Proposed Constitution

Proposed Constitution

Preamble

1. Nepal is a federal republic, a total, transparent democracy, with the sovereignty resting with the Nepali people.

Article 1: The Legislative Branch

1. There is to be a lower house, the Pratinidhi Sabha, with 180 members, 60 per state, and a upper house, the Rajya Sabha, with 60 members, 20 per state, all of whom are to be directly elected through constituencies demarcated such that the largest has a population not more than 5% of the smallest, geographically in close approximation to a circle or a square, and protected from partisan gerrymandering by an autonomous Election Commission. The constituencies need not respect district boundaries. Three constituencies for the Pratinidhi Sabha will make one for the Rajya Sabha. The entire Sabha is dissolved en masse when its term nears expiration.
2. The Pratinidhi Sabha will have reserved seats for the four groups, Dalit, Madhesi, Janajati and Mahila, 10%, 20%, 10%, and 25% with some overlaps. So the half of the seats for women will cut across that of these four groups as well. For example, of the 10% seats for Dalits, 25% of them will have to be women. And the 10% for Dalits will be half in the Terai, but that is not to cut into the Madhesi reserved seats. 10, 20, 15 and 25 are half the supposed shares of the populations of these groups, to be revised each census. The reservation for a group is discontinued once its share in the Pratinidhi Sabha hits 80% of its share in the national population. When identifying the seats for the Dalit, Madhesi and Janajati, the Election Commission will seek constituencies where the groups have their largest share of populations. No three contiguous seats may be reserved seats.
   
3. Other than the specified groups, the Muslims will get 2%. The Newars will get one seat in the Kathmandu valley.
   
4. All matters of national importance are to be decided by the national parliament through a majority vote unless otherwise stated. Parliamentary procedures are to be laid out or revised with a 60% vote margin.
5. The legislatures are to elect their Speakers and Deputy Speakers. The legislatures shall assemble at least once every four months, and as often as necessary.
   
6. No parliamentarian may be arrested while the parliament might be in session except for felony charges. Their speech in parliament is protected from any and all oversight, legal and otherwise.
7. A simple majority of the parliament will pass the budget. All budget proposals must originate in the Pratinidhi Sabha.
   
8. All bills must be posted online in three languages - Nepali, Hindi and English - for at least one week before they may be voted upon.
9. All regional and international treaties that Nepal might enter into will have to pass a 60% majority in the parliament.
10. Political parties may not engage in fund-raising activities. Instead each national party, described as those that garnered at least 3% of the votes in the previous nationwide parliamentary elections, will get an annual sum that will be directly proportional to the number of votes it earned. That money is to be used for party-building and electioneering activities. Details of expenses are to be posted online in the three languages to the last paisa on at least an annual basis.
    
11. The Election Commission holds secret ballot elections for party leadership for each national party. Tickets for all elections are distributed by parties through democratic methods involving members at or below the said level in the organization.
    
12. The Election Commission puts in place ceilings as to election expenditures. Independent candidates may not raise money, but may spend their own money that may not exceed the amount of the party candidate spending the most money. Once elected independent candidates may not join a national party for at least one year.
13. A party may not charge its members more than Rs 36 a year.
    
14. Every person on the state's payroll - elected officials, bureaucrats, justices, police, army personnel - is to submit a Family Property Statement, to be posted online and archived and updated annually. Upon exiting the public sector, they may discontinue the practice, but the archives will remain, and the updates will resume should the individuals re-enter public service.
15. Details of all expenses incurred by the state, to the last paisa, are to be posted online in the three languages. All contracts offered by the state to the private sector are to be bid for in a similar transparent manner from beginning to the end. All job applications and promotions in the public sector are to be similarly handled in a transparent manner.
16. All formal political deliberations at all levels of government are to be posted online in as real time as possible in the language that was used at the venue. Efforts are to be made to make the same available in Nepali, Hindi and English. All votes are to be similarly made public. This is to start with the four parliaments at stage one.
    
17. Every elected official at all levels of government is to get a decent monthly salary.
18. Anyone above the age of 16 is a legible voter. Members of the Pratinidhi Sabha will have to be at least 23 years of age, and that of the Rajya Sabha at least 25 years of age. The terms of members of the two bodies shall last four and six years respectively. All elected officials are to have been citizens.
19. Acts of impeachment require a vote of 65%. This constitution can be amended by the same vote margin.
20. The parliamentarians may not increase their salaries in a way that might affect the members of the existing class. The same applies to the salaries of members of the cabinet.
21. The parliament may create, merge and dissolve ministries, agencies and commissions as necessary.
    

Article 2: The Executive Branch

1. The Prime Minister is directly elected by the people. If a candidate not earn 50% of the votes, a second round is to be held within a month of the first when the two top candidates contest. The Prime Minister serves a four year term.
   
2. A candidate has to be a citizen.
   
3. The Prime Minister may elect members to the Cabinet that might or might not be members of the parliament. But if a MP get into the cabinet, that parliamentary seat goes vacant.
   
4. The Prime Minister makes nominations to the Supreme Court and other constitutional bodies like the Election Commission (EC) and the Commission to Control Corruption (CCC) - both of which are autonomous - to be confirmed by a 60% vote in the parliament. The commissioners serve 6-year terms.
5. The army, to be called the Nepal Army, is not to be larger than 0.1% of the national population and is to be downsized accordingly within 5 years of this constitution getting promulgated. The Prime Minister is the Commander-In-Chief of the army.
6. The central bank is to be autonomous, and the governor, to serve a six-year term, is to be appointed by the Prime Minister, subject to a 60% vote in the parliament.
7. All appointments made by the Prime Minster, except for his or her personal staff, will need a majority vote in the parliament for confirmation, unless otherwise stated.
8. The Prime Minister signs bills passed by the parliament. The Prime Minister may also be the originator of bills to the parliament.
   
9. The Prime Minister may send back a bill passed by the parliament. But if the parliament send it back to him with a 60% vote, he has to sign it.
   
10. If the Prime Minister not respond to a bill within 10 days of it having been sent to him, it is to be assumed signed.
    

Article 3: The Judiciary Branch

1. The judiciary will reflect the composition of the government, from village/town to district, to state to the national level. Towns and cities with more than 25,000 people will be served with more than one court, the number to be decided through a formula by the state government. There will be a layer between the district and the state levels, the Appeals Court, 10 per state. The system is to be peopled like the civil service, on merit.
2. The Prime Minister makes nominations to the national Supreme Court. The Chief Minister makes nominations to the State Supreme Court. Both are subject to their respective parliaments for 60% of the vote. Justices to the Supreme Court are to serve to the age of 75 or upto their voluntary retirement.
3. The state and national Supreme Courts interpret the constitutionality of laws passed by the parliaments when thus challenged, but such interpretations may be overturned by the parliaments through a 65% vote.
4. The parliament, federal or state, may not diminish the salary of a sitting judge.
   

Article 4: The States

1. The current "zones" and "development regions" are to be abolished, but the "districts" are to be retained. The country is to be divided into three states, roughly of equal population, Eastern, Central, and Western, to be called Koshi, Gandaki, and Karnali, that are to include all three geographical regions, Terai, Pahad and Himal, and based on the three river basins. Each state is to have a Pratinidhi Sabha, 120 members, and a Rajya Sabha, 40 members.
2. The districts will have their own governments, forming a third layer, named Zillapalika. It is for each state to design the formation and functioning of its component district and town/city governments. The village units are to be called Grampalika, the town units are to be called Nagarpalika, and the city units Mahanagarpalika, and will form the fourth layer of government. District, town/city and village elected officials are to be at least 21 years of age.
3. The federal government will directly transfer 10% of its annual budget to the 25 poorest districts measured by per capita income. This does not prevent further federal expenditures on those districts.
4. The income tax structure is to be as follows: 50% federal, 30% state, 10% district, and 10% village/town/city. The income tax is to be collected by the federal government, and funds transferred by the same to the other levels of government as per this formula.
5. The federal revenue from all sources other than income tax is also to be similarly allocated. 50% stays at the federal level, the rest goes to the three states equally. Each state is also to send out 40% of its non income tax budget directly to the districts in direct proportion to the population of each district.
   
6. The education system shall follow a tri-lingual policy up to Class 10, beyond which it is for each individual institution to decide on their own as to the language of instruction. The first language is to be the student's first language, the second language is to be Nepali. For those for whom Nepali might be their first language, the student may choose any language spoken in Nepal. The third language is to be English, the contemporary language of science and commerce. This policy applies to schools in both the private and the public sectors. The language of instruction for all other subjects to Class 10 will be a decision to be made by the individual school boards for the public schools and by the owners of the private schools.
   

Article 5: President, Governors

1. Every elected official in the country is to vote for a President who is to serve a five-year term and is to be the guardian of the constitution. A block of at least 30% of the national parliament may make nominations for the candidacy. When there are more than two candidates, the one who gets the most votes wins.
2. Each state is to similarly elect a Governor.
   
3. The parliament may not diminish the salary of a sitting president or governor.

Article 6: The Individual

1. The individual is the most important component of the state and is to be protected and celebrated.
   
2. Every person has a birth right to freedom of speech, freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of religion, a right to a speedy, public trial, and a right to privacy, a protection from unreasonable searches and seizures. No person may be tried and punished for the same crime twice. No person will be compelled to testify against themselves. No person will be deprived of life, liberty or propety without due process of law. Private property may not be taken for public use without due compensation. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended. No ex post facto law shall be passed. No warrants are to be issued, except upon probable cause, and should specifically describe the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. A person charged with a crime is to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his or her favor, and is to have the Assistance of Counsel for his or her defence.
3. Every person born in Nepal is a citizen of Nepal. But this does not prevent people not born in Nepal from seeking Nepali citizenship.
4. Every person is equal under the law. Any law that might conflict with that fundamental premise will become null and void as soon as this constitution takes effect.
5. No person shall be taxed more than 40% of their income by all levels of government put together. Those in the bottom 40% income brackets are not to pay any direct taxes.
6. No business may be taxed more than 30% of its income, and businesses in the bottom 30% income brackets will not pay any taxes. All business expenses are tax write-offs.
7. The sales tax may not exceed 10% and is to be collected by the state.
8. Elections at all levels are to be organized on Saturdays.
9. No citizen of age may be barred from voting for whatever reason.
10. It is a stated goal of the state to make possible lifelong education for every person in the country through creative partnerships between the private and public sectors, and through creative uses of the internet. The state shall also attempt to provide universal access to secondary education and primary health care, free of cost. The secondary education provision applies to people in all age groups.
    
11. The state shall attempt to provide universal access to micro-credit to all in the bottom 40% income brackets.
12. All persons that might enter into agreements, either in the private or the public sector, to access credit will have the option to declare bankruptcy as a last resort. Money owed by an individual, as opposed to by a business or a corporation, may not be passed on to the next generation. Indentured servitude is an illegal form of collecting money owed by an individual or family. Money owed may not be paid for through manual labor. Any person, group or organization, lending money on interest, the total of which is larger than Rs 20,000, to be indexed to inflation as calculated every five years and rounded to the nearest thousand, is to register as a small business owner, and will be subject to taxation and regulation.
13. All educational institutions, public and private, must have at least 10% of its students on need-based full scholarships. Institutions may also opt to have 5% on such full scholarships, and 10% on need-based half scholarships, or 5% on full, 6% on half, and 6% on one-third scholarships. But at no time should the proportion of full scholarships dip below 5%.
14. Employees of the state in the education and health sectors will be paid salaries that are at least 10% larger than to those with similar qualifications serving in other fields.
15. An accurate, scientific census is to be conducted every 10 years, and scientific projections are to be made for the intervening years.
    

Article 7: Capitals

1. The national capital is to be shifted from Kathmandu to the Chitwan valley within 10 years of this constitution getting promulgated.
   
2. Udaypur Valley, Chitwan Valley, and Surkhet Valley will respectively serve as the capitals for Kosi, Gandaki and Karnali.

Proposed Constitution (November 17)
Proposed Constitution (September 3)
Proposed Democratic Republican Constitution (August 12)
Janata Dal Constitution (August 8)
Proposed Constitution (June 18)
Reorganized UN, Proposed Constitution, Methods (May 30)
Proposed Constitution (May 3)
Shortcut To A New Constitution, Shortcut To Peace (April 8)
This Inadequate, Improper, Insufficient 1990 Constitution (April 4)

Phone Talk With Girija Koirala: Meeting History Itself

I got to talk to Girija Koirala earlier, not long back.

My first sentence to Bill Clinton was “Mr. President, you are Elvis.”

My first sentence to Girija Koirala was “To be able to talk to you feels like having entered a museum.” The entire time I was on the phone with him I kept thinking, this is the closest to BP Koirala I will ever get. BP Koirala has a place in Nepali history that no other political figures does, certainly no king. That is for sure. But Girija Koirala is more than BP Koirala’s brother. BP had more than one brother: none of them attained Girija’s stature, and there is a reason why.

Much is made of Girija never having gone to college, as in by US standards. Some of the legends in American business have been college dropouts: Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, to name a few. We call them borderline geniuses. Not that I am suggesting Girija is a genius, although at one point I wrote a satire comparing his House revival idea to Newton’s theory of gravitation, as in to suggest the House revival idea was holding everything down! (Newton, Apples, And Girija's House Revival Idea)

At some level Girija’s reach into his party the Nepali Congress might be even deeper than that of BP Koirala himself. BP was a visionary, an intellectual, a towering one on that. But he was not much of a nuts and bolts man. Politics is a contact sport. You have to deal with petty people. BP steered above that too much, too well. Also he was ahead of his times. So he did not get to enjoy power like he deserved to. BP is the biggest and the easiest reason I dislike Mahendra. Mahendra deprived Nepal of BP: that is his crime. If Nepal had been a democracy 1960 onwards, I think it would have emerged a small scale Asian tiger, economically speaking.

BP was unlucky in many ways. But there was one luck he had. BP once called Girija a “Hawaldar,” a police constable. In actuality, Girija was and is BP’s Hanuman. Girija’s devotion has been as much to the cause of democracy as to BP, and somewhere in there gets mixed the love of one brother for another. That is one powerful combination.

The Gandhi family in India did put decades into the fight for independence. But it also enjoyed almost four and more decades in power. The Koirala family, on the other hand, has largely been in the wilderness. And the founding father BP did not even get to taste it, not even one full term.

BP had a hard time coming to terms with Mahendra’s pettiness. You only have to compare Mahendra’s third grade poems to BP’s major novels to see the obvious difference between the two. A system that puts Mahendra onto the throne and throws BP into jail is so obviously wrong. It is not even worth debating. If BP would only have written his novels and done nothing else, he would still have found himself in the same class as people like Laxmi Prasad Devkota.

If Nepal ever gave birth to its proudest son, it was BP. Buddha and BP. What a ridiculous country that BP was mostly either in jail or in exile. Nepal turned BP into an orphan. Karna was disowned.

But Girija really is more than BP’s brother. Girija has been an organization man. He has this magical grip on his party. He generates this intense loyalty from his cadres. When you look at the 1990s, it is so obvious Girija outshined even when Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and Sher Bahadur Deuba became Prime Minister. Girija let them. But his Mps always maintained this fierce loyalty to him: it was almost animal. This man knows organization like few others in Nepali politics do. Yes, Girija has been capable of the petty. You wish BP had been. Maybe we would have had to see less of Mahendra.

At my blog I have been very critical of Girija. But it has always been a policy difference, not a personal dislike. Though I am not a Nepali Congress person, I am a Sadbhavana person. Social justice means to me what democracy means to Girija. And post-democracy there is going to be a healthy competition between the Nepali Congress and the Sadbhavana.

But then there is the ANTA, Association of Nepali Teraian in America. When it got founded, I got invited to hold some kind of a central office. I declined. I have been instrumental in launching the New York City and Baltimore-DC chapters of the ANTA. But I have refused to hold any official title with them. ANTA is a social, cultural organization. It is not politically hard core enough for me.

But Girija is. He is hard core. I identify with him. It is like the bond one soccer player might feel for another. I do have that for Girija. I feel that affinity.

Girija Koirala is a player.

I have been trying to get hold of his phone number for a while now. I sent out emails to people who had it. They did not email it to me. Access is power. I did not take all that too personally. But then I got to talk to Amik Sherchan yesterday. And towards the end of the conversation he asked me for my contact info. After I learned he was not into email, I proceeded to give him my phone number. Then I casually said I did have the numbers of five of the seven leaders. I did not have the numbers for Gopal Man Shrestha and Girija Koirala. Will he please give them to me? I knew he had them. He gave them to me, two numbers for Girija Babu.

The first two calls I placed, one got me a busy tone, the other phone did not get picked. This evening the call went through. Someone else picked the phone, some male. No, it was not Sujata.

I paid him my respects, and then requested a few minutes of his time for the few questions I had.

He first gave me a brief synposis of where he felt the movement was. He said the movement was now spreading all across the country. It was in Kathmandu, but now it was also in the districts. The goal was to boycott the February 8 polls, he said.

I asked him why he insisted that the 1999 House be revived.

He said it is important to seek continuity through the 1990 constitution that was an agreement between the people and the king. This was important for the history of the Nepali Congress. If the 1990 constitution is ditched so unceremoniously, that is like wiping out the entire history of the Congress. He said the House revival idea important for his party’s identity and history.

“They tried to erase our history in 2017 B.S.”

Nepal’s history started with Prithvi Narayan Shah, he said. The 1990 constitution is an important element of that continuity.

I said he and his party were already for a constituent assembly. That is like saying you are for a new constitution for the country. Is that not so?

He said that is true, but it is possible to go towards that new constitution through the old constitution.

I said what if instead we were to have an interim government like that of Kisunji’s in 1990 that will take the country towards a new constitution.

“But Kisunji’s interim government had the powers of the executive, the legislative, as well as the judiciary. If the king will agree to that, then of course, sure.”

So you are saying if such an interim government were possible, you will let go the House revival stand?

“Yes,” he said.

Let’s say this king is a ridiculous, nonsense person, and instead of the king coming around to the interim government, it is given birth to by a revolution.

“If it be through a revolution, why only an interim government,” Girija Babu said. “If a revolution were to take the country to a republic itself, why would I have any problems with that?”

“Ganatantra aye awos!”

Then I thanked him for his time. I said you are a busy man, I do not wish to take too much of your time.

“Jaya Nepal,” he said, ever the dutiful, loyal Nepali Congress soldier.

“Jaya Nepal,” I said to a man who is history himself talking.

I could not believe my ears at the end of it all. Girija sounded more reasonable and nuanced and flexible on the House revival stand than many of the other leaders in the seven party coalition who pretend to have been bullied into it by Girija.

Girija is not being obstinate. He is being practical. He does not have the luxury to get too ahead of the movement itself.

This talk with Girija Koirala also opens up doors and windows for me. I am going to keep calling the top dogs in the seven party coalition. I want to be part of the conversation as they take their 12 point agreement to the next step.

The country needs a fundamental bipolarization. First the seven parties and the Maoists have to come up with a program that they are both fully behind, and feel comfortable with. And the Citizens Movement for Democracy and Peace (CMDP) has to come around to accepting the leadership of the seven parties, to the idea of joint programs. Of the four projects we in the diaspora are involved with, two are to do with the CMDP, and two are to do with the seven party coalition. The idea is to bring those two forces together.

One pole, the king. Another, the seven parties, the Maoists, and the CMDP.

The external work has already been done. The king is isolated globally. He is a persona non grata on the world stage. He can be isolated even further, if need be. The bipolarization will also isolate him inside the country. He is going to have to do business or get out of the way.

This is not about Girija Koirala or Madhav Kumar Nepal, although they are important and indispensable vehicles. This is about the 27 million people of Nepal. This is about democracy. The Nepali people are too good not to have it. Not even kings can get in the way, especially kings.

Girija Babu, my salutes to you. You are a soldier of democracy. Please let go the House revival stand in exchange for the Maoists letting go of their army totally before the country goes through a constituent assembly. Let’s move straight for an interim government. When the revolution enters its peak, we can get that interim government on our own, with or without the king coming along to the idea. Nothing and nobody can erase your personal history, or the personal history of your brother, the Mahamanav BP Koirala, and most certainly not the history of the Nepali Congress. Your party gets major credit for the 1990 constitution which was most definitely a democratic constitution, no doubts about that. But now is the time and opportunity for your party to reinvent itself and lay major claim also to the next constitution this country will have. If you do it right, perhaps your broken party will reunite, perhaps the smaller parties will merge into your party, and perhaps your party will emerge the largest party all over again.

Your party has laid claim to democracy. It perhaps can also lay claim to social justice.

But it all really starts with your letting go the House revival stand. Enough waiting. Time for the next step. Let’s move straight towards an interim government of the seven parties.

18, 7, 4, 12, 10

18 Point Agenda Of The Five Parties

1) Referendum.

2) Secularism.

3) Abrogation of the Raj Sabha Standing Committee.

4) Limiting royal title to king, queen and crown prince. Hierarchy of PM would jump up to 4th position, from current 13th.

5) Put an end to practice of constitutional monarch to enact laws as part of royal discretion.

6) Put functioning of Royal Palace under domain of Ministry of Royal Palace.

7) Publicising property owned by reigning monarch at regular intervals.

8) RNA will be put strictly under command of government.

9) Change national anthem, which will reflect pride, national unity and patriotism.

10) Parliament will be evolved along strong lines with huge powers.

11) Parliament will be deemed to be automatically revived just in case elections can't be held.

12) Drastic measures to bring about socio-economic transformation by suggesting, among others, dealing with Maoist insurgency.

13) Measures be taken to ameliorate lot of women, Dalits, members of ethnic communities and those who have contributed to task of nation-building.

14) Following non-aligned and UN friendly foreign policy. .

15) Decentralisation of governance.

16) Addressing issues linked with issuance of citizenship certificates.

17) Restructure National Assembly to broaden ethnic, caste and regional representation.

18) Make bureaucracy transparent and to effectively control corruption.

7 Point Program, January 6, 2004, King Gyanendra

1) National consensus

2) Peace and security

3) Corruption control

4) People-oriented administration

5) National solidarity

6) Free and fair election

7) An all-party government

Seven Party Coalition, 2005

(1) Revive House

(2) Form all party government

(3) Peace talks with Maoists

(4) Elections to a Constituent Assembly.


Prachanda Statement (12 Point Agreement Of the 7 Parties And The Maoists)

10 Point Agreement To Succeed 12 Point Agreement (My Proposal To The Eight Parties)