Government and Pun reached at an understanding
The Nepal Weekly 
May 2, 2023
Chairman of the National Innovation Centre Dr Mahabir Pun and Deputy Prime Minister Purna Bahadur Khadka signed Monday an agreement addressing the sit-in protest of Pun led campaign. The seven point agreement states that the protest is to end now onwards.
According to the joint statement, the Federal Government will do all necessary to form research, innovation and discovery fund. Likewise, one per cent of budget will be allocated for research, innovation and discovery fund. The demands to formulate appropriate policies will be taken into consideration.
Dr Pun who had received Magsaysay Award in 2007 is leading the protest demanding that the government give priority to innovation and research in the country to create job opportunities and boost entrepreneurship in Nepal.
The day before he started the protest at Maitighar in Kathmandu on Friday, Mahabir Pun requested through social media to individuals interested in innovations and science activities to take part in the sit-in with him. He had also asked participants to bring along their innovations to demonstrate them at the demonstration location.
A number of participants mostly youths joined the protest at Maitighar Mandala and marched up to New Baneshwar, on Friday.
Many participants reached at the location holding different banners and placards that read ‘social movement and sit-in for the promotion of research, innovation and startups’, ‘let youths participate in innovation,’ and ‘do not discourage new entrepreneurs’.
Dr Pun, through social media, had asked interested people those who could not take part in Friday’s protest, to fill an online form to show their solidarity with the protest.
Earlier, he had met Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and other ministers in order to convince them to promote innovation in the country.
In his brief conversation with the Post from the protest site, Pun said he had met leaders and top officials, including Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and nearly half a dozen ministers. The leaders and all who he met had assured with positive notes but did not produce any results. So that he come down to street.
Dr. Pun had pushed demands with the government, but he explains that four of them are to be taken seriously and act immediately. First, he wants the federal and provincial governments to allocate one per cent of their annual development budget to support talented and creative citizens involved in research, and the money should be made available for research work to be completed in a multi-year programme.
The second demand is about encouraging new entrepreneurs do research, and the government should give permission for licence, grants and easy loans required to start an enterprise and make policies for promoting indigenous products, through ‘New Entrepreneur Development Committee”.
The demands include as following.
Dr Pun says that the protest may go longer until the demands are met.
A number of political leaders and social activists have expressed their solidarity to the movement.
Mahabir Pun, born in 1955, is a Nepali researcher, teacher, social entrepreneur and an activist well known for his work in applying wireless technologies to develop remote areas of the mountains. He is a widely known personality in Nepal, and his work has been recognized by the Ashoka Foundation, the Ramon Magsaysay Foundation, University of Nebraska, and Global Idea Bank.
