Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Vidya Nath Nepal, Kathmandu

Background:

Nepal is a least developed country with diversified topography, in some cases some of its areas isolated from district headquarters and rural remote areas having subsistence agricultural economy. Indigenous farming with some improvements in some areas is providing livelihood for 66% of the population in 2005 and accounting 38% of the GDP (2004/05). Remote and far-flung rural areas are often insecure and conflict prone too for about a decade. There is also problem of social exclusion among the residents of such areas. Due to the poor governance, democracy has little to offer to the poor of these remote areas except that the emphasis on poverty reduction has remained more pronounced in democratic framework than before. The population of the country is increasing rapidly but the agricultural production is not increasing to meet even the food demand of the people. Thus, Nepal is facing food deficit and is forced to import food to meet the deficit. On the one hand, there is a short supply of food, on the other, the distribution system is not efficient and effective particularly in remote and conflict prone areas. An efficient and effective distribution system is very important to supply goods including food from surplus areas to deficit ones.

Supply Policies

The Tenth Plan (2002-2007) has conceded to manage supply system promoting role of private sector. The Plan aims at reliable and easily accessible supply of essential commodity through private sector. Government sector basically will monitor the prices and quality of essential goods and services and protection of consumers' welfare. Government also will manage necessary buffer stock for food security. For this purpose following are the supply policies of the Tenth Plan:

Supply of essential consumer goods and construction materials

The supply of iodized salt will be arranged through various agencies in 22 remote and semi-remote districts and the import and sales of salt will be arranged in other districts.

Easy availability of essential commodities and construction materials

Necessary supply of food items in remote areas will be maintained through Nepal Food Corporation and other agencies. Easy availability will be maintained to ensure food security.

Arrangement of fair-price shops Consumer groups and cooperatives will be promoted to open fair-price shops for sales and distribution of necessary goods.

Checking the monopolistic tendency, artificial shortage, rent seeking and obstruction in the supply system

Emphasis will be given to create a competitive environment with the participation of the private sector in the supply of goods.

Regular monitoring will be done and necessary mechanism for eliminating monopoly be in place to end artificial shortage.

For the protection of consumers' right, various programs will be launched to raise public awareness to maintain quality and effective monitoring.

Regular supplies in the food deficiency areas.

Regular monitoring will be made regarding demand and supply situation of foods, daily necessity and construction materials and this information will be disseminated as necessary.

Provision of buffer stock will be continued as market stabilization, measure to ensure food security and maintain stocks.

Checking the shortage of goods due to natural calamities or other reasons

Arrangements for additional supplies of goods, medicines and clothing will be made for natural disaster-prone areas.

Problems in implementation :

The capacity of Nepal Oil Corporation, National Trading Limited and Nepal Food Corporation and even Salt Trading Corporation is limited. They need drastic change in their institutional set up and service delivery systems with the tone of modern management even in public supply system. They have no effective distribution chain throughout the remote areas. Some lessons can be learnt by the STC management which is slightly better than others. Still now only remote districts Head Quarters are covered and basically rural areas are still untouched by the service. Ration card system which is very difficult to administer can provide the poor people the opportunities of getting supplies in lower prices. In Nepal there is no such ration card system as in India. The existing provisions of legal systems are not sufficient to run ration card system. The distribution management rules are necessary to cope with the supply of essential commodities in the remote areas.

Another major problem is that there is no cost reduction scheme and quality assuring. There are many barriers in the transport of commodities. There is shortage of good godowns in remote areas. It ultimately gives pressure to the cost of distribution and quality. Another problem is related with transport subsidy. Transport subsidy is not provided to all necessary items consumed in remote areas.

Yet another problem is distributed items in remote districts are diverted to government employees and better off people. India's experience also is that there is 100% diversion of wheat in Nagaland. It varies in other states which is significantly high. Poor people may not have even cash to buy such subsidized foods. Quality of food may not be upto the standard. There should be free movement of goods including food within the country. Sometimes, there are barriers to transport food items including local charges from one district to other.

Nepal's essential commodities supply arrangement is quite different with that of other developing countries' PDS. PDS has also the element of price subsidy in other countries, whereas Nepal does not provide any price subsidy. Nepal is withdrawing even transport subsidy on food items where road is linked. For example, Doti does not get transport subsidy these days. The government does not prevail at the cost of private sector. Thus, genesis of Nepal's public distribution arrangement can be attributed to concentration of majority of below poverty line people in the northern hill areas which lack road link as stated below. Lack of market integration, low productivity in agriculture, lack of off-farm employment, lack of government's intensive program to increase the productivity and production of indigenous cereal crops or other agro-products in remote areas are also supposed to be the genesis of Nepal's PDS. Last but not the least the government started the distribution of food items as mentioned below to remote areas since 1960s as a part of welfare program of the state. The problems can be grouped as following:

Problem of institutional network:

There is no distribution network of Public Sector Corporation except STC in remote areas. At the same time public sector corporations lack performance competitiveness due to their monopoly.

Private sector distribution agencies lack corporate culture. They do not see any attraction in remote areas due to low-density population.

The absence of organized marketing system is another hurdle in supply management in remote areas. There is inadequacy of wholesale mandies and stalls.

Specialized cooperatives and fair price shops are not in existence.

There is lack of storage facilities in remote areas.

Problem of connectivity with market:

Most of the remote hill areas are not connected with modern markets. The population of hill area is in isolation that makes distribution system more difficult task.

The high transportation cost (air lifting) is hindering the growth of commerce in remote areas.

Due to over centralization, economic opportunities and service delivery are poor in remote areas.

Legal problem:

Present Acts are not directly related with supply management. Black marketing and certain other Social Crime and Punishment Act 1975 is inadequate to streamline supply management. Therefore, there is a need of a comprehensive legal arrangement to address the distribution system of the country.

Other problems:

There are certain barriers of local level institutions in different districts and municipal areas in highway. It increases the cost of transportation. There is no regular and transparent procurement system of the government. The Tenth Plan has stated the provision of buffer stock but there is a need of transparent procurement system.

Present Distribution System:

The distribution system of Nepal can be divided into three broad categories as follows:-

Related to urban areas

Related to accessible rural areas

Related to remote rural areas

Distribution system of urban areas:

Such urban areas are accessible with modern transport network. There are few cities which have modern market facilities. The service providers of these cities are commercial competitor’s agents i.e. producers and suppliers. A large number of producers, importers, wholesalers and retailers are engaged to act as distributing partners in a competitive manner. Such urban areas in Nepal are limited in numbers. Kathmandu valley, Pokhara valley, Biratnagar, Birjung, Bhairahawa, Nepaljung and some towns particularly in Terai districts are the examples of such urban areas. The distribution system of such urban area is running on competitive basis through private sector.

Distribution system of accessible areas:

Such accessible areas are linked with major cities through rough roads. The trucks, tractors, bull carts and jeeps are the source of transportation in such areas. The population of the village decides the supply system in such areas. There are local markets in which the retailers and vendors sale their goods as per the demand of the residents of such markets and villages. Generally such markets are the accessible headquarters of hill areas and local markets and villages in Terai region.

Distribution system of rural remote areas :

Throughout the 20 th century until last decade and even now there has been rapid migration of population from remote rural areas to urban and accessible areas in Nepal. Still a significant number of population lives in remote rural areas of Nepal. The main reason of such migration is lack of “Trickle down effect” (as mentioned by Robert McNamara) of the development efforts. Upto the middle of 1980s rural development was highlighted by donor agencies in the name of Integrated Rural Development Projects (IRDP) through which sectoral investments on infrastructure, health, agriculture and education were made as prescription to alleviate poverty of rural poor. The result was not significant, so the IRDP model was criticized by development veterans. To displace it they prescribed laisez-faire Structural Adjustment System based on the reduced state activities and economic liberalization programs which would allow rural people to prosper if they build on their competitive advantages. Nepalese policy makers did not delay to take the SAP prescription of international organization like IMF and World Bank.

The new system also is not proved to be able to address the reduction of poverty including efficient supply system to remote rural areas of Nepal. His Majesty's Government has classified 30 districts as remote districts and has tried to manage supply system accordingly. Transport subsidy is provided in distributing food and salt in these districts. The names of remote districts are given as follows:- 1. Taplejung 2. Panchthar 3. Sankhuwasava 4. Bhojpur 5. Okhaldhunga 6. Solukhumbu 7. Sindhuli 8. Ramechap 9. Khotang 10. Dhading 11. Gorkha 12. Manang 13. Mustang 14. Myagdi 15. Baglung 16. Pyuthan 17. Rolpa 18. Jajarkot 19. Rukum 20. Dailekh 21. Dolpa. 22. Mugu 23. Kalikot 24. Jumla 25. Humla 26. Bajura 27. Bajhang 28. Baitadi 29. Acham and 30.Darchula

There is no geographical connectivity with other areas and also between each other. The isolation of the remote areas has made supply system more complicated. Because of difficult geographical situation the transportation cost is very high in these areas, which hinders the development of commercial market in remote areas.

Paper presented at a NEFAS/FES Seminar held on March 10-11, 2006-ed.

Foreigners in Sport

By Trishna KC, Nepal

Foreigners have been coming to Nepal with different purposes like, traveling, working and various other reasons. These days a lot of Africans are seen at a ground of Lainchour practicing football. Even few of the domestic team of the country has taken Nigerians in their team. Further, a group of' Africans has formed a team called `African United' who have been playing Aaha Gold Cup at Dharan and also won a match in Pokhara.

Among 15 national team who played the match (A Division League), 11 of them had used foreign players. From this time International Transfer Certificate (ITC) was not necessary and ANFA had given permit to use at least 5 foreign players so there were more involvement of foreign players in the team. As some of the Nepali players had left the team and went abroad, it was necessary for the national team to get some good players. Therefore to replace some of the strikers, these players were taken in the team in contract basis. Now that the league game is over contract is also over, they are found playing on their own.

There were five Nigerian players in the team of Manang Marshayangdi Club. According to the coach of the team these players had been taken to strengthen the team since some of the striker left the team. Altogether 35 players were allowed to register in a team and we had 30 Nepali players therefore we hired five of the players among whom three were very good. Africans are found to be very good in football so the national teams selected them. Besides, their interest in football is also increasing in Nepal.

Birat Jung Shah, Treasurer of ANFA says, "The involvement of foreign players has benefit a lot to the Nepalese players. The players have gained confidence in playing with them and this will make them more comfortable in playing with other foreign team in international event."

He further states, "There has been involvement of foreign players in India and other many countries too therefore we also decided to include them in our team to certain extent and we have now not restricted for the ITC. This has increased an attraction for the audience. People have become more interested in watching the games to see these foreign players in the ground."

Bikram Thapa, Event Coordinator and Initiator for the African United team says, "In the match of African United in Pokhara and Dharan the audience were more than expected. 15, 000 people from the surrounding area had come to see the match in Pokhara. Similarly in Dharan too there were many people from the different district who had come to see the match. This has certainly increased the domestic tourism of the country." Altogether 30 foreign players were involved in the league game associating with different teams this time.

Lalit Krishna Shrestha, President of Three Star Club and Vice President of ANFA says, "The involvement of the foreign players in the Nepalese team has definitely increased the standard of the game and has been able to attract more audience. This also has helped to strengthen the team as a whole."

He further states, "This is a good start and in future too this type of involvement could be seen in the league game. More people will come to know about the sporting event of Nepal and lot others who are interested in football could be seen here in playing the matches."

Though there were involvement of foreign players in Nepal in the past days too but not like this. Moreover, it was more expensive for a team to pay for the ones with ITC, which was compulsory in the past days. With this start the football club expect more foreigners involving in the days to come.

African United team was formed in the year 2005 and since then these players have come together to play the invitational games. Chijioke Akuneziri Coach of the African United says, "I had been to different part of the world to play football. Nepal can be a destination for sports and it is yet to be explored. The main purpose to establish this team was to bring ourself together and for the welfare of our team. We also want to give a positive image of African people. 99 percent of our team members are Nigerian and 1 percent South African."

He further says, "I had come to Nepal in the year 2000 and since then I have been moving around for the sports. Mostly people are interested to be professional like in doctors and engineers but the importance of sport is yet to be known. There are other options in life as well. Nepalese players have the potential and can do better in sports. One can make more money form sports than other professions and a player should realize this. Given a good exposure, player at Nepal also can do better in the days to come."

However the involvement of foreign players have benefited Nepal by encouraging the local team and promoting the country through sports.

Text courtesy: The NTTR March 20 - 26, 2006-ed.

Crisis Guidelines for Tourism Industry

Terrorist attacks and acts of war have cast dark clouds over the tourism sector in many parts of the world, underscoring the urgent need for good crisis management in this industry' which usually prefers to be thought of as happy and carefree. While news of large-scale crises can take an infinite variety of forms and have been occurring regularly for many years. Natural disasters such as floods. hurricanes, fires or volcanic eruptions sometimes do more harms to the image of a destination than to the infrastructure itself. Civil unrest, accidents, crime and disease will damage the attractiveness of the strongest destinations. While even economic factors, such as a sharp fluctuation in exchange rates can contribute to tourism crises.

Crisis management strategies are needed to help retain the confidence of travelers and the travel industry and to minimize the impact of a crisis on the destination. No matter what kind of crisis occurs, the techniques for dealing with it effectively are quite similar. Good communications based on the principles of honesty and transparency is the key to successful crisis management, but other tourism specialties also need to be involved, especially, Communication, Promotion, Safety and Security, and Market Research. To assist with this process, the following guidelines suggest specific actions to take: Before the crisis, during the crisis, and immediately after the crisis.

Preparing for the worst before the crisis is the main technique to deal crisis. Never underestimate the possible harm a crisis can do to your tourism. Crises are like viruses- sudden, insidious and virulent. They are extremely dangerous. The best way to minimize the impact of a crisis is to be well prepared.

Putting a communication strategy in place

Prepare a crisis management plan. A crisis can take a myriad of forms so begin to plan by imaging the worst-case scenario. Audit current recourses for dealing with a crisis. Designate responsibilities and a chain of command for decision-making. Collect a list of key contacts in an emergency. Involve public services and private tourism companies in the planning process- one key to effective crisis ' management are good cooperation. Rehearse for a crisis and update the plan annually.

Designate spokespersons: It is essential that information to the media in a crisis be authoritative and coordinated. For this, the designated spokesperson could be a high-ranking official but not necessarily the top person in your organization. Additional spokespersons also need to be designated to take turns during crisis. Train spokesperson by practicing in mock news conferences and crisis rehearsals.

Establish a press and communication department: To be prepared for a crisis every tourism organization needs to set up a communications department. The department should include staff trained in working with the media. A good contact list of local and international media, several telephone lines, fax broadcast machines or a mass email computer program capable of reaching the media in short notice, and background information on your organization including maps, stock, photos, arrivals statistics and fact sheets on the previous crisis. If possible, make this background information available in a special media section of your destination's website.

Communicate regularly with media: reputations can take year to develop, so it is important to communicate frequently in good times as well as bad. The policy should be one of honesty and transparency. You can face a crisis with a certain degree of credibility, if you have made an effort to establish good contacts with the media by supplying them with information about what is new in your destination. If you have promptly responded to any questions they have and if you have made good friends with reporters during FAM trips organized for foreign journalists.

Train spokespersons in safety and security: Communication on security should be responsive rather than pro­active. When a crisis erupts, the spokesperson should be able to communicate on an authoritative manner on security issues- striking a good balance between providing enough information without putting too much emphasis on security issues. According to one tourism minister experienced in such matters: "You do security, you don't talk about it."

Promotion Planning

Develop a database of partners in the travel trade: All tour operators sending tourists to your destination as well as major travel agencies and transport companies in your key generating markets should form the foundation of the database including incoming operators, tour organizers, local hotels, tourism associations and boards.

Be honest and ethical in promotion: Just as in communication, building and rnaintaining credibility is fundamental in tourism promotion. Avoid overselling or misrepresenting your product and be ethical in the choice of promotional content or you could create your own crisis. The Bahamas, for example, was recently slammed in the international media for using photos in its advertising that were taken in Hawaii, the Seychelles and Florida.

Set aside budget reserves for emergencies: Recuperating from a crisis requires money for additional promotion and communication. A prudent manager will set aside budget reserves in a special emergency fund for use in case of crisis. Try to get advance permission to spend crisis funds without going through lengthy bureaucratic procedures to permit a quick and flexible response in an emergency.

Stay out of travel advisory war: Travel advisories should be issued in accordance with Article 6 of WTO's Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, which states, "Government should issue such information without prejudicing in an unjustified or exaggerated manner the tourism industry of host countries and the interests of their own operators." Travel advisories should be discussed with authorities in the host country and travel professionals before they are issued. Warning should be limited to specific geographical areas rather than blanket an entire country and be lifted as soon as the situation returns to normal. Avoid retaliatory travel advisories.

Text courtesy: The NTTR March 20-26 issue, 2006-ed.

Institutional Arrangement for Distribution of Basic Goods and Services in Conflict Area of Nepal

Jagannath Ojha, Nepal

Introduction:

Conflict is a natural disagreement resulting from individual or group that differ in attitudes, beliefs, values or needs. It can also originate from past rivalries, and personality differences. (http:/www.ctic.purdue.edu). The main ingredients of conflict are:

• Needs
• Perceptions
• Power
• Values
• Feelings and emotions

A conflict may have low intensity or high intensity and violent or non-violent actions. It may be described as constructive if it yields better payoffs and improves an understanding between rival parties. It may be destructive if it escalates violence, fear and animosity among the conflicting parties and increases the cost of peace. And uncontrolled domestic conflicts have a clear potential to spill over across geopolitical boundaries of the nation-state and pull the weight of external powers by reason of their security concern (Dahal, 2003: 5-7).

After the Second World War, world's technological enhancement brought large changes in economy and livelihood in a number of countries whose economic structure was dominated by the agriculture. The technological revolution in space communication turned the world as global village, which is one of the main catalytic agents in changing the economic structure as well as livelihood of the people of these countries.

The private sectors in these countries are the main actors for service delivery which in turn have become one of the main investment partners of the government. They are also consuming major labour force and cover most of the service delivery components. The role of government is to make conducive policies keeping in mind that private sectors are mostly profit makers. Market is only the driving force to economic policy and price determination in such countries. The roles of government are being minimised day by day and confined to the function of monitoring and implementing social security and maintaining law and order. The challenges ahead are to establish themselves as an economic empire through technology, policy, influence and power. Their institutional structures are oriented to address such policies and programmes.

Nepalese Conflict and Institutional Setup

Until the restoration of multiparty democracy in 1990, internal conflicts in the scale as we see today were quite unknown to Nepalese people. During the last four decades while many countries of South and South East Asia passed through a phase of turbulence and conflicts, Nepal stood an exception and enjoyed a long era of peace and stability unparallel in history. However, the country could not take any advantage in economic front by utilising this peaceful situation. Poor social and economic infrastructure, unavailability of the resource for investment, lack of education and human resources were the causes being the stalemate situation of economic stagnant. The stunted growth of the organised sector has resulted in the prominence of unorganised sector dominating the economy where disguised employment is common feature.

A large number of public institutions were established in Panchayat era with the help of bilateral agencies but the system also failed to encourage the private sectors investment. Most of infrastructure, industrial, trading, banking, power, transport even consultancy services were controlled by the state. The monopoly of government intervention limited the growth of private sector. As a result the state became the only sector involved in basic services delivery. After the restoration of multiparty system in 1990 the successive governments adopted the policy of economic liberalization which resulted in the privatization of state owned industries. However, without creating sufficient environment for the flow of private or foreign investment, these governments also privatised the public industries which were key producers of basic goods and services. This further worsened the distribution system.

Institution in a broader sense is an organization which functions within a constitutional or legal framework. Such institutions are formal organizations. But in sociological perspective, institutions in society have broader areas and more focused on informal actions, which are based on social customs and culture. Family, marriage, relatives etc are social institutions and Parma (exchanges of labour), Guthi, etc are economic institutions. The institutions are formed to fulfil the needs of people and society. This paper does not explain about formal and informal institutions and their functions but tries to utilise both from the perspective of delivering goods and services in rural part of the country. The state is treated as a set of institutions which manages the provisions of public goods and services for the society. Politically, this view has been the centre of analysis among liberal/pluralists.

The country has been trapped in internal conflict between state and the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) since 1996. The displacement of people from rural to urban centre or even outside the country has been accelerated. Because of the strong presence of the Maoists in rural areas, the government's services are limited only to urban and suburban areas for security reasons. More and more people of rural communities have been deprived of basic services like health, education, communication, electricity and drinking water. Serious impact is seen in the supply of food grains to those districts which are known as food deficit districts especially, the high hills of western Nepal. The politics of subsidy on food has a long history in these high hills where government owned Nepal Food Corporation is responsible for supply and distribution of food grains under the supervision of CDO. Similarly, Agricultural Input Corporation is responsible for the supply of agriculture inputs such as fertilizer, seeds, insecticides/pesticides and equipments. The conflict is also affecting the individual households whose livelihood is based on subsistence agriculture. Anecdotal evidence would suggest that the conflict has had an adverse effect on agricultural and livestock production, partly as consequences of the rural exodus and partly as a result of lack of inputs (Seddon and Adhikari: 2004).

Judged from the conflict classifications Nepalese internal conflict is mainly "Manifest Conflict" and partly "Structural Conflict". "The government-Maoist conflict in Nepal until recently assumed structural features". (Dahal: 2003, 12). The numbers of factors are responsible for the conflicting parties to enter into the armed conflict. The social factor such as deprivation of certain services due to caste division, limited access to economic opportunities for rural poor, mass corruption, education and its enhancement, external forces, social mobilization, and political openness are the main causes of conflict. Among these causes exploitation of deprived people in social and economic opportunities is the accelerating factor. The iceberg of discontent was discernible only in 1995 when a dissatisfied faction decided to dissociate from the political mainstream and took up arms against the democratically installed regime. The armed conflict is an outcome of all these disparities and therefore has not been erupted all of sudden.

The involvement of state into development of social and economic sectors in Nepal does not have long history. The role of government was limited only to security and taxation matters before 1950. The intervention into agriculture, trade and commerce, education, industry, health services, etc. has been started only after democracy. Before democratic regime, the communities themselves established their own societal institutions through which they executed their societal responsibilities by setting societal norms which were also a part of their culture. However, most of these institutions were backed by the strong feudal society such as Mukhiya, Jamindar, Pujari, Pandits, etc. Naturally, educational enhancement, social mobilization and extension of communication have changed the beliefs towards these feudal institutions. The armed conflict weakened or say more or less destroyed such societal institutions which were functioning as part of our society. Therefore, the country now has been plunged into a chasm of institutional existence in rural areas. The challenges ahead are to provide the basic services to rural part of the country by establishing the proper institutions and approaches which could function even in the conflict situation. There are no hard and fast rules to do so, and therefore depend on different ecological zones with different communities.

Political situation of the country in the recent years has badly affected the business sector. The political and administrative instability, lack of practical planning, institutional capacity, reliance on unsolicited proposals, difficulty in obtaining commercial loans and lack of government support arrangements have been the major impediments to stronger private sector participation in the context of industrialization of Nepal (Dahal et al, 1999: 15). The formation and execution of policy has not been consistence. Most of the institutions have been established with political interest, rather than economic one without considering their economic values and sustainability. For instance, National Trading Ltd. a public sector company was established in such a period of time which could have left to the private sector.

It can be realised that infrastructures are the main components of service delivery. Nepal, one of lowest road density in the world is facing acute food shortage in high hills. Karnali, the zone with no road access has always remained in the food deficit cluster. It can be perceived that the level of governance is more or less the same in all ecological zones but the people without transport network are facing acute problem. This is an indication that the transport network is the most effective means of development.

Existing Institutional and Organizational Setup:

There are many organizations within different institutional set-up. Among these Government, Local Government, INGO/NGO, Private sectors are the important ones. The following successive paragraph tries to explain about these organizations with some specific institutional setup.

Government and affiliated Organizations: Broadly, government institution can be classified into 5 categories.

Development Organizations: Such institutions consist of development ministry and its associates which are extended from central to the community level such as ministry of physical planning and works, ministry of local development, ministry of education, ministry of health, ministry of agriculture etc.

Security Organizations: Such institutions consist of security organization such as army, armed police and civilian police.

General Services: These institutions provide property or social protective components and collect revenue for the state such as ministry of finance, ministry of land reform, etc.

Law and order enforcing organization: Such institutions are responsible for enforcing government rules and regulation as well as maintain law and order. For example ministry of home affairs and its associates in local level.

Public utilities corporations: Such institutions are established under the corporate law and function as the goods and service traders. For example Water Supply and Sewerage Corporation, Electricity Authority, Telecommunication, Udayapur Cement Factory etc.

The central government is structured as council of ministers with the downward structure of line ministries and departments extending their branches and activities into Region, Districts and VDC/Municipalities. The institutional representation is different for different ministries. Some of them are limited only to central level offices whereas many organizations have been extended upto the grass root level of VDC. For example, ministry of science and technology has no branches. But the ministry of communication is extended even at community level through office of postal services. (Figure 1 is the examples of three types of institutional setup within government institution. Line ministry 1 has its offices as central, regional and district levels, line ministry 2 does not have regional offices where as line ministry 3 has its offices upto the community level)

The government organization is the largest institution that provides employment in Nepal. About 5,00,000 people are working currently under different institutions. Out of this around 90,000 are civil servants working in government offices, around 1,00,000 are school teacher, 63,000 are university teachers, 150,000 security personnel and around 100,000 are in different public corporations and project specific offices.