By Xinhua,
Kathmandu : The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN-M) plans to separate its Young Communist League (YCL) into two separate units, namely production force and construction force, local newspaper The Kathmandu Post reported on Monday.
The two separate forces are to help bring about prosperity and sustainable peace in the country, a CPN-M leader said on Sunday.
CPN-M lawmaker and former in-charge for capital Kathmandu of the party’s youth wing YCL, Chandra Bahadur Thapa, known as “Sagar”, said it was important to keep the youth employed, for the unemployed youth bulge is more than likely to drive the country to conflict again.
“We will bring reform among those [youth] already organized [under YCL],” he said, “and also bring together those who are not organized yet.” The CPN-M claims that the YCL currently has 500,000 organized members.
Thapa’s remarks come at a time when various political parties are demanding that the YCL, as a paramilitary force, be disbanded altogether.
Thapa said “the production force” would be mobilized for industrial work such as running factories and in herb processing, while “the construction force” would engage in infrastructural development such as building roads and bridges. “Many industries have now been shut down due to various reasons such as lack of raw materials,” he said. “We want the state to revive these industries where youths can be employed.”
In the budget unveiled on Sept. 19, Finance Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai said the government would provide employment opportunities to some 250,000 youths in construction work for 100 days, according to the report.
“The budget has also made a provision to hire 35,000 local volunteers to help eradicate illiteracy in the country in two years, prompting rival parties to allege that this is just an attempt to support YCL cadres,” the newspaper reported.