Book Review (Spotlight Weekly)]

Governance In The Doldrums

Who Really Governs Nepal?

Edited by : Prakash Shrestha

Published by : South Asia Partnership Nepal

Pages: 190

Price: Undisclosed

Book

Matters Of Governance

A new books tries to explain about the state of governance in the country

By KESHAB POUDEL

The governance, good or bad, has become the latest buzzword in the society replacing sustainable development of the early 1990s. Each and every other organizations are drumming up the issues of governance and chanting them as new Mantra for development.

Whether it is the former minister, serving minister or intellectual, all are blowing their own trumpets about the state of governance of the country pointing to the need to evaluate the past governance.

In this connection, a new book has hit the bookstalls of the town trying to evaluate the state of governance and clarify the issues surrounding the buzzword. The book "Governance in the Doldrums" published by South Asia Partnership Nepal strolls around the issue.

Governance is quite a complicated issue as it has many dimensions like political, economic, social and constitutional. The book includes separate articles touching these spheres.

Nepal has experienced many ups and downs in the last ten years and has witnessed the formation of many governments envisioned by the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990. From majority Congress government to minority CPN-UML and coalition governments of NC-RPP-NSP to RPP-NC-NSP and NC-UML country but the no one did follow the basics of what is said to be good governance.

In the last three general elections and two local elections, all political parties claimed they realized the importance of good governance but the problem of implementing those claims still remains.

Despite the failure of political parties to provide strong leadership, Nepal's experiment with democracy has not been as bad as those experienced by other new democracies.

However, the state's bureaucratic and financial institutions have been thoroughly politicized and living standard of the common people has not been upto raised as their expectation. One can see some improvements in general but there is nothing to be excited about.

Frustration among intellectuals is very high and they have been spending all their energy in criticizing the role of political leaders. The time also has come to evaluate how justified were those criticisms.

Most of the articles in the book are stereotyped and are very critical to the functioning and performance of the government. Intellectuals have the right to question and criticize the role of political parties and leaders but that does not mean they themselves are immune.

The book is based on collection of articles by Nepal's very prominent figures including former minister and renowned scholar Dr. Harka Gurung, Ananda Shrestha, Dev Raj Dahal, P.P. Timsina, Durga Ghimire, Arju Rana-Deuba and Prabha Thaker.

The articles by Dilli Ram Dahal, Tika Prasad Pokharel, Yubaraj Sangraula and Krishna Bhattachan also discuss various issues like transparency, accountability, national governance and the role of NGOs.

The efforts made by the South Asia Partnership Nepal is commendable as it helps to bring various views of intellectuals and policy-makers of Nepal before the general people.

Nandanhari

Byakti and Kriti

Written by : Megharaj Gautam

Published by : Dhrubahari Adhikary, Nirmalhari Adhikary and Shishirbikram Adhikary

Price: Rs 45

Pages: 233

BOOK

Voice Of The Public

Late Nandanhari Adhikary took upon himself to voice the public concerns

By KESHAB POUDEL

Although the book is written in Nepali language, it is an important read for those who want to do research on Nepalese literature and other social issues.

Late Adhikary's role in Nepalese journalism is very important as he is among the few individuals who wrote letters to the editor raising serious concerns of the public quite regularly.

Based on the contribution of late Adhikary, Gautam compiles late Adhikary's life long contributions in the field of literature and other areas in his book.