Towards a Federalised Democratic Nepal
Contents: 1. Introduction. 2. Nepal: federalism in a divided society/Lok Raj Baral. 2. Federalism from ethno-demographic and linguistic perspectives/Balkrishna Mabuhang. 3. Federalism and human rights international experiences and Nepali perspectives/Gauri Pradhan. 4. Structure and administrative system of federal republic Nepal: alternatives and possibilities/Krishna Khanal. 5. Re-structuring Nepal: a geographical perspective/Prakash Sarbahara. 6. Federalism, social justice and democracy/Sanjib Upreti. 7. Madheshi issues: the context of restructuring of Nepal state/Vijay Kanta Karna. 8. Some thoughts on federalism/Padma Ratna Tuladhar. 9. Federalism: some perspectives/Laxman Aryal.
The experiments of federalism have been widely popular around the globe, implementing different modalities depending on the needs of an individual nation. In a multi-cultural Nepal, the issue of federal autonomy has become a mandatory demand following the stagnation nearly in all sectors contributed by the unitary rule of 240 years. Given overwhelming consensus among the people, the new Nepal requires a federal human rights friendly and an inclusive democratic constitution that guarantees autonomies to its various ethno linguistic, cultural and regional groups to govern themselves. The current Constituent Assembly was given the mandate on the premise of formulating a federal constitution, apart from declaring Nepal a republican state and abolition of monarchy.
Decentralisation and devolution of power enhance economic development. An inclusive institution like a federation also promotes competition among its constituent units by tapping their comparative advantages in local resources and capabilities. It thus strengthens market economy and reduces regional economic imbalances caused by the negligence and ignorance of the center.
Federalism is a constitutional expression of a pluralist democracy, associated to geo ethnic relationship, a potent means of reintegrating the opposing centripetal and centrifugal entities present in a plural society into a harmonious whole. It is believed to have worked as a panacea for huge multi cultural nations. But it can also serve to manage conflicts in a small heterogeneous state like Nepal by creating space for the marginalized groups. Multi-ethnic countries with a unitary state mechanism are, in fact, more prone to conflicts contrary to federal countries, which are found to have achieved better success in managing them.
