Why Do We Need Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal?

A federal system of government is a democratic design and one of the reasons to adopt this system is to address the managerial structures of a nation which has large population, vast topography (territory) both in size and structural remoteness, and diverse communities. Example of such nations is the United States of America, Canada, India, Germany and Switzerland. On this premise Nepal is though a small county in both size and population yet it has remote topographical difficult terrain, and diverse ethnic communities. Over sixty percent of topography is built up with the difficult terrain and remoteness. Ethnicity is our integrated social structure with shared social values, customs and traditions. 

For example, the government of Switzerland which is structured under the democratic premise of the federalism can help us mirror to see ourselves through. The Switzerland, which has difficult terrains of topography and three different ethnic communities (Swiss-German, Swiss-French and Swiss-Italian), has federal governance structures based on these following premises of federalism: 

Decentralization (Non-centralization) of state power through the practice of competitive or electoral democracy (under the constitution, amendments, bills and regulations) at a local level 

Subsidiarity of the federal or central government based on the principle that a central authority should perform only those tasks which cannot be performed effectively at a local level 

Solidarity of the nation with team spirit between the constituents (cantons) of the country with inter-constituent competition to a certain degree, for example enforcing law and order, making the taxation policies, budgeting development plans, supporting national security etc 

Cooperative federalism based on decentralization or non-centralization between constituents in regards to making laws, policies, fiscal plans and so forth 

In federal governance system there are governments within governments. However, there are no autonomous regions self-governing on their own. All the governments of a federal governance system in every level must comply with the Constitution of the nation, federal bills and their amendments.

The federal government or the central government in the capital of the nation has rigorous responsibilities for the national security, national policy making, foreign relations establishment and the protection of Constitution and justice. The state or regional, district and city local governments have to manage their local affairs for administration, law enforcement, justice and development under the federal national policies, regulations and mandates.

How does it work in Real Time Government Organization?

Federal governance structure is the composition of the governments within governments. Structurally, the smallest governments at the bottom of the structure sustain the nation as the building blocks. These are the government units, which are constituted by the people for the people. Basically, the elected representatives of these units serve the people directly in their constituents managing public administration and services. These units are townships in the city governments and village assemblies in the county or district governments.

The representatives of the townships or village assemblies are elected among from the residence of the townships and villages of the assemblies to manage entire administration, services and developments. Within the townships or village assembly school district representatives are elected to manage the public school by forming school management committee and academic council. The basic responsibilities of these government units are residence property (real estate and land) management, property tax collections, sanitations, community police arrangement, public school, public library, public park and recreation management, and drinking water supply supervision.

Upon these units city and county or district government structures are built up. The mayors are the chiefs of the governments and the people directly elect them. Under the mayor the city and county or district cabinets are formed from the elected members of the assemblies. However the attorneys, judges, comptrollers, and sheriff (law enforcement officer) are directly elected. The city or county or districts governments have legislative, executive and judiciary branches under the assembly. But they do not have upper and lower houses. They legislate local regulations, run administration, law enforcement and justice, collect revenues - local taxes, federal taxes and sales taxes, plan fiscal budget and implement over all developments as per the minimum requirements of the state or regional governments’ regulations. 

The conglomerations or the city and county or district governments make the state or regional governments. The governors or the chief-ministers are the head of the state or regional government. The state cabinets are formed under the governors or chief ministers and people elect them directly. The state or regional governments have legislative, executive and judiciary branches. The state or regional attorneys, judges, comptrollers and law enforcement officers are elected. States have assembly but do not have upper and lower houses. They legislate state or regional regulations, policies and development spending; run state administration, form state or regional fiscal budget, planning and development and manage justice as per the minimum requirements of the federal government regulations, bills, and policies.

The union of the state or regional governments makes the federal or central government of the nation under the Federal Democratic Government System. The elected representatives of the constituencies of each state or regional government form the lower and upper houses of the Parliament. The people of constituency that they represent must elect both house representatives of the Parliament. There is no arbitrary political parties nomination provision for representatives of the upper house. Even the representatives are nominated for the upper house they must be the permanent resident of the state that they represent.    

The federal or central government’s principle responsibilities are to provide national security – defense management, form federal regulations and policies, establish foreign relations, plan developments and fiscal budget, and protect the constitution and justice.

This is how federal governance structures are constituted through the electoral process from bottom of the government structure to the top. No governments are ruled by the nominated ‘government employees’ by the central government or the state or regional governments. The elected representatives of each constituency of city, county or district, state or region rule all governments. The oligarchic elements of the primitive government practice are completely eradicated in the federal government structure if implemented from the bottom – grass-root- level. But if implemented only up to the state or regional level as of the federal structures of India there will be ample of oligarchic elements, which will bring far less power to the marginalized people of Nepal. The privileged oligarchic elite network will rule over the nation under the party politics.

The structure that allow people to govern from the bottom ‘grass-root’ level is the fundamental to the federal governance structure, which must be looked closely by the marginalized group of people like Madhisi, Dalit and others. The successful example of this structure is the active ‘Community Forest’ management of Nepal. If legislators of interim Parliament are serious to have people participate in the nation building process then they must consider this provision of the federal government structure.

Nepal will be better off if the federal government structure is guaranteed with the amendment of the interim constitution than by just stating ‘Nepal will head towards federal democratic structure through the Constituent Assembly.’  It is obvious that oligarchic ruling elites and political leaderships will avoid the federal governance structures. However there will neither development in grass-root level, nor uplifting of the marginalized people, and nor the establishment of the complete democracy without restructuring of the nation from grass-root level through the electoral procedures of the federal governance structure.  

  Federal Governance Structure Fundamentals (Graph)

 How can we Decide Federal Governance Structure of Nepal?

First all political parties, ethnic and civil society organizations must have ONE COMMON GOAL  for the nation - that is "NATION BUILDING" for all Nepali people inclusive.

We must focus how we can build nation despite of political parties and ethnic groups self-interest for the political power. We can agree in one common goal then we can unite to address to restructure the nation in Federal Governance Model for nation build process. This needs people's consensus and to get that consensus people need to understand what is the Federal Governance Structure or the institutions of decentralization through the electoral democratic procedures.

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