Kathmandu, May 20 -- One of the primary agendas of the current Balendra Shah government is to restructure the oversized bureaucracy to ensure more effective service delivery and reduce public expenditure. In line with this effort, the government has slashed the number of ministries to 18 from 21.

Additionally, a committee is now working on streamlining the civil service, which could potentially cut over 25,000 positions, according to officials at the Ministry of General Administration.

Coinciding with this new initiative, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has begun preparatory work to trim the number of embassies and consulates general. However, sharp differences between Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal and ministry officials have created a...