Articles by Brahmanand Mishra

The new constitution restores a multiparty system in the country curtailing the king's powers, but not doing away with them entirely.
ON November 9 Nepal said goodbye to the partyless panchayat system when amidst a grand ceremony held in the Gorakha Baithak of Narayanhiti Raj- durbar, attended by select gathering of cabinet ministers and high officials, King Birendra formally promulgated the long- awaited new democratic constitution of Nepal, abrogating the old panchayati constitution. In a brief speech on the occasion King Birendra said the tradition of acting in accordance with the popular will enabled the "historic concert between king and people which ushered in democracy in our country in 1951". All political changes since then have been brought about with the participation of the people and as desired by them. "It is the individual whom democracy seeks to serve", the king observed. The new constitution, he said, emphasises individual freedom and human rights ensuring a rightful role for every individual "In the belief that the proposed constitution will help to forge the people in a bond of unity and advance the cause of multiparty democracy in a constitutional monarchy, we have, on the advice of the council of ministers, promulgated the constitution of Nepal 1990, with immediate effect. We have at the same time abrogated the constitution of Nepal 1962." In the new constitution which was enacted today in keeping with the desire of the Nepalese people expressed through the recent people's movement to bring about ' constitutional change of the Sovereignty of Nepal", "a multicaste, multilingual, democratic independent, indivisible, sovereign Hindu and constitutional monarchical kingdom", is "vested in the Nepalese people".

in Nepal A FOURTH amendment in the Nepalese constitution is being seriously considered, it is reliably learnt. According to well informed sources, Nayan Bahdur Khetri, a former chief justice and currently Nepal's ambassador to China has been asked to chair the drafting committee. Khetri is already in Kathmandu to initiate the process. Prior to the formation of the drafting committee a team consisting of the Rashtriya Panchayat chairman Navaraj Subedi and Nepal's tourism minister Mahammad Mohasin, was sent to Nebraska to study the functioning of the partyless system. The team is already back to Kathmandu and is believed to have submitted its recommendations before King Birendra's retreat to Chitaun for a week. Though the contents of team's findings and recommendations have not been made public political observers believe Kathmandu may be in tor some fun damental and far-reaching changes in the Nepalese constitution. They do not rule out some restrictions to curb the unruly dissidents within the partyless panchayat as well as some concession to the democrats eager to join the mainstream.

December 10, 1977 people had now to rebuild the country on a totally new basis, and there was no reason why the Catholics should not collaborate in this work. Enormous efforts had to be made on every plane

December 10 (the day of the award- giving ceremonies) saw massive protests in which five thousand demonstrators took part in spite of wet weather and zero temperature, shouting, 'Friedman Murderer' and 'No Money to the Servant of the Junta'. Christmas shoppers joined in chorus since

THE Nepalese police were ordered on August 1 to proceed to Khampa camps in the northern border district of Mustang to "launch a vigorous search for arms, ammunition and communications equipment and seize them if found'.. In a tersely worded press announcement the Nepalese Home Minister warned that if anybody in the camps made any attempt to obstruct, impede or hamper this operation the police would deal with them. There have been some indications that for some time China has been quietly persuading Nepal to disarm the Khampa tribesmen from Tibet who had taken refuge in Mustang district and had in the past waged guerilla war against the Chinese in Tibet.