Focus On Social Justice

After assuming the office of premiership for the third time, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda has consistently been focusing on good governance, social justice and prosperity for the people. PM Prachanda wants to achieve these goals with the support of political parties, bureaucracy, media, civil society and other stakeholders. No doubt, Nepali people have been yearning for peace, stability and development for a long time. The country has witnessed many political upheavals and movements that reflected their desire for transformative changes in the society. They want easy access to quality health and education, employment opportunities and social security system. These aspirations are in line with the new constitution promulgated in 2015. It has envisioned 31 fundamental rights of the people, which laid the foundation of a robust welfare state. For this, the drafters of constitution incorporated provision of building a socialism-oriented economy to attain inclusive growth and prosperity.

Good governance, social justice and development are inter-connected. Good governance is the key to development. It stresses effective implementation of laws to the benefit of common people. Its main objective is the effective delivery of services and goods to the people. This requires abiding by rule of law, discipline, transparency, accountability, access to information and people’s participation in the decision-making process and development activities. The political empowerment of the people is essential for timely execution of decisions of the government. A responsive government is a must to check corruption, irregularities, embezzlement and red tape. The people feel a sense of good governance when they get public services without any hassles and in a satisfactory manner.

Political instability, poor economic base and declining quality of health and education services have posed challenges to maintaining good governance. Frequent government changes bring inconsistency to policy as well as bureaucratic attitude. The elected officials and bureaucracy need to work with better understanding to complete vital development projects. Their conflict creates hurdles in mobilising scarce resources meant for developing basic infrastructures related to public utilities. At the same time, national pride projects have not been completed owing to several factors, including the malfeasance of contractors, corruption scams and delays in the timely release of budget, among others. The pride projects hold potential to create jobs and increase revenues of the local people. Good governance requires institutional reforms to encourage meritocracy, ethical practice and rule-based administrative process. It is also a normative value that stimulates the process of governing in a transparent manner.

The other day, Prime Minister Prachanda reiterated the government’s commitment to good governance and development while inaugurating the Machhakhola hydropower project based in Gorkha virtually. The PM has stated that political stability remained a challenge in the past, but this time the coalition government is striving to ensure it. The Prime Minister said that the election to three-tier governments were conducted and following the elections of the President and Vice President, the country would have a solid foundation to implement the constitution and to accelerate the pace of development. There is a need for consensus, collaboration and co-work among the political parties to formulate vital laws necessary for implementing federalism. Therefore, it is imperative to foster the coalition culture to bring about drastic socio-economic changes. Constitutional behaviour and values must be embraced to realise social justice and prosperity to all.