Linguistic federalism

- DR ANAND JHA

Many people have expressed their opinion on how provinces in new Nepal should be demarcated. Rarely, though, have they shown any support for demarcation along linguistic lines and have, instead, often warned of grave consequences if it happens. The biggest fear, they argue, is that demarcation along linguistic lines will fuel an ever-increasing passion for a distinct identity of various language groups, will corrode the existing Nepali identity and may even lead to disintegration of the country.

Passion against division along linguistic lines runs so high that many are unwilling to listen to any kind of benefits such division might entail. Some have even gone to the extent to argue against any kind of federalism at all. It’s time we spared some time and evaluated the costs and benefits of demarcation along linguistic lines with more reason and less passion. Demarcation along linguistic lines may not be bad for our country as it is made out to be. Instead, it may be the very thing we need for long-term political stability.

With division along linguistic lines, more ethnic groups will feel at home. The danger of suppressing any particular group is inviting trouble in the future and that’s why the idea of One Madhes, One Pradesh is flawed.So, what are the benefits? For one, it would give a major boost to a number of language and culture groups. For example, a state which is dominated by Tharus will be a major boost to the Tharu culture, language and it will make Tharus feel that they are an important part of the Nepali identity. All of us would agree that Tharus would feel good about this situation. But, wouldn’t it benefit all of us if Tharus feel that their culture and language is an indispensable part of the Nepali identity?

So, why is there so much opposition to the creation of a province with a Tharu-speaking majority? The most common concern is that non-Tharus living in such a province would feel out of place and discriminated living in a majority Tharu state. Well, this might be true but isn’t it better than the Mahendra version where every non-Nepali speaking, non-daura suruwal wearing citizen feels out of place! It is impossible to design a system that will please each and every one of us but that does not mean that one should sabotage a system that benefits the majority of Nepali citizens. Isn’t that what democracy is all about? With division along linguistic lines, more ethnic groups will feel at home in Nepal and this is vital for long-term political stability and economic development. The danger of suppressing any particular group is inviting trouble in the future and that’s why the idea of One Madhes, One Pradesh is flawed.

Also, it is important to tackle the argument for and against federalism along linguistic lines head-on. Often, an alternative model is suggested downplaying the ongoing struggle by various linguistic groups in the country.

A group of highly-regarded intellectuals and journalists have championed the idea of having federal states similar to the five development regions we have today. They argue that their model will allow for homogeneous division of resources (i.e Mountains, Hills and Tarai) in all the provinces. This, they argue will make sure that all states are equally divided in terms of resources and have all they need for sustainable development. This logic is too simplistic. For one, this will hurt specialization.

For example, when a state consist of only the plains, it is easier to specialize in grains produced in those regions. Second, development has more to do with how you use resources for productive use. Also, research shows that ethnically-homogenous societies have greater social capital and make more efficient use of their resources. So, even from a purely economic standpoint and ignoring political realities, demarcation similar to the existing five development regions may not be the best one.

As far as inclusion of ethnic groups goes, their model further allows for “ethnic enclaves” in each of these federal states, which is supposed to assure that other ethnic groups other than “pure” Nepali are not treated like second-class citizens as they have been so far. In other words, in their model second-class citizens remain at the mercy of the first-class citizens to make sure that such distinction is eliminated. How likely is that?

As a Nepali citizen, whose mother tongue is not Nepali, this model appears like a total set-up. It will perpetuate hegemony of Nepali-speaking people all over the country and will continue to stifle the opportunities for the rest. Just think about it: What are the chances of a Tharu being elected as a chief minister in a state that includes Bardiya as well as Khaptad? And how realistic is it to believe that some non-Tharu chief minister of the state would understand Tharu’s plight and work to end the Kamaiya system in that region. And how realistic is it to believe that it will give a boost to Tharu identity? Contrast this with a situation where there is a separate Tharuwan state. The possibility of a Tharu chief minister rises significantly. With a Tharu chief comes a big boost to the Tharu identity and a place for them in Nepal just like any other community.

In many ways, Nepal is at a point where India was about 60 years ago. India, like Nepal, is a diverse country with numerous ethnic groups and languages. Not many people believed that it was possible to hold India together as nation as we see it today. Yet, India has survived as a nation and nobody is talking about India disintegrating in the future. The Indian constitution gave space to one’s language and culture and devised a mechanism where Indians could be proud of their mother tongues and cultures and be a proud Indian citizen as well. We need to learn from the Indian experience and think long term.

(Writer is an Assistant Professor of Economics and Finance at Texas A&M International University in Texas, USA.)

 source::http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=6948

Mitochondrial and Y-chromosome diversity of the Tharus (Nepal): a reservoir of genetic variation

Simona Fornarino , Maria Pala , Vincenza Battaglia , Ramona Maranta , Alessandro Achilli , Guido Modiano , Antonio Torroni , Ornella Semino and Silvana A Santachiara-Benerecetti

BMC Evolutionary Biology 2009, 9:154doi:10.1186/1471-2148-9-154

Published:2 July 2009

Abstract (provisional)

Background

Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent represent an area considered as a source and a reservoir for human genetic diversity, with many markers taking root here, most of which are the ancestral state of eastern and western haplogroups, while others are local. Between these two regions, Terai (Nepal) is a pivotal passageway allowing, in different times, multiple population interactions, although because of its highly malarial environment, it was scarcely inhabited until a few decades ago, when malaria was eradicated. One of the oldest and the largest indigenous people of Terai is represented by the malaria resistant Tharus, whose gene pool could still retain traces of ancient complex interactions. Until now, however, investigations on their genetic structure have been scarce mainly identifying East Asian signatures.

Results

High-resolution analyses of mitochondrial-DNA (including 34 complete sequences) and Y-chromosome (67 SNPs and 12 STRs) variations carried out in 173 Tharus (two groups from Central and one from Eastern Terai), and 104 Indians (Hindus from Terai and New Delhi and tribals from Andhra Pradesh) allowed the identification of three principal components: East Asian, West Eurasian and Indian, the last including both local and inter-regional sub-components, at least for the Y chromosome.

Conclusions

Although remarkable quantitative and qualitative differences appear among the various population groups and also between sexes within the same group, many mitochondrial-DNA and Y-chromosome lineages are shared or derived from ancient Indian haplogroups, thus revealing a deep shared ancestry between Tharus and Indians. Interestingly, the local Y-chromosome Indian component observed in the Andhra-Pradesh tribals is present in all Tharu groups, whereas the inter-regional component strongly prevails in the two Hindu samples and other Nepalese populations. The complete sequencing of mtDNAs from unresolved haplogroups also provided informative markers that greatly improved the mtDNA phylogeny and allowed the identification of ancient relationships between Tharus and Malaysia, the Andaman Islands and Japan as well as between India and North and East Africa. Overall, this study gives a paradigmatic example of the importance of genetic isolates in revealing variants not easily detectable in the general population.

 Source::http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2148-9-154.pdf

A class apart

PRAMOD MISHRA

The SLC results are out; 68.47 percent of the candidates have cleared the Iron Gate, and this year’s result is said to be the highest in its 75-year history. Commentators are in a celebratory mood at this year’s unprecedented yield. But what they should be asking is why the unprecedented result has denied the privilege to the remaining 31.53 percent. Who are these failures? Where do they come from? What will happen to them in the New Nepal or in the 21st century world of information technology and knowledge economy? What sort of work they will do? What does the gap between the overwhelming number of third divisions and the 11,000 first divisions mean for the nation’s future?

In the 1960s, when I started school in a Morang village at the southern edge of the charkose jungle, my class was the third batch and it had only three pupils — a Rajbanshi girl, a Rajbanshi boy and myself. And for all intents and purposes, I was a Rajbanshi. I spoke the language; it was my only culture; and my kinship network, socially formed by my mother, spread across villages among the Rajbanshis.

In later years, after DDT came, the first batch of settlers from the hills began spending more time in the plains; and their children, too, joined the school.

In the first five years, from classes one to five, our school moved to five different sites and expanded from one to three rooms. Save for the last schoolhouse, whose walls were made of sapwood, had a thatched roof and lasted a couple of years, all the others were made of bamboo, hay and thatch. By the end of the year, local cattle would eat away the walls, the rains rotted the roof, and the effort would begin anew at the end of the school year to collect bamboo and thatch and hay from the villages around, which grown boys carried on their backs (most boys were already in their early teens when they started reading, writing and basic arithmetic). By the time I reached class five, deforestation had begun in earnest, providing sapwood for the walls of the three-room school.

Our first teachers were Indian traders and confectioners who had ventured into malaria-infested Morang to buy a seer or half-seer of rice, mustard and jute at the weekly market and then sell them in bulk to the merchants in Rangeli, four hours south. The Rajbanshi village chief, Jahar Singh (we also had a Sher Singh, and the two names frightened outsiders who didn’t know what to expect in the den of lions) had coaxed one of these grain traders, a man named Poddar whom his pupils called Long Jaw, to be our first master. The second master, the pupils called him Sukhna for his emaciated looks, had a sweets shop at the village bazaar. I suppose they had a few years of schooling in their home villages and had come to make a living through petty trading away from the unemployment and famine of Bihar.

Both the Rajbanshis and the first batch of hill men had begun to realize that their children should learn the alphabets and basic arithmetic, from addition to division. And those boys who had ambitions went for higher multiplication, from 11×11 to 20×20. It was our solid geometry and complex calculus that only tougher boys with greater grey matter pursued.

These Indian traders knew Manohar Pothi, our first primer, which said Mahatma Gandhi was the father of our nation. It was soon replaced by the Mahendra Mala series, which shifted the focus from Gandhi to King Mahendra, from dahi to mohi, and from Hindi to Nepali. We used white clay to write on black slates and wiped them clean as many times as we wished with our hand. Ink was made by dissolving pieces of purple clay from Buchchi’s shop in water, and pens were made from bamboo slivers. The older boys could always make better pens because they had knives of their own and could use it better, sharpening the bamboo into a smooth body and slitting through the sharpened, sloping head to make a fine nib. I always envied their skills, but could never emulate them, for I had no knife and I could never achieve any success in calligraphy, which remained a lifelong regret.

When the first matric-failed teacher, a brother-in-law of a local Rajbanshi landowner, arrived from a different village (I was in class three), it caused a sensation among the pupils and the guardians alike. They all said that we finally had a master with a degree. We all aspired then to be matric-failed. In class four, when Hari Prasad Dulal arrived from the eastern hills with normal training received at a place called Dharan — as DDT had begun to show results on the mosquitoes, cats and the jungle — his normal training sounded most abnormal and exotic. He indeed transformed the learning experience. Grown boys no longer showed off and bragged about their welts, and the younger ones no longer pissed in their pants. Dulal Sir coaxed the pupils and teachers into bands of dancers and singers and led them around the villages during festivals to raise funds for thatch, sapwood and stationery. Good looking boys became marunis in sari and blouse and I danced as a clown with a fake rubber nose and an upturned moustache. Dulal Master was the first to introduce blotting paper, rubber eraser and stamp pad in the school.

Then a perpetually drunk panchayat chief founded a high school in the middle of the jungle on a whim and named it after his mother. We now had a multi-room schoolhouse made of sal trees — floor, walls and pillars — and a roof of baked tile. Resourceful as he was, he brought (at least this was the rumour of their awe-inspiring degrees) a mix of I.A.-failed Indian traders and B.A.-failed wandering hill men as masters. I finished class six and seven there. Then the school, too, failed. And both the teacher and the school disappeared from the village for good.

Years later, the primary school evolved into a high school, named after the then crown prince. The teachers now had certified degrees, but new handicaps replaced the old. The village, as in most other places in Nepal, has a government school now, where the poorest of the poor can’t afford books and minimal fees, and the “boarding schools”, where the pupils have to wear ties. Even the poor now have ambitions to send their children to the English-medium school, whereas the government school now has too many pupils and too few teachers. Towns and cities have options and facilities, villages don’t. A few well-to-do can avail of the best for their children, while the poor are left behind everywhere. Those groups that have had a sense of entitlement to knowledge and the land have a vision for themselves and their progeny; those who have lived without a sense of entitlement and connection very often don’t know what education will bring them. They still don’t send their children to school, or even if they do so, there is little motivation and drive.

The SLC results of this year, as in other years, carry all the complexity of Nepal’s geography, class, caste and ethnic divide. Old handicaps of the initial years have gone, but new ones have appeared. Chinese pens have replaced bamboo slivers, Enid Blyton may have replaced Manohar Pothi, but can there be a new revolution in mass education replacing the first, hesitant beginnings? Nepali patriots are obsessed with Nepal’s border with India. Can they be similarly obsessed with India’s giant strides in education? The Indian government is already acting on the recommendations of its Knowledge Commission under its prioritized Human Resources Development Ministry. But top Nepali political leaders still give interviews about defence, home and foreign as the plum ministries deserving their high ambition and status. Who gives a fig about education? What is the Constituent Assembly going to do about education in the New Nepal and make sure that there is equality of opportunity for everyone in education?

source::http://www.ekantipur.com/columns.php?&nid=201928

As the fiscal wheel turns

- DAULAT JHA

Every time I visit Janakpur, I find the city has aged. True, new houses are being built and the city is gradually expanding, thanks to the inflow of money from migrant workers. But the roads get worse every year. With the sewage system being non-existent, mosquitoes thrive on pools of water during monsoon. The municipality, notorious for its corruption, rarely picks garbage. This time was no exception. Huge pieces of rocks were piled on the road from the airport, making it so bad that rickshaw-wallahs were hesitant in using the road. The rocks were supposed to be gravel to be used for road construction. Mud piles lined both sides of the road in parts of the main city, dug out to build drains.

The fiscal year is drawing to an end. This means that the different government agencies have to use the assigned budget before the end of Asadh. Thus the flurry of work – the road and the sewage. As happens almost every year, the government rushes to conduct token works of development by piling stones and digging holes at this time of the year.

In Gaur, a local leader told me that they had stopped expecting anything from the Nepali government. The Indian government, meanwhile, had built a hospital and was building a girls hostel and roads. Then comes the monsoon and before real work is done, the rain washes away whatever work has been done. This sorry state of affairs has become the norm in our country. As it is, rarely is any real development work done by the government agencies. Those that are started immediately prior to the monsoon are washed away within a month. The few projects that are completed also deteriorate in no time, thanks to the sheer amount of corruption.

The government’s inability to undertake any large development project in the region is one of the main reasons that alienated the Madhesi people from the Nepali state. Janakpur municipality has the reputation of being one of the most corrupt institutions and past mayors have been marred with accusations of corruption.

The deficit of trust towards the Nepali state was made apparent as I was having a conversation with a friend. Pointing to a road that was being constructed, he said that this time the project would actually be successfully implemented. The reason – the roads were being built by India. In my travels around the Tarai, I have come across similar opinion. In Gaur, a local leader told me that they had stopped expecting anything from the Nepali government. The Indian government, meanwhile, had built a hospital and was building a girls hostel and roads. Near my village in Dhanusha is a large high school, which the Indian embassy (along with donations from the Nidhi family) built. Meanwhile, the once prestigious R.R. Campus looks dilapidated, despite the tremendous wealth it has, solely because it is sarkari.

Underdevelopment, along with racial discrimination, is the main argument people use when talking about federalism. Now that we will have a Madhes state, there will actually be concrete development – they say. But so far, the Madhesi parties have not been able to deliver on the high expectations they raised in the aftermath of the Madhes Movement and during the CA elections. A stark reminder is the government’s apathy towards the Koshi flood victims in a region that boasted of some of the most prominent politicians.

No wonder, disillusionment with the political leadership runs high. The political in-fighting and splits have increased this sense. Both the Maoists and the Upendra Yadav-led faction of the Madhesi People’s Rights Forum (MPRF) faction can capitalize on the frustrations since they are now in the opposition but they too are perceived as being more interested in central level politics than achieving any meaningful change in the region. The Maoists could also make significant inroads among the landless and the marginalized communities in the Tarai , particularly if they are able to appease Matrika Yadav.

The fiscal year is drawing to an end. The government agencies have to use the assigned budget before the end of Asadh. Thus the flurry of work.In this background of utter despair and underdevelopment, and fueled by the inefficiency of the security apparatus, it is the armed groups and criminals who benefit. Abductions, killings, extortion and threats continue unabated. There is actually a chance that they may rise in the coming months due to the influx of money that usually come to contractors, businessmen and government employees following the end of the fiscal year. Similarly, the dissemination of funds to village development committees when the new budget comes in place may also increase the dangers faced by VDC secretaries.

With the crime wave in Kathmandu reaching a new high, law and order has assumed a greater urgency for the government than when incidents occurred mostly in the Tarai.

However, the government has yet to develop any comprehensive strategy in dealing with the increasing lawlessness. The security situation in the Tarai has many dimensions given the interconnectedness between the political parties, security apparatus, criminal gangs and armed groups. We will have to wait and see how the new government deals with the peace and security issue in the Tarai. As of yet, we have not heard anything regarding the armed groups or about what the strategy is to control crime.

The political parties in the government must surely understand the costs of ignoring the Tarai, which would only further weaken their influence in the region and provide a platform for the Maoists and the Yadav-led MPRF. What is of importance is whether the government will continue to patronize the criminal elements seeing them as the only source of consolidating their grip in the region or will seek to develop a comprehensive strategy aimed at eliminating the structural causes that has led to the sorry state of the region, namely increasing representation, implementing development projects and maintaining law and order through a more nuanced approach. Then, hopefully, people will not have to look southwards for development.

source::http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=6961

MADHESH AND MADHESHI: A GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORIC PERSPECTIVE

- Bikram

In geographical term, Terai means a flatland stretching from the foothill of the Himalayan region in the north to the Vindhyachal Parbat (Vindyachal Mountain) in the south situated in central India and Nepal. The term Madhesh itself is derived from Sanskrit word ‘Madhyadesh’ that implies to the Gangetic plain and the Vitri Madhesh area bordering India on the southern side and spreading north up to the foothill of Siwalik range. The Terai region, which is mostly a flatland, is geographically and culturally distinct from the hills. According to the population census in 2001, it occupies 23 per cent of total area and 48.5 per cent of the population of Nepal. Most of the Terai inhabitants are plains (?) people or Madheshi whose religious traditions, language, caste system, food, style of clothing and other social customs and manners are similar to the people of Indo-Gangetic plains in the south.Fridrich Gaige (1975) used the terms ‘hill people’ and ‘plains people’ living in Terai districts, and defined a) “plains people are those who speak any one of the plains languages as their mother tongues or first language, whether they were born or lived in the plains or hills” the plains languages being Maithili, Bjojpuri, Awadhi, Urdu, Hindi and Bengali, and dialects of these languages used by Janjati groups, and b) “hill people whose mother tongue or first language is one that predominates in the hill region of Nepal such as Nepali, Newari, Magar, Gurung, Rai and others.Madhesh has a long historiography dating back to the kingdom of Vaideha or Mithila established in eastern to central Madhesh and a part of the present day north Bihar, India (Malangia, 1997). In the mid western Madhesh, Shakya kings ruled in 600 BC, the Buddha belonging to the Shakya dynasty was born in 563 BC. Similarly, kingdoms were established in Simraungarh in the present day Bara district. In Madhesh, several kingdoms were established and ruled by many dynasties (Thakur, 1956). These states perished with time and were abandoned and the land converted into forests. Gaige (1975) concluded: “the ancient and medieval history of this region is a cyclic one in which men and forests have dominated in turns”.The archeological studies through ancient arts, artifacts and monuments and excavation of historic sites (as in the case of Lumbini) of Madhesh, have not been done so far. Such studies would tell the ancient history of this region. Unlike the detailed historical study and research of Kathmandu Valley and other hilly regions, the Pahadi scholars and historians have never given any importance to the history of Madhesh and completely ignored the region. A few Madheshi historians and scholars who, due to lack of resources, have not yet studied the complex ancient history of Madhesh. In recent decades, Kapilvastu, the birth place of Lord Buddh, received worldwide recognition and support for meaningful excavation and detailed study and renovation of key sites.After the unification of Madhesh in Nepal by Prithivi Narayan Shah in 1769, its border was again re-drawn by the Sugauli Treaty concluded between British India and Nepal in 1816. The treaty scattered the people in Madhesh across the boarder that divides India and Nepal internationally. The Madheshis have ever since been divided till this day. (Singh, Amresh 2004, Restructuring of Nepali State: A Madheshi Perspective)

Area and Population

The total land area in the 20 Terai districts is 34,109 sq km which accounts for 23.1% of the country’s total area (Table 1). In 2001, 48.4% of the country’s total population of 23.2 million lived in Terai districts with a density of 329 persons/sq km. Terai plain and Vitri Madhesh together cover 15.6% of the country’s total area.

Madheshi Issues:

Exclusion of Madhesh and Madeshis Social Exclusion

Social exclusion is defined as “the inability of our society to keep all groups and individuals within reach of what we expect as a society and the tendency to push vulnerable and difficult individuals in the least populous places”.

Language:

‘Until 1958, Terai residents (plains people) as well as Indians were required to stop at the border town of Birgunj to obtain passport before proceeding to Kathmandu. Passports were then checked at Chisapani Garhi on the route to Kathmandu. Before 1951, one’s nationality appears to have been determined primarily on linguistic basis. Nepalese subjects were the “hill folks” who spoke Nepali or hill languages such as Newari, Magar and Gurung etc. For this reason passports were not required for people traveling to Kathmandu valley from the eastern or westerns hills.’ (Gaige: 88). Thus, in early 1950s language was the major factor for separating as well as discriminating Madheshi as outsider. This mindset continues until now.

Poverty:

People living under absolute poverty line in Nepal are currently estimated to be 31%. However, about 46% of Dalits, 41% of Muslims and 33% of indigenous Janjati population are below the poverty line (World Bank, 2006). Together these three major ethnic groups have 52.6% of the total Madheshi population. The rest 47.4% of the Madheshi people have lower poverty level. The above poverty data indicates that a large proportion of Madheshi households are excluded from the mainstream development. Poverty itself is the main factor of exclusion; the poor people could not afford basic education, primary health care, sanitation practices and decent housing.The data and information so far available (Per Capita Budget Allocation and Primary Sector Development Index, Source: Sharma and Shah 2002- New ERA, ICIMOD 1997) indicate that the Terai districts having higher proportion of Madheshi population have much lower socio-economic index values compared to districts where hill people are in dominance. Government and political institutions have been advocating and focusing poverty reduction program mostly in the hills and mountains, and they have been convincing the donors that only the hills and mountains have large number of poor people (Source required for this statement). It appears that until now, the politicians, policy makers, decision makers and national planners who are themselves hill origin people have ignored the socio-economic development issues of Madhesh. The fact is that the Madheshi people are not in the right place and their voices are not heard or considered.

Land Ownership:

Acquisition of land assets is linked to citizenship issues. Since the knowledge of writing and speaking Nepali language was the clause in the Citizenship Act of 1960s for obtaining citizenship certificate, it was intentionally formulated to deny citizenship to Madheshi. The Madheshis of Terai, who have been living for several generations, are denied citizenship certificate due to their in-competency in Nepali language and without citizenship, land registration deed (lalpurja) is impossible and hence so many Madheshi are Landless. Landlessness has become a major problem among Madheshi community. The recent report indicates a grave situation particularly in Dalit, Janjati and Muslim ethnic community; about 37% of Dalits, and 32% of Janjati households do not own agricultural land while 41% of Muslims are landless. About 79% of Mushar, a Dalit community, do not own land; they have the lowest literacy rate of 7.3%.

Education:

The literacy level of the Madhesis in Terai (including inner Terai) is only 38.4 per cent as compared to 65.6 per cent for the Pahadi (including Himali) group.The Dalits are the most deprived group of population in Nepal, with only 39.2 per cent literacy. There is, however, substantial difference in the literacy level between hill Dalits (47.9%) and Terai Dalits (23.4%). Terai Dalits are on the lowest rung of socio-economic development ladder. Similarly, the literacy rate of Janjatis of Inner Terai and Terai together is only 50 per cent as compared to 58.7 per cent for Himal and 63.2 per cent for Hills. The literacy rate of Terai castes (including Muslims and excluding Janjatis and Dalits) is only 35.2 per cent as compared to 72.0 per cent for hill castes groups. Thus, the literacy level of hill castes is more than twice that of Madhesi castes. (Source: Calculated from Harka Gurung’s Nepali Document, Janajati Nepali-Au 8. Doc.)A study done by Dr Devendra Chhetry, entitled ‘Educationally Disadvantaged Ethnic Groups of Nepal’, conducted under MIMAP Project of APROSC and IDRC, in December 1996, points out the existence of a wide disparity in literacy rate between the Madhesi and Pahadi populations of Terai. ‘The average literacy rate of the Pahadi origin groups living in the Terai region is 54.5 per cent, while that of Terai origin groups population living in the Terai region is 26.4 per cent. The wide gap between the Pahadi and Terai origin population in the Terai region is a serious matter which warrants immediate attention of the policy makers”

Economic ExclusionEmployment in Civil Services and International Agencies Organizations

Three castes/ethnic groups namely Brahmins, Chhetris and Newars have dominated the civil service in the country. In 1991 these three castes constituted 36% of total population in Nepal but occupied 89.2 percent of position in civil service, while Madheshi community accounted for 32% of population but occupied only 8.4% of position in civil service. This indicates that Madheshi people have been highly discriminated in government services. It is interesting to note that in 1971 these three castes had occupied 89% of posts in civil services. Thus the pattern of civil service had not much changed over the past twenty years having these Brahmin, Chhetris and Newars dominating the civil service over the years and it is very unlikely that this trend will change in near future (Pashupati Rana’s Nepal’s Fourth Plan: A Critique. (Yeti Pocket Book Ltd 1971) pp 18- 19; D.N. Dhungel’s article “The Nepalese Administrative System” in Contemporary Nepal .P.P. 122-123).Out of the total 1,012 manpower involved in 91 international organizational agencies in 2001, there were 142 (14.1 %) Foreigners, 817 (80.7%) Pahadis and 53 (5.2%) Madhesi. (Source: UNDP (2001). Directory of the United Nations and Its related Specialized Agencies in Nepal, September 2001, UNDP, Kathmandu)

Representation in Cabinet, Constitutional Bodies and High Official Posts

The Pahadi Brahmins and Chhetris control most of the powerful positions and influence the government and other governing institutions with their action. They consider Madheshi as ‘non-Nepali’ or ‘less Nepali’ and as its consequence, the latter, gets excluded from a higher posts unless he is in their high level of confidence. A very low or negligible representation of Madheshi can be seen in constitutional bodies and in higher posts/ designation — where people make national policies, and are the key decision makers and policy implementers. (Relevant data can be sought from: Singh, A. (2003) Restructuring of Nepali State: A Madheshi Perspective)

Representation in Judiciary

About 8 per cent of the total judges of the country are from Madhesi communities whereas the remaining 92 per cent are from hill communities. Participation of judges from Madhesi communities at the Appellate Court is 14.9 per cent, which could be considered a ‘high level of participation’ compared to 3.7 per cent at district courts.

Political ExclusionElectoral Constituencies

The average population per constituency is considerably higher in Terai districts (127,414) than in the mountain (73,026) and 109,081 in the hill districts. This reduces the number of parliamentarians representing Terai region where about 96% of the country’s total Madheshi people live while increases their number from hills and mountains where 82% of the country’s total Pahadi people live.

Excerpts from the author’s paper presented at a Discourse on Inclusion in the Context of Federalism organized by the Friends for Peace on March 10, 2007, in Kathmandu.

The remaining portion of the same paper by the author has already been pasted in the telegraphnepal.com website last week-ed.

source::http://www.politics.com/bikram/blog/12480/madhesh-and-madheshi-a-geographical-and-historic-pers/

JANAKPUR-From a capital paralysed by strikes to a Tarai paralysed by strikes, the long-suffering people of this country have learnt to cope.

They’ve also learnt to make hay while the sun shines.

Rickshaw fares quadruple when motorised vehicles disappear from the streets. Since the demand for pedal power far outstrips supply during a banda, it’s the provider rather than the customer who sets the fare. Our driver, Sovit, says he makes most of his money carrying children to school.

That’s the regular income on which he bases his monthly budget. He can take one or two days of banda per month in his stride. But anything more than that can push him below the poverty line.

During the Madhes Uprising two years ago, he says he endured untold hardships for prolonged periods because it was his struggle for a life of dignity. Thanks to the andolan, no Pahadi passenger now dare talk to him in a spiteful tone.

But he doesn’t know what this nagarik sarbochata is all about. “Isn’t President Ram Baran Yadav also a nagarik?” asks Sovit with the profound wisdom of a man who has pulled rickshaw for a living ever since he dropped out of school at the age of 14 to support his family.

A hartal also eliminates the most attractive source of a rickshaw-puller’s income: short trips with the possibility of tips. With businesses shut, people just walk across the street to hire pirated DVDs to spend the day at home. Buses stop, railways do not ply and the cigarette factory is shut. The quadrupled income from one or two trips to the airport doesn’t compensate.

Sovit’s economic sense is remarkable enough, but his political instincts are even more impressive. The 24-year-old looks double his age and sounds as wise, and thinks that no political force other than Forum can resist the Maoist onslaught in the Madhes. The deserted streets confirm his prognosis. There are no YCDL hoodlums visible, but the fear of their wrath is enough to force businesses to shut.

Sovit campaigned for MJF lawmaker Sanjay Sah during CA elections but considers Upendra Yadav to be a better representative of Madhesis than the opportunistic gang of Bijay Gachhedar.

Whoever says that the popular verdict that produced a hung Constituent Assembly was freak phenomenon should listen to porters in the mountains, rickshawalas in the Tarai and cabbies in Kathmandu. The Nepali voter wanted to send a strong message to its leaders: if you don’t swim together, we wouldn’t be there to rescue you when you drown. The message has been either misread or wilfully misinterpreted.

The political class in the capital is yet again engaged in mutually assured demolition of each other’s reputation even as the country descends into anarchy. Sovit is a worried man: his son is not old enough to go to Malaysia and he doesn’t want to keep him in Janakpur. He wants to know if his son can find job as a domestic in a Kathmandu household.

Everybody in Janakpur wants to move to the capital city. The once-famous RR Campus has deteriorated beyond recognition. The town is not safe anymore for girls to walk alone. When Pahadis move to safer locations, it’s big news. But Sovit insists that for every Pahadi settler who has moved out, there are at least two Madhesis who have done the same and for similar reasons. The only difference is that when a Pahadi leaves, he often sells his property never to return.

Criminality is so pervasive that all hopes of the town returning to normal are fading. Work on Dhalkebar-Bhitamod Highway is held up because every gang with a gun wants a cut from construction contracts. People don’t pick up any calls from phones with unfamiliar numbers. Motorcycles are snatched from riders in broad daylight.

Sovit wants to know whether he can survive pulling rickshaws in Kathmandu. He has been told that tourists pay more there than here and plans to move out of Janakpur as soon as his son completes school. At least that’s a point on which the entire country is one: everybody dreams of living in the capital city some day.

source::http://www.nepalitimes.com.np/issue/2009/06/19/StateOfTheState/16045

Nepali Congress is the Party of Satans

Jay Prakash Gupta Leader Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (Yadav Faction)

On the Nepali Congress

Twenty six years after serving the Nepali Congress Party I came to the conclusion that it is the party of Satans. Look the Nepali Congress is the second largest party in the Constituent Assembly and the MJF is the fourth largest party. However, after the Maoists quit the government, the NC preferred the UML that is the third largest party to lead the government. And, declared Bijaya Gacchedhar as the country’s deputy prime minister. In all, these events are just the beginning of the satanic behavior of the Nepali Congress. The NC’s satanic behavior could well be seen in the distribution of portfolio(s) in the cabinet. I am certain that within a month period, the UML too will have the full knowledge of Girija Prasad Koirala and NC’s satanic behavior. In a month period people will witness how Koirala will tighten his grip over Madhav Nepal and Madhav will have no option than to surrender to Girija. We are also aware that the UML is already on the verge of split over these issues.

On Bijaya Kumar Gacchedhar

Any way, a Tharu leader has been declared the deputy prime minister. I have not heard even a single Tharu organization so far welcoming his elevation to this prestigious post. Gacchedhar has no Madhesh agenda nor is he accepted by the Tharu community as their leader. He has become agenda less and thus all gates are open for him to re-join the Nepali Congress party. Gachedhar if joins the Nepali Congress, I am pretty worried over the fate of those dedicated NC leaders. However, I am pretty sure he will have a comfortable position in the NC. His old mates, Arjun Nar Singh K.C, Govinda Raj Joshi, Khum Bahadur Khadka are still serving the NC. I think he will rejoin the old camp and have a comfortable life there. Thus, Gacchedhar will be comfortably placed in the days ahead unlike the United Marxist Leninist Party.

On Gachhedhar’s joining the MJF

Immediately after the conclusion of the Second Madhesh Uprising, Bijaya Gacchedhar came to us and exhibited his earnest desire to join the MJF.

Ahead of that the NC did reject tickets for the CA election to his close friends, Sarat Singh Bhandari, Ram Janam Chaudhary. This NC decision had hit Gacchedhar very hard and he was to retaliate.

The CA election was ahead of us, the MJF was a new political outfit, and we thus accepted his proposal in haste. We sincerely believed that he will respect the Madhesi Mandate and remain committed to the party. But, from the next day he joined our Party, he began bargaining with us, he threatened to split the party from the very beginning. We accepted his demands one after another only to avert the split. However, the day we rejected his illicit demand, he divided the party. We are rather happy at the moment because the MJG is free of Gacchedhar.

On the Role of Tarai Madhesh Loktantrik Party, TMLP, and Sadvawana in MJF division

Yes! I totally agree that the TMLP and Sadvawna party played their due roles in the MJF division. The day was May 29, the country was celebrating its first Republic Day, Sushil Koirala, K.P. Oli and Mahanta Thakur and Rajendra Mahato headed towards Koteshwor at the private residence of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal.  The Four parties took the decision right in Koteshwor to enjoy the support of Gachedhar to form the next cabinet. They also decided to include the MJF led by Gachedhar in the government. As far as Mahanta Thakur is concerned, a senior leader, I do not want to criticize him. Yet, Thakur made the decision to join the government through the Central Committee as did Rajendra Mahato in the Sadvawana. However, they strictly favor Gacchedhar led MJF team in the government.

The UML and NC felt that dividing the MJF will give them another opportunity to recapture their lost power in Madhesh. Similarly, the TMLP and Sadvawana felt that they could extend and expand their lost base in Madhesh.

On MJF Division will benefit NC and UML?

The agenda MJF raised of Madhesh were never taken positively by the NC and the UML. There was not enough strength of pro-Madhesi parities in the Constituent Assembly and now with the MJF divided, it is unlikely that the Madhesi parties have become weak in the CA body.

The TMLP said earlier that they will not join the government, but sooner than later they decided in favor of joining the government led by the UML. The Sadvawna is always in the government and the MJF has already been cornered. There is no significance for the pro-Madhesi parties to remain in the consistent assembly. I strongly feel that the MJF should, after some time, resign from the Constituent Assembly summarily and opt for yet another struggle. As far as addressing the Madhesi issues are concerned, the CA holds no significance. All pro-Madhesi parties should begin mulling the issue of resigning from the CA.

Our party cadres and the Madhesi voters should all prepare themselves for the struggle that lay ahead of us all.

I do not feel that the UML, NC and the Maoists are capable of addressing the extremism in politics. Yet the MJF was the only party capable of addressing the extremist politics being played in Madhesh. No other parties are capable of doing that. With the conspiracy to split the MJF, no other pro-Madhesi parties are capable of addressing the Madhesi concerns, thus I see the greater threat of Madhesi Youths opting for extremism and taking weapons to guarantee their rights.

source::http://www.telegraphnepal.com/news_det.php?news_id=5620

At the Forum
The MJF split makes politics even more unstable

- Prashant Jha

New nationalism

The Ranas defined Nepali state identity by cleverly negotiating with the British and supporting their colonial ideology. That is why the Rana regime was at the beck and call of the British (help in the mutiny of 1857 was an example) to ensure the maximum number of gun salutes given to any princely state on the sub-continent.  The Rana oligarchy may have had maximum sovereignty among the princely states, but hardly any nationalism save for the Muluki Ain of 1856.  If there was any group ideology at work, it was invested in distinguishing the clan from its competitors by inventing the last name, using Persianized Nepali as court language, and Western ways of dress and cuisine.

King Mahendra and his panchayat regime turned these and the constructed dress into a catchy slogan of Nepali nationalism — Our King, Our Country; One Language, One Dress. Varnashram dharma couldn’t be defended now as an explicit marker as before due to modern sensibilities, although as an ideology it remained potent in politics and society. Language, dress and monarchy became part of the modern national identity.  With the abolition of zamindari and the imposition of a Nepali-speaking bureaucracy, Nepal arrived on the world stage as a modern nation-state with top-down nationalism imposed by the Nepali-speaking elite.

In the absence of a homogenous Nepali ethnicity and the abolition of the monarchy and formal Hindu religion as given markers of a formal national identity, one dress and one culture, too, are no longer acceptable in a new Nepal.  In a situation like this, confusion, uncertainty and apprehension abound because the old can’t work and the new hasn’t been born or tested. What could be the pillars of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal’s nationalism?

The status of the Nepali language is yet to be decided, but Nepali is not only spoken by people of Bhutan, Sikkim, Darjeeling Hill Council, North Eastern States of India, the Doon Valley and so on, it is now one of the 22 official languages listed in the eighth schedule of the Indian constitution. Bhanubhakta’s statue stands in Sikkim and Darjeeling, and his name designates streets in Kolkata. On the other hand, a sizable population within Nepal, especially in the Tarai, still doesn’t speak Nepali. Therefore, save for convenience and convention of its official use, can Nepali bear pluralist Nepal’s nationalist burden that would at once meet the aspirations of all its people and dissociate itself from India if India remains a central mirror of Nepali nationalism?  Nepali is both an Indian and a Nepali language. Therefore, should we be wary of associating language with more than its functional value in Nepal’s pluralist society?  So, even the Nepali language becomes suspect as a marker of Nepali nationalism given the circumstances.

On the other hand, Hindi, the language that many Madhesi groups vouch for, also cannot be a symbol of Madhesi nationalism because people speak it as a functional language, a lingua franca, nothing more. Hindi is universally rejected by people of the Indian South (where Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam have their own rich history) as a symbol of North India’s aggression and linguistic hegemony despite Hindi’s controversial status as India’s national language. In fact, Tamil secessionism subsided in the 1960s only after a clear guarantee by Delhi that Hindi would not be imposed on the South.

Hindi’s status outside of the Hindi heartland of U.P., Bihar and Madhya Pradesh has always been suspect because it is nobody’s mother tongue. Even in these core so-called Hindi states, Hindi is mostly a lingua franca rather than the mother tongue of most Maithili, Bhojpuri, Magadhi, Awadhi, Garhwali, Kumauni and Chattisgarhi speakers. Most people speak a sort of colloquial, grammatically flawed Hindi in these states on semi-formal or formal occasions. You should hear Lalu Yadav speaking rustic and grammatically horrible Hindi in the Indian parliament to great applause.  (Only the new generation of urban middle class that has shed its provincial mother tongues of the villages has adopted TV Hindi as its first language, which is now increasingly being supplanted by English as the Indian urban middle class language).

In the Nepali Tarai, colloquial Hindi functions as a contact language. A Rajbanshi of Jhapa, who speaks Rajbanshi with a fellow Rajbanshi and Nepali with Nepali speakers, communicates in colloquial Hindi or Maithili with Maithili, Bhojpuri and Awadhi speakers from different parts of the Tarai. In this sense, Hindi is both an Indian as well as a Nepali language like Maithili, Bhojpuri, Nepali and others and so is a contact language of non-Nepali speaking inhabitants of the Tarai from Mechi to Mahakali. Also, unlike Nepali, which gives undue advantage to those who speak it as a mother tongue, Hindi is only a lingua franca, and very few people speak it with the advantage of 100 percent correctness.

At any rate, the language (be it Nepali or Hindi or any other language), dress or culture of any one ethnic group or region thus cannot be the symbol of nationalism in any country with a multi-lingual and multi-cultural population and a complex history. Like the monarchy and religion, they have become pillars of the old nationalism; they spell trouble for a pluralist society in a democracy. Old nationalism, a colonial gift of 18th-century Europe, has caused much bloodshed the world over. It has outlived its use even for Europe; and in new Nepal, one should rather say, good riddance!

But can Nepal’s sovereignty and integrity stand without the glue of nationalism that can unite all Nepalis in a common bond and identity for a common purpose?Nepal’s emerging civic institutions and pluralist public culture, its historical memory of sovereignty and independence, the desire of Nepalis of all ethnic groups to live together in a perfect union, the common will to make the most of the resources of the hills, the plains and foreign lands, and, above all, the Nepali people’s struggle for democracy and the republican dispensation could form the pillars of Nepal’s new nationalism.  It could be called civic nationalism — nationalism of political, social and civic institutions and values. In this respect, the forging of a pluralist constitution by the Constituent Assembly becomes a sacred (in a secular sense) act of Nepali nationalism. Nepal’s new constitution that embodies the Nepali people’s unique geo-cultural complexity and aspirations in a globalized world of the 21st century must be the fundamental document and symbol of Nepal’s new nationalism. In other words, pluralist democracy could be the new Nepali multiethnic nationalism.

source::http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=198614

Terai-Madhes and Geo-politics

Tuesday, 31 March 2009 18:17

Class struggle and caste division in Nepal are inextricably bound up to each other. Divided exclusively into the high and low castes, the former have always suppressed the latter. Terai-Madhesh is not an exception to this rule. It displays a complex caste hierarchy among Madheshis being categorized sharply into the forward (Brahmin, Rajput, Bhumiyar and Kyastha), the backward (Yadav, Teli, Baniya, Kurmi, etc.) and harijan (Dom, Dusadh, chamar, Mushar, etc). Besides, indigenous Terai populations (Rajbanshi, Gangai, Satar, Dhimal, Tharu etc.) and hill people occupy a substantial space in the territory. The harijan and indigenous are the real subalterns, repressed by both the forward and backward. The so-called high castes have also exploited the backward communities. However, the territory as a whole, has been dominated by the Khas–speaking elites who exercise a monopoly in the state machinery.

The high caste elites patronized by monarchy were given an upper hand in the state organs to preserve the feudal institution ever since the misquoted unification by Prithivi Narayan Shah. The same pyramid of autocracy was carried out during Rana, Panchayat and Post 1990 regimes, creating a strong hatred among the margins against the feudal.

Terai-Madhesh became relatively a more prey to the oligarchy. The khas vernacular was deliberately institutionalized and established as a singular discourse to show the hegemony over the non-Khas speaking. It was particularly aimed at keeping Madheshis and indigenous populations miles away from the mainstream. Unable to express their grievances and exchange ideas due to their inability to communicate in the state imposed monolithic Nepali (Khas) language, the Madheshi and indigenous people suffered from inferiority complex and helplessness. They looked up the Khas speaking people as their superior and ruler. Being victimized by the state, they confined themselves to the inferior and ruled. The linguistic barrier crippled them and only a handful of them could acquire virtually a nominal space in the mainstream politics and bureaucracy.

The state turned a blind eye to the genuine demands of Madheshi and other indigenous. Millions of them were deprived of citizenship and had to live like in an exile on their own land. As united Terai-Madhesh could be a threat, the state always kept a hold over the people of the plain by implementing ‘divide and rule’ policy. Whenever they got united to fight for the common cause, the state played tricks to bring a split among them. Consequently, most of political organizations formed by them got either eliminated or split in sub groups.

The plot to weaken the unity of Terai-Madhesh could be seen in a 22-point agreement signed on Aug 30, 2008 between the government and the Madheshi People’s Right Forum. The accord was made in direct contravention of the spirit and sentiments of February Madheshi uprising and its continuity, which sacrificed scores of lives. The agreement was nothing of novelty, which had not been addressed by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The accord failed to address the genuine political, economic, cultural and linguistic issues of Terai-Madhesh. However, the state succeeded in bringing a division among the agitators. Upendra Yadav, Supremo of MPRF was ousted by the dissenters on charge of abandoning proportional representation in the CA polls and autonomy in a federal state.

Madheshi and the indigenous masses lived in a state of despair and desolation for years. They took their plight as destiny and sealed their lips against exploitation, humiliation and discrimination of all kinds. But things changed radically over a decade and half. The subalterns spoke and voiced against the autocratic state. They overcame their hesitation, got united and fought vehemently against the autocratic system. They took active part and laid down several lives in every uprising and movement in the nation. They also took a leading role in the Maoist’s insurgency and April uprising. They proved their nationality by sacrificing the best souls of the soil.

The Madheshi and indigenous people, however, got disillusioned with the uprising being aborted in mere 19 days. Subsequently, the Madheshis resumed the agitation, popularly known as ‘February Madhesh Uprising for their emancipation in particular and all the margins in general. They moved the derailed republican train towards the intended destination at the cost of 42 lives. Because of the Madheshi agitation, the defender of the status quo UML and Congress were forced to march along the republic path. Likewise, the staunch royalists RPP and RJP appeared as the advocates of republic and the messiah of Madheshis in fear of being socially and politically discarded in Madhesh.

The stereotyped Nepali psyche underwent a transformation and recognized the significant role of Madheshis in the geo-politics and Terai-Madhesh being an integral part of the territory. The Madheshis registered their dignified presence on the high walls of the capital by heralding, “Say with pride we are Madheshis, the sons of the soil, not foreign immigrants”. The Madheshis joined their hands with the repressed ethnic groups like Limbuwan, Khambuwan, Tamsaling and others and are on the path of building an inclusive federal republic.

Being petrified with the secular and nationalistic identity of Madheshis the imperialist, royalist, regressive and Hindu fanatic elements have been playing fouls in Terai-Madhesh. In their initiation, coverage and financial assistance over a dozen secessionist groups are resorting to sabotage the constitution-making process. Having utterly failed to jeopardize the racial harmony in Madhesh and fully stripped off after Gaur Carnage, they have now directed their vulture’s eyes upon the hill, where armed outfits are threatening the innocent Nepalese people making several lame excuses.

The regressive forces made the capital a second target to disrupt the racial harmony between hill and Madhesh peoples. They blasted a series of bombs indiscriminately in public places in the valley on Sept 2, 2008 that killed 3 civilians and left over two dozens injured. But here also, they did not succeed and were exposed in the eyes of the sensible Kathmanduites. The people of the valley refused to be misled, displayed an exceptional criticality and maintained communal harmony. They learnt instantly that the so-called Madhesh based seemingly Hindu fanatic underground outfits were falsely projected and the real culprits were the same royalists. The mysterious Mr. John, Chief of Terai Army caused a lot of speculations on the mind of Nepali. The obscure figure was unmasked and was eliminated later.

The intra-class struggle can be seen in the recent Tharu agitation when they strongly voiced against the Madheshi feudal in conspiring to eliminate the Tharu’s separate identity by enrolling them in the list of Madheshis. The Tharus, led by the Maoist-schooled leader, Laxman Tharu, and Raj Kumar Lekhi, a Marxist by training, led the agitation ahead for their ethnic identity by blocking highways for 13 days and sacrificing two lives. Their genuine voices were heard ultimately and the high-sounding terminology “Madhesh” got changed into Terai-Madhesh, which accommodates all the Nepalese residing in the territory. Tharus make up seven percent of the Nepali population and have been residing for centuries before elimination of malaria. The all-inclusive nature of their agitation was also underscored by the margins of both hill and Terai people.

The history has offered us great opportunities to build a new nation free from exploitations and discriminations. Nevertheless, a new Nepal cannot emerge unless we ensure autonomy, right to self-determination, a federal democratic republic, end of oligarchy, autonomy within autonomy and full proportional representation to Madheshis, women, indigenous, dalits, disables, Muslims and other margins. The materialization of the above said pre-requisites will unify the nation with her multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and heterogeneous rhetoric identities.

source::http://www.cpnmintl.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47:terai-madhes-and-geo-politics&catid=35:article-national