CA receives more suggestions from Tarai (with report)

Of 184,674 participants, 131,673 were male, 53,000 female and one was third gender

KATHMANDU, July 28: The Constituent Assembly (CA) committee on collecting feedback on the draft constitution submitted its report to CA Chairman Subas Nembang on Monday.

As per the report, 184,674 participants registered their suggestions on the draft constitution during the feedback collection campaign conducted in all the 240 constituencies last week. Of them, 131,673 were male, 53,000 female and one was third-gender. A total of 153,193 suggestions were collected from across the country during the campaign.

Dissident political parties and groups staged protests in some Tarai districts during the feedback collection campaign. But the report shows that the region saw highest participation with highest number of suggestions offered in comparison to districts in other parts of the country.

Bardiya is the district to register highest number of suggestions (28,880), while Nawalparasi, Kailali, Chitwan and Kathmandu stand on second, third, fourth and fifth position respectively in terms of suggestions received.
CA-FEEDBACK

Likewise, Kathmandu saw the highest number of participants (17,700), while Morang, Sarlahi, Rautahat, Kailali and Saptari led in terms of the number of participants gathered during the campaign.

In addition, 33,753 Nepali citizens have submitted their inputs through various means of communications. Of them, 20,722 were submitted through CA's official website, 8,800 through email, 2,471 through toll-free telephone, 1,144 through fax, and 616 through postal service or direct submission at CA secretariat.

According to CA officials, the secretariat received feedback from Nepali citizens through websites from 58 countries. Around 75 percent of the total feedback received through websites originated from Nepal. Of the inputs received from abroad, the highest number of suggestions was received from the United States and the second highest from the Gulf countries. The lowest number (1) of feedback was received from Sudan.

Pramila Rana, Chairperson of CA's Citizen Relations and Constitution Suggestion Committee which was entrusted with collecting feedback and preparing a report, submitted the 92-page document to CA Chairman Nembang.

"Though we were given only 15 days, we have succeeded in including maximum suggestions covering most of the related issues," said Rana while handing over the report.

"With this report in hand, we now have only a few procedural tasks to complete," Nembang said while receiving the report.

He informed that the report will be tabled at the CA full House meeting on Tuesday.

The committee in its report has given the list of suggestions recorded in all the 75 districts and those received from Nepali citizens staying abroad in 58 countries.

The list of suggestions shows that people have offered all types of suggestions. For instance, on state restructuring, some are completely against adopting federalism while others have proposed various federal models.

The federal models suggested by participants from districts include three to seven provinces. While these participants are for reducing the number of provinces other participants have suggested increasing the number to as many as 14.

Similarly, on the system of governance, some have proposed presidential system while others are for parliamentary model.

As the CA secretariat doesn't disclose the number of participants giving suggestion on any specific provision, the report doesn't make clear which suggestion was proposed by how many participants.

Officials at the secretariat said they have included all the suggestions whether proposed by a single participant or by thousands of participants.