Kathmandu, September 21
Questions have been raised in Parliament after no Dalit member was included in a special parliamentary committee formed to work on post-disaster issues.
Member of Parliament Ganesh Bahadur Bishwakarma raised the issue while speaking in the House of Representatives.
“We have just formed a special parliamentary committee. Perhaps it was difficult to ensure inclusiveness when a party sending only one representative sent one. But when eight members are being sent, we should at least keep in mind that there should be at least one Dalit member in the committee. Or let us make it mandatory,” he said.
He urged that the inclusive clusters represented through the proportional electoral system be taken into consideration.
The House of Representatives meeting held on Monday formed the 15-member special parliamentary committee to work on post-disaster issues. Its members are Achyutam Lamichhane, Anushka Shrestha, Gangadevi Shrestha, Ganesh Parajuli, Dhananjaya Regmi, Dhruv Raj Rai, Nisha Dangi, Pushparaj Kandel, Mohan Acharya, Mingma Gyabu Sherpa, Ramesh Kumar Malla, Rabindra Patel, Saraswati Lama, Sujata Tamang and Sita Thapaliya.
The committee will select its coordinator at its first meeting.
The committee has been given a three-month term, with a provision allowing its tenure to be extended later.
The committee was formed against the backdrop of the devastating floods in Rasuwa. While Parliament has formed the committee to carry out post-disaster work, MP Bishwakarma questioned the lack of consideration for inclusiveness in its composition.
