After the success of People´s Movement-2, a plenary meeting of the reinstated parliament on May 18, 2006 neutralized all kinds of powers of the two-and-half centuries old monarchy, including the privilege of conferring orders, decorations and medals.
The nation has been without any state honors to confer during the three years following People´s Movement-2 and one-and-half years since the monarchy was abolished. The ´loktantrik´ period, when the very word ´royal´ met with intense rejection, could only make the laws necessary to regulate state honors but there has not yet been any sign of the honors themselves materializing.
After passing the Honors Act 2007 and the Honors Regulations 2009, the nation is in a position to prepare such honors. The Home Ministry had readied designs for the honors six months ago but the government has not cared to even look at them.
According to the Honors Act 2007, a committee led by a senior minister and empowered to formulate the necessary procedures, recommends candidates for honors to the cabinet for its final decision. The honors are conferred on the recipients by the incumbent prime minister.
The Honors Regulations 2009 has arranged 27 types of honors divided into three categories--orders, decorations and medals. Out of the four types of orders, the ´Nepal Ratna´ is the loftiest. The order, the greatest accolade of the nation, costs around Rs 1.5 million at current value and is a blend of 333 grams of gold, 480 grams of silver and 40 diamonds. Equivalent to the previous Om Ram Patta, this honor is conferred on a single Nepali national every year who has made an exemplary contribution in any area of national life to uphold the prestige of the nation.
Second in rank is the ´Rashtra Gaurav´ which is to be conferred on two persons each year. It might also go to the head of a foreign nation helping foster Nepal´s image in the international arena. The rest in the order category are ´Rashtra Deep´ and ´Janasewa Shree´ with five sub-ranks each and equivalent to the previous ´Trishakti Patta´ and ´Gorkha Dakshin Bahu´ respectively.
There are also nine types of decorations, each uniformly combining 37 grams of silver, and conferred mostly on civil servants and social figures for excellence in their respective fields. The third category, medals, which come in 14 types, covers a wide range of recognition for laudable tasks. Under Article 33 of the Honors Regulations 2009, the ´Constituent Assembly Election Medal´ is slated for civil servants and national and international volunteers rendering significant contribution in the April 10, 2008 election. However, this has so far been confined to paper only. Similarly, those participating in UN peacekeeping missions have been going without their ´Shanti Padak´ though this medal is provided for under Article 31 of the regulations.
"State-conferred honors being regulated properly means that governance is in good mode. At present nobody in government really cares to look into this area, may be because this is not priority," said a senior official at the Home Ministry.
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