Book Review (Spotlight Weekly)]

Good Governance
In Nepalese Perspective
Panchthar and Kanchanpur Districts
Edited by : Bihari Krishna Shrestha
Price : Undisclosed
Published by : Rural Development Foundation Nepal (RDFN)

Agenda For Debate

Based on the studies of two districts, the book discloses the state of governance in the local bodies

By A CORRESPONDENT

Good governance is one of the prerequisites for development. For the implementation of effective development activities, it requires various institutional mechanisms including the quality of leadership.

In many cases, the existing central institutions fail to respond to the grievances of the common people. At a time when the governance at the central level is not working effectively, it is virtually impossible to see better performance at the grassroots level.

The study by Bihari Krishna Shrestha also points out the need for a strong and responsive institutions at the center to deal with the problems at the grassroots.

In case of Panchthar and Kanchanpur districts, the role of local institutions are not effective despite the increasing awareness among local communities.

Sponsored by Enabling State Program (ESP) of the UK government's Department for International Development (DFID), one of the aims of the study was to record viewpoints of the broad cross-sections of people in the districts and villages regarding the governance situation at both the national and local levels.

"We dealt with the core issues in good governance such as state viability and sovereignty, structure of government, transfer of power and electoral arrangements, management of power and government effectiveness," said Bihari Krishna Shrestha, the team leader.

After sustainable development, human rights and decentralization, the good governance is the new issue dominating intellectual discussions in Nepal. In the last three years alone, more than half a dozen of books have already been published but for the first time RDF has made an effort to study different aspects of governance at local levels.

One of the weaker parts of the book is that it is more concerned with the negative aspects of institutions. Of course, corruption and ineffectiveness are rampant at the local level but awareness of the people and their increasing participation are positive signs.

The country, which has just five-decade-old history of modern governance, cannot deliver the goods like those in the western countries with centuries long experience of institution-building.

"Although political parties and the bureaucracy continue to lag in non-performance, there is an increasing sense of anticipation in the air, generated as it has been by the spread of such democratic ideals as rights, equality, liberty and a decent existence," said Krishna Man Pradhan, coordinator of the study team.

One of the important aspects of the study was commitment of the people in their own self help initiatives as they expressed satisfaction over their own voluntary self-help organizations.