An Orientation on Parliamentary Process of Lawmaking in Nepal

Date: 5 April 2022
Place: Policy Research Institute

On 5 April 2022, Policy Research Institute (PRI) organised an orientation training on “Parliamentary Processes of Lawmaking in Nepal” for its researchers and staff. Dr. Bharat Raj Gautam, General Secretary of Federal Parliament Secretariat, facilitated the event chaired and moderated by Dr Bishnu Raj Upreti, the Executive Chairperson of PRI.

Dr Upreti welcomed Dr Gautam to PRI with a brief presentation on his career and contribution. Stating that there is a gap between public policymaking and lawmaking, Dr Upreti underlined the need for clearing the gap as soon as possible. Unless an environment is created in which policies are implemented and those responsible for not implementing policies are held to account, Dr Upreti added, it is difficult to realise the change expected of the policies.

Thanking Chairperson Upreti for arranging the opportunity to interact with PRI researchers on the basics of lawmaking, Dr Gautam said research and lawmaking are inseparably connected. It is the evidence generated by research, he underlined, that makes a law practicable and effective while a law that is not based on facts does not deliver. To contribute to this ecosystem of lawmaking, he added, PRI and the Federal Parliament Secretariat should work together, he underlined.

Dr Gautam then presented how laws are made in parliamentary and presidential systems, how bills are initiated and debated and what differentiates between policy and law. In the question-answer that followed, Dr Gautam made a couple of suggestions to PRI vis-à-vis research on the lawmaking process.

For more details, please refer to the Nepali Note.