Kathmandu, Mar. 1: As summoned by His Majesty the King, the 17th session of parliament began at the Parliament House at Singha Durbar today.

At the beginning of the meeting, a two-minute’s silence was observed to pay tributes to the known and unknown martyrs who had laid down their life for the sake of democracy in the country.

Speaker Taranath Ranabhat, on the occasion, heartily welcomed the mps to the seventeenth Session of the Parliament.

Delivering the welcome speech, Speaker Ranabhat said the effectiveness of the Parliament which directly represents the people vested with sovereignty is very important to provide sustainability and dynamism to the overall development of the country.

He noted that if the basis of the national consensus became transparent and strong in the institutional development of various bodies and resolving the complex issues, a situation would be created for the fulfilment of the aspirations of the exploited, oppressed, poor and innocent people.

When the people’s representatives are aware and honest towards their duties and responsibilities and their role is effective, not only the prestige of the Parliament would enhance but their accountability towards the people would also become meaningful, he added.

Mr Ranabhat said “Only our dedication and commitment towards our image, norms and values can eliminate the distortion and inconsistencies in every aspect of our national life.”

Those trying to weaken the democratic system and constitutional monarchy, creating disillusion and distraction among the political parties, the corrupt persons crushing the destiny of the poor people, the elements spreading anarchy, terrorist assaulting the life and property of the innocent people, and the former panchas hurting our national pride are becoming more active, he said, adding that the house is vested with the responsibilities of checking such activities.

Stating that the people suffering from inflation, shortages and unemployment were expecting relief measures, he said, adding that in this kind of situation, the house had to find the right direction with stability, determination and full dedication.

The economy and specially the tourism sector has been badly affected following the cancellation of flights of Indian Airlines after the hijacking incident and the unfavourable campaign carried out by the Indian mass media, he said, adding that the problem should be resolved with the spirit of good neighbourliness.

It is encouraging to receive indication that hmg and CPN-Maoist would hold talks to find a peaceful and constitutional solution to the issue, Mr. Ranabhat said,  wishing success of the talks.

Mr Ranabhat said that after the sixteenth Session written directives had been received from His Majesty the King for enhancing the effectiveness of the Parliament and making the law formulation process more practical and scientific.

The House is fully aware and will remain active in implementing the directives given by His Majesty to formulate laws concerning the political parties to hold free, fair and peaceful elections in the future and to find a solution to resolve the Maoist problem, the Speaker said.

His Majesty the King, the Prime Minister, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the leader of the main opposition party and the leaders of all the political parties represented in the Parliament had reached a consensus to make the Parliament Secretariat an autonomous body in line with the provisions enshrined in the constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal-1990, Mr. Ranabhat said, adding this could not be moved ahead on account of some technical reasons. The Speaker called for cooperation from all concerned in this regard.

Some of the responsibilities of the sixteenth session such as tabling thirteen bills for decision, responsibility of the high level committee concerning elections and implementing the report concerning revenue leakage, are also the responsibilities of the current session also, he added.

On the occasion, Mr. Ranabhat said that while formulating the next budget and fixing plan priorities for the development of the country,  the Finance Ministry and the National Planning Commission should consider the views of the MPs also.

Gains of democracy:

Meanwhile, Chairman of National Assembly Dr Mohammod Mohsin, in a welcome speech at the National Assembly meeting today, wished that the current parliamentary session would succeed in finding solutions to the problems facing the country.

Speaking of the need to take the gains of democracy to the grassroots, Dr Mohsin said law and order situation is dismal in the country, unemployment has increased, corrupt people have not been punished and we have to see where are the lapses in terms of implementing the Constitution.

It would be more result-oriented if efforts were made to seek consensus of all for resolving the burning issues of the country, he said and wished on behalf of the House speedy recovery of main opposition party leader Madhav Kumar Nepal.

Main opposition party leader at the national assembly Yuvaraj Gyawali said law and order situation is grave in the country, corruption, commodity prices and educational problems have increased, human rights commission has not been formed yet and the government is not serious about removing Indian army from Kalapani.

We have to find out who has to be blamed for the failure to resolve all these problems and the present session should try to rectify such shortcomings, he added.

Rabindra Nath Sharma of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party spoke of the need of strategies to resolve the problems facing the country and said in a democracy, the opposition can do nothing more than provide constructive suggestions to the government to make it more responsible.

Democrats should abide by the norms, values and ideals of democracy and mould themselves into practice accordingly to strengthen democracy, said Mr. Sharma, adding, the present government has failed to maintain law and order in the country, foreign policy is no longer balanced and corruption has increased than ever before.

President of RPP (Chand) Rajeshwor Devkota observed that issues of nationalism, Maoist terrorism and violence, price rise, development and construction work could be the areas warranting national consensus.

Sitanandan Raya of the cpn-ml said during the past ten years of democracy, it is because of the Nepali Congress which was in power for most of the period that people are growing disenchanted with democracy, the parliamentary committee formed to look into the alleged rigging in the last general elections did not include the party which was most victimised and the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority is not able to stop corruption.

Mp ramesh Nath Pandey noted that people have not felt a sense of stability despite a majority government in place, the law and order situation is in disarray, the international community has put pressure for not framing certain laws and Nepal’s image has tarnished in the international field.

Thereafter, National Assembly Chairman Dr Mohsin who was chairing the meeting read out the communications received from the Royal Palace.