FEATURES NEWS THE RISING NEPAL (DAILY)

Mukti Rijal

DECENTRALISATION is not an easy process. It is more difficult in situations where institutions, mechanism and process are centralised. The society becomes more unjust if power is captured by a coterie of the elite. Nepal fits into the category of the nations where centralism has been consolidated over the years. The decentralised practices are weak as they are not instituted and strengthened properly. Though Nepal has attempted decentralisation for many decades, the outcome has not been encouraging enough.

Motivating Factors

There are several motivating factors for a country to pursue decentralisation and implement the process of dispersing power monopolised by the central authorities. Dispersion of power is a global trend. Some countries establish federal structures to ensure that power is dispersed to and shared with federating units. The federal scheme of power sharing is envisaged in the basic law of land – the Constitution. For example, in countries like the United States and India the federal scheme is spelt out in the Constitution. The others respond to the aspirations of the people in a certain territorial enclave or region by granting autonomy or the right of self-governance. The decentralised governance is also pursued in a plural society where the need of accommodating heterogeneous ethnic identities, cultural interests and aspirations are very high. Decentralisation is, therefore, a process of strengthening participatory governance and ensuring that people are the be-all and the end-all of development.

Efforts towards strengthening decentralisation and enhancing of people’s participation in Nepal have received more impetus especially after the restoration of multiparty democracy in 1990. The top-down development strategy had failed to deliver. A majority of the people in Nepal are bound to live in poverty. The problem is not just growth, but development. Development is growth plus change. Change in turn is social and cultural as well as economic, and qualitative as well as quantitative. The key concept must be to improve the quality of people’s life.

Development can thus be conceptualized as a set of desirable societal objectives which society seeks to achieve. Nepal is a country of villages. Around 80 per cent of the people live in the village. Nepal’s development means development of the rural societies. Rural development connotes overall development of villages with a view to improve the quality of life of rural people. In this sense, it is a comprehensive and multidimensional concept and encompasses the development of agriculture and allied activities, socio-economic infrastructure, community services and facilities, and above all, the human resources in rural areas.

In the words of Robert Chambers, "Rural development is a strategy to enable a specific group of people, poor rural women and men, to gain for themselves and their children more of what they want and need. It involves helping the poorest among those who seek a livelihood in the rural areas to demand and control more of the benefits of rural development".

Institutional design is an important aspect to usher in development whether it is rural or urban development - and effective governance. The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990 was promulgated keeping in view the rising popular expectations. It incorporates some conceptual provisions relating to decentralisation and local governments. The directive principle of the state policy (Article 25 (4)) provides a conceptual framework for decentralization. It shall be the chief responsibility of the state to maintain conditions suitable to the enjoyment of the fruits of democracy through wider participation of the people in the governance of the country and by way of decentralization. The second provision (Article 46) is associated with the creation of an electorate for fifteen members of the upper house of the Parliament. The provision stipulates that the electorate for this purpose consists of elected chiefs of village, municipal bodies and members of district bodies. The creation of elected local bodies at these levels is a constitutional mandate and the local governments of Nepal indirectly derive legitimacy from this provision.

As measures to strengthen legal framework, the government elected immediately after the restoration of multiparty democracy in 1990 enacted three separate acts for Village Development Committee (VDC), Municipality and District Development Committee in 1992. These acts allowed the continuity of overlapping and parallel roles of government agencies and elected bodies at each level. Voices were raised against shortcomings of the new decentralization and local government arrangements. As a consequence, a high level committee chaired by the Prime Minister was formed to recommend changes and improvements in the legal and institutional framework of local governance and decentralization. Based on the recommendations, the Local Self Governance Act was drafted and enacted in 1999. Accordingly the Local Self Governance Rules was formulated and adopted in 1999.

The Local Self-Governance Act, 1999 is the most important law affecting the governance system in Nepal. It has legally endorsed the principle of Local Self Governance.

Accelerate

The Act has developed wider sectoral functions to LGs provisions. The Act has also provisioned for the creation of Local Government Financial Commission. The Act has introduced the concept of revenue showing between the centre and local government. The Act has institutionalized participatory bottom-up planning process. Provisions such as periodic plans, building information base, resource maps are made mandatory for the local bodies. However, the pace of implementation of law is slow. This needs to be accelerated in order to achieve decentralized governance in the country.

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