After the federal structure, there are three tiers of government in the country. Union, state and local. On Wednesday, May 15th, the Union Government has allocated a budget of 18 trillion 60 billion 30 million rupees for the next financial year.

The state government brought the budget on June 1. The local level is engaged in the budget making process. The local level should bring the budget by June 10. According to this, the local people's representatives and employees are working on the budget.

However, some women and Dalit women members of Karnali complain that they were left out in the budget making process. Harikala Mahtara, a female member of Panchapuri Municipality-8 in Surkhet, complained that they were not invited in any decision of the budget formulation process. 

She said that she was not informed about the ceiling of the budget coming for the selection of plans at the settlement level. We are not even invited to some programs," she said. "We go to some programs without knowing about them and our work could not be done except to participate. It's like we are people's representatives only to get applause at the end.'' Chiring Gurung, a female member of Dolpobuddha rural municipality-2 in Dolpa, said that she has no information when choosing a

plan or making policies and programs. He says that no one tells him about the budget preparation process and he does not get any information. According to him, they call the municipality on the day the budget is announced.  She said that the

was only for listening and clapping. She says, "Neither is our point applicable." Nor are we given information about how to make the budget. According to the Local Government Operation Act, 2074, representation of all classes, castes and genders should be ensured in the budget formulation process. But its implementation is weak in Karnali.

Haijali Tamta, a Dalit female ward member of Mugu's Khatyad Rural Municipality-2, expressed her sadness that the village assembly was only called to clap for the approval of the plan approved by the upper-level public representatives, employees and village elders. Dalit women and other women in the district have many problems with this municipality. She said, 'I like to work for them. But what to do? It is customary to present us only as witnesses in the budget formulation process. Our words will not be implemented even by speech.'  He says that after the election of

, the thought of working for the local people would be impossible without support. She said that she felt embarrassed that she could not do anything to win the election.

Dalit women ward member of Panchapuri Municipality-9 Bavitha V.K. says that during the budget formulation process, what she put forward is not applicable. He says that even though his demands and plans are not heard, his self-motivation to work has decreased. She said, "Even after winning, the people of Tola question why the plan is not implemented." They don't care about what the above representatives say. It seems like it is just a job to occupy the post.'

Kamala Subedi, a female member of Panchapuri, said that they could not play a strong role in the budget formulation process. He says that there is also a lack of sufficient knowledge. He says that he feels weak because there is no capacity building program.

According to Mukti Devi Regmi, Deputy Mayor of Panchapuri Municipality, it seems that the issues of women and Dalit members have not been implemented as many demands coming from the slum level have to be addressed. She said that this is a problem because the size of the budget is small and the demand at the settlement level is high. 

Lalbir Bhandari, the head of the municipality, claims that discussions are held at the settlement level in the presence of women and Dalit members so that everyone's demands are addressed as much as possible during the budget formulation process. He says, "We inform the ward president directly about the budget ceiling." The ward president should coordinate with the members. If there is a situation where this is not possible, we will continue to improve it.'' According to Aj Bahadur Shahi, chairman of Khatyad Rural Municipality of Mugu, emphasis was placed on the implementation of the law to make the presence of women and Dalit members mandatory in the