Minister Regmi highlights achievements

By A Staff Reporter, Kathmandu, Dec. 24: Minister for Women Children and Social Welfare Uma Regmi has highlighted her works during her 17-month tenure at the Ministry. Speaking at a press meet organised at the end of her tenure on Friday, Minister Regmi briefed about the works the ministry had done in the sector of women, 

children, senior citizens, disabled, gender and sexual minorities and social welfare. After she was appointed as the minister, Regmi said she had made constant effort to increase the budget allocated for the ministry. 

As a result, the government had doubled the budget from Rs. 800 million to Rs. 1.78 billion from the current fiscal year, she added. Minister Regmi also clarified that there was still a lack of budget for the ministry which represents more than 80 per cent population of the county. 

She clarified that since the ministry has no budget, it is not possible to provide financial assistance to the victims of violence. Minister Regmi claimed that she has mooted a plan in the budget for the next financial year to provide the necessary financial assistant to the victims of gender-based violence. 

Since she became the minister, the Ministry had introduced a new programme called ‘Mahila Pahila’ (Women first) and Women’s Safety Programmes. According to her the programme was introduced with an aim of developing women’s leadership from home to state mechanism. 

The ministry has allocated Rs. 30 million for the programme, in which the local bodies would carry out campaigns to mitigate the cases of violence against women and conduct leadership development programmes, she added. 

She further informed that the ministry had introduced a new law regarding the security of senior citizens. Stating that the first amendment to the Senior Citizens Act, 2006 is expected to make offspring responsible towards their parents, Minister Regmi said she considered this as one of the prominent works the ministry has done during her tenure. 

The government had implemented the Act, through which the government will bar children from claiming property owned by their parents if they abandoned them. 

The amended law also orders the local government to take care of any senior citizen abandoned by their children or relatives. A senior citizen can file written complaint at the local government authority against their children if they are not taken care of, said Minister Regmi. 

The Ministry has also set up outreach centre in each district in coordination with provincial and local government, to listen to the complaints of the women, children, senior citizens and disabled people and provide them support, she added. 

The Ministry has also formulated National Children’s Policy, 2022, Children Regulation, 2022, five-year strategy of National Child Rights Council, integrated action plan for child rights protection and promotion, prepared minimum standard to operate orphanage and National Policy on Persons with Disability, 2022, among others. 

In another context, Minister Regmi also expressed her dissatisfaction over performance of the National Women Commission, as the commission itself is indulged in an internal conflict and unable to perform efficiently.