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Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and main opposition CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli held a meeting on Monday.

During the meeting that took place at the Prime Minister's official residence in Baluwatar this morning, the two leaders discussed contemporary political affairs, with a particular emphasis on ending the ongoing House obstructions, according to the Prime Minister's Secretariat.

On Sunday too, senior leaders of three major political parties held a meeting at Baluwatar to discuss contemporary political issues.

Janamat Party’s two ministers without portfolio resigned on Monday.

A minister and another state minister of Madhes Province tendered their resignation today.

Basanta Kumar Kusawaha and state minister Sanjay Kumar Yadav, who were made ministers without portfolio by snatching the ministries, resigned at the direction of the party.

On May 23, Chief Minister Saroj Kumar Yadav replaced Kusawaha, who was taking the responsibility of the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperatives, by Govinda Neupane of CPN (Unified Socialist). Since then, both of them became ministers without portfolio.

The Janamat Party is preparing to send Chief Whip Chandan Singh and Manju Khang, who will represent Dalit, for the state minister in the upcoming Cabinet expansion.

Janamat Party had two ministers and one state minister in Madhes Province.

Meanwhile, preparations are underway to expand the Cabinet at 5 pm today.

Every year, the US State Department comes up with its annual reports on different thematic issues of the countries with which it has diplomatic relations. Such annual reports provide insights into how the US views other countries. 

In this article, we present the major highlights of the key US reports such as 2023 Investment Climate Statements, Trafficking in Person’s Report, International Religious Freedom Reports and Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.

This week, the US State Department published its Investment Climate Statements. According to the report, hydropower, agriculture, tourism, ICT sector and infrastructure have significant commercial potential for investors. Nepal has an estimated 40,000 megawatts of commercially-viable hydropower electricity generation potential, which could become a major source of income through electricity exports, the report says.

The report recognizes that Nepal has established some investment-friendly laws and regulations in recent years, but significant barriers to investment remain. One of them is corruption which is impeding the investment climate in Nepal. The report states that political uncertainty is a continuing challenge for foreign as well as domestic investors.

Nepal’s ruling parties have spent much of their energy over the last years on internal political power struggles instead of governance, the report says.

The report further states that there is a lack of understanding of international business standards and practices among the political and bureaucratic class, and a legal and regulatory regime that is not quite aligned with international practices also impede, hinder and frustrate foreign investors. 

The Investment Climate Statements also raises questions about the role of trade unions. “Trade unions, each typically affiliated with parties or even factions within a political party, and unpredictable general strikes can create business risks, although this problem, once common, has diminished in recent years.”

The US report also questions the role of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), the national anti-corruption body. It says: “The 2015 constitution empowers the CIAA to conduct investigation of any abuse of authority committed through corruption by any persons holding public office. In practice, according to the report, the CIAA arrests and investigations tend to focus on lower-level government bureaucrats.”

According to the 2022 Corruption Perception Index released by Transparency International (TI), Nepal ranked 110th among 180 countries, placing it in the range of “highly corrupt” countries. In Jan 2018, local media reported that the CIAA is drafting a bill to replace the Prevention of Corruption Act, with the goal of making the new law compatible with the UN Convention against Corruption that Nepal signed in 2011. But the private sector is opposing some of the provisions of the draft. Nepal is not a member of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.

While anti-corruption laws extend to family members of officials and to political parties, the report says, there are no laws and regulations that are specifically designed to counter conflict-of-interest in awarding contracts of government procurements.  

A few months back, the US came up with its International Religious Freedom Report which raised issues that Christian groups continued to report difficulties operating as non-governmental organizations and multiple religiously affiliated organizations reported increased challenges renewing or registering their organizations. Christian groups said they continued to face difficulties buying or using land for burials, especially within the Kathmandu Valley, the report mentions.

It also speaks about the growing influence of India’s Bharatiya Janata Party in Nepal. The report cited Nepali civil society leaders as saying that the influence from India’s ruling party, the Hindu nationalist BJP, and other Hindu groups in India continue to pressure politicians in Nepal, particularly, the pro-Hindu, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, to support reversion to the Hindu state.

The report drew criticisms for its baseless accusation that BJP provided money to Nepali leaders for the Hindu cause. There were reports that the government sought clarification from the US side on the issue but it was never made public.

The US also has significant concerns over the religious freedom of the Tibetan community in Nepal, although the report does mention that there has been some improvement when it comes to the rights of the Tibetan community. The report cites Tibetan community leaders highlighting an increased ability to celebrate some religious and cultural holidays without police interference.

In June this year, the US came up with the Trafficking in Person’s Report which states that Nepal does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but is making significant efforts to do so.

In its Country Reports on Terrorism, the US has raised questions regarding the security situation in Nepal’s international airport as well as the open border that it shares with India. A more significant threat is non-Nepali international terrorist groups using Nepal as a transit/staging point for soft targets, the report says. Because of the open border with India and insufficient security protocols at the country’s sole functioning international airport in Kathmandu, the report says, it could be used as a transit or staging point for international terrorists.

In its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, the US has provided its perspective on various aspects of human rights in Nepal. On transitional justice, the report says the government and judiciary did not significantly address most conflict-era human rights and humanitarian law abuses committed by the Nepal Army, Armed Police Force, police and Maoists. The country’s two transitional justice mechanisms—Commission of Enforced Disappeared Persons and Truth and Reconciliation Commission—are not fully independent.

Lawmaker and CPN-UML Secretary Yogesh Bhattarai has called for giving full shape to the parliamentary committees.

The UML will not participate in the upcoming meetings of the committees if the parliamentary committees are not given full shape, said Bhattarai, speaking in a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives today.

Stating that the parliament and the parliamentary committees have not been able to run as per the parliamentary process, he claimed that the committees have not got full shape due to the dispute among the ruling coalition partners.

"The opposition does not want to shoulder the burden of the problem caused due to the ruling coalition. Probably we will not attend any of the meeting of the committees hereafter if the committees are not given full shape as per the parliamentary process. We want to inform the committee presidents beforehand," lawmaker Bhattarai said.

He argued that the parliament and the Constitution have not become the symbol of national unity as the parliament has not been run in an effective manner.

"The main opposition UML has not sought any share in the quotas. However, there is a practice that the presidency of the PAC is given to the main opposition party. If the ruling coalition does not even want to give this to us, we do not need it. Nevertheless, the parliamentary process should be followed in moving ahead the formation of the committees," the main opposition party secretary reiterated.

He further added it is not good that the committee president has not been elected even three months into the committee starting its work.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Chair Rajendra Lingden and lawmaker from the Rastriya Swatantra Party Manish Jha also echoed Bhattarai saying the parliamentary committees be given full shape at the earliest.

Arjun Narsingh KC of the Nepali Congress who was presiding over the meeting in the capacity as the senior-most (by age) lawmaker of the PAC, said the committee's serious attention was drawn to this topic.

The PAC meeting today passed the Public Account Committee Operation Procedures, 2080. The meeting also discussed the draft of this Operation Procedures.

A sub-committee has been constituted for preparing the draft of the Procedures. Rajan KC is its coordinator.