The government has approved an Integrated Package on Rehabilitation, Livelihood and Social Protection for Gen-Z Movement Martyrs’ Families and Injured Persons and circulated it to all local governments. The package calls for construction of a Gen-Z memorial, inclusion of the movement in appropriate school curricula in the context of Nepal’s good-governance and anti-corruption movements, and a special programme to confer national recognition on identified martyr families and injured persons. It also provides for re-examination and reclassification of injured people who may have been left out of earlier assessments, so that eligible beneficiaries can receive the services and benefits attached to their official status.
Health and education measures include free medical treatment, medicines, necessary tests, rehabilitation and regular health examinations for seriously and very seriously injured people, along with psychosocial counselling for martyrs’ families and the injured. Children or eligible close family members of martyrs and severely injured persons are to receive free education under prescribed arrangements, while people who lost limbs or suffered disabilities that prevent them from working are to receive prosthetic devices, three-wheeled scooters and other assistive equipment. Seriously injured identity-card holders are also to receive 50% discounts and reserved seats on public transport, and government benefits and social-security entitlements are to be brought into an integrated system.
For economic rehabilitation, interested martyrs’ family members and seriously or very seriously injured people are to be provided concessional loans of up to Rs 15 lakh for a maximum of five years. The package also provides customs concessions for one eligible vehicle for self-employment—covering specified petrol/diesel vehicles with a CIF value of up to Rs 15 lakh or electric vehicles up to Rs 20 lakh—subject to conditions preventing misuse or resale. One eligible member of a martyr’s family and seriously injured persons are to receive priority in government employment based on qualification, capacity and physical condition, while vocational training, entrepreneurship programmes and dedicated quotas in enterprise-development schemes are also planned.
The package further directs authorities to expand programmes promoting good governance, anti-corruption and accountability in memory of the movement, and to examine withdrawal of movement-related cases against detainees while excluding offences classified as serious or heinous crimes. From FY 2083/84, provinces and local governments are to implement relief, livelihood, health, education, capacity-building and social-protection programmes under the framework. The government will also provide Rs 5 lakh each to the families of 10 people who died in juvenile and prison facilities during the movement period, arrange scholarships for students whose studies were disrupted by injuries, formally certify movement-related injuries and scars, and later establish a Gen-Z Welfare Fund Management Committee to coordinate implementation.
