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National Assembly Chairperson Narayan Prasad Dahal has demanded an investigation into the death of a student, Prakriti Lamsal of Butwal, studying at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) University.

Speaking in today's NA meeting, Chair Dahal said NA's serious attention was drawn due to the mysterious death of Lamsal and drew the government's attention to start diplomatic initiative immediately to investigate the case and provide appropriate justice.

He also urged the government to take initiative to create a favorable environment for study to other Nepali students of KIIT. 

Speaking in the emergency hour of the meeting, lawmakers asked for a serious investigation into Lamsal's case.

Radhe Shyam Paswan said, "Lamsal was compelled to commit suicide after the college administration turned its deaf ear towards her frequent complaints with evidence of mental torture," demanding investigation into the case.

He further said the government of Nepal should take diplomatic initiative and rescue the stranded Nepali students.

Similarly, Krishna Bahadur Rokaya objected saying other Nepali students are being oppressed while raising voice on the issue of the death case of the Nepali student Lamsal.

He asked the government to investigate the case through diplomatic initiative and create a safe environment for study to other Nepali students there.

Stating that it was injustice not allowing Lamsal's relatives to see the dead body, Madan Kumari Shah objected to the misbehavior meted out against Nepali students by KIIT college administration.

Lawmaker Mohammad Khalid called on the government to take initiative for the safety and protection of the Nepali students studying at KIIT.

Tula Prasad Bishwakarma also called attention of the government over the death of Lamsal at KIIT.

"Nepali student Prakriti Lamsal was found dead in the hostel; it is sad that instead of investigating the truth behind Lamsal's death, the KIIT authorities used coercion and suppression against Nepali students demanding a fair investigation into the incident," he said and called on the government to take initiatives so that a fair investigation is carried out and the guilty are brought to justice.

Similarly, lawmaker Tulasa Kumari Dahal demanded further investigation into the death of Nepali student at KIIT hostel.

Mistreatment on civil servant flayed

Meanwhile, the upper house lawmakers have expressed their objection to what they called the increasing cases of physical assault on and mistreatment of civil servants by the local level people's representatives.

Speaking during the Zero Hour of the National Assembly session today, they said it was a matter of serious concern that the public employees were 'insecure' from the people's representatives themselves.

MP Padam Bahadur Pariyar objected to the recent attack on the staff by the people's representative of Bandipur Municipality-6 in Tanahun district and demanded an investigation.

Another MP Manarupa Sharma also denounced the incident and demanded action against the culprits.

MP Renu Chand drew the attention of the government to end all kinds of discrimination and take action against those who discriminate.

Bishnudevi Pudasaini stressed the need for inter-agency coordination in the construction of infrastructure, including sewage, drinking water, and electricity in Kathmandu.

Lawmakers Rukmini Koirala, Bishnu Kumari Sapkota, Bishnu Bahadur Bishwakarma, Krishna Prasad Adhikari, and Sabitri Malla stressed the need for the government to take immediate steps to investigate the death of Prakriti Lamsal from Butwal, a student at KIIT University in Odisha, India.

Reports of two bills have been tabled in today's meeting of the National Assembly.

In the 17th session of the NA, commenced from today, President of Legislative Management Committee, Tulasa Kumari Dahal, presented the Committee's reports on 'Media Council Bill, 2080' and 'Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Bill, 2081'.

Presenting the reports, Dahal mentioned that goals of maintaining professional ethics in the journalism sector as well as achieving sustainable development goals from the promotion of renewable energy through these bills have been set.

Lawmakers speaking in the 'Zero Hour' of the National Assembly meeting today demanded that the government ease the process for providing citizenship certificates in the name of mother.

Complaining that it was still not easy to get citizenship in the name of mother, the upper house lawmakers stressed on establishing women's rights in parental property and the family lineage.

Lawmaker Ganga Kumari Belbase called for easing the process of providing citizenship in the name of the mother.

Taraman Sunar complained that the senior citizens were facing problems accessing government services like the social security allowance due to the cumbersome provision requiring the National Identity Card for the same.

Tulasa Kumari Dahal drew attention of the government towards the senior citizens sheltering at the Janaki Old-age Home to avail of health services as the government has not provided such support to this old-age home.

Bhagawati Neupane said that although traffic lights are installed in Kathmandu, they are not functioning well. She drew the attention of the government towards the urgent need of fixing this problem.

Maya Prasad Sharma called for timely rescue of the people injured in incidents of landslides and flooding. He demanded that the government take the necessary steps for minimizing the growing human-wildlife conflict.

Sharada Devi Bhatta and Sumitra BC called for building a robust disaster preparedness and response system, drawing the government's attention to the loss of life and property with the start of the monsoon.

The government has presented the annual report for Fiscal Year 2022/23 in the National Assembly, the upper house of the Federal Parliament, today.

The report has been presented in the upper house in accordance with Article 53 of the Constitution of Nepal.

Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Rekha Sharma, tabled the report on behalf of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

The meeting of the National Assembly (NA) scheduled for today has been postponed without entering its business.  

The meeting was put off after the lawmakers of the main opposition party protested, standing from their respective seats.

NA Chairperson Narayan Prasad Dahal urged the opposition parties to facilitate running the Assembly business.

"We have not been able to discuss the policies and programs presented by the government for the coming fiscal year. We have not been able to carry out activities on the issues wanted by the people. The day to unveil the budget is coming closer. The NA should be more responsible to end parliament deadlock and a time has come to think on it," he mentioned.

NA Chairperson Dahal announced the postponement of today's meeting after the opposition parties continued with the obstruction.

The next meeting of the National Assembly will be at 11:30 am on Sunday.

The meeting of the National Assembly (NA) has been postponed today after the main opposition party, Nepali Congress, obstructed the proceedings on Friday.

The NA Chairman Narayana Prasad Dahal adjourned the meeting after the Nepali Congress lawmakers stood up from their seats at the outset in protest. He postponed the meeting till 1: 15 pm on May 19, Sunday.

The Nepali Congress has been obstructing the meeting of the upper house of the Federal Parliament, calling for the formation of a parliamentary committee to carry out an impartial investigation into the alleged involvement of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane in the misappropriation of the cooperative funds.

The government has recommended President Ram Chandra Paudel to nominate Dr Anjana Shakya to the vacant post of National Assembly.

A Cabinet meeting held on Friday decided to recommend President Paudel to nominate Dr Anjana Shakya to the vacant post of National Assembly, government spokesperson and Minister for Communications and Information Technology Rekha Sharma said.

Bimala Ghimire of the CPN-UML and Bishnu Devi Pudasaini of the Nepali Congress filed their nominations for the post of National Assembly vice-chairperson on Tuesday.

They filed their candidacies at the Lhotse Hall of the federal Parliament building for the election of the upper house vice-chair to be held on Wednesday.

The UML had already decided to field Ghimire as its candidate for the election to the National Assembly vice-chair. She has the support of the ruling alliance.

Meanwhile, a Congress Parliamentary Work Execution Committee meeting held on Tuesday morning had decided to pick Pudasaini as the party candidate for the election.

Pudasaini was elected as a National Assembly member from Bagmati Province.

According to the Secretariat, the filing of nominations will be held from 11:45 am to 1:45 pm.

The post remained vacant after Urmila Aryal, who was elected as the National Assembly vice-chair unopposed on January 17, 2023, tendered her resignation on March 28.

An election for the post of National Assembly (NA) Vice-Chairperson is scheduled to take place on April 10.

NA Chair Narayan Prasad Dahal apprised the House today of the election schedule for the post of upper house Vice-Chairperson. The NA Vice-Chairperson’s post has been vacant since Urmila Aryal resigned on March 28.

The NA Chair has directed the Federal Parliament Secretary General Padam Prasad Pandey to publish the election schedule.

The NA shall meet again at 1:15 pm on April 10.

National Assembly Vice-Chairperson Urmila Aryal resigned on Thursday.

She submitted the resignation to National Assembly Chairman Narayan Prasad Dahal.

Aryal was elected unopposed as the National Assembly Vice-Chairperson on January 17, 2023.

After Dahal was elected as the Chairman from the CPN (Maoist Center) in the ruling coalition, she tendered her resignation in consensus.

While forming a new coalition, an agreement was reached among the four parties that the Chairman of the National Assembly would be from the Maoist Center and the Vice-Chairperson of the CPN-UML.

National Assembly (NA) Chairperson Narayan Prasad Dahal said the NA would work to connect all three tiers of governments.

Talking to journalists today, he said the NA would work as a link between the local level and province assembly.

Chair Dahal shared that NA has initiated discussion on the topics of aspirations, challenges and potentials of province and local levels.

He further said the issues discussed in the NA would reach the government through the House of Representatives.

Chair Dahal said discussions were already started in the NA on the problems of all the seven provinces in the last week of every month. "I have made arrangements for the members representing all the seven provinces to raise the issues of their provinces," he said.

Dahal insisted on making NA a space to play a crucial role in connecting the three tiers of government.

Nepali Congress lawmaker Kamala Devi Panta has been elected unopposed as chairperson of Development, Economic Affairs and Good Governance Committee under the National Assembly on Monday.

A meeting of the committee held today in Singha Durbar elected Panta as the chairperson. Chairperson of the NA, Narayan Prasad Dahal, administered oath of office and secrecy to newly elected Chairperson Panta.

On the occasion, NA Chair Dahal congratulated and extended best wishes to Panta. There is a provision in the National assembly Regulations that a NA member elected as Chairperson of the committee has to take oath of office and secrecy before the NA Chairperson. 

Soon after taking oath of office and secrecy, Chairperson Panta assumed office. The term of the Committee Chairperson is of two years.

On the occasion, Chairperson Panta expressed belief that she would play an active role to maintain good governance and effectively raise important issues including economic empowerment to achieve sustainable development goals and to reduce risks of climate change.

Saying good governance would not be promoted until corruption is reduced, she shared that the committee would be active for the same.

CPN-UML Lawmaker Sonam Gyaljen Sherpa has been unanimously elected the President of the Federation Strengthening and National Concern Committee under the National Assembly on Monday.

The National Assembly Chair Narayan Prasad Dahal administered the oath of office and secrecy to Sherpa.

Committee President Sherpa assumed office immediately after taking the oath.

On the occasion, he expressed the commitment to carry out works under his responsibility remaining within the parameters of the constitution.

Sherpa vowed to work towards formulation of the required laws and facilitating the same while in the committee which is taken as the 'mini parliament'.

The term of the Committee President is two years.

The CPN-UML has nominated Bhagawati Neupane as the Chief Whip of the UML Parliamentary Party in the National Assembly, the upper chamber of the Federal Parliament.

UML Federal Parliamentary Party leader KP Sharma Oli today nominated Neupane the Chief Whip in the upper house.

Neupane said that Chair Oli nominated her the UML Chief Whip in the National Assembly as per the UML Parliamentary Party Statute-2077 BS effective from March 4.

Neupane has been appointed in place of the current Chief Whip Bhairab Sundar Shrestha whose term is expiring from tomorrow.

UML central member Neupane represents Tanahun in the National Assembly.

The tenures of 20 National Assembly lawmakers including Chairman Ganesh Prasad Timilsina are expiring today.

They were elected for six years through a lottery method in 2018.

Among them, 19 were elected and Bimala Rai was nominated by the President.

Nine lawmakers from the CPN-UML, four from the Nepali Congress, three from the CPN (Maoist Center) and two from the CPN (Unified Socialist), one from the Janata Samajbadi Party and an independent lawmaker are completing their term today.

Lawmakers whose terms are expiring today are as follows:

UML

1. Ganesh Prasad Timilsina

2. Indu Kadariya

3. Deepa Gurung

4. Dil Kumari Rawal Thapa

5. Kumar Dasaundi

6. Narapati Luwar

7. Bhairav Kumar Shrestha

8. Ram Chandra Rai

9. Bimala Rai Paudyal (nominated)

Nepali Congress

1. Ramesh Jung Rayamajhi

2. Jitendra Narayan Dev

3. Prakash Pantha

4. Anita Devkota

CPN (Maoist Center)

1. Bina Pokharel

2. Mahesh Kumar Mahara

3. Hari Ram Chaudhary

CPN (Unified Socialist)

1. Nanda Chapagain

2. Singa Bahadur Bishwokarma

Janata Samajbadi Party

1. Pramila Kumari

Independent lawmaker

1. Khimlal Devkota

The names of the lawmakers who are replacing the 20 lawmakers whose terms are expiring today are:

Nepali Congress

1. Krishna Prasad Sitaula

2. Ananda Prasad Dhungana

3. Bishnu Kumari Pudasaini

4. Jit Jung Basnet

5. Padam Kumar Pariyar

6. Kiran Babu Shrestha

7. Bishnu Kumari Sapkota

8. Krishna Bahadur Rokaya

9. Baldev Bohara

10.Narayan Dutta Bhatta

CPN (Maoist Center)

1. Shree Krishna Adhikari

2. Manarupa Sharma

3. Jhakku Subedi

4. Bishnu Bahadur Bishwokarma

5. Renu Chand

CPN (Unified Socialist)

1. Ghanshyam Rijal

2. Sabitri Malla

UML

1. Rukmuni Koirala

Janata Samajbadi Party

1. Puja Chaudhary

They are scheduled to take the oath of office and secrecy tomorrow.

National Assembly (NA) lawmakers, speaking in the discussions on the principles and priorities of the Appropriation Bill for the upcoming fiscal year, called for giving emphasis on employment generation and youth mobilization by upholding good governance.

Finance Minister Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat had presented the Principles and Priorities of Appropriation Bill for next fiscal year in the meeting of the National Assembly, the upper house of the Federal Parliament, on February 26.

Taking part in the debate in the NA meeting today, lawmakers underscored on making the budget functional and on improvement in the tendency of getting the budget passed from Parliament by issuing whip, but not obeying the suggestions in the course of implementing it.

Similarly, they emphasized on giving high priority to the agriculture sector, ensuring security to the health workers, making clear the responsibilities on service delivery of the three tiers of government, bringing a plan for consumption of electricity produced in Nepal within the country itself and on also increasing capital expenditure and revenue collection.

Prakash Pantha, Dilkumari Rawal (Parbati), Dr Khimlal Devkota among other lawmakers participated in the discussions.

Dr Devkota on the occasion called attention of the government, saying those ministers who were said to participate in the meeting were not present in the meeting.

President of the Legislation Management Committee, Jayanti Devi Rai, presented the Bill on Anti-Money Laundering and the Promotion of Business Environment, 2079 BS in the meeting today.

She also presented the report of the onsite study programme on law-making process and practices of the local levels.

Government's attention drawn on making provisions for drinking water and irrigation

Similarly, the upper house lawmakers have drawn the attention of the government towards the difficulties faced by the people for lack of drinking water and irrigation facilities in the Tarai-Madhes region.

They expressed their concern on this issue while speaking in the 'zero hour' in the meeting of the National Assembly today.

Lawmaker Tulasa Kumari Dahal called on the government to make arrangements for providing pure drinking water to the people in the Madhes. She also stressed on conservation of the Chure ecosystem by stopping its over-exploitation and on making arrangements for irrigation in the Madhes which is the 'breadbasket' of the country.

Lawmaker Jaga Prasad Sharma called for putting an end to the trend of meager expenditure of the budget appropriated for big projects, drawing the government's attention to finding a solution to this problem.

Taraman Swar called on the government to expedite the construction of the Seti and Mahakali highways, considered as the backbone for the economy and development of the Sudurpaschim and to ensure budget for these road projects in the next fiscal year's budget.

Bhagawati Neupane urged the government to develop the birthplace of pioneer poet of Nepali as a tourism destination. Bimala Ghimire drew the attention of the government for immediately addressing the demands of farmers and the victims of usurious lending.

Lawmaker Sumitra BC called for immediately taking ahead the process for reconstruction of houses for the earthquake-affected people of Jajarkot who are still living under tents even after nearly four months since the disaster.