NEPALI POLITICS

The Himalayan Times 29 March 2024 Politicised bureaucracy I think efforts were made in the civil service acts to explicitly address the roles and functions of the civil service, its organisational structure and working methods and its human resource system among others. However, there are still many shortcomings in it. Among them are low levels of motivation among civil servants, multiple layers in the decision-making process, lack of accountability, and weak proper supervision and monitoring of job performance. The haphazard and frequent transfer of the senior bureaucrats based on unusual political interference has serious impacts on the smooth functioning of bureaucracy. A secretary is transferred to as many as ministries within a short period of time making them feel insecure, undermining the civil service rules and regulations by misusing ministerial power and authorities. How can the government expect and ensure that the politically affiliated bureaucrats will work and di

The Himalayan Times 22 March 2024 Coalition government and CMP It was and is not new for the nation and the people to see the political parties forming coalition government citing the necessity of the time and claiming to lead the nation towards peace and prosperity. It is also not unusual to see a common minimum programme (CMP) of such coalition governments claiming it to be the guiding policy to address the national agenda and hardships of the people. Similar sets of CMP of the ruling five-party alliance for the next four years is now in the market claiming it is its determination to embark on the journey towards the nation's prosperity “Current alliance formed to bring prosperity, PM Dahal says” (THT, March 19, Page 1). Does anybody have any idea how long this coalition government will even last? I think, there are several laws to promote good governance but their implementation has often been slow and ineffective. Good governance generally refers to governing under

The Himalayan Times 15March 2024 Unethical politics It is said that politics is a noble profession that involves serving the nation and the people and working for their betterment. However, our politicians seem either lacking proper understanding about this global political concept or knowingly misinterpreting it. It also seems, on the other hand, the absence of a kind of code of conduct for the political leaders might have led them to do unethical practices and misuse of power . Looking closely at their irresponsible and immoral political acts, a code of conduct outlining a set of criteria as to what is acceptable and unacceptable seems to be immediately drafted and applied with the intention of guiding them.  The lack of ethical leaderships and the widespread corruption within the national political system pose significant challenges to the nation’s democratic institutions which seem to be losing people’s trust towards these institutions and existing political structure. L

The Himalayan Times 8 March 1947 RSP’sdubious role Power-centric politics continues to prevail in and engulf the nation making it internationally a politically unstable nation. A disparate group of political leaders and their parties now rules the country, a group that is united only by their common hunt for state power and personal benefits. They made the parliament virtually opposition-less making it simply a place for political employment of the people’s representatives who were voted by the people to represent them in the parliament and raise their concerns and hardships and address them accordingly. In the existing 275-member House, the largest party in it is the NC, holding 89 seats, which is now not in the government after PM Dahal abruptly decided to join hands with the UML “Dahal ditches NC, hitches with UML, RSP, JSP-N” (THT, March 4, Page 1). It has now decided to withdraw its support to the Dahal-led-new coalition government and play the main opposition role “NC to