the FNCCI chief also called such official actions as ‘demoralising and discouraging’ at a time when the private sector has just started gradually recovering from the impact of the devastating earthquakes and months-long blockade. He also alleged that certain officials are preparing the ground for more imports of goods and services by discouraging local investors and industrialists. But none of their representatives has said anything about the malpractice for which the bosses of pharmaceutical firms are reported to have been detained. That means they want their arrested members released whether they have indulged in illegal practices or not.

This kind of demand is very unethical and outrageous. Nobody doubts that business and industry should be promoted with sound policy and proper incentives. But does business mean a license for indulging in illegal practices? If the accused have not done anything wrong, they should not have been detained in the first place and they should be freed if, on an impartial inquiry, they are not found guilty. The accused and those on their side should come up with any evidence that may prove their innocence. They are free to choose legal advice and go through the due process of law to try to have them released. But just demanding that they should be released unconditionally suggests that the business community does not want the rule of law to prevail when it comes to any of their members. Such kind of outrageous demands are not just limited to them; in other organizations of people, whether they relate to organizations of medical and engineering professions, political organizations or other bodies, this disease of seeking impunity for their members for carrying on malpractices in their fields is widespread. And this must stop for the credibility of those organizations and for the health of society and the well-being of the consumers of their products and services. As for the monitoring officials and their offices, they should not leave any room for charges of prejudice against them and of harsher action for lighter violations.

Book them

It is indeed disheartening  that SLC students in various schools in Bajura district are deprived of text books although the SLC exams are only a couple of weeks away. Those to be blamed for this plight are the schools themselves and also the Janak  Educational Material Center (JEMC), among others. Apparently this is because the text book retailers have to sell the books with a low profit margin. This is no excuse for the books not being made available to the students even now months after the schools were opened. Books are sold by the JEMC with a discount of nine per cent to the book retailers. JEMC has set

up its depot in all the district headquarters, yet they are not able to provide the much needed text books timely.As a result, the students can consider themselves fortunate if they get hold of text books from previous years. So it is high time the concerned authorities looked into the matter. It looks like the text book retailers are making the most of the opportunity of the inefficiency of the JEMC. The necessary measures should be taken to ensure that the SLC students are provided with text books in all the subjects timely.