Publisher’s Note: New beginning

This is a truly momentous day in the 250-year history of unified Nepal. For the very first time, the sovereign Nepali people have written a constitution of their own. With it, a new window of opportunity has opened up for Nepal, the opportunity for sustained economic growth that will be vital to place the country in the rank of 'developing countries' by the target year of 2022. The decade-long Maoist conflict followed by another nearly a decade of political transition had proven to be extremely costly for Nepal. Industries were decimated; job creation ground to a halt; and the country witnessed an unprecedented outflow of its most capable youth. The recent earthquake only exacerbated these troubling trends. Thankfully, in the aftermath of the earthquake, there was a broad realization among our political leaders that business as usual just wouldn't work. It was the time to Build Back Better, which wasn't possible unless there was a decisive break from the past. It was in this context that the 16-point agreement on a new constitution among the four largest political parties in the second Constituent Assembly was signed back in June. This process has now culminated in the promulgation of the new constitution.The new constitution, of course, is not flawless, which is why there must be timely amendments in the future. But in the process of criticizing its weak points, it would be dangerous to overlook all its good points and try to ditch it altogether. Most importantly, the constitution clearly mentions that Nepal is now a federal, democratic, secular republic. It once and for all forestalls the possibility of comeback of monarchy; or restoration of Hindu state; or the country reverting back to unitary structure of governance. It recognizes the need for positive discrimination for marginalized communities, at all state organs. The discriminatory citizenship provisions against women in the earlier draft have also been modified. Crucially, the new constitution offers a concrete--even though by no means perfect--federal map, which can (should) be changed in future in line with the country's changing needs.

The longer the constitutional process dragged on, the more intractable it had gotten. At many points during the last eight years of the constitutional process in Nepal, the CA experiment seemed doomed. The critics of the Constituent Assembly got more vocal, even as its defenders found themselves increasingly hard pressed to justify the experiment, which cost the national treasury over US $2 billion. This is the reason Republica had repeatedly emphasized the need for speedy conclusion of the constitutional exercise through broad consensus. Now that this has finally happened, we couldn't be happier. Since Republica's birth in 2009, we consistently pushed for timely resolution of the peace and constitution process so that the country could embark on the ultimate goal of lasting peace and prosperity.

But even today the job is only half done. There has been sustained unrest in the Tarai over the past month and a half. It is clear that durable solutions will be found only through dialogue. Violence, whether from state forces or armed protestors, cannot be employed as a political tool in a democracy. So the Big Three must keep trying to reach out to disgruntled forces. The protesting parties, for their part, should internalize the fact that they had been given limited mandate by the sovereign people and they, as such, cannot dictate the terms of engagement. But sooner or later, and with or without the prodding of our international friends and well-wishers, the two sides will have to sit down and talk.

In the end, today is a day of celebration, not triumphalism. In fact, even with best of efforts, it might be years before Nepal is able to completely emerge from the dark shadows of transitional politics. The journey to an inclusive, peaceful, prosperous and more resilient New Nepal, the common home of 28 million Nepalis, has just begun. In this spirit, we would once again like to congratulate all our valued readers, advertisers and each and every Nepali for the new constitution, something which we can all proudly claim as our own.

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