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By Chandra Kanta Gyawali

Federalism is as distribution of powers and responsibilities in federal countries .It presents an objective, balanced, description, analysis of the distribution of powers and responsibilities in the federal Constitution and practice in 27 countries including with Nepal. For each federation there is an in -depth examination of such themes as (1) the distribution of governmental , political, monetary, fiscal, administrative, and policy responsibilities; (2)  symmetry and asymmetry in the distribution of responsibilities; (3) the reasons and ways in which powers and responsibilities are explicitly and implicitly exclusive, concurrent, or shared in the constitution; (4) the reasons and ways in which responsibilities become divided and shared in actual governmental practice; (5) current controversies over the division and or sharing of powers and responsibilities; and (6) assessments of the executive and concurrent exercise of powers and responsibilities.

 Federalism is also seen as method of good governance in which political accommodation and understanding become sound practices in the midst of conflicting ideologies, disparate groups and seemingly irreconcilable positions. The federal system is a device of shared governance, and the constitutions of federal polities usually envisage a "creative balance" between the need for an effective federal centre and the need for effectively empowered constituent federal units. There is also need to balance the factors promoting a federal – institutional model of self – rule with those promoting shared rule.

Federalism has been chosen to bring together formerly separate units into a new country, or to rearrange a previously unitary country, and even as a product of both processes together. Federations have been formed in a series of historical waves over the last two centuries.

Federalism is not always best, and there is no best version of federalism. Federalism seems particularly suited to democracies with very large populations or territories or with highly diverse populations that are regionally concentrated. Over time, federalism requires a significant part of the population to have a sense of identity with the whole country, as well lively and engaged political communities at the regional levels .
Federalism is suitable for some democratic countries and it means democratic forms of government rooted in constitutionalism and the rule of law.


Types of Federalism
1)    Centralized Federalism
2)    Cooperative Federalism
3)    Permissive Federalism
4)    Effective Federalism
5)    Competitive Federalism
6)    Planned Federalism
7)    Formal Federalism


Theory of Power Sharing Model
1)    Dualist Model
2)    Inter –locking Model
3)    Enumerated Model
4)    Residuary Model
5)    Subsidarity Model



Money and Fiscal Powers in Federalism

Arrangements around the raising, sharing, and spending of money are critically important, both politically and economically, for the functioning of federal systems.
There are principles for the effective assignment of revenue-raising powers between governments in federations. In practice, however, there is great variation, largely because the constitutional arrangements, histories of revenue raising, and political cultures of countries can be so different.
Some federations are rich in natural resources, which can provide large revenue or rents, especially from oil, gas, diamonds, and some metals. Such resources are typically very unevenly distributed between constituent units, causing tension within the federation.

Disadvantages of Federalism
Some disadvantages of federal Government are as follows:
1.    It is more expensive to make such infrastructure as buildings and make other necessary arrangement for both centre and the constituent units and there are additional expenses for areas of increased manpower in the constituent federal units.
2.    There may sometimes be disputed regarding distribution of power and jurisdiction between centre and states.
3.    There may be disputed regarding boundaries of states.

There are examples when both unitary and federal states have disintegrated.  The most prominent examples of such states are the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.

Nepal
Mandates for Federalism in Nepal
 Nepal becoming a federal state could be attributed indirectly to the decade long Maoist insurgency and Jana Andolan-2 in 2006 which resulted in overthrowing 240 years old monarchy. Federalism was not an agenda of 40 Point demands submitted by the Maoists in 1996 to the then His Majesty Government of Nepal. When the then Government turned its deaf ear to Maoists' demands, they launched their “People’s War”. Neither was it the agenda of Twelve Point Accord between Seven Party Alliance and the Maoists in November 2005 five months before Jana-Andolan-2. Most of political parties announced in their election manifestos for Constituent Assembly elections (CA) that they favored a federal Nepal after movement in Madhesh in 2007, the biggest catalytic agent in declaration of Nepal as a federal state could also be attributed to Madhesh movement. It is ironic that one of the factors that led to movement for federalism in Madhesh was due to disenchantment with the Maoists and the desire of most Madheshis to live in a part of Nepal which is not ruled by the Maoists.  When Nepal was a unitary monarchial state, one of the bone of contention between the hills and the Terai was Hindu religion.  

As 90 percent of the people in the Terai follow Hinduism, the religious bonding factor between the hills and the Terai disappeared when Nepal was declared a secular country.   It is interesting to note that federalism was not part of the Interim Constitution promulgated in January 2007. It was made part of it by Fifth Amendment in July 2008, two months after elections to CA. The Fifth Amendment has stated that the centralized and unitary structure of state would be replaced by inclusive, democratic and federal system in order to end discrimination based on class, ethnicity, language, culture, religion and region. According to the Fifth Amendment, Nepal would be a federal democratic republic in recognition of aspirations of Madhesis, indigenous, backward and people of other regions for autonomy. The number, boundary and structure and distribution of powers and resources of the autonomous regions would be done by CA.

Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007

The Interim Constitution has included in its first amendment in March 2007 about formation of a High Level State Restructuring Committee (HLSRC) to give advice to CA.  The election to CA took place in April, 2008 and its first meeting was convened in May 2008 but no such HLSRC was formed by the Government. The Interim Constitution has included in its first amendment in March 2007 about formation of a High Level State Restructuring Committee (HLSRC) to give advice to CA.  The election to CA took place in April, 2008 and its first meeting was convened in May 2008 but no such HLSRC was formed by the Government.

Chandra Kanta Gyawali vs. Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala

A writ of Public Interest Litigation for mandamus was filed against Nepal Government and other parties on March 2009 by Chandra Kant Gyawali, Advocate of Supreme Court  to force the Government to form such committee as required by IC. However, Chief Justice Kedar Prasad Giri who was just appointed dismissed the writ on the ground that it was a political question and the judiciary should not be involved in cases of such nature.


Major Ethnic Groups of Nepal
Followings are given major ethnic groups of Nepal such as : Sherpas, Newars, Tamangs, Limbus, Tharus, Magars, Rais, Gurungs, Bahuns, Chetries, Madhesies, Dalits, etc.
Sherpas
Sherpas are the best known people of Nepal throughout the world primarily due to their fame as mountaineers and their villages situated at the foot of Everest. They follow Ningma branch (red hat) of Tibetan Buddhism set up by Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava). Their language is a dialect of Tibetan. According to famed anthropologist Furer Haimendorf, Sherpas migrated from Tibet in the fifteenth or sixteenth century . They are thus not indigenous people of Nepal as they have been categorized recently. The word Sherpa means “Easterner”. They make less than 1 percent of the total population of Nepal. Many people living in the northern areas of Nepal speaking dialect of Tibetan call themselves Sherpas but the one living in Solu Khumbu District are the best known ones. They don’t form the majority of population even in that district and their villages are mainly found in Khumbu region. Haimendorf has written about love affairs between unmarried couples are not disapproved by their elders and during visits of guest all the members of Sherpa family sleep in one large living room. All Sherpas are considered to be of equal status, quite a contrast to caste- ridden society of Nepal in the lowlands. The best-known Sherpa monastery is located at Tengboche in Solu Khumbu district north of Namche Bazar on the foot of Everest.

Recommendation by CA State Restructuring Committee
Constituent Assembly Committee on State restructuring and Distribution of State Powers recommended on 20th January 2010 for creation of fourteen states. It recommended Limbu, Kirat, Sherpa, Newa, Jadan, Tamsaling, Magarat, Tharuwan and Tamuwan on the basis of ethnicity. On the other hand, it recommended formation of Sunkosi and Narayani states in the central and eastern part of the country and Karnali and Khaptad in the mid western and far western part of the country. It also recommended creation of two regions in the Terai consisting of Mithila-Bhojpura-Koch –Madhesh in the east extending from Mechi River in the east to Parsa in the west and Lumbini-Awadh-Tharuhat in the west extending from Narayani River in the east to Mahakali River in the west.  It is interesting to note that a State Restructuring Commission should have been formed for this purpose as required by the Interim Constitution which was not done yet.
 
The fourteen proposed states and their “capitals” are as follows:

Proposed State - Capital
1.    LIMBUWAN-    Ilam
2.    KIRAT-    Trijuga
3.    SHERPA-    Salleri
4.    SUNKOSI-    Kamalamai
5.    TAMSALING-    Chautara
6.    NEWA-    Kathmandu
7.    NARAYANI-    Bharatpur
8.    TAMUWAN-    Pokhara
9.    MAGARAT-    Tansen
10.    KARNALI-    Birendranagar
11.    JADAN-    Simikot
12.    KHAPTAD-    Silgadhi-Dipayal
13.    LUMBIBI-AWADH-THARUWAN-    Ghorahi
14.    MITHILA-BHOJPURA-KOCH-MADHESH- Janakpur    

Some of the above towns have infrastructure as already having been regional centres such as Pokhara, Birendranagar, Silgadhi-Dipayal. On the other hand, few have been district headquarters such as Ilam, Janakpur, Salleri, Ghorahi, Chautara and Tansen.  Liksewise, other like Trijuga and Kamalamai have little infrastructure and would need huge investment in infrastructure before functioning as federal state capitals.
    
It was also recommended that largest group in each state should be given special preference for such posts as Chief Minister for two terms. An article written by the Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai  has provided interesting insight about Maoist thinking and vision on federalism. According to him, any ethnic group which has its own language and geography (presumably meaning area in which they are living) should be given its own autonomous state. He realizes that such ethnic states envisaged by the Maoists as Tamsaling, Magarat, Tamuwan, Kirat, Mithila and Tharuwan, the “main ethnic group”, presumably meaning the one after whom the federal state is named, makes only 20 to 40 percent of the population. There may be other ethnic groups which might make majority of the population.

 He proposes naming the federal states on the basis of “minority groups” and giving priority (Agradhikar) to the discriminated groups for a certain period of time say ( twenty or thirty years) in order to compensate for the losses they had incurred for their backwardness. He also proposes giving political leadership of the federal states to the ethnic groups after whom the state is named. According to him, there should also be proportional representation for all the ethnic groups in Parliament, executive, judiciary and security related branches of the government. 

If Bhattarai’s line of arguments are to be followed it will also prove that Chhetris in Nepal being the largest group should be given priority in leading the country as they also make majority of population in 11 districts in Midwest and the Far West which also form the most backward districts in the country.  Many indigenous people in Nepal have adopted Nepali as their mother tongue. The majority of Magars, the largest indigenous group in the country speak Nepali instead of Magar language as their mother tongue. The percentage of Gurungs, Newars, Tamangs, Rais and Limbus who speak Nepali as mother tongue is smaller but is not insignificant.

Therefore, the argument about each ethnic group being given a separate autonomous state on the basis of language and geography is not entirely convincing. There are Gurung villages in the hills of eastern Nepal such as Rumjatar where they had migrated during the campaign for unification and their mother tongue is Nepali. There are Newars in many urban centres of the country. Newars living in Ilam and Dhankuta in the east and Silgadhi in Doti in the west speak Nepali as their mother tongue.

Although the exact boundaries of the fourteen federal states as recommended by the committee have not been known at the present time, studies of ethnic make up of some of the earlier models provide some indication about the proposed one. In Magarat autonomous region declared by the percentage of Magars is only 31 whereas the percentage of hill upper caste people (Brahmin, Chhetri and Thakuris) is 47.  As more than half of Magars have now adopted Nepali as their mother tongue, the percentage of Nepali speaking people in this region is overwhelming. In Tamuwan autonomous region, the percentage of Gurungs is only 20 whereas that of hill upper caste being 41 percent is almost double.

There are more hill upper caste people in Newa autonomous region (37 percent) than Newars (35 percent). This is based on census taken in 2001. As a large number of people have migrated to Kathmandu valley in the past decade due to its location as the capital city and those affected by conflict have also migrated, this percentage could be different in 2011 census. There are more Nepali speaking people (54%) in Tharuwan (Kailali, Kanchanppur, Banke, Bardia and Dang) than Tharus  (35%).  The largest ethnic group living in Solo Khumbu is Rai and Sherpas make up only 20 percent of the population of the district.

Continue - part -2
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बाबुराम भंडारी सिंगापुर । नेपाली नारीहरुको महान पर्व तिजका अबसर पारेर सिंगापुरमा पनि नेपाली महिलाहरुले पहिलोपटक हर्षोल्लासका साथ भाद्र २४ गते तिज मनाएका छन । सगरमाथा आरोहि तेम्बा सेर्पाको "हिमाली हावा" सिडी क्यासेटको विमोचन हालै अमेरिकामा भएको छ । क्यालिफोर्निया । नेपालका ख्यातिप्राप्त कलाकारहरु दिपकराज गिरी, दिपाश्री निरौला, गोपाल अधिकारी अथवा टवाकेन्द्रका साथमा नेपाली आधुनिक गायक याम बराल र गायिका नलिना चित्राकारको भव्य प्रश्तुति रहेको कार्यक्रम सान फ्रान्सिस्को स्थित हिलटन होटलमा यहि सेप्टम्वर ८ मा सम्पन्न भएको छ । ध्रुव थापा । नेपाल विश्व सहयोग संघले अब आफ्नो ध्यान च्यटरहरुलाई ब्यबस्थित गर्ने तथाअमेरिकी राज्यहरुमा सङठन बिस्तार तिर केन्द्रित भएको छ । कृष्णप्रकाश श्रेष्ठमास्को ४ सेप्टेम्बर २०१० शनिवार । रुसको राजधानी मास्कोको स्थापना भएको ८६४ वर्ष पुरा भएको अबसरमा ४ सेप्टेम्बरका दिन युरोपकै सर्वोच्च हिमशिखर पूर्वी चुचुरो ५६२९ मिटर र पश्चिमी चुचुरो ५६४२ मिटर एल्ब्रुस-विजेता समावेसी नेपाली नारी पर्वतारोही टोलीको भव्य स्वागत गरिएको छ लरक्कै लर्क्यो रातो सारी भुंइमा, संगीसाथी सबै भैराछ भेला भन्देउ न कुन चांहि राम्री हामी दुइमा । धन कमाउने सपनामा ६ वर्षअघि कुवेत पुगेकी मकवानपुरकी एक महिला कुवेतको अस्पतालमा अचेत अवस्थामा रहेकी छिन् । आमाको मिठो मनमा गुन्जने माया भित्र छम्म छाम नाच्दै भित्रियाछ तीज नेपाली घर आँगनमा