New Minister Pratibha Rawal Takes Charge of Key Ministries Amidst Significant Challenges

Kathmandu. During his election campaign, the newly appointed Prime Minister Balen Shah had said in Janakpur: 'From now on, people will only come to Kathmandu to visit Pashupatinath, not to ask for development.' This statement showed Balen's commitment to federalism. 

Less than two months later, Balen has become the Prime Minister of the country, and the responsibility of fulfilling his commitment to implementing federalism has fallen upon the dynamic woman, Pratibha Rawal. 

Pratibha Rawal, the Spokesperson and Member of Parliament for the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), has been given the responsibility of two crucial ministries: Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation, and Federal Affairs and General Administration. The main tasks of both ministries involve moving forward in alignment with the federal system. 

Rawal, known within the party as a modest yet logical leader, has succeeded in becoming a minister on her very first parliamentary journey. Her decade-long experience in journalism and political activism have propelled her to this significant responsibility in Singha Durbar at the age of just 32. 

Pratibha Rawal was born in Aithpur, Bhimdatta Municipality-6, Kanchanpur, in the Sudurpashchim Province. Although she completed her initial education in Kanchanpur, she made Kathmandu her workplace for higher education and professional career. Raised in a middle-class family, Rawal has secured her place in national politics through her capability and hard work.

Before diving into politics, Rawal spent nearly 10 years in journalism. She worked for media outlets such as South Asia Check, Republica, and Galaxy 4K TV. During her journalism career, she had the opportunity to closely observe social issues, good governance, and the problems faced by citizens. It was while working at Galaxy TV that she became close to the current RSP Chairman, Rabi Lamichhane. 

This collaboration, which developed during her media career, later took a political form, and she became an active member since the establishment of the RSP.

Journey from RSP's Core Team to Parliament

Rawal demonstrated a strong presence within the party shortly after the formation of the RSP. She succeeded in securing the first position among women in the primary election conducted by the party to select proportional representation candidates. Due to this popularity, she became a member of the House of Representatives through the proportional representation system. 

Rawal, who works in Chairman Rabi Lamichhane's team, has been described by Lamichhane as a 'warrior behind the scenes'. Rawal, who worked in Lamichhane's secretariat when he was the Home Minister, played a crucial role during the party's legal and policy crises. Having also served as the acting spokesperson for some time, she is currently the party's Spokesperson. 

These are the Challenges as a Minister

Both ministries handled by Pratibha Rawal are considered very challenging at present. Especially, the responsibility for the employee administration across the country lies with this ministry. This ministry has the responsibility of coordinating between different ministries and different levels of government. Solving the problem of employee transfers and postings seen from the local level to the province is the first challenge for this ministry. 

She will have to play a leading role in bringing the long-stalled 'Federal Civil Service Act' and ending the irregularities in employee administration. Furthermore, the ministry faces the challenge of ensuring uniformity in service delivery by making inter-governmental coordination effective. 

On the other hand, as the Minister of Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation, her first and main challenge is to resolve the major fraud and crisis currently seen in the cooperative sector in the country. She will have to bring the process of returning depositors' money and taking action against the culprits, announced by Party Chairman Lamichhane to be completed within 100 days, to a logical conclusion. 

Another significant responsibility for her will be to expedite the process of distributing land ownership certificates while systematically addressing the long-standing issue of landless and squatters.