National Seminars

Each year , NCCS has been organizing national level seminars and regional seminars. In January 2004, a national seminar on Participatory Democracy in Nepal was organized in Kathmandu, with eleven speakers presenting their papers. The sessions were attended by a selectively invited group of academics, politicians, and others, who contributed significantly to the discussions after the sessions. The papers have been published as an edited volume Nepal: Quest for Participatory Democracy. NCCS is organizing a seminar on ‘Restructuring of the State’ in June 2007.

Regional Seminars

A regional seminar on Non-traditional Security: State, Society and Democracy in South Asia was organized by NCCS on 16 and 17 November 2004 in Kathmandu. Eleven experts from all over South Asia presented their papers on the topic. The papers and the experts were - Human Security in South Asia - S.D. Muni; Human Security: Poverty Alleviation, Education and Health Service - Indra Jit Rai; Democracy, Pluralism and Security - Lok Raj Baral; Cross-Border Human Traffic in South Asia: A Security Perspective from India's Northeast - Wasbir Hussain; What is the 'New' Security Agenda for South Asia? - Sridhar Khatri; Insurgency: The Break with Tradition in Sri Lanka's Peace Process - Jehan Perera; Globalization, glocalisation and South Asia Security/Insecurity - B. Rameshbabu; Trenches of Violence: Military, Militarism and Militarization of Social Sphere in Nepal - Dhruba Kumar; and Militarization and Security: Pakistani Perspective - Hasan Askari Rizvi. The papers presented in the seminar have been published as a book titled Non-traditional Security: State, Society and Democracy in South Asia and Nepal.

NCCS organized a two day regional seminar on Restructuring the State in South Asia, in Pokhara on 28 and 29 April 2007. Papers were presented and discussions held on Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi perspectives, caste, ethnicity and gender perspectives, and Madhesh perspectives on restructuring of the state. Papers were presented by experts from other countries Jeevan Kumar, Manirul Hussain, Mohammed Waseem, Pradeep Peiris and Amena Mohsin.

Seminars on Restructuring of the State

With support from the Enabling State Program of UK government's Department for International Department (DFID), NCCS initiated a debate on possible restructuring of the Nepali state. It was then a new but necessary topic. Three seminars on Restructuring of the State were organized in Biratnagar, Nepalgunj and Pokhara in February and March 2004. Among the participants of the seminars were political leaders, academics, lawyers and journalists.

NCCS also initiated monthly discussion programmes with Restructuring of the State as the series theme. A programme in June 2004 was on Contemporary Politics and Restructuring of the State. Present Politics and Constituent Assembly was the topic in July 2004. Third discussion was entitled Shanti Baarta: Kasle Ra Ke Ka Lagi (Peace Dialogue: by Whom and for What) and held in September 2004. Looking back after three years, it is pleasing to observe the trajectory and the proportion this agenda of Restructuring of the State has acquired.

With International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assessment (International IDEA), NCCS organized a Dialogue on Constitution Building in Nepal on 13 November 2005 in Lalitpur. The dialogue brought together people of diverse political, social and knowledge backgrounds to focus on constitution building in Nepal and facilitated their sharing of knowledge, experiences and opinions. Participants included representatives of different social movements, NGOs, political parties and academia.

On 15 May 2006, NCCS organized two consultation meetings with politicians closely involved in political decisions and activities from different sides. Various current political issues, including the Constituent Assembly, were discussed. International IDEA and Yash Ghai, an expert on constitutionalism, also contributed to the discussions.

NCCS organized a one-day discussion programme Present Politics and Constituent Assembly in Jhapa on 18 May 2006.

NCCS organized a seminar Restructuring the Nepali State: External Dimensions on 24 September 2006 Professor S.D. Muni from India, Chakra Prasad Bastola, Jhala Nath Khanal and Dr Baburam Bhattarai were the invited speakers.