Representative and responsive bureaucracy in Nepal: a mismatch or a realistic assumption?

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate, firstly, to what extent has Nepal’s bureaucracy become representative in terms of reflecting the country’s demographic composition, and secondly, has the bureaucracy become more responsive to citizens since the implementation of a quota policy in 2007.Design/methodology/approachThis paper relies on factual and perceptual data in analysis. In order to analyze and interpret representative bureaucracy, this paper adopts factual data derived from the secondary sources, especially data generated by the Government of Nepal. Second, the perceptual set of data was collected through two rounds (2008, 2014) of a country-representative survey in Nepal.FindingsThe findings suggest that in terms of representativeness, the bureaucracy is still dominated by high-caste Hindus, while other ethnic communities, except the Newars, are utterly under-represented. Surprisingly, Dalits are represented in higher posts as per their percentage in the population, but they are still underrepresented in the civil service in general. Women’s representation has also increased through participation in the civil service, but they still mostly hold junior or non-gazetted posts. Citizens’ evaluations regarding responsiveness and processes of service provision are also mixed.Originality/valueThis paper is a unique attempt to understand the aspects of representativeness and responsiveness in relation to Nepalese Civil Service.

Policy Problems and Progressive Solutions to Halt Increasing Social Harms on Disadvantaged Rural Communities from Current Neo-Colonial Land Grabbing Policy in Nepal: Insights and Opinions

“…a) These land grabbing policies in Nepal are endorsed and authorized mostly by institutionally privileged elite ethnic communities (Pokhrel 2021;World Bank 2021;WWF 2020;Master Plan 1988). These ethnic communities have occupied over 90 % of the powerful political positions in the country (Jamil and Baniamin 2020) b) The government statistics indicate that the recently practiced land use policies have resulted in slow poison effects on many aspects of disadvantaged communities and especially indigenous ethnic communities. The disadvantaged ethnic groups were historically squeezed by the elite ethnic communities into marginal lands (Borradileit et al 1978;Bista 1991).…”

Myanmar’s Environment and Climate Change Challenges: International IDEA Policy Paper No. 27, November 2022

“…Furthermore, 'elites' from these marginalized groups mostly benefited from the quotas, reducing the diversity of views and life experiences represented in the civil service. The quotas did not account for intersectional identities, as candidates were barred from competing under more than one category at a time (Jamil and Baniamin 2020). There is ongoing political debate about amending the quota system.…”

Effects of representative bureaucracy on perceived performance and fairness: Experimental evidence from South Asia

“…In the other two countries, their presence is much lower (35% in Bangladesh and 23% in Nepal in 2017) (Table 1). These statistics indicate the aggregate level of women's presence in the civil service, but in general, there is a lower number of women in the higher decision‐making positions (Jamil & Baniamin, 2020; Kabir, 2020; Nilmi & Thoradeniya, 2018). Table 1 indicates that although the presence of women is gradually increasing in the three sample countries, it is still low in Bangladesh and Nepal.…”

“…Despite numerous writings on representative bureaucracy in South Asia, most of them are normative and lack evidence-based understanding of this issue. Though, there are some evidence-based studies, for example, a study on Nepal by Jamil and Baniamin et al (2020).…”