Bureaucracy and Bureaucrats: Some Themes Drawn from the Nepal Experience

Abstract

THE REVOLUTION OF 1950-1951 in Nepal carried forward more from the past than is readily manifest. New themes were introduced alongside the old. The newer themes consisted of the forms and facade of the modern state. A central secretariat was established in the Singha Durbar, the residence of the former hereditary Rana prime ministers. Ministries were introduced and in them departments responsible for executive action were installed. The country's first budgets were prepared, cabinets appointed, civil service rules promulgated, and economic development plans announced. But the new elements did not wholly supplant the older systems of running the government of the country. A multiple system of government persists, though the older part is usually unknown to foreigners, including the technical personnel of the foreign aid missions in Kathmandu. During the 1950s and 1960s, three major administrative entities could be identified. The most visible of these was the formally constituted civil administration; a second was the foreign aid community; and a third was the Palace and its secretariat. Though inter-related, these entities were also competitive. The first consists of the ministries, departments, and agencies of central and local administration. The second-the foreign aid community-continued to play an important role as financier. Few aspects of bureaucratic life in Nepal were untouched by the external assistance agencies. The Royal Palace, third of the entities, was the summit from which influence for administrative and economic development might emanate. The sovereign power of the country resides today at this summit and the inspiration of the public service might start from this source. In 1952, when I was first employed by the Royal Nepal Government, what was most noticeable to the foreign observer was the buoyant, risk-taking response of the younger civil servants whose careers were budding. Policy matters were being debated openly, an inventory of