Public Expenditure Review Commission Report For Effective Bureaucracy

By K. P. Sharma

PUBLIC Expenditure Review Commission (PERC), formed a few months back to study and recommend the government regarding the size and nature of bureaucracy, has recently presented its report.

Interim Report

The commission’s first interim report has tried to address every aspect of the country’s bureaucratic sector and is going to get a complete picture of administration in its second interim report which could be completed within the current fiscal year. The government is expected to make some necessary changes in the bureaucracy in accordance with the recommendations of the commission.

The report presented to Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya by the convenor of the Commission, Binay Dhwoj Chand, has tried to visualise the physical structure of the administrative mechanism of the entire Kingdom and the nature and number of bureaucrats to make the mechanism function well. Some of the outstanding recommendations of the PERC report include decreasing the number of ministries, merging Special Police Department and the Public Revenue Investigation Department to form an independent investigative bureau to be headed by the head of government and scrapping district and regional offices which have overlapping functions.

Furthermore, the report suggests that the government should establish a single body at district level for running services of the same nature for which there may be separate ministries or departments at the centre.

This obviously hints at trimming down the size of bureaucracy into an attractively manageable form.

The government on the other hand has already initiated the task of trimming down the size of bureaucracy by offering "golden handshake" to the civil servants who have either reached 50 years of age or served for 20 years. Under the new provision any civil servant who meets the above-mentioned criteria can voluntarily retire from his/her job. According to the Ministry of General Administration, employees seeking voluntary retirement are flooding to the Ministry everyday.

With this, the size of bureaucracy is expected to come to a manageable level and that it would be efficient and result-oriented. Back in 1991, the government had formed "Civil Service Improvement and Recommendation Commission" under the convenorship of Kulshekhar Sharma. The Commission had recommended the government to trim down the size of bureaucracy, bring down the number of ministries, scrap the departments and offices which are of no use at all and facilitate the civil employees so as to motivate them and make them more efficient.

Experts say that one third of the existing civil servants is enough to look after the administrative and other works of the government. Presently, there are more than one hundred thousand civil employees, excluding those of corporations and other semi-government institutions and more than 10 per cent of the total annual budget has to be set aside for them.

On the other hand, the , Public Service Commission, the country’s only constitutional body authorised to screen bureaucrats and provide manpower to the government, is revising the curriculum and its examination system at a war footing so that it could select
better human resources. If the civil servants are analytical, creative and are well motivated towards their duties, even a small number of people will be sufficient to man the entire administration of the nation.

Meanwhile, the government has yet to treat all the employees on an equal footing regarding their salaries and other facilities.

The employees at the Cottage and Small Scale Industry Development Committee have not yet received their increased salary even after the government declared the increment of pay scale some four months back. Nepal Television, the only national television of the country, has also behaved partially with its temporary employees stating that the office lacks the amount to provide them with the facility. Tribhuvan University, country’s largest and the oldest university, is still working out to fix the rate of payment for the teachers appointed on a daily wage basis.

The teachers working in the outlying parts of the Kingdom have almost the same plight. After the government in its budget announced to scrap the bonus system, the teachers who had been receiving 100 per cent remote allowance have been deprived of the facility. At present they have been receiving less than what they used to get previously.

Although the government has despatched circulars to arrange the salary amounts in such a way that would not be less than that of the previous years’, it seems all the offices have not been following the directives.

Employees at Nepal Television and Tribhuvan University say that it was a partiality. They say they feel humiliated while receiving the salary though they work for equal hours and with equal pressures as their permanent counterparts do.

Future Plan

Indeed, the government cannot expect much from the employees who are not treated equally in terms of perks and payments. In such a confusing atmosphere, the government needs to seriously mull over its further plans and policies. By doing so, it would not only ensure the smooth functioning of bureaucracy which is most essential for democratic consolidation and all round development of the country, but also be beyond any charges and criticisms.

Social Life Under The Rana Rule

By Guna Dev Bhattarai

THE Joint family system was in Vogue among most of the commoners of Nepal. The Ranas being the most privileged class, did not have such system. Even an illegitimate member of a Rana was given a huge building as residence. The commoners being financially weak, could not afford separate buildings for their sons and grandsons. That is why they were bound to reside in the same house.

Unity among the members of the family was the order of the day. The oldest member by virtue of being experienced and matured would command respect from all other members of the family. He possessed every right to punish the family members if the latter acted against the established social norms of life. If a father failed to control over wayward activities of his son, the former could request the help of the Rana Government to punish the latter. If the government found authentic proof concerning the misbe-haviour of the son the former could inprison the latter for a certain period of time so that he might improve his character during his impriso-nment.

Generally, the birth of a male issue was welcomed by the family but it did not mean that the female issue was neglected, If a woman remained unmarried up to the age of thirty-five she was entitled to inherit property from her guardians.

The Newar community had some social functions which were not practised by other communities for a girl of Newar community there was a nuptical rite called Yihi which kliterally means marriage. Yihi was known as Sriphala Vivaka or Prathamavivako, that, is, first marriage. If was just a marriage ritual. The most important factor of this ceremony was that the girl having performed Yihi could not become a widow. In case of divorce or the demise of her husband she could remarry. Another social function was Janko which was performed when the person reached 77 years, 7 months, 7 days and the like. The Buddhists celebrated Janko ceremonies at the person reached 77th 80th and 99th year and they were called Bhimaratha, Deveratha and Maharatha respectively.

When the girl reached the period of menstruation and puberty she was confined to a dark room for full eleven days. Her father and brothers were not allowed to visit that room. This was called Bratayagu. On the 12th day she would come out of her dark room and pray to the rising sun. All the above said ceremonies still hold good in the valley.

Arranged marriages, with some exceptions, were prevalent in the Kathmandu Valley. The person who would settle the marriage was called Lami or the marriage broker. After final settlement of the would-be union of the sexes, the bride would be elegantly dressed in keeping with the status of her family. She would wear a variety of ornaments like tik, tago, tuki and swan in particular. Usually she would be accompanied by a maid-in-waiting. The arrival of the bride would be warmly received by her mother–in–law at the gate of the bridegrooms home. Then and there she was entrusted with the house-hold affairs by handing over a bunch of keys. She would follow the mother-in–law and inspect the treasury, storeroom and the like. After some traditional rites, the bride would garland her husband and bow down to touch his feet. The union between the opposite sexes was regarded sacred. They were expected to abide by many obligations as long as they lived together. On the third day the couple would visit the temple of their titular deity and the bridegroom put Sindur (vermillion powder) on her forehead. The next day the relatives of the bride would visit her. This was called Khwaswaya. The bride would receive presents in cash and kind from the relatives.

The Ranas either would give their daughters in marriage to the members of the Royal family and vice- versa. Many of the Ranas had courted matrimonial alliances with the princes or princesse of India. Most of the princess of India were given a lot of money so that the Ranas’ daughters might lead a comfortable life. Nevertheless some of the Indian princes would squander money lavishly and for want of money they would give a lot of troubles to the Nepali brides. Keshar Shum Shere, the son of Chandra Shum Shere, got all his daughters married to the Choubise princes more particularly, of Salyan.

The society of the Newar community was founded on a solid structure. In those days nuptial ties were regarded sacred. It the husband or the wife violated the ties, he or she was regarded as sinner. There were rare cases of divorce among the upper caste families.

The Ranas had to face many problems from the sons of different wives. That was why their family life was not as congenial as that of other communities.

The life of the majority of the people was simple, honest and enduring. They had nothing to do with the politics of the country. Even in adverse circumstances they reconciled to their fate.