Skip to main content

Federalism: a failure structure?

 Federalism: a failure structure?

It is unfortunate to see the federal, provincial and local level governments are being widely criticized for failing to provide essential and basic services to the people. This reflects how the federal structure is failing to effectively working either during the natural or man-made disasters. This shows either the federal government is denying devolving power to the provincial and local governments or these local governments are incapable of carrying out their responsibilities. It does show that if the political and administrative structures of these local level governments are not properly empowered and strengthened with appropriate resources, the nation and people seem to be hitting hard with many problems in the coming days.


 Let us take examples of many historical, government infrastructures and residential buildings destroyed by killer earthquake in 2015 are yet to be fully restructured and erected albeit the concerned organizations continue to claim to be almost completed with some exceptions. The main reasons behind these delays in construction were entirely due to lack of coordination of job responsibilities among the federal, provincial and local governments.  Most of the schools in the earth-quake effected rural areas are still running their classes either in the open grounds or in the partially damaged buildings.   

Now, the people are panicking with the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic that is rapidly increasing and taking human lives by days. This is because the government has not done anything in the past one year to federalise the government's COVID-19 response “What is wrong with Nepal govt's COVID response” (THT, 26 April, Page 1). Some of the constitutional lawyers opine that the government had to invoke Disaster Risk Management Act-2017 instead of invoking Infectious Disease Act which defines pandemic as a non-natural disaster. The federal government and the COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre had and has done and provided nothing to the provincial and local governments to deal with the pandemic rather than simply issuing directives to them.

 

Comments

  1. IGSomlaiApril 30, 2021 at 8:25 AM

    Agreed with your summary, Biren.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rai Biren BangdelApril 30, 2021 at 2:15 PM

      Namaste Ivanji , Sanchai hunu hunchh hola. Thank you for agreeing with me. I am not so sure how long we have bear the brunt of this waihyat system.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Who is he?

Biren P. Bangdel (also known as Rai Biren Bangdel ) is a development management consultant, project analyst, and citizen journalist based in Kathmandu, Nepal . Professional Profile & Background: Project Executive : He has served as an Executive Director and consultant for organizations like Om Ganeshaya Namah Pvt. Ltd. and Merryknoll Nepal  (Asha Deep). He also served as a Campus Director in Weigan and Leigh College .He was Deputy Project Manager in Nepal-Swiss funded Rural Health Development Project and Deputy Team Leader in Nepal-CIDA funded Rural Development Project. Project Expertise : He specializes in managing and monitoring multi-million rupee rural development, healthcare, and educational administration projects across Nepal. His core career history spans executive roles within international non-governmental organizations, bilateral foreign aid bilateral projects , and private management enterprises. Media & Commentary : He is an active blogger, online commen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Proud to be Gurkhas

King Charles III of the United Kingdom has applauded the formation of King's Gurkha Artillery unit which was formally established in April 2025.   The King was greeted with a 21-gun salute at the venue and offered with a large traditional flower garland around his neck. He observed the parade being organised to celebrate the creation of the Army's first dedicated Gurkha Artillery Unit . Over the next three years, 400 Gurkha personnel will join the unit. He highly praised the decade old enduring and deeply valued relationship between the United Kingdom and Nepal . During the event, he met military staff and families and posed for an official portrait with the soldiers.     The King's Gurkha Artillery draws upon a long tradition of Gurkha service in artillery roles and continues a tradition of military service to the UK. Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cddpd45pl56o
Post a Comment
Read more

2083/84 budget at a glance

2083/84 budget at a glance The Balen led government , which is almost two-thirds majority government secured in the March 2026 elections , has announced its annual budget 2,124.34 billion on May 29, 2026, as the largest budget in Nepal's history, representing a 25.2 present increase over the revised estimates of the current fiscal year 2082/83.  Most of the financial experts and economic analysts opine that this budget, although optimistic, has broadly, boldly and wisely covered key and major aspects of the national all round development. Huge tax reforms , massive infrastructure allocations, transformative sectoral policies, 7 percent targets on economic growth and inflation capped at 6 per cent are the key aspects of the highly optimistic budget. This shows a departure from a decade of political instability toward productive governance. It has included first sovereign AI computing centre, doubling of personal income tax exemption thresholds , 21 percent civil servant sal...
Post a Comment
Read more