Federalism cannot be strengthened by tying the hands and feet of the provinces

The province started to temporarily manage the posts of few employees. The model law was also sent with some drafting in the beginning. The gathering of Chief Ministers issued the Pokhara Manifesto containing 9 demands. Among the demands are personnel management, allocation of resources, transfer of structures of various offices, management of the budget, and federalism has begun to run rampant.

The implementation of federalism in our country cannot be said to be bad compared to other countries. Today, when the first five years are over and the second term is coming, it has taken a shape. The implementation of federalism has not gone so smoothly. There is still a situation where the federal government is not serious about the problems faced by the local level and state governments, which have appeared in the implementation of federalism, they have to exert a lot of pressure and take out rallies. There is a situation where the government is not able to perform the kind of vigilance and role it should play in the implementation of federalism. Because the people of Singha Durbar living in the Sangh are used to a centralized system of governance. It is not possible to leave a legacy. The most complicated situation is there.

Nepal's political system has changed. The administrative structure has changed. The state of unitary structure went to federal structure. The centralized system of government went to the federal system of government. But our staff did not change. We did not change. We have not been able to break the mentality of bureaucracy accustomed to centralized governance system, carrying the legacy of panchayats and multi-party system. That is, we did not prepare employees who can work according to the federal democratic republic.

As the police in the state was in the list of single rights of the state government, so far the union has not even talked about establishing a new police. The ongoing division of police power has not been transferred to the provinces. Therefore, the police have not done as much as they should have done in terms of working on peace and order, promoting development, supporting people's livelihood, and disaster. Now we are not of the state government. Provincial governments without their own police and administration, without employees, are going through many crises.

At the local level, the people's representatives who understand federalism will not come, and the local level will remain under the control of the lion palace. Even now, the Khatanapatan center of nurses, Khardar, chief administrative officer 1 This is also the case in the federal system. There are instances where the local government's work has been halted due to lack of chief administrative officer and accounting officer on time. Even after coming to the republic, it has not been able to work according to the spirit of federalism, it has not shown the ability to work in a new way in what it has got, it has a lot of rights but it is still running in the old way. Chickens are being distributed to pregnant women. No one seems to have made a plan on how to strengthen the provincial and local governments, how to increase the scope of taxes, how to mobilize resources.

doesn't even seem to be running on a five-year periodic plan. Laws are made on a whim. There should be cooperation between union-province-local level but it doesn't seem to have happened. They are only saying hostile things that the state government has controlled us and taken away our rights. While the federal government is also a government, local governments are also governments. One should accept the co-existence of the other and work in unison with cooperation and coordination. It is only two years since the law was made to regulate intergovernmental relations, while it should have been made much earlier. Therefore, the relationship between the government and the government is not very smooth. Union-state governments have always had an adversarial relationship. The state government says that the union did not give the right, the union encroached on the right to make laws on matters that are included in the list of single rights. The union insulted the state by giving 2-3 percent budget. What to do when financial rights are not given. Other provinces are very weak in terms of fiscal federalism. In that sense, the union government does not seem to think how to strengthen the state government.

The provincial government itself is not thinking about how to generate income. In many places there is a situation of living on the above subsidy. This is not the way the National Natural Resources and Finance Commission should manage royalties and revenues. The management model itself is outdated. It seems to be acting as a helpless shadow of the Union Government. As it was an autonomous commission, it had to play a somewhat interventionist role. There are two tiers of government below, it cannot be said that it should be made more financially strong, subsidies should be increased. The ceiling on conditional grants, special grants, and supplementary grants is also very small. The standard of equalization grant is not in accordance with the spirit of federalism. There will also have to be changes.

The budget of the local level and state government should be increasing and decreasing. In the Union, the budget of 13 billion has reached 17 billion. Now it is 18 billion. Earlier it was 12 percent at the local level, now it has dropped to 6-7 percent. Earlier, the state government used to get 5-6 percent, now it has come down to 3 percent. Thus, as the federal government becomes weaker, the state government becomes weaker. The most indifferent in making laws is the federal government, the federal parliament. Only one law was passed last year. That too was not connected with the development and prosperity of the country.

The peace process is yet to be completed. In terms of strengthening federalism, it will also have to be managed. Resources could not be mobilized much. Revenue could not increase due to financial management. The provincial government was not thought to make maximum use of resources. In the state government, the parties sent ordinary people to become chief minister or speaker or minister. The chief minister should have sent a person who will be the prime minister tomorrow, who should run the province with a vision and maintain good governance in the province. To contribute to the development and prosperity of the province. With periodic plans he can say I will make my province so and so, I will bring it to this place. A person with such vision, thinking and determination is not seen. It was seen only as a sign of association and blessing. Even within the party, there is no thought that an effective person should be sent to become the Chief Minister. At first, UML seemed to think little. Lately, UML has also been indifferent to that. There was no need to talk about Congress and Maoists. This is the party that made the chief minister. It is not even seen that we should compete between parties to make federalism effective.

Federalism did not come in Nepal under the leadership of any political party. Even when the interim constitution was made, federalism was not accepted. The tribes burned the constitution in the shrine. After 2-4 days, NGOs of that time started a movement in Madhesh. At that time there was only Nepal Sadbhavana Party in Madhesh. It was also broken into pieces. Movement started in Madhesh with all the people's organizations and non-governmental organizations. People started dying. The fire burned. After that, it was accepted that the political parties came together to amend the interim constitution and go to federalism in Article 138 and form the provincial government. Leaders feel like a child born from an unwanted conception, forced to accept federalism.

Even now the centralized mindset of leaders has not changed. The centralized mentality of the rulers, police and administration of Kathmandu is the same. Therefore, Kathmandu-centric themes are always being practiced. The main obstacle is that. The system changed, the structure changed, the leader's working style, thinking and behavior did not change. The army, police, courts and bureaucracy did not change. When the constitution was made, several lists of common rights were drawn up, which led to controversy when federalism was implemented. By organizing the list of single rights a little more, the implementation of federalism would be easier. How much will the education association take, how much will the state take, how much will the local level take, and who will do the work of health, industry, development and construction.

As the list of shared rights grows, that federalism is always in dispute. Governments in the middle and back are always at odds. That is where the fight for rights begins. That is what is happening in Nepal now. Financial authority retained by all associations. However, it was not managed accordingly. This was done because Karnali, Sudurpaschim, Madhesh may have to be given a special budget. The revenue collection mechanism was based at Birganj, Tatopani or Tribhuvan International Airport. If all provinces and local levels are given the right to collect revenue, only those who are blocked will get revenue. As there is a customs checkpoint in Birgunj, 65-70 percent of the customs revenue is collected, so it will get a lot. Gandaki did not get it, Karnali and Sudurpaschim did not get anything. Lumbini with Belhia and Rupadia naka may get something. Since it is an international airport, Wagmati may get it. Even Koshi will be fooled by it. Such inequality exists. That's why it is said to keep everything at the center and distribute it as an equalization grant. But it was not distributed accordingly. That is also the reason why federalism cannot be effective.

Even if the federalism problem is trapped within the problem, there is no need to despair. Because after federalism, many development works have been carried out from the provincial and local levels. For social development, there has been a revolution in building community buildings, clubs and playgrounds. But it has not yet been managed. If federalism had not come, we would not have been able to face the Covid epidemic. The message of federalism is that people will be active when they go together, when they go to a system where rights are projected. It has shown that the country is able to deal with natural disasters and major epidemics by mobilizing resources at the lower level. Therefore, there is a positive thing about federalism. Today, people who have to go to Kathmandu or go to the zonal or district headquarters are now done from the ward office. From the municipality office. That is the blessing of federalism for us.

The way forward

The remaining laws had to be made soon. All the things in the list of single rights had to be practiced properly. The Union did not interfere with the rights of the state and local levels, and did not work to elevate the local level when the rights of the state interfered. The state also had to support the local level. For planned development, 761 governments had to make periodic plans compatible with federalism. It has to be coordinated.

Now all the old laws should be repealed. Laws should be made according to the federal democratic republic. The state government had to provide police and staff. The local government has not been in a position to rely on the central government for personnel management. There is a State Public Service Commission, it manages all the employees. The chief minister's office of the province had to manage all local levels and employees within the province. If that happens, there will be no employee problems. Instead of 50,000 employees in the union, they did not keep more than 20,000. A lot of staff had to be sent to the state and local levels because the place to work is at the bottom. The above departments should be abolished except for some departments related to the country's economy, security and diplomacy. Why do you need 25 ministries at the center? 12 are made. It is enough to have 7 ministries in the state government. Gradually the district coordination committee can be abolished and the local level itself can be organized and moved forward.

provinces are likely to receive foreign aid and subsidies. If the province can get support with the policy agreement and permission of the union, they can do a lot of work for development and prosperity. There are institutions that support good governance in the province. If they say that we will invest heavily in education, health, and prepare manpower, the state government should have brought it. Union should understand that federalism cannot be strengthened by tying the hands and feet of the provinces. When he is a good chief minister, he says - I bring support from KOICA, I bring support from JICA or I can contribute to economic prosperity by establishing sisterly relations with a country. If you say this, you need the permission of the union. They had to be allowed to run under the control of the Sangh. If that happens, there will be competition among the provincial governments. There is a competition to see who will do the best work, who will bring more money, who will develop more. It had to be based on periodic planning. If that happens, it will contribute a lot to the implementation of federalism. The main control should be with the union in the beginning because it is a matter of nationalism and the whole country. Independence is also a question. Therefore, the issue related to the independence and freedom of the country should be in the Union.

As our country has risen from a less developed country to a developing country, after 10-15 years it can remain as a medium-level developed country. In today's age, science and technology have developed so much that the development that took 100 years earlier can be done in 20 years. What others have done in 50 years, we can now do in 15 years. Others take 100 years, 80 years, 70 years to become a developed nation, while it will take 10-15 years for the developing nation of the next century to become a developed one. But there had to be political stability. The people had to be empowered. Political parties had to be able. There should be good governance in the country. If that happens, everything is possible. A leader with such willpower is the need of today.

- Member of the House of Representatives and UML Deputy Secretary General Gurung Gandaki is the founding Chief Minister of the province.

(Not only politics, industry, business, agriculture, education, health, tourism, banking, cinema, literature, there is disappointment everywhere now. The country cannot bear the weight of this disappointment for a long time. To promote lively faith, Kantipur has started a series of ideas- A 'starting point' where different experts will write proposals for reform, continuously.)