Due to the budget cuts, the plans implemented by the provincial and local levels are stuck in the middle. The constitutional right of provinces and local levels to receive equalization grants, a performance-based subsidy system should be implemented with at least 50 percent of the grants going to the local level in cooperation with the provinces.
Stakeholders involved in the study and research on federalism have suggested 50 points to the government to make federalism more effective, institutional development and coordination between the three levels of government.
When the federal government is in the process of budgeting, the stakeholders have suggested that all kinds of grants flowing to the state and local levels should be brought under the jurisdiction of the National Natural Resources and Finance Commission.
Under the leadership of the Federalism and Localization Center (FLC), which is studying the implementation of federalism, on Monday Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel met and handed over written suggestions. In the suggestion given to Minister Poudel under the leadership of
center chairman and expert on federalism, Khimlal Devkota, it is mentioned that there is a need for coordination between the projects of the three levels of government, even if it is done by amending the constitution and laws. In the
suggestion, the issue of ending the leader and minister-oriented plan has been emphasized . It is said in the suggestion, "Equalization subsidy is the constitutional right of the state and local level, so it should be ensured that it is not deducted." This suggestion was given because the government has been deducting a certain percentage of the subsidy every year.
Due to the budget cuts, the plans implemented by the state and local levels are stuck in the middle. In the suggestion given to the Minister of Finance, it has been reminded that the provincial and local levels have the constitutional right to receive equalization grants, keeping the same issue in the background.
It has been demanded to implement a performance-based subsidy system at least 50 percent of the subsidy going to the local level in collaboration with the province. MPs have been asked to end the budget given to them in the name of constituency development and to achieve regional balance in budget distribution.
Chairman Devkota gave information about the suggestions that should be made to maintain a balance in revenue distribution, facilitate development by amending the Forest and Environment Act, bring a law to solve the problem of land acquisition, disburse non-budgetary funds, transfer funds to the budget at the end of the financial year, and approve multi-year plans without a basis.
According to Devkota, it has been suggested that the recommendations of the National Assembly's Federal Implementation, Monitoring and Parliamentary Special Committee should be implemented. According to the recommendation of the Parliamentary Special Committee, it is mentioned that the union has yet to make 40 laws.
Provincial and local levels have been complaining that due to the lack of laws, some issues of common and single rights could not be implemented. It has been mentioned in the suggestions given to Finance Minister Paudel that all types of foreign aid should be included in the government's budget and maintain transparency, saying that the inter-provincial council, the national coordination council could not hold regular meetings.
The budget should be formulated only after estimating the financial resources, the contract should be awarded only after completing all the project implementation processes, the association should issue the national road master plan and the state master plan, the existing master plans should be prioritized and the construction of physical structures should be implemented. According to Prakash Panth, executive director of
localization center, the suggestions prepared based on the discussions held with the provincial, local levels and experts at various times were also handed over to the government to make it easier to work. According to the
localization center, based on the 7 years of experience of federalism implementation, it has been emphasized that the list of rights of the federal units should be revised with the participation of the provincial and local levels. It has been suggested that citizens should be informed about the need to prepare a basis for the implementation of federalism for 5 years.
According to the spirit of federalism, the stakeholders are of the opinion that unions, organizations and structures under the union should be abolished. Even though the country has gone to federalism, the issue of central mentality has always been discussed. Devkota, a connoisseur of federalism, said that even though there is a sound of being guided by the central mentality, there has been no change in the practice of personnel allocation, plan selection, budget allocation.
He has been saying for a long time that there should be no control over the issue of giving authority to strengthen federalism. Devkota said that since the government's policies and programs have arrived and the work of budgeting has begun, they have also suggested to support financial management according to the spirit of federalism.
Minister Poudel, understanding the proposal, promised to help in strengthening federalism as much as possible. Minister Poudel held the opinion that some of the good questions mentioned in the suggestion can be included in the budget.
