Dalit movement in Nepal: a history from 1947 to 2015
The first associations opposing the caste system began to form in Nepal in 1947. Over the following decades, the Dalit movement grew, leading to the inclusion of Dalit rights in the 2015 Constitution. This guide traces the movement's key events, from its first initiatives to legislation and constitutional rights.
Beginnings of the Dalit movement in Nepal, 1947 to 1963
The associations of 1947 marked the start of organised opposition to caste discrimination. A legal breakthrough came with the Interim Government of Nepal Act of 1951, the first legal document to recognise Dalits as citizens with civil and political rights.
Many Dalit organisations were founded during the first period of democracy in the 1950s. In 1954, a campaign sought entry to the Pashupati temple in the Kathmandu Valley. Regarded as one of the first Dalit movements, it moved beyond forming associations to pursue a specific goal: access to a place of worship.
The next step came in 1963 with the new Muluki Ain, which sought to abolish untouchability in law. In the same decade, the word Dalit took hold in Nepal as a shared political identity, uniting different groups in one movement.
History of the Dalit movement in Nepal after 1990
After democracy was restored in 1990, nongovernmental organisations working for Dalit emancipation emerged. During the armed conflict from 1996 to 2006, many Dalits took part in the fighting.
In 2002, the government set up a Dalit commission and introduced scholarships and reserved places.
The second People's Movement of 2006 brought Dalit issues to the centre of public debate. On 4 June 2006, in the last year of the armed conflict, parliament declared Nepal free of untouchability.
Dalit women in the movement
Researchers describe how Dalit women face discrimination based on both caste and gender. Dalit women therefore organise as a distinct part of the wider movement.
That perspective is reflected in the law: Article 40, clause 7, of the 2015 Constitution explicitly names Dalit women alongside the rights of Dalits as a whole.
The Dalit rights movement in statute and Constitution
In 2011, a law criminalising caste discrimination was passed. The 2015 Constitution set out Dalit rights in Article 40. Two years later, in 2017, the National Dalit Commission Act was adopted. These three measures gave the Dalit rights movement a firmer legal foundation.
Summary
The Dalit movement in Nepal developed from the first associations of 1947, through the landmark act of 1951 and the declaration of 2006, to the Constitution of 2015. Three themes run through this history. The first is organisation, from the associations of 1947 and the groups of the 1950s to the NGOs after 1990. The second is law, from the 1951 act and the 1963 code to the statutes of 2011 and 2017. The third is public debate, with 2006 marking a turning point. See the rights of Dalits in the Constitution.