The government has started an organization and management survey of all ministries as part of its campaign to streamline personnel administration by reducing the number of ministries and agencies. The necessary staff positions are being re-determined after the ministries are merged and various agencies are abolished. Due to this, there is a possibility of a significant reduction in the number of employees.

The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers had directed on 12 Jestha to complete and submit the organization and management survey by 7 Asad. The survey was asked to be conducted based on the organization and management survey criteria.

The number of federal ministries has been reduced from 22 to 18. Similarly, the abolition of 31 agencies, merger of 6 agencies, transfer of 6 agencies and restructuring of 18 agencies have been announced in the budget speech. Similarly, the abolition of 3 embassies and 3 consulates general under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs itself has already been announced.

After the number of ministries has been reduced and various offices are to be abolished, ministries are working to determine the posts of employees accordingly.

The Cabinet meeting on April 30 has established 18 ministries, including the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers. It has also determined the division of labor of the ministries. After the established ministries and the work to be performed by those ministries have been determined, the government is working to identify the necessary personnel manpower.

After the merger of ministries, more than one secretary in the same ministry has also been transferred. Some secretaries have been pulled into the Prime Minister's Office. After the merger of ministries, the management of employees has not been completed. Employees are performing their duties in the same building. After the reduction of 4 ministries, there are preparations to reduce the number of secretaries, joint secretaries and other ranks of employees in those ministries accordingly.

Joint Secretary Hemraj Aryal, spokesperson of the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, said that the work of surveying the organization of ministries and agencies under the ministry is underway. ‘18 ministries have been established. How many staff positions are required for those ministries? After identifying that, the employees will be managed,’ he told Kantipur, ‘Each ministry has been asked to survey its organizational structure. Everyone is doing it.’

The secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office will study the reports coming from the ministries and decide whether to send them back for improvement as needed or forward them. After being approved by the Council of Ministers, the new positions of the ministry will be established. The Prime Minister’s Office has asked to analyze the work responsibilities and identify the required staff manpower and create as many new posts as possible.

The objective of the survey is to reduce the number of employees and a circular has been issued by the Prime Minister’s Office to determine the organizational structure keeping that in mind, a secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure said. The three ministries of drinking water, urban and physical infrastructure have been merged to form the Ministry of Infrastructure.

In a ministry formed by merging more than one ministry, there will be a reduction in the number of ministers, employees working in the secretariat of the secretary, and employees of the administration, planning, legal division and accounts who do similar work. The two ministries of Federal Affairs and General Administration and Land Management have been merged to form one ministry. After becoming one ministry, there will be one minister and one secretary. However, with the merger of the two ministries, there are currently 10 joint secretaries. There are preparations to reduce that to 5 or 6 joint secretaries. A ministry source said, ‘A survey is underway. There is a possibility of reducing the number of employees by up to 40 percent by merging the two previous ministries.’

The Prime Minister’s Office has instructed the ministries that are still in the previous structure without merging to identify and reduce as many unnecessary posts as possible. The Ministry of Finance has also increased pressure for that.

Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle had said in his budget statement on 15 Jestha that the cumbersome structure of the personnel administration would be streamlined. The budget has announced that the administration will be made efficient by saving money by cutting departments, offices and posts. The survey criteria have also set a limit on the expenditure for operating personnel posts. Accordingly, it has been said that the cost of the organization structure and personnel should not exceed 15 percent of the average total annual budget of the last three years for the union.

No body can be surveyed once and re-surveyed for three years after determining the organization and posts. In the future, the criteria have been made to look at the average revenue growth of the level government in the last three years while creating additional organizations or posts.

After the formation of the provinces and local levels, on 13 Poush 2075, the government approved the posts of the union, provinces and local levels and adjusted the employees who were only in the union to the provinces and local levels. At that time, a total of 137,614 employee positions were approved, including 48,499 in the union, 22,279 in all seven provinces, and 66,908 at the local level.