It’s been more than seven years and four months since the Constitution of Nepal 2015 was promulgated and the country formally embraced the federal democratic republic. Obviously, Nepal’s latest constitution is different from the past constitutions of the country in several aspects. One of them is the guarantee of several rights related to the basic needs of the people as fundamental rights. Various social, economic and cultural rights such as rights to food, shelter, health, education etc have been included as fundamental rights of the people in the constitution which aims to achieve socialism, social justice, and inclusive development, among other goals. In fact, these provisions in Nepal’s constitution have been praised at the international level for being exemplary and commendable.
However, the people are not able to enjoy the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The dream of social justice, socialism, equitable economic development and right to live with respect, liberty and dignity shown by the new constitution has proved to be a mirage for the masses. And, regrettably, the successive governments formed since the Constitution's promulgation have failed to take proactive measures to address this glaring disparity and fulfill the promises of the Constitution.
It is understandable that a country like Nepal cannot ensure the guarantee of all fundamental rights mentioned in the constitution at once. But at least there should have been meaningful initiatives taken toward realizing at least the most fundamental of these fundamental rights. For example, the successive governments formed after the promulgation of the new constitution, should have made meaningful efforts for all Nepalis to realize at least the right to food and the right to shelter – arguably the two most basic of the basic needs.
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To guarantee the fundamental Right to Food (Article 36) and Right to Shelter (Article 37), the federal parliament formulated the Right to Food and Food Sovereignty Act 2075 (2018) and the Right to Shelter Act 2075 (2018). Both the Acts came into force from September 18, 2018. However, most of the provisions in these Acts have to be implemented through regulations. In other words, the Right to Food and Right to Shelter will not be put into practice unless the related regulations are formulated. More than four years and four months have passed since Acts were formulated for the implementation of these fundamental rights mentioned in the constitution. Still, the regulations required to implement the provisions of these Acts have not been formulated. As a result, all sovereign Nepalis have not been able to enjoy their constitutional rights to food and shelter. The situation of the people’s right to health and education is no different; they too sound hollow because of the lack of implementation.
There is no doubt that the post-2015 years have been quite fruitful for the politicians and the people close to them. But the question is how fruitful these years have been for the common Nepalis? How effectively has the change in the country’s political system helped change the difficult situation for the general public? Or are the rights mentioned in the constitution just castles in the air?
It is often said that the poverty, discrimination, exclusion, deprivation of economic and social rights, bad governance and impunity in the country were the reasons behind the violent as well as non-violent conflicts in the past. So, the new constitution has laid special emphasis on meeting the social and economic needs of the people through the implementation of fundamental rights. But in practice, the very social and economic rights have been marginalized. And it seems the mention of these rights in the constitution is just ‘ceremonial’.
Under the 2015 constitution, two periodic elections to the federal parliament and provincial assemblies have been completed. Their second five-year terms have already begun following the general elections on November 20 last year. Similarly, local level elections, too, have been held twice in this period and different parties have formed governments at all three levels – central, provincial and local. But nothing meaningful happened toward ensuring the fundamental rights.
Coincidentally, the government is led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the chairman of the Maoist Center, for a third time. At least this party which claims to have raised these rights effectively must realize that the people’s struggles for the past several decades were not just for civil liberties and periodic elections. Civil liberties alone do not complete democracy. Similarly, periodic elections are essential for democracy but democracy is not just about periodic elections.
It’s time for PM Dahal and his party to deliver on past promises made to the people.
