Chief ministers of all seven provinces jointly issued the Koshi Declaration-2083 at an inter-provincial chief ministers’ conference in Biratnagar on Ashoj 27 and 28, calling on the federal government to transfer the structures and personnel required to put provincial powers into practice. The declaration prioritises provincial police administration, peace and security responsibilities, and employee adjustment, while also urging an end to administrative duplication, stronger financial federalism and closer cooperation among provinces.
Call to put provincial powers into practice
The declaration’s central demand is for the federal government to transfer, without delay, the institutional structures and manpower that provinces need to carry out their assigned responsibilities. The chief ministers have called for the arrangements required to fully implement provincial police administration, as well as provincial responsibilities relating to peace and security. They have also highlighted employee adjustment as part of the transfer needed for provincial administrations to function.
The demands connect the question of authority with the practical capacity to exercise it. The declaration does not call only for responsibilities to be recognised; it asks for the structures and personnel needed to carry them out. In that sense, the chief ministers have presented the transfer of functions, administrative arrangements and staff as linked parts of provincial governance.
Police administration and peace and security are among the areas specifically named in the joint declaration. The call is for the federal government to enable provinces to implement these responsibilities through the necessary institutional and human-resource arrangements. The chief ministers’ demand for immediate action gives the declaration a clear message: they want the transfer needed for provincial responsibilities to move forward rather than remain incomplete.
Administrative and fiscal federalism
The seven chief ministers have also called for an end to administrative duplication. Their declaration identifies overlapping administration as an issue that should be addressed as federal responsibilities are put into effect. The demand points to the need for clearer arrangements between levels of government, so that the transfer of responsibilities is accompanied by a more coherent administrative structure.
Financial federalism is another major element of the Koshi Declaration. The chief ministers have called for it to be ensured, alongside the transfer of powers and administrative capacity. The declaration therefore links the ability of provinces to carry out their responsibilities with the financial dimension of federal governance. It places fiscal arrangements among the matters requiring attention from the federal government, rather than treating provincial authority as a question of administrative structures alone.
Together, the calls on administrative duplication and financial federalism broaden the declaration beyond police administration and staffing. The statement puts institutional responsibilities, personnel, administrative arrangements and finances within the same discussion of how provincial governance should operate. It presents these issues as connected priorities for the provinces and the federal government.
A joint position from all seven provinces
The conference in Biratnagar brought together the chief ministers of all seven provinces, and the declaration was issued jointly. That shared position gives the document a wider provincial scope than a demand made by a single province. Its proposals cover matters that the chief ministers have collectively identified as important: implementing provincial responsibilities, securing the required structures and manpower, reducing administrative duplication, ensuring financial federalism and strengthening cooperation between provinces.
The declaration also calls for stronger inter-provincial cooperation. Alongside the demands directed at the federal government, it recognises coordination among provinces as a priority. The chiefs’ joint statement thus combines a request for action from the centre with a call for provinces to work more closely with one another.
The Koshi Declaration-2083 sets out the chief ministers’ shared demands following their two-day inter-provincial conference. Its central request is for the federal government to transfer the means needed to make provincial responsibilities operational, while addressing the administrative and fiscal arrangements associated with that transfer. The declaration’s focus on cooperation among provinces adds a further part to that agenda, placing coordination alongside the transfer of power as an issue for all seven provincial governments.
