The Constituent Assembly entered into the discussion on concept paper tabled by the thematic committee- Committee for determining the base of cultural and social solidarity, from its 40th - 45th meeting. This discussion took place from 22nd June to 2nd July 2009 at BICC hall. The main subjects included in the concept paper are as follows:

• Promotion of social solidarity
• Education in mother language
• Preservation, promotion and development of languages and scripts( Lipis)
• Recognition and honor of the indigenous/ethnic groups.
• Elimination of all forms of discrimination including caste based discrimination
• Social Justice
• Social Security
• Acceptance of cultural and linguistic diversity and equality, preservation and promotion of culture, elimination of inequality, compensation, honor and rehabilitation, and implementation of the treaties-accords.
• Social motto of the nation.
• Preservation and development of language and culture, mainstreaming, inclusiveness, economic development and equality, amendment in laws according to time, special provision of social security and distributive justice.
• Promotion of the social and cultural solidarity.
• Establishment of Dalit Commission.
• Acceptance, recognition, preservation and development of the National language.
• Administrative language in different federal units.
• Link language between federal units (states) or administrative language.
• Establishment of language commission and its rights and responsibilities.
• Use of languages in the court and other authorized documents approved by Nepal government .

Formation of the Committee

The interim constitution of Nepal-2063 has guaranteed fundamental rights to Nepali people for making their own constitution. Constituent Assembly has been formed according to the interim constitution article no 63. This committee has been formed according to rule no. 66(2) of Constituent Assembly Regulation -2065 passed by the Constituent Assembly.

Committee's Formation

According to Nepal's Interim Constitution 2063, article no. 79, and Constituent Assembly Regulation 2065's law no. 64, Constituent Assembly has formed this Committee for Determining the Base of Cultural and Social solidarity to support constitution making process and other procedural task related to it. There are 42 CA members are involved in this committee.

Jurisdiction of this committee

According to Constituent Assembly Regulation- 2065's law 66, this committee's jurisdictions while preparing concept paper are as follows:

• Administrative language in different level of federal unit.
• Preservation of other national languages and culture
• Other subjects related to language.
• Determinants of the bases of social solidarity
• Other necessary aspects related to committee's jurisdiction.

Work procedure of this committee

The first meeting of this committee was held on 065-09-01(16th December 2008) regarding the execution of its assignment. The meeting held on 065-09-29 (13th January 2009) decided to appoint Hon. Nabodita Chaudhary, as the president of this committee. This committee had also formed different sub-committees. In the course of preparing concept paper, this committee studied and analyzed the advices and suggestions received from the public, different organizations and experts and the concept paper of different political parties. For study and analysis of the above mentioned advices and suggestions and to prepare preliminary draft of concept paper, this committee formed two Sub-Committees:

• Sub-Committee for Language.
• Sub-Committee for Cultural and Social Solidarity

These sub-committees prepared their own through intensive study, analysis and discussion of the subjects under the jurisdiction of the committee. For this purpose sub-committee for language and sub-committee for cultural and social solidarity conducted 15 and 18 meetings respectively. This committee itself conducted 45 meetings before it finalized the concept paper. This committee has finalized this concept paper and preliminary draft with essential modification through the intensive study, analysis and discussion on the concept paper and draft prepared by sub-committees. One of the main discussions was on choosing the word Janayuddha (people's war) or Sasastra Dwanda (Armed insurgency). As they could not make consensus on this they went in voting process where Janayuddha got 12 votes and Sasastra Dwanda got 19 votes. Thus, Sasastra Dwanda was included in the concept paper.

Method used by this committee while preparing Concept Paper

Theoretical and analytical methods were mostly used in preparing the concept paper and preliminary draft. Some empirical methods have also been followed. Both primary and secondary sources related to the subjects of this committee were used. Interim Constitution of 2063, previous constitutions of Nepal, constitution of other countries, international treaties, conventions, public opinion taken through questionnaires, advices and suggestions received from different organizations directly and indirectly were the primary sources. Similarly, books of different authors, articles of experts published in newspapers, bulletins and internet were the secondary sources.

Likewise this committee also conducted interactions with specialists, studied and analyzed the concept paper of different political parties and collected public opinions.

Limitation of the Report

This report is limited to the subjects prescribed by rule no. 66 of Constituent Assembly Regulation-2065. The committee segregated relevant suggestions given by the public and different organizations as these suggestions were intermixed with suggestions related to other committees. Committee members felt the lack of time for intensive discussion and to study all the sources of information. Lastly, the subject matters were new for the committee and there was a lack of reference materials.

CA meeting Observation

The discussion took place from 22nd to 2nd July 2009. CA members from all the political parties actively participated in the discussion. Approximately 120 CA members from different political parties presented their views on the Draft report.

The issues raised by CA members were:

1. Regarding Education in Mother-Tongue
   • Not only Primary but Higher education should also be in the Mother-tongue.
   • Right to take education in mother tongue should not be included in the law.
   
   
2. Regarding right of indigenous/ ethnic groups
   
   
3. Indigenous/ethnic groups should have a prerogative right over land and natural resources as per the ILO Resolution no169.
   
   
4. Regarding the right against Untouchability and caste based discrimination
   • Untouchablitiy should be considered as an anti-humanist social crime.
   • Extreme punishment should be given and it should be included in the constitution.
   • Provision of compensation should be included in the constitution.
   • Not only punishment for untouchability but there should be also a provision of promoting economic condition of the Dalit community.
   
   
5. Regarding right to social security
   • Sentences like 'as mentioned in law' should be removed.
   • The definition of single women has to be clarified.
   
   
6. Regarding right to language for governmental work
   • Multi-language policy has to be followed.
   • Like Nepali language, Hindi should also get the same value and there should be a provision of translators as well.
   • Multi-language policy should be adopted in the central, state and local level.
   • All the languages which are spoken by more than 1% population should be recognized as an administrative language.
   
   
7. Regarding use of languages in court and authorized documents
   • Only one language should not be used as medium language in judicial sector.
   • State's language should be used as medium language in state level courts.
   
   
8. Regarding the use of people's war and Armed Insurgency.
   • People's war should be mentioned.
   • Armed insurgency should be mentioned instead of people's war.
   
   
9. Regarding no special provision on women's rights
   • All forms of discriminations against women's and children should be eliminated and there should be mainstreaming of women for social solidarity.
   
   
10. Regarding unclear provision on ending all forms of discrimination.
    • The elimination of all forms of discrimination against any groups should be clearly mentioned in the constitution.
    
    
11. Regarding no discussion on secularism
    • Secularism and non-secularism should be discussed.

At the end, the Committee's Chairperson Hon.. Nabodita Choudhary answered the issues raised by the CA members during the 5-day discussion. She assured that the provision regarding the right to get education in mother tongue would not be narrowed. The highlights of her address were:

• Mother tongue is the base of individual's language awareness. Therefore, providing education in mother tongue enhances easy and simple knowledge enrichment. Due to globalization, we cannot disregard the importance of other languages. Higher education should be provided in mother tongue as well as in other language but quality education and qualified human resources are needed for the nation.
• It is essential to address the rights of indigenous/ethnic groups thus related provision has been proposed to include it into fundamental rights. Untouchability is a social crime and the culprit must face extreme punishment. The draft has proposed the provision of prerogative rights of Dalit and made assurance of implementing special program for socio-economic upliftment of Dalit.
• In draft, provision related to social security to those having no access to state's resources and people of the different social conditions has been proposed. Preliminary draft has followed the multi-linguistic policy and it is not stated that the administrative language of the centre would be a single language. Which languages should be the administrative language or not is to be based on the recommendation of the linguistic commission. The central government administrative language would be the judicial language. Legal documents written in mother tongue will be accepted as legitimate document. Regarding the use of word "people's war", since a consensus was not reached despite long discussion, the word "armed insurgency", would be used instead of peoples war.
• Essential provision has been made in this draft for mainstreaming women in order to end age long gender discrimination. The existing gender inequality needs to be abolished to end all forms of discrimination against women. Thus, a provision has been made to end all forms of social and economic inequality. Similarly the provision of positive discrimination has been also put for mainstreaming marginalized groups, communities and classes.

While concluding her response she expressed that all religions are equal therefore no one is superior or inferior in terms of religious belief.

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