One of the main concerns over federalism is regarding its costs, which, some reckon, are prohibitive. Just to set up the new federal infrastructure, for example, is expected to cost Rs 820 billion over the next three years. The initial signs of profligacy of our political leaders in the new federal set-up are troubling. In a populist measure, for example, the outgoing government decided to drastically increase old-age pen­sions, costing the exchequer Rs 200 billion immediately, and much more in the future.

Tomorrow, given the checkered spending record of our politicians, there could also be a rat race to buy the most expensive bungalows and cars for the new MPs and ministers, and there are bound to be many pitched battles between the seven provinces and the central govern­ment over division of spoils. The country may also have to rely on foreign aid to tide over its expenses. Moreover, the functioning (and the costs) of the new federal provinces and local units is rather tricky to work out.

But it is also a question of wheth­er to see the glass as half-empty or half-full. For there are unques­tionable benefits of federalism, too, for a geographically and ethnically diverse Nepal. Nor are costs a one-way street: while some expenses have gone up, others (in having few­er ministries, for instance) have come down.

“It could all be worth it,” says Khim Lal Devkota, a fiscal feder­alism expert. For the first time in the country’s history, says Devkota, the power of Singhadurbar is being devolved to the grassroots, which is “something to be celebrated”.