Good governance top priority

Min Bahadur Shahi

Member, National Planning Commission

The policy and programmes for the next fiscal year are based on the basic principles in the Constitution, and have tried to address the national need from infrastructure development, federalism implementation to social welfare. However, it is equally important to implement it effectively so that every Nepali citizen is benefitted. The government has the liability and responsibility of fulfilling the rights of women, dalits and marginalised people mentioned in the Constitution. Pluralism and multiparty are the tenets of democracy which have been addressed in the policy and programmes and the 15^th Plan.

I think we must create a harmony between equality and freedom. Absolute poverty, not the multi-dimensional poverty, will be eradicated within the period of the 15^th periodic plan but equality cannot be ensured, a gap of inequality will always exist although the government will try to reduce the gap between the rich and poor. The state has conservational policies in case of social security for poor and marginalised community and class. I would like to inform that the National Planning Commission has consulted the election manifesto of the ruling and opposition parties while preparing the 15^th Plan. 

The manifesto of the main opposition party has also given priority to the social justice and welfare. Though the parties have different stands on political and governance issues, they have almost identical views in terms of social justice.

The policy and programmes and the 15^th Plan have tried to change the fundamental development narratives in the changed political scenario in the country. There are development programmes being executed by the federal, provincial and local governments while some of the projects are jointly implemented by the two or three tiers of the government. We have been trying to create development models which can directly benefit people and have positive impact on their everyday life, like economist Amartya Sen said, 'development is the fundamental right of the people'.

The 15^th Plan has received mixed reactions – some say it lacks highly ambitious programmes while others say the opposite. This time our national vision, mission and goals are different. I would like to say that it is unique in the sense that it has to achieve some unique results like graduating the country from the Least Developed Country (LDC) status by 2022, become a middle-income nation by 2030, achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and increase the per capita income (PCI) to 12,000 US dollars by 2044 or by the end of Nepali 21^st century. We have also presented the foundations for the next four 5-year periodic plans.

To ensure that only feasible projects are included in the plan and budget, the NPC has established Project Bank and any project out of it won't be entertained. Similarly, we won't accept programmes and projects that are not mentioned in the policy and programmes. The government has given high priority to the manufacturing sector to support the high economic growth, employment generation and capital formation. Drivers of economic growth and development have been identified with a focus on good governance.

So far at the implementation model of the development is concerned, we have assumed that all the governments will be more responsible and accountable and they will work in close collaboration with each other and the people. The first year of the government was the year to set the foundation of federalism, the next year will be year of development implementation. Good governance is given top priority. It includes reforms in the bureaucracy and policy.

Public Procurement Act has been termed as the biggest hurdle to the development project, so we are changing the provision to the mid-bidding system which will end the malady of low bidding. Some or our neighbours have already adopted this approach.

The NPC has prepared the draft of the National Human Resources Development Policy which will guide the federal and sub-national governments as well as the private sector in supporting the manpower creation. It is necessary to reap the benefits of the demographic dividend.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 13 May 2019.