KATHMANDU: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has lauded the National Assembly (NA) for playing an important role in coordinating among local, provincial and federal governments while implementing the constitution.
At an event organized to launch a book ‘Parliamentary Committee System: National Assembly Special’ at the Office of the President, Shital Niwas, Friday, President Bhandari extended her gratitude to NA for showing maturity while enforcing the constitution and for being able to establish its own importance.
Calling for a stronger economy for a robust democracy, Bhandari argued that all including citizens and concerned authorities should fulfill their responsibilities to build a strong economy. On a different note, the Head of the State said, “The parliament has to run its business considering the best interest of the country. Towards this end, the role of parliamentarians is paramount.”
Asserting that she had been complying with the constitution as mandated by the law of the land, Bhandari pointed out the need to make customs like deliberating on the reports submitted by constitutional bodies and implementing them stronger. She viewed that the newly launched book had contributed to chronicling the parliamentary activities in our country and underscored continuity for such publications.
The President viewed that the Parliament Secretariat should prioritize the publication of books documenting the parliamentary activities to encourage reading and research culture among the parliamentarians. Recalling her long service as a parliamentarian, President Bhandari expressed her confidence that the general public would get to learn about their representatives better after they read the publication of the speeches made in parliament. It would also, Bhandari viewed, help augment the public’s faith in parliament.
On the occasion, National Assembly chairperson Ganesh Prasad Timalsina handed over the ‘Parliament Committee System: National Assembly Special’ book. NA Chair Timalsina also gifted various agricultural produces produced by the farmers of Lumbini Province to President Bhandari.
Similarly, National Concern and Coordination Committee President Dil Kumari Rawal Thapa (Parbati) said that parliamentary committees had an important role in making the parliament more effective since the parliament makes the government accountable.
National Assembly Secretary and editor of the newly launched book Rajendra Phuyal stated that parliamentary committees were not merely the concept of the system but also an effort to review our own practices. He opined that the book would be useful in learning about the practices of the parliamentary committees as well as the challenges faced by such committees and in charting out the future for such committees.
The 176-page book is published by the federal parliament secretariat. The book has articles written by 10 various personalities having wealth of experiences of parliamentary practices and thematic studies. The book also aims to educate readers about the basic concept of the parliamentary committee system and illustrates some of the model cases of international practices in Australia, the USA and India.
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