Despite having ample potential in infrastructure, education, health, agriculture, and tourism, Palpa has lagged behind in development. Palpali is a district that has recently gained fame not only for Dhaka and carob, but also for Amliso, Akbare chillies, ginger, beans, meat, cinnamon, and coffee.

But due to middlemen, the number of farmers here who are abandoning production and going abroad has increased. ‘Due to the inability to access and manage the market, some commercial farmers and entrepreneurs have abandoned their work and migrated abroad,’ says Krishna Bahadur GC, associate professor at Tribhuvan Multiple Campus. ‘Political instability is the main reason for this.’

According to the National Agricultural Census 2078, 36,179 families out of 49,742 households in Palpa are involved in agricultural work. The number of farming families who do not have enough to eat throughout the year with the income from agricultural production alone is 23,304. The number of farming families in Palpa according to the period of time when the family does not have enough to eat for 10 to 12 months is 136.

According to the latest census, 73.19 percent of Palpa residents have taken agriculture as their main source of employment. According to the data of the Agricultural Knowledge Center, Palpa is in a state of food surplus. The center's knowledge statistics show that food crops, cash crops, fruit farming (oranges), black pepper, beekeeping, poultry farming, coffee, bamboo and bamboo products, tamarind, and ginger farming are notable. Meat, honey, milk, seasonal and non-seasonal vegetables are produced. There is no youth employment in the district. There are also government services, business, and foreign affairs. 39,000 youth from Palpa are abroad for work.

The main problem of Palpa is unemployment. Along with this, the youth engaged in farming as self-employment have limited access to the market for local products and are forced to rely on middlemen. Due to the problem of not getting a good price, the youth engaged in agriculture have been displaced from their profession.

Lack of irrigation, fertilizer, and seeds is another problem faced by farmers. Only 40 percent of the farmlands in the fields, tar, and valleys of Palpa are covered by irrigation facilities. Apart from irrigation, farmers are also facing problems with seeds and fertilizers. As indigenous crops are disappearing, they have to rely on hybrid seeds. After cattle rearing is stopped, cow dung fertilizer is not available. There is always a shortage of chemical fertilizers.

Although local farmers are earning good income from farming such as tamarind, fruits, legumes, yams, vegetable farming, and Akbar chillies. However, due to lack of proper marketing and good prices for these products, young people are forced to leave their profession and go abroad. ‘It is true that people who live in villages and work in the field of agriculture and animal husbandry can work,’ said Rukbir Reshmi, a young farmer from Baughapokhrathok, ‘but not all the youth have been attracted because it is based on access rather than encouragement for those who work.’ Last year alone, 52,598 metric tons of milk were produced in Palpa.

Palpa, a hilly district of Lumbini Province, is rich in natural resources, culture, education, art, civilization, lifestyle and biodiversity. It is home to communities of diverse castes and costumes. This district, which carries the story of historical bravery, also has archaeological heritage sites including forts, forts, forts, palaces, lakes, temples and Rishi Muni’s auspicious places.

According to Italian scholar and historian Professor Joseph Tucci, the district existed in the fifth century AD. At that time, a large area of ​​India and China was under the rule of Mongolia. According to him, the Mongolian word Balba, which means skill, art and craftsmanship, was corrupted to form Palpa. When read backwards, the same word becomes Palpa, and when the middle letter is removed, the word 'Papa' becomes the district.

Unable to withstand the attacks of the Mughals in India, Tutharaya Sen fled from Paiyag and passed through Butwal. After staying for a long time at Ringsing Lake (currently the border of Ribdikot and Tinau rural municipalities), there is a history of establishing his independent state in Ribdikot (at the junction of Kusumkhola, Palungmainadi, and Thimure). Before coming to Tansen (currently the headquarters), the Sen dynasty kings ruled from Puranakot (Purnakot), currently Ribdikot-4, near Shilangthok (border of Bhairavsthan and Khasyauli), as their capital, said Pushkarraj Regmi, an expert on the subject.

Starting with Tutharaya Sen in 1363 BS, the tenth generation of the Sen dynasty, King Rudra Sen, son of Chandra Sen, who is considered the founder of the Palpa kingdom, established the Palpa kingdom in 1563 BS. It is mentioned that Palpa expanded the Palpa kingdom to Kathmandu, Dhankuta and Bhojpur under the leadership of Mukunda Sen I. The Palpa kingdom, which ruled for nearly 498 years, was merged into the Nepalese kingdom in 1861 BS by the strategic cunning of Prithvipal Sen, the last of the Palpa kings.

According to the latest administrative structure, Palpa has Tansen (2007) and Rampur Municipality (2071 Baisakh 25). There are eight rural municipalities in the district. Palpa, which has 81 wards, has 2 constituencies for the House of Representatives. Region 1 has 37 and Region 2 has 44 wards. After 2073 Falgun, according to the federal structure, Nisdi Rural Municipality, Purvakhola, Rambha, Mathagadhi, Baganaskali, Tinau, Ribdikot, Rainadevi Chhahara Rural Municipality were formed. Earlier, there were 60 VDCs and two municipalities. Before the formation of Rampur Municipality, there were 65 VDCs.

82 percent of the district is in the Mahabharata range. 18 percent is in the Chure hills. Most of the district is remote due to its hilly topography. The average annual rainfall in Palpa is 1903.2 millimeters. The areas like Rampur, Darchha, Gezha, Hungi, Madi, Argali, Arunkhola, Purvakhola, Kachal, Darpuk, Dailatung and other parts except the tar of Kaligandaki are less suitable for agricultural production.

There are also religious places like Ranimahal, Srinagardada, Bhagwati Temple and other monasteries, Bagnas, Rurukshetra, Rampur Talpokhara, Sitakunda, Rambhadevi, Ramdi.

Under the Prime Minister's Employment Program, which is operated at the local level, there are no other employment opportunities except for a maximum of one month per year from the budget sent by the federal government. Mayor Raman Bahadur Thapa said that Rampur Municipality has invested in unsecured loans under youth self-employment. According to him, more than 10 million rupees are spent on interest on loans taken by youth annually.

The district has Lumbini Medical College and United Mission Hospital under the health sector. Palpa and Rampur hospitals are there. But for complex diseases, there is a compulsion to go to Butwal, Pokhara and Kathmandu as there are no specialist doctors in the district. According to doctor Surendra Gaire, if you get a complex disease, you have to go outside the district. Rural areas have to face even more problems for treatment.

Tribhuvan University has Tribhuvan Multiple Campus. Although some new subjects have been added, the number of students is constantly decreasing. Some municipalities have provided free health insurance for the underprivileged. According to Ribdikot Rural Municipality Chairman Narayan Bahadur Karki, this year too, the municipality has made health insurance free for the poor, Dalits, and the disabled.

People who have gone to the Land Revenue, Taxpayer Service Office, Transport Service Management Office, and Survey Office to get services that cannot be done without intermediaries are complaining. Jiwan Pandey, a young man from Tansen, said that even when he complained to the Chief District Officer of the district, he did not receive a hearing. ‘The issue of middlemen demanding bribes has been kept in the public hearing,’ he said.

The general public also complains that work has to be done through intermediaries at the local level. Social security allowance has made it easier for senior citizens. ‘There are no young people in the village to work,’ said Krishna Prasad Dhakal of Deurali, Ribdikot Rural Municipality-2, ‘The social security allowance has made it easier to buy household expenses, spices, and salt.’

The main road of the district, Siddhartha Highway, is full of potholes. Despite regular maintenance, it is not sustainable. The road from Ridi to Bankamlang in the Kaligandaki Corridor, from Ramdi to Ranimahal, is yet to be completed. The road connecting Saljhandi to Sunguredhunga has not been completed for years. The condition of the Bansatari Jhadewa Dumkibas road, Rampur Mityal, and Arunkhola roads is dilapidated. The road from Aryabhanjyang to Jabgadi Rampur via Tahu has not been repaired for years.

The road from Harthok to Chhahara has become dusty. Ashish Shrestha of Humin said that crores of budget are allocated for rural roads, but there is never any improvement in main roads. Drinking water has improved in Tansen and Rampur.

Lifting drinking water system has increased in rural areas. Electricity and communication have been reached in almost all places. There have been delays in some concrete bridges under construction on the Kaligandaki River. The Motorepal concrete bridge connecting Baganaskali 6, Yamgha Darpuk, Palpa and Kaligandaki Rural Municipality, Syangja, under the Kaligandaki River has been neglected for years. The contract for the concrete bridge was started on 22 Mangsir 2074 and was supposed to be completed on 21 Mangsir 2077. But even after 5 years of the deadline for completion, not even 45 percent of the physical progress has been made. The bridge sector Pokhara has stated that the Basatari concrete bridge in Yamgha Darpuk is 45 percent complete and the financial progress is only 28 percent.

Even though the local level is trying to provide development infrastructure to every village by looking at the budget situation, the citizens are not stopping moving to the cities in search of facilities. The local levels have increased their investment every year to provide facilities such as roads, electricity, drinking water to the citizens' homes. But the flow of citizens from villages to cities continues, said Purbakhola Rural Municipality Chairman Nun Bahadur Thapa.

In the previous fiscal year alone, 1,103 people migrated across the district, while 3,094 people left. In Purbakhola, 21 people entered the rural municipality last year, while 325 left. In Nisdi, 13 people entered, while 219 people left, and in Rambha, 33 people entered, while 299 left.

In Baganaskali, 35 people entered and 281 people left, while in Tinau, 66 people entered and 201 people left. In Ribdikot, 44 people entered and 340 people left, while in Rainadevi Chhahara, 48 people entered and 393 people left.

In Tansen Municipality, 402 people entered and 501 people left. Rampur Municipality is different from elsewhere. Here, 333 people entered and 250 left. The trend of rural residents migrating in search of education, health, and employment opportunities has increased. The municipality's data shows that 3094 people left while 1103 entered. More people from the district go to Terai districts as well as Pokhara, Kathmandu, and other places.

In the district, education, health, tourism, physical infrastructure, and employment issues are mentioned in the manifestos of almost all parties in every election. But they remain limited to manifestos. 

Political parties and their candidates have been raising slogans like the basis of a prosperous Palpa, agriculture, tourism, quality education and infrastructure, said Karun Thapa, a voter from Tansen-4.  He said that the slogans of connecting youth with entrepreneurship, protecting the rights and interests of children, youth, women, Dalits, senior citizens, the disabled, single women, etc., and preserving the identity and culture of indigenous peoples and castes will always be there. 

He remembers plans brought in the previous elections such as converting the Tansen-Butwal road section from a death road to a life road and upgrading auxiliary roads within the district, constructing expressways connecting the Terai as soon as possible, and operating revenue-generating projects by constructing reservoirs in the Ruru, Ranighat and Mandavya Sarovar areas. 

There are always slogans to ensure the market by operating large projects to protect and develop historical and archaeological areas, as well as to build the necessary tourism infrastructure, and to start business-oriented agriculture and animal entrepreneurship. There is always talk of supporting farmers by bringing a policy to manage wild animals such as monkeys, dumsi, wild boars, but no work has been done accordingly.

He said that he had heard before that a technical university would be established to develop Palpa as a center of technical education. Hari Basyal of Tansen said that although there was talk of upgrading Palpa Hospital and expanding health insurance services to make health services effective, there has been no improvement. He also said that although there was talk of connecting workers who have returned from foreign employment to enterprises, nothing has been done.