Even in the 6 months of the Congress-UML coalition government, the general public has not been able to awaken the hope of development and good governance. The leaders of the ruling party have started expressing dissatisfaction with the functioning of the government. Opposition parties including Maoists are commenting that the government is on the path to failure.

UML President KP Sharma Oli was appointed Prime Minister on June 30 based on the agreement reached between Congress and UML on June 17. At that time, the Congress and the UML said that they formed an alliance to protect the national interest according to the wishes of the common people, to maintain good governance in the country by controlling corruption, and to speed up the development campaign. 

The Prime Minister and the ministers signed a performance agreement last August saying that they would complete the work of infrastructure construction and service delivery improvement within the specified time. But according to the agreement, no work has been done in any ministry. The Prime Minister expressed his dissatisfaction with the secretaries last week after the public service was not effective. 

President Oli's political report passed by the UML Central Committee on Wednesday also mentions that the expected work from the government has not been done. In the report, it is said that even though it is claimed that protection of national interest and balanced foreign relations, transitional justice, reforming the economy, speeding up development, intervention in the co-operative situation, justice has been given to the co-operative victims, not enough has been done. 

These works of the new government are positive, but not enough. The people are expecting more rapid development, change and public service delivery from the powerful government formed with the partnership of the two main parties and the participation of other parties as well. The delay in the rehabilitation of the victims is a matter of concern.' "The lack of improvement in service delivery, investment and business environment are the main challenges faced by the government," the report states. 

Prime Minister Oli has claimed that the government has stopped the economy from going downhill. Revenue growth, improvement in import and export and increase in capital expenditure are mentioned in his report. The data of the office of the Comptroller General shows that both the government's income and development expenditure are weak in the 5 months of the current financial year.

From last July to the middle of December, the government has spent 40 billion 80 million rupees. This is only 11.58 percent of the annual target. The capital expenditure up to 5 months is less than the government's monthly target of about 27.5 billion. The government had set a target of 68 billion 40 million rupees in capital expenditure by the end of November. 

Government's capital expenditure is less than last year. In five months of last year, the government spent 37 billion 70 million or 11.94 percent of the annual target. In the first 5 months of the current financial year, the government's revenue collection has also been very weak. By mid-November, 28.15 percent of the annual target, i.e. 3 trillion 99 billion 59 crores, has been collected. This is about one billion rupees less than the government's monthly revenue collection target. 

UML vice-president and former finance minister Surendra Pandey says that the economy is not progressing as expected because capital expenditure is not increasing as per the target. Government development expenditure has not increased. Since the import has not increased, the revenue has not been able to rise. Without increasing the revenue, the government's ability to spend will not increase," he said. "When the revenue does not rise as per the target, the expenditure should be cut at the end of the financial year. This will go to capital expenditure. He said that due to the lack of investment environment, money has accumulated in the bank. "If the government can give the remaining payment in the construction sector, it is likely to bring about economic improvement," he said.

Pandey says that fear in the bureaucracy is also one of the reasons why the government's work is not moving forward. "The understanding that there is a stable government is not seen in the bureaucracy," he said.

General Minister of the ruling Congress, Bishwa Prakash Sharma, says that there should be a review on speeding up the work of the government in order to instill hope in the country. "Government should work by setting priorities and timelines," he said. There should be a certain harmony in the work.

He says that if some ministers lack study and knowledge, they should consult with experts. "Instead of manipulating the minister because it didn't work, we should recognize that the problem is here" he added, "we will review the work of our minister".

Nepal Samajwadi Party coordinator and former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai says that even though the coalition government has changed, the main party has failed to speed up the work of the government with economic growth. Congress, UML and Maoists are running the government in turn. Although they claim that the government has done a good job, they have not been able to confirm it with the data. And on what basis did the economy improve? In a country like ours, there should be a two-digit economic growth.

He said that the problem is because the government has not brought a solid policy to increase production. "The latest census has said that 60 percent of Nepal's population is dependent on agriculture," he said, "but there has been no debate on increasing production." The major party is in the race to go from power to power and from election to election.' 

The UML central committee meeting drew the attention of the government under its own leadership saying that development is slow and economic growth is low. "Even today there are challenges like slow development, low economic growth, unemployment and dependency," UML's decision said, "Effective market for controlling the easy supply of daily consumer goods, high prices, black market, adulteration, focusing on the working people and poor citizens. The UML has also drawn the attention of the government to make the state agencies established for the investigation, prosecution and justice of corruption more empowered and equipped with resources. 

The Maoist Central Committee meeting has also drawn the attention of the government saying that the coalition government of Congress and UML has failed to achieve the goals of good governance, social justice and prosperity. "We have a demand from the government to make good governance and service delivery effective, including corruption control," Maoist vice-president and spokesman Agni Prasad Sapkota said, "However, even after six months of forming the alliance, the government has not been able to work towards it. This government has gone towards failure.'' It has also demanded to take legal action against the culprits after

ing and arrange the system to return the savings of the co-operative victims.

'Major parties are only in the race for power and elections'

Congress-UML coalition government is about to reach 6 months, how do you take the work of the government?

I do not find any qualitative difference between the government led by Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and the current government. There is a lot of gossip between the Prime Ministers of both governments (Dahal and KP Sharma Oli). There is no attempt to change the structure to improve the economy. Two big meetings of UML-Maoist were held. There was no discussion of economic growth. Accusations only went on. I see that Congress, UML and Maoists are paying attention from power to power and from election to election. Three people (Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, Oli and Dahal) are running the power in turn. There is no clear blueprint for their economic prosperity. 

Has Prime Minister Oli claimed that the economy has improved?

That data had to be confirmed. The economic growth of the country during the previous and this government is 3 to 4 percent. This is not enough, there should be double digit economic growth. In a poor country like ours, money is piled up in the bank. Accumulating money in the bank means that the economy is in crisis. It should be understood that there is no investment for production. Remittances have fueled the country's economy.

Why is there no economic reform? The

approach was not led by three parties. Although the language is different, Deuba, Oli and Prachanda's focus is not on production, but on power. There is no vision to establish a domestic industry by creating a favorable investment environment. Communists are in name only. When there was a communist government, closed industries had to be run if possible, and new industries had to be opened if not. In the Maoists, the Chairman Dahalpanthi is focused on going to power, managing workers, and running the party by taking commissions on contracts. All the three parties have been running the party by exploiting the state. So far the brands of Congress, UML and Maoists have been sold. We have said that an alternative power should come in its reform, but it has not taken a concrete shape.