The Nationalities’ Question in Nepal
(Social Convergence and Partnership Building through Multiculturalism and Federalism)
By
Govinda Neupane
Published By
Center for Development Studies, Nepal
Kathmandu
2005
Year of Publication: 2000 (In Nepali language)
Publisher: Center for Development Studies, Kathmandu
Internet Edition (In English language) – 2005
(This internet edition is slightly revised translated version of the first Nepali edition)
Revised Second Edition – 2005 (In Nepali language)
Table of Contents
Chapters
1 Evolution of Nepalese Society: A Brief Historical Account
2 Nationalities in Nepal
3 Access to Power and Opportunities and the Gaps
4 Process of Khas Domination and Obstacles for Partnership
5 Emergence of National Liberation Movements and Response of State-Forces
6 Federalism: Management Structure of a Multicultural State
7 Observations
Note: In Nepal, the Bikram calendar is in use instead of Gregorian calendar. Therefore, in this book, particularly in the publication date of the references, the Bikram Sambat (B.S.) is quoted. The difference between B.S. and A.D. is 56 year 7 month and 17 days in ordinary year and 56 year 7 month and 18 days in leap year. Therefore, the calculation is – A.D. + 56 year 7 month and 17 days = B.S. in ordinary A.D. and + 1 day in leap year. All dates used in this book without mentioning B.S. are in A.D.
The Nationalities’ Question in Nepal
(Social Convergence and Partnership Building through Multiculturalism and Federalism)
Chapter One
Evolution of Nepalese Society: A Brief Historical Account
The human settlement in Nepal has been believed one among the oldest as the evidences support this belief. A fossil tooth of Ramapithecus, believed to be more than a million years old, has been found in Butwal. Also the chipped stone tools, believed about thirty to forty thousands years old have been found at Nawalparasi and Kathmandu (Bista, 1991:14, Sharma, 2039 V.S.: 26, 29). In the great epic, the Mahabharat, the mentions of Biratnagar as one of the princely state and the participation in the war of a Kirat tribal chief also leads to the conclusion that Nepal has a long history of human settlement.
The inscriptions carved on stones and metals and the archeological excavations provide grounds that there was the possibility of existence of several tribal republics during pre-historical and early historical days. These republics (tribal system of primitive governance) may include but not limited to Yalakhom in Kathmandu valley and Kapilvastu, Koliya, Mithila and Kichakdesh in the southern plains. During the final years of the tribal republics, agriculture had become the major economic activity. In the course of change in the economic outputs and introduction of division of labor; social behaviors and relationships got new shape, and as a result the class society emerged. When agriculture replaced hunting and gathering as the primary occupation of the society, the old tribal republics based on such economic behavior disintegrated and the feudal states evolved. Through the process of reorganization of Kirat tribal republic ‘Yalakhom’, Tharu tribal republic ‘Koliya’, Brata-Chhetriya Lichchhivi tribal republic ‘Videha’ and many other tribal governance mechanisms; new transitional feudal states came into existence. These new feudal states included Khasan in Karnali region, Magarat in Dhaulagiri region, Nepal Mandal between Gandaki and Koshi rivers, Bijayapur in Koshi region and Makwanpur in the southern region. These new feudal states had the problems of ever changing boarders, strategically doubtful existence and never ending transitions. Hence, with its superior military strategy, leadership quality and skilled management of state resources; one of the Khasan principalities called Gorkha invaded and captured several smaller feudal states. The Gorkha rulers’ move was not a national unification campaign. This was a military endeavor. They invaded, captured and annexed the territory, and in this process a greater and more powerful feudal state came into existence. Hence, Nepal was the product of this military endeavor lunched to establish a Hindu theocratic feudal state. Three factors contributed to achieve this goal. First, cohabitation of the people for several centuries in the past provided the base. Second, development of a common administrative mechanism by the Gorkha rulers helped to create a new political superstructure. And, the third, The collective bond created by the war fought against the British colonial invasion initiated the process of social convergence. In this way, the making of the greater Gorkha theocratic Hindu state provided the ground for the emergence of Nepal as a geographical, economic, psycho-emotional and administrative unit. Still, this was not the result of a national unification campaign as some Hindu-Khas historians and politicians say. Even today, Nepal has not developed as a nation-state and in the near future too, such possibility does not exist.
Nepal is a multilingual, multinational, multicultural and multi-religious state having a diverse geo-physical composition. The people of Mangol-Kirat, Arya, Austric and Dravid origin inhabit. Similarly, the people speak more than 69 languages of Tibeto-Burman, Indo-European, Austric and Dravidian families. The major faiths include Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Bonpo and Kirat. Besides, Christianity, Lamaism, Jainism and Sikh also are the faiths, people follow. There are followers of folk-faiths or animism and shamanism (that include worship of nature Gods, tribal Gods and Goddesses such Masto, Bhuwani, Kuldeuta etc) and such believers could be in large number. But in absence of a scientific research, it is difficult to draw any conclusion. Unavailability of data has benefited the ruling Khas, more particularly the Bahuns to project the followers of folk-faiths including animism and Shamanism as Hindus.
The socio-economic and cultural foundation laid down by the ancient inhabitants, the Kirats, was further strengthened by the new comers – Mangols, Aryans, Austric and Dravidians. The Nepalese society as it exists today is the result of several factors briefly discussed above such as geo-physical composition, human interaction of different races, their cultural specialties and coexistence of several centuries.
The internal political, economic and cultural relationships among different forces within a society depend largely upon the class composition and the nature, characteristics and intensity of the prevailing contradictions among them in any specific time. In essence, the struggle between nationalities is an extended form of the class struggle. It has been, essentially, related to controlling the state power. The important factors are the character of classes who lead such struggle, their purpose and the context. If the bourgeois or petty bourgeois classes lead the movement, necessarily, its successful accomplishment will establish a capitalist state. Instead, if the proletariats in collaboration with the peasantry will lead the movement, the success may result in the form of establishing a socialist state. Therefore, it would be necessary to understand the relationships among classes, nationalities and the state (James Blaut and Albert Sizamanski in Berberoglu, 1995: 4, 5). Indeed, the study of nationalism and national movements is not possible, de-linking them from the structure of the society and its class composition (Berberoglu, 1995: 2). Hence, any attempts or analysis remain incomplete if the existing relations among classes have not been taken into consideration. At least, a brief overview may be helpful to know the fundamentals of the class composition of Nepalese society, the contradictions among them and their impact on the problems of nationalities. With this limited objective, a brief historical account has been presented below.
Baburam Acharya, respected Nepalese historian, criticizes his fellow historians for their absence of objectivity and says:
The Nepalese and foreign historians, who tried to study the pre-historical and Kirat-era Nepal, have followed a strange path. With temptation to bringing the historical facts to light of that unknown period, they put forward the exaggerated stories about the imaginary supernatural actors such as Manjushree, Bodhisatwa, Krakuchchhanda-Buddha, Ne-Muni, the serpent king – Karkotak nag, Vanashur and king Dharmakar as historical facts. But, such exaggerated stories which have no objectivity and normal course could not be accepted as the basis for scientific history (Acharya, 2054 V.S.: 23).
The ancient historical accounts could be summarized in the following points:
- A fossil of a tooth of Ramapithecus has been found at Butwal. It is generally believed one million years old.
- Chipped stone tools have been found in Kathmandu and Butwal. Researchers believe these tools are thirty to forty thousand years old.
- About eight to ten thousands years ago, the human race (nomads) had a spread in the mountain valleys and southern plains. These nomads, afterward, might have been called as Kirats. This ancient tribe sounds the indigenous tribe of Nepal (Acharya, 2054 V.S.: 9-10).
- The Kirats might have started domesticating the animals and primitive agricultural activities. In this way, they could have developed settlements around six to seven thousand years ago (Acharya, 2054 V.S.: 10).
- Around four to five thousand years ago, in this region great social upheavals had taken place. Several groups of people of Tibeto-Burman origin came to this region and assimilated with the Kirats (Acharya, 2054 V.S.: 10).
- The Aryabartiya Aryans had arrived in Butwal region around 750 B.C. In this period the Kirats of Kathmandu called Nepars got some influence of Aryan culture through their Kirat cousins of the southern plains called Danuwar, Darai or Kumhal (Acharya, 2054 V.S.: 15).
- The word “Nepal” has been used by Kautilya, the minister of Chandragupta Maurya (321-297 B.C.) in his book “Arthashastra” (The Economics). This is the first evidence of the use of this word. Kautilya has mentioned that in Magadha, “Bhingshi”, a woolen material and some other woolen products were brought from Nepal to sell (Acharya, 2054 V.S.: 63).
- In the Hindu epic Mahabharat which was composed around 250 B.C., it has been mentioned that Bhimsen won seven Kirat chiefs. The event may or may not be true, but the epic gives some glimpses of the political situation at the time of writing. Out of these seven chiefs, one could be the Nepar ruler of Kathmandu. Among the others, one could be the Tharu ruler of the southern plains and rest five could be Thami and Khambu tribal chiefs in the eastern hills (Acharya, 2054 V.S.: 21, 65).
In Nepal, the nomadic life might have ended around 700 B.C. The hunting and gathering age itself, conceived a new age. At the early days of that new age, the division of labor appeared in the society.
The Kirat tribal republics took shape. They were called “Gopal” (those who keep herd of cows) and “Mahishpal” (those who keep herd of buffalos) dynasties. These were the first tribal governance mechanisms in Nepal. The tribe was none other than the Kirats. The coin as a medium of exchange was developed during that period. Three coins believed that of around 700 B.C. have been found in Kathmandu and are kept in the collection of British Museum (Bhandari, 2046 V.S.: 28-29). This evidence provides enough ground to conclude that around 700 B.C. the ancient tribal republic had existed. The republics of three tribes might have been in existence. Among them, there could be one or more Nepar Kirat republics in Kathmandu and around it, the Lichchhivi republic in the middle Terai and the Tharu (Shakya) Kirat republic in the western Terai. These ancient tribal republics played progressive role up to 5th century.
From the period covering 700 B.C. to 5th century AD, religion had been originated as the ideological base of feudalism. In the Kirat -Tharu tribal republic of Kapilvastu; Buddhism emerged. The Lichchhivis brought Hinduism when they moved northward from the Gangetic plain called Aryabarta. They entered inside the present boundary of Nepal from the south around 700 B.C. It took a long time for them to overthrow the Kirat rule and to establish their own administration in Kathmandu valley. The Lichchhivi chief Jayadev (1st) established his rule in Kathmandu in 250 AD. The chief of the Lichhivi tribe was called king, but there was no monarchical system. The king was an elected tribal official. Up to the end of 4th century, the Lichhivi tribal republic continued and the chief was a Buddhist. The last elected Lichchhivi chief (king) Brishdev changed the tribal republic into a monarchy and also he declared his son Shankardeva as the crown prince. The successor of the thrown was converted to Hinduism from Buddhism (Acharya, 2054 V. S.: 15, 26). From this very event, Nepal started to enter into the transitional period to move to an era of feudal system. During this specific period, the agriculture system evolved and gradually developed as the major economic activity by replacing the hunting and gathering activities. Animal wealth became secondary source of livelihood and land got importance. As a result, individual ownership over land appeared. The Swayambhu inscription, believed as the oldest available inscriptions, has the mention of donation of land to individual from the state (Joshi, 2030 V. S.: 3). The Lichchhivi king Mandeva invaded the eastern tribal republics and the western one in Gandaki region and created a sound base for a unified feudal Hindu theocratic state. In the initial period of his rule, he used to be addressed as “Samanta” (feudal lord) but after these invasions and the victory over other tribes, he declared himself a “king”. This has been mentioned in his Changu inscription. He had been addressed as “Bhattarak Maharajashree Mandeva” (the great king Mandeva) during the days of later part of his rule (Joshi, 2030 V. S.: 58). In his inscriptions, many important information in regard to the construction of temples and management of land (such as donation, provision of irrigation, land rent) are available. The system of land rent was introduced, first time. It has been mentioned, in the inscription of Pashupati, that to continue the regular religious rituals in the temple, a plot of land was donated to use on rental basis (Joshi, 2030 V.S.: 13-49). After the development of all these new production relations, the ancient tribal republican system was finally replaced by feudalism in the sixth century AD. More specifically, this change of the nature of the society occurred during the rule of Manadeva (463-506 AD). At this point, feudalism effectively developed and became governing ideology and system of production. Hence, Nepalese society changed fundamentally to feudal society. During that period, mostly the tribal faiths were replaced by religion; hunting and gathering activities were replaced by agriculture and animal husbandry; the tribal chief was replaced by a king and the animal wealth-base was replaced by agricultural land. In principle, all the land was owned by the feudal state. In practice, its total or partial ownership used to be transferred to the individuals, families or communities through donation, reward, rental arrangement and tax-contracts. The provisions also were introduced to govern the production relations between the landlords and the peasants. The autonomous organizations of the landlords such as Panchalis also appeared. These organizations were effective vehicles for local rule. The Lichchhivi rule created the basis for feudal socio-political mechanism and strengthened the monarchy. In summary, Nepal had entered into the phase of ancient tribal republic around 700 B.C. These tribal republics continued till the 5th century AD and from the 6th century, feudalism evolved as a progressive economic and political system.
The feudal social and political system had a history of more than 1400 years. Only, after the establishment of industrial as well as financial institutions such as Biratnagar jute mills and Nepal Bank Ltd in 1937, the capitalist mode of production appeared as an alternative to feudal system. The new capitalist production relation changed the role of different economic classes. Their nature also changed accordingly. From this period, feudalism and feudal relations of production started to play reactionary role.
Today, the Nepalese society has been experiencing the transition from feudalism to capitalism. The political, social and economic upheavals are the result of this transition. The entire society is passing through unprecedented pace of transformation. The transformation is dominantly taking the society forward. But, there has been no serious attempt to understand its pace. Even today, class composition of the society has not been studied properly. Also the political parties, who claim as the advocates of class politics, go by the conventional phraseology and are satisfied with chanting the age old slogan that “Nepal is a semi-feudal state”. This phrase has neither any objective justification nor it reflects the ground reality (Neupane, 1999: 12-16). Also, in the rural areas, the rental arrangement of land has nearly disappeared. The wage system is in practice. The landlords are seen only in exception. The wage is the governing basis for labor-employer relations even in agriculture. The low wages and extended working hours are the means of exploitation of the agriculture workers. Just being agriculture as the major occupation in the society is not a valid basis to conclude that feudal relation of production is dominant. Indeed, the major character of the relation of production in Nepal has been the capitalist relation, though it is in its final stage of transition. Accordingly, the roles of different classes and the contradictions among them have changed. In reality, in the Nepalese society, both, the essence and the form of class struggle have changed. Now, the major contradiction is among the classes of capitalist society and they are fighting against each other. Of course, the progressive political scientists, thinkers and the practitioners should study the society more objectively. .
The struggles in the society in areas of ideology, politics, attitudes and behaviors, have influenced the relations among classes. Now, Nepal is experiencing the struggles between antagonistic classes. The forms of struggles include the legal or non-legal and peaceful or violent. The people’s war also is in progress. Now, the new phenomenon of consolidation of power through protracted war and capturing state-power through a final assault of mass rebellion seems a feasible option. Today, the availability of multiple options and expansion of possibilities have widened scope for the movements. Therefore, the forces committed to attaining equity and social justice in relation to nationalities; also have several centers available to form a united front. The unity of all oppressed is the most important factor. Hence, the oppressed nationalities should have alliance with the oppressed class and oppressed section of the society such as women. The alliance will emerge naturally. The combined working class power, women power and the non-Khas nationalities’ power, will dethrone the upper class male chauvinistic Hindu Khas rule. In such movement, the progressive elements within the Khas nationality also will certainly participate.
Chapter Two
Nationalities in Nepal
The society in Nepal is multicultural as several nationalities reside. They have different cultural traits, faiths and languages. But, Khas rulers negating this reality and try to project Nepal as a nation-state and arrogantly strive to impose their Khas-Hindu theocratic ideology, codes, values, faiths and practices over other nationalities. Different nationalities came to existence through a long process centered on collective behaviors, cohabitation, common language and social interactions resulting to a common economic life. The feeling of a nationality has been expressed either through common aspirations of unity within a state or alternatively, that can be seen in the attempts to selecting a course of total independence (Tamang, 2054 V.S.: 11-12). The aspirations and attempts vary depending on several factors that may include harmony among different nationalities and the social convergence among them. Also, the feeling of exclusion and isolation contributes largely for independence whereas the process of inclusion and participation strengthens cohabitation and convergence.
In Nepal, there are differences on the definition of the terms used to refer to different nationalities. The classification of nationalities is another controversial area. One school of thought divides the people into two broad categories – Aryans and Mangols. But, these are the human races and not nationalities. The second division puts people in two baskets – Tagadhari (those who wear Hindu “sacred” thread or upper caste Hindus) and Matwali (those who consume liquor). These, also are the social groups and not the nationalities. The third classification divides the people into, again, two groups – Pahade (people who reside in the hills) and Madhese (those who reside in the southern plains). These are the location specific groups. The Central Bureau of Statistics has prepared a list of 59 communities calling as “Caste/Ethnic Groups” (CBS, 1993: 1-2). Indeed, these are the custom groups or sub-nationalities.
In the beginning of the nineteenth century, Francis Buchanan Hamilton has written extensively about Magar, Tamang (Murmi), Kirat, Khas (the words such as Khasiya, Parbate, Parbate Hindu are also used as synonyms) and Newar. He has used the term “nations” while explaining about them. He has not stated clearly what he considered about Gurung or Lepchas, though he has mentioned about them too. He has stated that Bhote nationality has a spread in Tibet and Bhutan also. Although, he has written about Tharu, Rajbanshi, Gangai, Meche and Batar of Terai, but he has not stated the status in regard to their nationalities (Hamilton, 1819: 9-60).
Tony Hagen has also divided the Nepalese people into two categories – Nepalese of Tibetan origin and Nepalese of Indian origin. He has again divided the groups into two sub-groups each. The first group of Tibetan origin has been sub-divided as Tibetan group (Bhote, Sherpa, and Thakali) and indigenous Nepalese group (Newar, Tamang, Gurung, Magar, Sunuwar, Rai, Limbu, Budha, Ruka, Tharu). The Indian origin group has been, again, sub-divided into two – Nepalese group (Bahun, Chhetri, Khas, Thakuri) and Indian group (Gadhawali, Kumai and other “Indians in narrow sense”) (Hagen, 1980: 110). It sounds that by the term “Indians in narrow sense”, he refers to other people of Terai.
Although, it is not clear where the classification is the result of a thoughtful analysis or it is used spontaneously, the Janajati Vikash Samanwaya Kendra (Coordination Center for the uplift of Nationalities) has put the people in six categories while analyzing the caste/nationality analysis of the government officers. The six groups are – Bahun, Chhetri, Newar, Janajati, Madhise and Muslim (Gurung et al, 1999: 4).
Another type of classification suggests that in Nepal there are Khas, Kirat (Limbu, Yakha, Rai, Hayu, and Sunuwar), Langhali (Magar, Thami, Chepang, Lapche, Kusunda, and Raji), and Tangan (Newar, Tamang, Gurung, and Tharu). Besides them a few Himalis and Tarayalis are also present (Pokharel, 2055 V.S.: 633).
While grouping the data, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), has put 29 sub-groups of people from Terai and after that it has mentioned a few smaller groups as “the other Tarai groups”. Tharu, Dhimal and Muslims also are included in this Terai group. The CBS seems just afraid to give a name to this group. In the same grouping, it has stated as Pahadi (Hill people) and Uchcha Pahadi (mountain people), but has given no names. In the Pahadi group Bahun, Chhetri, Thakuri and Sanyashi are in a row. (CBS, 1993: 1-20).
Janak Lal Sharma has said that there are the descendants of six groups of people in Nepal. They are – Negritos, Austro-Asian, Mangolkirat, Dravidian, Brityamunda and Aryans or Nordic. (Sharma, 2039: 40).
Perceval Landon has accepted the complexities in determining the nationalities in Nepal. He finds complications initiating the study adopting any approach, either taking the physiological commonalities or differences or the languages they speak or religions or custom or their bravery in battlefields. For him, the Newars in Kathmandu are the easiest to differentiate. But, because of assimilation of Thakurs (Rajputs) with other nationalities, it has been difficult to classify from Khas of Aryan origin to Murmis of Mongol origin. After accepting all such limitations, he has mentioned that there are Newar, Khas, Gurung, Magar, Murmi, Sunuwar, Rai and Limbu nationalities in Nepal. Among these nationalities, he has mentioned Gurung, Magar, Sunuwar and Murmi as Mangols and Rais and Limbus as Kiratis (Landon, 1928: Appendix xvii).
The brief review presented above signals the difficulties in determining the composition of the nationalities and their classifications. The nationalities question in Nepal has remained so complex due to the absence of extensive socio-cultural studies and analysis. Indeed, the understanding of this composition would lead to unearthing the factors related to inequity and pave the way to redress.
Basically, five factors play roles in the development of a nationality. They are – common geographical setting, common language, common culture, common economic relations and common mind-set. There is no rigidity that all these factors should be present to call some community as a nationality, but at least the differences should not hinder common economic, cultural and psychological aspects of their relations. If these five factors are in a supportive phenomenon, there would be the need to consider on two more critical factors. The first one is common decent or assimilation of a longer time period and the second one is the feeling, if any, generated through resistance against a common aggressor. Therefore, the study of several groups of people by using the above criteria that five primary common basis and two other factors of common descend and common feeling generated against foreign aggression reveal the characteristics of a nationality. Indeed, nationality provides a specific group of people a distinct identity. The studies specific to the composition of the society by using the above mentioned criteria as yardsticks, with some exceptions, there are five nationalities in Nepal. They are – Khas, Madhesi, Mangolkirat, Dalit and Newar (Neupane, 1999: 73, 74, 152). But, there has not been a general agreement of this fact. One major contributing factor that complicated the understanding on nationality is the Hindu social code of division of castes. The Nepali word Jati (nationality) is very close to Jat (caste). Hence, there is lots of confusion and misunderstanding between nationality (Jati) and caste (Jat).
People of some of the nationalities, due to inferior psycho state, feel defensive while saying the name of their nationality. One of the contributing is that due to the divisive psycho-cultural influence of the Khas, they rather say their sub-nationalities. Therefore, an analysis to establish the historical facts behind the naming of the nationalities becomes relevant. The analysis of their evolution as nationalities will follow the brief review of evidences on their naming.
Even after the assimilation of Aryabartian Aryas and the Aidi-Khas Aryan, the nationality was called Khas. Baburam Acharya says:
In Sanskrit literature, the Aryans always put them above the Kirat, Hun, Yawn and Sak . Due to its influence, the Khas kings of Baisi and Chaubisi principalities started to say “Thakur” or “Thakuri” for themselves. Other Khas, who were not related to the ruling dynasty, also got influence from their royal cousin. … Rana Prime Minister Jang Bahadur Kunwar asked people to say Chhetriya and Khas not only to his clan but also to the clans of his relatives such as Thapa, Basnet, Karki, etc . From now on, the feeling in using the word Khas, they feel inferior. Although, Kunwar, Thapa, Bista, Karki etc claim themselves as the “Rajputs from India”; that is not true. The same is true for the Brahmins (Acharya, 2054 V.S.: 54-55).
The above conclusion simply revels that the Khas at the helm of absolute power started to say themselves as Thakuri, Chhetri and Rajputs. This was initiated by the Khas sub-groups – the Shahas and Ranas, and that spread to other sub-groups also. They started to say themselves as Bahun, Chhetri, Shahi, Giri, Puri etc.
The noted linguist Balkrishna Pokharel has put forward four reasons why the Khas do not like to say themselves as Khas. He says:
“The first reason could be that the word “Khas” in its shorter form or “Khas” is a Nepali word meaning “to fall down” or ” to die”. The second reason could be the members of the Khas society forgot their glorious past. The third reason could be that many other people were assimilated into Khas linguistic group who were not willing to identify themselves as khas. The fourth reason could be that in the Sanskrit literatures, the Khas nationality was projected as inferior one” (Pokharel, 2055 V.S.: 1)
Similarly, the people of hills such as Khas, Newar and Mangolkirats use an inferior term “Madhise” while addressing the people of Madhesi nationality. These people of hill origin use the word “Madhise” to humiliate them. The Madhesi intellectuals still believe that the people of hill origin have such psycho-state and use the word with that purpose (Nepali, 1995: 35). Therefore, the Madheshi nationality has shown reluctance to use the word “Madhesi”.
Mangolkirats have been lured to a nationality-neutral word called “Janajati“. Janajati has been translated as “nationality” into English. If the word is used in this way, then a question arises that why Khas, Newar, Dalit or Madhesi are not accepted as Janajatis (nationalities)? In Nepali, the word Janajati is used to refer the indigenous community of people. Some prominent organizations of Mangolkirat nationality have been attempting to familiarize the word limiting its use for some specific sub-nationalities or custom groups. The federation of nationalities is the leader among them. Either this organization should be a federation of all nationalities in Nepal or they have to rename the federation as “Federation of Associations of Oppressed Nationalities.” The narrow sub-national vision might have played a role to attract the leaders of Mangolkirat nationalities to this innocent looking neutral word. Indeed, the people of Mangolkirat nationalities have no inferior feeling in the use of the word “Mangolkirat”. They are not using the word that frequently only because they have no clarity and also the confusions created by the diversities originated from the differences of characteristics of different custom groups among them. When they use the term, again, there is the difficulty in defining and the classifying the term in right perspective.
Newars also introduce themselves through the name of their sub-groups or surnames. The Khas address them as “Nyar” to humiliate them. Perhaps, Newars thought better to create distance with this word. Another reason could be that the introduction of Hindu caste system among the Newars created the superior-inferior feeling among themselves and there was the need to differentiate the ‘high caste’ Newar from the so-called lower castes. Therefore, the so-called high caste Newars thought to have a better replacement and started to use the surnames. The so-called lower castes also tried to find out some words which may hide their sub-group’s name. With a negative load created by such attitudes and tendencies, the Newars tried to escape from using the word.
Only the Dalits feel good while using the word of their nationality. This could be so as the word was selected by themselves for them. More recently, by taking the advantage of the similarity in their surname with the Khas, some educated Dalits have shown a tendency to project themselves as Khas. In such a way, they hide their own nationality, more particularly to escape from the pain created by Hindu social order.
This is interesting that all nationalities with exception of the Dalits try not to identify with the name of their nationality. But, this type of situation would result to more confusion. The complex situation originated from the confusion would be helpful to the clever Khas to continue harvesting the benefits. Therefore, the Khas will attempt to magnify differences within a nationality and also among oppressed nationalities. They will feel never tired to talk about assimilation. These Khas acts will help them to prolong their control and domination. The artificial situation created by the escape of the word identifying the nationalities would not change the lives of the people of oppressed nationalities and that will not help to improve relations among nationalities. They will understand the truth, may be, belatedly.
The above analysis signals to the complexities created by the presence of different linguistic groups, diversity in cultural practices, different types of sub-groups based on descend and the multiplicity of definitions, classifications and groupings. Also, different sociologist, anthropologists and other researchers name them differently which added more confusions and complexities. The government structures are under the control of the Khas. Therefore, all the time they promote divisions. The mass psychology has also been created in such a way that by introducing with the surname, an individual feels comfort. Such influence can be seen in the use of the words as “yonjan”, “Bomjan” etc. They do not prefer to say the name of their sub-nationality which is “Tamang” and will not use the term of their nationality, which is Mangolkirat. The same is applicable among Limbus, a Mangolkirat sub-nationality. They use the surnames such as “Lawoti”, “Linkha” etc. The use of the word what they like is very good. But, the divisive tendencies are harming their interests. All this has contributed to strengthen and continue the Khas domination. Therefore, the discussion on the silent features of different nationalities becomes one of the most important tasks. In such analysis, the similarities among them need deeper study. It has to be made clear that in this analysis the different nationalities will be addressed by their original name. The intention is not that the names should be imposed on them; rather this is the acceptance of the reality.
Nationalities
- Mangolkirat
- Khas
- Dalit
- Newar
- Madhesi
Besides, the nationalities mentioned above, another 1.1% of the population is categorized as “the other”. During the census of 1991, several very small groups were put together. A large majority of them or around 1% might belong to Mangolkirat nationalities. In such scenario, the Mangolkirat population may increase by another 1%. In this study, their number is kept separate as “others”.
a. Mangolkirat:
According the reputed historian Baburam Acharya, Kirats were the first inhabitants and the indigenous people of Nepal. They belong to Austro-Asian groups. Some of the early trends of the movements of the people signal that about four to five thousand years ago, groups of people of Tibeto-Burman branch of the same Austro-Asian origin might have come to Nepal via Burma. These people did not come in one group but they came in several groups taking a time spread of several centuries. Therefore, they could not continue their separate identity and assimilated with the indigenous Kirats (Acharya, 2054 V.S.: 9-17). In this way, the assimilation of the Mangol immigrants with the indigenous Kirats provided the basis for the Mangolkirat nationality. The process of assimilation took centuries.
Noted scholar Janaklal Shrma says “up to second century B.C., Kirats were the ruling tribe. ….. Mangols also influenced the Nepali culture. It is better to say Mangolkirat, rather than Mangol. …..There is Mongol influence on Rai, Limbu, Gurung, Magar, and Tharu and also the Kirat influence is visible among the Mangols. Therefore, we have addressed the entire nationality as Mangolkirat” (Sharma, 2039 V.S.: 39, 45, and 46).
According to historian Prem Bahadur Limbu, though the Kirats lost control over Kathmandu valley around 266 B.C. to Lichchhivis, the territory east of Banepa was under their control (in Yakharai, 2053 V.S.: 216). The Kirats of the east lost several territories to the Sen Kings of Palpa during sixteenth century and they were defeated by Gorkha king Prithvinarayan in 1831 V.S. He annexed the territories in the Nepal. Similarly, the Mangolkirat (Gurung and Magar) principalities in Gandaki region lost to the Khas kings of Gorkha. In this way, Mangolkirats did not only loose control of their territorial rule, they had to struggle hard to protect their culture, values, means of survival and the resources from the invading Khas.
The Kirat historian and scholar Imansingh Chemjong has stated that during the 4th century, a Mongol invading force of 50,000 fighters attacked the Kirat territories. The Kirats defeated the Mongol invaders. After the defeat, the Mongols spread in the hills and mountains and assembled with the Limbu-Khambu sub-groups of the Kirats. They transformed into a single nationality after a long process of assimilation (Chemjong, 2026 V.S.: Ka to Cha).
According to the reputed anthropologist Dorbahadur Bista, Tamangs, Rais, Limbus, Magars, Gurungs, Sherpas, Thakalis, Bhotes, Sunuwars, Chepangs, Thamis, Jirels and Lepchas are the descendants of Kirat (Bista, 1991: 17).
In the beginning of the nineteenth century, Francis Buchanan Hamilton has written extensively about the people of Nepal. He has stated the following:
- In Nepal, Khat-Bhotes had their rule before Newars.
- Magar are Tibetan descendants.
- Gurungs have been residing together with Magars. They are same as the Magars except their movements. As they raise ships, they go to the hills during summer and come down to the low lands during winter.
- Lepchas could be Murmies by birth. They eat beef.
- The Rajputs compelled the Kirats to adopt the Hindu rituals after defeating them. They also had to give up those practices which were considered contraband to Hindu practices. The Kirats had to utilize the services of Hindu-Bahuns to perform their rituals. The Kirats had a major disagreement with the Gorkha Hindu Khas victors in regard to the prohibition on eating beef. The chief of Kirats was in exile.
- Murmi and Bhotes may not have the common descent.
- The Gorkhalis use the derogatory term “Siyane Bhote” or “Bhote” addressing to the Murmis. Due to the ban on cow slaughter, they can only eat the beef, if a cow has died naturally. They eat the delicacies with great taste when they get the opportunity of eating beef.
- Before the migration of Rajputs; Magars, Gurungs, Jariyas, Newars, Murmis, Kirats, Limbus, Lepchas and Bhotes had inhabited on the east of Kali River (Hamilton, 1819: 25, 27, 52, 53, 54, 55, 59).
Janajati Vikash Samanwaya Kendra (Coordination Center for Uplift of Nationalities) has published a booklet more recently. The authors of the booklet have defined the term “Janajati” as mentioned below:
“Generally the words Janajati (nationality) and Adibashi (the indigenous people) are used as synonyms. Of course, Janajati is related to social composition and Adibashi has its relation with time period. The word Janajati or Jati refers to the group of people outside of caste system and Adibashis are the ancient inhabitants or the indigenous people. In the context of Nepal, Janajatis are the groups of people who have their own specific territory, language, religious custom and culture, whereas Jat (caste) refers to the people who have a division of lower or upper social hierarchies, who speak Indo-European language and who believe in and practice Hindu religion and culture. Another notable difference is that the majority of Janajatis are the Mangol/Kirats whereas all the people of Jat have Caucasian descent. …. The invasion of Janajati’s territory, expansion of Nepali language, Hindu domination on religion and culture and politico-economic exploitation of Janajatis are the facts in Nepal today. These are the reasons that the majority of Janajatis have been in a state of backwardness (Gurung et al, 1999: 1)
The definition above accepts that the majority among the Janajatis are Mangol/Kirats. The definition has analyzed very well the development of common feeling and the common political, economic and cultural reasons behind the development of Janajatis (Mangolkirats). Indeed, the Khas invasion of their ancestral land, the suppression of Tibeto-Burman languages, Hinduization of the society and politico-economic exploitations of centuries are the reasons behind the evolution of Mangolkirat as a nationality. Indeed, the origin and development of Mangolkirats as a nationality is the psychological, political, economic and cultural response to the all out invasion of the Khas. Although, the infrastructures in the form of common ancient history, commonality of cultural practices, common racial origin, and common source of their language were already present. The factors that existed already in the form of social infrastructure and the originated out of the Khas invasion, contributed together in the formation of a modern Mangolkirat nationality. Therefore, the contributors in the formation of Mangolkirat nationality include the common historical backgrounds and the common feelings of the people against the Khas invasion.
The above analysis provides the background of its origin and evolution as a Nationality. Most of the custom groups within the nationality are the ancient inhabitants of Nepal. All of them have experienced the atrocities committed by the invading Khas. All of them have faced the cultural domination of Hinduism. All the custom groups had the matriarchy for a certain period of time in the past. All the custom groups have descended from Mongols or Kirats. The process of assimilation continuing for centuries, took them to the stage of full fledged nationality after the Khas invasion on all aspects of their life including language, culture, custom, eating habits etc. Now, due to confusions created by Khas’ divisive actions and narrow vision originated from the deference seen on their observance of some cultural practices, they are trying to find out a neutral name for their nationality and some of the leading scholars and organizations have put forward the term “Janajati”. With some exceptions, all the groups which they say “Janajatis” are the Mangolkirat custom groups. All the custom groups within this nationality have passed through century’s long assimilation process and, basically, they assimilated with the indigenous Kirats. Therefore, if they say just Kirat instead of Mangolkirat, might be, that would be even better. They have to make the decision themselves. Harshabahadur Budhamagar, a Magar scholar, has given the name of his book “Kirat nation and the Magars”. In this book he has presented the study on the Magars. He proudly says “… Kirats have their own glorious history, culture, literature and custom. They have their own past and future” (Budhamagar, 2049 V.S.: 450). Such assessments certainly strengthen the bond among different custom groups of Mangolkirat nationality. The percentage of Mangolkirats in the population of Nepal is 22.2.
As discussed earlier, Mangolkirats have been influenced by deferent languages they speak, custom group centered narrow perspectives and some differences seen in the observance of some cultural practices. Due to such influences, many people of this nationality do not say themselves as Mangolkirats. Janaklal Sharma has placed Tamang, Magar, Gurung, Limbu and Rais within Mangolkirat nationality. Rahul Sankrityayan also has put forward his conclusion closer to that of Sharma. Sankrityayan says that Lahul, Malana (Kullu), Kanaur, Marachha (Gadhwal), Magar, Gurung, Sunuwar, Tamang, Rai, Limbu, Yakha (Nepal) and Lepcha (Sikkim) are the Kirats of hill areas who speak their own languages. The Tharus of the plains forgot their language (in Sharma, 2039 V.S., 2039: 291). Newars grouped together within Kirat nationality by Rahul Sankrityayan have developed as an independent nationality.
The custom groups within the Mangolkirats include Gurung, Tamang, Magar, Limbu, Rai, Sherpa, Thakali, Sunuwar, Bote, Danuwar, Chepang, Thami, Majhi, Kumal, Darai, Jirel, Lepcha, Raji, Raute and Byashi. They have several languages. Among their major languages, which are spoken by more than 1% of Nepal’s population include Gurung, Magar, Tamang, Limbu and Rai languages. All these languages belong to Tibeto-Burman language group. Thami, Raji, Bote, Chepang, Majhi and Danuwar are the most backward custom groups among Mangolkirats. Their illiteracy rate in 1991 was above 75%. The women illiteracy rate was even worse, and that was 85% and above (CBS, 1993: 325-328).
Mangolkirat people are famous for their rich culture. The Dhannach of the Limbus, Chandinach of Rais, Rodi of Gurungs and Chabrung of Tamangs are some of the fine examples traditional folk dances. The Thankas (unique form of painting) and carpets are the master pieces of their creative art work. Their individual, family and community relations are free from complications as they are liberal, flexible and have an attitude which promotes mutual respect. Women are more independent and enjoy better position compared to Khas and Madhesis. Due to extravagant custom (for example Ghewa, a ritual performed after the death of a person, among the Tamangs), too simplistic approach towards own situations, luxurious life styles and ultra heroic behaviors; they have become much sought after targets for exploitation. The Khas, Newars and Khas state and foreign colonial governments (example Gurkha brigade in British army) exploit the energy and resources of the people of Mangolkirat nationality.
Generally, they inhabit in the mountain and hill areas. Their dresses include Bhoto-Kachhad (short shirt and plain cloth covering their body from waist to knee), shirt-trousers and Bakhkhu (thick jacket) for men and Lungi-cholo (blouse and colorful cloth which covers the lower part of the body) and Sari-cholo (mainly colorful, long, unstitched garment covering the lower part of the body and full sleeve blouse) for women. Some men also wear Daura-Suruwal ((waist-folded, long sleeve shirt and tight trousers). In towns and cities and also in rural areas, Kurta-Surwal (long frock and loose trouser) among girls and Shirt-trouser among boys have become popular, more recently. Even, a few girls could be seen wearing shirt-trouser in urban areas.
On religion, they are quite tolerant to other faiths. They perform traditional rituals. They believe either in animism or in Kirat religion or in Bonpo or in Buddhism. A few among them are Hindus and atheists. The Khas state has projected a large number of the Mangolkirat people as Hindus just to justify the Hindu theocratic nature of Nepali state. This is a conspiracy of the Hindu-Khas state.
Agriculture is the major occupation of a large majority of people. Collection and processing of forest products, production of traditional agricultural implements, labor work, recruitment in the army (including in British and Indian army) are other occupations. A small number of people have started to appear in the civil service, private sector and academic areas.
The Hindu-Khas classification places this nationality at the bottom of the social hierarchy. They are grouped together as Sudras. But the provisions applicable to other Sudras such as untouchability have not been implemented for them. This may have happened due to either the Khas did not dare or they did not found it fit to implement. Therefore, they were clustered as touchable Sudras or Sudras of a higher status. The reasons contributing to such arrangement may include the fear factor among the Khas originated from ultra heroic tendencies and behaviors of the Mangolkirats, the attraction among the rulers of the beauty of Mangolkirat girls and a few Mangolkirats’ (Gurung, Magars) participation in the Gorkha-Khas rulers’ military campaign launched for the expansion of Gorkha state. Therefore, by calling them Sudras of higher status, in practical sense, the Hindu-Khas Bahuns have put them in the place equal to that of Baishyas. Today, a large majority of people including the progressive elements among the Khas reject such classification and are firmly standing in favor of equality among nationalities.
Mangolkirats have more objectivity in regard to their outlook whether that is the reality of their own life or something which is related to the larger outer world. The Khas in Majhkirat (a region in eastern Nepal) use to tell a story to show the stupidity of the people of Manolkirat nationality. According to them a Rai (Mangolkirat) lady was weeping in the month of January. One Bahun (Khas) lady asked the reason of her weeping. The Rai lady replied that her husband died in the month of August. But, that was a busy month for planting paddy. Soon after, several festivals followed. Then, the time of harvesting kept her busy. Therefore, she could not get time to mourn and now she is doing so. Although, this is an imagination of Bahuns to project the Rais as arrogant, but this revels the thought process among the Rais which is free from hundreds of rituals introduced in the society courtesy to fatalistic beliefs of the Bahuns. At least the story above proves that the Bahuns have accepted this reality. Similarly, women have a better status among them and they are liberal, tolerant and joyous people.
b. Khas
The area of Kashmir and the region to its north west was called Idabritta. The people who were called Khas-Arya, who came from Idabrita to inhabit to the area east of it are believed a branch of the people of Aidi-Aryans. The mentions about Khas are available in Mahabharata, Manusmriti and Purans (Acharya, 2054 V.S., 50-51). The Aryabartiya Aryans who developed the system of Varna-Byavastha or caste system migrated from the southern plains to Nepal and came in contact with their hill cousin, the Aidi Khas Aryans. These two branches of Aryans assimilated for centuries and formed the modern Khas nationality. According to Janaklal Sharma the Khas entered inside Nepal at the beginning of the first century AD. After adopting Hinduism they not only got the status of Cherty but also became Bahuns (Sharma, 2039 V.S.: 85). Therefore, the term Chhetri-Bahun is widely used, but this does not represent the total Khas nationality.
Baburam Acharya says “the group of people who speak Khas or Parbatia or Nepali language and does not consider as Kirats or Austro-Asian, could be called Khas. The ancient social system has divided Khas into three groups such as Bahuns, Chhetris and Sudras…. The first two groups are called Tagadhari as they wear Janai (‘holly’ thread) and the third is called Matwali as the people of this group drink liquor (Acharya, 2054V.S.: 54).
Francis Buchanan Hamilton has also used the terms “Khasiya”, “Parvate” and “Parvate Hindu” as the synonyms for the Khas (Hamilton; 1819: 10, 18, 19, 23).
B.D. Sanwal has stated that the Bahun and Chherties of the hills whose origin is Aryan are the Khas (Sanwal, 1993: 17).
Bal Krishna Pokharel has classified the Khas into three categories – 1. Mahanta, Pujari and Bahun (priest) group, 2. Chhetri and Thakuri (rulers and warrior) group and, 3. Gharti, Pawai and Pahani (service provider) group. The terms Mahanta and Pujari also include Sanyasi and Jogi. Pawais are in Karnali region and also called Matwali Chhetri (Pokhrel, 2055 V.S. 653-55).
The Aryabartiya Aryans entered inside the boundary of present-day Nepal about 750 BC. They came to Butwal-Lumbini region and from there moved to Kathmandu valley around 2nd century. The first new comers to Kathmandu were the Bijjis or Briji or Lichchhavis. They established their tribal republic in Kathmandu by overthrowing the Kirat tribal republic from the valley. Similarly, Aidi-Khas Aryans had made a strong presence in the far western region of Nepal during the 10th century. Nagraj, an influential Khas king established a monarchy in Jumla region making Senjapuri, its capital. In this way a Khas kingdom came into being around middle of the 11th century. The kings of this dynasty have introduced themselves as “King of Khas” or “King of Khas kingdom”. The Khas had their control over a large territory which had a boarder with Nepal (or Kathmandu valley) in the east and Gadhwal in the west (Acharya, 2054 V.S.: 26, 51, and 52). Bahun, Chhetri, Thakuri and Sanneshi are the custom groups of Khas nationalities. They are 31.6 % of the total population of Nepal.
Hamilton has stated that during his field study in 1802-3, the Parvate or Khas language which the inhabitants of surrounding areas of Kathmandu spoke, was spreading fast and other local dialects were disappearing. The Khas language originated and developed in Khasan region got fast expansion as the Gorkha-Khas rule spread. Gradually, by replacing several local dialects, it developed as a lingua franca of the hills. The Rana Prime minister Chandra Sumsher, through a royal order nullified the legitimacy of any written document if they are not in Khas or Nepali language. Before this order, Nepali language was not compulsory in legal and administrative use (Malla, 1979: 143). The government started organized effort for the promotion of Nepali language by establishing “Gorkha Bhasa Prakashini Samiti” (Gorkha Language Publication committee) in 1913. Nepali art and literature had the opportunity to develop fast after the establishment of Royal Nepal Academy in 1957. For the expansion of opportunity, the protection and promotion of their mother tongue, Khas language or Nepali as it is said today, offered advantages for the Khas to leave behind other nationalities. The use of their mother language for legal, administrative and communication activities, the Khas got unequal advantages and had competitive edge. Not only it helped in expanding the opportunities for them, but also created mass psychology of their superior social status over other nationalities. Some of the Khas historians claim that “the people including the Bhotes and Sherpas who reside in the far northern mountainous region and the people who are in the far south and whose mother tongue is either Bhojpuri or Avadhi or Maithili understand and speak Nepali language correctly (Bhandari, 2046 V.S.: 13). This statement does not reflect the reality. This is just the expression of Khas chauvinistic mindset. Among the Khas, more particularly in Khasan region, some people speak local dialects such as Doteli and Baitadeli which are local forms of Nepali.
In general, the Khas believe in Hinduism. But, not all are Hindus. Many Khas, mostly in Khasan region, worship either a nature God or believe on ancestral Gods, called “Mastos” and “Bhuvani”. Still, a large majority of Khas excluding Thakuri custom group, do not celebrate “Dashain”, the main Hindu festival in Nepal. Some people say that Dashain, is not celebrated due to the fear of local feudal lords (Pandey, 2056 V.S.: 1). Such conclusion has no basis to believe. The Khas have projected and propagated “Dashain” as the “Great National Festival”. But, their so-called national festival has no meaning for a large number of people in Khasan. This fact leads to the reality that many Khas in Khasan region have nothing to do with Hinduism. In this region “Masto” has widespread influence. Of course, “Masto” is a popular village God. “Masto” has no idol. They are worshiped in two places – Gharthan (place of worship in the village) and Banthan (place of worship in the jungle). They do not have any daily regular rituals. The nature-God worshiping Khas believe that there are 12 “Masto” brothers and 9 “Bhuvani” sisters. They worship at least one “Masto.” The names of the “Mastos” and “Bhuwanis” differ. The Khas believe that these “Mastos” have a destructive nature (Joshi, 2035 V.S.: 127-33). The tradition of “Masto worship” sounds a specific indigenous practice of Nepali Khas (Pokharel, 2055 V.S.: 644).
Although, a large number of the Khas of Khasan region have been influenced by Hinduism, they have not converted to Hinduism. Therefore, they worship the popular village God – the Masto and they do not believe in the story of heaven and hell. The other Khas, who have been influenced by the Hindu Aryabatiyan Khas, have adopted these “Mastos” as their local Gods. This is the continuation of their act of sponsoring Gautam Buddha as one of the incarnation of their own God Vishnu. Therefore, the religious beliefs of the Khas of Khasan region needs further study. Probably they practice animism (worship of inanimate objects and natural phenomenon) and shamanism (the use of shamans or priests to influence these gods of nature). The study will not only establish facts about the beliefs of the people, but also will help to enrich the understanding on the values and cultural specialties of this region.
The culture of the Khas, except in Khasan region, is highly influenced by Hinduism. In Khas region, the ancient Aide Khas practices are common.
Daura-Surwal (waist-folded, long sleeve shirt and tight trousers) is the dress of the Khas men, whereas women wear Sari-Cholo (mainly colorful, long, unstitched garment covering the lower part of the body and full sleeve blouse). Combination of Daura-suruwal and jacket has been given the status of a national dress for men. But, as it is not comfortable to wear, more particularly in the hot climate of the southern plains, now it has got just refugee by covering the bodies of the ministers, bureaucrats and the other infamous personalities. Indeed, the progressive Khas who know to wear cloth for comfort and style have adopted the shirt and trouser. Mostly, women wear Sari-Cholo, but the recent trend is that they have been moving to Kurta-Salwar (ladies’ shirt and trousers). A few educated women in the urban areas wear the western dresses too.
A large majority of the Khas depend on agriculture for their means of survival. The Khas have much larger access to and control over government and nongovernmental jobs. They have been in areas of industry, commerce and service sectors. The people of Bahun custom group are self-employed as priests all over Nepal and the Chhetri custom group has a large presence in the army, including its access to British and Indian army. Although, the Khas have access to opportunity and control over resources, there are a large number of poor and marginalized people among them. Mainly, the Khas people who reside in the Khasan region are in such situation of misery. The low income and marginalized Khas people in this region are subjected to political and economic exploitations primarily by their Thakuri cousins. The difficulties due to the geo-physical composition of the Khasan region have added to the misery of the low income Khas people.
According to Hindu caste hierarchy, the Khas are at the highest level of social order. But the Khas nationality is sitting over a volcano as it has imposed its superior status and has totalitarian control over the governance which has earned enemies in the form of all other oppressed nationalities and its own progressive section. If the Khas will not change the attitude and do not accept the path of partnership with other nationalities, they may have to see the dark days.
The Khas philosophy regarding life, death and larger world is primarily influenced by Hinduism. The Hindu system of social order, geo-physical compositions of their habitat and inter-nationality effects have contributed to the Khas outlook. Although, the Khas culture originated in the Khasan region in the Karnali belt had a strong influence of native faiths, after the contact with their Aryabartiya cousins, the Hindu beliefs and values started to dominate their cultural lives. Therefore, among the ancient Aide Khas, some adopted Hinduism and some got just influence of it. Hence, the everyday life and thinking of Hindu Khas has been highly influenced by the Hindu belief of fatalism. The rituals, custom, practice and festivals have been influenced by fatalistic beliefs. Hence, may it be the occasion of celebration or victory or defeat, a fatalistic Khas sings glory of his or her master – the God, who has all the power, joys and compassion. In this way, a conservative Khas prays the God and gets refuge in fatalism.
c. Dalit:
According to the Hindu code called Manushmriti (8/415), seven types of people have been put together as Sudras, the lowest level in the social order. They are:
1. Prisoners of war,
2. Slaves who have accepted slavery as means of survival,
3. Sons of a slave women servant,
4. Purchased individuals,
5. Individuals received as part of a religious gift,
6. Children of a slave father, and
7. Those who are declared as Sudras as a punishment by the king.
(Yakharai, 2053 V.S.: 124).
The so-called lower caste among Aryas and the defeated non-Aryans were called Sudras. They had been put in two categories – touchable and untouchable. The touchable Sudras were called Satsudra and untouchables were called Asatsudra. Satsudras included the custom groups such as Rais, Limbus, Gurungs, Magars, Tamangs, Tharus etc and the Asatsudras or the so-called untouchables include Kami, Damai. Sarki, Pode, Chyame, Kasai, Gaine, Badi, Musahar etc.
The dalit nationality is, in essence, the group of people clustered as untouchables. According to Baburam Acharya the Aryans use to bring in their fold to the defeated Kirats as untouchables in the beginning (Acharya, 2054 V.S.: 14). This statement leads to the conclusion that the Dalits are not only the descendents of the Khas-Aryans but also they have Mangolkirat blood too. The custom groups who have been suffering from the inhuman practice of untouchability based on Hindu caste hierarchy called Varnasharam include Kami, Damai, Sarki, Badi, Gaine, Pode, Chyame, Chamar, Musahar, Dushad etc. They are also called as “Pahani“. Among the Pahanis, there are several occupational sub groups such as Sujero (tailors), Gaine (Musicians and singers), Badhi (dancers), Damai (tailors) and Sarki (Shoemakers) (Pokharel, 2055 V.S.: 656). The Pahanis are the untouchables descended from the Khas whereas some of the other groups such as Chyame and Pode belong to Newar nationality and Chamar, Musahar and Dusadh are the people of Madhesi nationality. Therefore, in this study the so-called untouchables of Khas descend are analyzed separately as Dalits and the other so-called untouchables are included in the respective sections of their nationalities. The so-called untouchables have been deprived of all sorts of respect from the larger society.
The reasons behind the study of the evolution of Dalits as a distinct nationality are as given below:
- Their numerical presence
- Special social position and the psycho make up, and
- Their history of common struggle.
Indeed, the common basis for the formation of the Dalit nationality includes the Khas-Hindu atrocities against their survival, development and choices as an individual, family and a community. The Khas crushed every desire of their independent social existence. Therefore, they had no choice other than to fight against all sorts of Khas cruelties. In this way, the common bond developed through the participation in the process, and they developed as a distinct nationality. The Dalits are 8.7% of the population of Nepal.
The mother tongue of Dalits also is Nepali. It is astonishing that on one side the Nepali speaking Khas control the resources and govern the society whereas the same language speaking Dalits have been facing all sort of difficulties, miseries and atrocities. The fact revels that though the language plays an important role in the progress of a nationality, but that alone could not ensure progress. Bahunbad[1], the cruelest form of the ideology of Hindu social order, has influenced the Dalits too, to create feelings of social inequality even among themselves. This type of divisions created distance for a long time and the Khas-Hindus had the opportunity to rule over them even more inhumanly. As a result, it took long time for them to get organized and to fight collectively against the Khas-Hindu slavery.
The Dalits who are kept extremely busy and have been given no choices, could not make their cultural life rich. Therefore, they do not have any festivals, joyful days or cultural riches. The provisions made by the Hindu-Khas prevented them even to touch the water pots, compelled them to develop distinctly inferior psycho-state and limited their social roles to the desires of their upper class Hindu masters. Of course, they are rich in cultural skills, but are in a position just to utilize their skills on the need of the Khas masters. They perform to satisfy the need of Khas by dancing, singing or staging the dramas.
The Dalits differ with the Khas in the area of food habits. The Khas refrain from eating beef or drinking alcohol, whereas the Dalits enjoy such drinks and delicacies. The Dalits make artistic metal wares, agricultural implements, leather goods, and they also design and stitch dresses. They compose music and perform dances. But, unfortunately they make all such wonderful things and offer entertainment items for others, more particularly the Hindu-Khas masters.
Although, the dresses the Dalits wear are similar to what the Khas wear, but the quality of cloth is greatly inferior. Now-a-days, the educated Dalits, more particularly in the towns, wear western dresses.
The Khas say that Dalits are the Hindu untouchables. They keep them at the bottom of the religious hierarchy and prohibit observing any of the Hindu rituals. The great need here is to conduct a research to determine how the Dalits feel about being Hindu slaves. By judging through an independent viewpoint it is hard to believe that the Dalits think themselves as Hindu untouchables as Hinduism has not offered anything for them other than disrespect, inhuman torture, unimaginable difficulties and a way of self-destruction. Of course, Hinduism has closed the door of self-esteem, progress and equality for the Dalits. Therefore, until the Hindu-Khas conservatives do not appoint a Dalit as the high priest of Pashupatinath (a highly revered Hindu temple in Kathmandu), nobody believes the propaganda of the Bahuns that Dalits are the Hindus. Collectively as a nationality, Dalits are secular. Further study on this issue could help to understand new aspects of their secular values and belief systems.
As their origin has been related to specific occupation, they are very much skilled in specific skills. Every custom group has its specific area of specialization. The people of some custom group design and stitch cloths some make shoes, some perform dances and some of them are composers and singers. This has not been continuing as that is their choice but as the Bahuns created compulsions for them to continue the specific task and on the long run this became a hereditary occupation. Due to difficulties to meet their survival needs by just confining in their traditional areas of specialization, they have started to work as agriculture laborers. Also, a few of them have just entered in the government and nongovernmental jobs.
The Hindu caste system has been a curse for them and their whole life has just been under the control of high caste Hindu-Khas. The Hindu-Khas legal system, which was part and parcel of the state legal system till 1960, had provisioned strict punishments for them if they dared to disobey the Khas or if they commit even minor crimes. They had to face more severe punishment for the same crime than a Khas. For centuries, they had to live for the Khas, according to the desire of the Khas and by doing the job asked by the Khas. That was their destiny. Also today, strange type of discriminations against them exists. For example, in Chainpur, the district headquarters of Bajahng, a major annual festival cum market activity used to take place for 15 days regularly. The place is very close to Chainpur Bazaar. During the days of the festival cum annual market, no Dalit is allowed to walk on the foot trail keeping the market place in lower height. The Khas believe that if they will walk through a higher altitude, the food items in the market could be impure. So, the Dalits could not walk on the regular trail as it is on higher altitude. Therefore, they have to take a longer and difficult pathway along the bank of a river. This was still in practice in 1998 AD. This strange practice reveals the atrocities the Dalits have been suffering. The interventionist and destructive Khas attitude and behaviors have made the survival of the Dalits very difficult even at this modern age. The Dalits themselves also have become accustomed to accepting inferior treatment as they are in such environment for centuries. Therefore, they have to fight against, both, their inferior thinking and Khas atrocities. They have to wage struggle against the Hindu-Khas bondage, more particularly the most conservative aspect of Hinduism in Nepal – the Bahunbad (the Varnasram as prescribed in Manushmriti, and inhuman provisions added by the Bahuns). They have to destruct the unjust social order created by the Bahuns to benefit themselves and their other Hindu-Khas cousins.
d. Newar
Although, Lichchhivis defeated the Kirat tribal republic of Kathmandu, but they were a tiny minority and were not able to dominate the indigenous Nepar-Kirat (or Newar) culture. So, they adopted several Nepar-Kirat cultural practices and their language and become some type of semi-Kirats. In this way, assimilation of Aryan and Kirat culture provided the foundation of a new Newar nationality. The second invasion from the south, this time by the Vaisya Thakuris, defeated the Lichchhivis and prohibited them to get employment on government services. The Lichchhivis, who had adopted Buddhism long ago, were skillful in several life skills and commercial activities and had established control in such areas. Therefore, the Lichchhivies who were overthrown by the Thakuris had to go for agricultural activities. It is highly probable that the Jyapus of Kathmandu are the descendants of these Lichchhivis. Till today, the Jyapus who are Newars and have agriculture as their major occupation (Acharya, 2054 V.S.: 26-71). The term “Newa” or “Newar” has been used since 15th century. Although, there is no unanimity regarding the origin of the term “Newar”, it is certain that the nationality was the result of the process of assimilation of several centuries of different tribes (Nepali, 1965: 18, 34). Hamilton also has stated the presence of several custom groups within Newars and has written on their culture. He has appreciated the Newar architecture, more particularly the wood carvings of the windows (Hamilton, 1819: 38). The Newars are 5.57% of the population of Nepal.
The Newars speak their own language. Although, they have the script called Ranjana, but that is not in use. King Jayasthiti Malla (1382-1395) introduced the Hindu caste system among Newars and created several social layers.[2] In the caste hierarchy, the priests (Joshi, Bajracharya etc) got the highest level followed by people of several trading groups. The third level was given to the Jyapus and at the bottom the people involved in cleaning services and butchery were placed and were considered as untouchables. These so-called untouchable custom groups include Pode, Kasai and Chyame.
The Newars are rich in their culture. They have festivals to celebrate spread all over the year. Some Newars are Buddhists and some are Hindus. Generally, they live in the cities, towns or rural centers. Their dresses are similar to that of Khas and more recently the trend of wearing western dresses has gained momentum. The traditional community organizations called “Guthis” and art work play important roles in the lives of the Newars. The architectural riches of Kathmandu seen in the temple-buildings and palaces and artistic idols and cultural expressions seen in the art works are some of the fine examples. The Newars are at the front in creation arts and production of handicrafts.
Although, a large majority of Newars are involved in agriculture, they have strong presence in the civil service and nongovernmental jobs. They also occupy primary space in commercial and industrial sectors. The non-agricultural sectors of Nepalese economy have been controlled by the Newars and Marwaris (a Madhesi migrant custom group). They not only run relatively larger industrial or commercial enterprises, they own thousands of small stores all over Nepal.
The Hindu caste hierarchy has not only created social divisions among Newars, it has influenced the psychology of the people. Baburam Acharya says that they have so many steps of this system that could be compared with the steps of a stair (Acharya, 2054 V.S.: 78). Although, the Lichchhivis have brought the caste system with them during the third century, that was not effective among Newars. Jayasthi Malla implemented the notorious system for which the Hindu-Khas historians, the advocates of Bahunbad, say that he was a “great reformer”. Of course, Jayasthi Malla’s division of castes was a heinous crime against humanity. As a result of this criminal division, several custom groups among Newars, more particularly the so-called untouchables are suffering immensely. The social status of the Newars (excluding the so-called untouchables) as per Hindu-Khas traditional interpretation is equal to that of the Mangolkirats.
Generally, the Newars are peace-loving and hard working people. They like joyful life. Hundreds of Jatras and feasts are the expressions of it. If the war against the Gorkha-Khas has been considered as exception, they have sacrificed several things to preserve peace and tranquility. Entrepreneurship is one of the most important qualities which has played important role in determining the economic life of Newars. The economic behaviors of the Khas and the Newar could be compared with the two large powers of global economy – USA and Japan. USA includes hooliganism and hegemonism to protect and expand its economic interests whereas Japan has emphasized to strengthen its competitiveness. The Japanese style is best known for bowing politely and safeguarding their interest in a unique way. The similarity between Japanese and Newars might have been traced in their similar history of defeats. The Japanese were defeated in the Second World War and the Newars had the similar experience when they had to swallow the defeat on the hands of Gorkha-Khas. The Newar tendency of preserving peace is most of the time misinterpreted by the Khas, who use to spread rumors that Newars are cowards.
e. Madhesi
No authentic and detail study is available regarding the historical background of the southern plains. One of the reasons for neglecting the history of the entire Madhesi region or the southern plains could be that most of the area was covered with thick forests for centuries. In exception, a few mentions could be found about Janakpur, Kichakdesh, Kapilvastu and Bijji or Simaraungadh in the pre-historical epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata. During early historical days, there are no major historical events documented. During 6th century BC, Buddhism originated at the southern plains, more particularly at Kapilavastu. The Shakya price Siddartha, known as Gautam Buddha, propagated new religious faiths, which was called afterward as Buddhism. The Hindu-Arya-Bahuns confronted against and defeated Buddhism in the southern plains and gave the area a new name called Madhyadesh, which covered the land from Ambala in the west and Prayag in the east. The word “Madhyadesh” became “Madhesh” after distortion of centuries. The hill people of Nepal also started to call the area covering the plains of Nepal, Bihar and Avadh as Madhesh. But, presently the word “Madhesh” has a limited use which just refers to the southern plains of Nepal (Acharya, 2054 V.S.: 8). Inhabitants of this region started to be called as “Madhesi”. Gopal Sing Nepali has called them as Madhesi cultural group (Nepali, 1995: 36).
The foundation in the formation of the nationality include the common bond originated from the economic as well as social difficulties originated due to the new immigrants from the hills and northern India and the unfair treatment of the Khas state which considered the Madhesis as second class citizens. The Madhesis had been subjected to several atrocities which include the serious doubt expressed by the Khas regarding their loyalty towards Nepal and their patriotism itself. The Mangolkirats and the Newars also treated the Madhesis unfairly under the influence of Khas practices. Such unfair behaviors from the Mangolkirats and the Newars helped Khas to divide and rule.
The Madhesi nationality has a diverse descend. They include the Tharu, Dhimal, Koche of Kirat origin, Jhagads of Dravin origin, Yadav, Kushwaha, etc of Aryan origin and Muslims of Arya-kirat mixed origin. The Madhesis are 30.9% of the population of Nepal.
Similar to Mangolkirats, the Madhesis also have different linguistic groups and native groups. Their major languages include Tharu, Maithili, Bhojpuri and Avadhi. The other languages are Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Marwari etc. The custom groups include Yadav or Ahir, Kayastha, Kumhar, Baniya, Dhobi, Sudhi or Kalwar, Kurmi, Brahman (Madhesi), Rajput, Tharu, Teli, Kuahmar, Muslim, Halwai, Mallah, Rajbanshi, Dhimal, Gangai, Marwari, Bangali, Dhanuk, Sikh, Dushadh, Chamar, Khatwe, Musahar, Kewat, Rajbhar and Kanu. There are some very small groups also, such as Meche, Kishan, Satar, Jhangad, Tajpuria etc. The Central Bureau of Statistics has grouped these smaller groups together as “the other Terai groups”. Here, some people may raise the question of grouping Tharus and Dhimals as Madhesis as their origin was Kirat. In the beginning, the Aryans included the defeated Kirats in their community as slaves and made them untouchable Sudras. But, in the later stage, they included them without making them slaves and untouchables. Tharus were one among such groups. On the long run, the Tharus started to speak the language of the Arays, forgot their own cultural practices and adopted Aryan life-styles (Acharya, 2054 V.S.: 14). The Aryans mentioned here were the Bijjis or the ancestors of several other people of Madhesi custom groups. The same is true for the Dhimals.
The Madhesi nationality has several cultural traits and social divisions.[3] Some of these differences are related to the different religions, cultural practices and languages to a specific community of the other side of the boarder.
The main Madhesi festivals include Maghi among Tharus; Chhath, Holi and Diwali among Hindus Eid among Muslims. By religion, they are either Hindus or Jain or Muslim or nature-God worshippers (Animism and Shamanism). There are a small number of Sikhs too. Madhesis are rich in culture. Their cultural basket is full of folk dances. A large menu of folk dances among Hindus related to pleasing different Gods or Goddesses exists. Among them the prominent once include Jijhiya (to making Goddess Bhavani happy), Sama-Chakwa (performed during Chhath festival to please Sun God), Kirtaniya (in praise of Lord Krishna), Bhagata (in praise of Kali or Sokha Goddess) and Nachari (in praise of God Shiva). There are some other dances performed as occupation to make their livelihood or performed just as folk dance without any religious aim. These dances include Kaharwa (among Hindus performed for livelihood), Mungrahaha (Tharu folk dance), Sakhiya (performed by girls), Jhumar (performed by women) and Phugwa or Hori (during Holi festival) (Rakesh, 1994).
Dhoti (long, unstitched garment which covers the lower part of the body) or Kachhad (short unstitched garment which covers from waist to knee) together with shirt is the Madhesi dress for men. The educated men wear western dresses also. Blouse and Sari is the women’s dress. The Muslim women, occasionally, cover themselves with veil. Now-a-days, the women can be seen wearing Kurta-Salwar and a few have started to wear western dresses.
Agriculture is the main occupation of a large majority of people and a small but influential group (Marwaris) has a strong presence in the industrial and commercial sectors. More recently, the Madhesi people also have started to occupy positions in civil service and non-government sectors.
The Madhesi Hindu society has been divided into several social layers as prescribed in the Hindu code – the infamous Manushmriti. Social evils such as upper-lower caste, touchable-untouchable, pure-impure and many more have compounded the life of people. Traditionally, the Hindu society puts Dhobi, Teli, Sudhi or Kalwar, Chamar, Khatwe, Musahar in the groups of untouchables. But, Tharu, Dhimal and Muslim communities have no such divisions.
The over all outlook of the Madhesis has been guided by their religious beliefs. The Hindus are rained by the beliefs originated from Hindu orthodoxy. Their philosophy of live is determined by fatalism. They have a dependant mindset. The difference between Khas and Madhesis regarding the impact is observed in their superior and inferior psycho-state. The Khas with state power believe that they are there to rule and that is their fate, whereas the Madhesis too accept the Khas servitude as their fate. This type of psycho-state can be seen among the non-Hindus too. This could happen as an affinity syndrome. Perhaps, the state power plays a major role to govern the state of mind.
3. A Note on “Other Groups” and Religion
The above classification covers 98.9% of the population. Still, there is 1.1% population left out. In this 1.1%, there are a few small groups. They include Dolpo, Lhapa, Siyar, Barhagaule, Holung, Tangve, Marphali, Chitan, Chhairotan, Lhomi, Larke, Mugali, Manange, Thudum, Tapkegola, Thimtan, Syangtan, Byashi, Dura, Chhantyal, Pahari, Kusunda, Baramo, Kushbadiya, Hayu, Hyolmo, Bhujel, Surel, Fri, Bankariya (Mabuhang, 2056 V.S.: 95), Churaute etc. Their nationality has to be decided and for this purpose a separate study is to be carried out. But, the classification above and the analysis which will follow will have no effect by this study as their percentage is too small.
In the above analysis, religion has been discussed in relation with every nationality and custom groups. This scenario may lead to a false conclusion that everybody in Nepal practices one or the other religion and there are no religiously neutral or secular minded people or atheists. Such conclusion does not reflect the reality as day by day the number of secular minded or religiously neutral people is increasing. universal humanity and total respect for human dignity are replacing the traditionally prescribed sectarian, unscientific and socially immoral systems established by organized religions.
The panorama presented by the presence of different nationalities in Nepal is the very foundation on which the wonderful society stands. Hence, the society has a unique feature of unity in diversity. Indeed, Nepalese society is the whole sum of the cultural values, viewpoints, life styles, social interactions, belief systems, languages and economic behaviors of all nationalities. Therefore, the introduction and identity of a Nepalese society could be seen in the colorful amalgamation and convergence of cultures and not in a single set of values and social practices.
Chapter Three
Access to Power and Opportunities and the Gaps
After the analysis of the composition and presence of different nationalities, it is natural to examine their role as leaders of the state and the society. The role of leadership, more particularly in the governance of the state, influences the quality, dynamism and orientation in each and every level. The leadership is the small but most important mirror where each class, nationality or community wants see its reflection. If his or her image is not there, naturally, he or she raises questions. For instance, a case of the composition of a party could be presented. Before the people’s movement of 1990, the organizational structure and the occupiers of higher level positions were kept secret by one of the influential political party of today. One fine night, one important cadre of that party got opportunity to see the galaxy of the leaders as the central committee meeting was called in the area of his responsibility. The fortunate cadre was of a non-Khas nationality. He was astonished seeing nearly all Khas (more particularly Bahuns) faces. The party, which was publicly declaring as a champion of equality, the leadership composition did not reflect it at all. Therefore, that particular cadre raised the issue of Khas (particularly Bahun) domination in the party. The leadership could not tolerate and he was summarily dismissed from all positions of the party. Now, that particular cadre is playing an influential role in the movement launched for equality for all nationalities. The example here amply proves that any nationality looks at the leadership and tries to see its image there. If it is absent ask questions, if it has a weak presence takes the path of research to find out the reasons. Therefore, in this process, anybody can take the responsibility to find out the facts, evidences and reasons and can help to resolve the inequalities. This is not only a need but an obligation for them who claim as advocates of social equality. These undertakings will help to unearth the problems and the causes and help to build foundation for resolving them. With this aim, a study has been carried out to know factually what the governance scenario in regard to nationality presence in the leadership is there in Nepal.
The analysis covers the important areas such as judiciary, legislature and local government bodies, central cabinet, civil service, political parties, private sector organizations, education and cultural sector, civil society, women’s leadership etc.
Primarily, the study focuses on the top layer of leadership positions and the nationality of the occupiers of such positions. Also, some positions of middle and grassroots level have been included in the study with the purpose of cross verification of the composition at top level. The examples include the study of the officials of judiciary other than that judges, local government bodies and nongovernmental organizations. For a few occupiers of the positions, whose nationality could not be established by surname, direct verification or other reliable sources are kept out of the study and their number is mentioned in the notes.
1 Judiciary
Judges and officials of judicial administration, constitutional bodies and commissions:
The judiciary has a long history in Nepal. It goes back to the ancient times (around 7th century B.C) during Kirat tribal republics.[4] Judiciary as one of the most important organ of governance which has so long history in Nepal not only reflects the presence of several social groups in its top positions but also influences the cultural practices of the society through the judgments it delivers. Therefore, the composition of Judiciary represents directly or indirectly the values, belief systems, cultural traits and perspectives of particular nationalities too. The judges occupy prime space among them. The statistical presentations below speak about the nationality composition of the judiciary, constitutional bodies and commissions.
| Table -1 Analysis of the nationalities of the Judges |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Courts |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| Supreme court |
16 |
|
|
|
2 |
|
18 |
| Appellate court |
74 |
2 |
16 |
|
15 |
|
107 |
| District court |
91 |
2 |
2 |
|
15 |
|
110 |
| Total |
181 |
4 |
18 |
|
32 |
|
235 |
| Percentage |
75.7 |
1.7 |
7.6 |
|
13.6 |
|
100 |
| population percentage |
31.6 |
22.3 |
30.9 |
8.6 |
5.6 |
1.1 |
100 |
| Supreme court (1959) |
8 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
10 |
| Percentage (1959) |
80 |
|
10 |
|
10 |
|
100 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Note: 1 Two judges of the district courts have not been included due to inability to determine their nationality. |
Source: Analysis of nationalities of the Judges mentioned in SC, (2053 V.S.), SC (2054 V.S.), SC (2055 V.S.) Kanun Patrka, (2015 V.S.).
| Table – 2 Nationality of officers of judicial services who were posted through a gazette |
|
| order of 20 Paush 2055 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Particulars |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| Number |
260 |
|
6 |
|
7 |
|
273 |
| Percentage |
92.5 |
|
2.2 |
|
2.6 |
|
100 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Note: Eight officers have not been included in the study due to inability to determine their nationality. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Source: Nepal Gazette, 2055 V.S. (Ka) |
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|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Table – 3, Nationality of officers who were assigned in the duty of returning officer during 1999 GeneralElection |
| Particulars |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| Number |
180 |
2 |
8 |
|
9 |
|
199 |
| Percentage |
87.8 |
1 |
4 |
|
4.4 |
|
100 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Note: Six officers have not been included in the study due to inability to determine their nationality. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Source: Nepal Gazette, 2055 V.S. (Kha) |
|
|
|
|
|
The above statistics present a clear picture of Khas rule in the judiciary of Nepal. No Dalit occupy any positions and the Mangolkirats have a nominal presence. Even the presence of Madhesis is like that of a malnourished child. Newar hold more positions in relation to their presence in the total population, but their number is like that of a dwarf comparing the numbers the Khas hold. The inequality in judiciary is striking. This inequality has been reflected in the limitation of the understanding of non-Khas culture, values, beliefs and custom among the judges and their nationality neutral judgments. The insensitivity of these “super human” called judges who enjoy immunity from public criticism may create more alienation of the nationalities they give verdict against. The verdict of the supreme court in relation to prohibit the use of languages of nationalities in the local government bodies is one notorious example of the insensitivity of these Khas judges. In the countries like Nepal where professional morality and loyalty to the cause of justice are in their infancy, the immunity enjoyed by the judges protects them from all sorts of misdeeds including materializing their personal interests and maintaining status quo. The immoral work ethics, practices and insensitive verdicts in Nepal further support this conclusion. In such context, the Khas monopoly in the judiciary has to be brought to end. The reforms may not be enough to break the centuries old system, and this may call for a movement for transformation. The Khas with all their repressive design, reactionary efforts and misuse of state power may delay the process, but they will not succeed to prevent the radical change.
| Table – 4 Nationality of the chief of constitutional bodies and commissioners of the commissions |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Organization |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| Public Service Commission |
3 |
1 |
1 |
|
1 |
|
6 |
| Election Commission |
3 |
|
1 |
|
2 |
|
6 |
| Abuse of Auht Prev Comm |
3 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
5 |
| Planning Commission |
3 |
|
1 |
|
2 |
|
6 |
| Attorney General |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
| Auditor General |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
| Total |
14 |
2 |
3 |
|
6 |
|
25 |
| Percentage |
56 |
8 |
12 |
|
24 |
|
100 |
| Population |
31.6 |
22.3 |
30.9 |
|
5.6 |
|
100 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Analysis of nationalities of the officials mentioned in NIMD, 1999. |
|
|
|
The commissions and the constitutional bodies mentioned above play vital role in areas of transparency in governance and insuring equal opportunity for all citizens. In composition of these organizations, once again, is highly dominated by the Khas, which makes equal opportunity a hollow slogan in Nepal. The Dalits, as usual, are absent and a few Magolkirats and Madhesis show up as cosmetics. Once again, the Newars occupy too many positions.
2. Executive
The council of ministers, civil service and royal palace bureaucracy, army and police administration
Indeed, the developing countries are primarily governed by the executive branch of the state power. The policies and programs of the government and its implementation heavily influence social justice. The partnership among nationalities in this important state mechanism helps to insure equality and social harmony in the society.
Table – 5, Nationality analysis of the members of the Council of Ministers
| level |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| Ministers |
13 |
|
3 |
|
3 |
|
19 |
| Minister of State |
5 |
1 |
2 |
|
|
|
8 |
| Assistant ministers |
2 |
3 |
|
|
|
|
5 |
| Total |
20 |
4 |
5 |
|
3 |
|
32 |
| Percentage |
62.5 |
12.5 |
15.6 |
|
9.4 |
|
100 |
| First elected govt 1959 |
10 |
5 |
3 |
|
1 |
|
19 |
| Percentage |
52.6 |
26.3 |
15.8 |
|
5.3 |
|
100 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Source: Gupta, 1964: 275; The Kathmandu Post Daily, July 01, 1999, Kathmandu. |
|
| Table – 6 Nationality of higher echelon of civil service, royal palace service, Police and army |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Description |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| Civil service (secretaries) |
29 |
|
3 |
|
7 |
|
39 |
| Royal P service (Sec. Joit |
20 |
|
|
|
8 |
|
28 |
| Civil service ( joit sec sp .Sec |
69 |
1 |
3 |
|
21 |
|
94 |
| Army (Maj Gen and Above |
7 |
|
|
|
|
|
7 |
| Police (IG/AIG) |
3 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
5 |
| Chief Dist Officers |
62 |
1 |
3 |
|
6 |
|
72 |
| Total |
190 |
3 |
9 |
|
43 |
|
245 |
| Percentage |
77.5 |
1.2 |
3.7 |
|
17.6 |
|
100 |
| Secretaries (1959) |
7 |
|
1 |
|
3 |
|
11 |
| Dist. Officers (Badahakim) |
21 |
7 |
2 |
|
2 |
|
32 |
| Total |
28 |
7 |
|
|
5 |
|
43 |
| Percentage |
65.1 |
16.3 |
6.9 |
|
11.6 |
|
100 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Source: Analysis of nationalities of the officials mentioned in Devkota, 2033 V.S.: 239, 274; NIMD, 1999. |
Note: Three officials of royal palace service and three Chief District Officers have been excluded due to difficulty in determining their nationality.
The executive branch of the state power revels, once again, the domination of the Khas. The council of ministers was more balanced in 1959 in comparison to 1999. The same is true for other administrative positions except for the Newars. This comparison expresses the negligence of social justice during the period covering the last four decades. The leadership of the police and army is also no different. The Mangolkirats are renowned for their fighting ability and are considered as martial race. The strange reality is that only a Mangolkirat officer is there among the 12. This fact just reinforces the common belief that in Nepal to be on the top ability, bravery and intelligence are not enough and they could be very much neglected if someone has no Khas origin. For a long time, Madhesis, Dalits and Newars were barred from the recruitment in the army. According to Eden Vansittart, who wrote “Notes on Nepal” in 1895, at that time all army officers above the rank of Lieutenant were only Khas (Vansittart, 1993: 68). There is the continuation of the same practice with some exceptions. Another striking feature is that the royal palace service is full of Khas and Newars. Khas and Newars together form 37.2 % of the population whereas 92.2% positions in the royal palace service they have occupied.
3. Legislature:
Legislature is such type of institutional mechanism which shapes the future of a country and also reflects the will of the people. Therefore, this branch of state power occupies important place. The social, nationality and class backgrounds of the representatives make differences and influence the consequences seriously. In this context, the statistical picture of the composition of the legislature makes sense to study.
| Table – 7 Nationality analysis of the members of parliament |
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|
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| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Chamber |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| National Assembly (1999) |
35 |
6 |
7 |
4 |
8 |
|
60 |
| House of Representative (1999) |
124 |
30 |
39 |
|
12 |
|
205 |
| Total |
159 |
36 |
46 |
4 |
20 |
|
265 |
| Percentage |
60 |
13.6 |
17.4 |
1.5 |
7.5 |
|
100 |
| National Assembly (1959) |
23 |
4 |
3 |
|
6 |
|
36 |
| House of Representative (1959) |
64 |
17 |
24 |
|
4 |
|
109 |
| Total |
87 |
21 |
27 |
|
10 |
|
145 |
| Percentage |
60 |
14.5 |
18.6 |
|
6.9 |
|
100 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Source: Analysis of nationalities of the members mentioned in Devkota, 2033 V.S.: 79-111 & 200-202; Khanal, 2055 V.S.: 45-95; NTC, 2056 V.S. and NIMD 1999. |
The picture at local level may avail the opportunity for verifying the above scenario.
| Table – 8 Chairmen of District Development Committees and Mayor and Deputy Mayors of Municipalities |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Level |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| DDC Chairman |
50 |
13 |
7 |
|
5 |
|
75 |
| Mayor/Deputy Mayor |
57 |
23 |
31 |
|
30 |
|
116 |
| Total |
106 |
23 |
31 |
|
30 |
|
191 |
| Percentage |
55.4 |
12 |
16.2 |
|
15.7 |
|
100 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Source: Analysis of nationalities of the officials mentioned in NIMD, 1999. |
|
|
The Khas presence in the parliament is 60%, which was in 1959 too. This fact reflects the continuation of Khas domination in legislature. Khas and Newars control large number of local bodies. The Khas domination has influenced the social sector priorities and played role in persevering their privileges. The news broadcast in Sanskrit language and the signature campaign in the parliament in favor of Sanskrit has reveled the same fact. That role was further reflected in the proposal of intent submitted in the parliament to prohibit drinking liquor in the country. Both, these attempts amply reveal the Khas-Bahun attempt to make Nepal a heaven for Khas at the cost of all other nationalities.
4. Political Parties
| Table – 9, Nationality analysis of the central committee members of national parties |
|
| Parties |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| Nepali Congress |
22 |
3 |
4 |
|
2 |
|
31 |
| CPN (UML) |
28 |
1 |
1 |
|
2 |
|
32 |
| CPN (ML) |
18 |
5 |
4 |
|
9 |
|
36 |
| RPP – Thapa |
15 |
8 |
9 |
|
2 |
|
34 |
| RPP – Chand |
14 |
8 |
7 |
|
3 |
|
32 |
| Total |
97 |
25 |
26 |
|
18 |
|
165 |
| Percentage |
58.8 |
15.1 |
15.7 |
|
10.9 |
|
100 |
| Population |
31.6 |
22.3 |
30.9 |
8.6 |
5.6 |
1.1 |
100 |
| Leadership of major parties (1959) |
50 |
11 |
7 |
|
11 |
|
79 |
| Percentage |
63.2 |
13.9 |
8.8 |
|
13.9 |
|
100 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Source: Analysis of nationalities of the officials mentioned in NIMD, 1999.; Gupta, 1964: 285-287 |
The table above reaffirms the general belief that every aspect of Nepalese political power is under the control of Khas. All parties have a heavy load of Khas. Among them the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) appears as an extra-ordinary Khas (88%) party followed by Nepali Congress (71%) and the Communist Party of Nepal (ML) as third (50%). The twin pro-palace rightist parties – Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Thapa) and (Chand) both have 44% Khas among their central members. It is interesting to note that the Communist Party of Nepal (ML) has 25% members from Newar nationality. Compared to their strength in the population (5.6%), it is astonishing. The other factor which makes situation crystal clear of the Khas-rule in the political area is expressed through the bitter fact that Khas are the defacto head of all national parties. Only the Communist Party of Nepal (ML) has a Newar lady as its chairwoman, but this position has no real teeth to chew the nuts as all the executive powers are exercised by the General Secretary. The Dalits are nowhere in the picture and Mangolkirats have a limited presence. If critically examined, their position sounds a bit better only because of their number in the twin Rastriya Prajatantra Parties, which is less influential anyway. The Madhesi nationality is in a bit better situation as they have their own national party (Nepal Sadbhawana Party) too. Khas and Newar together have grabbed double of the positions, they could have reasonably.
5. Private Sector
Commerce and Industry
| Table – 10 Nationality analyses of the officials at organizational leadership positions in Commerce and Industry. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Organizations |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| Nepal Chambers of Commerce |
4 |
|
11 |
|
11 |
|
25 |
| Federation of Commerce and Industry |
4 |
|
4 |
|
9 |
|
17 |
| Total |
8 |
|
15 |
|
20 |
|
42 |
| Percentage |
16.7 |
|
35.7 |
|
47.6 |
|
100 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Source: Analysis of nationalities of the officials mentioned in NIMD, 1999.;FCIN, 2056 |
|
Note: Three officials of Nepal Chambers of Commerce have been excluded due to difficulty in determining their nationality. All 11 Chamber members and 4 Federation members of Madhesi nationality are from Marwari custom group. The total Marwari population is 25265 (just 0.14% of the total population).
The Nepalese economy, more particularly non-agricultural sectors, is controlled by the Newars and Marwaris (a small immigrant group, one among the Madhesi custom groups). This is the only area where Khas have no effective control. But this does not ensure justice as the second most powerful nationality the Newars (5.6% of the population) hold a large number seats in the leadership (47.6%). The Dalits, Mangolkirats and non-Marwari Madhesis are absent.
6. Education, Culture, Science and Technology
| Table 11, Education Sector, Nationality analysis of the officials at leadership positions of academic |
| and administrative wings of Tribhuvan University |
|
|
|
|
|
| Positions |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| Vice-chancellor |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
| Academic Leadership – Deans |
4 |
|
1 |
|
4 |
|
9 |
| Research Centers – Executive Directors |
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
5 |
| Higher Administrative positions |
15 |
2 |
|
|
7 |
|
24 |
| Professors |
87 |
|
23 |
|
59 |
|
169 |
| Total |
112 |
2 |
24 |
|
70 |
|
208 |
| Percentage |
53.8 |
1 |
11.5 |
|
33.7 |
|
100 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Source: Analysis of nationalities of the officials mentioned in NIMD, 1999. |
|
|
Note: Two professors are excluded due to difficulty in determining their nationality.
The Khas domination is reflected in this area also. Again, the Newars occupy large space (33.7%). Although a Sanskrit university in Dang in western Nepal[5] has not been included in the study, still the Khas enjoy a privileged position. It is surprising that a university has been established to teach Sanskrit language and literature whereas that could be done by establishing an institute within Tribhuvan University. Interesting to note could be that this Sanskrit university is just for the Khas, more specifically only Bahuns.
| Table – 12, Education sector – Nationality analysis of the officials at leadership positions of |
|
| the University Teacher’s Association, School Teacher’s Associations |
|
|
|
|
| Organizations |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| Nepal University Teacher’s Association |
16 |
|
2 |
|
3 |
|
21 |
| Nepal Teacher’s Association |
24 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
|
31 |
| Nepal National Teacher’s Association |
25 |
|
1 |
|
3 |
|
30 |
| Total |
65 |
2 |
6 |
|
7 |
|
82 |
| Percentage |
79.3 |
2.4 |
7.3 |
|
8.5 |
|
100 |
Source: Analysis of nationalities of the officials mentioned in NIMD, 1999 and Contact details, Officials of seventh central committee, Nepal National Teacher’s Association, Kathmandu (2055 V.S.).
The above picture is another evidence of the domination of the Khas closely followed by the Newars. The data on the number of graduates also supports the same finding.[6]
| Table – 13, Literature and Culture: Royal Nepal Academy and other cultural and literary organizations |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Organizations |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| VC and Academy members (RNA) |
37 |
4 |
|
|
16 |
|
57 |
| Cine Artiste Association |
15 |
|
|
|
2 |
|
17 |
| Nepal Progressive writer’s Association |
33 |
2 |
|
|
4 |
|
39 |
| Total |
85 |
6 |
|
|
22 |
|
113 |
| Percentage |
75.2 |
5.3 |
|
|
19.5 |
|
100 |
| Note: RNA academicians include the council, assembly and honorary members. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Source: Analysis of nationalities of the officials mentioned in NIMD, 1999 and PRALESA (2052 V.S.) |
In cultural institutions too, the Khas-Newar domination continues. Together, they control 94.7% of the leadership positions. The Gaines and Badis among the Dalits who are the champions of folk dance and singing and the Madhesi nationality which is rich in traditional form of art, literature and culture is totally absent. The Mangolkirats also have a nominal share. The cultural hegemony is highly questionable. But the Khas chauvinists may just label such people who raise questions as secessionists and communal elements.
| Table – 14, Scientific and technical sector |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Organizations |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| Royal Nepal Academy for |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Science and Technology |
8 |
|
2 |
|
10 |
|
20 |
| Nepal Medical Association |
8 |
1 |
2 |
|
3 |
|
14 |
| Nepal Engineering Association |
10 |
|
2 |
|
3 |
|
15 |
| Nepal Nursing Association |
10 |
1 |
|
|
2 |
|
13 |
| Total |
36 |
2 |
6 |
|
18 |
|
62 |
| Percentage |
58.1 |
3.2 |
9.7 |
|
29 |
|
100 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Source: Analysis of nationalities of the officials mentioned in NIMD, 1999. |
|
|
The Khas and Newars, together, occupy 87.1% positions leaving 12.9% positions to a combined population of 54.1% Mangolkirats and Madhesis. There is no Dalit face at all.
7. Civil Society
| Table – 15, Civil society Leadership |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Organizations |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| Nepal Bar Association |
15 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
17 |
| NGO Federation |
9 |
|
3 |
|
3 |
|
16 |
| Federation of Nepalese Journalists |
17 |
1 |
|
|
4 |
|
21 |
| Total |
41 |
1 |
4 |
|
8 |
|
54 |
| Percentage |
75.9 |
1.6 |
7.4 |
|
14.8 |
|
100 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Source: Analysis of nationalities of the officials mentioned in NIMD, 1999. |
|
|
The intellectuals talk about equality. Many people, who are with the civil society organizations, make noises that they favor equity and justice. In such organizations, a combined total of 91% leadership positions are occupied by the Khas and Newars. An irony!
| Table – 16, Occupiers of the top level professional positions in the civil society organizations |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Types of Organization/Number |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| Nepalese NGOs (72) |
104 |
13 |
11 |
|
85 |
|
213 |
| Human Rights organizations (27) |
29 |
2 |
1 |
|
7 |
|
39 |
| Editors (Weeklies, Dailies) (104) |
77 |
4 |
4 |
|
25 |
|
111 |
| Total (203) |
210 |
19 |
16 |
1 |
117 |
|
363 |
| Percentage |
57.8 |
5.2 |
4.4 |
0.3 |
32.2 |
|
100 |
| Note: Twelve officials of the NGOs, 2 of human rights organizations and 13 editors are not included in the |
| study as their nationality could not be determined. |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Source: Analysis of nationalities of the officials mentioned in NIMD, 1999. |
|
|
Not only the leadership of the civil society organizations is under the control of Khas and Newars, they have captured 90% top level professional positions.
8. Women’s Leadership
| Table – 17, Women at leadership positions |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Organizations |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| Members, Advisory Council (1953-1959) |
13 |
2 |
1 |
|
1 |
|
17 |
| Parliament members (1959-60) |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
| Rastriya Panchayat members(1963-1990) |
15 |
3 |
2 |
|
1 |
|
21 |
| Parliament members (1991-1999) |
21 |
2 |
2 |
|
3 |
|
28 |
| Chairwomen, women’s associations (1999) |
10 |
|
1 |
|
2 |
|
13 |
| Central members, national parties |
9 |
|
3 |
|
4 |
|
16 |
| Ministers (1959-1999) |
11 |
2 |
|
|
1 |
|
14 |
| Total |
81 |
9 |
9 |
|
12 |
|
111 |
| Percentage |
72.9 |
8.1 |
8.1 |
|
10.8 |
|
100 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Source: Analysis of nationality of women leaders mentioned in Ashmita, Issue 50 (Thapa, 2056 V.S.: 20-35) |
In general, the patriarchal Hindu social set-up has made women’s life miserable. A few women are fortunate to make them visible. Again, most of them are from the Khas and Newar nationality. They hold 83.7% positions together. By cultural upbringing, Mangolkirat women have a better chance to develop as they are comparatively face less burden imposed by Hindu orthodoxy. Comparatively, women of indigenous community (Mangolkirats) are more independent than that the women in Hind social set-up (Bhattachan, 2056 Ka V.S.: 76-79). But, that has no tangible impact in their role as leaders.
9. Development Planning, Funding, Research and Sports
| Table – 18, Members of important communication, development, sports and research councils |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Council |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| Press Council |
14 |
|
1 |
|
6 |
|
21 |
| National Development Council |
10 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
|
20 |
| Nepal Sports Council |
9 |
4 |
1 |
|
1 |
|
15 |
| Nepal Health Research Council |
4 |
|
1 |
|
3 |
|
8 |
| Total |
37 |
5 |
5 |
1 |
16 |
|
64 |
| Percentage |
57.8 |
7.8 |
7.8 |
1.6 |
25 |
|
100 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Source: Analysis of nationalities of the officials mentioned in NIMD, 1999. |
|
|
The policy makers and researchers are no different. The Khas and Newars together hold 82.8% such critical positions.
| Table – 19, Nepalese professionals at leadership positions in foreign donor agencies in Nepal |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Agency type/number |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| INGOs/112 |
23 |
10 |
|
1 |
14 |
|
48 |
| Multilateral agencies/21 |
15 |
5 |
|
|
7 |
|
27 |
| Total |
38 |
15 |
|
1 |
21 |
|
75 |
| Percentage |
50.6 |
20.0 |
|
1.3 |
28.0 |
|
100 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Note: Six officials on INGOs and 3 of multilateral agencies have not been included due to difficulty in determining their nationalitySource: Analysis of nationalities of the officials mentioned in NIMD, 1999. |
The INGOs, self proclaimed champions of social justice, and the multilateral agencies, both, behave not so differently compared to other Nepalese institutions. The Khas and the Newars hold together 70.2% top level professional positions in these donor agencies.
The Khas domination is seen in all areas. Beyond doubt, the figures above simply reflect the inequalities.
To draw a general picture by analyzing the nationalities, who occupy the most important positions in the governance of the country, a Primary Nationality Index of Governance (PNIG) has been presented. In this index, the nationality of judges of the Supreme Court, ministers and parliament members (lower house) has been analyzed as they together hold the state power.
10. Summary – Nationality Indexes
| Table 20, Primary Nationality Index of Governance – 1999 |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Agency |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| Supreme Court |
16 |
|
|
|
2 |
|
18 |
| House of Representative |
124 |
30 |
39 |
|
12 |
|
205 |
| Council of Ministers |
20 |
4 |
5 |
|
3 |
|
32 |
| Total |
160 |
34 |
44 |
|
17 |
|
255 |
| Percentage |
62.7 |
13.3 |
17.3 |
|
6.7 |
|
100 |
| Population |
31.6 |
22.2 |
30.9 |
8.7 |
5.6 |
1.1 |
100 |
| Difference (percentage) |
+ 31.1 |
– 8.9 |
– 13.6 |
– 8.7 |
+1.1 |
– 1.1 |
- |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Source: As mentioned in Table 1, 5 & 7 above. |
|
|
|
|
|
The index shows that Khas is the ruling nationality in Nepal. The Mangolkirats, Madhesi and Dalits have been kept out of the opportunities. Although, they are also subjected to humiliation culturally, the Newars are in a better position and have grabbed the opportunities otherwise should be going to other deprived nationalities. The Khas occupy double the most influential positions of critical nature than what they could occupy proportionate to their percentage of the population.
The assessment of all major comparisons presented above in an integrated picture will more accurately reflect the nationality presence in governance in la larger context. Therefore, below an Integrated Nationality Index of Governance (INIG) has been presented.
| Table – 21, Integrated Nationality Index of Governance – 1999 |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Agency |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| Judiciary |
181 |
4 |
18 |
|
32 |
|
235 |
| Constitutional bodies/ Commissions |
14 |
2 |
3 |
|
6 |
|
25 |
| Council of Ministers |
20 |
4 |
5 |
|
3 |
|
32 |
| Civil Administration |
190 |
3 |
9 |
|
43 |
|
245 |
| Legislature |
159 |
36 |
46 |
4 |
20 |
|
265 |
| Political party leadership |
97 |
25 |
26 |
|
18 |
|
165 |
| Local bodies (DDC Chairmen, Mayor/deputy Mayor) |
106 |
23 |
31 |
|
30 |
|
191 |
| Industry and commerce sector |
7 |
|
15 |
|
20 |
|
42 |
| Education Sector – Academic & Administrative leadership |
75 |
2 |
7 |
1 |
11 |
|
97 |
| Cultural Sector – Academic & Administrative leadership) |
85 |
6 |
|
|
22 |
|
113 |
| Science & Technology Sector |
36 |
2 |
6 |
|
18 |
|
62 |
| Civil Society leadership |
41 |
1 |
4 |
|
8 |
|
54 |
| Total |
1011 |
108 |
170 |
5 |
231 |
|
1520 |
| Percentage |
66.5 |
7.1 |
11.2 |
0.3 |
15.2 |
|
100 |
| Population |
31.6 |
22.2 |
30.9 |
8.7 |
5.6 |
1.1 |
100 |
| Difference (Percentage) |
+34.9 |
– 15.1 |
– 19.7 |
– 8.4 |
+ 9.6 |
– 1.1 |
- |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Source: As mentioned in Table 1 – 18 above. |
|
|
|
|
|
Once again, the integrated index also reveals the same situation. The Khas and Newars occupy more than 81% of the important positions. They control all areas of critical governance – state power, private sector, public sector, communication, academia and civil society.
11. Trend Assessment – Comparison between Primary indexes of 1959 and 1999
| Table – 22, Comparison between Primary Nationality Index of Governance – 1959 and 1999. |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Agency |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
| Supreme Court (1959) |
8 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
10 |
| House of Representative (1959) |
64 |
17 |
24 |
|
4 |
|
109 |
| Council of Ministers (1959) |
10 |
5 |
3 |
|
1 |
|
19 |
| Total (1959) |
82 |
22 |
28 |
|
6 |
|
138 |
| Percentage 1959 |
59.4 |
15.9 |
20.3 |
|
4.3 |
|
100 |
| Percentage 1999 (see Table – 20) |
62.7 |
13.3 |
17.3 |
|
6.7 |
|
100 |
| Difference (Percentage) |
+ 3.3 |
– 2.6 |
– 3.0 |
|
+ 2.4 |
|
- |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Source: Analysis of nationalities of the officials mentioned in NIMD, 1999 and Devkota, 2033 V.S.:79-111, 239, 274, & 200 -202 |
The trend is discouraging as the gap is ever widening. The inequality in 1999 is wider than in 1959. In these 40 years, Khas and Newar together have increased their hold on critically important positions by 5.7%. Therefore, in Nepal, not only social justice has been denied, the injustices have been increasing.
12. Observations
The facts analyzed above lead to the following observations:
- The Khas were the ruling nationality, they are still ruling and their control has been strengthening.
- The Newars have moved up in several areas. Now, they have become junior partner of the Khas in governance. But, the Khas continue to dominate them culturally, which is most visibly seen in the persecution of their language.
- Madhesis were the nationality ruled and they are in the same position today. Over all, their status has not changed though their presence in political parties has increased and in administration the same has decreased.
- Since the expansion of Gorkha kingdom in 1768, the Mangolkirats position has changed from a ruler to a subject. In all areas of governance, they continue to be weak. If the same trend continues, they also may have the same status as that of Dalits.
- Dalits were extraordinarily marginalized, they are still marginalized and their presence in the governance is basically non-existent.
- The centralization of power in the hands of Khas is the outcome of a long historical process. This process created favorable situation for the Khas and marginalized other nationalities.
Chapter Four
Process of Khas Domination and Obstacles for Partnership
1. Process of Khas Domination
The process of propagating Hinduism in the society had begun in the 3rd century BC during the time of entry of Lichchhivis to Nepal from Aryabarta. Although, some type of Hindu hierarchical system was in practice from the beginning of the Lichchhivi’s arrival, the word “Varnashram” (caste system) has been seen, first time used, in the inscription at Pashupati temple. The inscription was inscribed by Lichchhivi king Jishnu Gupta (Joshi, 2030 V.S.: 416). In the seventh century, Lichchhivi king Shivadeva not only agreed the proposal of the aggressive Hindu high priest Shankaracharya to appoint only Bahuns as priests at Pashupati temple, he also increased the power of Bahuns immensely. As the result of implementing Sankaracharya’s pro-Brahmin ultra Hindu religious doctrine, several non-Hindu literatures were burnt publicly. Therefore, the ancient glorious cultural riches were destroyed. As a result, no valuable cultural and literary works other than the buildings and the ruins up to the first half of the first millennium are available. It is highly likely that during this period the ancient social organizations were also destroyed (Bista, 1991: 22). During Mall Rule, efforts to consolidate “Varnashram” (caste system) and Hindu religion got impetus. Jayasthi Malla reorganized the Newar society according to the religious-cultural code of Hinduism. Spread of the notorious Hindu caste system all over Nepal happened much later when the Gorkha Khas rulers established their control over the territory of today’s Nepal. Therefore, in Nepal expansion of Gorkha khas kingdom and spread of Hinduism took place simultaneously. Prithvinarayan Shah, the powerful king of Gorkha who envisioned a greater kingdom, declared Nepal as “Asali Hindustana” (real Hindu homeland). All the Khas-Hindu rulers, including the Shah and Rana clan, used the introduction of caste system, cultural invasion and Hindu administrative as well as legal system as basis for suppressing the cultures of other nationalities.
a. Introduction of Caste System
The Hindu-Khas invaders prepared the ground to introduce the caste system by making the status of all the vanquished nationalities as Sudras (the lowest in the Hindu caste hierarchy). Ram Shah and Jayshiti Malla introduced such provisions. The Khas historians never feel tired praising their crime against humanity as social reforms. Jayasthiti Malla (1295-1382) divided the Newar society according to the Hindu code, called Manishmriti. In a copper inscription of 1926, attempt had been made to introduce caste system among the Gurungs by mentioning two types of Gurungs – Char Jat (four upper castes) and Shora Jat (sixteen lower castes). The Gurungs opposed such classifications. The Royal Order of 1868 nullified the caste divisions. It was stated in the Royal Order that all Gurungs are equals and if somebody attempts to create superior or inferior status, the person would be punished (up to a maximum penalty of 20 Rupees). The Bahun scholars like Shikharnath Subedi did not agree with the Royal Order. In his book “Thara-Gotra Pravaravli” (Description of surnames and clans), he wrote that the four upper caste Gurungs (Ghale, Ghotane, Lama and Lamichhane) are royalties and the other sixteen castes are the slaves. Sarbajit Gurung, a Gurung leader, filed a case against him and the Royal court called Bhardari decided this as crime in 1922 and Shikharnath had to pay a fine of 20 Rupees (Pignede, 1966: 491-92, Sharma, 2039 V.S.: 439-41). Hence, after a strong protest and a legal battle, the Hindu-Khas, more particularly the notorious Bahuns could not succeed in implementing their criminal caste system among Gurungs. Among Tamangs too, the Khas tried to create divisions to insert their caste system by introducing an idea of Barha Jat Suddha Rakta (twelve castes of Tamangs as pure) and Shorha Jat Mishrit Rakta (sixteen castes of Tamangs as mixed) (Sharma, 2039 V.S.: 366). But this idea could not attain a level that creates feeling of lower caste and upper caste. Even today, some Hindu priests and their stooges are active in converting the Kirats into Hinduism by placing Janai, a so-called holy thread around their neck. The Khas-Hindus are free to convert any body from any faith to Hinduism, but the believers of any other faith can’t exercise the same right. They are prohibited by law and if they will try to convert, they will land inside the prison. The Khas impose their religion on anybody, whom they can control and place them as Sudras. There is no need of consent of that person. The example includes the representation made by person or persons of Mangolkirat nationality for Sudras in the coronation ceremony of a king. According to Hindu ritual, all four – Bahun, Chhetri, Vaisya and Sudra, have to accept the king by offering a silver coin during the coronation ceremony. In this way the Khas used the caste system as a mechanism to create a social psychology that they are superior.
b. Cultural Invasion
King Rajendra Bikram introduced Dashain, the Hindu festival, by bribing the Kirat elders and village heads. He issued a Royal Order and rewarded them the ownership of the heads and leg pieces with prime meat of any slaughtered animals during Dashain in any household of their jurisdiction. In the same Order he also authorized them to collect donations in the form of cash or kind to organize Durga Puja (worship of Hindu Goddess Durga during Dashain). By these lucrative provisions made for the benefit of the elders and village heads, the Khas-Hindu rulers in Kathmandu prepared the ground for their cultural expansion in the Kirat region (Yakharai, 2053 V.S.: 265). Beef was one of the regular dishes of the indigenous people. After establishing their rule over the Mangolkirat areas, the Khas rulers made eating beef a punishable act. They banned slaughter of cows in Solukhumbu area in 1805 and King Rana Bahadur Shah issued a Royal Order for the Limbus offering amnesty for any act of killing cows in the past and prohibiting the same and making it a punishable act from the date of issuing the Order (Tamang, 2054 V.S.: 63, Yakharai, 2053 V.S. 348). Till today, the Hindu-Khas have made the cow a national animal. Hindu religious songs, dances and festivals also helped the cultural invasion. Furthermore, the cultural invasion was nurtured by the military service, including the British one. The British and Indian army had provisions for Nepalese priests in their Nepali (Gurkha) brigades. These Bahun priests were instrumental to spread Hindu rituals among the Mangolkirat youths of these armies (Pignede, 1966: 492). After working 34 years in British army and spending lot of those years with Gurkha brigade, Lieutenant Colonel J. P. Cross has mentioned that in each and every larger units of Gurkha Brigade, a Bahun priest used to be employed as religious teacher. His responsibility was to ensure observance of the Hindu rituals. He has mentioned that Dashain, Tihar and Holi are the most important Nepalese festivals (Cross, 1986: 189). Indeed, the “White British Sahibs or Masters” not only promoted the spread of Hindu religion and culture, but also provided legitimacy and respect, probably, unknowingly and unintentionally. Similarly, the Mangolkirat youths adopted Hindu custom without any critical examination or even awareness. When they came back to their homes, they not only brought money and some new ideas due to the exposure but also brought the Hindu rituals, custom and practices. As the ex-army men had money and due to that reason a superior status in their community, the others followed them. Therefore, the recruitment of Mangolkirat youths in the foreign armies not only expanded the scope of exploitation for the Khas as, now, the youths had resources to grab from, but also played as a fertile ground for their cultural invasion. More or less, the same was true for army men in Nepalese and Indian army.
The provision of making the Khas mother-tong “Khas Kura” or “Nepali” as the only official language of Nepal made the Khas very strong culturally.
The Khas rulers projected non-Khas custom, beliefs, eating habits etc as uncivilized, shameful and inferior. These acts created some sort of illusion. After repeated attempts that illusion created fertile ground for spreading a belief of Khas superiority. The Khas became more confident whereas the other nationalities faced the suffering rooted at inferiority syndrome. The practice of drinking alcohol could be one good example. By going through tradition, only the so-called high castes among Khas and Madhesis do not drink liquor. All others have a tradition of consuming alcohol in different forms. The Khas-Bahuns eat bread, whereas the Madhesi-Tharus drink locally brewed beer, which is thick and rich in carbohydrate and go to the field to work. Both are made out of grain flour. The difference of the dishes depends upon the choice of an individual or a community. But the Khas-Bahuns not only propagate consumption of alcohol as an inferior practice, they blame that this alone is responsible for all sorts of backwardness among Matawalis (who drink liquor). Even, the Khas members of parliament dare to register in the parliament a proposal of intent to ban drinking of alcohol all over the country. If alcohol would be the primary reason for backwardness, the high alcohol consuming Europeans and the Americans should be some where at the bottom of Pacific Ocean. They should be in a situation of extinction. Therefore, the Khas rumor is not true and has no worth. But, the rumor provides basis for camouflaging the exploitation of other nationalities. It also suppresses the fact that the Khas are responsible for their exploitative practice which is the primary reason of underdevelopment of other nationalities. A new trend has been seen in Nepal. The bilateral and multilateral agencies have been replaying the role of the old “Gora Sahib (white masters)” of the Gurkha brigade by supporting the Khas rumor. The International NGOs and their Nepali counterparts are busy selling the Khas product that drinking alcohol has been creating all sorts of miseries among the Matwalis. They are playing the role of a new “Gora Sahib”. The old “Gora Sahib” unknowingly promoted Khas values and Hindu beliefs among the army recruits, whereas the new “Gora Sahibs” are contributing to introduce the Khas values and Hindu beliefs in the larger community of people. Indeed, alcohol drinking is not the primary reason of underdevelopment; they are upper class exploitations, atrocities of a nationality (Khas), suppression of marginalized section of people by the state and unjust social codes. In summary, the cultural invasion played significant role in the process of establishing Khas domination in the society.
c. Hindu Administrative and Legal System
The influence of state in the expansion and consolidation of Khas domination has been seen in different administrative measures. One among the examples could be the tax and land tenure system applicable to the Gurungs. In the Gurung tradition, the women and the male widows had to pay a tax when they marry and the tax was called “Chak Chakui”. Similarly, the ownership of the childless couples’ land was not transferable. By the Royal Order of 1809, if a Gurung family employees Bahun priest for religious services instead of Gurung Lamas, such tax and land ownership provisions won’t be applicable for that type of families (Pignede, 1966: 491). The Order was a clear attempt to promote Hinduism among the Gurungs and, thus, expand the control of the Khas. The other efforts include the words “Shree Bhawani” ( a Hindu Goddess) and “Shree Shree Shree Gorakhnath” (the Khas-Hindu God) while minting the coins and printing the same in the currency notes, writing “Shree Ganeshaya Nama” (salutation to Hindu God Ganesh) on the upper most part of any official letter, bonds and documents etc. These advertisement sponsored by the Hindu-Khas state helped them to project Khas as a superior nationality. Similarly, the Birtapratha (system of land donation by the state to Bahuns) and Jagirpratha (system of land donation to the courtiers and army officers) made the Khas powerful economically. Introduction of Hindu legal code as the backbone of the state legal system created most favorable situation to establish Khas domination. The penal code of 1954 made strange provisions of punishment. For the same crime the different castes had different types and durations of punishment. The lower the caste, the severe was the punishment.
The use of state resources, such as broadcasting an hour long Hindu religious program from Radio Nepal, helped to establish Khas monopoly. They also declared their festivals as “national festivals” and their “holy” cow as “national animal”. They have established a Sanskrit university just for the benefit of Khas. And, finally they dared to declare, even in the latest constitution of 1990, Nepal as a Hindu kingdom.
Finally, the process of Khas domination had started long ago and the state provided the leadership. Therefore, the role of the state in creating favorable environment for Khas domination and consolidation and centralization of available resources, opportunity and power around them is the primary reason of all sort of inequality among nationalities. The facts and figures presented above in “Chapter Four” support such conclusion.
2. Obstacles for Partnership
During the expansion of Gorkha kingdom, the imposition of one nationality’s culture, authority and control was the major trend. Although, in the beginning there was no clarity, gradually they generalized the key process leading to establishment of a Hindu-Khas dominated society all over Nepal. Their vision of Nepal was centered on a state which could function as a single religious, political and administrative unit. The Khas rulers promote the efforts directed to destroy the rival cultures and blocked any possibilities of partnership among nationalities. These attempts encompass cultural, political and economic thrusts and cover all areas of human endeavor.
The strategies and functions undertaken to carry out in establishing the Khas domination created a situation of exclusion and isolation for other nationalities. Hence, these strategies and functions prevented the development of a harmonious society based on participation and partnership. Primarily, the Khas state based its strategies on the following thematic as well as functional areas as prime obstacles in the path of building partnership.
- Enforce and strengthen the practice of Khas Chauvinism
- Propagate the belief of fatalism and Hindu supremacy
- Exploit labor and resources and take advantage of the misery of the people who are in a state of absolute underdevelopment
- Enforce the practice of untouchability
- Exploit divisions among oppressed nationalities created by narrow custom group perspectives
- Destruct socio-physical infrastructure of oppressed nationalities.
Promoting the psychology of Hindu superiority, imposing Hindu yardsticks as criteria to judge the level of civilization in regard to core human values, establishing control over all branches of state power and capturing all available opportunities and resources are the main characteristics of Khas chauvinism. The wholesale dealers of this domination are neither the marginalized Khas of Khasan region, nor they are the low income Khas families spread all over Nepal. Indeed, they are a tine minority of upper class Khas, who are suffering from hydrophobia of super-being. They have gathered wealth through the practice of exploitative behaviors spread over many centuries. They are sick of greed of power and wealth. They are seen in clean dresses, whereas their hearts and minds are dirty, corrupt and criminalized. Although, a large majority of Khas families have been living in pathetic conditions due to extreme poverty and underdevelopment, but they too, have some venom under their chest that they feel, they are superior to other nationalities. This is the result of the infectious Khas behavior of the upper class. This is the area what makes Nepalese society more complex to understand its dynamics. More particularly, the Nepalese Marxists have failed to recognize such complexities. Indeed, the psychology originated from superior or inferior status of a nationality makes difference to its overall positioning and collectively looking at society and its fundamentals. The superior Khas mindset aggressively propagates as civilized and attains confidence, whereas the other oppressed nationalities lack the same. It also affects their self-esteem and potentials. The multicultural social composition of Nepal has been affected because of the control of Bahun and Chhetris (Khas) over Nepalese politics due to idealization of their values in the society (Baral, 1993: 195-196). These idealized values, beliefs and practices are continuing as ideals till today and the Khas state is supporting the continuation. Therefore, the cultural monopoly of the Khas and their over all domination has been an obstacle for building partnership among nationalities.
b. Fatalism
Fatalism is a core ideological concept of Hinduism. It prevents open philosophical discussion among different faith systems and imposes the basic Hindu beliefs on the society. These beliefs have influenced the cultural behaviors. Knowingly or unknowingly, religion affects the social relations too. Hindu Religion, in essence, is the art of artificial survival in an imaginary world. Every organized religion has a certain pattern of rituals. These rituals support many unreal human imaginations with a real behavior in attaining power, wealth and a so-called means for washing sins. The Khas, more particularly the Bahuns, cleverly tide people by a rope of fatalism and governed them. In this way, they expanded their sphere of influence and collected harvest in the form of power and wealth. Therefore, Hinduism provided the philosophy and rituals to empower the Khas, more particularly the Bahuns. As a result, the Khas and their state played the lead role in widening the scope of Hinduism in Nepal. For this purpose, they actively propagated the ideology of fatalism as everything they did unjust could be legalized by fatalistic interpretation that this was the outcome of their fate. A large majority among Hindu-Bahuns consider their religion as a milking cow. They are ritualistic. The state also played with facts to project Nepal as a Hindu majority state. According to the state sponsored “statistics”, in Nepal the Hindus are 89% of the population.
The analysis of public holidays reflects the Hindu theocratic nature of the state. The government had declared 25 days in 1999 as public holidays for everybody. Among these days, 18 are Hindu religious days and one day is Buddhist religious day. Remaining six days fall under social function category. Besides, another 10 days are provisioned as public holiday for specific region or community. Among these 10 days, 5 are Hindu religious days whereas one is Buddhist religious day and 4 come under social function category (Department of Information, HMG 2056 v.s.). The analysis shows how the state has been behaving in a Hindu theocratic mode.
A significant size of population believes in nature worships, including the worships of fire, water and ancestors. These could be called as folk faiths. The patterns of thought process, beliefs and practices have been deeply rooted in their centuries old traditions. Therefore, the source and rituals of folk faiths are the traditions. The large majority of Khas in Khasan region worship Mastos and Bhuwanis. That is not a Hindu system. Nearly all custom groups among Mangolkirats, some groups among Madhesis (e.g. Koche, Meche, Tharu, and Dhimal etc.) and the Dalits could not be labeled as practitioners of any organized religion and all of them have their own folk faiths. The names of their faiths may differ. Some of them may say that their faith could be a sect of an organized religion, but they differ in the ritualistic aspects and observe the traditions and are not part of any organized religion. Folk faiths are not the same and similar in observance. They differ place to place and community to community. One important trick of the Hindu state system is that they concluded if anybody is neither Muslim nor Christian nor Buddhist nor Jain nor Sikh, then that person is a Hindu. In this way all practitioners of folk faiths are included as Hindus in the statistics collected, processed and presented by the state.
Since its presence in Nepal, Hinduism attacked and tried to sideline Buddhism and the folk faiths prevalent in the society. The Aryans initiated all out efforts to replace these cultures by their own Hindu culture. They succeeded to a large extent not primarily because their culture was superior but because they established control over state power. The use of state power in the promotion of Hinduism and repression of other religions and folk faiths was instrumental in creating a psychology of superior Hindu culture. Fatalism, the ideological foundation of Hinduism, justified all Hindu atrocities in the name of fate. This mysterious fatalism offered opportunities for oppressor to oppress ruthlessly and created miseries for the oppressed. Therefore, Hinduism and their Khas believers practiced social anarchy as their birth right. They also propagated that the king is the incarnation of Hindu God Vishnu. This concept might have been originated in the time of Lichhivi king Jayadeva as he had mentioned the term “God” before his name (Joshi, 2030 v. s.: 557). This divine status of the Hindu kings made it nearly impossible to disobey him. This was more true to those who were not Hindus. The Khas-Bahuns employed themselves as the sole contractor of the VISA to go to the heaven. They projected the real world as sea of misery and showed the green grass of unreal heaven but at a cost that their clients should pay for. They declared themselves as pious guides, philosophers and judges and pretended that they have the monopoly for sending anybody to hell or heaven based on their fate and the rituals they perform on their instructions. In the process, they collected fabulous gifts and donations as part of the rituals and placed themselves in a superior status. They declared the believers of other religion and faiths as barbaric and also successfully inserted such beliefs among them. Several renegades were created among the people of other faiths to carry out the mission of Hindu supremacy. The new converts propagated the Hindu culture aggressively and they are doing the same till today. The thinking and practice of Hindu supremacy based on fatalism negates cultural pluralism and limits the possibilities of multiculturalism.
c. Absolute underdevelopment
The development and prosperity are still far away from Nepalese society. The picture of those nationalities suppressed by Hindu-Khas state is even worse. And, among them some custom groups are in a situation of extreme poverty and absolute underdevelopment.
Badi is a custom group among Madhesis living in a situation of hopelessness. If someone visits Badi families in Gaganjunj, a neighborhood of Nepalgunj feels sad seeing the small match-box type family dwellings with a single room. They practice prostitution as traditional occupation. Their community has accepted it as a means of survival. They offer their services to their clients in the same room where other members of the family also have to stay. The police is all the time after them, not primarily to prevent them from practicing prostitution but to get enjoyment free of cost and also to collect money as bribe from them. They take advantage of the provision of practicing prostitution as illegal and loot them. The neighbors throw stones on them alleging that they gave bad name for their neighborhood. These disturbances have created problems to carry on their work. They, including the children in the family, have to spend several nights without meals. Neither they have any other resource base for adopting another occupation nor is the state or the society supporting them.
Many people believe that Chepang, one of the most marginalized custom groups, is still in an age of hunting and gathering. This is not true. Although, a small section of them resides in the caves but many others are no different from the people of other custom groups or nationalities. They have their own lifestyles. Women are quite independent and effectively participate in production activities and family decision making process. They tend to stay away from the outsiders. But, now their economic and social life has been affected tremendously. The change in the system of ownership over communal land and the government control over the forest land utilized by Chepangs has influenced heavily on their tribal autonomy (Bhattarai, 1995: 1-16). In this way, their livelihood, culture and autonomy are passing through a difficult phase. Similarly, the miseries of Chamars and tragedies of Dushadhs reveal the threat to their basic survival. They are the victims of subjugation and domination. These are a few custom groups among others.
The statistics to differentiate the custom groups who are in a situation of extreme underdevelopment are not available other than the rate of illiteracy. This is a very critical indicator and can reveal the reality very much with some limitations. Some careful participatory appraisal exercises supported the relation between the illiteracy rate and absolute underdevelopment. Therefore, if 75% and more illiteracy rate as accepted as indicator of absolute underdevelopment, then sixteen groups fall under this status. They are Badi, Thami, Raji, Bote, Chepang, Majhi, Danuwar, Dusadh, Chamar, Khatwe, Musahar, Kewat, Rajbhar, Dhanuk, Muslim and Dhobi. Similarly the above 75% illiteracy rate of the people of different nationalities gives a picture of their condition. The illiteracy among Madhesi (82%), Mangolkirat (78%) and Dalit (78%) has created limitation for their progress. Indeed, the situation of absolute underdevelopment has contributed negatively in the process of building partnership as the Khas and Newars feel themselves developed and civilized and alienate the others.
d. Untouchability
The division of labor during pre-historical days or at the beginning of the primitive tribal republics was made the basis for the caste system by the Hindus. The infamous Hindu code called Manushmriti made this arrangement as a permanent social feature relating it with birth in a specific level of social hierarchy. Bahuns were placed at the highest and Sudras at the lowest level of the Hindu hierarchical division. Chhetries and Vaishyas were at second and third position. This is the caste system. The lowest caste was responsible for all sorts of services and had to live in servitude. They were considered as untouchables. They were restricted to touch any person of other three higher castes. The Sudras had several other restrictions such as reading Veda, a holy Hindu book, touching drinking water kept for the use of upper castes etc. As a result, the so-called untouchables had been prevented from any kind of intellectual discources and entrepreneurships. The longer the system continued that created some sort of acceptance as a normal social practice. People, including the so-called untouchables became accustomed to such social behavior. In this way, the social anarchy of caste system and its all inhuman atrocities become part of the social code. The expansion of Hindu theocratic state provided fertile ground to implement this code in newly annexed territories and societies. In the Manushmriti, they have made seven provisions to consider somebody as Sudra (please see Chapter-Two, section on “Dalit”) and one among them was the punishment by state to declare him or her as Sudra (Manushmriti, 8/415 in Yakharai, 2053). This provision was used to terrorize many non Hindus that if they will not accept what is said to them to do, they could be easily declared as Sudras. In the first Civil Code of 1854, the Hindu social code of out-casting somebody and declaring them as Sudra was included. Hence, the state laws legalized the Hindu anarchy of inhuman caste system and also provisioned the punishments relating it to the caste of a convict. The lower castes had to face more severe punishments for the same crime. In state laws, the strange provision of untouchability was included and if a person of higher caste touched somebody among the untouchables, that person of the higher caste had to go through purification rituals. The 1854 Civil Code classified the Sudras in two categories. The first category included the group, whom if touched there was no need of going through purification ritual but they were not allowed to touch water or any other cooked food or enter inside the houses of higher castes. The second group was that of untouchables. The first group included Muslim, Telis, Dhobi, Kasai, Kusle, Kulu, Mlechha (loosely referring to Christians) and Chudara. The second group included Sarki, Kami, Sunar, Chunar, Hurke, Damai, Gaine, Badibhad, Pede and Chyamekhalak. In the first category there were 8 custom groups and in the second 10.
Although, some attempts have been made more recently to bring to notice the worse situation the so-called untouchables survive in regard to their physical quality of life, but there have not been any significant efforts to apprise and understand the emotional state of their mind. Not only their feelings have suffered immensely but also their total human existence has been affected. Therefore, the Hindu-Khas rulers and the entire oppressive Khas nationality have to bow down and beg for pardon for the excesses they themselves, their ancestors and their state have committed. This is their primary responsibility. The act alone can initiate a process of assuaging their feelings and the repentance may create a foundation for genuine forgiveness and partnership. Respect is the prime concern here, which has to go to a next level by ensuring social justice. But, the Hindu-Khas rulers may not take such course willingly. Their ego of superiority, the power intoxication and the arrogance among the Bahuns will prevent them taking the path of healing and reconciliation. Therefore, the so-called untouchables have to confront the Hindu social code. They have to fight against the injustices. Also, they have to demand reparation and compensation. The Hindu-Khas rulers may enhance their understanding after feeling the heat of the confrontation and will be forced to surrender their privileges.
e. Narrow custom group perspectives
The divisive tendencies promoted by the Khas engulfed all the nationalities and motivated them to find out the differences whatever smaller they may have among different custom groups. Such exercises not only prevented in understanding commonalities but helped to widen the gaps. The Coordination Center for uplift of Nationalities has raised the issues of getting rid of inferiority complex and inward-looking nature among oppressed nationalities (Gurung et al 1999: 15). The disunity of different custom groups within a nationality and absence of solidarity among oppressed nationalities created blocks for partnership. The custom groups have their own backgrounds and also possess some cultural specialties and think that they are different. This is true to Mangolkirats and Madhesis both. The Madhesis have been in a more complex situation and are influenced by narrow sub-group perspectives due to division created by Hindu caste system, religious diversities, and cultural influences of the community of other side of the Nepal-India border. A numerically larger group among Dalits has also helped to widen the gaps among other custom groups. Further more, they also have been affected by the Hindu system of lower and upper social divisions within their own nationality also. The Newars are not only divided in Hindu and Buddhists, but also have several caste layers. The crux of the problem is that the Hindu-Khas have spread a net of division, hate and arrogance and each and every custom group or nationality has been affected. Therefore, the custom groups and nationalities have to chart a new course and have to come out of the negative tendencies of the past. Most often past has been the source of division not that of unity (Murray, 1995: 72). Who will ring the bell and how the ringing will be activated are the prime questions of today. Until, the oppressed nationalities overcome the divisive tendencies originated from the narrow perspectives and do not fight collectively against the Khas domination, the partnership will remain remote.
f. Destruction of socio-physical infrastructure
Every nationality had their social infrastructure. Among them, the prominent ones included Rodi of Gurungs, Dhukur of Thakalis, Chumlung of Rai-Limbus, Bheja of Magars and Guthi of Newars. Presently, these social organizations are not much active. Similarly, the change in land ownership and management system also made tremendous difference in the roles of some of the nationalities. The example is the abolition of Kipat system of Limbus brought the communal land under individual ownership. The provision of transferable ownership provision of such land offered opportunity to the Khas to grab the fertile land of the indigenous people. In the same way, the naming of administrative districts and zones replaced the names of the area popular among the people. The example includes Ollo Kirat, Majhkirat and pallo kirat were replaced by new names such as Khotang, Bhojpur, and Dhankuta etc. In this way, the name ‘Kirat’ attached to the area had been taken out. The Khas were champion in renaming and making the original names disappearing from the beginning of the expansion of the Gorkha kingdom. Hamilton has stated that the Gorkha rulers changed the names of the conquered principalities in an unbelievable speed, Till 1767, in Kathmandu valley there were three Newar principalities called Yin, Yala and Khopo. Before 1802, these names were replaced by Kathmandu, Lalitpatan and Bhadgaon (Hamilton, 1819: 11). Also In the same way, in Marshyandi valley, the several Mangolkirat names of the settlements were replaced by Sanskrit names.[7] Such exercises were undertaken all over the country.
The internal migration had gained momentum after the control of malaria in the southern plains. In 1961, among the population of Terai, the percentage of people born in the hills and migrated to Terai formed only 2.5 %. But in 1971 that percentage reached to 9.8% (R.S. Rana & Y. S. Thapa in Shrestha, 1981: 77). Although, the primary cause for the migration was economic but at the same time the Khas state encouraged the people from the hills to southern boarder areas with the intention that they will be a buffer between India and the Madhesis in this side of the border. The patriotism of the Madhesis was questioned and their loyalty was doubted by the rulers. Similarly, the administrative division called zone was made north-south which was not a natural division considering the inhabitance of nationalities. In this way, the destruction of such nationally infrastructures had played a role which obstructed the building of mutual trust, respect and harmony.
Chapter Five
Emergence of National Liberation Movements and Response of State-Forces
1. Nation-States and State-nations
In Europe, new types of classes came into existence due to the emergence of capitalism. The industrial revolution provided the foundation for nation-states which replaced feudal theocratic states. The ideological basis of capitalism in regard to formation of the state was nationalism. Therefore, in Europe, during the eighteenth century the new concept of nationalism provided the new bourgeoisie class a basis for establishing nation-states to protect their economic interest and consolidate their class rule. During nineteenth century, nationalism served the bourgeoisie class as their political concept to expand their control over a large part of the world. Contrary to the expectations of the colonialist bourgeoisie class, in the twentieth century, nationalism served as the foundation for national liberation movement against the European colonizers (Berberoglu, 1995: 1). And, gradually nationalism became part and parcel of national independence movement. From the beginning of the twentieth century, several states continued to emerge and they were called as nation-states. With some exceptions, all of them were multinational states or state-nations. The ongoing reorganization movement in several European state-nations supports this conclusion. Many of the reorganized states also are, again, the multinational or united national states.
The state is a political organization, whereas “nation” expresses the special characteristics of the people. These characteristics provide basis for the establishment of their own independent state (A. Cobban in Parker, 1998: 59). The word “state” has been originated from the Latin word “status” which means “appointed” or “fixed”. Hence, state has been defined as an organized sovereign political structure in a given territory. The word “nation”, also has originated from Latin word “natio” which means “birth”. In general, the word “nation” refers to a group of people having common origin and characteristics (Parker, 1998: 60).
According to Joseph Stalin “a nation is a historically formed stable community of people arising on the basis of common language, common territory, common economic life, and a typical cast of mind manifested in common culture.” (In Postiglione, 1995: 60)
The modern Greece is one of the better examples of a nation-state. The people rebelled against the Ataman Empire in early ninetieth century and Greece came into existence as a result of the general revolt against the externally imposed cultural identity (H.C. Darby in Parker, 1998: 69). Similarly, Hungary is an example of a state which played significant role in the formation of a nation. Inside Hungary, there were several non-Hungarian speaking regions. Efforts were made to introduce Hungarian language all over Hungary and also make the place of the people of Hungarian nationality important as well as effective (Parker, 1998: 69).
In reality, in the formation of a nation-state, the feeling of common bond among a large section of people and threat of foreign aggression or suppression play major roles. On the other hand, state-nations make one of the most influential nationality or a custom group as a means to establish control over the larger region. Then, they create environment to evolve new set of cultural values. On the long run, a new nation may emerge through this process. This type of nation, generally, identifies and aligns with the state. Hence, the state implements the new identity as a common one in the entire territory it has established sovereign control (Parker, 1998: 69-70)
The state-nations have attained successes in maintaining control over the territory when the core nation has its spread all over the state, it is powerful economically and it has a larger size of population. The examples include Britain, France and Spain. If the core nation is either weak or has no spread, the success of the state-nation becomes difficult. Yugoslavia is one of the fine examples of failure. The relation between nation and state broke down immediately after the ideological basis of communism collapsed.
In reality, the most effective structural relationship is seen between state and nation (Parker, 1998: 69-72). The national identity is a dynamic phenomenon and never remains static. The identity evolves gradually in response to internal and external developments in a longer period of time (Lynch, 1999: 1).
As the thinking was that the establishment of states would be on the basis of a nation, the world organization formed after First World War was named as “League of Nations”. After the Second World War, the institution was revived as “United Nations Organization.” Therefore, the word “nation” was commonly used in place of a “country” or “state”.
In the present context, the idea of formation and continuation of a nation-state have raised several questions. Leaving out the death and destruction during the two Great Wars, the battles in course of establishing nation-states have been the major causes for the loss of lives
and property. In the contemporary world, the concept of nation-state sounds an idea having no future. Now, the influence of transnational corporations, the obligations resulting through the contractual arrangements between states, globalization of information and information technology and the enhanced aspirations for local self-governance have been raising questions on the power and capacities of nation-states (Castells, 1997: 243-308). Therefore, from now on, the political movements may not have nation-state as their goal. The future is that of multinational states or state-nations which may have the collaboration and partnership of more than one nationality.
In Nepal, the Rana government, first time, used the term “nation” in its “Nepal Government Constitutional Act – 2004 V.S”. In that Act, there was the provision for two chambers of the nominated legislature. Among them, the upper chamber was named as “National Assembly.” This was the beginning of the use of the word “nation” in the constitutional and legal context. In the political arena, Nepali Congress used the word, first time, during its first incarnation. The political organization which they formed in Varanasi in India was named as “Nepali National Congress.” B. P. Koirala, leader of Nepali Congress, has stated:
“We were working as Nepali National Congress and they were working as Nepali Democratic Congress. …. At Kolkata convention, Nepali Congress was formed by merging Nepali National Congress (the committee formed by the cadre in Varanasi) and Nepali Democratic Congress (the committee formed by the cadres in Kolkata. (Koirala, 2055 V.S.: 42, 109.)
Indeed, the word “nation” was used as synonyms of “all”, “country” or “state”. Further, the naming of the group might be influenced by the name of the Indian political party, called “Indian National Congress.” The idea is supported by B. P. Koirala’s interview dated June 24, 1971. In his famous but most controversial interview with the “Sunday” magazine, he has said that Nepal has not become a nation-state, it is only an administrative unit (in Tamang, 2054 V.S.: 13). This is the partially true. Nepal has not become a nation-state even today. But, saying that it is just an administrative unit, does not reflect the reality. Nepal is a sovereign united national state. The Communist Party of Nepal, in its first Manifesto, has stated:
“Many feudal lords ruled Nepal during the time of Malla dynasty. Since 1769, Nepal has been a centralized feudal state ruled by Ranas and their collaborators” (Rawal, 2047 V.S.: 172)
Of course, Nepal had not been a nation-state as rightly said by B. P. Koirala and it was a centralized feudal state as stated by the Communist Party of Nepal. The first proposition is still valid, but the change in the society has resulted in changing the nature of the state.
The Communist party of Nepal has used the terms such as “nation”, “national interest” etc. in its Manifesto and some other occasions. But, these terms also are used as the synonyms of “state” or “country” or “all”. In 1951, the Communist Party of Nepal and the Praja Parishad, one of the oldest political parties, formed a “National Democratic United Front.” But, the word “national” was not related to any groups of people. This could be just the expression of influence of the Bengali communists over Nepalese communist leaders as they were residing in Kolkata at that time. In 1963, the Communist Party of Nepal organized its third party congress. In the same year in Moscow, 81 communist and worker’s parties had participated in a conference organized to talk on “National Democracy.” Hence, the Nepalese Communists, in their third congress, christened their program as “National Democracy.” In that congress a 10 point program of national democracy was adopted (Rawal, 2047 V.S.: 183-84). But, the 10 points are related to the transformation of the society and transfer of political power, and they have no direct relation with the issues of nationalities.
In 1952, a new political party, “Nepal Nationalist Gorkha Parishad” was established. Its nationalism was like that of pre-1948 Britain. According to this school of thought the essence of nationalism was the loyalty towards the crown (Enoch Powel in Lynch, 1999: 45). The nationalism of the Gorkha Parishad was guided by the same interpretation. The overall nature of the party was regressive. After the royal take over of 1960, the new rulers distorted the meaning of nationalism by overly using it to meet their narrow political interest.
Indeed, the Hindus who control the state power use nationalism as a means to promote Hindu supremacy. The same is applicable to ordinary Hindus. They believe that they are even more “pure” Hindu-nation than India (John Whelpton in Adams, 1998: 32). This was the expression of Hindu superiority. Therefore, the nationalism of the rulers was the Hindu nationalism. If it had any relation with the nation or the ethic relation, then it was Khas nationalism.
It is important to differentiate between nationalism and patriotism. Since the political change of 1950, nationalism has been in use as a synonym for patriotism. The merger of Sikkim in India, division of Pakistan with Indian interference, and the Indian regional hegemony in political, economic and defense areas, Nepal experienced the depth and intensity of patriotism. The rulers found it appropriate to serve their own interest and propagated as nationalism. This scenario created confusion and in this opportune moment the Khas ultra-nationalism got a cover of Nepalese nationalism. This camouflaged ultra-Khas nationalism created confusion among progressive individuals, thinkers and leaders too. The confusion was so deep that one among the leading thinkers on ethic issues and national equality, Parashuram Tamang also proposed to find out a new concept and definition of Nepalese nationalism (Tamang, 2054: 116). When Nepal is not a nation-state, what is the need of a new concept and definition of Nepalese nationalism?
Modern Nepal has no history of its formation as a federation of several states as that of USA. This is not unified by the colonial power as the case of India. This is not the result of unification of several smaller states. Nepal came into existence as the greater Gorkha theocratic Hindu state. In the course of time, the capital was moved to Kathmandu and the name of the country become popular as Nepal. So, some of the Khas historians try to glorify this whole process as “national unification”. But, this fact should not negate the reality that the feudal principalities, which were not capable to maintain their independence, vanished. In that age, this was a normal and natural phenomenon. The Nepalese state, which exists today, is the result of the same phenomenon. Therefore, glorifying the feudal theocratic military campaign as “national unification movement” on one side and interpreting this endeavor as Gorkha reactionary military machine’s ruthless attack on the independence of smaller states on the other, both, are the incorrect conclusions.
Nepal is a country of people of several nationalities. The feeling of love of Nepal is nothing other than the Nepalese patriotism. The feeling of such patriotism provides the foundation for a Nepalese identity. The people of several nationalities who reside here may have their special features, and Nepalese patriotism reflects all such features as its own characteristics. The basis of all efforts including any movement, struggle or war directed towards defending the Nepalese sovereignty and territorial integrity is patriotism. Therefore, rather than using the term ‘nationalism’, it would be more realistic and nationality-neutral to use the term ‘patriotism’. If the Nepalese will have to go on war for the defense of their sovereignty that would be a patriotic war and its character would be that of a united national liberation war.
The term “nation” is widely accepted to refer as a country or a state. The use should be continued. In Nepalese context, the word doesn’t reflect the reality if used to refer the people as a whole. There is no Nepalese nation and there is no Nepalese nationalism. This confusion should be cleared. Therefore, what the nationalism today is talked about, in essence, is the patriotism and that should be addressed accordingly. The Nepalese state should be interpreted rightly as a united state of several nationalities. The Khas chauvinists, who talk Nepal as a nation-state, have no future. This conclusion may be contested but the reality is that even in future Nepal will remain as united state of several nationalities. It may not develop as a nation-state rather would evolve as a socialist or nationality-neutral state.
2. Aspirations of Nationalities and Responses of State-Forces: A Brief Review
a. International Arena
The nationalities have been fighting either for cultural autonomy and social justice or for political autonomy or for right to self determination. The first types are primarily the minority nationalities, the second type are residing particularly in clusters and the third type may have both the characters. The entire world is passing through a phase of upheavals caused by the rise of nationalities’ aspirations. Here, some representative cases would be presented. A brief analysis of these cases will help to validate the assumption that the nationality issue has been at the fore front of social contradictions in a large part of the world. China, former Soviet Union, Canada and a few national liberation movements, briefly analyzed below will provide glimpses of the movement and the response of the state forces.
China
The Chinese government is managing the most populous state in the world. Although, 55 minority nationalities reside in China, they have a combined population of 8% or 90 million only. Han, the single largest nationality forms 92% of the population.
Sun Yat Sen had opined that in China there are five nationalities. The Kuomintang party under the leadership of his successor Chang Kai Sek concluded that in China there is just one nationality and every single group is only the branch of Han nationality. In its second party convention in 1922, the Communist Party of China had supported the Leninist policy of establishing republics for national minorities. In principle, these republics could be independent if they desired so. The Kuomintang Party’s manifesto which was written by Sun Yat Sen in 1924, states that “Kuomintang declares that it recognizes the right to self determination of all nationalities. After the success of the anti imperialist and anti-warlord revolution a United Chinese Republic (independent federation of all nationalities) will be established. The Communist Party of China had supported this policy (Mao Tse-Tung, 1966: 104). In its 6th Party convention held in July 1928, the Communist Party included the provision of unification of China and recognized the right to self determination of nationalities in its 10-points program (Mao Tse-Tung, 1969: 303). But, in 1935 the party dropped the provision of right to self determination stating that that was not appropriate to Chinese condition and proposed regional autonomous rule. In the constitution promulgated after the capture of state power by the communists in 1949, the Chinese republic was described as a great fraternal cooperative family of all nationalities (Postiglione, 1995: 259-279).
The national minorities in China have different types of spread. In Tibet, the Tibetans form 90% of the population, whereas in Inner Mangolian autonomous region, the population of Mongolians is just 20%. Although, the Hui nationality has an autonomous region, they are spread all over the country. Hui and Manchu Nationalities have no language of their own and speak Mandarin, a Han language. Other several nationalities have their own languages. Some nationalities have different mother tongues. For instance, people of Jingpo nationality have more languages and some of them are quite different. Some nationalities are multi-lingual. Mangolian and Manchu had ruled over China for centuries. Korean, Russian, Kajakh, Kirghiz and Tajiks are the majority nationalities in China’s neighboring countries. In this way, the nationality composition in China is complex.
After capturing the power at the center, the government led by the Chinese Communist Party appealed the people to enlist their nationalities. In response to the government call, more than 400 groups submitted their claim as a distinct nationality. After investigation, the government accepted to recognize 55 nationalities. Although, language, dress and custom of several groups were distinctly different, they were considered as a branch of a specific nationality. After finalizing the issue of nationalities, still there were more than seven million people whose nationality could not be determined.
There are 5 autonomous regions, 31 autonomous prefectures, 105 autonomous counties, 141 autonomous areas and 3000 nationality townships in China. At the central level, the Nationality Committee of the National People’s Congress and the Nationality Commission under the Council of State (central government) have been assigned the responsibilities on nationality affairs. “The regional autonomy for national minority act -1984″ had specified the provisions of autonomous institutions and their rights, central government assistance for the training and capacity building and establishing and strengthening relations on the basis of socialism among nationalities. The policy on nationalities is stated as “one state, multi-nationality policy” or “policy of political integration with cultural diversities”. There are four policy themes on nationalities in the drive of Chinese modernization. They are – social equality, economic development, cultural autonomy and national integration (Postiglione, 1995: 259-279). But, these attempts have not been enough to solve the Tibetan issue. Similarly, the sate failed to prevent the unfortunate happenings of Kazakhs’ migration in a big number to former Soviet Union in 1962. Also, the government is blamed for promoting the large scale migration of majority Hans in the minority’s ancestral land. Therefore, the national question in China has far from been resolved.
Former Soviet Union
Russian empire came into existence through the battles of several centuries against many non-Russian nationalities. After capturing political power by launching a successful revolution in 1917, the Soviet communists (Bolsheviks) had to concentrate in three priority issues. They were – 1) face resistance launched by reactionaries against newly established socialist state, 2) fight against the attack of western capitalist forces led by the Americans in the west and Japanese in the east, and 3) solve the problems of non-Russian nationalities. The Soviet communists got success to solve the first two issues by the middle of 1920′s but failed to find out a satisfactory solution of the problems of non-Russian nationalities ( Chorbajian, 1995: 227). During the period of turmoil originated due to the First World War, Bolshevik revolution and the attack of the western powers after the revolution, some nationalities got opportunity to declare independence from Russia. Some of them established their own nation-state. Finland was one among them. During this period, for a while (about one year), Georgia, Armenia, Ajarbaijan, Belarus, Ukren and Crimea also enjoyed independence. Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia stayed independent during the period between two great wars. In the initial years, the Bolsheviks had proposed federal system on the basis of regional divisions. Their understanding was that the regional structures will be nationality neutral. The class conscious will be the sole basis for the formation of the regions. But, they changed the policy immediately as they had to listen to the voices of the nationalities. The Bolsheviks afterward took stand in favor of political and cultural autonomy. The right to self determination and secession were granted to the minority nationalities (Postiglione, 1995: 259-279).
For the major national minorities, socialist republics such as Ukren, Ajharbaijan etc had been established. Small national minorities had their sub-republics within the republics including Russia. The republics had their own national flags, national song, national anthem, political parties and legislatures. The republics with many qualities of an independent state provided foundation for strengthening the bond of nationalism. Several political parties came into existence due to the feeling of nationalism. Armenian National Integration Party established in 1966 is one of the examples. The Helsinki Watch Committee in Georgia had been organizing demonstrations since 1977 for the promotion of language and its history. The Soviet authorities proposed a constitutional amendment to make Russian as official language also in Georgia in 1978. There were several protest demonstrations against this amendment all over Georgia. The proposal was forced to drop. In 1988 another attempt had been made by the Soviet authorities to curtail the autonomy of republics. Protest movements were organized in several places against the proposed constitutional amendments. It was widely believed that the amendments would curtail the sovereignty and power of the republics. The students sat on hunger strikes. From this agitation the Georgian independence movement became intense and the slogan that “Georgia belongs to Georgians” became the battle cry. The same type of incidents and movements began to appear in Baltic region too. The nationalist movements created new waves also in the central Asian republics. The Kazakh’s demonstration of 1986, their decision to prohibit nuclear tests in Kazakhstan, the establishment of a political organization called Birlik in Ujbekistan and their demand for Uzbek independence, the Tajik demonstration of 1989 and the Kirghiz’s demonstrations of 1989 for independence and sovereignty were the expansion and replication of the Georgian movement (Chorbajian, 1995: 227-254). As a result of all these independence movements, the Soviet Union disintegrated and the republics got their sovereign statehood in 1991.
Canada
Canada has become a puzzle of the right to self determination. The French, British and Dutch colonialists were busy grabbing the North American territories during 17th century. The French colonialists established their control over Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and called it New France. Britain captured New France in 1760. Britain organized the territory under a council in 1763. The British made English language compulsory in all businesses of the council. The French speaking people of Quebec opposed this arrangement. In 1774 through Quebec Act, the French Civil Law got recognition in Quebec. By introducing a new constitutional act, Britain divided Quebec into two provinces – Lower Canada and Upper Canada. Lower Canada covered more or less the same territory what is called Quebec today and Upper Canada had covered the territory which is called Ontario today. The Canadian independence movement started in 1837-38 developed to the level of armed confrontation. The movement was suppressed. In 1840, Britain proposed the formation of a federation constituting both parts of Canada. As a result Canadian state came into existence in 1867. Immediately after this, effort was made to form a federation with a single legislature covering the area from Nova Scotia in the east to British Columbia in the west. The French speaking people of Quebec opposed the proposed federation. Finally, provinces with a higher level of autonomy were established and Canadian federal state came into existence as their union. The central government had the economic and repressive rights whereas the provinces had rights over natural resources. They had been granted autonomy to formulate cultural and social policies and to implement them. But, the division of rights between center and provinces could not establish amicable relationship, rather they opposition each other even more. The Acadians, Métis and Canadian natives also started to raise questions about their rights.
More than 80% people speak French as their mother tongue in Quebec. Therefore, French language has become the major factor in the Quebec national movement. In 1960s, the French-Canadians developed as a new nation. The formation of the new nation was the result of a protracted nationalist movement started during the early years of 20th century. Due to the rising feeling of French-Canadian (Quebec) nationalism, the Party Quebecois won the majority seats in the provincial legislature. After coming to power the party put forward its opinion in favor of sovereign Quebec. A referendum in 1980 organized by the provincial government did not endorse the proposal of sovereign Quebec. Only 40% people voted in favor of independence.
Canada had had a colonial constitutional provision and under this provision any change in Canadian constitution could be effective only after the endorsement of British Privy Council. The strange provision was taken out by the new constitutional law in 1982. The new constitution provisioned several rights to the provinces. Such rights also could not satisfy Quebec as it was asking for a special status. More importantly, the provincial government was still in favor of sovereign Quebec. The French speaking people of Quebec believe that they can protect themselves against being assimilated in English speaking Canada if they can establish their own sovereign state (Bourque, 1995: 213).
The Mitch Lake agreement signed in 1987 recognized Quebec as a distinct society and proposed amendment in the constitution. According to Canadian constitution, the amended clauses could be implemented if all provinces accept the amendments. Manitoba did not agree with the change in the constitution. So, the provisions could not be implemented.
The pro-independence political party called Party Quebecois came to power again in the province in 1994. As promised, the new provincial government organized another referendum. But, this time also it was rejected by a thin margin of less than one percent. Although, the proposal has been rejected second time, there is no sign of resolution of the issue. As long as no satisfactory solution is found for the people of Quebec and indigenous Canadian nationalities the movement may continue.
Some major national liberation movements
Irish movement is one among the most prominent and sustained movement for national liberation. A violent struggle had started in Ireland in 1641 against the emigrants from England and Scotland. More particularly, after the introduction of “The Act of Union” in 1801 that annexed Ireland in Great Britain, the protest movement took shape as a movement for the right of national self determination of Irish people. In the course of the protest movement a political party called Sinn Fein came into existence in 1905. The party demanded establishment of an independent Ireland. The movement continued. Ireland was divided into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland in 1920. Independence was granted just for the Southern Ireland in 1949 (Orr, 1995: 159-160). But, Northern Ireland with a catholic majority continued the struggle to establish a unified Irish republic.
The Basque movement in Spain is another European nationalist movement with a long history. The Basque people who speak Euskera language demanded an independent nation-state and launched a movement in 1894. General Franco tried to eliminate everything which could be related to collective Basque identity. He used excessive force against Basque people after capturing power (Letamendia, 1995: 180-196). Once again, the Basques got reorganized during 1960s and the struggle is continuing.
Puerto Rico was a Spanish colony befor America attacked and captured it in 1898. The Puerto Ricans started independence movement in 1904 and the anti-America movement is continuing. The Spanish speaking people participated in a referendum in 1991 to determine the status of Puerto Rico. But it failed to resolve the problem (Carrion, 1995: 133-153). The Puerto Ricans have not been succumbing to American might. Also, the American hyper-power is not willing to listen to the Puerto Ricans.
The Palestine movement for nationhood is one of the longest movements in history. From 16th century to the First World War, Palestine was under the control of Ataman Empire. During the rule of Atamans, the Jews residing in Palestine were treated badly. They were discriminated and they had no other way than to come together politically. The Jews started provocative actions against the Palestinian Muslims and the Muslims also become politically aware that they also should be united (Welty, 1995: 15-16). The British colonial control after the First World War created favorable environment to establish a Jewish state of Israel, but the Palestinians had been denied the same right and still they do not have their homeland. The armed conflict between Jews and Palestinians which started in 1920 is still going on after passing through the phases of devastations of four wars in the Middle East.
According to Abdul Rahman Ghassemlon the area of Kurd inhabitance is spread over 409, 650 Squire Kilometers. And, Ferdinand Henebichler has estimated the Kurd population about 22 million. The Kurdish territory has been captured in pieces by Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria (in Ibrahim, 1995: 36). The Kurd defeated by Ataman in the 16th century came under the rule of the British and the French colonial powers in the beginning of the 20th century. After the colonialists disappeared from the Kurdish territory, the states mentioned above controlled their land by making several pieces.
Sheikh Mahmud Barjanzi, a resident of southern Kurdistan, declared himself as the ruler of Kurdistan in 1918. This was the beginning of the present Kurdish national independence movement. Similarly, the independence movement in the area controlled by Persia (Iran) also got impetus. After crushing the movement for sometimes, a conference was organized in 1921 in Cairo. The conference annexed southern Kurdistan to Iraq (Ibrahim, 1995: 39). The Kurds are fighting to establish a sovereign Kurdish nation-state. They are not successful till today but they have not been defeated either.
Besides the movements mentioned above the struggle between black and white in South Africa, between Hutu and Tutsis in Rwanda, between Eritrean and Ethiopians and Christians in the south and Muslims in the north of Sudan are the African battles. In Afghanistan, the Sunni majority Taliban and minorities under the banner of Northern Alliance are fighting. Indeed, the world history is full of struggles of nationalities.
b. South Asia Region
None of the South-Asian state is a nation-state. These states are the federation of different nationalities. They are passing through a process of building state-nations. Therefore, the entire region is full of national, ethnic, religious and local conflicts. In the context of such conflicts, a brief discussion would help to understand the future course, the region might venture into.
India is not only largest in size among the south Asian states but also it inhabits largest number of nationalities and ethnic groups. Although, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telagu, Kannad, Marathi, Gujrati, Rajasthani, Panjabi, Urdu, Udiya, Bengali, Nepali and Asami are the major languages, there are hundreds of other. In 1920, the Indian National Congress proposed the reorganization of provinces on the basis of language. The reorganization was basically completed by 1960 (Gupta, 1995: 82-83). With this arrangement, many smaller linguistic groups and nationalities were not satisfied. Some major nationalities too, were not happy staying as part of India and started to lunch struggles for independence. The Nagas, Mizos, Assamies, Manipuries etc. fall under this category. The minority nationalities in several provinces raised their voices for national autonomy. The Bodoland, Gorkhaland and Jharkhand movements are some of the examples. The Indian government is following a policy of either co-option or suppression of such movements. The co-opted ones include the movement of Assam Gana Parishad, Mizo National Liberation Front and the suppressed ones include the Kashmiri independence movement, Khalistani movement in Punjab, United People’s Liberation Front’s movement in Assam and Naga United Socialist Council’s movement in Nagaland. Even during the independence movement, India was facing such situation and the same trend is continuing. The proponents of “Akhand Bharat” (undivided India) are not only launching an ultra-rightist Hindu chauvinistic campaign, they even succeeded in capturing part of the state power in the center and provinces. These developments are contributing negatively towards enhancing the feeling of antagonism among nationalities and disturbing communal harmony in India.
Pakistan had to face the problem of partition due to its failure to bringing equity among different nationalities and linguistic groups. As a result of inequity, Bangladesh came into existence in 1971. Pakistan was formed on the basis of religion. But the same was not enough to keep it united. Even today, among Panjabi, Sindhi, Mohajeer, Baluch and Pakshtuns the relations are full of contradictions and distrust. The Punjabis have a greater control over the bureaucracy. Their numerical presence in the army and civil bureaucracy out numbers other nationalities. The refugees settled in Karachi who came from India during the time of partition in 1947, are in a fighting mood against the Sindhis. The Sindhis consider themselves treated unfairly by the Punjabis in regard to their role in governance. The Baluch and pakshtuns talk about autonomy and have organized political movements. The Pakshtuns, once, raised the flag of united Pakshtunistan. No serious attempt has been made in Pakistan to address the grievances of different nationalities and it has not done enough to establish a functionally federal system of governance (Mallic, 1998: 155).
In Bangladesh, the Hindu population is ever declining. In 1951, in East Pakistan (today’s Bangladesh) the population of Hindus was 22%. Their percentage decreased to 12.1 and 10.5 in 1981 and 1991 respectively. During the period between 1981 and 1991 alone 1.7 million Hindus disappeared. A good number among them might have fled to India (Harry Blair in Mallic, 1998: 178-179). The Chakmas, a Buddhists nationality, waged war against the government forces in the Chitagaon hills. Many of the Chakmas fled to India as refugees. The indigenous Chakmas were 90.91% in 1951 in the area, whereas their percentage declined to 59.16 in 1991 (Aditya Kumar in Mallic, 1998: 178-181). The migration of Bengalis to the hills created difficulties for the indigenous people. Their resources, culture and means of livelihood have been at constant threat.
Sri Lanka, one of the most developed countries in South Asia, is facing a worst civil war. Sinhalese and Tamils are 74 and 18 percent of the population respectively. In 1956, the Sinhalese majority imposed the Official Language Act, which provided superior position for Sinhali language. This act not only alienated the people of other linguistic groups and nationalities but also hurt them. The “Tamil Language Special Provision Act – 1958″ was introduced to assuage the hurt feelings of the Tamils. To some extent, this Act helped the reconciliation process and cordiality between the two linguistic groups but could not succeed to restore the relation as it was in the past. Once again, in the beginning of the 1970′s, the government made Sinhali as the only official language. This step nullified the previous attempts made to bring the nationalities together. The result was terrifying. The civil war of unprecedented scale is its evidence. Although, too much blood has already been shed, the resolution of the conflict has not been attained. The war is continuing.
In Bhutan, the Dukpa rule has brought misery to Nepali speaking people of southern region. Now, more than 90,000 Nepali speaking Bhutanese have been living in the refugee camps in eastern Nepal (AI, 1998). The misery begun in 1958 when Bhutan’s National Council passed a resolution calling the Nepali speaking people as “Lhotshampa” (the southerners) and making a mandatory provision for them to reapply for citizenship. It was a strange provision. The provision created identity crisis for the Lhotshampas. The people, who have been residing for centuries, even before the establishment of Wangchuk dynasty in 1907, faced all sorts of suppression and humiliation. Under the banner of “one nation, one culture”, the government initiated ethnic cleansing campaign. The state attacked non-Dukpa culture. For this purpose a state structure was created. This was called “National Council for Social and Cultural Affairs”. After the creation of this structure, Dzonghka, the mother tongue of less than 16% people, was made the official language. The Sarchop and Lhotshampas are 31% and 52% of the population respectively and they have their own traditional dresses. But the rulers imposed a uniform dress code for all the Bhutanese. The Dukpa dress was imposed to all non-Dukpas too. It was made mandatory that all women should wear “Kira” and men “Ghoh”, which are the traditional Dukpa dresses. (NSEC-ICLD, 1992: 7, 144, Himal, 1992: 7-39). The cultural dictates gave birth to a resistance movement. The Bhutanese government tried to suppress. As a result, many people had to flee from their own country. The political parties like Druk National Congress and United Front for Democracy are fighting for establishing democracy in Bhutan. They are strongly protesting against the government’s ethnic cleansing program. The people of Bhutan are continuing their struggle to restore democracy and to solve the problems faced by the suppressed nationalities.
Nepal is also no different. The ancient Bharatbarsha or the Aryabarta was the source of the inhuman caste system and several other unjust social codes. The descendants of the Aryabartiya Aryans or the Hindu Bahun-Chhetris are the sole importer of the infamous caste system in Nepal. The Khas nationality is a highbred of these Aryas and the Aidi Khas Aryas of Karnali region. The same Khas overpowered the indigenous inhabitants – the Kirats. Gradually, by using their military might and cultural invasion, the Khas succeeded to establish cultural, political and economic control in the area. But, this act also created an environment for resistance movement from other nationalities. Their feeling of injustice and subjugation got expression in the forms of protests and rebellions. Therefore, Nepal is also like a store house of explosives in regard to the question of nationalities.
The Kashmir problem has not been resolved. India and Pakistan have already fought wars on this issue. This has been seen as a flashpoint which could jeopardize world peace. India and Pakistan, both, have earned bad names for poverty, underdevelopment and corruption and both of them possess nuclear arsenal. India has been heavily influenced by Hindu ultras and in Pakistan, religious fundamentalism is ever increasing. In both the countries, the system of governance has been effectively influenced by these religious ultras. This situation has heavily restricted the progress, prosperity and development of the entire region.
The brief analysis above reveals that the South Asia region is one among the volcanic areas in regard to nationalities’ problems. Such problems have not only disturbed the peace within a country, rather it has been fueling intra-country conflicts as well.
c. Nepalese Amphitheatre
Nepal has witnessed a long history of struggles and cohabitation of different nationalities. The Kathmandu invasion of the Lichchhivies was the start point. Another struggle was between Khasan principality a Khas feudal state and Magarat, a Mangolkirat state. The Khas took control of Magarat and established their 24 princely states. Gorkha was one among these princely states which succeed to establish a greater Hindu Khas state by invading and merging the smaller feudal states. King Prithvinarayan Shah was the leader of this military endeavor. Prayagraj Sharma has said that King Prithvinarayan and his successors had taken four principles for the campaign of establishing a greater feudal state. They are – unquestionable power and authority of Hindu king of Gorkha, superior status of Hindu system in national life, social integration on the basis of Varnabyabastha (caste system) and recognition of Nepali language for all official purpose (Sharma, 1992: 7).
The greater Gorkha feudal state, which was called Nepal afterward, was a Khas theocratic state. The state since its inception was actively promoting Hindu religion. The examples include king Prithinarayan’s assertion that the new state was an “Asli Hindustana” (real Hindu homeland), his Royal Order that “every court should have a Bahun as judge” and the deportation of all Newar Christians from Kathmandu valley after he captured it (Tamang, 2056 V.S.: 28).
The war between Gorkha-Khas state and Newar state of Kathmandu was so fierce that it generated hatred and feeling for revenge. As a result, after winning the battle, the Khas army cut noses of Newars of Kirtipur. The hatred is still can be seen between them in several forms of cultural practices. The consequences of the fierce battle had been deeply rooted and they were instrumental in determining the mutual relationships full of suspicions between these two nationalities.
In summary, the Khas feudal rule in Nepal had adopted the following principles to expand and consolidate their rule:
- Hinduism as an ideological basis,
- Creation of social psychology that Khas culture is superior,
- Making Khas Kura (Nepali) compulsory in all official works,
- Expanding Khas control over arable land through the provisions of Birta and Jagir.
These principles were followed religiously. On the long run, Nepal emerged as a strong upper class Hindu theocratic feudal state controlled politically, economically and culturally by the Khas.
The theocratic Hindu Khas state had to face challenges and rebellions from the early days. The war between Kirat principalities of Chaudandi, Hatuwa and Bijayapur and the Gorkha kingdom, called Nepal afterward, was not only a war between sates but that was also a war between nationalities. Some custom groups among Mangolkirats such as Magars and Gurungs have been included in the Khas army. Therefore, some Khas historians try to project this military move as a national unification campaign, whereas the facts speak differently. In 1806, by a Royal Order, the government made it compulsory to send one person from each Gurung household to fight in the war at Kangada. Many Gurungs reached there after covering a long distance. But they had no knowledge of the political reason behind the war (Pignede, 1966: 490). During the early days of Gorkha rule, the local leaders in Majhkirat started a rebellion in 1808. According to Gyanmani Nepal the rebellion was crushed and Atal Rai, Bharat Singh Rai and Kanthbir Rai got capital punishment, whereas other 15 persons got life imprisonment for staging the rebellion (Yakharai, 2053 v.s.: 345). Quoting Harka Gurung, Mahesh Chandra Regmi, Janaklal sharma and Durgahang Rai, Parshuram Tamang states that there had been several rebellions against the Khas rule. Among them the prominent ones include Kirat expulsion of 1770, Tamang and Limbu rebellion of 1793, Lakhan Thapa Magar’s rebellion of 1870 and Supati and Sukdev Gurung’s rebellion of 1877 (Tamang, 2054 v.s.: 122).
For a long time, the Dalits had remained in the situation of hopelessness in relation to their organized effort for national emancipation. Only after the overthrow of Rana dynastic rule in 1951, the Dalits started to raise their voices. National Dalit People’s Uplift Council was among the first Dalit organizations.
The Khas rulers of Kathmandu distributed the fertile land of Terai among their relatives, army and civilian officials, priests, courtiers and servants of royal households. In this way the Khas grabbed the prime land. After a concerted effort to control malaria in the southern region, the Khas land owners either moved to the Terai region or send their Khas cousins to that region. The other hill people also migrated to Terai as the land was fertile. The Khas rulers also promoted the trend of hill people moving to Terai as they were suspicious of patriotism of the Madhesis as they had close socio-cultural links to the other side of the boarder. All this accelerated the process of marginalization of Madhesis. Now, their resource base had been grabbed by the Khas and other hill people, their patriotism questioned and opportunities denied. This helped to alienate the Madhesis further. As a result, they started to organize themselves and raised voice against all sorts of atrocities and inequalities. The Terai Congress was the first Madhesi political party which came into existence raising the problems faced by them.
The mass movement of 1950 was very much based on the aspiration of people to establish democracy in the country and autonomy for the nationalities. This feeling was reflected in the event which had happened when B. P. Koirala, the then home minister at that time, visited Majhkirat. In 1951, B. P. Koirala says:
I saw a crowd of 10 to 12 thousand people the other side (of the river close to Bhojpur Bazar). I had to go. I went by riding a horse. Because it was climbing down, I got down from the back of the horse and walked. I crossed the river by boat. The crowed was highly agitated. We just were in front of the crowd. The Bahuns and Chhetris were afraid of the crowd and had gone underground. The people under the leadership of Bhudev and Thulung were asking for their authority over the area. The voice for self-rule was also raised (Koirala, 2055 v.s.: 163).
The Mangolkirats were asking for autonomy under the leadership of Kirat leaders Bhudev Rai and Naradmuni Thulung. The Khas (Bahuns and Chhetris) of the area were very much apprehensive and had been hiding. Although, the movement subsided that time but it reappeared. In 1970, the Kirat leaders revived the demand by distributing pamphlets and appealing the Kiratis to come out against Tagadharis (Bahuns and Chhetris or the Khas).
During the 1980′s, organizations like “SeTaMaGuRaLi” (Association of Sherpa, Tamang, Magar, Gurung, Rai, and Limbus) appeared in semi underground form. Limbuvan Liberation Front came into existence by raising the slogan of autonomy for Limbuvan. Similarly, Khambuvan Liberation Front, Magar Liberation Front, Mangol National Organization, Newar National Organization etc were formed. The Madhesi political Party – Terai Congress reappeared with a new name as Nepal Sadbhavana Parishad (Nepal Goodwill Council) which changed its name after 1990 when the ban on political parties lifted and became Nepal Sadbhavana Party. People of Mangolkirat nationality formed several political parties. They include Rastriya Jana Mukti Party (National People’s Liberation Party), Nepal Jana Party (Nepal People’s Party), Jana Mukti Morcha, Nepal (People’s Liberation Front, Nepal). They started demanding political rights and equity for nationality in power and opportunities. The Dalits also came together under a political umbrella called “Nepal Dalit Shramik Morcha” (Nepal Dalit worker’s Front). Hence, Nepal became the new play field of several political and nationality organizations giving hope and providing opportunity for new initiatives. As byproducts of the democracy movement, several cultural organizations emerged or reorganized or expanded or strengthened more particularly during 1980s and 1990s.[8]
After the formation of Nepal Federation of Nationalities, it has been playing the role of a cultural-organizational backbone of the oppressed nationalities. The newly established think- tank called “Janajati Vikash Samanwaya Kendra” (Coordination Center for the Uplift of Nationalities) has been meaningfully participating in research pertaining to finding out solutions to the problems of nationalities.
Indeed, the history is to be rewritten focusing not on the autobiography of kings and their courtiers, but on the political, social and economic processes of the society. This will help to understand the basis of the relations among nationalities. This process also will help to reinterpret the role of social classes in right perspective (Tamang, 2054 v.s.: 112). Unfortunately, the autobiographies of the kings and their relatives, their luxuries and adventures are called history today. These fantasies should be replaced by the real socio-political and economic documentation of the past in the form of history.
The democracy movement of 1990 created new hopes and aspirations for independence and liberation among the oppressed classes, communities, groups and nationalities. The movements and organizations discussed above are the expressions of such aspirations. But, the absence of moral and ethical character among the mainstream parliamentary political parties, their misconducts, corruption, and price hike of essential commodities beyond the purchasing power of ordinary citizens and the insensitive cultural policies and practices of the government frustrated the people deeply. The continuation of the previous constitutional provision of declaring Nepal a Hindu kingdom, the continuation of the prohibitory Hindu practices in regard to eating code, more particularly, restriction in eating beef, making Sanskrit a compulsory subject for study in the school curriculum, broadcasting news on Sanskrit and continuing hour-long Hindu religious program in the state run radio, prohibition of the use of nationalities’ languages in the local government bodies by the supreme court etc created environment for further alienation of non-Khas nationalities.
To garner popular support through the distributions of some cosmetics, in 1998, the government gave birth to a structure called “Rastriya Janajati Vikash Samiti” (National Committee for Uplift of nationalities). The structure has been an instrument to make some of the honest leaders of oppressed nationalities running after the ministers and the departments in several ministries. The committee will never work for fundamentally changing the relations among nationalities and transforming them as just and equal. Rather, the committee is deeply involved in production of a new “Directory of Surnames and custom groups”. The task of compiling a list of 61 (Janajati, 2056 v.s.: 122-123) so-called Janajatis (nationalities) is just the proof of its irrelevance. The need was to find out the resolution of the Khas domination, whereas it is compiling a makes-no-sense list. It is strange that some of the well known and honest leaders of the oppressed nationalities, scholars and activists also are trying to milk this he-buffalo. The committee, which has no teeth, no jurisdiction and depends on the wish of a minister for its composition and survival, will not contribute in finding out any resolution. Indeed, the committee which is suffering from scabies from its inception, will keep busy to those who come closer to it in the work of gently massaging its scabies affected skin. As it is said, every cloud has its silver lining, at the maximum, the committee could be pressurized to use its resources for some research and publication. The example includes the publication of the journal called “Janajati”. But, everybody should be clear that such acts of marginal impact will not resolve the complex issue of Khas domination. Indeed, the government is not honest, and has not shown any commitment and political will to resolve the issues related to social justice and equity.
As stated in Chapter Three above, Khas in Nepal is the oppressor nationality. It has been seen in areas of exercise of power and the monopoly in utilization of opportunities. The others have been forced to have an identity of oppressed nationality. The exceptions are the Newars. They are also oppressed culturally, but they enjoy the same privileges in regard to access of opportunities.
In summary, one of the major social contradictions in Nepal is related to Khas chauvinism. The Khas are on one side and the other nationalities are on the other. Therefore, together with Hindu patriarchal social codes, Khas chauvinism has been responsible for all sorts of evils, dominations, grievances and social conflicts. If the feeling of derivation and injustice will not get a peaceful resolution, it could take a violent course.
d. Major Nepalese Political Parties: Awareness and Actions
Nepalese political parties differ in their approaches in regard to issues of nationalities and prescribe solutions as per their own political philosophy, theoretical stand and class base. Some of the parties even lack basic understanding of the issue, a few others talk about some leap services in a very generic way and a few others have a good grasp of the problem. The difference reflects the degree of awareness among the political parties and also has been influenced by their nationality base and class interest. Therefore, a brief assessment of their basic stand on the issue will be helpful in finding out the solution and recommending strategies.
Nepali Congress
Nepali Congress is one of the oldest parties and is also one among the largest with a history of long struggle. But, all the time and on most of the fundamental issues, making ad hoc arrangements has become the lifeline of the Congress party. Other than talking about constitutional monarchy and multiparty democracy, the party has no strategic political theme. In ritualistic manner, the party also mentions “democratic socialism” in its official documents. Its strengths include the charisma of some of its leaders and the flexibility it allows to the cadres. From saintly workers to political thugs and from liberal democrats to diehard conservatives, all enjoy life and act as they desire within the party structure. The functioning style of the party makes it a joint front rather than a political party. Now, when peace in Nepal has been disturbed, the party claims that it will work to bring peace in the society back. But, when it was in power it used brutal force to quell violent movement led by the Maoists. The inequalities, injustices and inhuman social codes prevailing in the society have made the people restless and the tranquility has been disturbed. The absolute peace without addressing the fundamental issues originating to major contradistinctions is impossible to attain and Nepali Congress is busy in this impossible political business. Therefore, it is not in a position which could play the role of a vanguard in transforming the society. The party is advocating for quantitative changes and that is its limitation.
The composition of the leadership of Nepali Congress is heavily dominated by Khas. In 1959, there were 18 members in its central committee. Among them, there were 11 Khas, 3 Mangolkirats, 2 Madhesis and 2 Newars (Gupta, 1964: 285). In 1999, the percentage of Khas in the central committee was 71 (See Table – 9 in Chapter Three above) which is 10 percent higher than the 61% in 1959. This trend reflects the widening gap.
In its Election Manifesto, the party had raised non-transformational and non-critical issues related to nationalities in 1959. They are as following:
- Nepali will be recognized as national language and other languages will get support to develop.
- Guarantee of religious freedom and protection to people’s religious beliefs and practices.
- Abolition of Birta system on land (donated land to Bahuns), Jamindari (feudal lordship) and system of feudal princely privileges.
(Gupta, 1964: 144)
In its Election Manifesto published in the General Election of 1999, the party has included some of the conventional proposals with addition of some cosmetics. They are summarized in the following points:
- Establish cultural centers which will give expression to cultural characteristics of different nationalities.
- Religious freedom.
- Establish an independent council to conduct research and protect as well as promote the knowledge, skill, art and culture of indigenous people and nationalities.
- Table a Bill for reasonable representation for the Dalits in the process of political decision making and for their overall development.
- Provide proper representation to Dalits and marginalized sections of people in different level of the party organization.
- Establish an independent council for uplift of Dalits.
- Provision of scholarship and training for Dalits.
(Nepali Congress, 2056 v.s.)
The proposals mentioned above do not raise the fundamental problems the oppressed nationalities are facing. There are no transformational agenda to create a new society based on partnership of different nationalities. Simply, these provisions mentioned above offer nothing mare than the superficial remedies. Therefore, the party either is in the cloud of confusion and ignorance or by design it is trying to mislead the people.
Rastrabadi Gorkha Parishad/Rastria Prajatantra Party (RPP)
Although, Rastriya Prajatantra party is not a direct descendant of Rastrabadi Gorkha Parishad organizationally, but it inherits the political philosophy and program thrust. Both, talk about nationalism loudly and they represent overtly or covertly the interest of the palace. Also, they represent the same section of the upper class. In its first incarnation the party had 11 Khas, 4 Mangolkirats and 1 Madhesi in its central committee in 1959 (Gupta 1964: 285). The Election Manifesto of 1959 had included the following agenda related to nationalities.
- Support monarchy as inseparable part of Nepalese culture.
- Religious freedom.
- Attention to overlooked districts of Terai.
(Gupta, 1964: 144).
In its second incarnation as Rastriya Prajapantra Party, it had twin organizational set ups – RPP and RPP (Chand) at the time of General Election in 1999. Therefore, the main points related to nationalities are summarized separately.
RPP
- Stopping discriminations against Madhesis.
- Recognition of languages of nationalities.
- Finding out solutions within constitutional framework.
- High regard to constitutional monarchy.
- Uplift of Dalits and backward sections.
(Khanal, 2056 v.s.: 11-18)
RPP (Chand)
- Safeguarding national interest in Mahakali, Kalapani etc.
- Strengthening constitutional provisions.
- Uplift of Madhesis, Janajatis (read Mangolkirats), indigenous people and Dalits.
- Equal treatment to the languages, culture and literature of all nationalities.
(Khanal, 2056 v.s.: 11-18)
The issues what RPP’s have raised simply revel their indifference on fundamental social issues of oppressed nationalities. Either they overlook the issues entirely or raise the non-critical issues only.
Communist Party of Nepal (CPN)
Since its establishment, the Communist party of Nepal has not been raising issues of nationalities in a conscious way that makes change happening. In its third convention organized in 1962, the party in its program of “National Democracy”, stated in its 7th point that the languages, literatures and cultures of different nationalities will get support to develop (Rawal, 2047 v.s. 184). The party was influenced by the generalization of the understanding that the solution of class issues will solve all other social issues.
The central committee elected in the second party convention had 12 Khas, 4 Newars and 1 Madhesi (Gupta, 1964: 286). The Khas had dominated (71%) in the leadership heavily.
The party experienced several divisions. Mostly, it had splits and a few times some of its splinter groups also had merged. Now, there two communist schools in Nepal – the follower of parliamentary path and the practitioners of armed struggle.
The Communist Parties which follow the parliamentary path include the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist – Leninist), the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist – Leninist) and Nepal Worker’s and Peasant’s Party. Although, these parties differ in the use of jargons, fundamentally they take the same position on nationalities. Their general pattern of behaviors can be summarized on the following three points:
- Beam confusing signals and sell jargons: Either these parties are in a state of severe confusion or are under the disguised influence of Khas interests. They pretend as friends of oppressed nationalities and have opened wholesale shops of pro-oppressed nationality jargons without making any attempt to address the complex issues of social justice and equity. On uplift of nationalities, languages, religion and culture, the statement of the Marxist – Leninist faction of the Communist Party of Nepal serves as wonderful example of such behavior. The statement states “The feelings of nationalism would be strengthened by emphasizing on national unity, communal harmony and equality. Fight against the forces which promote divisions in the name of nationality, language, religion and region and strengthen the feeling of nationalism on the basis of eternal unity of nationalities, languages, religions and cultures. On the districts where feasible, autonomy with the right to self determination will be implemented on the basis of nationality and geographical composition, diversities and local characteristics (CPN-ML, 2055 v.s.: 39). The above statement does not accurately say what the party will do but beams confusing lights for all of them – who are in favor of ultra Nepalese nationalism based on ‘eternal unity’; who support right to self determination and who stand for autonomy based on nationality or geographical region. One can imagine that this statement includes the threat of force and distribution of a slice of apple pie to everybody, but nobody can say what the party will exactly mean. Perhaps, only the party knows. In such business, the other two parties also are holding a good number of shares.
- Words for oppressed and deeds for dominants: All these parties talk loudly about multiculturalism. But, the loud talk is one among the cosmetics added in the political phraseology of these parliamentary communists. For example, a text can be reproduced here. The text was finalized to submit at the sixth party convention of the CPN (UML). In the draft proposal on nationality, language, religion and culture, the party says “in the society, the religious discrimination and prejudices still exist. Hinduism has been declared as state religion. It has been receiving favors. Therefore, the believers of other religions are feeling neglected” (CPN-UML, 2054: 14). These are the words for the oppressed. The same party when it was in the power started the broadcast of news in a dead language called Sanskrit for the benefit of Bahuns. The party which accepted that there is religious discrimination neither brought any amendment proposals in the constitution nor tabled any statement of intent in the house in eight long years of its presence in the parliament. Therefore, this is not the commitment of the party rather a cosmetics. The other two parties also are involved in the same practice.
- Grab votes either way: Their dubious character is solely motivated by votes. They try to grab votes either way – by supporting one issue somewhere and opposing somewhere the same. The fine example is CPN (UML)’s movement in Kathmandu against the Supreme Court decision prohibiting the use of local language of nationalities in the local bodies. The party as a whole, including its central committee remained silent, but the local Kathmandu committee was calling for a movement. Again, there was no mass movement it effectively organized. Therefore, they were not after opposing the decision but were pretending it keeping in mind on the Newar votes of Kathmandu valley.
In the general election held in 1999, the above parties had proposed the following in their Election Manifestos.
The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist)
- Local autonomy (not clear whether it is based on nationality or geographical region)
- Equal rights for the people of all nationalities, languages, religions and cultures.
(Khanal, 2056: 11-18)
The Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist)
- Upper house of the parliament should be converted to house of nationalities.
- Secular state.
- Decentralized system of governance and administration.
- Promotion of languages, cultures, religions and art of all nationalities. and castes.
(Khanal, 2056: 11-18)
Nepal Worker’s and Peasant’s Party
- Protection of religion, art and culture.
(Khanal, 2056: 11-18)
Now, when the contradiction between the oppressed nationalities and the Khas has been visible in all areas of socio-political processes in the society, the parties mentioned above which are playing a noncommittal, dubious and ambiguous role, will face lots of difficulties. The heightened level of contradictions and the organized nationalities’ movements will compel them to clarify their stand. The subjective approach of these parties oriented to appease all and supporting to maintain status quo may alienate large majority of people. Alternatively, they may be compelled to stand in favor of social justice.
The communist parties follow non-parliamentary path include the Communist Party of Nepal (Masal), the Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Center) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). During the General Election in 1999, they had brought the following issues in their election manifesto.
The Communist Party of Nepal (Masal)
- Secular state
- Autonomy of local bodies (not clear whether this refers to nationality or region)
- Uplift of Madhesi, Janajati and Dalits
(Khanal, 2056: 11-18)
The Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Center)
- Equal treatment to all nationalities and linguistic groups.
- Secular state.
- Autonomy to nationalities.
- Convert National assembly (upper house of parliament) to House of Nationalities.
(Khanal, 2056: 11-18)
The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
The party had boycotted the general election in 1999. It has taken a radically different position on nationalities’ issues than those parties mentioned above. It supports the right to self determination. The party in its pamphlet of September 22, 1999 has specified its policies and stated that “the present state is against the right to self determination of nationalities, whereas such right is the legal basis for strengthening national unity. Rather than allowing national autonomies, the state even opposes the linguistic rights and brutally represses them. The state is a communal state under the influence of dominating nationality chauvinism. The entire southern plains and the Karnali region are suffering from the regional discrimination and suppression of the state. The Dalits, as the most exploited grassroots communities are continuing to be the victims of exploitation, oppression and discriminations (Janadesh, 2056 v.s.: 7). This statement clarifies the basic stand and political positioning of the party regarding the issue of oppressed nationalities. It favors the national unity based on democratic rights of the people including the right to self determination.
Nepal Terai Congress/Nepal Sadbhavana Party
The Nepal Terai Congress had raised the problems of the people of Madhesi nationality. This was its core theme and had demanded autonomy for Terai region. It had proposed to make Hindi an official language for that autonomous region. Providing equitable employment opportunities for Madhesis in the government services was it’s another key demand. Indeed, Nepal Terai Congress was the first political party in Nepal which raised the issues of discrimination against oppressed nationalities and had tried to put forward the remedial measures to rectify the situation. The Hindi language that it had proposed for official use in the region may not be a realist demand as that is not the language as many people do not speak it. It was the mother tongue of 0.92% people in 1991 (CBS, 1995: 302). Hindi was not the language of ordinary people and the same situation continues till today.
Now, the new incarnation of Nepal Terai Congress is in the political field and it is called Nepal Sadbhavana Party. It has raised the core issue of discrimination the Madhesis are facing. Also it expressed their feelings. As a result it got the percentage of votes required to be recognized as a national party. It has shown a bit tilt towards India. But there are some reasons for this tilt. The culture in either side of the boarder is very much similar. Therefore, this is natural to be close culturally. But, the political aspect of the tilt deserves criticism. In a generic sense, when the Khas blame the party as communal and pro-India, it is the product of their own chauvinist mindset. Such type of mindset creates obstacles for any attempts for partnership.
In its Election manifesto for 1991 General Election, the party had raised the following issues:
- For a long time the state has minimized the role of Madhesis and the importance of southern plain.
- Madhes or southern plain has been exploited politically and without ending this exploitation there is no possibility of progress of Madhesis and Janajatis.
- Establishing federal system with the introduction of provincial structures.
- Amendment of the existing legal provisions related to citizenship.
- Reservation for Madhesis and Janajatis.
- Use of local languages in local bodies.
- Primary education in mother tongue.
(Khanal, 2056 v.s.: 11-18)
On the basis of the analysis above, the parties could be categorized into three types as stated below:
- Sallow understanding and superficial solutions – Nepali Congress and Rastriya Prajatantra Party.
- Reasonably good understanding but cosmetic solutions – communist parties following the parliamentary political line.
- Good understanding and attempting to resolution – The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and Nepal Sadbhavana Party.
All political parties have some understanding of the complexity and importance of the issue. According to their understanding, they have some prescriptions too. Some of them have over simplified and have recommended superficial solutions; some of them are guided by ‘vote bank’ politics and recommend some cosmetics. Only, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and Nepal Sadbhavana Party are trying to resolve the issue objectively. As a result of the effort of those activists who are trying their level best to bring the issue at fore front, awareness has been raised and it has become a national agenda affecting each and every spectrum of political process. This one alone is a great achievement of the forces fighting for equity and social justice.
Chapter Six
Federalism: Management Structure of a Multicultural State
1. Federal Structure
Several activists, Nationalities’ organizations and political parties have reached the conclusion that the complexities of the problem related to nationalities could not be addressed by a unitary system. Hence, they have proposed to introduce a federal structure. Parshuram Tamang states “there are nationalities’ clusters of inhabitation in Nepal. They are namely Jadan (Bhote), Khasan (Khas), Magarat (Magar), Tamumai Hyula or Tamuan (Gurung), Shesant or Tambaling (Tamang), Nepal (Newar), Khambuan (Rai), Limbuan (Limbu), Tharot (Tharu), Kochila (Koch-Rajbanshi) and Mithila (Maithili). Even today, in these areas these nationalities are in majority. Most of them claim these areas as their ancestral homeland” (Tamang, 2054 v.s.: 98). He has further analyzed that in Nepal, there are four trends of federalism. They are as below:
- The Nepal Jana Party has proposed to establish a federation of 12 autonomous provinces organized on the basis of nationalities. The proposed provinces are:
Avadhi, Bhojpuri, Jadan, Khanbuan, Khasan, Kochila, Limbuan, Magarat, Mithila, Nepal, Tamba Saling and Tamuan.
- Rastriya Janamukti Party (M.S) and Janamukti Morcha, Nepal (Thing) have demanded federal system based on geographical regions.
- Nepal Sadbhavana Party has demanded the implementation of federal system by creating the provinces based on hill and Terai regions.
- One another proposal favors to implement federal system by converting the present five development regions into provinces.
(Tamang, 2054 v.s.: 113)
One among the renowned Nepalese sociologists, Krishna Bhattachan argues that every indigenous group of people (Janajatis) has its ancestral clusters of inhabitation. Establishing autonomy on the basis of such clusters has become a challenging responsibility. The structure could be formulated to provide autonomy or decentralization on the following basis:
a. on the basis of 12 traditional linguistic and cultural regions.
b. On the basis of right to self determination
c. On the basis of local self-governance.
(Bhattachan, 2056 v.s. kha: 33-34)
According to Sitaram Tamang, the prevalent views in Nepal regarding nationalities can be broadly categories into three types. The first type is the Hindu traditional view. The stand supports the existing constitutional arrangement of a unitary state. The political forces like Nepali Congress, the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) and the palace firmly believe that the present arrangement is an ideal one. The second type of view supports federalism and the third type favors autonomy (Tamang, 2056 v.s.: 31)
Indeed, the nationalities question in Nepal could not be addressed by simply fine tuning the existing political arrangements. The problem is the absence of partnership of different nationalities in governance. The domination of the Khas has been an obstacle for any kind of meaningful partnership. The long process of domination spread over centuries has made the Khas blind. Many people of oppressed nationalities also view this situation as their destiny. Together, the Khas beliefs of superiority and non-Khas acceptance of destiny have helped to strengthen the Hindu belief of fatalism. Therefore, without challenging the structural foundation and its superstructure, no new society could emerge. Now, the philosophy of fatalism, Hindu cultural domination and Khas political chauvinism need to be challenged. If the people of non-Khas nationalities raise such issues, the Khas immediately blame them as secessionists. The Khas have already decorated Nepal Sadbhavana party, Limbuan liberation Front, Khambuan Liberation etc with such label. By standing against the Khas threat, some activists, thinkers, organizations and parties have started to come forward to expose the Khas chauvinism. They are making attempts for establishing a new social order that ensures equality among nationalities; accelerates their progress and enhances mutual respect. Therefore, they have been demanding to implement a new mechanism conducive to social convergence and partnership building.
To ensure social justice, equity and equal opportunity for all nationalities, introduction of a new federal structure embedded with national autonomy and right to self determination has become a precondition for progress and prosperity in Nepal. Federalism will avail opportunity for expressing people’s expectations, will help to make political management less complex and more transparent and will strengthen partnership.
Based on four criteria as mentioned below, a proposal has been put forward to divide Nepal into several autonomous regions or provinces.
Criteria:
- Ancestral homelands of particular nationalities,
- Geographical feasibility,
- Linguistic features, and
- Regional clusters of specific nationalities.
a. Proposed Provinces:
1. Kirat Pradesh 2. Tambasaling 3. Nepah
4. Tamumagrat 5. Khasan 6. Tharuan
7. Bhojpuri Pradesh 8. Mithila
The names of the provinces proposed above will certainly raise curiosity on their naming too. Therefore, a brief discussion would be helpful.
Kirat Pradesh:
In the ancient times, the Kirat tribe inhabited in the area. Before Gorkha invasion of the area, the Kirats had their independent principalities. After the Gorkha victory also till 1960, the area was called Kirat and was divided into three administrative districts – Ollo Kirat, Majh Kirat and Pallo Kirat. As a concerted Khas attempt, the names were replaced by Hindu names. So, the area which was called “Kirat” for the last two thousand years or more is once again to call by the same name. “Pradesh” is just added to refer as ‘province’.
Tambasaling
The Tamang custom group among the Mangolkirats believes that the region is their ancestral land. They are also a large custom group residing in the area among the Mangolkirat majority. Therefore, the name of the province could be Tambasaling. Looking at the ancient history, it is only natural that Banepa be the provincial Head Quarter it was the capital of the Kirat principality which they had established after loosing Yalakhom, which the Lichchhivis got control of. The province could be called as “Shesant” or “Tambaling”.
Tamumagarat
Magarat was one among the ancient Nepalese tribal republic. Magars and Gurungs are the largest custom groups residing in the region. Gurungs are in favor of an autonomous region called Tamuan. But, geographical feasibility and socio-cultural context suggest having a Manolkirat majority province which covers the area of former Magarat and newly demanded region of Tamuan. Combining both the areas and calling it Tamumagarat is the reflection of the ground realities. Pokhara could be the provincial administrative center.
Nepah
The ancient tribe residing in this region was Nepar. The Newars, the majority nationality of this valley is the descendant (though as a mixed social group of several other tribes, ethnicities too) of the same Nepar tribe. In Newar language (Newars call their language Nepal Bhasa) the area is called Nepah. Therefore, it would be natural to call the province as Nepah. Alternatively, the province could be name as “Yalakhom”. In the ancient time the tribal republic of this region was called Yalakhom and till today the Patan town is called as Yala in Newari. Kathmandu could be the provincial center.
Khasan[9]
The region was a Khas kingdom during the middle age. Therefore, the name of the province is proposed as Khasan. The center of the province could be Surkhet.
Tharuan[10]
The Madhesi majority region in the western Terai has a significant presence of its one major custom group which is Tharu. Therefore, the area has been named as Tharuan. Nepalgunj could be its provincial center.
Bhojpuri Pradesh[11]
The area has a large majority of Bhojpuri speaking people belonging to Madhesi nationality. Therefore, the name “Bhojpuri Pradesh” reflects the linguistic reality. The center of the province could be Birgunj.
Mithila[12]
The area was called as Mithila in the ancient time and now the largest majority of people speak Maithili as their mother tongue. Therefore, it is natural to name the Madhesi majority region as Mithila. Biratnagar could be the provincial center of the province.
Presently, there are 75 administrative districts. These districts could be grouped in the particular province as mentioned above considering the criteria of ancestral homelands, geographical feasibility, linguistic features and nationality composition. In this way the reorganization of the structure could be accomplished. The reorganization is not a theoretical proposition but that is feasible and viable.[13]
b. Major languages of the proposed provinces
| Table – 22, Three Major Languages (more than 5 % speakers) of the Proposed Provinces (1991 census) |
| Provinces |
Language 1 |
No. of |
Language 2 |
No. of |
Language 3 |
No. of |
Other Languages |
Total |
| |
Language&% |
Speakers |
Language&% |
Speakers |
Language&% |
Speakers |
Number |
Number |
| Kirat Pradesh |
Nepali, 60 |
1080271 |
Rai, 16 |
190293 |
Limbu, 10 |
187275 |
230455 |
1788294 |
| Tambasaling |
Nepali, 56 |
1155098 |
Tamang, 30 |
604675 |
Newari, 6 |
114524 |
170928 |
2045225 |
| Tamumagarat |
Nepali, 73 |
1179246 |
Gurung, 10 |
169389 |
Magar, 10 |
156989 |
111661 |
1617285 |
| Nepah |
Nepali, 47 |
517732 |
Newar, 41 |
449604 |
Tamang, 7 |
75500 |
62543 |
1105379 |
| Khasan |
Nepali, 88 |
2913727 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
393109 |
3306836 |
| Tharuan |
Nepali, 43 |
844205 |
Tharu, 30 |
594943 |
Avadhi, 9 |
367429 |
171328 |
1977905 |
| Bhojpuri Pradesh |
Bhojuri, 52 |
1308043 |
Nepali, 31 |
770884 |
Tharu, 5 |
132035 |
304120 |
2515082 |
| Mithila |
Maithili, 52 |
2145722 |
Nepali, 23 |
940147 |
Tharu, 6 |
251457 |
797745 |
4135071 |
Source: CBS, 1997: 18-32.
The table above gives the picture of major languages spoken in Nepal. In Khasan region, 88% people speak Nepali as their mother tongue. Tamumagarat, Kirat Pradesh and Tambasaling are the provinces where more than 50% of the population speaks Nepali. Although, in Nepah and Tharuan less than 50 % people speak Nepali (47% and 43% respectively) but still it is the number one language. In Bhojpuri Pradesh and Mithila, Bhojpuri and Maithili are the number one languages followed by Nepali. The Tharu language is spoken in the entire Terai region. The fact heralds the position of Nepali as pan-Nepal language and certainly has become the medium of communication among people of different languages. Although, the census may have some margin of error, but the fact is that it has become a second language for many people of other linguistic groups too. Some of the scholars have raised doubts regarding the statistics. Parshuram Tamang states that the number of Nepali speakers is artificial. The people who speak Nepali as their mother tongue are in minority (Tamang, 2054 v.s.: 42). The conclusion, here, makes sense in regard to questioning the process of data collection and processing about mother tongue but also the assessment does not consider the number of people who speak Nepali as second language. The process might be questionable, the action could be unjust and the Khas rulers might have played with statistics, all these factors could raise the issue of the margin of error, but the fact that Nepali has been widely understood and spoken stands. Nepali has become the medium of communication (Neupane, 1999: 74, 75, 94). Therefore, one has to accept the reality that a majority of people use Nepali to communicate with each other. But, the Nepali language should be emancipated from the domination of Sanskrit, should be liberated from the grips of Bahuns and should be developed as a language of masses that is free from complex grammatical mysteries.
Chhar-Mhendo, a publication of Nepal Tamang Ghedung, in its editorial, has proposed the implementation of three language system. The three languages could be 1) mother tongue, 2) another language of a community within the country, and 3) international language (Chhar-mhendo, 2048 v.s.: 2). The Coordination Center for Development of Nationalities has stated to recognize primary education in mother tongue as fundamental right and also has put forward the proposal of implementing three language system (Gurung et al, 1999: 14). Although, how the system could be implemented and which are these tree languages have not been elaborated, the proposal has helped to initiated the debate.
Based on the decision of a provincial structure there could be one, two or three languages recognized in any province. These languages may serve as official languages or languages for providing education. Even in higher levels of education these languages could be taught. The following languages could be taught in the following universities:
a. Purvanchal University, Biratnagar – Tharu, Maithili and Nepali,
b. Kirat University, Dhankuta ( proposed) – Rai, Limbu and Nepali
c. Birgunj University – Tharu, Bhojpuri, Nepali
d. Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu – Newari, Tamang, Nepali
e. Pokhara University – Gurung, Magar, Nepali
f. Dang University (converting Sanskrit to general University) – Tharu, Avadhi, Nepali
g. Khasan University – Jumla or Dipayal (proposed) – Nepali
There could be more universities established in future. Particularly, a Kirat university at Dhankuta and a Khasan University at Jumla or Dipayal could serve the provincial structure better. English should be taught as a compulsory subject from primary to tertiary levels to be competitive in the international job market which also enhances access to the new developments of science and technology.
The Khas scholars will be amused looking a strange proposal as mentioned above. They may propagate the proposal as an absurd idea, having no worth to consider seriously as the proposal will help to end their monopoly. For example, the Bahuns who are reaping all the harvests from the language shops such as a Sanskrit University and schools all over the country to teach Sanskrit language and Hindu rituals will have to relinquish their supremacy. The communal character of the state and the Bahun monopoly must end. Sanskrit, an ancient language could be taught as one subject of learning in any university, but establishing a whole network of institutes for it is the misuse of public resources. Therefore, a more equitable language system not only in the area of teaching but also in official use should be devised and implemented.
d. Nationality-wise population
The nationality-wise population (1991) of the provinces:
| Table – 23 Nationality-wise population (1991) of the provinces |
|
|
|
| Provinces |
Khas |
Mangolkirat |
Madhesi |
Dalit |
Newar |
Other |
Total |
|
| Kirat Pradesh |
547527 |
956816 |
38365 |
137493 |
78087 |
30006 |
1788294 |
|
| Tambasaling |
700574 |
947379 |
20987 |
140657 |
205549 |
30079 |
2045225 |
|
| Tamumagarat |
597341 |
661556 |
22164 |
213788 |
86602 |
35834 |
1617285 |
|
| Nepah |
394586 |
160852 |
31894 |
24021 |
485364 |
8662 |
1105379 |
|
| Khasan |
2015557 |
524474 |
35081 |
649352 |
29072 |
53300 |
3306836 |
|
| Tharuan |
534011 |
122805 |
1103313 |
193263 |
13357 |
11156 |
1977905 |
|
| Bhojpuri Pradesh |
432795 |
309352 |
1591216 |
117350 |
56889 |
7500 |
2515102 |
|
| Mithila |
612586 |
416778 |
2875582 |
125430 |
85775 |
18920 |
4135071 |
|
| Total |
5834977 |
4097134 |
5718602 |
1601345 |
1040695 |
198335 |
18491097 |
|
| Percentage |
31.6 |
22.2 |
30.9 |
8.7 |
5.6 |
1.1 |
100 |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Source: Nationality grouping on the basis of the population of different castes/custom groups (1991 census). |
| |
(CBS, 1993, Vol. 1, Part VII). |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
e. Observations
Nepal is a good example of a multicultural state. The provincial picture shows that Khasan is a Khas (61%) majority province whereas Tharuan (56%), Bhojpuri Pradesh (63%) and Mithila (70%) are the Madhesi majority provinces. Kirat Pradesh has Mangolkirat (53%) majority. In Nepah, Newars (44%) are the single largest nationality. Similarly, Tambasaling (46%) and Tamumagarat (41%) are the provinces with Mangolkirat as the single largest nationality. The critical review of the nationality composition of different provinces and Nepal as a whole provides the following facts:
- Generally, it is believed that Khas is the majority nationality. But, they are only 0.7% more than the Madhesis. For making them as a majority, the Khas scholars, administrators and the players of statistics sometimes mix the Dalits with them when that helps them. Similarly, when it could serve their interest, they create the division between the inhabitants of hill and Terai. They put themselves as part of hill inhabitants and claim as majority. Even, they try to bring the issue of Hindu religion as a religion of majority and again claim the majority. They are very cleaver in positioning and bring others whenever they need to play with statistics. But, in practical sense they dominate everybody by making them weak and vulnerable. The claim of assimilation is not true, even there has not been a good mix of nationalities.
- The Khas spread is country wide whereas Mangolkirats are numerically weak in Khasan and Tharuan. Similarly, the presence of Madhesis in the hill areas is weak. Newars have a weak presence in Terai and Khasan regions.
- The Dalits have a spread all over Nepal. But, they are not in a dominant position numerically in any province. Therefore, they are the national minorities and should be addressed through provisions governing their status.
- The pan-Nepal cultural has not developed yet. The Khas cultural domination has limited the development of other cultures but has not succeeded to penetrate the core areas of cultural values and beliefs of other nationalities. Therefore, there is the need of developing a Nepalese culture by the proper adjustment and convergence of cultural specialties of several nationalities.
2. Autonomy, Right to Self Determination and System of Governance
Those who are talking about assimilation are either they have been talking about a historical process of the past or are sharing the ideals they believe in. In Nepal, they may be talking about assimilation to provide a cover to Khas domination. Rather than bringing out some abstract theories and trying to impose the Khas culture, it would be better to find out the process of partnership of different cultures and nationalities. The major issues which promote partnership include the democratic right to self rule. In other words, national autonomy and right of self determination could be the primary theoretical foundation for any type of partnership that can resolve the problems and take the people and nation to prosperity. The people and nationalities are conscious critically and are capable to exercise their rights. They are aware politically, civilized culturally and judicious emotionally. Therefore, the villains who create obstacles on the path of harmonious and just relations among nationalities would be defeated. The society based on equity and justice will emerge from the ashes of the unjust social order which has been in practice today. The adjustment and convergence of values, beliefs and practices of several nationalities and creation of an accommodative political structure are the trends that will govern the relationships in future. By taking the processes conducive for such trends, it would be possible to ensure harmony through self governance, perseverance and self restrain. The actions directed to bring assimilation through promotion of the cultural and political domination of one nationality have been the features of the past. Therefore, the new Nepalese cultural identity will have ingredients of several cultural heritages and that will be attained through competitive cultural behavior and cohesive and mutually agreeable adjustment of the core social practices. Form now on, interaction, sharing and reciprocal acts for building partnership will be the most important contributing factors for social convergence. The striking feature of the new identity would be free from a particular nationality affiliation. But, if such identity is prevented from coming into existence, the process of division and secession may get acceleration. Therefore, there are just two ways available – partnership or secession. The Khas rulers, more particularly their upper class ruling coalitions are insensitive to atrocities committed against oppressed nationalities and are unaware or underestimate such courses. Therefore, they are inviting more difficulties. The rulers are busy playing power game and they simply understand the language of power. But, the trend and context of the social processes are against such tendencies. Therefore, the possibility of partnership of nationalities has to be examined in a hostile context created by the rulers.
The first requirement for partnership is the recognition of the existence of all nationalities followed by the acceptance of their own specific identities, mutual respect among nationalities and a desire to rectify the mistakes made. The state should respect all nationalities and has to commit for noninterference on cultural issues. It has to go further and should agree with the need of provisions for affirmative actions to create a level playing field for all. The Khas nationality which is ruling since 1768 has to emancipate itself from a chauvinist mindset. It should renounce the feeling, privileges and practices of superior nationality. Otherwise they will be the target of attack. Not only oppressed nationalities will fight against them, but also progressive sections of Khas nationality may join the fight. The oppressed nationalities too have to reclaim their equal status through dialogue, interaction and pressure. They have to take a path of collective resistance. But, during a process of social transformation the path may not be acceptable for all. If one side breaks the rule, other side follows. When, the process gets derailed, the state-forces intervene. Generally, the intervention of the state-forces favors status quo. The state forces try to impose the so-called peace. At the end, the oppressed people become a party and the state plays a role of a villain and tries to suppress them. In this way, the movement for emancipation of nationalities takes an anti-government turn and most of the time the agitation becomes violent. The government and the ruling Khas nationality should understand probable course if they tried to continue their unjust and immoral domination.
To prevent the unwanted confrontational path to rectify the imbalances in the society, there should be concentrate effort by both sides – the Khas and the oppressed. The central theme to unite them is none other than partnership. The development of partnership needs sound foundation and that could be built by creating new environment. Hence, there should be implementation of the provisions of affirmative actions and sharing of power.
The provision of affirmative actions will bring the socially left-behind nationalities at par to that of the forward ones. Such actions will help bring the communities and nationalities who are in a situation of backwardness to a higher level of development in a shorter period of time. The provisions should be based on the principle of social justice and should cover issues related to education, employment and other opportunities. One of the provisions could be reservation. But, that should be limited to the custom groups who are living in a situation of absolute poverty underdevelopment. The provision of reservation could help them but could not solve the problems faced by the oppressed nationalities. The system of reservation may have three negative impacts – influencing the attitude negatively in regard to competition, clinging to positions without any future prospect and grabbing opportunities by a limited families belonging to the creamy layer of the communities covered by reservation. The provisions should be implemented for the benefit of the custom groups under absolute poverty. These groups include Chepangs, Rautes, Chamars, Musahars etc. When talking on affirmative action, one should be clear that these provisions are useful and help to attain improvement but these provisions alone neither can ensure social justice nor could solve the complex problems of oppressed nationalities. The major emphasis should be, therefore, on sharing of economic, cultural and political power.
Although, several nationalities have expressed their desires, expectations and needs, but the major issue of sharing of power has fallen in deaf ears. Now, they have come to the forefront on the issue of partnership and power sharing. The sharing of power could be ensured by two ways – either by providing autonomy within a larger structure or allowing exercising the right to self determination. The right to self determination empowers people to secede if they express their general will through an agreed upon mechanism.
a. National autonomy
The autonomy could be broadly divided into two categories – cultural autonomy and administrative autonomy. In cultural autonomy, the government supports nationalities to exercise authority over their cultural lives in all areas including initiatives, efforts and decisions. The society and the state simply recognize their cultural rights and assist them to exercise. In china, cultural autonomy was implemented making religion and language as its core components (Postiglione, 1993: 268). The nationalities that have the cultural autonomy may be a bit better but the administrative decisions remain on the hands of the state. It limits their overall development. Therefore, the nationalities may not have the opportunity to attempt for multidimensional progress. But, for a nationality which is quite small numerically, cultural autonomy could be a good arrangement.
Administrative autonomy covers, both, cultural autonomy and administrative decision making including management of state affairs on specific areas. In most of the cases, except foreign affairs, defense, finance and communication, the administrative autonomy covers all aspect of governance. The areas of authority might be different, but the core governance value is that the power has been shared with. The degree of autonomy varies. India has provincial structures with a limited level of authority whereas in Canada, the federal constitution could not be amended without the approval of all provincial legislatures. Furthermore, the provinces in Canada enjoy the right to self determination and can secede by getting approval of the majority in a referendum. Therefore, the degree of autonomy varies country to country based on mutually agreed provisions and the nature of relations among nationalities.
Coordination Center for Uplift of Nationalities has put forward the idea of national autonomy and has said “national autonomy is the solution (of the problems of nationalities). In history, not only the Baishi or Chausibishi principalities, but also Pallo Kirat, Majh Kirat, Mithila Pradesh, Chaudandi, Magrat, Khasan, Limbuan, Nepal Mandal had existed. Based on the mode of the governance of those areas (in the past), establishing national autonomy or self rule is the political necessity of Nepal, today (Gurung et al, 1999: 15-16).
The Communist Party of Nepal (MLM), the Communist Party of Nepal (Masal) and Newar National Movement have demanded national autonomy. Parshuram Tamang, leader of Federation of Nationalities, also has supported the demand (Tamang, 2054 v.s.: 114).
The demand for converting the upper house of parliament into a ‘House of Nationalities’ has been raised repeatedly. Also, it has put forward the idea of representation of nationalities in governance. Indeed, the idea directly or indirectly is related to equitable role for different nationalities.
b. Right to Self Determination
The world history is full of events and stories of the struggles launched for right to self determination. Some of them succeeded, some of them have been continuing their fight and some of them disappeared from the horizon. Indeed, right to self determination primarily refers to the decision of general will and nationalism teaches to take the right decision of the event of exercising such will (Kedourie, 1960: 76). Therefore, the propaganda that right to self determination promotes division and secession does not reflect the reality. The people in the referendum in Quebec province in Canada rejected repeatedly the proposal of sovereign Quebec. The example is good enough that the right to self determination enables to take decision collectively and judiciously. In essence, the right to self determination is the important political right that ensures partnership among deferent nationalities. When a particular nationality dominates others or a particular nationality is dominated by others, then the right becomes operational. The right should be exercised rationally and history has proved that rationality have come into play when the need arose.
Vladimir I. Lenin, in his essay “Socialist Revolution and Right to Self Determination of nations” written in January-February 1916 has supported the idea strongly. According to him the essence of the right to self determination of nations is the political right for freedom. Essentially, it is a political right of secession from oppressive nation. In concrete sense, this is a democratic right to organize movements for secession and respect of the decision expressed through referendum of the seceding nation. Therefore, this is not a demand for dividing a state into pieces and establishing smaller states. This is a better way of struggle against all kind of national oppressions. In a democratic state which provides full freedom for secession, in practice, in that state the desire to secede weakens and diminishes (Lenin, 1988: 228).
In Nepal, the right to self determination has not been debated properly. The reason is that the dominating Khas offer the label of secessionist to anybody talking on such issues. Also, there is confusion on the theoretical proposition. But, there are forces that have raised their voices. The proponents include Nepalese Federation of Nationalities, Limbuan Liberation Front, Khumbuan Liberation Front, Magar Liberation Front, Karnali Liberation Front, the Communist party of Nepal (Maoist) and its sister organizations. (Tamang, 2054: 114; Bhattachan, 2056: 35).
c. System of Governance
The Nepalese identity is a collective bond of people of several nationalities. Although, it is weak, the identity is very much there as a living reality. The collective bond has been expressed in the form of patriotism. The attempts to retaining the Khas domination and making Nepal a Hindu theocratic state are the historical blunders and grave political mistakes. Contrary to such attempts, a healing strategy leading to full fledged partnership is the need of the day. The discussions on the processes to attain social convergence and building partnership have already been initiated. These processes include pressure on the Khas to relinquish monopoly and activate oppressed nationalities to move forward by launching a unified struggle. The demand for an unconditional apology from the Khas and the Khas state offered to the Dalits for the atrocities committed against them could be one of the fine foundation stones. The apology could assuage the hurt feelings of the Dalits. The secular character of the state and the profoundly touching initiative of expressing regrets and offering apology by the Khas may contribute to build a new multicultural social order.
The Khas intellectuals to a large extent have failed to sense the miseries of the people of non-Khas nationalities, their hurt feelings and denial to access of opportunities for them. They have been the victims of unequal practices spread over several centuries and have became accustomed to it. Now, these intellectuals and progressive elements among Khas should be empathetic and try to align their efforts that march towards establishing a just society. Therefore, the imperative should be unity in diversity. To attain this goal the society should move forward by establishing a governing political structure which ensures partnership among nationalities.
The provincial divisions and their viability have already been discussed. The future prospects heavily depend on the realization of a mechanism which ensures devolution of power and enhances as well as strengthens partnership. Indeed, all progressive forces have to strive to establish a decentralized political system. In the following paragraphs, the ingredients of such system will be discussed briefly.
Federal Set up
In a federal system, the federation, provinces and the local self government bodies work in an intergovernmental economic, social and cultural environment (Berman, 1997: 4-5). When they enter into an interactive process, the existing environment, most of the times, determines the aims and dynamism and provides the foundation for a mutually beneficial relationship. Generally, the federalist interactive processes and the relationships have been governed by two types of political arrangements – duel federalism and cooperative federalism.
Duel Federalism
Under this arrangement, the authorities and responsibilities of the local self government bodies, provinces and the federation use to be clearly defined and demarcated. The mechanism follows more formal legal process. In such arrangements, every layer expands its power, authority and role only at the expense of others. In general, the supreme court of the country plays the role of an umpire in disputes among local, provincial and central governments. During a period covering 1890 and 1930, the United States supreme court played the role of an umpire (Berman, 1997: 35-36). The Indian federal system is an example of dual federalism. They have developed three lists detailing the authorities and responsibilities of different level of governments. The Indian supreme court has been playing the role of an umpire in disputes involving the provinces and the center. In such arrangement, clarity gets focus of attention, but it prevents the lively debates otherwise could be generated while addressing the real issues on progress and prosperity. Rather than exploring new territories, ideas and initiatives for additional opening up of prospects, new rights and new roles, the system focuses on expansion of the traditional areas of authority. Hence, the system inhibits innovation as well as building relations on a new level. Although, duel federalism is far better than a unitary system in a multicultural society, but it falls short to the benefits that cooperative federalism could offer.
Cooperative Federalism
Cooperative federalism emphasizes on putting together the resources belonging to local, provincial and central government to generate synergetic effects in regard to results by working together. They consider each other as collaborators and partners rather than as adversaries. Although, the main areas of responsibility are specified, but it encourage bargaining and the scopes for exploration and innovation have been unlimited. Mutual discussion and dialogue, available resources and the nature of the work form the basis for bargaining. After 1930, cooperative federalism has been in practice in United States. Since 1930, the federal government has not snatched any authorities of the provinces called States in America. In the new system, the legislature has been playing the role of an umpire and not the supreme court (Berman, 1997: 36-37). The size of population of a province has been accepted as a criterion for central assistance in India. Based on the population, a formula has been developed and central assistance is determined. But in United States, the provinces and the center enter into bargaining and the assistance use to be determined through that process. Mutual discussion, interaction, advocacy, representation, pressure and logics play vital role to determine the central assistance in a mechanism based on cooperative federalism. The challenges to reach to the conclusion through a course that is free from binding criteria are immense but they ensure better preparation, worthiness of the initiatives and compulsion on the presentation of evidences. Cooperative federalism provides appropriate environment for such endeavors.
The Soviet Union also had the cooperative federalism as its political structure. According to Stalin the Leninist principle recognizes to preserving the union of nations formed on the basis of their voluntary will and that ensures to maintaining the fraternal relationships among the nations in a republican federation (CPSU- CC, 1938: 34). These are the core components in the formation of a federation. The right to secession enjoyed by the republics in the Soviet Union had created positive environment for a just relation among provinces and also between the center and provinces. Such arrangement made collaboration and cooperation not only possible but also compulsory. The relatively peaceful disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 proved the relevance of the right to self determination enshrined in the Soviet system.
Although, in Nepal, local self rule was in practice for some times, but that was limited to certain areas. The example includes the agreement of Limbu-Subbas (Limbu rulers and village heads) with the Gorkha rulers. The agreement had offered autonomy to Limbus in certain issues that included communal land system (Kipat Pratha) and unrestricted practice of their social, religious and cultural traditions (Bhattachan, 2056 kha: 24). Similarly, there were some revolts such as the Majhkirat Parva of 1908 (Rai, 2055 v.s.: 114-117) for self rule. But, the general overview of the Nepalese historical development process makes it clear that Nepal has no meaningful experience of federalism, no experience of sustained rebellions of nationalities and no experience of decentralization of power. Citing these references as evidences for unitary, centralized and Khas dominated system, biased Khas intellectuals and Hindu religious fanatics try to propagate the limitations of federalism. But, this was only happened due to prevalent feudal politico-economic and cultural domination of the Khas. The attempts for justifying the continuation of the unitary state certainly will harm the process of establishing a system based on partnership of nationalities which may ensure social justice, equity and harmony. Hence, the unjust social order will continue to provide fuel to further fight. The Khas arrogance has no future and, therefore, the way of partnership of nationalities has become the unrestricted course if Nepal has to remain a sovereign state. Indeed, progressive individuals, groups or political parties have to take part in the movement initiated to establish a new Nepal which shares power, opportunities and resources equitably among nationalities. The movement of oppressed classes should form a united front and have to launch struggle to establish a federal state to ensure partnership. The fundamentals of the cooperative federalism may guide to design the structure. The debate centered on electing a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution offers unique opportunity to talk the specifics of a federal state. Indeed, the people should get the opportunity to exercise their right to design a political system that works. Federalism could be one of its agenda items. This will avail the choices to solve the problems through the exercise of people’s general will. One of the agreed provisions in the Delhi Agreement (1951) was that the election of the constituent assembly will be held on or before 1952 (M. D. Dharmadesani in Bhatta, 1990: 41). The agreed upon provision has not been implemented till today. The assurance given to the people should be fulfilled. The leaders who claim them as great democrats, unfortunately, have not shown any desire to go through such democratic exercises. In the final analysis, the exercise of the sovereign democratic right will not depend on the wishes of the so-called great leaders. Only the mainstream political leaders may contribute to make it complex and time taking if they will continue to influence negatively.
Chapter Seven
Observations
a. Census
Although, the practice of collecting demographic data had started in 1911, the census took place first time in 1952 in Nepal. Also, the data were collected in 1920 and 1941 with limited purpose (Nepal Academy, 1960, 8-9). Although, the statistics collected by biased machinery with questionable intentions, methods and manners are less reliable, but in absence of any other data on national scale, there is the compulsion to use them as a minimum guide. The Khas state has been involved in spinning of the statistics. For example, all practitioners of animism, shamanism and other nature worshipers are presented as Hindus. The enumerators, mostly from Khas nationality, write as Hindus if they fail to reply their religion either as Buddhism, Islam or Christianity. Similarly, they simply write Nepali as the mother tongue even without asking the individuals. Therefore, to understand the nationality composition better, the goal, method and practice of collection of the data should change. Bal Krishna Mabuhang has suggested that the government should plan and implement the census exercise and process the data in consultation and cooperation with different organizations of nationalities. Similarly, the questionnaire also should be improved. The questionnaire could be improved by incorporating the questions such as “What is your nationality? Your nationality was deferent in the past? Which nationality, you believe, you belong to? What do you mean by religion? What would be the appropriate name of your religion? What is your mother tongue? Which language you speak in the family? What second languages you know?” (Mabuhang, 2056 v.s.: 91-93).
In brief, the government is not behaving in an appropriate manner in collecting and processing data so as to give the right picture on the best interest of all nationalities. The practice of mobilizing all nationalities in the production of national date should get priority. All concerned nationalities should have a say while planning the census, designing questionnaire, undertaking the exercise and processing the data. The leaders of the nationalities, the representatives of such organizations, population experts and statisticians should sit together in the National Commission for Census. The commission should have the authority to carry out the census including planning and execution of the census exercise and processing and publishing the data.
b. Strategies to attain partnership of nationalities
The federal system with national autonomy as its guiding thrust could be established by adopting certain strategies. Among the people who are in the movement, four types of strategies are being discussed. 1) To empower local government bodies by devolving authority and responsibility and arranging resources to enable them for self rule. 2) Devising a system which ensures cultural autonomy. 3) Organizing movement to establish administrative autonomy. 4) Establishing their authority by the oppressed nationalities through revolt and revolution. The order of the strategies mentioned here is from simple to complex. They also carry the order from cosmetic solutions to transformation. But, the adoption of any strategy will largely depend on the level of awareness, objective situation of the society and the nature of the domination of the ruling nationality. Not only this, but also the oppressed nationalities may adopt different strategies appropriate to their situation to move forward to attain a common goal. The level and speed of the struggles may differ. Still, it should be clear that the first two strategies mentioned above will not transform the relationship among nationalities in Nepal. At the best, they will help to humanize a bit more the relationship and maintain the status quo. The second two strategies will help to attain a new partnership of nationalities based on multiculturalism and federalism. They certainly contribute to attain unity in diversity through cultural convergence and sharing of power. The most important issue of equity in political management of the governance structure could be addressed by employing these strategies. The bottom line is that that the oppressed nationalities should create a tempest of struggles for their emancipation and the progressive elements within the Khas nationality should rise above their interest. Only, this course prevents the repetition of the unfortunate saga of northern Sri Lanka. While critically examining the common course for the strategies discussed above, the activists, scholars, thinkers and practitioners have to place people above any other considerations. If the people are empowered to express their choices through the exercise of their general will, any problem could be solved. Therefore, the strategies may help to create a favorable situation to organize the election of a constituent assembly. Multiculturalism and federalism could be the major issues to address while drafting a new constitution. The general debate centered on the election of the constituent assembly, if succeeds to enforce the sovereignty of people, the issues might be critically examined, and a transformational relationship based on equity, justice and partnership could be established.
c. Nature of the Movement
Indeed, the aspirations of the nationalities in addressing the nationalities question are directed by the need of solving the problems rather than exploring the prospects. When one or a few nationalities dominate others, societies wait for volcanoes of politico-cultural movements. Due to its impulsiveness, hurt feelings and deeper affects on collective destiny, the movement posses the nature of wild fire. The wild fire erodes all other social relations such as friendships, neighborhoods, relatives etc. The nationality sentiments override them. These sentiments take the form of epidemic. Knowingly or unknowingly, willfully or feeling compelled and openly or clandestinely, individuals, families and groups fell pray of a war between or among nationalities. The issues of legal or illegal, violent or nonviolent and progressive or a regressive war become irrelevant. Those who wish and attempt to prevent such dark days and try not to allow the movement initiated to establishing social justice degenerating to senseless acts of revenge, have to fight collectively with a common mission of attaining harmony among nationalities by ensuring equity and justice in the society. Therefore, the social emancipation movement should establish a united front with the movement going on for class liberation. The solidarity and unity between these movements will generate synergy and create a larger and stronger force which will ultimately emancipate all the oppressed people.
d. Role of Different Nationalities in Launching the Movement
The power relationship among nationalities in Nepal has been governed by cultural feudalism. Therefore, as in a feudal society, the nationalities have roles conforming to economic classes. The roles are comparable with Khas as feudal lords, Newar as rich peasants, Mangolkirat and Madhesi as middle and poor peasants and Dalit as landless agricultural workers. The analysis in ‘Chapter Three’ above makes the comparison amply clear. The comparison shows that the Khas are ruling as totalitarian rulers in areas of politics, economy and culture. The Newars are suffering at the hands of Khas in areas of cultural domination but they enjoy the same status as that of Khas in politics and economy. Therefore, the movement for equity and justice will be directed against the Khas totalitarianism. The Newar may play a dubious role. The other nationalities certainly will stand firm to transform the relationship. These nationalities also have to overcome the divisive tendencies among themselves and their inferior social psycho-make ups. One important feature is that the Khas of Khasan region, mostly surviving under dire poverty and underdevelopment, may join the movement for change as the federal set up and the autonomy may influence positively in their living conditions.
d. Role of Political and Social Forces
The movement for social equity may not remain neutral politically. The most important point is that the movement should not be a play ground of a certain political party. Therefore, the efforts to establish and run organizations of nationalities on party line will be counter productive. If that type of trend gets primacy, in that situation the organizations of nationalities will be either nonfunctional or ineffective or slaves of their political masters. Therefore, both, claming as nonpolitical or being political slaves will harm the movement rather than contributing positively. The conclusion, if derived, on the basis of this analysis that the organizations of nationalities should work being neutral to political parties is also incorrect. There is the need of powerful, collective and issue based interventions and, hence, there is the necessity to form united fronts. As the political stand of the political parties makes them different, the same is true for other social organizations including that of the nationalities. In broader terms, they may be guided by a progressive or a regressive goal. Therefore, all the forces advocating for transformation and progressive change should stay on one side and the forces of status quo and regression will be on the other side. It would be only natural that by being face to face, these progressive and regressive forces will be involved in grand fight of unprecedented nature as this fight relates with a new political and social order where the power, roles and influences of the classes, nationalities and other social forces will change radically. In the new society, the attitude of a master will disappear, and so does that of a slave. Therefore, withstanding all the obstacles including differences in approaches and methods, all the progressive forces should wage the mass movement for transformation of the society.
e. Partnership and participation in governance
Sri Lanka has been facing the consequences of the imposition of Sinhalese language on minorities. The civil war is continuing. Bhutan lost peace, goodwill and harmony due to its policy of dress code and cultural invasion of Dukpas. The bloody conflict between the Islamic state of Bangladesh and the Buddhist Chakma minorities in Chitagaon hills has become a catastrophe. India is on the furnace all the time due to the Hindu mindset of “Akhanda Hindu Rastra“. Pakistan split due to the domination of Punjabis over Bengalis. These are instances of insensitive acts of the major nationalities in several countries. Therefore, the insensitive actions related to languages, religions, culture and identities of nationalities make or break nations and countries. Each and every nationality aspires for just partnership and raises demand for equitable participation in all level of government. Unfortunately, partnership and participation are the issues not much debated in Nepal. Therefore, the understanding of these issues is in its infancy. Chaitanya Subba has put forward six points for discussion. These points include: 1) education in mother tongue and the policy of three language system to conduct official business, 2) reservations or affirmative actions, 3) preservation and development of cultures, 4) programs for welfare and empowerment of oppressed nationalities, 5) human resource development, and 6) participation in the affairs of state (Subba, 2056: 73). The provisions related to reservation and participation mentioned above need some critical examination. India provides a good reference for this purpose. The founding parents of Indian constitution had made the provision of reservation in Article 341 of Indian constitution, with a clear mention that the reservation clause will rectify the anomalies of caste and tribe based inequalities within ten years. After fifty years that goal has not been attained. The provision helped to privatize power, opportunity and prestige for a few individuals and families belonging to the so-called scheduled caste and tribes. The end result of such provision is seen in the form of generating unlimited optimism among the people covered by such provision at the beginning and turning them as pessimists after a few years of its implementation. In the lives of a large majority of people covered by such provision no fundamental change has happened. The Lebanese provision of sharing power between a Christian President and a Muslim Prime minister also has not contributed that much in creating a harmonious relation between these two communities. Therefore, just to expect that the provisions of positive discrimination or affirmative actions alone could change the social inequalities. These provisions may contribute but only marginally. Venturing into a populist agenda without any concrete work-plan and realistic and achievable goals helps just to fool people for a short period. Hence, the issues of reservation and affirmative actions need thorough research, interaction and dialogue. The goals must be attainable. The provisions should be exceptions and not a general rule. They must not replace the initiatives carried out to build partnership and attain participation in governance. The process of establishing a political structure and a mechanism based on partnership will ensure the participation of all nationalities in all level of political and social governance.
The marginalized sections of people who are in a situation of absolute underdevelopment (Please see Chapter Four, section C) should get the opportunity to participate in governance through inclusive electoral process or other mechanisms such as nominations as part of affirmative actions. The provisions could be best implemented through the electoral arrangements by which only candidates and voters of these communities could take part. The provisions for ensuring equal participation through affirmative actions should be tied with the level of development of such communities. When they are at par of other communities and nationalities on an average attainment of socio-political and economic standards measured through Human Development Index (HDI), the special arrangements should be discontinued.
The question of the status of minority nationalities in an autonomous provincial set up deserves attention. It is only natural to imagine the deference in roles of minorities. More particularly the Khas in most of the provinces will have a minority position and they may found it difficult to adjust. Their ruling status will disappear and their privileges which they were enjoying for the last two hundred or more years will vanish. The new structure favors partnership and advocates for equity and social justice. Furthermore, the structure stands for participation of all nationalities in governance. In absence of special privileges and dominating socio-political environment, the nationalities will develop a new relationship based on the values of the new structures and the functioning mechanisms devolved through the new constitutional arrangements. Therefore, the relations among the nationalities should be seen in a dynamic environment. The new rulers who have seen the partition of Pakistan, civil war in Sri Lanka, results of the attempts of ethnic cleansing in Bhutan and several incidences of blood bath in India, certainly would develop their understanding and may not repeat the history. Still, there could and should be safeguards in the new constitution which will not inhibit the attempts of the provinces to their creative and forward looking initiatives, but also limits their autocratic policies, if any, towards minorities. Therefore, the new constitution should guide to create a balance between authority and responsibility of the provincial structures.
f. Division of Responsibilities and Jurisdictions
The major roles of the federation, provinces and local self government institutions should be clearly identified. The local self government institutions enjoy the authority delegated by the provincial governments. The federal government should have a jurisdiction over defense, foreign affairs, foreign trade and finance. Similarly, the provinces should have autonomy over land management, natural resources, law and order, culture and social services including education and health services. Any other areas of governance should be decided by bargaining, between federation and provinces or even among provinces or between provinces and local self government institutions. In such bargaining, collective flow of resources to the same direction, fixing responsibilities on a periodic basis, sharing or transferring responsibilities, adjusting the provision of taxation etc could be some of the vital factors to consider. To avoid confusions regarding the sources of income, the federations and the provinces should have clarity on income distributions or sources allotted to them. There could be debates or some good fights sometimes, but that is what cooperative federalism is all about. The evidences, facts, logics and reasons will come into play to get resolution of such conflicts. These conflicts will certainly disturb the peace of graveyards, but will free the state from the clutches of unimaginative and static rules created by bureaucracies to make their life easier.
g. The structure and the quality of governance
The federal structure certainly helps in properly managing the state affairs as that would be divided into smaller units and works in a transparent environment through checks and balances between the center and the provinces. The distribution of authority in legislative, judicial and executive functions contributes to more contextualize the business of the state. A lean legislative formation could add value meaningfully. In India, one member of the lower house of parliament represents about 1.85 million people. In Nepal, in its first parliament elected in 1959, there were 109 members. But now there are too many members (205 in House of Representatives and 60 members in the Upper House called National Assembly). The function of the legislature is to make laws. But, in countries like Nepal, they are the ministers in waiting. Every parliament member wants to be a minister as soon as possible. Therefore, it would be highly beneficial for the separation of power and practical political management, to prohibit Member of Parliament (MP) to become ministers. The same system could be applied for the provinces. Therefore, the chief executive elected through the general election will have the responsibility to run the government selecting his or her team. If an MP is included in the council of ministers, that person should resign the seat in the parliament. The local development departments and agencies should take charge for development activities and the MP should be barred from getting the fund for the so-called development of their respective constituencies.[14] The circus staged as the legislators playing catalysts for development should be closed.
In line with the analysis on the federal structure above, some discussion is necessary about the composition of provincial structures. Looking at the dull arrangement of Indian provincial structures, it is advisable to have a chief executive (Governor), numerically small provincial legislature and a slim judiciary. It should be clear to everybody that the administrative and cultural autonomy is not a cosmetic item but a political system authorized to carry out its constitutional responsibilities in an environment of partnership and participation of all nationalities. Similarly, the local government institutions also should be free from overweight and should no unnecessary numerical load.
As far as the state systems are in practice all over the world, they are the class rules of different economic classes. In essence, they represent the interests of certain classes. Generally, feudalism and capitalism meet the interest of upper classes whereas new democracy and socialism promote and protects the interests of the working classes. Therefore, the political systems in the world are related to these two types of politico-economic and social interests. In form, the best representative system for the upper classes is parliamentary system. In its sub-form, the system is also called as presidential system as in USA. The oppressed classes had exercised their rule through Soviet system. The Soviet system includes the political systems such as in China, Vietnam etc. The Soviet system has a scientific worldview, respect for humanity, justice delivery and progressive role, but it has been in a defensive positioning now due to its inability to give expression of the realities of plural social make up through a competitive political process. Therefore, not because of its essence, but because of the success in its management of competitive process, the parliamentary system is in its aggressive expansion. The technological advances and enhanced human expectations demand not only a system which ensures equity, equality, social justice, peace and harmony, but also an inclusive political process. Hence, if the advocates of the Soviet system have a desire to succeed, they have to explore a structure which ensures inclusive, participatory and competitive political process. They must refine the system by designing the superstructure capable to carry on the essence and quality it posses. The failure of the political structure and its monolithic political practices could be easily interpreted as the failure of socialist philosophy, theory and politics. There had been some attempts in the past. One among them was the invention of Euro-Communism. But, that attempt ended in taking Soviet system out of its course and bringing parliamentary system in its place. Therefore, that attempt was not intended to refine and strengthen Soviet system. Similarly, in Nepal, some political forces are talking about “Janatako Bahudaliya Janabad” (People’s Multiparty Democracy). This is also the same stale slogan centered on the fundamentals of Euro-Communism. Hence, it has also nothing to contribute to strengthen the Soviet system. “Euro-Communism” and “People’s Multiparty Democracy” are different forms of parliamentary system. They disregard the core philosophical stand of Soviet system that state power has its class orientation and working classes should exercise the state power to protect and promote their class interests. Both, the parliamentary and Soviet systems, in final analysis, are class rules. Overtly or covertly, they promote their class interests by using the power of the state. Only, the Soviet system admits it in a transparent way. Morally, this is much better than any tricks and tactics. But, by advocating the “Dictatorship of the Proletariat”, it lost the advantages which could come from this moral high ground. In practice, the dictatorship of proletariat became the dictatorship of the Communist Party and further more, dictatorship of the party degenerated to the dictatorship of a leader – a communist fuhrer. Therefore, the class rule of the working class, once in existence in a large part of the world, crumbled, weakened and downsized. The communists have to learn a good lesson out of this failure. They have to refine the Soviet system radically that incorporates flexibility, competitive polity and pluralism.
The structure analyzed above is the framework of governance and necessarily help in the political management. The structure may create environment for multidimensional partnership and will certainly avail opportunity to express their desires, enhance their partnership and attain friendship among nationalities. But, the structure alone will not be enough to ensure quality of governance. Hence, without aligning with other progressive political forces and inserting quality in governance, the advocacy or realization of federal system may not resolve the problems. The structure has its limitations and also its strengths. If an alliance of the progressive forces comes into existence the limitations may have only marginal impact.
h. Cultural Autonomy, Administrative Autonomy and Right to Self-determination
The start point of any attempt to federalism could be the cultural autonomy. The basis of the cultural autonomy could be made ready within two years from the date of the decision made. Language, religion and culture might be covered by such autonomy. Gradually, the three language system should be implemented in education. The social infrastructure such as Provincial Cultural Councils, Commission for Building Social Infrastructure for Autonomy etc could be established. They can develop proposals together with a central commission looking after the implementation of federalism. The state of cultural autonomy could last for five to seven years. During this period, a few important physical infrastructures also could be built. Some of the most important infrastructure might be initiated. The examples may include the highway connecting Dhankuta with Jiri in the west and Panchthar in the east as this highway could be a backbone for the development of Kirat Pradesh. Similarly, a ring road covering all the districts of Tambasaling may open up the prospects of progress in that province. Another highway in the Khasan region connecting Baglung with Dipayal will help developing Khasan province. Instead of spreading resources thinly, it would be better to invest on priority areas. When the decentralized autonomous management of the new structures starts taking place, development activities are bound to accelerate.
If an autonomous region or province desires for separation from the federation and the people endorse such proposal exercising their general will expressed through a referendum, the province could be a separate independent state. The federation and other provinces should respect the popular will. The right to self-determination is nothing other than a natural right of any nationality. In the concrete socio-political condition of Nepal, the exercise of the right to self-determination in relation to secession should be kept on suspended animation for forty years as this much time will be needed to see the successes or failures of the federal system and also to make informed as well as unemotional decision on the part of people of any particular region or province. The separation issue is directly related to the relationship of nationalities. The more harmonious the relationship, there would be the less desire for separation. Looking at the spread of nationalities and also the fact that no single nationality forms the majority in Nepal, it is natural that if the feelings of Hindu supremacy and Khas domination cease to exist, there would be no demand or even expressed aspiration for separation. Therefore, the sources for separation could be the felling of Hindu supremacy and acts of Khas domination. These feelings and acts should be discouraged and defeated.
I. Language, Religion and Culture
Irrespective of the different historical backgrounds, the facts related to languages lead to the following observations.
- Nepali language has a countrywide spread. Although, the number of people who do not understand Nepali language is quite large, but this language has been developing as the medium of communication between nationalities across regions.
- Eleven languages including Nepali have been found as major languages. They are spoken by more than 5% people in one of the provinces. Also more than 1% of the population countrywide speaks these languages. These languages are Nepali, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Thru, Avadhi, Limbu, Rai, Tamang, Newari (Nepal Base), Magar and Gurung.
- The National Language Policy Recommendation Commission (2050 v.s.) has stated that including the 11 languages mentioned above there are 69 languages spoken in Nepal (In Mabuhang, 2056 v.s.: 98).
- If three languages system is implemented, that will not only help to perform the traditional tasks of language, but it may enhance cultural understanding and could help to build harmonious relations among and between different cultures. Giving due consideration on the facts mentioned above and examining the viability aspect, the following languages may be included as the three languages for the following provinces:
- Kirat Pradesh – Nepali, Rai and Limbu
- Mithila – Nepali, Maithili and Tharu
- Bhojpuri Pradesh – Nepali, Bhojpuri and Tharu
- Tharuan – Nepali, Tharu and Avadhi
- Tambasaling – Nepali, Tamang and Newari
- Nepah – Nepali, Newari and Tamang
- Tamumagarat – Nepali, Magar and Gurung
- Khasan – Nepali
Besides the above mentioned 11 languages, there are several other languages spoken by small number of people. It is difficult to conclude about the future prospects of those languages. There are two factors to consider – 1) respect to somebody’s mother tongue, and 2) prospect of development of that particular language and its speakers. The development aspect is so important that without hurting the feeling, the language have to pave way to another one which can contribute in the progresses of its speakers. Although, the state should not use its power to suppress any language and culture, but at the same time realistic attempts should be made to make the speakers aware that those languages may not be helpful for their progress. Hence, the speakers of that type of languages should be encouraged to learn another language. There is a great need of dialogue, interaction and cooperation among linguistic groups and cultures. The reality is that each and every language has played a historical role in the past; some languages have been still contributing immensely; but only a few languages have a bright future. This is what the global village is compelling to move to that direction. May be, an ultra-patriot person will throw stone if a statement is made that all languages mentioned above including Nepali may not see the 22nd century as they would have already played their historical role and would be resting in the history books. The thinkers should have such fertile imaginations. Also, they have to guide others honestly and courageously to understand the process of the fast change taking place (Neupane, 1999: 74, 75, 94).
The practitioners of animism and Shamanism and believers of nature worship are under pressure to convert from the organized religions, more particularly Hinduism. Similarly, the Christians have entered into the interiors and luring the indigenous people and marginalized communities. The Chepang community in Makwanpur in central Nepal is an example of such attempts of conversion. The Christian religious activists started to propagate the religion in 1968. Although, the ill habits of drinking alcohol, playing cards and slaughtering animals for Gods or Goddesses have been decreased but their cultural identity is also in a stage of extinction due to the effects of Christianity (Gurung, 1995: 31). The competition between Hindus and Christians has resulted in the disappearance of cultural identity of several groups of people. Therefore, helping people to have informed decision should be the right attitude of the religious preachers. State has no role on religion of its own but should create environment where people can make decisions free from obligations and pressures.
In absence of any reliable statistics, the number of people believing in certain organized religion, nature worships and non-believers (atheists) is not known. Future census exercises should address the issue. Irrespective of the religious distribution, the state should equally respect all religions and also the choices of non-believers. Hence, the state should be secular of religion-neutral.
Nepal is a multicultural state. The Khas, mangolkirat, Madhesi, dalit and Newar inhabit within a social fabric of co-existence. They have their own cultural riches and peculiarities and also they influence each other. If the cohabitation is free of cultural domination, the strengths of all cultures will get continuation and weaknesses will discontinue. This may happen spontaneously and the cultural amalgamation becomes possible. Hence, Nepalese society can move forward with a multicultural identity or with an identity of a rainbow culture. Therefore, respect to all cultures and promotion of inter-culture dialogue, interaction and amalgamation should be the cultural policy of the state. Social convergence, and not assimilation, brings harmony among cultures. The state should understand this simple fact.
j. Good Governance
Generally, good governance has been linked with the efficient and corruption free management of state affairs. These are some of the features of good governance. But, good governance has just becomes a slogan in absence of provisions that enable people meeting their minimum basic and developmental needs. Furthermore, to ensure good governance the socio-political environment should be conducive to progress and prosperity. Similarly, in absence of physical, emotional as well as social security, progressive social order and democratization of individual, social and state values, good governance, once again, remains simply a hallow statement. In essence, good governance is not a technical issue, neither it is the purity in political, social and individual behavior, rather this is a process, practices and mechanisms that adds value by being loyal to the people and carrying out responsibilities in a dignified manner to accelerate progressive transformation of the society. Hence, without addressing the issues of inequality, injustice and exploitation and without fighting against the forces of regression and status quo, no good governance is possible. Therefore, improvement in the standard of living of people, advancement of the society, progress of the country and ensuring social justice are the four macro issues which should be addressed by good governance. In absence of good governance having the qualities and dynamism mentioned above, the socio-political goal of establishing a society where the nationalities participate with a spirit of partnership is unattainable. The goal of attaining partnership of nationalities and ensuring equitable participation could only be attained in the context of a united movement launched for a larger goal of transformation of society. Good governance, hence, has been related with the issues of partnership, participation, social convergence and transformation.
k. Concluding Comment
In nutshell, Nepalese society has been experiencing the suffocation originated due to divisions and discriminations. One major factor for such suffocation is the nationality issue. There are historical, political, religious, social, cultural and economic reasons behind the discriminatory practices of the state and society against the oppressed nationalities. Recently, more particularly, after the people’s movement of 1990, the peace of graveyard has been disturbed and the oppressed nationalities have come forward by raising their voices, organizing themselves and launching struggles. The Nepalese society has been experiencing the pain of transformation. Different oppressed classes also are fighting to end the oppression. Other sections of the society are also fighting to end the unjust social order. These struggles are certainly will contribute to positively change the society as new values are being created and a new social order has been emerging. The movement for change has been gaining strengths and the foundation of the orthodox social order together with the feeling of Hindu supremacy and Khas domination are being challenged in an unprecedented scale and speed. In the political arena too, the proposal for drafting a new constitution by an elected constituent assembly is rocking the establishment. On the long run, the people will succeed in exercising their sovereign right to design a system that they think appropriate. Federalism and autonomy certainly will form part of the agenda. Nepal, a multicultural state could have a best structure in the form of federalism. The movement for the transformation of the society has already reached advance stage. That is not preventable and any effort to derail it will fail. This is the right time to enter into alliances of progressive forces to speed up the movement and attain the common goal as soon as possible. In the new era, when the progressive forces will take destiny of their country on their hands, the environment will be there for partnership and participation. The new federal state that respects multiculturalism will make the need of secession irrelevant and unnecessary. The new society, certainly, will liberate the oppressed classes and bring forth new social order to emancipate oppressed sections of the people. The new multicultural society will have a new level playing field for all provided by federalism. This is the future of Nepal. It is certain that the future is bright and beautiful.
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[1] Bahunbad – The highest layer in Hindu caste hierarchy is called Brahmin, and its Nepali equivalent is Bahun. The Bahuns, a custom group among the Khas are the priests, philosophers and teachers of Hindu religious beliefs and practices. They preach the philosophy of fatalism, the beliefs of Hindu supremacy and protect the inhuman social order including the practices of untouchability. They, together with other Khas fraternity, control the social code and political power. Collectively, such type of beliefs, behaviors and practices is called Bahunbad.
[2] According to Gopalsingh Nepali the layers are as below:
- Priest castes – Dev Brahman, Gubhaju and Bajracharya
- Upper castes – Shrestha, Udas
- Upper-middle castes - Pahari, Jyapu, Hale or Gwala
- Lower caste – Mathu, Nau, Khusa, Chitrakar, Chhipa, Manandhar, Kwao
- Impure castes – Duiyan, Balami, Sanga or sangat, Bhan, Kasai, Kushle or Jogi
- Untouchable castes – Pode, Kullu, Chyame, Hara, Huru.
(Nepali, 1965: 150)
[3] Ramashish Prasad has named the Madhesis as “the people of plains” or “the people of Terai” and has classified them as below:
1 Janaidharis (those who wear ‘holly’ thread) – Maithili Brahman, Bhumihar Brahman, Rajput and Kayastha
2 Business class – Suni, Teli, Kanu, Kalwar, Rauniyar, Sonar, Rastogi, Kathbahnia
3. Kishans (farming class) – Yadav, Kurmi, Amatya, Dhanuk, Kewat, Koiri
4. Skilled section – Hajam, Lohar, Badhai, Mehata, Tatama, Badahi, Mushar, Dhobi, Mallaha, Doli, Chamar, Dom
5. Affluent business class – Marwadi
6. Muslim – Seikh, Sunni, Dhunia, Hajam, Dhobi, Pathan, Julaha
7. Indigenous people – Tharu, Rajbanshi, Danuwar, Bantar, Satar.
(In Himal, monthly, 1990: 10).
[4] They had created four branches of governance. They are:
- Kuther (land tax, animal husbandry, commerce, tax collection)
- Sulli or Solla (administration of justice)
- Lingwal (transport, communications, irrigation)
- Mapchowk (Marriage, divorce etc)
(Dhanabjra Bajracharya and Tekbahadur Shrestha in Yakha Rai, 2053 V.S.: 214).
[5] Following is the picture of this Sanskrit university:
Vice-Chancellor – 1, Registrar – 1 and Professors – 17 (all Khas)
Associate Professors – 41 ( 37 Khas and 4 Madhesi)
(Source: Analysis of nationalities of the officials mentioned in NIMD, 1999)
[6] Khas – 47424 (48.9%), Mangolkirat – 5048 (5.2%), Madhesi – 20153 (20.8%), Newar 23000 (23.7%), Dalit – 390 (0.4%) and could not classify – 962 (1%). In another words there is a graduate among 22.1 Newars, 8.1 Khas, 3.5 Madhesis, 1.2 Mangolkirats and 0.2 Dalits (Source: CBS, 1993: 325-326.)
[7] According to Hark Gurung, the names of Gurung settlements of Marshangdi valley had been given Khas names. They include the following names
Khas Gurung Khas Gurung
Baglungpani Syaru, Bhirpustun Piudi
Chaur Chor Dadua Tadwa
Darhe Paje Ghamrang Komron
Ghanpokhara Ponju Gilung Klihnu
Khasur Khasu Maling Mhili
Naiche Tajo Nalma Ngada
Pasanaun Paigon Sanjawa Sonbu
Taxar Tasa Tanting Tonde
Tarachowk Tahjo Tarache Ngadi
Usta Singu Yangakot Yojgain
(Gurung, 1980: 246)
In absence of new study, it is not known which names still survive. Tony Hagen has used the Khas name of “Ghanpakhara” instead of the Gurung name “Ponju” in his book (Hagen, 1980: 117). These Khas practices express their totalitarian mindset.
[8] The following are the major cultural/nationality organizations:
Mangolkirat:
- Kirat Dharma tatha Sanskriti Uthan Sangh (Kirat Religion and Culture Uplift Association)
- Kirat Yakthum Chumlung ( Assembly of Kirats)
- Nepal Tamang Ghedung (Assembly of Tamangs)
- Akhil Nepal Janajati Sammelan (All Nepal Conference of Nationalities)
- Nepal Janajati Mukti Andolan (Nepal Nationality Liberation Movement)
- Nepal Janajati Mahasangh (Nepal Federation of Nationalities)
Newars
- Newa Rastiya Andolan (National movement of Newars)
- Mankakhala (Newar Cultural Organization),
Madhesi
- Nepal Maithili Samaj ( Nepal Maithili Society),
- Maithili Vikash Munch (Maithili Development Forum),
- Avadhi Sanskritik Vikas Parishad (Avadhi Cultural Development Council),
- Nepal Bhojpuri Pratisthan (Nepal Bhojpuri Academy)
- Tharu Kalyankari Sabha (Tharu Welfare Assembly), etc
[9] In its Nepali version published in 2000, I had proposed to divide the province into three as Purva (eastern) Khasan, Madhya (Central) Khasan and Paschim (Western Khasan) considering its mountain terrain and feasible governance. After careful examination and feedback from the readers and reviewers the area is proposed as one natural region.
[10] In the Nepali version of the book the area was proposed to call as Kapilvastu as it was called in the ancient times. But analysis of the feedbacks received supported the idea of naming the region as Tharuan.
[11] The name of the area was “Lumbini Pradesh” in the book in Nepali.
[12] In the book, the region was divided into two seeing its size of population which was very large comparing to other provinces. But, the feedback corrected the mistake of dividing a natural region.
[13]
| Table: 21 The provinces are made of the following districts |
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| Provinces |
Districts |
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| Kirat Pradesh |
Taplejung, Ilam, Panchthar, Terhathum, Dhankuta, Sankhuasava,Solukhumbu, okhaldhunga, Bhojpur, Udaypur |
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| Tambasaling |
Ramechhap, Dolakha, Sidhupalchok, Kavrapalanchok, Nuakot, Rasuwa, Dhading, Makwanpur, Sindhulu |
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| Tamumagarat |
Kashki, Lamjung, Manang, Gorkha, Mustang, Palpa, Tanahu, Syangja, Myagdi |
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| Nepah |
Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur |
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| Khasan |
Rolpa, Rukum, Arghakhachi, Salyan, Gulmu, Baglung, Dolpa, Pyuthan, Parbat,Jajarkot, Surkhet, Dailekh, Jumla, Mugu, Kalikot, Humla, Darchula, Baitadi, Doti,Bajhang, Bajura, Dadeldhura, Achham |
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| Tharuan |
Kanchanpur, Kailali, Bardia, Banke, Dang, Kapilvastu |
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| Bhojpuri Pradesh |
Rupandehi, Nawalparasi, Chitwan, Parsa, Bara, Rautahat |
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| Mithila |
Sarlahi, Mahottari, Dhanusha, Siraha, Saptari, Sunsari, Morang, Jhapa |
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[14] Presently, each parliament member gets Rs 1000000. (About US $ 13300) for the development of their respective constituencies. The money is used as gifts from the heaven to be spent without any personal sense of responsibility. Mostly, it is used to please their family, friends and party cadres.
