The Public Service Commission of Nepal was established under the 1956 constitution as an independent body to insulate civil service appointments from political patronage — a persistent problem through decades of Panchayat rule. This commemorative was issued in 2002 under Gyanendra, who had assumed the throne just the previous year following the royal massacre of June 2001 that killed nine members of the royal family, including King Birendra. The timing placed Gyanendra in the awkward position of issuing civic-minded commemoratives while the Maoist insurgency was escalating toward its most violent phase.
The Public Service Commission of Nepal was established under the 1956 constitution as an independent body to insulate civil service appointments from political patronage — a persistent problem through decades of Panchayat rule. This commemorative was issued in 2002 under Gyanendra, who had assumed the throne just the previous year following the royal massacre of June 2001 that killed nine members of the royal family, including King Birendra. The timing placed Gyanendra in the awkward position of issuing civic-minded commemoratives while the Maoist insurgency was escalating toward its most violent phase.