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A practice exercise for checking a claim about Nepal's laws, Parliament or public money before you repeat it. It walks through finding the original document, checking its version, language, units and definitions, and recording exactly where a figure comes from. The worked example uses two official deficit figures for the same budget that are both correct.

About 25 minutesकरिब २५ मिनेट · For: Citizens · MPs and their staff · Policy teams

Step by step

  1. Write the claim down exactly: the number, the unit, the year and who it is about. General advice

    Vague claims cannot be checked. "The deficit is Rs 657 billion" is checkable once you know which year, which government and which definition.

  2. Find the primary source and the body that publishes it. General advice

    Laws: the Nepal Law Commission. Parliament's rules, bills and committee pages: the Federal Parliament websites. Budget figures: the Ministry of Finance. Actual spending: the Financial Comptroller General Office. Irregularities: the Office of the Auditor General. Policy Nepal pages link to the source behind each statement.

  3. Check the version and date. Checked against the rules

    Laws are amended and rules are replaced. For example, the House of Representatives now works under its Rules of 2083, while earlier Rules of 2075 and 2079 are still listed on the same official page; the Financial Procedures and Fiscal Responsibility Act text is consolidated to its 2081 amendment. Quote the version in force on the date you are writing about. Federal Parliament Secretariat · Nepal Law Commission Official 'ऐन, नियम' list on hr.parliament.gov.np and na.parliament.gov.np (accessed 2026-10-11); FPFRA title page

  4. Check the language. If you are using an English version, note that it is a translation. Checked against the rules

    The English Constitution is an official translation, but the Nepali text is authoritative. The English budget speech is described by the Ministry of Finance as an unofficial translation. Where wording matters, check the Nepali. Government of Nepal · Ministry of Finance Constitution English text (Nepal Law Commission); Budget Speech 2026/27 title ("unofficial English translation")

  5. Check units and calendars. Checked against the rules

    Budget annexes print Rs lakh; other documents and news reports may use crore, million or billion. 1 arab = 1 billion = 100 crore; 1 crore = 100 lakh. Budget documents use Bikram Sambat years (2083/84) while the Economic Survey annexes use AD (2024/25), and the fiscal year runs from mid-July to mid-July. Ministry of Finance · Ministry of Finance Budget Annex 1 (Rs lakh); Economic Survey statistical annexes (AD years)

  6. Check the status of the figure: estimate, revised estimate or actual. Checked against the rules

    The same budget table can show last year's actual, this year's revised estimate and next year's estimate side by side. Mixing them is a common error. Ministry of Finance Annex 1 column headings 2081/82, 2082/83, 2083/84

  7. Check the definition behind the number. General advice

    Two honest sources can give different numbers because they count different things. When that happens, report both with their definitions rather than picking one. See the worked example.

  8. If the document is not public, ask for it. Checked against the rules

    Any Nepali citizen can ask a public body's information officer for information. It must be given at once if possible, otherwise within 15 days. If refused, you can complain to the head of the body within 7 days and then appeal to the National Information Commission within 35 days. Ministry of Law Sections 7(1)-(4), 9(1), 10(1) (printed pp. 7-10)

  9. Record the full reference and the date you checked it. General advice

    Write the publisher, title, link, locator and date accessed. If you could not open a source or had to read a scanned page, say so. This is how Policy Nepal records every source.

Real example (figures cited)

Claim A: "The 2083/84 budget deficit is Rs 657.29 billion." Claim B: "The 2083/84 budget deficit is Rs 234.63 billion." Both come from the Ministry of Finance. Claim A is in the English budget speech (para 65), which subtracts revenue and grants from total allocation, including repaying loan principal and investing in public enterprises. Claim B is in Annex 1 of the Nepali budget statement (row 13), which counts only current, capital and transfer spending. Each is correct under its own definition. A careful write-up would say: "The budget speech puts the gap between total allocation and revenue plus grants at Rs 657.29 billion (para 65); on the narrower Annex 1 definition the deficit is Rs 234.63 billion (Annex 1 row 13)." Practice: find Annex 1 rows 21 and 24 and see how the gap is to be financed. Ministry of Finance · Ministry of Finance Budget speech para 65; Annex 1 row 13 (column 2083/84); Annex 1 rows 21 and 24. Recorded in content/fiscal/budget.json conflicts[deficit-definition].

Key terms

Primary source
The original document: the law as published, the budget annex, the committee's own page, the audit report.
Secondary source
Something that reports on a primary source, such as a news story, a summary or a social media post. Useful for leads, but check it against the original.
Consolidated text
A version of a law with all amendments up to a stated date written in. Always note which date it is consolidated to.
Authoritative text
The language version that counts legally. For Nepal's Constitution and laws this is the Nepali text; English versions are translations.
Locator
The exact place in a document: article or section, table, row, column, page.
Nepal Gazette
The government's official publication where Acts, rules and notices are published.

Limits of this guide

This exercise teaches a method; it does not certify any claim. The steps on versions, language and the right to information cite official texts; the other steps are general good practice. The right-to-information timelines are taken from Policy Nepal's reviewed summary of the Act and should be checked against the Act itself before you rely on them in a dispute.

Related on Policy Nepal

Sources

  1. The Constitution of Nepal (2nd amendment, English translation) Checked 2026-10-11
  2. प्रतिनिधि सभा नियमावली, २०८३ (House of Representatives Rules, 2083) Checked 2026-10-11
  3. आर्थिक कार्यविधि तथा वित्तीय उत्तरदायित्व ऐन, २०७६ (Financial Procedures and Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2019), consolidated Nepali text Checked 2026-10-11
  4. आर्थिक वर्ष २०८३/८४ को बजेट वक्तव्य (Budget Statement FY 2083/84) with annexes Checked 2026-10-11
  5. Budget Speech of Fiscal Year 2026/27 (unofficial English translation) Checked 2026-10-11
  6. Economic Survey 2025/26 (English), statistical annexes Checked 2026-10-11
  7. सूचनाको हक सम्बन्धी ऐन, २०६४ (Right to Information Act, 2064) Checked 2026-10-11