The budget of the Ministry of Home Affairs for the coming fiscal year has been cut by almost half. The budget for the current fiscal year was Rs 208.6244 billion, but this year it has been reduced by almost half to Rs 108.3293 billion. After the then Home Minister Sudhan Gurung resigned on 9 Baisakh, the ministry is currently being led by Prime Minister Balendra Shah.

The budget of the Ministry of Defense for the coming fiscal year has increased to Rs 64.9677 billion compared to the current fiscal year 2082/83. The budget of the Ministry of Defense for the current fiscal year is Rs 62.121 billion. Security experts have commented that the budget has failed to address the issue of modernization of the security forces, even though the government has said that it will give priority to the issue of modernization of the security forces in talks.

In every budget for the past few years, the issue of making the Armed Police Force a dedicated force for border security has been included, but it does not seem to have been made clear how to make it dedicated, what its model will be, whether it will be concentrated on all borders by increasing the number of posts and resources - Narayan Babu Thapa, former AIG of the Armed Police Force Former Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Nepal Police Hemanta Malla Thakuri says that it is sad that the slogan of equipping the police with modern technology has been raised repeatedly but has not been seen in practice. "The Gen-G movement has already shown what kind of situation they will face due to lack of investment in information collection and technology, everyone understood that," he told Kantipur. "It should have been clearly stated in the budget statement, specifying the numbers to improve it, but it did not appear to have come."

However, while presenting the budget statement in Parliament, Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle has said that he will emphasize the use of technology to make the police's investigation and prosecution process effective. "We will increase investment in forensic laboratories, use of artificial intelligence in investigations, and physical infrastructure development," he said. DIG Malla says that he is wondering how those goals will be achieved when there were cuts even in the old budget.

‘In the past, the complexity of the investigation due to the weaknesses of the forensic laboratory was seen during the investigation of the Nirmala murder case,’ he said. ‘If the budget needs to be increased to address that, then it is not considered that there is a strong focus on strengthening the security agencies.’ The police have already formed an AI cell at the police headquarters to investigate AI-based issues and started working.

Home Ministry spokesperson Anand Kafle said that although social security allowance was previously under the Home Ministry, it may have been reduced due to the division of labor regulations, which have now been transferred to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. ‘It is not possible to say in detail what other issues the budget has decreased for,’ he said.

For a long time, lower-ranking employees in the police have been demanding that the retirement service period and pension period be reduced to 16 years. The police and Armed Police Force headquarters have been moving forward with that proposal several times, but it has not been implemented. This time, Finance Minister Wagle continued the same issue in his budget statement. He said that he would study the issue of reviewing the existing gap between the service period of retirement and the period when pension begins.

Although this proposal did not go ahead in the police and the armed forces, in the army, in 2077 BS, it was provided that lower-ranking soldiers would be able to retire at 16 years but would have to wait 20 years for pension. Although a decision was made in the case of the army, the Ministry of Finance has been blocking the proposal in the case of the police and the armed forces, citing the financial burden.

Finance Minister Wagle has announced that the Armed Police Force will be developed as a dedicated professional force for international border security. The armed forces are still responsible for border security. However, the armed forces have been deployed in activities such as the protection of important structures and distinguished individuals, riot control, assistance in rescuing victims of natural disasters and epidemics, control of armed conflicts and separatist activities, and revenue, customs and industrial security.

‘Every budget for the past few years has included the issue of making the Armed Police Force a dedicated force for border security,’ says former Additional Inspector General (AIG) of the Armed Police Force, Narayan Babu Thapa. ‘However, it does not seem to have been made clear how to make it dedicated, what its model will be, whether it will be concentrated on all borders by increasing the number of posts and resources.’

There are no new plans in the budget of the Ministry of Defense either, but the name of the previous plan has been changed. While the army’s bunker to barracks program was previously being continued, this time its name has been changed to the Jawan Housing Upgradation Program. Finance Minister Wagle says that Rs 2 billion has been allocated for that program.