Sita Ram Ghimire, PhD

Nepal Policy Institute

Executive Summary:

The food and nutrition security of a country is addressed in Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2),which relates to ending hunger, food security, and improving nutrition through sustainable agriculturaldevelopment. The Government of Nepal has committed itself to SDGs, set targets to achieve thoserespective goals, defined indicators for those targets, and formulated policies and programs forimplementation to achieve the targets. As per the commitment, those targets have been integrated intothe 14 th and 15 th periodic plans and Agriculture Development Strategy 2015-2035.

Seven years have already passed since the SDGs were adopted for implementation by the Governmentof Nepal, but the indicators in reviews of SDGs, specifically SDG 2, are not very encouraging. TheGovernment’s official figure in 2020, even after five years of SDG’s implementation, stated that only48.2% of households are food secure. Furthermore, an alarming increase in farm product import inrecent years and months, and over-reliance on limited major food products such as rice, wheat, potato,and corn for staple food has led to a loss of nutritional diversity from the daily diet and at the sametime, loss of crop species diversity from the agricultural system, The high hills, and mountains ofNepal, have been facing a food deficit for a long time. However, most of the native and locallyadapted species of these areas, such as barley, buckwheat, millets, amaranth, vegetables, roots, andtuber crops, and so on are neglected or underutilized. Besides that, unfounded cultural and religioustaboos in some ethnic groups have referred to some crops like millet, buckwheat, and soybean asunholy foods regardless of their superior nutritional status.

Since Nepal adopted a federal system of governance in 2015, all local Municipalities have sovereignpower to formulate plans and policies to explore and utilize their resource entitlements andagroecological location advantage. Education and public awareness on locally adapted underutilizedcrop species and their role on food and nutrition diversification should receive priority of localgovernment policies. The evolution of current staple food choice dependent on limited crop speciessuch as rice, wheat, potato, and a few other crops is not considered sustainable, secure, and balancedfrom nutrition perspective. Identification of potential ecological zone-specific traditional crops andtheir breeding and improvement would pave ways to entrepreneurship and investment in suchunderutilized plant resources leading to commercialization and branding. Strategies adopted by localMunicipalities to achieve such policy outcome with the backing of the provincial and federalgovernments would help localize respective SDGs, including SDG 2, thereby helping to achieve foodand nutrition security in the country.

Kalpana Jha 

Nepal Policy Institute

Executive Summary:

Inclusion was central to adopting a federal structure in Nepal. However, the idea and the process of inclusion both have been contested over the years since inclusion, as a concept, was conceived officially and envisaged in the Constitution. Using ‘reluctant inclusion’ as an analytical frame, this Policy Brief explains how the articles included in the Constitution in Nepal have grappled with the question of facilitating broad inclusion in the design of political power-sharing mechanisms and institutions. The groups who face major institutional constraints on their representation and participation in the power-sharing arrangement are influenced by multiple factors that are accentuated by the entrenched loopholes in the Constitution, the structure, and the process of inclusion at large. This makes Nepal’s effort at inclusion a reluctant one as exclusion is rooted within the social structure, that manifests at the political level making inclusion rather a token than a principal in which the democratic, federal institution building is grounded.

Khagendra Raj Dhakal, and Isha Mandal 

Nepal Policy Institute

Executive Summary:

Millions of Nepalis living and working abroad are currently disenfranchised and cannot exercise their constitutional rights to participate in national and local elections. The constitutional provision has been reiterated by a decision of the Supreme Court that the Government should take immediate action to remedy the situation. And yet, to date, there has been little progress in this regard, and not because the government, or political parties, disagree with the decision but due to lack of strong political will and technical know-how. Overseas voting has been allowed for in numerous countries, and i-Voting has been gaining greater currency and appeal. Technical constraints and security considerations are certainly valid but they can be addressed by developing a National Framework for Verifiable i-Voting for external voting. What is missing is appropriate legislation and political will for an external voting policy for Nepali nationals abroad.

Khagendra Raj Dhakal, and Isha Mandal 

Nepal Policy Institute

Executive Summary:

It is estimated that seven million Nepalis are living and working abroad, the majority of whom are migrant workers who contribute substantially to the country’s economy by sending in remittances (worth approximately 27% of Nepal’s GDP, as of 2020). Nepalis abroad, however, currently are not in a position to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right to vote in elections in Nepal. Despite a 2018 Supreme Court directive, no progress has been made in terms of drafting the necessary legislative arrangements to enable Nepalis living abroad to enjoy the right to vote.

More than 150 countries around the world have a legal framework for external (ie, out-of-country) voting. This includes many countries that are just as, or even more, constrained and capacity challenged as Nepal. This Policy Brief details some of the provisions that different jurisdictions have in place and analyzes the implications for Nepal.

In using Indonesia as the primary case study, supported by evidence of provisions from countries like Estonia and France, the Policy Brief recommends i-Voting (internet-based voting) as an efficient and economical method of external voting for Nepal. In making this recommendation, the Brief acknowledges the security, financial, and administrative constraints attached with in-person ballot voting (paper based and/or electronic) in Nepal embassies and consulates abroad. It is acknowledged that even as i-Voting holds great promise, there are still specific caveats to be addressed, including changing existing pieces of election related legislation. The Foreign Employment Information Management System (FEIMS) database is also particularly helpful in this regard, but to optimize its usage there is need for substantial collaboration among the Ministry of Labor, Employment, and Social Security; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Election Commission Nepal.