Kathmandu, Aug. 9 -- Nepal's ambitious push to build a paperless, digitally empowered state is running into a basic problem: the systems meant to deliver public services are increasingly unable to keep up with demand.

From government offices inside Singha Durbar to ward offices in the high mountains, digital platforms are being hit by server crashes, operational bottlenecks and prolonged service outages. What were intended to make public services faster and more accessible have, in many cases, become new points of delay and disruption.

The failures are no longer isolated incidents. They have become a recurring feature of public administration.

Critical systems, including the central National Identity Card (NID) verification network, la...