Fixing a flawed quota system

The solution to the loopholes is not discontinuation but evidence-based revision.

Despite the constitutional provisions of the Civil Service Act that aim to make Nepal’s public sector more inclusive, the quota system, introduced by the Public Service Commission, has failed to represent marginalised communities. The failure stems from formal structural inequities as well as informal exclusionary practices such as favouritism, corruption and nepotism. The over-representation of the Khas-Arya community and the under-representation of women and other disadvantaged groups remain major challenges to an inclusive bureaucracy. The failure of the quota system has led many to call for its discontinuation. Notwithstanding its apparent flaws, though, is its discontinuation a viable solution to the problem of underrepresentation?