Kathmandu, April 7: The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has rolled out a 10-point reform agenda aimed at tightening service delivery and pushing the government further into the digital age.
The plan, approved following a Cabinet decision on March 27, sets clear targets, timelines, and responsible agencies. Officials say the goal is simple enough: faster services, lower costs, and fewer citizens wandering from one office to another.
Spokesperson Udaya Bahadur Ranamagar said the reforms focus on measurable outcomes under a results-based governance model. At the center of the effort sits an integrated digital platform, expected within 45 days, that will link services such as police reports, passports, and driving licenses through a single citizen app. Police clearance services are already available on the platform, which is a rare case of “already done” in government timelines.
The ministry also plans to turn the postal network into a state-run courier system within 90 days. The idea is to deliver official documents directly to homes, cutting both time and cost. Passports, licenses, academic certificates, and SIM cards will move through this network, along with medical samples heading to labs.
On the backlog front, around 2.9 million pending driving licenses are supposed to be printed by mid-June, using upgraded machines at the security printing facility. Whether machines or deadlines blink first remains to be seen.
Telecom services will also get a makeover. In coordination with the Nepal Telecommunications Authority, users will receive alerts when they hit 90 per cent of their data limit, alongside options like pay-as-you-go and subscription models. A one-time KYC system will remove the need to repeatedly submit the same personal details.
More than 250 government websites and apps are set for redesign, presumably into something humans can actually use. Policy tweaks on 4G services are due within a month, while new laws covering cybersecurity, data protection, and AI are expected within 90 days.
If implemented as promised, the plan could finally make public services feel less like an endurance test and more like, well, a service.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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