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Kathmandu, June 31. The Minister of Communications and Information Technology is also known as the mouthpiece of the government. The responsibility of the Minister of Communications is to increase transparency in the government, handle issues raised by the people from the Prime Minister to the relevant agencies and enforce accountability. But recently, the job of the government spokesperson is just to provide information about the meetings of the Council of Ministers.
“The spokesperson’s job now is just to provide some information after the Council of Ministers meeting,” said journalist Taranat Dahal.
Rekha Sharma, who served as the communications minister in the Prachanda government, seems to have a weak role other than announcing cabinet decisions. She has not been able to appear strong even in public accountability for government decisions. Instead, she has chosen the path of banning in the name of regulation, proposing guidelines for regulating social networks, in addition to banning the social network Tik Tok.
Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba’s Communications Minister Mohan Bahadur Basnetko also confined himself to narrating the decision of the Council of Ministers. Instead, it caused controversy because of the decision made at the ministerial level.
Gokul Baskota, spokesman for the previous government led by UML president KP Sharma Oli, was also criticised for his style of speaking. His relationship with the media fraternity further deteriorated after he introduced the Media Commission Bill to curb the media.
This time, Oli has chosen Prithvisubba Gurung as the communications minister. Oli, who is also the UML president, named 21 ministers on Monday (today), the same day he was sworn in as prime minister, and entrusted his party’s deputy secretary-general, Prithvisubba Gurung, with the transport ministry.
He is experienced, studious and has the ability to analyze facts.
Krishnahari Baskota, former chief commissioner of the Information Commission, said the new communications minister Gurung should be able to ensure that the government is transparent, responsible and accountable to the public. “If the decision was taken, what was the basis and rationale behind it, the job of informing that the decision would have such a positive impact in the future should be done by the spokesperson,” he told Online News.
He searched the province and reached Singha Durbar
Gurung, who heads the transport ministry in Singhadarbar, the country’s main administrative centre, does not want to enter Kathmandu-centric politics ahead of the 2079 general election.
He wanted to advance his political career in the province. Due to the local political environment, he had to contest the federal parliamentary elections. He returned to the federal parliament after defeating Dev Gurung, the general secretary of the Maoist Centre. Gurung first became an MP in 2006 when he defeated Dil Bahadur Garti of the Congress in the Constituent Assembly elections. At that time, he served as the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation in the government led by Girija Prasad Koirala.
He lost the 2074 election and became the Chief Minister of Gandaki State. He constantly blames the federal government for its inability to strengthen federalism. He has done relatively well and wants to do better in the state. His wish is to become the Chief Minister of the state again from Lamjung 1 (B). Personally, he does not want to compete with Dev Gurung.
But factionalism within the party stood in the way. The party gave Kaski 1(1) ticket to Khagraj Adhikari and appointed him as the Gandaki Chief Minister. He then contested for the Lok Sabha.
Challenges and opportunities coexist
Gurung, 67, started his political career in 2034 from the then Male’ and graduated with a science degree. Gurung, who has political ambitions to become the leader of the UML in the future, took over the Ministry of Transport at a time when controversies related to the ministry were at their peak.
New telecommunications legislation should be finalized. It is not easy to formulate this law in order to create an investment environment in the telecommunications industry and block middlemen and interest groups.
One of his main duties will be to get the telecommunications bill, long stuck in a draft, through parliament.
The Ministry of Communications’ responsibilities for drafting the Information Technology Bill, Nepal Media Council Bill, Mass Media Bill and Social Networking (Regulation and Regulation) Bill are human rights, freedom of expression, freedom of press and international law-friendly. He will also be responsible for bringing into force the upcoming bills related to regulating the film sector.
Besides this, it is also an opportunity for him to improve the quality of telecommunication services such as mobile and internet and create an environment where accessible services can be provided even to remote areas. The transfer of ownership of the telecommunication service provider Ncell also needs to be completed.
Gurung Samu faces the challenge of taking final decisions on various controversial projects proposed by the Ministry of Transport and internal agencies. There are cases where government-funded projects like National Payment Gateway, Teramax, MDMS, Surakshan Madran are controversial and should be disposed of. He will also be responsible for expanding and improving the ‘Citizen App’ which integrates government services that were previously prepared and shelved by the Oli-led government. Ensuring that government services are safe and efficient, and maintaining consistency and security of government office websites also falls on Gurung’s shoulders.
He also has the opportunity to formulate effective policies and arrangements, such as clean feed and television service a la carte, which are yet to be announced and implemented by the government.
From implementing the stalled Digital Nepal Framework and making improvements to completing the laying of optical fiber under the Central Central Information Highway is also a daunting task.
He must focus on accelerating highway coverage projects on the East-West Expressway and North-South Expressway to provide broadband services to local centres and district centres.
While building Nepal’s own satellite, the Ministry of Communications should also focus on the security, use and regulation of private sector data centers. In line with the plan to export 30 trillion in information technology in the next 10 years, the Ministry of Communications should formulate necessary policies, laws and measures. It is also important to see what measures Gurung takes for this purpose.
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