The government is preparing to abolish four ministries and rename six others. The Ministry of Youth and Sports will be merged with the Ministry of Education to form the Ministry of Education and Sports. The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration will be placed under the Prime Minister’s Office, limiting the total number of ministries to 17. Kathmandu, 20 Baisakh.
The government is moving forward with plans to abolish some ministries and merge others with new names. According to sources close to the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers’ Office, four ministries are set to be abolished. Meanwhile, work is in its final stage to assign new names to six other ministries, the source said.
“Four ministries will be abolished, and six will be renamed. Some will be separated from existing ministries and placed directly under the Prime Minister’s Office,” a source from the Prime Minister’s Office stated. “These changes are expected to be finalized within this week.” To facilitate this, the government formed a five-member task force chaired by Secretary Govinda Bahadur Karki of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers’ Office.
The ministries slated for abolition include Youth and Sports, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Urban Development, and Federal Affairs and General Administration. The Ministry of Youth and Sports will be separated; sports will be merged with the Ministry of Education to become the Ministry of Education and Sports. The separated youth portfolio, along with the Ministry of Women, Children, and Senior Citizens, and the Ministry of Health and Population and Social Security, will be integrated and renamed the Ministry of Gender Equality and Social Development.
Sanitation will be separated from the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and merged with the Ministry of Health. Drinking water and urban development portfolios will be merged into the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure, which will be renamed the Ministry of Integrated Physical Infrastructure. “There is also an internal plan to separate transport from the physical ministry and transfer it to the Ministry of Labour,” the source added.
The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration will come under the direct oversight of the Prime Minister’s Office. Additionally, the portfolios of Poverty Alleviation from the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation; Information Technology from the Ministry of Communications; and Science and Technology from the Ministry of Education will be transferred to the Prime Minister’s Office. These actions follow the proposals submitted by the task force. According to one source, the government aims to limit the number of ministries to 17 while assigning additional responsibilities under the Prime Minister’s Office.
The government’s recently released hundred-point administrative reform agenda also mentions the reduction of federal ministries. The current restructuring plan is part of the effort to implement those administrative reforms.
