Good governance is a good, beautiful and prestigious system of governance of a state. This system is also linked to the development of the three organs of the state - the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. Therefore, good governance is a value that respects and promotes human rights and believes in the rule of law. Good governance is an efficient, transparent, accountable and people-oriented system of governance.

Good governance emphasizes the belief that there should be a method and system for governing. The interrelationship, working style, and working environment of the governing structure are determined by the constitution, constitutional laws, and the immediate political system. Good governance places special emphasis on the fact that issues such as prudent use of public resources and economic discipline should be directly experienced by the people. 

It is said that every activity of the state should be in the interest of the country and the people. Good governance assimilates the issue that the interests of the state should be for the happiness of the people. Good governance believes that an egalitarian society can be built through positive change, social conflict management, and balanced development. 

The concept of good governance came after the serious economic crisis that occurred in Western and African countries from 1979 to 1989, following the long-term roadmap of ‘How can we move towards sustainable development?’ This concept was brought in with the purpose of providing dynamism in the process of development by improving the governance system.

The attention of the whole world has been drawn to good governance since the 1995 World Conference on Social Development declared that ‘democratic, transparent, accountable governance systems are the integral cornerstones of social and people-centered sustainable development.’ Its main objective was to increase the quality and effectiveness of service delivery to citizens. The immediate concerns of citizens are good governance, development and employment. These aspects should be established in the system in a way that is felt by citizens, and the process should also be simple and easy. 

For the smooth achievement of effective results, the aspects of federalism implementation, namely political federalism, fiscal federalism and administrative federalism, should be fully implemented, but seven provinces were formed as political federalism. At the same time, fiscal federalism and administrative federalism could not be fully implemented. When the implementation aspect becomes weak, the characteristics of good governance such as transparency, accountability, citizen ownership and supremacy of law fall into the shade. As a result, the results may not be as expected.

In terms of evaluation criteria, Nepal was ranked 107th among corrupt countries in the 1925 report of ‘Transparency International’ in terms of good governance. Nepal seems to have scored 34 out of 100. Last year, Nepal was ranked 108th with 35 points. In the 2025 World Happiness Index, it was ranked 92nd out of 143 countries. In 2024, it was ranked 93rd, and life satisfaction was approximately 5.16/10.

According to the overall assessment of good governance by the World Bank, out of a total of 20 percent, corruption control is 13.7 percent, regulatory quality is 9.4 percent, government effectiveness is 1.4 percent, rule of law is 5.2 percent, and voice and accountability are 2.0 percent. According to the Human Development Index 2025 published by the United Nations Development Program, Nepal’s Human Development Index is 0.622, which was 0.601 in 2024. In this index, Nepal is ranked 145 out of 193 countries, which was ranked 145 in 2024.

While such reports were coming, Nepal was first placed on the grey list in 2015 after the assessment of the ‘Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering – APG’. After implementing an improved legal and regulatory system, Nepal came out of it in 2019. It has been placed on the grey list again from 2023/024. The main reason is the lack of sufficient progress in ‘AML/CFT’.

When analyzing the results of the reports, it is found that various issues are included in the comments made by today’s intellectual society. Such issues they make are also relevant. These issues are – the sovereign capacity of the republican constitution could not be established, there was no structural change in the governance system, the system became democratic but the parties did not become democratic, the expanding effect of the ‘kleptocracy nexus’.

It seems that the core essence of the Gen-G rebellion that has recently taken place in the country lies almost around this. The democratic constitution obtained by the Nepali people after a long struggle was built as an excellent constitution, but its implementation was not carried out as it should have been, so the results could not be felt. The system changed, but the structural changes that governed that system could not be felt, so the change in the condition of the citizens could not be felt.

The system was called democratic as an achievement of the political system, but the political parties that were in disarray in the old style could not be democratic. The expansion of the 'kleptocracy nexus' was thus, which is increasing day by day. The condition of the notes burned in the houses of the leaders in the arson incident of 24 Bhadra 2082 makes this clear. It can also be called a well-planned operation of corruption, where people in power (such as leaders, ministers, contractors, employees, businessmen) exploit the state together and acquire private wealth.

The way forward 

The situation is becoming complicated due to such various problems. As a result, voices of the rehabilitation of the institutions displaced yesterday have also started to resonate today. It is said that with every problem, there is a solution. To overcome today's uncertain situation, we need to embrace various aspects –

• Make constitutional and democratic institutions autonomous and empowered, so that they can function without any influence.
• Increase citizen involvement at all levels, including the production/distribution of public services, so that citizens can feel a sense of belonging and ensure easy and equal access to services.
• Keep public administration separate from party politics, so that political influence is not limited to the use of party fraternal organizations in the name of labor organizations.
• Review the work of detailing the work in accordance with the intent of the constitution and agree on two-thirds of the political parties to complete the work of devolution and delegation of authority at the provincial and local levels.
• Stakeholders should be empowered to make the existing political and administrative institutions agile, agile, and accountable for results.
• Administrative institutions should formulate and implement laws related to accountability.
• Make the regulatory bodies stronger and more responsible.
• Make a radical change in the electoral system and prepare the foundation for conducting fair and transparent elections. 

Along with the aforementioned issues, an even more important issue among the essential reforms in public services is – building a more well-governed society by ‘re-engineering’ citizen-friendly administration, technology-friendly administration and employee administration.