The government has recently implemented a new system of paying employee salaries every 15 days. With no substantial salary increases in the past four years, inflation has pushed employees into poverty. The author suggests that strict measures are needed for salary hikes, health and education benefits, and corruption control.
In the country’s administrative structure, the civil service is considered the backbone of state operations. From policy formulation to service delivery, the responsibility rests on the employees’ shoulders. Ironically, this backbone is now being crushed under severe financial constraints and rising inflation.
The newly introduced biweekly salary payment system is viewed as either an appealing and modern arrangement or merely an administrative experiment. This has become a critical topic of debate today. In previous decades, coalition governments led by UML, Congress, and Maoist parties routinely increased salaries by 10 to 15 percent every two years through budget provisions. However, there have been no significant salary increases for employees in the last four years.
A key question is how the biweekly salary system will affect employees’ lives. Receiving 50 percent of their salary every 15 days, what needs can an employee realistically meet? Major expenses such as rent, bank installments, and children’s costly school and tuition fees require substantial amounts. Half a salary might only cover gas and basic household groceries. How do employees manage the remaining 15 days’ expenses? This system has reportedly added to employees’ mental stress.
Discussions on corruption control and good governance have become a trend lately. However, when the state fails to provide its employees with wages sufficient for a “respectable life,” workers are forced to seek alternative and sometimes illegal means. In Nepal, the situation is paradoxical—the government promotes slogans of good governance but expects honesty from employees who are left hungry. The decision to pay salaries every 15 days is merely a technical adjustment. What Nepal’s civil service truly needs is not just technical reform but economic justice and dignity.
(The author, Shahi, is a civil servant working in Karnali Province, Dolpa.)
