what can be the challenges in the context of Nepal to maintain harmony among the provinces? discuss and write in three points
Answers
The new constitution of Nepal has introduced a three-tier structure of federal government (federal, province, and local) and all three levels have the constitutional power to enact laws, prepare budgets, and mobilize their own resources.
Introduction
While the constitution has assigned a larger functional, semijudicial, and fiscal authority to elected local governments, it has also created greater responsibilities for effective service delivery and accountability toward citizens.
Statement of Issue
In Nepal, the new constitution has assigned expenditure responsibilities and revenue sources to all three tiers of the government. While most of the key revenue sources remain with the central government, expenditure responsibilities of the subnational (province and local) governments are relatively larger creating a large vertical imbalance.
There is also a large horizontal imbalance among the subnational jurisdictions due to heterogeneity of areas, population sizes, economic bases and availability of natural resources.
Given the limited revenue bases assigned to subnational governments (SNGs), and their weak revenue generation and administration capacity, the resultant gaps at the SNGs will have to be met primarily through fiscal transfers by the central government. There is an apprehension that high fiscal dependence on the central government will adversely affect the quality of devolution and autonomy of SNGs.
To reduce the dependency and increase autonomy, SNGs will need to ensure that assigned tax and nontax revenue sources are exploited to their full potential, and new tax sources are explored. Further, assignment of taxes and revenue sharing arrangements will also need to be reviewed.
The revenue generated by local governments in the past accounted for less than 2% of the total revenue. This is unlikely to change drastically in the federal setup because revenues assigned to local governments under the Local Self Governance Act (LSGA, pre-2015 constitution) are largely the same as the ones provided under the new constitution.
Further, though the constitution has assigned specific tax and nontax (revenue) sources to SNGs, revenue generation by SNGs will require adequate and skilled human resource, and substantial technical support to enhance their knowledge and capacities, and to put in place appropriate institutional systems and policies.
Revenue mobilization is one of the four pillars of fiscal federalism. The three major acts endorsed by the Parliament provide the legal framework for revenue mobilization in Nepal.
These are: (i) Local Governance Operations Act 2017, which outlines the financial jurisdiction of local governments and defines the distribution of authority for policy formulation, determination of tax rate, and collection of taxes; (ii) National Natural Resources and Fiscal Commission (NNRFC) Act 2017, which elaborates the functions of NNRFC-mainly to manage the inter-governmental fiscal transfers to address vertical and horizontal imbalances between federal and SNGs and (iii) Inter-governmental Financial Management (IGFM) Act 2017, which provisions for the sharing, and specifies sharing of SNGs in VAT, domestic excise duty, and royalties.
Answer:
1) Federalism can only assure the rapid economic growth in the nation.
2) All diversities should be represented and promoted through active public participation.
3) All people and political leaders need to develop a good coordination and institutionalize federalism.
Explanation: