The main responsibility of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration is to manage and regulate personnel and coordinate, facilitate, monitor and evaluate local governments. However, even after a decade in the federal system, public administration has not been able to become people-oriented due to administrative reform and lack of coordination between the three levels of government.

If the service provided to citizens is affected due to the failure to manage personnel properly, even the detailed report on which level of government will do what has not been implemented. The federal ministry, which is responsible for managing nearly 86,000 civil servants across the country and coordinating between the three levels of government, has been established as the 'Ministry of Personnel Transfer' in the past decade.

Since the Far West is lagging behind in education, health, physical infrastructure, etc., her additional responsibility as a minister in this area has increased. Her husband, Prem Aryal, who hails from Gulmi, is a chartered accountant. How Rawal will now manage the civil administration and maintain good governance as the Minister of General Administration is not that easy. Due to the failure to bring the Federal Civil Service Act, civil administration has been operating ad hoc, while the concept of administrative federalism has been abandoned. During this period, the challenge of maintaining good governance through public administration has only increased. In the aforementioned background, it is not easy for the government that came from the Gen-G movement to face such challenges. Rawal, who entered politics after working as a journalist for more than a decade, has become a proportional MP from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and has become a minister. While in Galaxy, she worked with RSS President Ravi Lamichhane. To meet these challenges, 32-year-old Pratibha Rawal, who won the election from Kanchanpur in the Far West, took office as the Minister of Federal Affairs and General Administration on Friday. The responsibility of managing nearly one lakh employees and coordinating between all three levels of government has fallen on her shoulders. Rawal, who entered politics after working as a journalist for more than a decade, has become a proportional MP from the RSS. While in Galaxy, she worked with RSS President Ravi Lamichhane. Even though leaders from the Far West have repeatedly held important ministries, including the Prime Minister, she understands that this region is still lagging behind.

Problems and challenges The Ministry of Federal Affairs had announced the adjustment of 133,000 employees at the federal, provincial and local levels in Chaitra 2075. At that time, 48,409 positions were approved at the federal, 22,297 at the provincial and 66,908 at the local levels. According to the approved positions, 32,000 employees were yet to be recruited at all three levels. But under one pretext or another, the employees concentrated in Singha Durbar. The number of posts in the union has been increased by 50 thousand. Instead of reducing the number of federal posts, if they were increased, the employees were not invited to go to the local level and to the bodies with high workload. In the absence of a civil service act, ad hocism is becoming more prevalent in the civil service.

Officials of the federal ministry narrate the experience of not being able to work impartially because departmental ministers and political leaders were surrounded by employees.

In the experience of a joint secretary of the federal ministry, the public service could not be effective because the political leadership that comes in has become a target for self-interest. Officials of the federal ministry narrate the experience of not being able to work impartially because departmental ministers and political leaders were surrounded by employees.

The failure to promulgate the Federal Civil Service Act during this period seems to have caused the most damage to the civil service administration. The NCP government, which had nearly two-thirds of the MPs in 2074 BS under the leadership of UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, dissolved the parliament instead of introducing the Civil Service Bill. The Civil Service Bill, which was passed by the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee and presented to the House of Representatives in 2077, could not be passed. Instead, Oli dissolved the House itself. The then Chief Secretary himself started lobbying against the cooling period provision in the Federal Civil Service Bill that the government that came to power after the 2079 elections tried to pass through Parliament. Ultimately, the Gen-G movement dissolved the Parliament itself. Falling into this cycle, the Civil Service Bill could not be passed even a decade after the implementation of federalism. Administrative experts say that the failure to pass the Federal Civil Service Act by Parliament is the most fatal situation for the personnel administration. Experts are of the opinion that the efficiency of civil servants, the ambiguity in the division of work between the three levels of government, the unstable government and the increasing interference of the political leadership have prevented the administration mechanism from becoming result-oriented. A joint secretary who has spent a long time in a federal ministry said that all ministers should stay away from the trap of hypnotism of employees. ‘Ministers or political leaders should be able to free themselves from hypnotism. Hypnosis is the act of captivating, enticing, influencing someone based on appearance, qualities or attractiveness. When the political leadership did not want to get rid of this, ministers also interfered in the transfer of office assistants,’ said the joint secretary. Ministry officials are of the opinion that the practice of looking at the performance and evaluation of employees should be established.

When the civil service has not been put on track even after a decade of federalism, how should the Minister of Federal Affairs and General Administration of the government to be formed take forward the reform plans? What are the problems faced in implementing administrative federalism? How can work be done to reform civil administration? What challenges should be addressed to reform administration?

Experts have suggested that the first priority should be given to issuing the Federal Civil Service Act to make public service efficient, efficient, simple and transparent. Former Chairman of the Public Service Commission Umesh Mainali suggests not making the Ministry of General Administration a transfer-focused ministry. Emphasizing coordination between the three levels of government, he said, ‘Standards should be set for who will do what. A permanent mechanism should be prepared for the performance, transfer and promotion of employees.’ What kind of employees are needed? How many are needed? Mainali believes that it should be clear. Experts believe that the tendency to form commissions repeatedly for administrative reform, to make suggestions but not to implement them should not be allowed to continue this time. Experts believe that there should be an evaluation of employees based on workload.

When frustration has been increasing for years due to the working style of political leadership and bureaucracy, what will be the working style of a government that has obtained close to two-thirds of the seats in parliament? How can coordination be done between personnel management and the three levels of government? When the civil service has not been put on track even after a decade of federalism, how should the Minister of Federal Affairs and General Administration of the government to be formed now take forward the reform plans? What are the problems faced in implementing administrative federalism? How can work be done to reform civil administration? What challenges should be faced for administrative reform? These questions have naturally arisen with the formation of the new government.

Objectives on one side, work on the other Experts in the administrative sector have suggested that the political leadership should move forward by making drastic changes to reform the administration. Officials of the federal ministry say that if the suggestions of employees and experts are taken but the political leadership works according to its vision, there will be no problem in administrative reform.

The government has divided the work of federal affairs and general administration into two parts. General administration should manage employees and federal affairs should coordinate and provide suggestions between the three levels of government in the implementation of federalism. While general administration will do the work of employee management, federal affairs has given priority to federalism, state restructuring, financial resources of local bodies, gender equality and social inclusion.

But the ministry has not been able to work according to its objectives. Although the federal ministry has prepared a bill with a proposal to amend the Local Government Operation Act, political instability has prevented it from moving forward. Especially since the issue of one and common rights under the authority of the local and federal governments has not been resolved, a rift has arisen between the three levels of government.

Kashiraj Dahal, an expert in civil administration, argues that administrative restructuring is necessary. Stating that a merit system should be implemented in employee administration, he said that issues such as transfer, promotion, growth and development of employees should be predictable. He is of the opinion that the existing laws that have become obstacles to administrative reform should be immediately repealed and the development process should be improved with an action plan.

In 2009, an Administrative Reorganization Committee (which was called the Butch Commission) was formed with the aim of administrative reform. Structures such as committees, commissions, and task forces formed by subsequent governments have been providing the government with administrative reform plans as suggestions.

Recalling the administration reform plan prepared by the then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala under his own chairmanship in 2048, he said that there is a need not only to put pressure on work but also to protect employees. Due to the lack of a civil service act, the employee adjustment completed in 2075 has not been able to find the right path. All parties and their leaders have been giving slogans to make public flow efficient, transparent, accountable and result-oriented.

The suggestions of the commission are pending

In 2009, the Administrative Reorganization Committee (which was called the Butch Commission) was formed with the aim of administrative reform. Structures such as committees, commissions and task forces formed by subsequent governments have been providing administrative reform plans to the government as suggestions. It seems that many commissions, task forces and committees have been formed in the past for administrative reform. But most of those reports have not been implemented effectively. The campaign for administrative reform that started in 2007 after the achievement of democracy is continuing. But most of the suggestions have been shelved.

Recently, when Oli became Prime Minister, the report of the High-Level Administration Reform Implementation and Monitoring Committee formed in 2074 under the chairmanship of Kashiraj Dahal was submitted to the government. The Dahal Committee submitted a 236-page report to Oli with 20 suggestions. In the past, during every budget speech, finance ministers have also put forward plans for administrative reform.

But it has not been implemented. According to the decision of the Council of Ministers in 2081, administrative reform has also been included among the five suggestions given by the High-Level Economic Reform Suggestion Commission formed under the chairmanship of Rameshwor Khanal. The Khanal Commission report submitted to the government on 27 Chaitra 2081 has asked for at least 30 percent of the minimum-capacity employees in the bureaucracy to be laid off and new blood to be injected.

The report states, 'Employees who are in excess of the quota, those who are in Fazil and those who refuse to go to the local level and provinces should be given leave.' ‘There should be arrangements to allow non-specialist employees who have completed 20 years of service to take a fair retirement by receiving a lump sum advance of 5 years of pension.’ But the work of administrative reform based on the suggestion has not even started.’

Ambiguity of scope of work among the three levels of government

After the country went federal, the objective has been to provide public services based on coordination between the union, state and local levels. The government has to distribute work based on the jurisdictions mentioned in the constitution by approving the work detail report. That specifies which level of government will do what. But even after a decade since the federal system began, the work detail report has not been approved according to the need.’

Bagmati Province Chief Minister Indra Baniya says that the provincial government is lame because the federal government has not brought any laws related to the federal civil service, forest, industry, land and police.

In the absence of that, the facilities provided by the public administration have been hampered. For example, the responsibility of secondary education has been given to the local level. But even now, it is not clear what work the union, state and local levels will do. It has been said that the state and local levels will make laws based on the laws made by the federal government. Since the union has not made laws, the state and local levels have made laws themselves and implemented them. Service delivery has been hampered due to some conflicts in laws. The state and local levels have been complaining that the union has not made laws.

Former Secretary Laxman Aryal: Whose work is it? He emphasizes on how to do it. Stating that the number of employees will automatically decrease when ministries and departments are reduced, Aryal said that the political leadership should not get involved in issues like transfers and promotions. Stating that a system should be established, he says that the political leadership should be able to provide clear guidelines. Project implementation criteria Bagmati Province Chief Minister Indra Baniya says that the state government is lame because the union government has not brought laws related to the federal civil service, forest, industry, land, and police. 'We have not been able to work at all,' he lamented, 'We have not even been able to use the rights granted by the constitution.'

According to the federal ministry, the criteria for what level of government is required to do what work are required. The Ministry of Federal Affairs has prepared the criteria. Although the criteria have been approved by the government, they have not been implemented. It is necessary to be clear about which and what kind of projects will be implemented by the union, provinces and localities. If this is not done, the federal government will not be able to implement even small projects.

The federal ministry should formulate these criteria and create an environment for implementation by all levels of government. It is common for the union to send the name of the plan in the first fiscal year but ignore it from the second year onwards. This creates a situation where the local level has to pay the amount for the obligations it worked on in the previous year in the next year.

This is one of the reasons why the Chief Administrative Officer refuses to go to the local level because he has to bear the responsibility but cannot be paid by law. One of the main tasks of the Ministry's Federal Affairs Division is to develop the capacity of public representatives and employees by providing training. But its implementation has not been effective.

The Federal Ministry has received support from the donor community for the Provincial and Local Government Support Program (PLGSP) keeping in mind capacity building. But the Ministry spent less than 40 percent of the allocated budget in the first phase of the five-year program. The second phase of the program has started but satisfactory work has not been done under it either. Even the amount provided by the donor community has not been spent.

Efforts to improve administration

 1. Administrative Reorganization Committee (20009) Butch Commission

2. Administrative Reorganization Planning Commission (2013 Tanka Prasad Acharya) 

3. Administration Reform Commission (2025 Devananda Jha)   

4. Administration Reform Commission (2032, Dr. Bhesh Bahadur Thapa)

5. Administration Reform Commission (2048, Girij Prasad Koirala)

6. Roadmap for Governance Reform 2061

7. Report of the Task Force on the Formation of Human Resources 2062  

8. Civil Service Inquiry 2063 

9. Report of the Institutional Reform Suggestion Committee 2063

10. Study Report on Implementing a Tiered System in the Civil Service 2064