As Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s administration completes its first 100 days in office, an analysis of government data, Cabinet decisions and implementation on the ground shows it has delivered on only about a third of its initial commitments.

A review by Kantipur found that the government has implemented just 38 of the 100 commitments in its action plan. Formed on March 27, the administration unveiled an ambitious roadmap with targets ranging from the first 24 hours to 1,000 days in office. The plan covered public administration, digital governance, anti-corruption, and reforms in agriculture, infrastructure, health and education. While progress has been made in a few key areas, around 62 percent of the commitments remain incomplete or are still at various stages of implementation, with several major announcements yet to move beyond paper.

Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal defended the government’s record, saying it has restored public confidence and strengthened institutional accountability.

“If you compare us to previous administrations, this cabinet has demonstrated far greater capacity, drive, dedication and public accountability,” Khanal told Kantipur. “That has produced encouraging early results and sent a strong message that the government is honouring the public mandate by pursuing good governance. Public expectations are now centred on economic prosperity, and the coming days will demonstrate our commitment to achieving that.”

The government’s most notable achievement within the promised timeframe came under Point 99, which pledged to refund small depositors affected by the cooperatives crisis within the first 100 days. The first phase began on May 18, with repayments made to 378 depositors holding less than Rs10,000 in the Kantipur, Shivashikhar and Pashupati cooperatives. Of the 23 cooperatives declared troubled, three have fully settled eligible claims, and three others are nearing completion. So far, Rs44.35 million has been returned to 1,895 small depositors.

The current phase is limited to depositors with balances below Rs10,000. Dilliraj Acharya, chair of the Troubled Cooperatives Management Committee, said around 8,000 depositors across the 23 such cooperatives fall within that category, although the overall verification of victims is still underway.

The government also met another early target under Point 3, which called for consolidating proposals from the manifestos of all political parties into a shared national agenda. Those recommendations were incorporated into an 18-point national commitment document. Although released two days behind schedule on April 14, the document marked an attempt to build political consensus on national development priorities.

The administration has also begun implementing its pledge to establish a taskforce to prepare a discussion paper on constitutional amendments. Although the committee was formed later than planned, it has started consultations with political parties, constitutional bodies and civil society representatives, which the government describes as the first step towards broader political reform.

Compensation, downsizing and the slum eviction freeze

Under Point 6, the government began providing compensation to families of those killed during the Gen Z protests. Fifty-three families have each received Rs1.5 million, while Rs8.167 million has been distributed through the district administration offices to support 134 people injured during the protests.

The government’s plan to reduce the number of federal ministries from 22 to 17 within 30 days, however, fell short. Instead, it amended the Rules of Business to restructure the government into 18 ministries, including the creation of a separate Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. However, the accompanying Organisation and Management survey has yet to be completed, leaving staffing and administrative restructuring unfinished.

The government’s drive to recover public land and regulate informal settlements under Points 91 and 92 triggered widespread controversy. The plan proposed digital registration of landless squatters before launching an anti-encroachment campaign. Demolition began on April 25, with bulldozers clearing structures along riverbanks in Thapathali, Sinamangal-Gaurigaon and Shantinagar in Kathmandu, followed by the Manohara river corridor the next day. The operation led to violent clashes between residents and police.

The eviction campaign in Kathmandu Valley, Rupandehi, Nuwakot and Pokhara came to a halt on April 30 after the Supreme Court issued an interim order barring authorities from forcibly evicting informal settlers without first providing appropriate alternatives. While temporary shelters have since been arranged, a long-term resettlement policy has yet to be introduced.

Gen Z activist Majid Ansari accused the government of departing from its own action plan.

“The action plan clearly stated that squatters would first be digitally registered and resettled before any relocation. Instead, the government sent in bulldozers, demolished the settlements and shifted displaced people from the Bagmati riverbanks in Thapathali to the riverbanks in Kirtipur,” Ansari said. He added that data collection began only after homes had already been demolished.

The government’s commitment to ban illegal betting apps and websites within 24 hours led the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) to block 26 major gambling platforms. NTA spokesperson Min Prasad Aryal said internet service providers, including WorldLink, Subisu and Vianet, have blocked more than 300,000 related URLs.

The administration also moved to dismantle what it described as unproductive state structures. Through a special ordinance, it terminated 1,594 political appointees serving in constitutional bodies, public enterprises, universities, health academies and regulatory agencies. While the move was presented as an effort to curb political patronage and improve efficiency, critics say the mass dismissals disrupted the functioning of several public institutions.

Questions have also been raised over whether the Shah administration can keep future appointments free from political influence. Although it campaigned against patronage, the government has largely relied on conventional appointment mechanisms to fill vacant posts.

Ansari said that despite a few encouraging steps, the administration has fallen short of public expectations.

“When you examine both the 100-point plan and the government’s day-to-day functioning, the signs are worrying,” he said, alleging that the administration had sidelined merit in appointing political loyalists to key state institutions, including the judiciary. “They ignored merit to place their own people and interfered in constitutional bodies such as the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority. What is the difference between KP Oli and Balendra Shah if this government also bypasses Parliament and governs through ordinances?”

As part of its pledge to depoliticise the civil service, the government moved to abolish politically affiliated civil service trade unions through a draft bill that would bar government employees from political affiliation. The proposal has since been challenged in the Supreme Court, where it remains sub judice.

Wealth audits and digital governance

On the anti-corruption front, the government implemented Point 43 by forming a five-member High-Level Property Investigation Commission led by former judge Rajendra Kumar Bhandari.

The commission has been tasked with carrying out its work in two phases. The first covers the period from the fiscal year 2006-07 to mid-April 2026 and focuses on collecting and verifying the assets of public officials. The second covers the period from 1991 to the fiscal year 2005-06 and will audit the assets of senior political leaders and high-ranking bureaucrats from the pre-interim era.

The commission has been given a year to investigate illicit wealth, including assets held in overseas tax havens, before submitting its report to the Cabinet.

Digital governance has emerged as one of the administration’s flagship initiatives. The government upgraded the Hello Sarkar grievance platform into a 24-hour public service with a real-time tracking dashboard. By Friday, the system had received more than 125,000 complaints, 73,888 of them resolved. Nearly 47.4 percent of the complaints were filed through the official website.

Work also began on April 2 to introduce paperless processing for passports, citizenship certificates and driving licences through the Nagarik App. To streamline services, automated data-sharing systems have been introduced, allowing the Department of Transport Management, the Department of Passports, commercial banks and insurance companies to securely retrieve verified user information.

While passport services have improved modestly, the government has made significant progress in clearing the backlog of smart driving licences. The Department of Transport Management said it has printed around 2.4 million licences from a backlog of 2.9 million pending since November 2025. Online services have also been introduced at land revenue and survey offices.

Economic reforms and startup support

The government introduced single-window service centres to simplify industrial registration and a one-door approval mechanism at the Investment Board Nepal to speed up forestry and land clearances for investment projects. Both initiatives, however, missed their initial 30-day implementation deadlines.

Under Point 56, the government launched a fast-track system enabling new businesses to complete registration within two working days, eliminating the need for entrepreneurs to visit the Inland Revenue Department to obtain a Permanent Account Number (PAN).

The Cabinet also endorsed the Private Sector Protection and Promotion Strategy under Point 60, leading to the drafting of the Companies Bill 2026, which aims to simplify company closure and liquidation procedures.

To protect businesses, the Ministry of Home Affairs directed security agencies to crack down on extortion and property damage, resulting in the detention of 6,978 people. The Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police also received Rs10 million to upgrade its cybercrime and financial crime investigation laboratories.

Continuity in health and education

In the health sector, the government expanded the specialised burn treatment programme launched under former health minister Pradip Paudel. Dedicated burn units have been established in 14 federal hospitals, while nine provincial hospitals are preparing to launch similar services.

A total of 164 hospitals have joined the national health portal, committing 10 percent of their beds free of charge to low-income patients. Since monitoring began, 860 patients have received treatment through the newly launched Free Health Portal.

However, the government came under criticism after the national health insurance programme was temporarily suspended at several public and private hospitals because of funding shortages.

The network of low-cost pharmacies has also expanded to 16 federal hospitals, continuing a programme introduced in 2011 during Baburam Bhattarai’s premiership. Air ambulance services have been placed on standby for emergency evacuations in remote parts of Sudurpashchim, Karnali and Koshi provinces.

In education, the government abolished formal examinations up to Grade 5 and introduced a continuous assessment system. Under Point 86, Tribhuvan University directed its constituent campuses to remove politically affiliated student union offices in an effort to curb political interference, a move that has drawn strong opposition from student organisations.

Nine universities have also synchronised their academic calendars. Under Point 88, children without birth certificates can now enrol in school based on verification by local governments, while citizenship certificates are no longer required for admission to undergraduate programmes.

The unfinished agenda

Despite these achievements, many of the government’s major commitments remain unfulfilled.

Under Point 5, the government pledged to issue a formal state apology to Dalit and marginalised communities within 15 days in acknowledgement of centuries of discrimination. Months after the deadline, no such apology has been issued.

Ansari said that instead of a formal state apology, the leadership of the Rastriya Swatantra Party issued a party statement and treated the commitment as fulfilled.

Progress in agriculture has also been limited. According to the National Agriculture Census 2021, Nepal has more than 4.1 million farming households cultivating 2.22 million hectares of land, but only 54.5 percent of that land has irrigation. Government commitments on minimum support prices, clearing outstanding sugarcane payments, building cold storage facilities and improving agricultural market systems have made little headway.

The government also failed to establish, within one week, an independent high-level committee to investigate the deaths and damages during the September 9, 2025 protests.

At the same time, it acted swiftly on the Gauri Bahadur Karki Commission report, ordering the arrests of former prime minister KP Sharma Oli and former home minister Ramesh Lekhak from their residences on March 28. The investigation against them is ongoing.

Although transitional justice officials were removed through an ordinance, new leadership has yet to be appointed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, leaving around 67,000 conflict-era complaints unresolved. Likewise, Point 16, which proposed linking civil service promotions to performance, remains unimplemented.

The promised relief and economic stabilisation package for businesses affected by the Gen Z protests has also seen little progress. Proposed tax waivers, concessional loans and fast-track insurance settlements remain largely unimplemented, while plans to establish 12-hour integrated citizen service centres in major urban areas have yet to take off.

The government’s commitment to integrate District Administration Office services, allowing citizens to obtain passports, citizenship certificates and national identity cards from any district, has also failed to materialise. Chief district officers say cross-district service delivery is still inoperational.

Several key digital governance commitments also remain unmet, including the Digital Governance Policy, the Personal Data Protection Act, an independent information technology regulatory authority, the Electronic Governance Bill and the National Enterprise Architecture Framework under Points 37, 38, 40 and 41. Tourism master plans for Udayapur, Achham, Bajura and the Api Nampa highland region have also seen no progress.

Other delayed commitments include the Phewa Lake Watershed Conservation and Urban Waste Management Bill, the legal mobilisation of dormant bank accounts and court bail deposits, and automated tax administration with mandatory electronic billing for large businesses.

The government’s widely publicised plan to introduce free “Blue Buses” for women in all seven provinces also missed its 100-day deadline because of budgetary and operational constraints. The Ministry of Transport now says the programme will begin later this summer with a pilot fleet of eight buses in the Kathmandu Valley instead of the 25 originally promised.

Similarly, the digital appointment booking system for citizen service centres, intended to eliminate long queues at government offices within 90 days, has yet to be rolled out.