Our Representative Our Right

Badimalika is a municipality located in the District headquarters. This municipality known as a heritage of religious and tourist areas is named after Badimalika goddess.

This Municipality with 9 Wards is surrounded with Budhinanda Municipality and Jagannath Rural Municipality in the east , Gaumul Rural Municipality, Khaptad Chededaha Rural Municipality and Budhiganga Municipality in the west, and some parts of Budhinanda Municipality and  Gaumul Rural Municipality in the north and Triveni Municipality in the south. According to Nepal census 2021, there are altogether 4046 households with the population of 18414 including 9249 women in this Municipality. About 30 percent of the households in this municipality are below the poverty line. Edited part of the conversation between Padam Bahadur Singh, District Representative, INSEC Bajura and Mayor Amar Khadka about the policies, programs and upcoming plans of the municipality:

How is the state of Human Rights in the Municipality?

Human rights are very essential for human beings to live. The right to live freely from birth to death is a human right. The municipality is working with the aim of ensuring that all citizens have easy access to basic requirements that are food, housing, education and health. Badimalika Municipality is providing services to the citizens  in terms of education, health, employment and other services without any discrimination.In particular, we have been working with the rights of people with disability, senior citizens and children as a special priority.We are trying to make the municipality a human rights friendly city.

What kind of human rights-friendly laws has the municipality implemented?

We are emphasizing in creating human rights-friendly-laws in Badimaika Municipality.  The municipality is working by making necessary laws for the citizens with the intention of providing all the services as a right of the citizens rather than with mercy. We have been providing services to the citizens under the federal, provincial and local laws that have been created to guarantee human rights.We are in the process of implementing human rights-friendly legislation and developing laws related to health, education, and employment.

What measures are being undertaken to ensure that children from marginalized communities have access to school?

Municipality has created a gender equality policy and is working accordingly. Several programs are being executed through budget allocation to enhance the living standards of marginalized community members and create  employment opportunities. We are working by allocating our budget to address the specific needs of marginalized citizens, focusing on areas such as employment, healthcare, and education. We have carried out public awareness programs to ensure that women, children and marginalized groups are not deprived of education and health care. As a part of our policy and program, we have participated 200 individuals into our health program with the aim of enhancing the health of marginalized populations. Scholarship programs for underprivileged children, girl-friendly scholarship programs and support programs for senior citizens are being implemented. We have connected the children to the school nutrition program. To understand the health status of children at the school level, the staff nurse program is being implemented in the school. We have arranged games and music education under extracurricular activities for the well-being of the students.

What policies and programs are in operation to end domestic violence, Chhaupadi system and caste discrimination?

The municipality has been conducting awareness programs to end domestic violence, chaupadi system and caste discrimination. We are preparing to declare the municipality free from Chhaupadi system. In the previous financial year, some wards of the municipality have already  been declared as Chhaupadi system free wards. While we have included a policy and program to declare the remaining wards as Chhaupadi free wards this year. In order to reduce domestic violence, we are engaged in spreading public awareness by managing the budget of the Women and Children Branch and conducting public awareness programs, capacity building programs and various other programs.  We have initiated the operation of a safehouse to provide shelter and protection for victims of violence. The municipality is conducting various awareness programs to prevent incidents of caste discrimination.The municipality has adopted a policy of taking legal action in case of caste discrimination.

How does the municipality ensure the participation of Dalits, Indigenous people, Freed Halia and women during the planning process?

We have made a procedure to complete the process of gender responsive budget and passed it through the executive for  ensuring that the plan is accessible to the target group.The municipality prioritizes the involvement of marginalized groups in the selection of plans across seven stages within the budget of each plan to ensure the participation of marginalized groups.When selecting a plan, we have structured the program and budget to align it with livelihood improvement rather than focusing on training. The municipality also supports citizens who have received training to become business people. While selecting the plans we have been implementing budgets and programs by prioritizing extremely marginalized families among  Dalits, Indigenous Community , freed Haliya, and people with disabilities. When establishing the consumer committee for plan implementation, we have instituted a policy that mandates the participation of marginalized groups

What is the State of  Educational Within The Municipality?

We are preparing to make a municipality education master plan to improve the state of education. There are fewer students in school due to geographical difficulties and the problem has arisen when there are not enough subject teachers according to the quota. We are planning to merge the schools to solve this problem.Currently, we are actively working to allocate subject teachers based on the student’s ratio.

We are planning how education can be linked to professional and technical education. Initiatives are being taken to advance the Bajura campus as a constituent campus. We have started working on all the schools of Badimalika Municipality as residential schools from this year. Starting from this fiscal year, we have initiated the transformation of Satyawadi Medium School in Ward No. 2 of Badimalika Municipality into a residential school.The rest of the schools will also be operated as residential schools from next year.

What about the health situation?

Right to health is also one of the important rights for the citizens. With the aim that no citizen should die without receiving health care, the very first decision we made as elected representatives was to provide free ambulance services to marginalized individuals and persons with disabilities within the municipality. Urban health centers have been established to provide services prioritizing the geographical situation. Free ambulance service has been provided with the aim that the patients referred from the district hospital will not be deprived of treatment due to lack of financial resources.We established an urban health center in the last fiscal year, and we have plans to launch two more in the current fiscal year, focusing on geographically remote rural municipalities. We are currently in the process of setting up urban health centers that will offer services for patients with common ailments such as headaches, colds, and fevers in remote areas. We are preparing to make a health profile of every citizen within the municipal area.The municipality has initiated a Chief with doctor program.

We have launched a follow-up program to understand the health status of patients referred outside the district.We have started health awareness programs in schools, Rural Municipalities in coordination with various supporting organizations and agencies.We have decided to provide free health insurance to 200 extremely marginalized families starting from this year. We are planning to provide a free health insurance program to all citizens within the Municipality.