Restructuring The Permanent State

Unison (Shin Terai album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Once you decide on how many states, their areas and their names, and once you decide on the size and shape of the parliament, and that of the office of the president and prime minister, attentions shifts to the states.

6 Geographic States With Geographic Names
205 + 100 MPs At Most

The six states should have one chamber parliaments that are at most 100 strong. So the two Terai states might have chambers that are 100 strong each, whereas the four hill states might have chambers that are 50 strong each. For a total of about 400 state level legislators. The majority in each elects its Chief Minister.

Then you shape up the district and local level governments.

The biggest part of state restructuring is what do you do with the bureaucrats. What do you do with the police? The army?

The civil war has been over for years now, but the Nepal Army has not been downsized. That is a problem. The Nepal Army needs to be downsized drastically to about 10,000 soldiers. Policing will be a state function. And obviously you can't have a Pahadi police force in the Terai. Some downsizing will have to happen in the police force as well. The armed police force was constituted in the face of the Maoist insurgency. But that insurgency is over. Some police personnel can be shifted to the states, but not all. Many will have to be guided into the private sector of the economy. This is part of the peace process still. Foreign aid can be sought for the same. People don't find their livelihoods gone. They just find they have new vocations now.

The same goes to ministries. Many will have to be downsized, a few will have to be eliminated.

State restructuring is not state restructuring unless you restructure the permanent government.

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205 + 100 MPs At Most

I am pretty happy with the map I drew a few days back.

6 Geographic States With Geographic Names



The next question obviously is, how do you constitute the national parliament.

The two Terai states would end up with something like 55% of the population and so should get 55% of the MPs.

How many MPs total? If a large country like India has about 500, a small country like Nepal should be able to do with 200. So, say, 205 is the Lower House, and 100 in the Upper House.

Once you figure out which district gets how many MPs, then there should be reservations. 10% of the constituencies should be reserved for Dalits. As in, only Dalit candidates may contest. These should be the 22 constituencies with the largest shares of Dalit populations. Eight of these 22 should be reserved for Dalit women.

Every third constituency should be reserved for women. 20% of these for Dalit women, 30% for Madhesi women, 30% for Janajati women.

First past the post for the Lower House.

For the 100 seats in the Upper House, it is all proportional. So a party that gets 30% of the votes gets 30% of the seats, and so on. The list has to be submitted beforehand. As in, you can not change the list ex post facto. And the list should be inclusive of the DaMaJaMa. As in, one third women, 10% Dalits, and so on. One third women meaning every third name on the list is a woman.

205 + 100 = 305.

This would be the national parliament. It could be made that the entire parliament elects the Prime Minister, and not just the Lower House.

Every elected leader in the country at local, state and national level will form a pool. That pool will elect a president who would be the constitutional head and the Commander In Chief of the Nepal Army.

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