Regional Scheme
Don’t Tinker With Decentralization

By Mukti Rijal

THE government is reported to have mulled over new mechanism of regional administration. Though the prospective shape of the regional mechanism is yet to be spelt out, the issue is sure to raise some questions if not objections. This is not a subject that should be rushed for execution without weighing pros and cons. It would require debate and consultation. Moreover, the subject also calls for an assessment of the existing set up with reference to decentralization.

Amendments

As reported the government is seeking to introduce amendments in the prevailing Local Administration act. If the contemplated regional mechanism is being implemented with a view to strengthen law and order there may be no harsh critiquing. The government may do it taking the deteriorating law and order situation into account. Or the government can have some definite agenda in regard to it.

However, it will be like reenacting or reintroducing the structure that was entrenched during the partyless Panchayat era.

The zonal commissioners (Anchaladhish) during the disbanded Panchayat era wielded all potent authority and throttled the voices of dissent. They exercised more or less undefined excessive authority whether it was law and order, suppression of political dissent or exercising maneuver within Panchayati politics. The first target of the movement for democracy launched in 1990 had its focus on to curb the excesses of the Anchaladhish.

The posts of Anchaladhish were abolished to be followed by the dissolution of the partyless Panchayat system.

There can be no repeat of the failed mechanism. The only rationale of the on going move initiated by the government may lie on the felt need to strengthen the law and order. But it needs clear and precise mapping of the roles and responsibilities with due account of the failures. Moreover, districts have been established as the administrative units and they have direct communications with the Home Ministry. Will superimposition of a layer lead to enhancing efficiency and effectiveness of the administration is a question that needs to be properly assessed and studied.

The fast paced communications has made it possible for the district to establish rapport with the center. In many contexts, center can be more accessible for the districts than the regional establishments. The regional offices created during the hey day of the Panchayat have become useless and redundant as the regional mechanism has not been able to mitigate inefficiency and enhance effectiveness in work execution. Opinions are getting stronger in favor of phasing out regional offices and making district units especially the DDCs capable by endowing with competencies for governance and development.

Any initiation for creating units at the regional level apart from the ones that exist should be undertaken carefully. It should not be directed against the spirit of the Local self-governance Act that has for the first time introduced devolutionary arrangement in the power allocation scheme.

Local bodies have emerged as an important actors of the local governance and development. Moreover, they are slowly being recognized as partners of development. This has also led to an expanded arena at the local level for democratic and legitimate representation of people and redressal to their needs and grievances.

More development activities are taking place at the local level and people tend to exercise influence and participate in the process of development planning. Resource utilization is more visible and local governments have become more accountable and transparent. Mass media is keeping vigilance on the activities of local bodies and cases of irregularities are disclosed. An increased vigilance of the people is an insurance against the misutilization of the resources. The process moved in strengthening local institutions and empowering people should not be derailed through creation new tiers of administration and governance.

More the hierarchies of administration and governance are created accessibility and flexibility is reduced. Following the prolonged discussion and examination decentralization has been put on the track. The legal framework has been fine-tuned. And more is being awaited to remove bottlenecks of the process. No tinkering with the decentralization should be allowed lest the process is disturbed.

The village, district and center should stay as the principal tiers with emphasis on the empowerment of the people through decentralized governance. No move should be allowed to go any further if that militates against the on going process of decentralization and local initiatives. The amendment in Local administration act to create new bureaucratic agency at the regional level for the purpose of coordinating activities only for toning up law and order situation may be agreeable.

Commitment

But it goes against principle of making the government apparatus lean and effective. The government should have strong commitment and also the unflagging faith that decentralization alone help address the problems confronted by the nation. No central prescription and bureaucratic approach provides solution to the problems.

Hole In The Pocket

By PNK

THEY say that life has to be faced as it comes along. But are the hurdles of life so easy to overcome. That may be debatable. The challenges that lie in front are not always either comprehensible and if they are then searching for the right approach may not be as easy as assumed.

Looking at a football match and suggesting the moves or the passes that the booters should make is going just too far. Your ideas sitting in the stands don’t count much as far as the outcome of the match is concerned. As a member of the group of spectators, you have the right, in democracy, to shout hoarse as to what the players should do. But land in the field as a player and you’ll realise how big the football ground is.

This football scene does bring us back into the real life situation once the normal game ends with the final verdict. Game is a game after all. Once it had been a platform to show your skills and stamina. Now there is good money to be made—even losers get a small percentage of the "spoils". But back to life in general the scenario just changes. One battle won doesn’t make one a hero for all times.

Just peep into the family life. Of course, no trespassing meant as regards the privacy guaranteed by the law. Does the smiling faces that a visitor might invite reflect the tensions building up within the minds of the family members? It could be both a YES or NO. It’s like the casual greeting offered to a person out on his way to the hospital. The query "Are you fine?" may most often than not get the response in "Yes". After all no one has the time and energy to listen to all his physical problems or the mental woes.

The family goes on grinding the axe in trying to balance the family budget for at least a month. For an employee who gets the pay packet towards the end of the month must use his best of maneuvering skills to make it last the whole of the next month if he is not to turn a mental wreck by the middle of the coming month. In fact, going by experience, one has to be conjurer of sorts to do that trick with special effects.

For an average family, day one of the month starts with assessing the demands that will be made on the pay packet that he has carried home—keeping it in bank for earning 4 or 5 per cent interest means starvation at home. It means one has to take precautions against developing any hole in one’s pockets. But holes to form and there is no denying this.

Tales of famous men justify the story of a month based on credit to run the family hearth. When the famous poet Laxmi Prasad Devkota, it is said, landed home in the evening on pay day the pocket was literally empty. Imagine the horror stricken faces of his family members. But life went on, sometimes in prosperity and most of the time in difficulty.

Dal, bhat and tarkari for the whole month has to be taken into account as the stomach is the place which set the pace for other activities to take place. But dal, bhat and tarkari don’t alone make the scene. Where will the fuel come to fire the stove or salt and spices and oil to make the tarkari taste the way it should on the palate. These three items themselves invite of a number of assistants for best results.

Leave aside the other expenses for a while, the three ingredients necessary for family sustenance or healthy life themselves are so great that they gobble up a major part of your income. What you are left with is something that would hardly make much sense. Turn to creditors or sell any land if you have any and so on. Whatever you do, life is not easy. The hurdles are there and barely a few can easily overcome them. Maybe reading Gita could help: do your karma and forget what the results may be.