Inclusive Governance: A Case Study of Civil Service in Nepal

Abstract

<p><em>This paper examines the level of inclusive policy implementation in civil service in Nepal which has been adopted since 2007, after the second amendment of the Civil Service Act-1993. The legal instruments state to bring the disadvantaged groups such as women, ethnic minorities, dalits, disabled, etc. who are socially, economically and politically marginalized into the governing system. Specifically, this paper analyzes the role of the Public Service Commission (PSC). Also it examines the level of social justice due to inclusive policy implementation and their level of performance after their recruitment, drawing information through questionnaire to 227 civil servants, interviews with 28 key informants and the annual report of the PSC from 2008 to 2014. </em></p> <p><em>The study revealed that the selected quota or share in civil service as per the Act has been increasing but the trend of recruitment has remained the same as before. The study depicted that the selected civil servants belonged to similar families with members having already been civil servants. The legal opportunity allocated for inclusion were enjoyed by certain families in the name of disadvantaged groups as they were elites in their respective community because the real disadvantaged groups were not in a position to compete in the PSC examinations. They had low literacy rate. Brahmins, Chhetris, Newars together with some ethnic groups were dominating the civil service due to family orientation and education even if their population was relatively low. The performance of civil servants was marginally different in between inclusive and open category due to the lack of human resource development activities like training, empowerment, workshops and orientation. The study concluded that the structure of civil service due to inclusive governance has changed but not entrenched in the targeted community.</em></p>

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