“The only debates I have heard on state restructuring is on the number of states. They are discussing division of spheres. No discussions have been carried out on responsibilities of state governments and their contribution toward developing Nepal as one nation,” said Professor Shinji Asanuma.[break]
Interacting with the press on Friday, Professor Shinji opined that the idea of federating Nepal on the basis of single identity might not work because unlike former Soviet Union or Yugoslavia where different ethnic groups resided in different parts of the country, ethnic groups in Nepal are highly intermingled.
“In such a situation, if the leaders go for single ethnic-based province, they will eventually create numerous minority groups in all the provinces. This can create problems for all, eventually turning the present efforts futile,” said Professor Shinji.
Instead of ethnicity, he suggested the leaders to work out a different basis for restructuring Nepal. “I feel the vision of restructuring should be to build Nepal as one nation, a culture of cultures and one economy,” he stated.
According to Professor Sinjhi, the state government should be provided freedom to work on social and cultural spheres, community development, including language policy, and the central government should concentrate on economic development and fiscal management.
“Both must own shared responsibility and respect the spirit of co-management,” he stated.
Owing to country´s difficult geography and existence of inherent disparity between regions in terms of natural resource endowment, accessibility and economic activities, Professor Shinji opined that the leaders must not ask all the provinces to churn out enough revenue themselves to run the provinces.
“The poorer provinces simply cannot do that. Hence, there must be arrangement of fair allocation of resources,” he stated. He even suggested to the leaders to set up a finance commission to safeguard the financial rights of all the provinces.
“There should be a clear cut allocation formula for appropriating resources to the states. While the central government should strictly adhere to it, the finance commission should change it time to time depending on the situation and need,” he stressed.
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