English - Support to Participatory Constitution Building in Nepal ...

5. DIALOGUE PROCEEDINGS
A. DAY l: 14 May 2010
Inauguration
The first day of the program included an
hour-long media session attended by
representatives of 27 national and local media
houses, providing both print and electronic
media coverage. Prof. Krishna Hachhethu
explained that the Federalism Dialogue is
designed to discuss the draft constitution in
respect to the report of CSRDSP and collect
the participants’ responses so that the federal
constitution would be more representative
of the thought and spirit of Nepali people.
Prof Krishna Khanal emphasized that
during this transitional period informed
and reason-based debate was important
for establishing federalism in the country.
He encouraged the journalists to continue
making their contributions to this discussion.
Mr. Shambhu Koirala, CDO of Kaski said,
“The political agenda has been always
been given priority in the country, but the
federal structure must address the economic
issues at first.” He further encouraged the
media “to give priority to economic news
and publish it on the front page.” Mr. Jhag
Bahadur Thapamagar, representative from
Nepal Magar Association concluded, “In
this transitional period there must be open
discussion on both positive and negative
aspects of federalism to make it a lasting
system for the country and to ensure equal
rights for all.”
Expectation Collection
The participants were interested in learning
about the concepts and principles of
federalism, its geographical, political
and economic aspects, its pros and cons,
successes and failures in the world, and the
rationale for developing federalism in Nepal.
They asked for information on the model
of federalism proposed by the CA CSRDSP,
and the fundamental components of federal
structure in Nepal. They expected to have
the opportunity to discuss and identify the
proper basis for naming and marking the
boundaries of particular provinces. They
wanted to identify a suitable model of
federalism for Nepal, to know how to manage
a federal structure while maintaining its
inclusive nature and respecting all. They
hoped for insights on federalism as a means
to manage diversity, and not to break the
nation into many pieces. There was some
concern about federalism amounting to
secession.
Participants sought more information
specific to Tamuwan province: its territory,
geography, advantages and challenges.
Some participants were concerned about
the economic viability of federalism, access
to resources, natural resource management,
and the distribution of resources and
authority between the center, provincial and
local governments.
14 Federalism Dialogues Series 5