Kathmandu, April 11 -- Nepal's constitution envisions three pillars-political, administrative and fiscal-for federalism. While the country has successfully enacted political federalism with periodic elections and proportional representation in the elected state machinery, it lags in administrative and fiscal federalism.

Around eight years have passed since the provincial and local governments came into being through 2017 general elections, but they still lack enough civil servants to function effectively. Around a third of the local units are without chief administrative officers (CAO). Their turnover is high even where they are posted as they rather want to work under the federal government.

"We had to come to Kathmandu twice to get th...