Nepal
In a meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR), the lower house, MPs have expressed their concern over 'politicisation' in Universities and demanded reforms.
Bhimsen Das Pradhan of the Nepali Congress said the culture of appointing officials at Tribhuvan University (TU) on the basis of political sharing had begun in 2048 BS and the tradition goes on till date as well.
He said that lately a clash between students and officials has escalated and students are likely to face a case for raising questions over the performance and competence of officials.
As he argued, the appointment of officials with a politically-biased mentality has led to the falling of the University prestige. He was of the view of addressing the issue on time and developing the University as merely an academic hub.
Nepal Workers and Peasants' Party's Prem Suwal objected to what he said “the House overlooked the President's message in regard with the Citizenship Bill”. He was of the opinion that continuing with the House session even after the election announcement was not ethnically correct.
Speaking in a zero session of the meeting, lawmakers demanded the government come up with special measures to control price rise before the festival seasons and the dengue infection that has already spread to 72 districts.
Accusing the government of not taking the problem seriously, Meena Kumari Shrestha sought the government's effective intervention for the containment of the infection.
Likewise, Shakti Bahadur Basnet demanded the Karnali Academy of Health Sciences should guarantee medical facilities through satellite technology at all districts in the Karnali Province while Sher Bahadur Tamang expressed concern over a delay in providing proper compensation to last year's Melamchi flood survivors.
Bimala Bishwakkarma insisted on the control of price hike while Dr Binda Pandey called for incorporating the University issues in the agenda of the discussions of the meeting.
Laxmi Kumar Chaudhary demanded the management of stray livestock. --RSS
