The Nepali Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari informed this to the Parliament on June 22, 2018.

Speaking at a Parliament session, Adhikari informed that the Government of Nepal has already sent a letter to EU requesting the removal of Nepal’s name from the Significant Safety Concern (SSC) list.

Stating that Nepali aviation sector is now complying with the EU safety & security standards, the Ministry expressed hope that Nepal would be removed from the list within the next three months.

“The government believes that by September, EASA will remove Nepal from the SSC list,” reads an official statement by Adhikari, informing that the EU officials will visit Nepal in September to discuss aviation safety matters with the Nepali officials.

Adhikari quesitoned EU as to why the ban was not lifted even after the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) has taken out the Nepali aviation sector from the SSC list in July 21, 2017.

Meanwhile, Nepali aviation officials feel that the continous ban has hurt Nepal’s plans to fly wide-body aircraft to Europe.

The Background
The latest move by Nepal follows the series of similar requests that the country has been making to the EU Commission since 2003 for the removal of its name under the blacklisted countries that reported air safety concerns.

On December 05, 2013, EU responded banned (delete either ‘responded’ or ‘banned’) all the Nepali airlines flying across the region owing to their weak air safety and security compliance with the EU standards.

There was hardly any positive nod from EU despite Nepal’s continous efforts by means of reported imporvements in its aviation standards.

Lastly in December 2017, EU reponded saying that Nepal’s airlines were subjected to operational ban owing to the country’s name in the blacklist and for not witnessing any notable imporvement in the country’s aviation standards even after the ban.

In its updated air safety list released on December 01, 2017, the EU agency placed Nepal among the 16 countries that were prohibited from flying in the EU bloc. “All air carriers certified by the authorities with responsibility for regulatory oversight of Nepal have been banned from operating within EU,” read a statement by the European Agency.

While the updated list contained a total of 178 airlines(add space)from different countries, 18 air carriers were from Nepal alone, which is really alarming!

Overall, Nepali aviation officials feel that the EU’s lift of ban will help Nepali airline operators to fly their planes to European destinations and will also add to Nepal’s target to reach two million annual tourist arrival target staring from 2020.

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In the Final Election Observation Report, EU-EOM termed the recently-concluded Nepali elections as ‘historic’ and a milestone activity.

In her comments, Zeljana Zovko, Chief Observer of EU-EOM appreciated the way elections were conducted and said these polls form a key milestone in the implementation of the new Nepali Constitution promulgated in 2015.

Zovko said the legal framework formed a strong basis for the successful conduction of elections.

She further lauded Nepal for ensuring proper implementation of the Right to Vote during the election campaigning process.

Special Recommendations

The EU-EOM final report included a total of 29 recommendations to the Government of Nepal regarding enforcement of laws to control vote-buying, review of First-Past-The-Post (FTFP) constituency boundaries for effective exercising of Right of Vote and increased transparency from the Election Commission of Nepal.

While the report highlighted’ that ‘the Election Commission of Nepal failed to publish critical information on voter turnout across polling centers and invalid votes along with lack of procedural weaknesses,’ the Election Commissioner Sudhir Shah responded saying, “We also can’t expect standards as high as those applicable in the UK and the US in Nepal at a time when the EC was forced to hold so many elections in less than a year.”

EU also urged for the removal of certain well-represented communities from the inclusion quota under the Proportional Representation (PR) electoral system.

“Review the impact of the quota system on the ethnic composition of the House of Representatives and Provincial Assemblies and ensure the measures of affirmative action apply only to groups that are the subjects of negative discrimination,” noted the report.

Mission Complete

Upon the request from the Government of Nepal, EU had deployed around 100 election observers representing 28 EU member states along with Switzerland and Norway, as the special election observation team to monitor the two phases, Phase-I and Phase-II, of Nepal legislative polls for House of Representatives and Assemblies on November 24 and December 07, 2017.

EU had spent an estimated EUR 3.5 million for the mission and had appointed around 38 Long Term Observers (LTOs) across different parts of Nepal to monitor the election preparations and related logistics issues.

 “It is a great honor for me to lead the EU Election Observation Mission to Nepal. I’m very committed to accompany Nepal in this important phase of its democratic process,” Zovko stated earlier after the announcement of his team’s help to Nepal elections.

Apart from EU, various other teams including as General Election Observation Committee (GEOC), National Election Observation Committee (NOEC) and Inclusive Women Network for Peace, Justice and Democracy (Sankalp) had also deployed their teams for the successful conduction of elections.

EU had appointed similar missions in 2008 and 2013 as well.

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In its updated air safety list released on December 01, 2017, the agency under the European Commission (EC) placed Nepal among 16 other nations that were prohibited from flying in the 28-nation bloc of the European Union (EU).

“All air carriers certified by the authorities with responsibility for regulatory oversight of Nepal have been banned from operating within EU,” reads a statement by the European Agency.

A total of 178 airlines were banned from flying in EU bloc as per the new list. These include 18 Nepali air carriers.

The list was prepared based on the feedback of aviation safety experts of the EU member states under the EU Air Safety Committee (EASC) chaired by EC and supported by the European Aviation Safety Agency, at a meeting held during November 13-15, 2017.

EU’s recent announcement comes as a disappointment to Nepali Airlines Corporation (NAC) that has been keen on launching its services in EU.

EU’s ban continues despite the lift of a ban by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on Nepali airlines owing to their non-compliance to ICAO’s eight critical protocols.

ICAO later excluded Nepal from its Significant Safety Concern (SSC) list in July 20, 2017 supporting Nepali Airlines Corporation’s move to launch flights in Europe.

Need for Improvement in Air Safety Concerns

Stakeholders of the Nepali aviation sector feel that EU’s move might be a consequence of the Nepali Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation’s (MoCA) decision to summon the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) Director General.

However, EC clarified that the assessment was made considering the international and ICAO’s safety standards.

“Why did responsible senior officials fail to approach EC to defend Nepal during the safety committee deliberations?” questions a Nepal Airlines Corporation official in response to the decision.

The official further informed that Nepali airlines are capable of meeting the international standards and the issues arose because of the lack of improvement in the concerned regulatory body operating under MoCA.

The official was disappointed at the arrival of such decision at a time when the country is aiming at one million annual tourist target and NAC is keen on operating two wide-body aircraft to European countries.

EASC’s next meeting to announce the air safety update list will take place during May-June 2018.

The post Nepal Aviation: EU’s Ban on Nepali Airlines Concerns Stakeholders appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Nepal’s legislative election 2017 has been a long-awaited aspect for Nepal and the world as well, as the country is expected to enter a new era of development with the upcoming elections.

Besides the formation of new constitution and unexpected political alliances that shook the country’s political landscape, this election has also opened avenues for various other interesting aspects.

Business Community Makes a Special Entry

In a major move, dozens of businessmen including the famous people have decided to foray into politics through the upcoming polls.

Majority of the business community people who acquired part tickets include industrialists, contractors, overseas and tourism entrepreneurs.

While a few are contesting for parliamentary seats, a substantial number of businessmen are also contesting in provincial polls.

Tek Bahadur Gurung (an overseas entrepreneur), Prakash Singh Karki (President of Nepal Freight Forwarders’ Association), Ramesh Dhamala (Former President of Trekking Agencies’ Association Nepal) are among many others from the business community contesting in the provincial and parliamentary polls.

Decline in Rate of Political Clashes, says Army

In an announcement on November 02, 2017, the Nepali Army concluded that the formation of electoral alliances has significantly reduced the threat of political clashes during the upcoming polls.

The Army made this statement after a detailed analysis on the current security situation across the country, as per the individual departmental reports.

As per the government’s election security strategy, Army stands as the final security layer after temporary security staff, Nepali Police and Armed Police Force.

Digital Trend Catches Up!

Moving away from traditional methods of pasting posters, writing on walls and distributing pamphlets, Nepali political parties and candidates started using digital and social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, among others for their election campaigns for upcoming polls.

Contesting candidates and their supporters were found to have inundated social media pages with their campaigning audio and video material.

The era of election posters is gone. The most effective publicity tool in the digital age is social media,” says Janaki Lal Basnet, NC’s provincial assembly candidate from the Dang District.

“I have been planning to expedite my poll campaign online,” says CPN-Maoist Center leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara.

“I have tried to modernize my poll publicity, using QR code even in traditional publicity tools,” says State Minister for Information and Communications Tapta Bahadur Bista.

Worries Over Women Participation

Despite large expectations, the upcoming polls are most likely to register only a less percentage of women representatives in the Nepali Parliament, says Nepali Constitution experts.

While the current constitutional rules allow 33 percent women representation in Nepali Parliament, the constitutional experts feel that might not work out in the new constitution to be formed out of upcoming polls.

“If we assume that 55 women are elected in the House of Representatives and 22 in the Upper House that will mean only 77 women in the 334-member Parliament, 33 short of the required number,” says Chandra Kanta Gyawali, a constitutional expert.

According to Gyawali, the number of women contestants fielded looks concerning.

The political parties fielded only around 50 percent women candidates in the parliamentary PR polls, Gwayali adds.

The top three parties fielded only nine women contests women for the first phase of the parliamentary FPTP polls.

While the Nepali Election Commission is doubting 33 percent women seats in the Nepali Parliament, CPN-Maoist Centre claims to have fielded 60 women candidates under the PR list and UML claims that the party’s PR list has 60 percent women candidates.

The post Nepal Legislative Elections 2017: Highlights and Salient Features appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Nepal’s legislative election 2017, to be held in two phases on November 26 and December 7, 2017, is being considered as one of the key chapters in Nepali politics to end political turmoil and bring political transformation in the country.

This election holds significance as it also forms base for the formation of new Nepali Constitution that the country has been waiting for since more than two years.

While the Election Commission and the Government of Nepal are already busy in preparations, the candidates are brain storming for testing their luck!

Unexpected Broader Alliances

Even though long-awaited, the actual heat around the legislative and parliamentary polls started with the announcement of unexpected broader alliances among leftist and democratic parties, respectively.

In a major move in the Nepali political landscape, the two major communist parties CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre formed a grand alliance and have already finalized their seat sharing in 165 parliamentary and 330 provincial constituencies for these First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) elections.

Both the partners have agreed upon a 60:40 seat sharing ratio with UML placing its candidates in 81 parliamentary constituencies and CPN-MC in 77 places, and independents in seven seats.

The left alliance filed its nominations for 37 Parliamentary FPTP constituencies in 32 districts that are set for election on November 26, 2017.

Apart from that, the Federal Democratic Forum-Nepal and Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal formed alliance in Province 2, and the two Madhes-based parties aligned and two Rastriya Prajatantra Parties aligned with the Nepali Congress in some constituencies.

A Three-way Fight

Following leftist alliance, the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) had also announced of forming a seven-member democratic alliance to fight leftist alliance.

However, the announcement was a jolt to NC owing to the CPN-Maoist Centre party’s crucial coalition in the ruling government led by NC President and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Condemning the communist alliance, Deuba called on the citizens to vote for his Nepali Congress (NC) party.

“Like it or dislike it, the country needs the NC,” said Deuba at a public meeting held to announce the NC’s manifesto for parliamentary and provincial polls, while also reiterating his party’s commitment to effective functioning of federal governance in the country.

Besides NC and the new leftist alliance, there exists another political force of Madhes-based parties that hold strong base in Terai region.

Two important Madhes-based parties, Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal and Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N), stood second and third, respectively, in the recently-held local elections of Province No 2, in southeastern Nepal.

EU Deploys Observation Team

In response to the Nepali authorities’ request, the European Union has deployed an Election Observation Mission (EOM) to Nepal to monitor the provincial and parliamentary polls for electing House of Representatives.

EU considers this as fulfilling its long-term commitment to Nepal as part of bilateral ties.

“It is a great honor for me to lead the EU Election Observation Mission to Nepal. The forthcoming elections are taking place under a new political and electoral system. I’m very committed to accompany Nepal in this important phase of its democratic process,” says Ms Zeljana Zovko, Chief Observer of EOM.

EU had appointed similar missions in 2008 and 2013 as well.

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Following the removal of Nepal’s aviation sector from the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) significant safety concern (SSC) list, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has launched the process to delist the sector from the European Union’s (EU) aviation safety blacklist. The blacklisting by EU in December 2013, which followed the introduction of the SSC list by ICAO, prohibited Nepali airlines from flying over European skies.

CAAN Director General Sanjib Gautam said that CAAN would send a communication in this regard to the EU in a couple of days. He added that the EU aviation safety committee, representing all the 26 member countries, would decide upon the issue during its meeting in November.

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