One really wonders whether a least developed country such as Nepal can play an effective role in reviving international climate diplomacy, which needs to be urgently pursued in the aftermath of almost failures in global negotiations on climate change as seen in the last few years climaxed in Durban, South Africa last year.

Professor Peter Schuck of Yale University defines federalism as "a system that divides political authority between a nation-state and sub-national polities within its territory so that both the national and sub-national polities directly govern individuals within their jurisdiction." The centrality of proposing federalism is to decentralise power. However, if the proposal of ethnic federalism breeds violence, alternatives have to be considered. The question of federalism has become a conundrum for the Nepalese. It has already sowed seeds of division between social sections.

Year after year, Himalmedia polls have shown that despite hardships or during the darkest days of war, a majority of Nepalis were always hopeful about the future. Nearly all respondents in every poll have said they are worried about the lack of development and jobs, about endemic corruption and inflation, but they have kept an optimistic outlook. The public never held their rulers in very high esteem, but realise that they are what they are.

In international law the scope of any right to self-determination has traditionally had two aspects - external and internal. The external right to self-determination enables a people to decide its status in the world and to be free from any foreign interference that might affect that status. The internal right to self-determination gives a people an effective voice in reaching the decisions that impact on the political, economic, social and cultural conditions that directly affect their lives.

The process of Nepal’s restructuring from a unitary to a federal state is creating new urgencies. The crux of the matter is how the sub-national units of federation —call them provinces—should be formed; should they be along territorial lines, ethnic lines or a combination thereof. Looking at the proposals and counter-proposals put forward by the political parties, it is clear they have failed to grasp the gravity of the problem and are devoid of a vision. Their solution will lead to a deeper rift tomorrow. The challenge is to steer through the intense and perplexing divides on ethnic issues and unite the country with a framework that would uphold democracy, and a road to economic prosperity, inclusiveness, and equality of opportunities.

Nepal is a culturally complex, haphazardly urbanized and topographically varied country with over 100 different ethnic groups living within a territory of 14.5 million hectares of various ecological regions. The country is thickly populated with an average density of 181 persons per square kilometer. Over 50% of the population is concentrated in the southern Tarai region that serves as the bread basket for the country but covers only 17% of the country’s land mass. Though the economy is mainly based on agriculture, remittance contributes 26% of the gross domestic product (GDP).

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines a health system as “all activities whose primary purpose is to promote, restore, and maintain health”. Better health, undoubtedly, is the central to human happiness and well being. On the other hand, healthy people are productive; they live longer, and hence contribute to nation’s economic progress. People’s health can be influenced by many factors; some of them not directly related to the health system, such as poverty, education, infrastructure, and the broader social and political environment. Nepal falls behind in all those factors, hence Nepali people are in a vulnerable position in terms of health as reinforced by the statistics data from UNICEF (http://www.unicef.org, 2010): under-5 mortality rate (50 in 1000), infant mortality rate (41 in 1000), neonatal mortality rate (28 in 1000), maternal mortality ratio (280 per 100,000 live births), and life expectancy at birth (68 years). This incites the urgent need to improve health system in Nepal. The economic development of Nepal will remain a political rhetoric if attention is not directed towards the dilapidated health system of the country.

Nepal is struggling to come to terms with the aftermath of a decade-long violent civil war that ended six years ago. Genuine peace has not yet dawned, and the task of drafting a new constitution remains incomplete. During the decade-long insurgency eighteen thousand Nepalese, most of them civilians, were killed, and horrendous human rights violations were committed, some amounting to crimes against humanity. In the meantime the deadline for the Constituent Assembly to complete its task is fast approaching.