Government Policies
Commitment to Decentralisation

By Mukti Rijal

HIS Majesty the King addressed the joint sitting of the Parliament the other day. The Royal address spells out the government policies and programme for the next fiscal year. The opposition parties have not seen anything new in the government policies and programmes and described them as ritualistic reproduction of the past policies. However, there are commitments expressed in the Royal Address which show clarity and relevance of the purpose. The focus has been laid on poverty alleviation underlining the fact that the Tenth Five year Plan shall place total emphasis to alleviate the scourge. The recognition to the fact that the Ninth Five Year Plan could not achieve targets because of the tardy and faulty implementation design and the assurance that the Tenth Five year Plan would be fashioned learning from the past mistakes is also a welcome departure from the previous practices.

The resolve that all programmes aimed at reducing proverty will be brought under one umbrella of the Poverty Alleviation Fund and the efficacy of the programmes will be enhanced through regular monitoring and evaluation indicates the government determination to the malaise of poverty. But one thing, as critics have raised rightly, that the policies and programmes howsoever attractive and healthy they may not deliver unless they are sincerely implemented in definite time frame. This has always lacked in our situation and the problems stem from the lax implementation and enforcement.

The salient feature of the government policies and programme has been the spotlight turned on some relevant issues concerning self governance and decentralisation. At a time when frustration and disenchantment had loomed large especially due to the conspicious slow place in giving concrete shape to decentralisation , the government has come out with the commitment to accelerate the process. The Local self governance Act was enacted some three years back. Despite the fact that the law gave new and meaningful tasks and functions to the local bodies they have not been properly exercised or undertaken due to several reasons. The government has indicated its determination to advance the process of decentralisation by sequencing steps in time bound manner. This reconfirms the decision taken by the Decentralisation Implementation and Monitoring Committee (DIMC) at a meeting held not very long back chaired by the Prime Minister. It is to be noted that the decentralisation is a complex process demanding careful and steady negotiation. Moreover, it cannot be achieved in a few years time. In the context of centralised governance that is well entrenched in the country, decentralisation is a not an easy process as it aims at reversing the power structure and the set up. For this concrete plan needs to be formulated in a time bound manner covering several aspects including amendment of the overlapping sectoral legislations, personnel redeployment, capacity building of the local government institutions and so on. The government has committed to implement the report of the Fiscal Commission to strengthen the resource base of the local government institutions.

Another very significant aspect of the government policies and programmes has been the commitment expressed for devolutionery arrangement. The government is prepared to hand over some of the functions handled by the line agency offices so far to the local bodies. Reaffirming the commitment to transfer power to the local bodies the government is set to give responsibility, resources and concommitant authority to local bodies to carry out functions and tasks concerning agriculture extension, postal services, primary education and health and veterinary services. This is a significant initiative to be undertaken by the government to achieve positive results in the area of decentralisation and self governance. The local self governance Act entrusts these responsibilities to local bodies but due to the fact that the line agency offices carried out these tasks, local bodies were constrained in undertaking these functions. Moreover, local bodies lacked authority and resources to implement these functions. The government is prepared to finally hand over these tasks to local bodies providing them resources and authority this year. This is a welcome development. It is hoped this will be reflected in the annual budget to be presented by the finance minister in the Parliament.

Decentralisation and good governance go together. One cananot be achieved without the other. Poverty allevaition strategies fail without decentralised development and governance. As the government is committed to poverty alleviation, it should give serious thought to lend impetus decentralisation and self governance process.

Conservation, High On The Agenda

By Shirish B. Pradhan

THE Government’s policies and programmes announced by His Majesty the King at the joint session of the Parliament on June 29, has emphasised on the conservation of biodiversity and preservation of environment. This is for the first time that the Government has accorded special priority to environment and conservation. It is indeed a good news for conservationists, who are expecting that the Government would take some concrete step to save our rich biodiversity from possible threats.

Besides, launching programmes fro biodiversity conservation the Government also aims at people’s participation in community forestry with a view to reducing poverty, the policy document of the majority Nepali Congress Government says. Partnership between the Government and the public sector will be sought for preservation, promotion and development of the country’s forest resources, adds the policy document.

What we need is a clear cut biodiversity policy and programmes and strategies to achieve the desired goal. We also need to prepare our biodiversity map on the basis of scientific techniques and identify vulnerable areas so that special attention can be paid to protect these areas.

In fact, Nepal’s forest resources are regarded as valuable assets of the country. Though the green forests of the country, frequently come under threat from human activities from time to time, there is still some hope to achieve success in protecting these valuable assets considered important from both biodiversity and tourism point of view. At present Nepal’s forest covers only around 29 per cent land area and including shrub the total green area becomes nearly 39 per cent, which is below international standard.

Nepal has dedicated more than 18 per cent of her land to the protected area, and it is necessary to allocate more resources for the conservation and development of these areas. Despite its tiny geographical size Nepal is rich in biodiversity. Though Nepal’s success in conservation efforts is well acclaimed, coordinated efforts are needed and necessary resources be made available if we are to achieve remarkable progress in this sector.

In the policy document the Government ha also announced that it will introduce special programmes for the promotion and development of tourism sector. In fact, tourism, environment and biodiversity are interrelated. We can link environment and biodiversity to tourism industry and biodiversity conservation programmes should be implemented in such a way that it helps the local people get involved in income generating activities. Nepal has achieved success in getting local people involved in conservation efforts and help them rise their living standard through income generating activities, which was practiced in the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP). The ACAP model can be applied to other parts of the country as well.

Eco-tourism is not a new phenomena for us and we are well acquainted with the local people about the importance of environment protection and biodiversity conservation. Therefore, it is not enough to educate tourists about the do’s and don’t of eco-tourism, it is also equally important to generate awareness among the local people about biodiversity conservation. If the people residing near the national park area believe that they can benefit more from protecting the environment and biodiversity than destroying them they will surely be motivated to conservation and environment protection.

Thus, income generating activities and conservation efforts should go side by side and without proper policy and programmes nationwide conservation efforts cannot be successful. Therefore, there is a need to translate into practice the broad policies and progarmmes relating to conservation and environment protection outlined in the Government’s policy document and for this purpose the Government needs to allocate substantial amount of resources in the forthcoming budget.