The current “Constitution of Nepal 2072” is fifth such constitution and denotes Bikrami year 2072. The first constitution of Nepal was Government of Nepal Act, 1948. This constitution vested all the powers into the hereditary Prime Ministers of the Rana clan. After the Revolution of 1951, an “Interim Government of Nepal Act, 1951” restored the […]
The constitution was passed by a clear majority with 507 of the 598 constituent assembly members voting in favour. However, around 60 members from the Madhesis and Janjatis community boycotted the vote. The Tharu and Madhesi groups had demanded that provinces should be demarcated keeping in view the ethnic populations. Further, the 2008 Eight Point […]
The deadline for framing the constitution was extended several times since 2008. During this period, politics of Nepal has been subject to all sorts of factional and political struggles. The Constituent assembly could not draft the constitution in its original and extended total tenure of 4 years. Due to this, the assembly was dissolved in […]
In the 2007 elections, Maoists emerged as victorious. The Maoist leader “Prachanda” won by almost 50% margin from his nearest rival. After victory, the Maoists were so adamant that they did not like to share the posts of PM and president. The key factor that was responsible for thunderous victory of Maoists was that they […]
After the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the Interim Constitution was promulgated in January 2007. The constitution provided for a Constituent Assembly with dual functions viz. as a constitution making body as well as legislative body / parliament. It was initially decided that the Interim Parliament will have 330 member and it will get dissolved with the […]
The 1990 constitution did not usher Nepal into political stability, not even till date. The constant infighting and factionalism continued within the political parties. Among various political parties was a small party Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), which was nothing more than a fringe group of Maoism supporters. The legislators of this group abandoned their […]
Marich Man Singh Shrestha had served as Nepal’s Prime Minister for about four years till April 1990, when the political parties launched an agitation to restore democratic rights. He is known for mass suppression of democratic forces and this highly degraded his status. Meanwhile, the Nepal-India relations started souring due to an array of reasons […]
The partyless Panchayat system was established in Nepal by King Mahendra in 1960 and it remained in force till 1990s. This was a pyramidal structure, beginning with some 4000 village assemblies and ending into the Rastriya Panchayat (National Parliament). Though people could elect their representatives, the Panchayat system was based on the absolute power of […]
The revolution of 1951 was the first political movement of Nepal against the dynastic regime of the Rana Prime Ministers. It Nepalese it is called Sat Salko Kranti corresponding to year 2007 of Bikram Samvat era. This revolution was led by the educated and exiled people of Nepal, most of whom were educated in other […]
Nepal is an immensely diverse country by geography, ethnicity, language, religion as well as caste. In epic times, it was ruled by ethnic people of Himalayas called Kirats. The Kirat rulers were replaced by several ingenious tribes such as Thakuris, Mallas etc. For the first time in 18th century, this country was unified by king […]