With the success of People’s Movement II-2062/2063B.S., Nepal has strengthened democratic norms. It has been evaluating the 40-year-old experience of the execution of development regions. The conclusion of some of the major political parties shows that the implementation of the concept of development regions has failed to carry out harmonious development. It is all that the development regions are concerned more with the decrease of regional disparity than the proportionate socio-economic development of the people. As a result, the gap between the rich and poor, or so called high caste and low caste and yellow race and black race broadened.

The central government safeguards the border, frames national financial policies and executes them and maintains the diplomatic relationship. The central government is also entrusted with responsibilities to deploy the army, and control and direct the state administration during the failure of state government until the next government is formed.

The USA has allotted more power to its 50 states than India has done to its 29 states. The state governments of the USA are allowed to form several development policies in relation to education, health, communication and so on.

Remember that the division of the country into villages, towns, districts, zones and development regions is not to separate people but to bring them together. First of all, we all belong to the country, we are the citizens of one country no matter where we live or what we do. National unity is on top of the local divisions.

The administrative divisions of a country created for the smooth running of administration and bringing forth the balanced development in all parts of the country are known as development regions. Such divisions are created for carrying out the concept of proportional regional development. Each development region has sub-administrative units such as zones and districts. Various development works and administrative policies are formulated and executed from the regional headquarters. In the context of Nepal, they run vertically from north to south encompassing all three geographical regions.

1. Eastern Development Region of Nepal

The Eastern Development Region (EDR) lies in the far eastern part of Nepal. It covers an ana of 28,456 sq. km. It consists of 53, 11355 (21.93%) of the total population of Nepal. EDR has the population density of 204 people per sqr km. It consists of 3 zones (Mechi, Koshi, and Sagarmatha), 16 districts and 24 municipalities. Dhankuta is the regional headquarter of this development region. The physical environment, inhabitants and economic activities of people are diverse in the region. The region can prosper rapidly if proper plans and programs sire formulated and executed.

The Eastern Development Region stretches from Mechi river in the east to Likhu and Kamala rivers in the west. There lies the Himalayan region in the northern part, the Hilly region in the middle and the Terai region in the southern part of this development region. There are a number of mountain peaks in the northern part including the world’s highest and third highest: Everest (8848m), and Kanchanjunga (8586m). Other prominent peaks are Lhotse (8516m), Makalu (8463m), Choyu (8201m), Nuptse (7555m) and Pumori (7161m), The Everest was first climbed in 1953 (2010 BS) by Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Edmund Hillary. The top of the Kanchenjunga peak got human feet in 1955 (2012 BS).

The northern part of this region is infertile with rugged, rocky and sandy topography that is covered by snow most of the time. The central part is sloppy consisting serai-fertile soil. However, the valleys, tars, and river basins are fertile. The Terai region lying to the southern part consists of the flat-plain land structure having fertile alluvial soil.