‘Madhesh Manthan’, a brainstorming programme focussing on the sustainable development, prosperity and transformation of Madhesh Pradesh, organised by Kantipur Media Group has begun.

The programme happening in Janakpur today, in collaboration with the Madhesh Province government, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Information and Communications and the Province Assembly Secretariat, was inaugurated by Dr Ram Baran Yadav, Nepal’s first president.

The programme has five different sessions on varied topics ranging from governance to social transformation of the Madhes Province.

The first session will discuss federalism, service delivery and local prosperity.

Chief Attorney of Madhesh Province Dipendra Jha, businessman Jagdish Prasad Agarwal, Province Assembly member Sharda Devi Thapa and economist Achyut Wagle will be debating on the topic.

The province bureau chief of Kantipur Daily, Janak Raj Sapkota, is the facilitator for this session.

The second session has Bhogendra Jha, Vice-Chairman of the Madhesh Province Policy and Planning Commission; Kamala Oli Shivakoti, Board Member at the President Chure Terai Madhesh Conservation Development Board, and Vijay Kumar Singh, an expert on the interrelationship between Chure and Tarai, speaking on ‘Chure: The Basis of Madhes’.

This session is being facilitated by writer and analyst Chandra Kishor.

Likewise, the speakers for the third session titled ‘Janakpur Renaissance: Opportunity to Return Glory’ are Janakpurdham Sub-Metropolitan Mayor Manoj Kumar Sah, Province Assembly Member Ram Ashish Yadav, Lawyer Rekha Jha and Writer and Analyst Roshan Janakpur.

This session is being moderated by Ajit Tiwari, Chief of Madhesh Pradesh Bureau, Kantipur.

In the fourth session, the social transformation of Madhesh will be discussed under the title ‘Has society changed or is it the same?’.

Bharat Prasad Sah, Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications and Information Technology of Madesh Province, Sundar Bahadur Bishwakarma, Member of the Provincial Assembly, Sushma Dwivedi, Social Engineer and Politician, and Tula Narayan Sah, Writer and Analyst, are the speakers for this session.

This session is being facilitated by Sanjeev Satgainya, Editor of The Kathmandu Post.

The topic of discussion for the fifth and the final session of Madhesh Manthan is ‘Practice and Experience of Federalism’.

The five-year tenure of Madhesh Province will also be discussed in this session.

Chief Minister of Madhes Province Lalbabu Raut, politician Prof. Krishna Khanal, Member of National Assembly Bimala Rai Poudyal and writer and analyst CK Lal are the speakers in this session.

This session is being facilitated by Sudheer Sharma, Editor-in-Chief of Kantipur Daily.