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NepalCONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT, NEPAL
The Rana System
Beginning in 1856, the center of power in Nepal rested
with the
Rana prime ministers, who retained sovereign power until
the
revolution of 1950-51
(see The Rana Oligarchy
, ch. 1).
Many of the
nobles who participated in the consultative court called
the
Assembly of Lords, or Bharadari Sabha, had been
slaughtered at the
Kot Massacre in 1846. Following his official visit to
Britain and
Europe in 1851, Jang Bahadur Kunwar (later called Jang
Bahadur
Rana) began to use the Bharadari Sabha as deliberative
body for
state affairs. For almost 100 years, this council served
as a
rubber stamp for the Rana autocracy. The next major effort
at
institutional development was initiated in 1947 by Padma
Shamsher
Rana, a liberal prime minister, who appointed a
Constitutional
Reform Committee to draft the first constitution. Known as
the
Government of Nepal Constitution Act, 1948, this
constitution,
written with the help of Indian advisers, superficially
changed the
Rana system. It established a bicameral legislative body.
The
entire membership of one house and a majority of the other
was
selected by the prime minister, who could reject any
measure that
the legislature might pass. There was a cabinet of at
least five
members, of whom at least two were chosen from among the
few
elected members of the legislature.
The act also specified that a panchayat system
of local
self-government would be inaugurated in the villages,
towns, and
districts. It enumerated certain fundamental rights and
duties,
which included freedoms of speech, the press, assembly,
and
worship; equality before the law; free elementary
education for
all; and equal and universal suffrage. Despite the
appearance of
reform, the alterations made in the Rana system by the
constitution
were slight. The more conservative Ranas perceived the
constitution
as a dangerous precedent, forced Padma Shamsher to resign,
and
suspended promulgation of the constitution. The
constitution became
effective in September 1950 but remained in force only
until
February 1951, when the Rana monopoly was broken and the
creation
of a new constitutional system began.
Data as of September 1991
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