Editorial Federal System In Nepal Call For Caution [ 2007-2-25 ] By Madhavji Shrestha TO the 26 million people of Nepal, a federal polity, if it becomes a reality, will be a new political experience. For about two centuries and a half, the Nepali people have been ruled by a central authority, but never governed in a proper way to provide even minimal services to them. Even the popularly elected governments could not commit themselves to the decentralised political and administrative process to enable various deserving regions and areas to move ahead as self-sustaining units. Had they carried the decentralisation programmes to their hilt soon after the political change in 1990, certainly, the present boiling question of state restructuring would not have arisen. Their failure to accommodate the demand for a federal system even in the recently framed interim constitution pushed the Terai people to engage in protests and vandalism. As a result, the inherent omission coupled with deliberate negligence is now engaging the leading politicians? energy and time to their own disadvantage and discomfiture. The situation has reached a decisive point of no return. Irreversible policy Indications are that if the major demands of the Terai people are not met, the country will once again plunge into a pool of continued violence and vandalism. Political sagacity is highly warranted to save the country from further disruption and disturbance. Can the interim legislative parliament exhibit capability to construct an acceptable federation with appropriate amendments to the interim constitution now in debate? The demand for a federal polity has now come to stay as a reality. It seems irreversible and, therefore, needs to be addressed with care and caution. Delay and dithering on the part of the leading political actors will prove costly for them and may push the country to the brink of further troubles, to the extent of even threatening the integrity of the country. While giving serious thought to the making of a federal political system in Nepal, which has been ruled under a unitary structure for a pretty long time, major factors such as geography, economy, ethnicity and societal fabric deserve deep consideration and discussion before any concrete decision is arrived at. Of these, the geography and economy occupy places of prime concern while mapping out a federal system of governance. Geographically, Nepal is broadly divided into three prominent divisions, i.e., the high mountain range, the broad hill track and the Terai belt. These three east-west running long strips of territory can be divided into several sub-divisions with a variety of bio-diversity and uniqueness present in them. The mountain range and the hill track are endowed with perennial sources of water and natural resources that still remain unexplored and untapped. There is immense prospect for developing Nepal if there is a commitment on the part of the government. The urban areas situated in the midst of the hill track have already become service centres for banking, insurance, IT, education, health and tourism. From the viewpoint of the national economy, the Terai belt has immense potential for agricultural development, manufacturing and service sector growth. At present, Nepal has some 60 ethnic groups, which are divided into 103 sub-groups, living in all those broadly divided three regions, with languages and dialects of their own. However, no ethnic group has a pre-dominant position barring some districts. Therefore, there are great challenges in demarcating and dividing the country while going for a federal system of governance. Given the past agitations and likely turn of events in the coming days, the question of social harmony also may not be that easy to handle as various districts, regions and sub-regions are populated by a number of ethnic groups and sub-groups. Managing these problems in a short span of time poses an uphill task for the political actors of all leanings involved in the federation building process. In addition to those challenging works, the concerns of both division and devolution of state powers are also not simple functions to perform. Of course, national policy matters relating to foreign affairs, defense responsibility, currency and central banking provision and postal management come within the purview of central government activities, in general, with other internal affairs to be divided under the list to be agreed upon. However, the question of residual power of the economy and other important concerns, which may appear controversial, will consume a great deal of debate and deliberation. Political actors in their quick snap activities can map out a federal structure and chart the lists of power- sharing provisions. But when the implementation phase approaches, several unseen problems and issues may come up. The federal system is a modern pattern of government that executes state affairs in a democratic manner so as to enable the concerned political representatives and authorities to meet the demands of the people of various regions and ethnicities. There is no space to cast doubt over the question of good and efficient governance in the country. To navigate the centrally long ruled society toward the direction of a federal polity, strongly built political parties with their national bases reaching to the grass root levels are primarily required to work as an unbreakable linkage between the centre and unit and among various units. In the absence of such political parties, the federal system, in actuality, will not work as expected. Instead it may lead to centrifugal activities and create havoc and chaos that may disintegrate the country as there is no strong connectivity to keep the country politically united. The presence of such widespread bases will also render great services and give an impetus to providing an acceptably functioning government. In such circumstance the complexity of putting in place good governance in a federal system will not be a hard nut to crack, because the political parties with democratically motivated programmes will certainly be a great political asset for the country. The strength of such political parties would naturally work as a uniting force to bring in social and cultural unity among the numerous socio-ethnic groups, which, in reality, is the basic need of a country that has plunged into political turmoil and social unrest. Nationalistic feelings kept alive with active participation in the national polity and regional administrative and development activities based on the autonomy of units will help maintain national unity. Unity amidst diversity is a great strength for a newly emerging democratic society of Nepal. Nepali politicians have yet to consolidate the democratic political forces in the democratisation process. At times such as now, external forces try to interfere in the domestic politics of Nepal. Therefore, one more quintessential element is that those at the helm of power should be able to steer the external policy of Nepal along with the highly required consolidation of the democratic forces to repel the interfering tendency of foreign elements from doing any damage to Nepal. The difficult journey of Nepal from a unitary system to a federal polity will be a real test for both the politicians and the people. National unity A significant line from the well-known political scientist, Arend Lijphart, should draw the attention of interested politicians and people. He has written that federalism ?is the result of special historical circumstances? in the cases of Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Switzerland and the US. Commonality of interests and needs seen in their historical perspectives has united them in a federation. However, in Nepal, the federal system, if it materialises, will be the outcome of the hard-pressed demands of various ethnic and regional groups. How far the umbilical cord of national unity through a federation can be held together is a grave question to each and every Nepali citizen (Shrestha is an ex-official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a lecturer of political science.) http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/content.php?nid=13349