Kathmandu, April 30: Parliamentarians have voiced that upcoming fiscal year’s budget should be focused on sports tourism, development of tradition skills and re-operating the defunct industries among others.
In the discussion on pre-budget report in the National Assembly’s Committee for Development, Economic Affairs and Good-Governance here today, they drew the attention of the government towards preventing ‘labour drain’, holding discussions on budget clearance and conservation of indigenous and native seeds among others.
Chairperson of the Committee, Kamala Pant, lamented that many ministries could not spend their budget. According to her, those ministries had mainly stressed on spending on remuneration, allowance and construction works.
She lamented there were concerns ranging from climate finance, social security and good-governance.
Committee’s Secretary Dr Rojnath Pandey, presenting the report, suggested that the entire budget should mandatorily be responsive to issues such as climate change, gender and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The report stated that fiscal discipline was found violated by the government agencies since there was no budget coding in all three-tier government in accordance with the SDGs and issues such as inability to spend the budget despite the allocation and spending budget only by transferring it without authorization was rampant in the public offices.
Pandey urged the government to take steps towards increasing revenue by considering measures such as clearing arrears, investigating misappropriation in the revenue collection and expanding the scope of taxes.
Parliamentarian Urmila Aryal viewed that the upcoming budget should prioritize strengthening the industries. According to her, the recently held third Investment Summit had only emphasized hydro power and tourism sector. She argued that re-operating the sick or defunct industries should be highly prioritized by the government.
Krishna Prasad Poudel expressed his concern over the increasing exodus of migrant workers due to lack of proper reverence towards them. “It is not a brain drain but labour drain,” he assessed the increasing number of Nepalis aspiring for foreign employment.
“There is no proper record keeping of the labour. Labourers are being exploited at the hands of commercial establishments as they are not getting minimum wages either,” he voiced his concern adding, “The rate of drop-out among the students is also increasing. We should pay attention so as to retain them in the schools.”
Similarly, Bamdev Gautam saw the need to create an enabling environment at home to encourage domestic production. “Emphasis should be laid on mass production. Production, construction and scientific research be prioritized,” he mentioned.
Likewise, Jhakku Prasad Subedi asserted that we should be able to identify our priorities at first. Gauging tremendous potential in the hydro power sector of the country, he underscored investment in this sector for, he argued, that it would yield quick results.
