Govt to issue 3 ordinances<br/>All govt services including army to be inclusive

45 pc of all govt services to be reserved for women, Janajatis, Madhesis, Dalits, disabled and people from backward regions

Parliament service and local bodies service spared

Army, Police and Armed Police Force also under new system

UML’s reservations on making army inclusive

KATHMANDU, Feb 5: The cabinet meeting on Thursday decided to issue three ordinances deemed urgent for addressing the country’s immediate problems. [break]

The cabinet passed an ordinance related to Disappearance of People, an ordinance related to Making Public Services Inclusive and an ordinance for Amending the Compilation of Electoral Rolls Act.

Minister for Agriculture and Cooperative Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta said the passage of the ordinance to make government service inclusive has paved the way for making all the government services inclusive.

“It was one of the major demands the Janajatis, Madhesis, women, Dalits and people from backward regions have been raising for long,” said Gupta.

Minister for Commerce and Supplies Rajendra Mahato said 45 percent of seats during fresh recruitment for all government services will be reserved for women, Madhesis, Janajatis, Dalits, the disabled and people from backward regions. The armed services, however, will not be forced to reserve seats for the disabled.

As per the ordinance, women, Janajatis, Madhesis, Dalits, the disabled and backward regions will get 33, 27, 22, 9, 5 and 4 percent of seats respectively in government services other than the armed forces.

In the security services, Janajatis will get 32 percent of seats, Madhesis 28 percent, women 20 percent, Dalits 15 percent and backward regions 5 percent.

This provision has already been applied to the civil service but other government services were yet to adopt it. “The new system will be applied in government services like education, development committees, special services, health services, the Armed Police Force, Nepal Police and the Nepal Army,” said Mahato.

“We had been exerting pressure from within government and from outside to bring about implementation of the government’s agreement with the United Democratic Madhesi Front last year, which calls for inclusiveness in all services including the army,” said Mahato.

The ordinance, however, does not address appointments in government corporations, the parliament service and the local bodies’ services. “We deliberately did not include the local bodies as it is hard to make them inclusive and they will also come under provincial or local government jurisdictions when the country’s administrative system is changed into a federal one,” said Mahato.

Cabinet passed the ordinance despite opposition from CPN-UML ministers. The UML ministers claimed it would be impractical to enforce the new ordinance in the army due to the special nature of that service, and without proper consultation with army officers.

Since the ordinance for making public service inclusive came as part of the government policy of addressing the issues of Tarai-Madhes, Madhesi People’s Rights Forum leader Minister Gupta was asked to brief the media after the cabinet meeting.

Ministers duo Gupta and Mahato, however, did not give details about the Disappearance Ordinance. It is one of the controversial ordinances that addresses the cases of enforced disappearance of people during the 10 years of armed insurgency.

Main opposition party in parliament Nepali Congress, the National Human Rights Commission and international human rights groups had been protesting the government’s move to introduce this ordinance.

The third ordinance, which is related to collection of voters´ names for purposes of the upcoming by-elections in six constituencies, was urgently needed for allowing voting by those who reached 18 years of age two years ago but were still denied the vote.

The cabinet, however, decided to put on hold two ordinances passed at its last meeting. The Investment Board Ordinance and the Special Economic Zone Ordinance are yet to be forwarded for the president’s assent. The government has decided to forward the ordinances only after comprehensive discussions among the ruling parties and with the opposition parties.