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

at least 40% for women. In the last CA
election, an effort was made for 50%
women’s representation through direct
and proportional representation but it was
not possible. Now the preamble includes a
provision to reserve one seat for a woman
in the prime positions of the state. For
example if a man is selected in the position
of President the seat of Vice President will
be reserved for a woman and vice versa.
Although special provisions are required to
balance the gender, in some areas such as
the medical profession efficiency is also very
important. Thus representation alone is not
always enough and empowerment is also
necessary.
Q - Why are the Sales
tax and Value added
tax included under the
Central government
rather than allocated to
the provincial govt. for
effective monitoring?
Pan Bahadur Gharti
A. Although federalism is the result of the
disparity in the power distribution, and the
income of the provinces must be expanded
to make them capable of dealing with the
local issues, it is also necessary to be careful
about the possible risks involved with this.
Closing Session
At the end of the workshop, Ms. Bishnu
Sherchan spoke as a representative of
the participants. She said that this type of
inclusive gathering of people of different
ethnic and caste groups, different political
parties, and representatives of women and
Dialogue can provide
solutions for every conflict,
and if we stay open-minded,
alternative doors will open.
- Bishnu Sherchan
Dalits is a starting point for living together in a
federal system and gaining conceptual clarity
before going to a federal structure. Another
participant, Mr. Rajan Panta pointed out that
timely organization would be more fruitful
for including people’s views and suggestions
in the constitution. Prof. Krishna Hachhethu
asserted that this type of workshop helps
support the constitution making process by
providing suggestions and preparing people
to practice federalism in future. Prof. Krishna
Khanal added that legal recognition should
be given to the customary law and practices
of different ethnic groups, and that local
people should take the responsibility for
the development of local resources in the
new federal structure.
Mr. Jhag Bahadur Thapa
Magar from the Nepal
Magar Sangh stated
that in the process of
establishing
federalism
in the country, VDC level
interaction
programs
have been conducted to
collected suggestions to support building
the constitution. Mr. Surendra Chaudhary,
CSO/SPCBN grant manager, concluded the
session by saying that CCD will take care to
provide all the suggestions collected from
this workshop to the CA.
26 Federalism Dialogues Series 5