World Parliament Day: ‘Other issues overshadowed when politics dominates’

President of Committee for Development, Economic Affairs and Good-Governance under the National Assembly, Kamala Panta, rued that other agendas and issues were overshadowed when politics was dominant in the parliament.

In an interaction organized today on the occasion of the International Day of Parliamentarism, President Panta viewed that the parliamentarians’ representation was becoming weak in the parliament.

The International Day of Parliamentarism also known as World Parliament Day is celebrated every year on June 30.

According to her, the parliament was not being critical and the political issues figured almost of the deliberations in the House while not much deliberation was held on social issues.

She further frowned that the State also had not paid any heeds to what parliamentarians voiced in the House. Viewing the need for political commitment for addressing various pressing agendas, she called for unity among one and all regarding issues of people with disabilities and their participation.

She shared that a special committee was formed to address the issues concerning the backward communities.

Former parliamentarian and activist Sunil Babu Panta said that many issues relating to sexual minorities were yet to be raised. He grieved that there was no reservation and preferences for the sexual monitories in the civil service.

Similarly, Dev Kumari Parajuli, General-Secretary at the Nepal Disabled Women Association, said that they had been requesting the lawmakers to raise voices for them in the parliament but to no avail.

She lamented that although parliamentarians had been deliberating on the disabilities related issues parliament, it was not addressed.

Former parliamentarian and Chairperson of the National Dalit Journalists’ Association, Binod Pahadi, mentioned that along with the decrease in representation of Dalits in the parliament, agendas related to them were also waning.

Journalist Binu Subedi argued that although women’s representation in Nepal’s parliament seems notable compared to other countries in the world, the issues have not been raised and addressed completely.

Julien Chevillard, Deputy Resident Representative for UNDP Nepal, opined that if we looked at the multifaceted representation of women in Nepal’s parliament, their participation was satisfactory.

She emphasized collective discussions on how to make the House more inclusive.

Norwegian Embassy’s Consular Aneela Khan said that they long had been  collaborating with the government of Nepal in the sector of inclusiveness. “We have been coordinating efforts with the UNDP in the sector of capacity building of the federal and provincial parliament. We have been specially running programmes that enhance capacity of women and marginalized parliamentarians thereby promoting representation and inclusiveness,” she informed.

Parliamentarians Tara Lama, Urmila Majhi, Goma Laav (Sapkota), Gangaram Chaudhary Dagaura, Amrit Lal Rajbanshi reaffirmed their commitment to eloquently air their voices on issues surrounding women, Dalit, people with disabilities among others in the parliament.