Upper House concludes deliberations on govt's policies and programmes

The National Assembly has wrapped up deliberations on the government's policies and programmes.

Taking part in the discussions on the Government's Policies and Programmes for the Fiscal Year 2023-24 in a meeting of the upper house of the Federal Parliament today, the ruling party lawmakers aired views stressing on the effective implementation of the policies and programmes while the legislators from the opposition parties argued the policies and programmes were not capable of addressing the country's obtaining problems.

Pramila Kumari said that the policies and programmes contained several positive provisions and the budget will be based on this. Therefore, the policies and programmes have raised hopes among the people, she said and stressed on their effective implementation.

Singha Bahadur Bishwakarma said the policies and programmes brought by the government were significant for the country's development and prosperity.

Tula Prasad Bishwokarma opined that the policies and programmes were not capable enough for bringing the economy which is heading towards a precarious situation on the right track.

Ram Chandra Rai stressed on making the budgetary allocations based on the needs while Madan Kumari Shah (Garima) called for implementing 'yoga education' in every school.

Shekhar Kumar Singh welcomed the policies and programmes while Anita Devkota said the policies and programmes have attached priority to education, health and agriculture, which is welcome.

Ganga Kumari Belbase viewed that the policies and programmes have prioritized on providing relief to the underprivileged communities and on topics related to addressing the economic challenges.

Budget for next fiscal year should be pro-people: Lawmaker Rayamajhi

The leader of the Nepali Congress parliamentary party in the National Assembly, Ramesh Jung Rayamajhi, stressed on the need of allocating adequate budget to the prioritized projects, ensuring that these projects are completed within the deadline.

"Rs 10 million is earmarked for a project with an estimated cost of Rs 100 million. Neither the project is successful nor is it implemented. The budget should be in line with the policies and programmes. Let the budget be in favour of development and the public interest," he asserted.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the trend of the ruling party lawmakers waxing eloquent only on the good aspects of the policies and programmes whereas the opposition party lawmakers only criticized them, he urged the government to pay attention to the good points raised by the opposition parties.

Bhairab Sundar Shrestha has criticized the government's policies and programmes as a 'fuzzy' document. He said it is more or less the continuation of the past policies and programmes, and there is nothing new in it.

The government has not paid attention to the deteriorating economy and the policies and programmes fall short on attaining the developmental goals, he said and suggested to the government to formulate a budget for the next fiscal focusing on education, health and employment generation, among other vital areas.

Policies and programmes are better than the previous ones: lawmaker Sharma

Jaga Prasad Sharma applauded the government's policies and programmes for the upcoming fiscal year, saying they were better than their past counterparts. He said the policies and programmes have tried to address the problems of the country and the citizens. "I don't say that the policies and programmes are without weaknesses, but they are the best compared to the policies and programmes in the last six years," he opined. He also stressed on the effective implementation of the policies and programmes.

Meanwhile, speaking in the zero hour of the National Assembly before this, lawmakers called attention of the government on a range of issues, including taking effective measures to reduce the monsoon-induced disasters, check market inflation and provide relief to the common man, installing reliable telecommunication services in the far-flung areas, controlling the lumpy skin disease seen the cattle, resolving the sugarcane farmers' problems, bring to justice those implicated in the fake Bhutanese refugee scam and investigating other big corruption-related scandals.

Those speaking in the zero hour session were lawmakers Indira Devi Gautam, Ganga Kumari Belbase, Taraman Swanr, Maya Prasad Sharma, Bimala Ghimire, Sharada Devi Bhatta and Sumitra BC.