Just sharing some material relevant to the inaugural posting of this thread. I am posting a follow-up article by Dr. Shiva Gautam. And I am also taking liberty to post some interesting points Shiva-jee explained to me in a private communication. Shiva-jee and I have a similar view regarding what liked to describe as "मिश्रित आलंकारिक जातिय गणराज्य मोडेल" (Mixed Ceremonial ethnic republics). From: Shiva Gautam To: CC: Deepak Khadka Date: Feb 26, 2007 12:03 AM Subject: Fedral restructuring ... ... ... article I coauthored with Surendra ji on Federal Model. Just for completeness I have further worked on it where I suggest dismantling of the current district structure and propose forming units like counties by combining few VDC's) because of the following (note that in US you do not go beyond county fro many essential services) 1. People live in villages, towns. Government's main job is to provide/coordinate services. 2. current district structure gives an impression of rule by above/outside, and sometimes one may have to walk far distances to to go to district head quarters to be served by the government. The proposed model suggests government by local people, 3. Using proportional representation and other legal/constitutional remedy it can be made to reflect the local community. 4. By taking all the political /economical, develomental, educational societal etc stuff at the county (local) level, the regional /central structure will be more or less 'ceremonial' as Deepak ji thinking of (in terms of all kind of explosive political wranglings) 5. If you look at my article I am trying to take way the convention meaning of government - and just trying to reduce it to one of the component (thought important ) of governance of the society. ... ... Thanks Shiva A model of local self-governance By Shiva Gautam No nation, king, culture, language, politics or parties could exist without the people, and yet people and their needs have never received serious attention from successive governments in Nepal. This, in turn, has never allowed people to afford improved quality of life, which can be measured by an improved standard of living, better health care, education, employment, social security and political stability. Nepal has witnessed several governments in the past, but their approach to governance has remained more or less the same; that is, governments of the few, by the few, and for the few and that the citizens do not deserve to be served but they deserve to be ruled. The role of a government and its contribution to the governance of the society has been ever changing. The government is not the sole factor in modern governance anymore. Otherwise, the royal government of the recent past would not have crumbled. The government has become only one of the components of networks of governance. Other components are international community, business community, media, civil society, different groups of people and many other actors. The government could still play a major role in the governance of the society, but it is not the sole factor. So, the new role of the government should be that of a manager or a coordinator of services to be offered to the citizens. This brings us to the question: What kind of government and governance Nepal needs in the context of current much debated new vision for Nepal? The vision for the future government should be based on the serving model, not on the ruling model. It should obviously act as the coordinator of services to the people, and should be owned by the people at large, not by a person, a family or a group of just a few people. If the goal of a government is to serve the citizens aspiring for improved quality of life, then who would serve them better than themselves? Self-governance, therefore, should be pursued within the framework of making various aspects of improved quality of life accessible and affordable to the people. Once again, some important and basic indicators of improved quality of life are better standard of living, healthcare, education, employment opportunity, social security and political stability. Since people live in communities, and those communities are linked at local, regional, national and global levels, system of governments should also reflect this connectedness through a network of local, regional national and global governances in order to optimize the efficacy of the system. One of the criticisms of past governments in Nepal is their top-bottom design. In the changed context, a new thinking of bottom-up system of government is emerging. Since the local governments will be at the foundation of the system of governments, it is imperative that issues related to local government and governance be addressed with utmost urgency. It is an irony that the focus has been still on central and regional governments only, and local government and governance have received little attention by media, politicians, civil society, policy makes and political pundits. With the above background, I would like to propose the following model for local governments. In proposing this model it is assumed that constitutional and legal provisions defining relationships among central, regional and local governments are already in place. 1. Dismantle current district structures. Instead combine 3 or 4 current VDCs to form the smallest administrative and political units like Counties in several countries. 2. A council of elected members with a chief (mayor) will run the local government. Members of the council will be elected to represent the composition of local population. For example, members of the council may be elected through an election based on proportional representation. 3. The mayor may nominate additional council members representing minorities and socially marginalized groups in the community. 4. The mayor will nominate a fixed number of members from civil society who could be, professionals, teachers, lawyers, retired professionals, elders, etc. None of the previous governments had considered this seriously. 5. The council may devise some innovative methods to involve locals working in foreign countries. Lots of Nepalis go to foreign lands seeking employment. The Diaspora could bring unique prospective to their locality and could contribute in local development. For example, an engineer may help design a bridge or a road; a doctor may help set a temporary medical camp. Similarly, others may contribute in constructing a library, school, health center or in collecting equipments, books and other material. 6. The local government will form committees for local taxes, budget and finance, market, spending and economic development plan, education, drinking water, health services, traffic (where applicable) recreation, environment, etc. 7. The local government will promulgate local laws without contradicting them with the central and regional governments' laws. 8. Two local governments may combine their resources if needed (for example school systems, courts) 9. Local governments will employee administrative staff, judges, teachers and other personnel necessary to run the government. 10. Local government will execute laws of central and regional governments according to provisions made in the constitution. Central and regional government will provide grant and assistance to local governments. 11. The government must be transparent, accountable, responsive, participatory, inclusive, and be based on the rule of law. It is impossible to discuss all the details here, and also it will require a lot of work from experts than just an editorial on the subject, but the main concept is to establish a system of local governments to deliver services to the citizens right in their backyard. This will eliminate going to district headquarters for minor issues, spending a lot of time to get there and then get intimidated by government officers as if some outsider is ruling them. It will also help address issues like daily strikes, protests, demands and other forms of unrests that are plaguing Nepal. Under the proposed system, there is no one to demand from, there is no one to protest against but people will be demanding from themselves, protesting against themselves as they will be in charge of themselves - http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=97631 ___________________