Federalism is not a magic wand

Magh 13, 2081

narayankaji shreshtha

Federalism is not a magic wand

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How do we understand this federalism? The view that federalism is the root of all problems or the view that federalism is a magic wand to solve all problems is wrong. Federalism of democracy can be complementary and not synonymous. A democracy may or may not have federalism.

It is decided whether federalism is necessary in a democracy based on the characteristics of any country. In the context of our Nepal, we have established the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal as federalism is necessary in Nepal's democracy.

When reviewing that federalism today, when answering the questions raised about federalism, is the purpose of establishing and institutionalizing federalism correct or not? We have to consider whether we have gone through the process of implementing that objective. 

We established federalism for four reasons . One, the state should be restructured to solve the class, ethnic, linguistic, cultural oppression and problems of Nepal, only then the dissatisfaction and conflicts can be addressed.

Second, federalism has been introduced to give a new dimension to development in the way that we can bring the process of development to inclusive development in Nepal. 

Thirdly, how to bring democracy to the grassroots level and to make our democracy a participatory, inclusive democracy and so that the people can get the government in their pollta, and get what they should get from the government, it has been done to bring participatory democracy to the grassroots level of inclusive democracy .

and the fourth thing is to establish the adoption and ownership of the people in the state and governance system. Nothing just happened right. The federal system was brought in because people's ownership had to be established through a participatory method.

To protect the interests and rights of the oppressed, linguistic, class, caste, regional, marginalized communities through the restructuring of this state, the development and rights of the common people create unity when they are taken into the process of development . With the strength of that unity and the people, we have decided to go for federalism based on the fact that we can strengthen the sovereignty and geographical integrity of Nepal.

Now, when federalism is implemented like this, are we without achievements? Not so. We now have federal, state and local governments in the process of implementation. In doing so, the common people are exercising their sovereignty on a daily basis through three levels of public representative institutions.

Sovereignty is therefore exercised in daily practice by the representatives of the people . It is used by the general public at appropriate times. So it is being used . When talking about development, you can see that the process of development at a small level is being done by the provincial and local governments. You should have gone to the central government to find a scheme of one lakh rupees and find MPs and ministers. What is being achieved now is called 'taken from granted'. Now, schemes worth up to one crore rupees go to one ward. There are minor development works. There is work being done by the state government. 

We are seeing proportional inclusion representation in practice from the ground up, its practical use is being made . Looking at it in this way, perhaps from the perspective of sovereignty, the federal government system is currently going towards the direction of bringing down democracy, getting the results of development, establishing people's ownership, strengthening the unity of the people and fulfilling the objectives of this federalism from the national perspective . But there are problems. The first thing is that democracy is a problem, and federalism is not a unitary state system. Association is a somewhat complex system . In the process of this implementation, even in the countries that have implemented federalism since the 50th year, there are contradictions in the state, there are some modifications. There are some problems and they are moving forward by solving them. We also have to think from that direction and angle. So it's not like a magic wand at once . It doesn't solve everything . There are some problems in this process . 

We have fought fiercely for federalism, I do not go around in the leadership parties saying that we are the number one force fighting in favor of federalism, I am absolutely saying that even now there is a unitarist thinking in thought . Centrist thinking and behavior is . That is why we fought for federalism. Let alone those who say that we are not in favor of federalism from the beginning, the power and leadership that fight for federalism in general have centralism and unitarist thinking and behavior . This is the problem . 

There is a problem of democratization of political parties. Without democratization of the political party, all processes below you cannot be privatized . Therefore, there are two problems related to democracy and party.

It is true that he has not even been able to wield the security stick of the chief minister of the state. The police have not been adjusted . I have a question about this. I have discussed the adjustment of the police when I was the home minister with the leadership of all the major parties in Nepal . Either you come back from federalism or you have to be honest . Double character is not OK . Or if you talk about enforcing that federalism is fine, the police must adjust . The leader of the main opposition party at that time, none of the main leaders of the coalition government at that time gave me consent to adjust the police, rather than saying that there was no other option. But I decided not to do so. I called a meeting with the internal affairs ministers of all seven provinces in favor of police adjustment.  I had two meetings on the

topic, and agreed on how we would proceed with the adjustment process. Then I requested the Honorable Prime Minister . I requested that you convene a meeting of this National Coordinating Council . I briefed how we are adjusting the police, there was also an agreement. Whatever I expected, when I presented it, it was said that we have an agreement and the process of our police adjustment will proceed . After that, we made a calendar on how to operate the police adjustment work calendar and issued a statement in February 2079/80 that now a committee is being formed under the leadership of the joint secretary to advance the process of police adjustment and it is taking the process forward. Unfortunately, after that I left the ministry . Then the work did not run a deck . The police must adjust .  

(edited part of Shrestha's thoughts in the session on 'Federalism: burden and rights' of the 'Gantavya Gandaki' program organized by Kantipur in Pokhara)

narayankaji

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