Make functioning of parliament effective

In a democratic country, the highest institution in which representatives are elected by the people is the Parliament. Its main task is to formulate necessary laws for the governance and administration of the country. Democratic countries are governed by laws, and these laws cannot be formulated by anyone other than the sovereign Parliament. This is the rule of the people's representatives. Without people's representatives, no laws can be formulated, and no taxes can be levied. In this sense, Parliament is the highest and most powerful body in every sense, and the parliamentarians elected by the people to represent them in this Parliament automatically become powerful. A country cannot function without the laws made by the representatives of the sovereign people. Sadly, our parliament has currently failed in its main responsibility. It has been a year since its members were elected to the House of Representatives, and not a single bill has been passed and turned into law except for the amendment of the law defining loan sharking as an unfair transaction. Therefore, questions have started to arise about what lawmakers do when they are not fulfilling the work they were sent to do.

The Legislative Management Committee of the National Assembly had prepared the 'Study Report 2080 of Laws to be Drafted in accordance with the Constitution', which states that 180 laws need to be formulated to ensure a smooth transition from a unitary state to the federal structure. On one hand, there are many laws to be formulated, while on the other hand, only one law -- one that addresses an amendment -- has been formulated in the whole year, which is a cause for serious concern. Such a situation presents a challenge for all parliamentarians individually and collectively, sending a message that our parliament is not fully functioning. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has taken the vote of confidence from the Parliament for the third time, and provincial governments are engaged in a contest of formation and dissolution of their respective governments. However, the main work of making laws has been overshadowed due to lack of seriousness. This situation has reduced the work of parliamentarians to only form and overthrow the government again and again. An environment has been created where especially the new generation only understands what Parliament means. Therefore, such a practice is not beneficial for anyone.

The winter session of Parliament is called the Bill Session, which means that more priority is given to passing laws. However, in the case of Nepal, no winter session in any year seemed fruitful in terms of law making. This has diminished the dignity of the parliament, as well as the respect that the common people have towards the parliamentarians who represent the parliament. The creation of mistrust and hatred towards people's representatives is a loss for democracy, requiring a lot of effort and time to rectify. In this way, the parliamentarians seem to have failed in their role. Parliament's time, resources, and energy are being spent without seeming to play the necessary role to prevent it from going to waste. The tenure of the Parliament is still long, and there is no basis for understanding whether it will be utilized effectively or not. Now, there are only three winter sessions in 2025, 2026, and 2027 and four annual sessions in 2025, 2026, 2027, and 2028. At the current pace, it will be difficult to pass even 15 bills in the remaining period, out of the needed 180. This indicates the dire state of the functioning our parliament is in. The report prepared by the National Assembly further suggests that 40 laws should be enacted immediately. It is everyone's duty to get Parliament out of such a situation. It is the government's responsibility to provide 'business' to the parliament for making laws necessary for the country. It is high time the government paid due attention to this matter and made the parliament effective.