- Uday Pariyar
ud.pariyar@gmail.com

Kamal Nepali suddenly became a superhero after he successfully rescued a little girl trapped in the Seti river crevasse for over 20 hours. He received bravery awards from many organisations and individuals. The media gave an unprecedented coverage of his achievement. We even heard of competition between two TV stations in Kathmandu over who should project Kamal’s heroism better.

Kamal Nepali with PM Girija Prasad Koirala after the felicitation of the little superhero by Government of Nepal

That fateful deed saved the life of a two and half year old girl and dramatically changed the life of the rescuer - a 13-year-old poor Dalit boy in Pokhara. He received not just name and fame but also money and an opportunity for quality education in Kathmandu. The boy deserves it all for his extraordinary deed.

Everybody is excited about the outcome, but interestingly nobody has asked the obvious moral and legal questions about the process. A simple question we can ask ourselves is, would we contemplate sending our kids as small as Kamal for a potentially fatal rescue mission such as this one? Would the girls’ parents consent to send their elder child down for the same task? If another unfortunate incident of a similar nature occurred again, should we venture another child down the deep gorge? Was it right to use the boy?

It was a violation of national and international laws to exploit a child like that. It is annoying to see that even the organisations that claim to champion the movement against exploitation of child labour such as CWIN actually welcomed the task and announced cash prize for Kamal, instead of condemning the use of the child.

What prevented the government, child and human rights organisations, intellectuals and civil society to point out the serious mistake? What do ILO, UNICEF, OHCHR and like minded organisations think about this event? Who would be responsible if Kamal had got trapped and killed? He would have easily lost his life if everything had not gone right. There was no way of saving him because he was sent to a deep hole where nobody was able to enter. The other side of the coin would have the loss of life of one more innocent kid.

According to the news, he was asked for his consent to undertake the risky task. Still it was wrong because he was not an adult who could make an independent, rational choice about his actions. As a minor, he was not able to envisage the potential dangers to his life. Besides, he was not a trained rescue worker and was not given any training before he was sent for the arduous task. Probably his parents were also not consulted beforehand. From that perspective, it was an illegal and immoral undertaking.

It is not hard to understand that he was assigned the task because everybody involved were least bothered about his safety and security. He was used because he was a son of poor, uneducated cobbler parents struggling to feed the family. He was exploited. The fact remains that even dogs are not sent for any dangerous missions without training and preparing them well. In essence, it appears the rescuers and others were prepared to sacrifice a boy’s life in an effort to try and save the unfortunate girl. Everybody’s life is equally important and valuable, isn’t it?

The other big question is – why did the father let the girl fall down the crevasse in the first place? There are many children who get killed or physically harmed every year due to parent’s carelessness, very few are as lucky as little Aradhana Pradhan.

(This article also appeared in this week’s issue of Newsfront weekly, Nepal)

RELATED NEWS:

National Hero born in a Dalit community: Kamal Nepali receives accolades for his bravery

Tilak Pariyar and Rima Nepali answer…….

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/nepali/meta/dps/2008/07/080706_sajha_sawal_july6?size=au&bgc=003399&lang=ne&nbram=1&nbwm=1

News from ekantipur.com

Accolades, money showered on Kamal

BY PREM NEPALI

KASKI, June 27 - Kamal Nepali, 12, who rescued two-and-half year old Aradhana Pradhan from a 60-feet deep gorge in Pokhara on Wednesday at risk to his own life has been given a number of rewards and words of appreciations.

On Thursday, Nepali could not even attend all the functions organized to felicitate him for his bravery. His hectic schedule was proof that this young boy from a poor family had turned into a public hero.

Commending his valor, various organizations and individuals in Pokhara city were making preparations to felicitate him, but they could not get hold of him as he had already bought an air-ticket for Kathmandu. Since early morning, Nepali remained busy. Media jostled for an interview.

Amidst this hectic activity, leaders of the Democratic National Youth Union, Gandaki chapter were complaining that they only got five minutes to felicitate him. “We did not get time to even hand over the money collected in different places,” said Rajiv Pahari, president of the union, adding that the government should honor him for his valor.

Ashbir Nepali of Annapurna Mijar Society was complaining that he could not hand over to him a shawl and a token of appreciation. Many have been showing eagerness to sponsor his education and ensure him a successful future. His father Nil Bahadur, who makes shoes for a living, was more than happy to acknowledge all the appreciation together with his son.

“I had never imagined in my wildest dreams that he would win such rewards and appreciation at such a tender age,” he quipped.

Money pours in
Meanwhile, many organizations have shown interest in rewarding Kamal. Commending his courage in rescuing a child from a ‘death trap’, Everest Insurance Company Ltd on Thursday announced a cash award of Rs 101,001, along with a token of appreciation.

Industrialist and president of the insurance company, Rajendra Khetan, in a statement also pledged to give Rs 21,001 to the rescued child for her patience.

Likewise, Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Centre (CWIN), an NGO involved with the rights of child workers, promised to award Nepali a cash prize of Rs 10,000 and commend his bravery. CWIN, in a statement, also wished speedy recovery to the rescued child. She is undergoing treatment at Pokhara-based Manipal Hospital.

Who is Kamal?

BY KULCHANDRA NEUPANE

POKHARA

Born in an impoverished family, Kamal Nepali is the youngest son of Nil Bahadur Nepali. Previously residents of Ram Bazaar, Kamal’s family now lives in Tutang since the their house at Ram Bazaar was sold to clear a debt.

Kamal’s family and friend know him as a restless and brave boy who scoots off into the neighborhood sometimes performs acrobatic stunts, wowing his friends and elders alike. His friends know him better as Michael. Kamal’s father, Nil Bahadur, who knew about his son’s heroic deed only after the whole thing was over, is proud of his son’s extraordinary feat.

“Kamal is very fond of children. This might be the reason why he risked his life to save the little girl in the first place,” said Nil Bahadur. Sumek Adhikari of Nepal Canoeing Association says, “Kamal projected incredible valor when I first saw him volunteering for this dangerous task.” “A brave son like Kamal is what a country like ours needs.”

Extraordinary tale of nation’s little hero

Until Wednesday, little did this 12-year old lad know he would rescue a toddler stuck some 60 feet below a treacherous gorge, just bigger than a rabbit hole, and be hailed as a hero nationwide.

Just like any other day, Kamal was home watching television, unaware that a baby girl Aradhana Pradhan was fighting for her dear life inside the gorge for almost two days. All this while the locals and rescue personnel from Nepal Canoeing Association from Kathmandu, along with Nepal Army soldiers were making rescue bids to save the child without success.

Kamal knew about the situation only after his elder brother Salum, who was actively engaged in the rescue bid since day one, brought him to the incident site to try Kamal’s petite physique into the narrow gorge to rescue the little girl.

Salum himself had staked his life in the gorge to rescue baby Aradhana but he could not make it below 25 feet due to the narrow hole beneath him. After hearing disappointed rescue personnel say that only a small boy could enter the slender hole, Salum had brought his brother Kamal to undertake the Herculean task.

At first, locals raised their eyebrows at Salum for trying to risk his own brother’s life by lowering him down the narrow gorge, where another minor was already trapped. But after Salum decided to go for it and Kamal too accepted the risk audaciously, locals accepted this bold step.
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Rescue personnel then helped Kamal to put on the safety harness and took him down till the spot from where the gorge got narrow. From there on all hope lay on Kamal. Two rescue personnel waited for Kamal outside the narrow passage of the gorge, while he lowered himself down following instructions from rescue personnel through walkie-talkie.

The crowd outside were on tenterhooks all this while until Kamal emerged from the gorge with Aradhana tucked inside a bag. Kamal emerged as the savior of Aradhana, he emerged as a hero. He won the hearts of the crowd.

But most of all Kamal won the hearts of Aradhana’s parents, John and Easter, by saving their only daughter from the death trap. Overjoyed by their daughter’s rescue at the hands of this little boy, they decided to regard Kamal as their son.

The doctors involved in the treatment of little Aradhana say the girl is doing fine and she shall be discharged soon.

Posted on: 2008-06-26 20:50:48 (Server Time)

the nepaldalitinfo special report

Baltimore (Maryland), June 23- Nepali-American Society for Oppressed (NASO) Community is holding its First Convention in Washington DC, United States on Saturday, August 9, 2008. A number of distinguished speakers will be giving their talk on contemporary issues relating to elimination of all forms of social oppression including caste discrimination and untouchability in Nepal, and relevant topical interactions among participants in the program are planned for the day.

“Even though we had organized a number of general meetings and interaction programs in the past, this convention is going to be a historical gathering,”, said Mr. Dharam Bishwakarm, the NASO President, “We are expecting participants to arrive from “Coast to Coast” and from North (Canada) to the South in Americas”

Watchout for further details of the Convention Programs at this page!

For more information, please contact:
Dharam Bishwokarma,
President, NASO Community
6485 Woodland Forest Dr
Elkridge, MD 21075
Phone: (443) 690-5677
Email: dbishwokarma@yahoo.com

RELATED SITES:

Nepali-American Society for Oppressed (NASO) Community’s Website

Nepali-American Society for Oppressed Community (NASO)

Nepal Dalit Information Resources

NEPAL: Living In a Republic

By Mallika Aryal

LELE, Jun 13 (IPS) - A week after Nepal was declared a republic, in the small sleepy town of Lele, some 30 km away from the capital Kathmandu, Dhurba Kumar Sunar, 41, goes about his day like any other.

Jeweller by profession, he is on a deadline to finish the last pieces of pendant that he has been working on for the last few days. “I don’t have time to think about politics, this is what buys our meals,” explains Sunar.

When Nepal was declared a republic last week, there were loud celebrations in Kathmandu. In Lele there were some low-key processions, but most people in the village did not really care. Lele used to be a predominantly Nepali Congress area but in the Apr. 10 constituent assembly election, Maoist Barsha Man Pun Magar defeated his Nepali Congress counterpart Uday Shamsher Rana (15,329 to 14,011 votes).

“Not many in these villages know that Nepal is now a republic, and even those who do know don’t really understand what it means,” says Sunar. Once a staunch supporter of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist), the third largest party in the present constituent assembly, he joined the Maoist party a few years ago and is now the Lele secretary of the Dalit Liberation Front.

“The Maoist party has done a lot to end discrimination against Dalits and other suppressed groups in the village,” says Sunar recalling days when his family was looked down upon, how he was not allowed to sit with high caste people at a tea shop and how he had to wash his tumbler after drinking tea at local tea shops.

Sunar’s wife Laxmi chooses her words carefully. “It is not enough that the king is gone, the political parties have to prove to the people that they are better than him,” says Laxmi adding, “until the living standard of people improve, unless there are roads, development, construction, until our kids can go to schools for free and we won’t have to worry about health-care, the king, the Maoists, other political parties are all the same for poor people like us.”

Fulltext of the article published in the Inter Press Service

nepaldalitinfo special report by Bhakti Nepal

July 11- Today, the people of Nepal witnessed a much awaited moment of the deposed king Gyanendra and his family leaving the Narayanhiti Palace at the end of 15-day deadline set by the Constituent Assembly (CA) while declaring Nepal as the Federal Democratic Republic ending formally a history of 240-year long monarchy rule of Shah dynasty in the country. The autocratic rule of Shah dynasty and its subordinate Rana dynasty was largely responsible for precipitating the Hindu system of caste discrimination and untouchability in the country. In 1854, the Government of Nepal under joint rule of these two dynasties headed by all powerful Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana had introduced a civil code called Muluki Ain that formalized caste discrimination and untouchability victimizing hard working occupational castes (Karmajans). The country’s statutes have now abolished caste discrimination and banned untouchability in the eyes of law. However, the practice of caste discrimination and untouchability is still rampant at all levels, and wounds of victimization inflicted to the people of artisan castes are still deep seated among the victims. A state apology from the Government of Nepal for having made statutory provision of caste discrimination and untouchability against the hard working occupational caste people was long over due. Therefore, one of the main agenda of the nepaldalitinfo network right from its inception little over five years ago was to demand this state apology. The victimized people of Nepal, who make up at least 13% of the Nepal’s total population, are asking the Government of Nepal this long over due state apology along with appropriate compensation package for them to be able to stand equal to the rest of the population. In the new era of Nepal as Federal Democratic Republic, this demand will be pursued more vigorously until the responsible government meet the demand fully.

Neither the deposed king bothered to make an apology on behalf of his ancestral monarchy nor the people of victimized castes and communities considered pressing this demand important at this juncture, depite the fact that the monarchy under the Shah dynasty of Nepal was largely responsible for the historical statutory provision leading to the current state of caste discrimination and untouchability practice still being rampant in the country even in the 21st century. Ironically, the opening sentence of the farewell statement read out by the Gyanendra Shah over a press conference attended by national and international media just prior to his departure started with “Char Varna Chhattis Jat ko Phulbari….” (the garden of four Varnas and 36 castes..- playing with the words originally used by the first King Prithvi Narayan Shah to describe the diversity of people of Nepal), but he did not relate to what were the serious consequences of delineating the castes into highly discriminatory hierarchical caste groups throughout the rule of his dynasty. This leaves behind a histroy that Nepal’s monarchy, despite being largely responsible for maintaining caste discrimination throughout the country, ended without apologizing to its victims of caste discrimination.

On the other side of the globe, today is also the day, when the Prime Minister Stephen Harper on behalf of the Government of Canada expressed a formal apology to the aboriginal peoples of Canada for its past wrong doing against more than 100,000 aboriginal children by forcefully separating them away from their families and communities to place them in the state-run Christian boarding schools in the name of assimilating them into the dominant culture. The children so separated were harmed, tormented and sexually and physically abused during their stay in the residential schools.

“Two primary objectives of the residential schools system were to remove and isolate children from the influence of their homes, families, traditions and cultures, and to assimilate them into the dominant culture.” The state apology says, “These objectives were based on the assumption aboriginal cultures and spiritual beliefs were inferior and unequal.”

Click here for: the Canada’s state apology statement.

RELATED NEWS:

Ex-King Gyanendra leaves Narayanhiti

PM cites ’sad chapter’ in apology for residential schools

FEDO programme on discrimination of Dalit women (Video clip)

The Feminist Dalit Organization (FEDO), a national level organization dedicated to the rights of Dalit women and the Working Women Journalist (WWJ) jointly organised an interaction programme where discrimination of Dalit women journalists by other journalists and the ways to stop it were discussed - CA member Binod Pahadi speaking.
Presented by: Bureau Report, Nepalnews.com

Download and listen to woman leaders Jayapuri Gharti, Radha Gyawali and Arju Deuba discussed on contemporary situation of caste discrimination against Dalits in Nepal over “Sajha Sawal” (Common Issues) program in the BBC Nepali Service.

The nepaldalitinfo salutes the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal.
(Salutation banner contributed by Subhash Nepali, Dalit Welfare Organization, Kathmandu– the baby republic was conceived at the Jana Andolan-II, born at the inception of Interim Constitution and christined at the first meeting of Constituent Assembly)

RELATED NEWS:

Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal (ekantipur.com)

KATHMANDU, May 29 - Nepal has become a Federal Democratic Republic from today after the Constituent Assembly overwhelmingly voted for abolition of the country’s 240-year-old monarchy.

“I declare that the proposal tabled by the government for implementation of a republic has been passed as 560 members out of 564 present today voted in favor of the proposal and 4 against,” announced meeting chairman Kul Bahadur Gurung after a division vote late Wednesday night.

The nepaldalitinfo report by Bhakti Nepal

Kathmandu, May 26- The moment when Nepali people are to declare themselves as citizens of a republic through the first meeting of Constituent Assembly (CA), as mandated by the CA election results is only two days away. A series of national mega celebrations are underway welcoming the nation as republic. Rubin Gadharva of Janaandolan-II fame, a young artist from Dalit community, will be featuring among nationally popular artists, including Ramesh, Rayan, Madan Krishna, Hari Bansha, Manoj Gajurel, JB Tuhure, Nanda Krishna Joshi, Ramkrishna Duwal, Madhu Gurung, Hari Pangeni in a gala evening cultural show at the Open Theatre at Ratna Park. The national celebrations are planned to take place throughout the country for the whole day on May 28th. In the the morning hours, a citizen mass rally starting from Basantapur is planned.

The Citizen Committee for Republican Day Celebrations, in its media promotion through distribution of leaflets, email and internet, has urged all countrymen to partake in the celebrations.

RUBIN GANDHARVA’S MUSICAL SAGA FOR REPUBLIC:

Songs from Kathmandu (US NPR interview during the CA election)
Day to Day, April 17, 2008 · A young musician in Kathmandu offers a unique take on the Nepali Democracy Movement and the new constitution. Ballots are still being counted in Nepal, a week after the election.

Rubin Gandharva’s Pro Democratic Song (during Jana Andolan II):

Maila Nani Raichheu Beimani: