This comes after the CA finished debates on the concept paper presented by the National Interest Protection Committee.
Taking part on Sunday´s debate, Maoist lawmaker Bishwa Bhakta Dulal said the concept paper lacked the provision of special rights to marginalized communities and minorities. He said these communities should be represented in all state structures through proportionately.
Dulal suggested giving prioritized rights to dalits in businesses and industries that traditionally belong to the communities. "Dalits did not just had to go through ordinary form of exploitation," he said, adding, "The government therefore should ensure them constitutional guarantee of special rights with compensation."
Dulal also pointed out the need to adopt multilingual policy against tri-language policy suggested in the concept paper. The concept paper has suggested adopting national language, mother tongue and a contact language at local level in the states under federal set up. "It would be better for us to adopt multilingual policy instead of tri-lingual policy," he added.
Dulal also suggested the new constitution ensure Muslim people the right to exercise Muslim laws to the extent that they do not contravene fundamental rights guaranteed in the constitution.
Lawmakers voiced against the provision of giving citizenship certificate on virtue of being born in Nepali territory as proposed in the concept paper. "The concept paper should clearly specify that citizenship is granted on the virtue of descent alone," Dulal further said.
Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist Leninist) lawmaker Bhim Rawal said that the provision to give citizenship certificate in the name of third gender is not appropriate. "We do not need to a provision of giving naturalized citizenship certificates as we are witnessing a sharp rise in population," he argued.
Rawal suggested first identifying the needs and demands of marginalized and minority communities to safeguard their rights.
Nepali Congress lawmaker Jeevan Prem Shrestha said the concept paper should be clear about what will be done to determine official languages in particular federal state if there is no consensus among concerned stakeholders. "Provisions like a referendum should be included in the concept paper," he added.
The concept paper has said that the official languages will be determined on the basis of consensus.
Altogether 20 CA members took part on Sunday´s debates. The debate on the draft proposal on minorities and marginalized communities will continue for the next four CA meetings.
Related story
Nepal to host historic int’l tourism conference for sexual and...
