The 9 Schedules of the Constitution of Nepal

The Constitution of Nepal was promulgated on 20 September 2015 (3 Ashoj 2072 BS) by the second Constituent Assembly, replacing the Interim Constitution of 2007. It is organised into a preamble, 35 parts and 308 articles, followed by nine numbered annexes called Schedules (Anusuchi). The Schedules are not loose appendices: each is anchored to specific articles in the main text and carries the same legal force as the articles themselves.

The nine Schedules fall into two natural groups. Schedules 1, 2 and 3 define the national symbols — the flag, the anthem and the coat of arms. Schedule 4 lists which districts belong to each of the seven provinces. Schedules 5 through 9 are the heart of Nepal's new federalism: they are the lists of powers (adhikar) that distribute legislative and executive authority among the three orders of government — the Federation (Sangh), the Provinces (Pradesh) and the Local Levels (Sthaniya Taha).

Because the lists are written into the Constitution itself, changing them (for example, redrawing a province or moving a subject from one list to another) generally requires a constitutional amendment passed by a two-thirds majority of the federal Parliament — the same procedure used for the First Amendment (2016) and the Second Amendment (2020).

Schedule 1 gives the precise geometric method for drawing Nepal's flag — the only national flag in the world that is not a quadrilateral. It instructs the maker to build two stacked triangular pennants from a base line AB using a fixed sequence of construction lines, set out in four parts: the outer shape, the white crescent moon (showing eight of its sixteen rays), the white twelve-rayed sun, and the deep-blue border. The crimson (rhododendron-red) field stands for bravery, the blue border for peace; the moon and sun express the hope that Nepal will endure as long as those bodies. The construction yields a flag with an unusual aspect ratio of roughly 1:1.219.

Schedule 2 sets out the national anthem, 'Sayaun Thunga Phulka' ('Made of Hundreds of Flowers'). Its lyrics were written by the poet Byakul Maila (Pradeep Kumar Rai) and the music composed by Amber Gurung. The anthem was officially adopted on 3 August 2007, chosen from more than a thousand submissions; it celebrates a sovereign Nepal stretching 'from Mechi to Mahakali' and its many peoples, languages, religions and cultures.

Schedule 3 prescribes the coat of arms (national emblem), adopted on 28 May 2008. It contains Mount Everest, the green hills, the yellow Terai plains, a man's and a woman's hands joined in a handshake to symbolise gender equality, a garland of rhododendron (the national flower), the national flag, a white silhouette map of Nepal, and a red scroll bearing the Sanskrit motto 'Janani Janmabhoomishcha Swargadapi Gariyasi' — 'Mother and Motherland are greater than Heaven.' The Second Amendment of 2020 altered Schedule 3 so that the silhouette reflects Nepal's updated political map.

Schedule 4 (linked to Article 56) names the federal units and assigns every district to one of them. The Constitution created seven provinces, originally identified only by number; each was later given a permanent name by its provincial assembly. Together the seven provinces contain Nepal's 77 districts. This is the schedule the rest of amarnepal's geography hubs are built on — see the provinces and districts hubs for detail on each unit.

The district allocation in Schedule 4, cross-checked against this site's provinces dataset, is as follows.

Schedule 5 (Article 57(1) and Article 109) lists the 35 subjects reserved to the Federation. These are matters of national scope — sovereignty, security, money, foreign relations and the framework laws that hold the country together. Critically, item 35 is a residuary clause: any subject not enumerated in any of the power lists, or not addressed in the Constitution or federal law, falls to the Federation, making the central government the default authority for unlisted matters.

Representative federal subjects include the following.

Schedule 6 (Article 57(2)) sets out the 21 exclusive powers of the provinces, while Schedule 8 (Article 57(4)) lists the 22 exclusive powers of the local levels — the rural municipalities (gaunpalika) and municipalities (nagarpalika). The two lists deliberately mirror each other at different scales: the province handles state-wide policing, services and infrastructure, while the local level handles the day-to-day services closest to citizens.

Schedule 6 — provincial (state) powers include the items below.

Two Schedules cover subjects that more than one order of government may legislate on. Schedule 7 (Article 57(3) and Article 109) lists 25 powers shared concurrently by the Federation and the Provinces; Schedule 9 (Article 57(5)) lists 15 powers shared concurrently by all three levels — Federation, Province and Local. Where laws of different levels conflict on a concurrent subject, the Constitution provides that the higher-level law prevails to the extent of the inconsistency, so federal law overrides provincial law, and federal or provincial law overrides local law.

Schedule 7 — Federation–Province concurrent subjects include civil and criminal procedure and evidence; supply and price control of essential goods; preventive detention and prison management; family law (marriage, divorce, succession, adoption); contracts and cooperatives; drugs and pesticides; population and family planning; social security, trade unions and labour disputes; the regulated professions (law, medicine, engineering, audit, Ayurveda, veterinary, Amchi); casinos and lotteries; disaster preparedness and relief; tourism, water supply and sanitation; insurance; land policy; and inter-provincial use of forests, mountains and waters.

Schedule 9 — Federation–Province–Local concurrent subjects are: cooperatives; education, health and newspapers; agriculture; services such as electricity, water supply and irrigation; service fees, charges, penalties and royalties from natural resources and tourism fees; forests, wildlife, water use, environment, ecology and biodiversity; mines and minerals; disaster management; social security and poverty alleviation; personal events (births, deaths, marriages) and statistics; archaeology, ancient monuments and museums; landless-squatter management; royalty from natural resources; and motor vehicle permits.