Book Review (Spotlight Weekly)

Devolution Details

The study report discusses the importance of devolution strategy

By A CORRESPONDENT

Process of decentralization and devolution of power is always a slow one requiring a long-term evolution. One cannot see changes overnight, as it demands a phase wise development. In the western world, it took centuries to witness substantial change in the pattern of devolution.

Different countries require different kinds of devolution. And there are various modalities for the devolution of state power from center to local level. Since Nepal is a mountainous county with more than five-dozen different religious, linguistic and cultural groups, decentralization is the only sustainable way to effectively govern the country.

With more than centuries-old history of centralization, Nepal has gradually initiated the process of decentralization following the ushering of democracy back in 1951. The revolution of 1951, along with other political changes, brought the concept of decentralization to the forefront.

Devolution is not new to Nepal as the country has entered into the decentralization process nearly four decades ago. From early phases of decentralization to devolution of power, Nepal has been passing through various stages.

The constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990 stresses the need to decentralize the central authority to local level. According to the spirit of the constitution, many efforts have been made in the past to decentralize authority to the local bodies.

Following the restoration of democracy in 1990, a local governance act has accepted the need to make the local bodies more powerful through the devolution of the central authorities to the local level. For the last five years, the government has been handing over primary education, health, agriculture, livestock and other development authorities to the village development committees and communities.

Despite the legal provisions and the government's willingness to decentralize the authorities, they are yet to materialize fully. The Local Self Governance Act empowers local bodies with adequate decision-making powers. Thanks to the lack of institutional support and mechanisms, these institutions are unable to exercise them.

At a time when donors, local leaders and members of civil society have expressed concerned over the present situation, Rural Development Foundation, a non-governmental organization, has made efforts to analyze lacunae and weaknesses related to the process of decentralization. It has also put forth concrete suggestions to be adopted for the sectoral devolution. In its report titled "Sectoral Devolution in Nepal", the RDF has brought together the cohesive voices of both the civil society and local authorities. And now the RDF has given a book form to this report - which is going to be invaluable to not only the scholars but also the officials and donors.

In the past, too, many studies have already been conducted by different organizations analyzing difficulties and lacunae in the area of decentralization. But this is the first study of its kind that discusses legal as well as other matters adopting sectoral approaches and providing concrete suggestions. In other words, it has proposed a roadmap for comprehensive devolution.

The report was prepared by a high level team composed of former law secretary Udaya Nepali Shrestha as a convener and other experts of decentralization including former local development secretary Udaya Raj Soti, Bhagbati Kumar Kafle, Ganga Dutta Avasthi, Som Lal Subedi and Krishna Man Pradhan as member secretary.

"We faced many difficulties during our study period since the law and order situation was bleak as well as there were no elected representatives," said member secretary Pradhan. "Despite so many limitation, our team was able to bring the real picture of state of decentralization in Nepal."

The book begins with the background of decentralization and its historical and other perspective. During the course of report preparation, many interactions were also held among various stakeholders including federations of local bodies, concerned government officials and donor agencies.

To understand the regional and district level situation, the team also organized regional level seminars inviting experts and other stakeholders of the local level including former members, presidents and chairman of VDCs, Municipalities and District Development Committees.

Sectoral Devolution Strategy
Published by: Rural Development Foundation In Cooperation with DASU-DANIDA
Pages: 270
Price: Undisclosed