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Following the conclusion of the election of the National Assembly, the federal upper house, the chief ministers of all seven provinces have been quickly finalized. How well do you know these provincial government heads? Here is a primer into their lives and achievements.

Sherdhan Rai, Province 1

The CPN-UML politburo member was born in Aamchowk, Bhojpur to Jagirman and Ram­rimaya Rai on Feb 13, 1971. Rai, who has a Masters in Sociology, started his political career in 1988. He spent his first three years in politics underground at the fag-end of the Panchayat rule. Rai has risen through the UML via his long-time involvement in its student wing. He won a seat to the new provincial assembly from Bhojpur 1 (B) constituency.

Mohammad Lal Babu Raut, Province 2

The Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum leader, who was born on June 22, 1966, is the sole Madhesi as well as the sole Muslim to be elected chief minister. A resident of Jagaranathpur rural municipality in Parsa, Raut has an MA in English as well as an LLB. He has over a decade of teaching experience in Thakuram Multiple Campus in Birgunj. Raut, an active participant in various Madhesi uprisings, won the provincial election from Parsa 1 (B) constituency.

Dor Mani Poudel, Province 3

The CPN-UML lawmaker in the Province 3 assembly was born on March 28, 1946. He is best known for his innovative development plans for Hetauda municipality. Poudel has twice served in the capacity of the mayor of Hetauda. Active in politics for the past 38 years, he has been jailed four times in his political career. He was elected to the provincial assembly from Makawanpur constituency 1 (B).

Prithvi Subba Gurung, Province 4

The CPN-UML Secretary, known for his humility and intellectual bent, was born on Feb 12, 1958, to Ganga Prasad and Chini Gurung, in Taxar of Lamjung district. Gurung is a graduate in science and a teacher by profession and has been in active politics since 1977. In the recent provincial election, he was elected from Lam­jung 1 (B) constituency.

Shankar Pokhrel, Province 5

UML standing committee member Shankar Pokhrel, born in 1964 in Bijauri of Dang dis­trict, is no stranger to power, having served in senior roles both in his party and the govern­ment previously. He is known for his organi­zational strength. Thought of as particularly close to party chairman KP Sharma Oli, Pokhrel was elected chief minister unopposed when the UML’s Province 5 Parliamentary Party unanimously approved his name. Pokhrel was elected to the provincial assembly from Dang 2 (A) constituency.

Mahendra Bahadur Shahi, Province 6 (nominated)

The CPN (Maoist Center) leader was a min­ister for energy in the outgoing government of Sher Bahadur Deuba. Shahi was a divisional commander in the Maoist military. Born in 1976, Shahi won the provincial elections from Kalikot 1 (B) constituency, beating his party col­league, Naresh Bhandari of Jumla, as the main chief minister contender.

Trilochan Bhatta, Province 7

The second Maoist leader to be selected chief minister, Bhatta was born in 1969 to father Prasad and mother Saradadevi. Bhatta is an old figure in Nepali communist movement, even though he might not be a familiar face in national politics. In 2006 he was nominated the chief of the Doti chapter of the mother Maoist party. Bhatta was elected to provincial assem­bly from Doti 1 (B) constituency.

CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma—as the head of the communist coalition with CPN (Maoist Center), which together have an absolute majority in national parlia­ment—has started his second inning as prime minister. Due to a technicality in the country’s electoral laws, the new government could not be formed for nearly two-and-a-half months of the federal elections.

Now that it is in place, what do people have to look for­ward to? “First and foremost, the left coalition must fulfill the promises on stability and prosperity that it made on the campaign trail,” says political analyst Krishna Khanal. “Oth­erwise, I don’t think Nepali people have traditionally had high expectations of their governments.”

The most remarkable aspect of the latest change of guard at Singadurbar, as Khanal points out, is that a government with people’s direct mandate has been formed after a long time. “The previous time Oli was prime minister, he only had technical mandate to govern. Not so this time,” Khanal says. If he wants, Oli can now enact sweeping reforms to make the government people-friendly, Khanal adds.

“I think the biggest challenge for the new government will be to implement the new constitution,” says former chief election commissioner Bhojraj Pokharel, “State-restructur­ing, as provided in the new constitution, will be a big chal­lenge.” Pokharel adds that state-restructuring is not limited to redrawing the country’s internal boundaries. “It is as much about having the right manpower and the right mindset to bring about sweeping changes in our governance, as required under a federal set-up”.

Both Khanal and Pokharel worry if the country has ade­quate resources to properly implement the federal set-up.

Another tricky issue for the new government will be addressing the demands of the Madhesi parties. Unlike in other six provinces where the left alliance will rule, in Prov­ince 2, the Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum and the Rastriya Janata Party Nepal, two Madhesi parties, are forming a coalition. They come to power on the promise of amending the con­stitution to establish the agendas raised by various Madhesi uprisings. Yet changing provincial contours via constitution amendment, as the Madhesi parties want, is a devilishly diffi­cult business. “But since the left alliance has a strong central government, in addition to ruling six of the seven provinces, it will have no good excuse to keep pushing aside the Madhesi demands,” says Pokharel.

All this suggests the new prime minister’s plate will be brimful from Day One.

One of the main concerns over federalism is regarding its costs, which, some reckon, are prohibitive. Just to set up the new federal infrastructure, for example, is expected to cost Rs 820 billion over the next three years. The initial signs of profligacy of our political leaders in the new federal set-up are troubling. In a populist measure, for example, the outgoing government decided to drastically increase old-age pen­sions, costing the exchequer Rs 200 billion immediately, and much more in the future.

Tomorrow, given the checkered spending record of our politicians, there could also be a rat race to buy the most expensive bungalows and cars for the new MPs and ministers, and there are bound to be many pitched battles between the seven provinces and the central govern­ment over division of spoils. The country may also have to rely on foreign aid to tide over its expenses. Moreover, the functioning (and the costs) of the new federal provinces and local units is rather tricky to work out.

But it is also a question of wheth­er to see the glass as half-empty or half-full. For there are unques­tionable benefits of federalism, too, for a geographically and ethnically diverse Nepal. Nor are costs a one-way street: while some expenses have gone up, others (in having few­er ministries, for instance) have come down.

“It could all be worth it,” says Khim Lal Devkota, a fiscal feder­alism expert. For the first time in the country’s history, says Devkota, the power of Singhadurbar is being devolved to the grassroots, which is “something to be celebrated”.

Kathmandu: The Supreme Court has paved the way for businessman Ajaya Raj Sumargi to recover around Rs 2.25 billion that the Nepal Ras­tra Bank had frozen earlier. A sin­gle bench of justice Tej Bahadur KC issued an interim order on Tuesday in the name of the bank to desist from implementing its earlier deci­sion to withhold the amount. “The legal reasons put forth by the bank to withhold the fund were not transpar­ent, and hence this order is issued to allow the petitioner to withdraw the money,” reads the order.

The court has also summoned both plaintiffs and defendants on February 14. Sumargi and Subas Chandra Poudel had filed a writ at the Supreme Court last Sunday on behalf of the Nepal Satellite Telecom Company, arguing that the bank’s decision to withhold the funds had damaged the company and had asked for immediate release of the funds. RSS