Jeevan Baniya Empowering Dalits in Nepal: Lessons from South Korean NGOs’ Strategies. A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (NGO Studies) to the Graduate School of International Studies, Ajou University. December 2007.
- Bhakti Nepal
Reporting for nepaldalitinfo
The nepaldalitinfo network expresses its gratitude to Jeevan Baniya, a Nepali scholar, for his Master’s Thesis , “Empowering Dalits in Nepal: Lessons from South Korean NGOs’ Strategies” which he submitted to the Graduate School of International Studies Ajou University in South Korea. Baniya has successfully explored the information relating to important aspects of Dalit empowerment in Nepal. The author has touched on both inter-caste and intra-Dalit caste discrimination rampant in the country, while examining the ills of discriminatory practices against Dalits as well as the socio-eceonomic and political status of Dalit communities. The author draws practical implications on Dalit empowerment in Nepal from the experience gained by NGO sector in South Korea.
The author has drawn contemporary information on Dalits from large number of sources, of which the nepal dalit information resources available at our website http://www.nepaldalitinfo.20m.com was one source.
The nepaldalitinfo network, which undertakes internationalization of Nepali Dalit issues as one of the goals, congratulates Baniya for his successful attempt to document Dalit issues internationally at Ajou University in South Korea.
Abstract of the Thesis
It is estimated that there are 260 million Dalit people worldwide still living in segregation and servitude because of caste-based discrimination, according to Human Rights Watch. Even in the 21st century, there are many Dalit people in Nepal who are treated as animals. They constitute around 20% of the total population of the country; but they are systematically discriminated, excluded and marginalized in the social, cultural, economic and political spheres. They are even deprived of their basic needs such as health, food, and education. Taking this serious situation of Dalits in the country in to the account, many civil society organizations (CSOs) and government agencies have been working for elimination of different forms of discriminations to them, and towards their empowerment through their several programs in the country. This study establishes that their programs and interventions are however, yet far from meeting their goals owing to several constraints. The study also makes the profound analysis of the issues and concludes that for the overall Dalit empowerment, it is urgent need for the government, civil society, international agencies and business society to come up with strong commitments as well as effective, innovative and result oriented programs that change and reshape the attitudes and perspectives of the people towards Dalits. Likewise, the study also states that the different actors fighting for the empowerment of Dalits should be more proactive in their strategies and thereby devote themselves as philanthropic to combat against the vicious ill of discriminations, inequality and exclusion against Dalits in Nepal. And some strategies used by South Korean NGOs that have enormously contributed to enable those NGOs in enhancing institutional capacity can be good lessons for the Nepali CSOs. In the context of poor capacity of CSOs in Nepal, the South Korean experiences are relevant in strengthening them that will ultimately contribute in empowering the Dalit community in Nepal.
The following excerpts come from the conclusion of a report by written Purna Nepali about traditional caste-based occupations. The article was appeared in THE ORGANISATION: DEVELOPMENT PRACTIONER’S MAGAZINE, Vol 11, Issue 1, by ODC (Organisation Development Centre).
Traditional artisans are a part of the culture of the Nepalese society. Their expertise is fast disappearing though due to unfavorable environment and only few are still dependant on their craftsmanship for their subsistence. The craftsmen are not in position to compete in the open market. The structure of the Nepalese society, especially caste system and existing power relations are responsible for disappearing of traditional caste based occupations. As Dalits have neither social nor economic power they are trapped in patron-client type of relations to varying degree. Nexus of all these results in negative effect on economic status, livelihood, participation in public life, caste based discrimination and violation of human rights. Dalits have been confined to Dalits caste based occupations to serve the whole Nepalese society from very beginning and they could not enhance or develop their access to land which is not only a productive asset but it is a source of social and economic power, symbol of prestige and prosperity in agrarian society. Most of educated Dalit youth perceive that caste based discrimination and untouchablity is strongly associated with their occupations and they do not want to continue their ancestors’ professions. There is an ongoing debate about whether to modernise Dalits’ caste based occupations or not. Though there are a number of the state’s efforts for overall socioeconomic empowerment of marginalised communities the Dalits’ rights have been continually violated. Dalits poverty – human, economic and structural is a direct result of the caste system and subsequent social exclusion. The equity based approach to development and international human rights standards are not emphasising enough socioeconomic security of Dalit community in the Nepalese context.
- Purna Bahadur Nepali
Ph.D. Researcher
HNRSC, KU & NCCR North-South
A many as 160 candidates of Nepal’s Constitutent Assembly election scheduled for April 10 are from Dalit communities. This is the first time in the political history of Nepal that over hundred Dalit candidates are contesting in the national general election.
The chart below shows the political parties fielding two or more candidates from Dalit candidates in the general elections for Constituent Assembly scheduled for April 10 in Nepal.
Political parties fielding two or more Dalit Candidates in April 10 CA elections
Dalit Janajati Party has fielded the largest number (30) of candidates from Dalit communities, followed by Jana Morcha Nepal and CPN (Maoists) with 20 and 13 Dalit candidates, respectively. Other political parties with three or more Dalit candidates are Rastriya Janamorch (10), CPN (Unified) (8), Rastriya Janashakti Party (8), CPN (ML) (6), Socialist Democratic Party, Nepal (5), Nepal Peasants & Workers Party (4), CPN (Unified Marxist)(3) and NSP (Anandadevi) (3). The chart also shows five political parties including CPN (UML), one of the largest parties, which have fielded two Dalit candidates each.
Nepali Congress, one of the largest party has fielded only one Dalit candidate, while other smaller parties fielding one Dalit candidate each are Socialist Party, Nepal, Peace Party Nepal, Nepali Janta Dal, Nepali Congress, Nepal Sukumbasi Party (Democratic), Nepal Rastriya Janakalyan Party, Nepal Janata Party, Nepal Dalit Sramik Morcha, National Democratic Party, Nepal, National Democratic Party, League Nepal Shanti Ekta Party, Jana Mukti PartyNepal, Hindu Democratic Party and Dalit Liberation Party.
There are 25 independent Dalit candidates contesting in the CA elections.
The list of Dalit candidates, with their age, gender and party affiliations in Nepali is given in the link below.
The list and analysis of Dalit candidates were prepared based on the data extracted from ekantipur.com, and are intended for having an general indication of Dalit representation in the CA elections. The results of analysis presented here are not official data and are not completely reliable. The basis of determining any candidate as a Dalit candidate was her or his surname that might have sounded like a known surname from Dalit communities.
Barack Obama gave what was said to be greatest speech of his life time, in Philadelphia, PA at Constitution Center on matters not just of race and recent remarks of Reverend Jeremiah Wright but of the fundamental path by which America can work together to pursue a better future.
Remarks of Senator Barack Obama, “A More Perfect Union”
Constitution Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Watch the speech on video and read the text below the video player:
“We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.”
Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America’s improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.
The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.
Of course, the answer to the slavery question was already embedded within our Constitution - a Constitution that had at is very core the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; a Constitution that promised its people liberty, and justice, and a union that could be and should be perfected over time.
And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, or provide men and women of every color and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens of the United States. What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part - through protests and struggle, on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience and always at great risk - to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time.
This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign - to continue the long march of those who came before us, a march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous America. I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction - towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren.
This belief comes from my unyielding faith in the decency and generosity of the American people. But it also comes from my own American story.
I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton’s Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I’ve gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world’s poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners - an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.
It’s a story that hasn’t made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts - that out of many, we are truly one.
Throughout the first year of this campaign, against all predictions to the contrary, we saw how hungry the American people were for this message of unity. Despite the temptation to view my candidacy through a purely racial lens, we won commanding victories in states with some of the whitest populations in the country. In South Carolina, where the Confederate Flag still flies, we built a powerful coalition of African Americans and white Americans.
This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign. At various stages in the campaign, some commentators have deemed me either “too black” or “not black enough.” We saw racial tensions bubble to the surface during the week before the South Carolina primary. The press has scoured every exit poll for the latest evidence of racial polarization, not just in terms of white and black, but black and brown as well.
And yet, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that the discussion of race in this campaign has taken a particularly divisive turn.
On one end of the spectrum, we’ve heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it’s based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we’ve heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.
I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.
But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial. They weren’t simply a religious leader’s effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.
As such, Reverend Wright’s comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems - two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.
Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Reverend Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way
But the truth is, that isn’t all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God’s work here on Earth - by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS.
In my first book, Dreams From My Father, I described the experience of my first service at Trinity:
“People began to shout, to rise from their seats and clap and cry out, a forceful wind carrying the reverend’s voice up into the rafters….And in that single note - hope! - I heard something else; at the foot of that cross, inside the thousands of churches across the city, I imagined the stories of ordinary black people merging with the stories of David and Goliath, Moses and Pharaoh, the Christians in the lion’s den, Ezekiel’s field of dry bones. Those stories - of survival, and freedom, and hope - became our story, my story; the blood that had spilled was our blood, the tears our tears; until this black church, on this bright day, seemed once more a vessel carrying the story of a people into future generations and into a larger world. Our trials and triumphs became at once unique and universal, black and more than black; in chronicling our journey, the stories and songs gave us a means to reclaim memories that we didn’t need to feel shame about…memories that all people might study and cherish - and with which we could start to rebuild.”
That has been my experience at Trinity. Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety - the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity’s services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.
And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect. He contains within him the contradictions - the good and the bad - of the community that he has served diligently for so many years.
I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.
Some will see this as an attempt to justify or excuse comments that are simply inexcusable. I can assure you it is not. I suppose the politically safe thing would be to move on from this episode and just hope that it fades into the woodwork. We can dismiss Reverend Wright as a crank or a demagogue, just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.
But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America - to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.
The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.
Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.” We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.
Segregated schools were, and are, inferior schools; we still haven’t fixed them, fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, and the inferior education they provided, then and now, helps explain the pervasive achievement gap between today’s black and white students.
Legalized discrimination - where blacks were prevented, often through violence, from owning property, or loans were not granted to African-American business owners, or black homeowners could not access FHA mortgages, or blacks were excluded from unions, or the police force, or fire departments - meant that black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations. That history helps explain the wealth and income gap between black and white, and the concentrated pockets of poverty that persists in so many of today’s urban and rural communities.
A lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one’s family, contributed to the erosion of black families - a problem that welfare policies for many years may have worsened. And the lack of basic services in so many urban black neighborhoods - parks for kids to play in, police walking the beat, regular garbage pick-up and building code enforcement - all helped create a cycle of violence, blight and neglect that continue to haunt us.
This is the reality in which Reverend Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up. They came of age in the late fifties and early sixties, a time when segregation was still the law of the land and opportunity was systematically constricted. What’s remarkable is not how many failed in the face of discrimination, but rather how many men and women overcame the odds; how many were able to make a way out of no way for those like me who would come after them.
But for all those who scratched and clawed their way to get a piece of the American Dream, there were many who didn’t make it - those who were ultimately defeated, in one way or another, by discrimination. That legacy of defeat was passed on to future generations - those young men and increasingly young women who we see standing on street corners or languishing in our prisons, without hope or prospects for the future. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. For the men and women of Reverend Wright’s generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table. At times, that anger is exploited by politicians, to gin up votes along racial lines, or to make up for a politician’s own failings.
And occasionally it finds voice in the church on Sunday morning, in the pulpit and in the pews. The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright’s sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning. That anger is not always productive; indeed, all too often it distracts attention from solving real problems; it keeps us from squarely facing our own complicity in our condition, and prevents the African-American community from forging the alliances it needs to bring about real change. But the anger is real; it is powerful; and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.
In fact, a similar anger exists within segments of the white community. Most working- and middle-class white Americans don’t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race. Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they’re concerned, no one’s handed them anything, they’ve built it from scratch. They’ve worked hard all their lives, many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor. They are anxious about their futures, and feel their dreams slipping away; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition, opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game, in which your dreams come at my expense. So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town; when they hear that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed; when they’re told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced, resentment builds over time.
Like the anger within the black community, these resentments aren’t always expressed in polite company. But they have helped shape the political landscape for at least a generation. Anger over welfare and affirmative action helped forge the Reagan Coalition. Politicians routinely exploited fears of crime for their own electoral ends. Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.
Just as black anger often proved counterproductive, so have these white resentments distracted attention from the real culprits of the middle class squeeze - a corporate culture rife with inside dealing, questionable accounting practices, and short-term greed; a Washington dominated by lobbyists and special interests; economic policies that favor the few over the many. And yet, to wish away the resentments of white Americans, to label them as misguided or even racist, without recognizing they are grounded in legitimate concerns - this too widens the racial divide, and blocks the path to understanding.
This is where we are right now. It’s a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so naïve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy - particularly a candidacy as imperfect as my own.
But I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union.
For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans — the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny.
Ironically, this quintessentially American - and yes, conservative - notion of self-help found frequent expression in Reverend Wright’s sermons. But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief that society can change.
The profound mistake of Reverend Wright’s sermons is not that he spoke about racism in our society. It’s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress has been made; as if this country - a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition of white and black; Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old — is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. But what we know — what we have seen - is that America can change. That is true genius of this nation. What we have already achieved gives us hope - the audacity to hope - for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds - by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations. It requires all Americans to realize that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; that investing in the health, welfare, and education of black and brown and white children will ultimately help all of America prosper.
In the end, then, what is called for is nothing more, and nothing less, than what all the world’s great religions demand - that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Let us be our brother’s keeper, Scripture tells us. Let us be our sister’s keeper. Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, and let our politics reflect that spirit as well.
For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.
We can do that.
But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we’ll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.
That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time.” This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn; that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.
This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don’t have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.
This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn’t look like you might take your job; it’s that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.
This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should’ve been authorized and never should’ve been waged, and we want to talk about how we’ll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.
I would not be running for President if I didn’t believe with all my heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most hope is the next generation - the young people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made history in this election.
There is one story in particularly that I’d like to leave you with today - a story I told when I had the great honor of speaking on Dr. King’s birthday at his home church, Ebenezer Baptist, in Atlanta.
There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.
And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that’s when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.
She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.
She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.
Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother’s problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn’t. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.
Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they’re supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who’s been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he’s there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, “I am here because of Ashley.”
“I’m here because of Ashley.” By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.
But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins.
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (March 11, 2008)
The following excerpts from the report relate to Dalits:
Societal Abuses and Discrimination
“Although prohibited by law, citizens practiced caste discrimination in a wide variety of religious, professional, government, and social environments, and such discrimination strongly influenced society.”
“On March 25, teachers prevented Dalit students of Fadke Dhunga Primary School , Parvat, to participate in the practical examination for a cooking class. After they were urged to do so by the District Education Office and the court, the teachers and school administration issued a public apology, paid compensation of $550 (35,000 rupees) to all of the students and permitted the Dalit students to take the exam.”
“On October 24, 13 Dalits of rural Tallosworad (Baitadi) were beaten allegedly by local villagers because they had refused to eat buffaloes slaughtered during a Hindu religious festival. Local villagers also looted goods worth approximately $7,900 (500,000 rupees) from Dalit-owned shops. Local mediation to resolve the case was eventually successful.”
“Also in Baitadi, following advocacy by OHCHR and Dalit organizations, for the first time the NP registered a FIR under discrimination charges against higher caste individuals for allegedly assaulting 12 Dalits after they refused to participate in traditional discriminatory practices during the Dashain festival.”
Elections and Political Participation
“At year’s end the interim constitution provided that the CA would consist of 601 members, with 240 elected by a first-past-the-post system, 335 by proportional representation, with quotas for Dalits, oppressed caste/indigenous ethnic groups, Madhesis, women, and other underrepresented groups, and 26 nominated by the cabinet.”
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
“Discrimination against lower castes and some ethnic groups, particularly Madhesis and Janajatis, was especially common in the Terai and in rural areas in the western part of the country, even though the government outlawed the public shunning of Dalits and made an effort to protect the rights of the disadvantaged castes. Economic, social, and educational advancement tended to be a function of historical patterns, geographic location, and caste. Better education and higher levels of prosperity, especially in the Kathmandu valley, were slowly reducing caste distinctions and increasing opportunities for lower socioeconomic groups. Better educated, urban-oriented castes continued to dominate politics and senior administrative and military positions, and to control a disproportionate share of natural resources.”
“Caste-based discrimination, including barring access to temples, is illegal; however, Dalits were occasionally barred from entering temples. Progress in reducing discrimination was more successful in urban areas.”
My name is Suresh Singh. I’m a Nepali dalit. Among the Nepali dalits, there are three distinct types: - Hill dalit, Newar dalit, and Tarai dalit. I belong to Hill dalits who are divided into jaats (castes). These are: 1. Kami – Sunar (goldsmith), Tamta (coppersmith), Lohar (ironsmith), Chunaro (carpenter), Od (mason), and Parki (bamboo worker). 2. Sarki (leather worker). 3. Damai (musician and tailor). 4. Gaine (bard, and singer). 5. Badi (village entertainers- dancers, etc). These jaats are vertically arranged. The lowest are regarded as untouchable by the higher jaats. Unlike in Nepal, in Sikkim and Darjeeling, Damai is considered a higher jaat than a Sarki.
I belong to a Kami jaat that is divided into more than 110 clans. A thar is taken to be a sub-caste, which is flexible depending on the nature of occupation such as Sunar, Tamta, etc that a family follows or said to have followed. Here thar loses its meaning as a sub-caste while in diku jaats a thar is a sub-caste. So in my jaat, thar means a clan for some clans and to some it is associated with the nature of occupation. Clan members are regarded as brothers and no matrimonial relation is allowed among them. Seen in the historical and social context, any tagadhari (wearers of holy-thread) marrying a dalit girl is degraded to his wife’s jaat but retains his clan. In the various kingdoms of Nepal and after the Gorkha conquest in 1768 AD, a bahun (brahman) was punished with degradation of jaat for the crimes otherwise punished with a death sentence such as murder, incest, revolt or conspiracy against the state, sex or marriage with an untouchable, accepting cooked rice and pulse from the hands or from the kitchen of an untouchable and even for accepting water, etc. This resulted in the fact that the Kamis now share more than 67 clans with the Bahun, and about 6 clans with Thakuri and Khasa Chhetris (Kshatriya). These clans in Nepal are called Mijhars.
There are another group of clans numbering about 34 such as Ramdam/Ramudamu, Sunchaure or Sinchury, Gadal, Himchuri, and Lakandari, etc. They do not have sub-clans and they have one gotra called Kaushila.
In the Mijhar clans (Kairan), a sub-clan becomes a gotra, and it is important in marriage, rituals and rites. Some of the Kairans are: - Lamichhanya with gotras (sub-clans) - Lamakarmi, Lama, and Lamgadi; Pandey, Koirala, Baral (Bareli), Risyal (Rasaili\Rasali), Gahadraj, Gajmer, Khati, Singh, etc. The Mijhars have a Kaushila Sakha, which is also the gotra of the non-Mijhar clans. In eastern Nepal, some of the Kairans have a Kasi Sakha.
I’m a Sunar belonging to a Kairan of Gahadraj- Samitrika (also called Jalandhari) gotra. Gahadrajs have many gotras such as Samitrika, Jiva, Rakhsya, Medhasi, etc. I came into contact with a Gahadraj of Medhasi gotra from Siliguri (Darjeeling dist, West Bengal) Lt Col P.K.Gahadraj two months ago; he told me that in Siliguri, Gahadrajs are divided into two sections- Maure and Pipale. Maures write their clan and gotra on a paper and pipales use a Pipal leaf for this during the time of marriage.
When a person dies we mourn the death of the person for thirteen days. The family of the dead person does not take salt, oil or meat during these days. In case of death of the parents, the sons shave their head and wear a white turban called feta. All the Gahadrajs of Samitrika gotra within seven generations do not take meat if they have heard about the death of the person.
When a person dies, his/her atma- spirit remains impure for thirteen days and after the performance of rites- kriya, he/she becomes pure moving in the air- vayu and visiting the homes and lands of gotra members. A mud ball- pinda is made and a deep (lamp) is lit in the name of a death person. Shradhha ceremony is performed after one year of his/her death, burying the bones and throwing the ashes in the Ganga River. This is followed by daan or gift of land and cows to sisters or to sister’s children and giving a feast to relatives. Then the spirit acquires supernatural power and can bestow blessing and curse upon the humans, can move in any part of the world and visit members living there. It visits the aanti, the top most floor of the house, so any non-member of a gotra and a married daughter is not allowed to visit aanti. The first harvest of grain or corn is offered to the pitri. When a mutton or khaja- rice cooked in ghee is prepared in a family, first it is offered to the pitri in a plate. Wine is offered in a glass to the pitri- only to the male ancestors before being taken. Failure to offer mutton, wine, or a khaja before being taken whenever or wherever a Gahadraj might live, incurs sin-paapa.
A temple of pitri called thaan has two stones inside it, symbolizing the male and female ancestor. They believe that all the ancestors and the persons, who die in families belonging to a gotra, meet in the temple.
There is no concept of heaven or hell or the belief in transmigration of soul. The spirits live in the surroundings and the pitra’s temple, and can move anywhere in the world in vayu- air. The sins are punished in this world only and not in hell after death; the descendants also have to suffer for the sins of their ancestors, as is the saying that if the parents or baje- grandfather are dharmatiya (righteous) then their children and grandchildren will live in prosperity.
Religious rites and beliefs vary among different clans. Let us look into the religion of the Khadka Kairan, who have the gotras as- Lakain, Portel, and Kalikotya, etc, they have their kul devi (family goddess) - Mata whose varna- color is seto-white, so they believe that they should not kill goat or sheep of seto varna. A black goat (patoh) is sacrificed. In their pitri puja, which also takes place in Mungsir purnima in the same month, they sacrifice a goat or usually cocks. Unlike pitri puja, puja of kul-devi is not performed every year.
The oral tradition of Kamis is rich like any other Nepali jaat. One such tradition is that Kamis belong to the Asura jaat. Asuras are the descendants of Kashyapa Rishi through his wife Diti, the daughter of Prajapati. The Kulguru of Asuras is Shukracharya of the Bhrigu family. Varuna, the god of the sea, was the father of Bhrigu Rishi. It is believed that Asuras become powerful after sunset. Hiranya Kashyap, Bali, and Ravana were famous kings. Ravana is the most important Asura in the Kami tradition.
Ravana was instructed by his father Vishwarupa along with his brothers in Vedas, and use of arms. His father also sent him to Santa Kumara Rishi and he became a great chanter of the Samaveda, and a great devotee of Shiva, from whom he received Chandrahasa Khadka, a powerful sword. Ravana also composed the famous Shiva Tandava Stotra. Ravana married Mandodari, daughter of Asura king Maya of Mandor. He had a son by her, named Meghanaada (which means the ’sound of the clouds’). In a war with Indra, Meghanaada defeated Indra and imprisoned him, and earned the title of ‘Indrajit’.
The population of Kami jaat is higher as compared to other Nepali Dalit jaats. In the struggle against caste discrimination, most of the leaders are Kamis, and the literacy rate is high. According to the INSEC magazine Informal- June 2004, the Kamis control 75% of the dalit NGOs. Kamis have shown their talent in different fields like sports, and film and music industries, etc. International Taekwondo master Sunny Bee, Nepali film maker Tulsi Ghimire, actor- producer Shrawan Ghimire, top actress Niruta Singh, and singers Deepa Jha, Suresh Kumar, and Heera Rasaily, etc are some popular examples.
[Suresh Singh is pursuing his M. Phil in History at the Kurukshetra University, Haryana]
A total sum of Rs 180 million have been received by different NGOs for voter education and launching of election campaign in the districts following the establishment of Loktantra in April 2007. The Dalit sector of NGOs received a substantial share of this sum. Feminist Dalit Organisation (FEDO) was able to get Rs 25 million under the project of Women’s Alliance for Peace Power Democracy and the Constituent Assembly. The National Collation Against Racial Discrimination has received an amount of Rs 29 million for ensuring excluded communities representation for providing inputs for the drafting of a new constitution and speeding up the process of democratization in 25 districts.
Rs. 180M received from donors for voters’ education [Source: The Rising Nepal, 2008-3-8.]
By Bhadra Sharma
Kathmandu, March 7: A total sum of Rs 180 M have been received by different NGOs for voter education and launching of election campaign in the districts following the establishment of Loktantra in April 2007.
Almost all the projects that have managed to walk out with the funds have their head offices in the capital with only one NGO � Chetana Club based in Dang.
Foreign donors give out grants to different INGOs first. The NGOs receive the funds through the INGOs after the Social Welfare Council (SWC) approves the proposals. The NGOs that have direct links with bigger INGOs get the funds directly without the SWC having to mediate or approve such transactions.
The funds received by the NGOs through direct link with the INGOs after the establishment of Loktantra is not known so far.
“We are approached by the NGOs and the donors for the disbursement of such funds. We endorse the proposals received if the basic criteria for the their spending is met,� Dr. Jayandra Shrestha, member secretary of SWC said.
He said the Council has been entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring such spending based on the timeframe specified by NGOs to accomplish their goals.
“The Council does not have a say in deciding which NGOs receive the funds as they approach us after completing the paperwork and all we do is just approve them,� Shrestha said.
The pro-public has received Rs 1,56,703,99 under three different proposals focusing on CA elections, according to SWC.
Presenting three different proposals to bridge the gender disparity in journalism, women journalist’s group, Sancharika Samuha received Rs 18,269,72.
Similarly, Feminist Dalit Organisation (FEDO) was able to get Rs 2,50,739,56 under the project of Women’s Alliance for Peace Power Democracy and the Constituent Assembly.
“We have been operating voter rights education and election campaigning focussing the political parties for better women participation in the upcoming election,� said Anita Shrestha, contact person for the project.
Different embassies, international communities and INGOs have been funding the NGOs aiming at ensuring increased women participation in the upcoming elections. “Donors come from different countries, we are being funded by the Norwegian embassy,� Shrestha said.
The Blue Diamond Society working for the rights of the sexual minority was able to get around Rs 13,70,280 for the project entitled ‘Campaign for Constitutional Reform, Fundamental Rights and Economic Survival for LGBTIQ persons in Nepal.’
“With this project sexual minorities are also contesting in the CA polls,� Sunil Babu Pant president of Blue Diamond Society said adding, “Two sexual minorities have filed their nomination as independents and eight more are included in closed list of CPN- United.�
He claimed such participation was the beginning of their achievement from the assistance received through donors.
The SWC data shows that former assistant minister for Science and Technology Gopal Dahit has also received Rs 5,895,45 for increasing the participation of indigenous people in the elections.
Similarly, Nepal Center for Contemporary Studies approved a sum of Rs 2,797,200 for the project of Nepal Democracy and Constituent Assembly.
Dr. Lok Raj Baral was appointed contact person for this project. Jagaran Nepal received Rs 27, 722,760 on two different proposals.
The National Collation Against Racial Discrimination has received an amount of Rs 2,91,896,00 for ensuring excluded communities representation for providing inputs for the drafting of a new constitution and speeding up the process of democratization in 25 districts.
Besides this, Single Women Group has received Rs 2,247,45, DIDI BAHINI Rs 28, 05,166, National Indigenous Women’s Federation Rs 7912564, Jagaran Media Rs 7160225, Chetana Club Rs 379155, National Peace Campaign Rs 5263330, Him Rights Rs 2500000, FECOFUN Rs 17505565, LACC- Nepal Rs 32800, IHRICON Rs 2278185 respectively.
Likewise, Sath-Sath together with Street Children received Rs 1976400, CEAPREAD Rs 25280323, Alliance for Peace Nepal Rs 379155, Center for Legal Resource and Development Rs 13294600, Dabali Theatre Rs 4524000, National Association of the Physical Disabled Nepal Rs 1305672, LACC Rs 1593460, Center for Women’s Awareness and Development Rs 33200, INSEC Rs 8357500 and DIDI BAHINI Rs 2805166.
As the countdown for the CA polls begins, the number of proposals for funds pouring at the SWC has not decreased. Recently, the Ganesh Man Singh Academy has presented a proposal for Rs 3780000.
Funds to the tune of millions of rupees are being received by different NGOs for the CA polls, but the concern for one and all is whether they are being utilised properly. After the projects complete their specified time duration mentioned in their proposals, the SWC will carry out a close monitoring of the spending, Shrestha said.
“Atma Katha” : A Series of Photo Exhibits for Support to Jharuwarasi Community in Nepal
The population of Jharuwarasi is predominately Dalit, traditionally considered “untouchables” in the Hindu caste system. For generations, Dalits have been socially, ritually, politically and economically marginalized. The people of Jharuwarasi are disadvantaged, not only by their caste, but because the village lacks facilities needed to uphold minimal living standards for some. However, the people there actively desire a better way of life.
Dr. Steve Folmar, a Professor of Anthropology at the Wake Forest University in North Carolina, USA has been leading a team to bring out “Atma Katha”, a series of photo exhibits that strive to achieve self-empowerment for a disempowered people of Jharuwarasi.
Currently a photography exhibit, “Atma Katha” is evolving into a publishable book. The book will feature personal biographies and photographs of individuals living in Jharuwarasi. In summer of 2007, several socially conscious young adults of Jharuwarasi created an NGO (non-government organization, similar to a non-profit organization in the United States) called Animation Nepal. This NGO facilitates successful development projects for Jharuwarasi villagers by Jharuwarasi villagers. All profits (income beyond production costs) from photo sales and book sales funds this NGO to promote effective development and social mobility for the people of Jharuwarasi.
Time permitting, calling oneself a dalit will be prestigious
Purna Singh Baraili, Journalist/Member Dalit Community
Purna Singh Baraili, born in the district of Ramechhap is currently associated with the Jaagaran Media Center as the vice chairman. He is the secretary of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists Lalitpur district Branch.
Mr. Baraili is actively involved in the making of a tele-serial “Dalan” as the producer for the Jaagaran Media center. He has closely analyzed the dalit uprising and in the process toured a many countries.
Following is the Telegraph’s interview with Mr. Baraili-Ed.
TGQ1: In New Nepal, how can the condition of the dalit community rise? The role played by the political parties in this regard, what say you?
Baraili: The role of the State becomes significant in order to uplift the condition of any marginalized community that has been bared from Political, Educational and Economic rights since ages. When we talk of New Nepal, I believe there can’t be a dreamlike situation wherein the condition of the dalit community can be raised in a flash of a second.
Appropriate policies and plans are needed for making revolutionary changes. In our country we devise plans and strategies yet we cannot put them into practice. Thus, it is ridiculous to even think of elevating the living condition of the marginalized communities. Regarding the plight of the dalit community, the situation is open to all. More than six decades have passed since the dalits have started demanding their rights from the State, they have been aware of being exploited since then. They thus became a part of the peoples’ revolt and contributed from their side to bring the revolt at its peak. In the Janaandolan-II three dalit youths gave their life for the country.
However, if the livelihood of the dalit community that is the most laborious and enriched by musical skills and skills of other sorts, is to be raised, there must be an end to the deep rooted Feudal-Khas Brahminic State authority. Unless and until we bring an end to this age-old system it is worthless talking of liberating the dalits.
The dalits were being used as mere vote banks by the political parties in the past. And there is the prevalence of Brahminic hegemony in the political parties. Having said so, it is equally important to understand that they are only the political parties that can ensure participation of the dalits in the state structure, there is no other way for the dalits to enter into the state structure. Thus, both the members of the dalit community and the political parties must work in tandem towards uplifting this community. The political parties in addition can raise the dalit issues through their manifesto, which would mean committing themselves towards the plight of the dalit community.
TGQ2: You have worked with various organizations to address the plight of the dalit community, are you personally satisfied with their performance?
Baraili: I believe that such organizations have done something tangible, though little-not completely, as regards the rights of the dalit community. There are others non-dalit organizations as well, that too have contributed in this regard. Having said so, it is the State primarily that must evaluate the performance of such organizations. Here, the problem is that the state itself is involved in further exploiting the plight of the dalit community, not worth talking those privately owned organizations headed by the privileged section of the society that primarily know nothing of our difficulties.
We represent the lowest strata of the society- the most exploited, we know the problem in detail and we work for them. Others, I don’t think their efforts have reached that far.
TGQ3: As we know you are involved in making audio-visual programs such as cinemas, TV programs, Radio programs to make people aware of the dalit plight. What achievements you think you have made so far?
Baraili: Education and information sector in the past was totally under the control of the feudalist. There was a school built specially for the Rana clan. The family members of the King had education facilities right inside the royal place. Later, the people themselves realized the need for education and schools for the citizens were being slowly established.
As of today, the media is under the control of the privileged group of people and the information they prepare benefit strictly the community they represent. Thus we need to do things for our own more so in the media sector.
I am of the opinion that a total restructuring in the media sector more so the entertainment sector, is need moving much ahead from the notion of information/entertainment created for, by and to the people who believe in the notion of “a single caste, a religion and a county”. In the cinema sector as well the exploited class could never acquire the center stage. The short nosed janajatis and the long nosed dalits never became the center character in the entertainment sector. Thus the dalits themselves should come forward and make their own cinemas and work together in establishing media houses.
The role a cinema plays in making people aware over various issues is significant. Dalan, a tele-serial is to be broadcasted pretty soon that is made by us. We are preparing to take the serial to those areas where people do not have access to TV. We are also going to organize a mobile cinema.
TGQ4: Don’t you think the word Dalit itself is derogatory?
Baraili: I don’t think that a word itself makes difference. Most important is how it is interpreted. Time permitting calling oneself dalit will become prestigious, this is what I believe. The word dalit itself conveys lot of information, the difficulties faced by the community, the struggle behind. Thus it is no time to make discussion over the word itself.
TGQ5: The role of the dalit community in the upcoming Constituent Assembly Election. What you have to say?
Baraili: Regrettably, our demand for the total proportional voting system was not accepted by the ruling elites fearing not to totally lose their grip over the State organs. Now the time has come to see how the political parties convert their words into deeds to work for the betterment of the marginalized communities. We, the dalits need our part from the State in proportion to our population. Currently this much is ok, later we will decide how to move ahead after analyzing the performance of the political parties.
The excerpts from a paper, “Challenges in closing gaps of health inequities, inequalities and disparities in the new era of Nepal”, which Dr DP Rasali presented at the Conference “Unfolding Futures: Nepalese Economy, Society and Politics” organized by Canada Forum for Nepal in Ottawa from 5th to 7th October 2007.
Despite the fact that several population health indicators such as infant mortality rate, under-5 year mortality rate, total fertility rate and life expectancy rate have shown substantial improvement nationally over the past decade, a study of BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS) in Nepal indicated that health services utilization by marginalized groups within the population is low, and health disparity is evident among various groups(1). Dalits are the most marginalized group of people who are estimated to be about 15% of the country’s population, and continue to be the victims of caste discrimination impacting negatively on their socio-economic lives including their health status. As they have been pushed down to the lowest stratum in the society due to still rampant age-old societal practice of caste discrimination as well as the statutory provision of caste based “high” and “low” treatments meted to them in the eyes of law ever since the promulgation of Mulki Ain (Civil Code) in 1854 until 1992(2). Health and well-being of this segment of the population have been hit hardest as shown by various indicators of health status, most likely due to the manifold socio-economic drivers that remained against them for centuries. The Word Bank admits low health status among Dalits as compared to the whole population or any other groups of Nepal(3). The World Bank/DFID(3) reported the following 2001 Nepal Census data: the under-5 mortality rate per 1,000 live births was 171 in Dalit population, while the national average figure is 105 per 1,000 live births; the infant mortality per 1,000 live births was 171 in Dalits as opposed to 105 in the total population; and Life expectancy rate in Dalit population is 51 years, while the national average rate is 59 years.
Table 1 shows the situation in 1996 that Brahman and Newar caste groups ranked the best in under-5 mortality rate, infant mortality rate and life expectancy, while the Dalit group remains at the bottom of the list in all three indicators. Therefore, a special attention to the current plight of this segment of the population has been warranted.
Table 1. Disparities in mortality rates and life expectancy by caste/ethnic groups, Nepal, 1996.
Data Source: UNDP 2001: Nepal Human Development Report (NHDR) as cited by The World Bank/ DFID(3).
* Disaggregated data by gender and caste is unavailable.
References
(1) BPKIHS. Health Situation in Nepal. BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal, 2008. Available at: http://sph.bpkihs.edu/health.php
(3) The World Bank/ DFID. Unequal Citizens: Gender, Caste and Ethnic Exclusion in Nepal- Summary. The World Bank/Deparment of International Development, UK, Kathmandu Nepal. 2006.
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