Appeal to participate in recommending NRN related issues into the new Constitution of Nepal

Dear Friends,                                                                                                            January 31, 2009

The Government of Nepal through its local resident Embassies/Missions in respective countries has asked NRN communities to provide suggestions on the incorporation of NRN related issues into the new Constitution of Nepal. The Non-Resident Nepalis Association (NRNA) has also proposed the formation of a group under the leadership of Prof. Surya Subedi consisting of Mr. Kul Chandra Gautam, Mr. Naresh Koirala, Prof. Alok Bohara, Dr. Jugal Bhurtel, all 45 Presidents of NRN National Coordinating Councils (NCC), NRNA Lawyer Dinesh Tripathi and Dr. Hemant Dabadi.  NRNA-International Coordination Council (ICC) has also asked all NCCs to collect suggestions from Nepali diaspora in respective countries and furnish their recommendations to ICC.  To this effect, the Nepalese Americas Council (NAC), the NRNA-NCC of America has also constituted a Task Force with specific mandates under the leadership of Mr. Khagendra Chetry.

NAC, the NRNA National Coordination Council of  America  is committed to represent the interests of Non Resident Nepalis in America and asking all Nepali community members in the United States to help the Task Force by providing ideas and suggestions concerning their interests as NRNs.   The goal of all NCCs and NRNA-ICC is to make sure that NRNs interests and recommendations are incorporated into the new Constitution of Nepal.  

 The specific work  of the Task Force  is to solicit ideas and suggestions from the Nepali American communities; develop a set of recommendations and present them to the Board of Directors of NRNA-NCC of America for endorsement.  Upon approval by the Board, the final set of recommendations will be submitted to the NRNA-ICC, with a copy to local resident missions of Nepal.

The Task Force has broadly identified numbers of areas to guide the process and has divided the responsibilities among Task Force members accordingly.  The Subcommittees will solicit ideas and suggestions from members of Nepali diaspora in America and come up with recommendations.  The Task Force as a group will finalize them and submit to the Board for final action on our part.  The broadly identified areas and members assigned to coordinate the work include:

             1.       Dual Citizenship: (Girija Gautam & Suman Timsina)

2.       Investment related laws, such as commercial bench, tax treaties, arbitration laws, time bound issues, etc:  (Mukesh K. Singh, Ambika Adhikari and Ratan Jha)

3.       Women inheritance rights: (Madhavi Karki and Sharda Thapa)

4.       NRN's inheritance rights: (Madhavi Karki, Nawang Sherpa and Amrit Sunar)

5.       Constitutional provisions for gender, employment and age discrimination: (Mukesh K. Singh, Madhavi Karki and Sharda Thapa)

6.       Issues related to human rights, and any other issues concerning the rights of NRNs' to be secured in the new Constitution of Nepal: (Khagendra G.C., Ratan Jha, and Suman Timsina)

 If you feel that there are some other specific NRN issues or interests not included in the broadly categorized list above, please send your suggestions to the Task Force.  We are asking you to reach out to all Nepali community members in your area and urge them to participate in this important task by contributing to this process and sending advice, suggestions, comments and additional ideas to nrnnacc@gmail.com by February 22, 2009. We will also be asking NRNA-NCC America’s  regional representatives to reach out to local organizations and individuals and help us coordinate this effort. Your participation is critical to have our NRN voices to be heard and our interests reflected in the new constitution of Nepal.

Thanking you in advance for your valuable contributions and active participation in this important task.

Sincerely,

Khagendra Chetry, Coordinator 

On behalf of the Constitution Recommendation Task Force

NAC-NRNA NCC America

nrnnacc@gmail.com