Proactive engagement of NC’s departments add energy to the party-President Deuba

LALITPUR: Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba has claimed that the proactive engagement of various departments of the NC has added energy to the party.

Deuba said this at a programme organized by the NC’s Poor and Disadvantaged Uplift Coordination Department at the party central office, Sanepa, today to hand over a report with policy and programme recommendation for identifying, uplifting and promoting disadvantaged groups.

On the occasion, he said the proactive engagement of the departments has made the party dynamic, strong and effective.

“The report is important for pro-poor policy reforms. Its recommendations will be useful for the party’s structure and elected representatives at all levels”, Deuba said, adding, “The party has accepted the report as an important document, we will bring it to the implementation”.

Also speaking on the occasion, NC Vice President Dhanraj Gurung said the report has relevance in the context when the government is introducing its annual policies and programmes, and the budget.

“The poor and the needy should be honed with skills, power and capabilities to shape their future rather than talking about distributing two or four pieces of land”, he said, terming the existing social allowance distribution ‘injudicious and unscientific’.

NC General Secretary Gagan Kumar Thapa said the allegation on NC that it was not a party of the poor and the disadvantaged should be viewed in a a different perspective. “The party will not be strong as long as the citizens remain poor. We have to work to transform the ‘haves not’ class into the ‘haves’ class”, Thapa asserted.

He said it was merely a formal statement to say that the political, social and cultural rights enjoyed by the people could not be used on the basis of being economically poor.

“We should pay attention to equality of sovereign citizens; knowledge and skills are the basis of Nepal’s economy, it is necessary to make people knowledgeable and skilled”, he noted.

General Secretary Thapa stressed the need to make separate budgets and programmes for the federal, provincial and local levels.

Chief of the Department Dr Gopal Dahid said that the committee comprising 11 members has prepared a 56-page report based on facts and figures collected from various sources.

The report has proposed an arrangement that the poor and disadvantaged should be provided loan for entrepreneurship and employment by keeping ward and local government on guarantee.