Problems in budget management for the 'daughter account program' started by the Karnali government, discussion about moving to a different model or closing it
We use Google Cloud Translation Services. Google requires we provide the following disclaimer relating to use of this service:
This service may contain translations powered by Google. Google disclaims all warranties related to the translations, expressed or implied, including any warranties of accuracy, reliability, and any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and noninfringement.
In the year 2076/77, the Karnali government allocated a budget of 70 crores when it started the program of 'Bank Account for Daughters, Security for Life'. In 2077/78, 126 million rupees and in 2078/79, 16 million rupees were allocated for this program. But so far, the state government does not have the data of how much money has been deposited in the account of how many daughters.
Even though the budget was allocated Rs 20 crore in 2079/80 and Rs 25 crore in 2080/81, the amount did not go to any daughter's account . The government has introduced this program to open an account of 1000 rupees in the name of daughters born after 1st July 2076 and deposit the amount at the rate of 500 per month. The Karnali government estimates that if money is deposited in the account of the daughters for 20 years, it will cost about 16 billion 65 million rupees. The government has given less priority to this program in recent years because of the risk of high financial burden and large amount of money being left in the bank.
"On the one hand, the income of the provincial government is low, even in the least developed province," Social Development Minister Ghanshyam Bhandari said, "The program also seemed unproductive, so there was a problem in budget management. From next year, it is being discussed whether to move it to a different model or to stop it." According to the
procedure, the government will deposit an amount of 121,000 in the account of a daughter born during this period for a period of 20 years and after reaching the age of 20, it is arranged to give an amount of around 200,000 with interest. After this program, about 41 thousand 500 girls' accounts have been opened in the Ministry of Social Development. "We used to disburse funds as per the details sent by the local level, but they did not send the details of how much money was deposited in the accounts of the girls," said Sunita Paudel, women's development officer of the ministry. The data is . She informed that certain data could not be obtained as only two installments (yearly) were deposited in one daughter's account and one in another's account.
It is mentioned in the procedure that the government will give 1000 rupees when opening an account. Kewal Prasad Bhandari, the former Chief Secretary of Karnali Province, said that the program has been brought for the golden future of daughters. "Daughters of Karnali have been deprived of various opportunities for generations, it was thought that some new program should be introduced to end all forms of violence against girls and to provide access to minimum secondary education," said the initiator of the program. He said that it is necessary to carry out the program even if it is by adopting a new procedure. Shanti Vick of Bagchaur Municipality-3 of Salyan said that the poor parents were in trouble after the
program was stalled. She has given birth to two daughters Mangala and Sushmita since 2071. A bank account has also been opened in their name under the facilitation of the municipality. But the money has not been collected in the name of both the daughters. "They used to say that the state government would deposit money every year for my daughter's future," she said, "3 years have passed in Asayas, but now no money is deposited."
On 4th July 2079, Vimala Vick of Bangadkupinde Municipality-4 of Salyan gave birth to a daughter Prabha. He has 4 children even before his daughter . She opened her daughter's bank account with the help of the municipality and said that she did not receive a single penny. "It was sad just to open an account, the leaders and employees say money will come, but it never comes," she said, "The government cheated us poor people by showing hope. After putting money in the account, it would have helped for my daughter's future."
The local representative also says that it should continue. Rukum West's Saniveri Rural Municipality Vice President Kamala Ro said that the program will help the girls to increase their self-confidence. "After the program started, there was a positive message in the society, those who only gave birth to girls were happy," she said, "In addition to the reduction in abortion and gender discrimination, there was also good support in the education of girls, but after the program was closed, the parents of girls come to complain every day."
Rights activist Sharmila BC said that when the program started for her daughter's future was stalled, it had a negative impact. "On the one hand, most of the places in Karnali are remote, where there is a big difference between sons and daughters due to illiteracy," she said, "This program has not only helped to eliminate the difference, it has also helped to reduce child marriage and violence against women. When the program, which was started with pomp and great ambition at the beginning, has been stalled, the future of thousands of girls has been jeopardized."
Kamal Lamsal, vice-professor of Midwest University, said that this program is also important to increase the respect of daughters. "This program has given inspiration to make the future of daughters bright," he said, "It is important to have effective coordination between the provincial and local governments and to continue the program." Ramprasad Upadhyay, information officer of the ministry, said that there was a problem in accounting for this as the local level did not send the details.
The then Chief Minister of Karnali, Mahendra Bahadur Shahi, started the program by depositing money in the bank accounts of two daughters of Khandachakra Municipality of Kalikot on 1st December 2076. "The program is good, but now it has stalled," said former Chief Minister Shahi, "the program needs to be continued even if it is an alternative model." Ashoknath Yogi, a member of the Commission, said that about 13,000 daughters were born among them. But he says that there is a problem in budget management because the program was started without preparation without predicting the birth of Karnali's daughters.
Former Minister of Economic Affairs and Planning Gopal Sharma said that there is a problem in the implementation of the program because the provincial government has more financial responsibility when comparing the income of the government and the investment in the program. "It seems that the daughter account program is overdue because it seems that it takes a long time to get the results. The program could not be made long-term by just saving money in the bank," he said. Women's Development Officer Poudel said that the effectiveness of the program is low due to lack of a separate staff for the program, lack of regular coordination with the local level, delays in authorization, and not opening accounts for daughters within the deadline.
Economic Affairs and Planning Minister Rajeev Vikram Shah said that discussions are underway whether the program will be run on a new model. "The previous government started the campaign by giving priority to policies and programs every year, and the implementation was successful according to the procedure for 3/4 years," he said, "but now various technical problems have appeared, so we are doing homework to implement it again through a new model."
