Nepal

Kathmandu, July 28

The government has issued National Census Operation and Management Order-2019 as part of preparation for upcoming census, scheduled to be held in 2021. The government conducts census every 10 years.

NCOMO published by the National Planning Commission in the Nepal Gazette on July 20 stated that its aim was to conduct the national census in a contemporary, reliable and systematic manner, in coordination with the federal, provincial and local levels as well as other organisations for collecting, processing, analysis, publication and distribution of data related to individuals and households across the country. NCOMO is consistent with the federal structure of the country.

According to NCOMO, the national census shall be conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics. It shall be the duty of the federal, provincial and local levels, and all persons and organisations to cooperate with the census programme. The CBS may establish census offices at the provincial, district and local levels as per its needs. &One or more census offices may be established in a district or local level depending on its geography and population density,& it stated.

The CBS shall prepare household listing and questionnaires and submit those to the 13-member Steering Committee headed by the NPC vice-chairperson.

&The Steering Committee may form a technical committee for conducting necessary examination and providing its opinion on questionnaires,& NCOMO read.

The Steering Committee shall give final touch to the questionnaires by considering opinions and suggestions provided by the technical committee.

The CBS shall use the questionnaires for national census, only upon their publication in the Nepal Gazette after obtaining approval from the government. Data shall be collected from each household by conducting direct interview as per the approved questionnaires.

The CBS may authorise the concerned enumerators deployed in the field to use paper-based questionnaire or tablet/laptop or both, for data collection.

Personal details of employees working in Nepali missions abroad shall be collected through e-census. The CBS shall designate officer-level civil servants as the chief of provincial, district and local level census office. NCOMO also envisaged the provision of a coordination committee at the provincial, district and local levels to facilitate the concerned census offices in holding census in their areas.

The CBS may request the employees working in the federal, provincial and local governments to mobilise adequate human resource during national census.

&The CBS shall hire persons meeting prescribed qualifications as enumerators and supervisors for door-to-door data collection and supervision. For this purpose, a public vacancy notice shall be published with a deadline of 10 days for submission of applications. If adequate number of enumerators and supervisions could not be hired through the public notice, the CBS may depute the government employees for data collection and supervision,& it read.

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Kathmandu, July 28

The National Assembly has suggested the government to adopt measures for disaster risk mitigation and management.

A team of lawmakers led by Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, chairperson of the upper House, recently visited different parts of the country after the incidents of floods, landslides and inundation claimed more than 100 lives throughout the country. The Tarai region was the worst-hit by rain-induced disasters.

The NA report recommended that the government prepare a master plan for lasting solution to problems facing people in the Tarai for decades due to floods and landslides during monsoon.

The NA has also urged the concerned authorities to make necessary diplomatic efforts with Indian counterparts for ending inundation problem in the Tarai settlements.

&Disproportionate exploitation of the Chure range has rendered the Tarai and Madhes more vulnerable to natural disasters. Therefore, the government should do needful to curb the ongoing encroachment of the Chure range,& the report stated.

It has also urged the government to incorporate the victims of flood and inundation into PeopleHousing Programme which is currently limited to Dalits and highly disadvantaged families.

The government has been suggested to funnel the budget of this fiscal allotted for PHP in Province 2, bearing in mind hundreds of families rendered homeless as a result of the recent disasters in the province.

&The NA requests the government to relocate vulnerable settlements to safe places by making a policy of prohibiting settlements in disaster-prone areas,& it read.

The team of lawmakers during its field visits found that some embankments constructed on rivers banks under the PeopleEmbankment Programme had been collapsed or were swept away by floods. It urged the government to review the programmemodality to ensure quality of embankments and their durability by developing an effective standard.

&It is necessary to redesign postal roads with culverts and bridges and humes pipes for drainage of rainwater. It is important to carry out plantation on the riverbanks by attaching priority to bioengineering, end encroachment on catchment area of rivers, put an end to the practice of constructing road infrastructure without environmental study, regulate and control the extraction of river products and establish emergency fund at local levels,& the report stated.

The NA has also stressed the need for coordination among the federal, provincial and local levels to enhance their disaster management capacity. Security agencies should be equipped with resource for effective search, rescue and relief operations and the locals should be equipped with resource for disaster management, according to the report.

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