UNITY JOURNAL Building national security through human security: Seasonal migration from Upper Mustang Man Bahadur Khattri Abstract Keywords: the Loba, Upper Mustang, migration, seasonal migration, food security Migration is one of the essential social- cultural phenomena of human being around Introduction the world. Seasonal migration is one of the human security dimensions directly related The primary objective of this paper is to the national security of a country. This to explore the causes, processes, and paper explores the human security dimension destinations of seasonal migration adopted closely related to seasonal migration by the Loba of Upper Mustang, Nepal. and national security which has reasons, Upper Mustang covers a vast area of 2071 processes, and destinations of the Lobas of sq km. The restructuring of the local unit has Upper Mustang, Nepal. The survey, interview, divided into two rural municipalities (Lo- and field observation (Upper Mustang, manthang and Dalame rural Municipality). Western Hills of Nepal and Vanarashi, 3322 is the total population of these two India) were the principal methods of data rural Municipalities (http://lomanthangmun. collection. The findings of the research are gov.np/ & http://dalomemun.gov.np/) Upper that both married males and females having Mustang belongs to Alpine climate (3000- agriculture and livestock occupations of the 4500 masl) and Tundra climate (4500 large family go for seasonal migration from masl and above). This area covers by snow Upper Mustang, Nepal. The dominant age during the winter (DDC Mustang, 2068 group of migrants is 20-50 years. The level BS). The Upper-Mustang is among the of literacy, language efficiency, and social sparest populated regions of Nepal having network plays a determining role in choosing a density of 1.49 persons per km2. The the destination and period of stay out. They population and household of Lobas have usually migrate to a group and use multiple decreased by a decadal ratio of 1.40% and modes of transportation for their travel. For 1.14%, respectively (CBS, 2012). This sort business, they use the social network. They of negative population dynamics can be rent a room to live in. For business investment, associated with out-migration. Suwal (2014) they use mostly their own money and some presented that the rate of migration from the they borrow from moneylenders. They not mountain region of Nepal is 19 percent. only work themselves also employ Nepali Lobas of Upper-Mustang are of Tibetan speaking youths in Vanarashi. Their property origin, and their identities are observed in Upper Mustang is taken care of mostly by regarding their socio-economic, cultural, their family members. They bring cash and linguistic, historical, and geographical kind as their earning while returning home. 74 UNITY JOURNAL context. The Lobas are the inhabitant of Lo for the survey. The sample size was 78 tsho-dhun. In Loba etymology, ‘Lo tsho-dhun’ households from those who migrate out refers to seven local councils or municipalities for winter seasons and 67 households who of Mustang district, namely: Lo-manthang, stay in Upper Mustang during winter. A Chhoser, Chonhup, Tsharang, Ghami, checklist for the semi-structured interview Surkhang, and part of Chhuksang, which is was used to facilitate the interviews and the also called the gate of Upper Mustang. Upper key informant interviews to collect in-depth Mustang is also known as “Mustangbhot” in information on the topic. Field observation Nepal (Jackson, 1978, p. 196). The Lobas in Upper Mustang, Western Hills of Nepal, are well-known people of “salt and grain and in Vanarashi, Utter Pradesh India was trade” in the Kaligandaki river basin, which conducted. Quantitative data were analyzed passes from China-Tibet to India. The Lobas using SPSS 20. Searching patterns in data heavily engaged in seasonal migration and was the main tool of qualitative data analysis. trade until salt and grain trade closed. During The reviews of the literature on the themes the winter, they traded in the low land area was another strategy to collect secondary and during the summer season, they traded information and that was applied in to to Tibet. Now their past trading heritage is formulate a research question data analysis followed to winter trade and only occasional and interpretation. summer trade in Tibet as they participate in the trade fare organized in boarding areas Migration of Lo-manthang rural Municipality. This Food is a fundamental need for people living research is about present-day winter season in any corner of the world. As data provided by migration. Loba term Ghungha means winter the government of Nepal, 38 districts of Nepal and the Loba use conch cell as the symbolic are most vulnerable for food security and 24 metaphor for the color of the surrounding. percent of the people are under the poverty The climate becomes cold at that season. The line. The mountain region of Nepal is the minimum temperature during winter goes most food-insecure region (Bhandari, 2018). 0 up to -20 C., and the maximum temperature Gurung (2001) has mentioned employment, 0 during summer goes up to 26 C. After they marriage, trade, agriculture, educations as the harvest the most valued singled seasonal significant causes of migration. The lacking crops in autumn and the Loba commence food sufficiency as the cause of migration their seasonal migration for trade-in Nepali was highlighted by Tulachan (2001). Gurung Hills and Indian cities particularly Varanasi. (1988) pointed out, the regional imbalance This paper mainly focuses on the reasons, as the cause and consequences of migration processes, and destinations of seasonal as the tendency of migration or pull factors migration of Lobas of Upper Mustang. are usually sparse resources region to Methods and data abundant resources region and employment opportunities. Pandey (2016) has clearly This paper is based on qualitative and stated that food security in Upper Mustang quantitative data from primary and secondary from the perspective of self-production is the sources. For primary data sampling, poorest one. Chhetri (1986) studied changes interview and observation methods were of the Thakali migrant of Pokhara, have used. An accidental sampling was adopted found the adoption of a new form of culture 75 UNITY JOURNAL as no eating yak meat, adopting Kanyadan working in different capacities. Almost every instead capture marriage and modification household, there are people who have been mourning days of death which were to a foreign country. They started to go to practiced in Mustang. Seasonal migration Japan, the USA, and other high earning was described and documented concerning countries. This also supported migration in resource use by the pastoralist among the a different part of the country especially to Sherpa of Nepal by Furer-Haimendorf (1975) Pokhara, Kathmandu. There are many Lobas and among the Tarangapurian of Dolpa have settled in different parts of India, USA. by James Fisher (1987). Fisher (1987) has In some households have sent two to three focused on seasonal migration to Tibet and members of the family in order to work in the mid-western region of Nepal in which foreign countries. To imagine the volume of Tarangapurian are interconnected with international migration of Loba, Craig (2011) their identity, language, trade, social and estimated that more than 1,000 people from economic relations. Tulachan (2001) has Tibetan-speaking areas of Upper Mustang actually documented seasonal migration live in New York. Similarly, this estimated in relation to trade of Loba as a strategy population constitutes 25 % of able-bodied for survival merely economic perspective. of 20–40-year-old out of their villages are This study lacks current development such currently in New York (Craig, 2011, p. 197). as road access to Upper Mustang and food availability and changes in the mode of The focus of the paper is the human security transportation. Similarly have no attention to dimension from the perspective of food the socio-cultural systems like reme ghaypkin security which is fundamental rights of (rotational or turn of sharing of power, Nepali citizens. If the food security is not privilege and responsibilities among the guaranteed, it might result in the national members (individual/household/community) security threat in Nepal. It is worth to mention and nechang or ista, fictive kin relation that the Upper Mustang is the most sensitive especially with outside their community area for a national security point of view. relation. Nechang is used for the rest, selling Social status of winter migrants goods and trust-building. No attention is paid to religious, educational and health and In this sense, migration is not only maintains social networks among friends and economical; it contains multiple aspects relatives. of people's socio-cultural, environmental, health, education, trade, and religious. The The Lobas of Upper Mustang also migrates study has reflected multiple reasons for as migrant workers in foreign countries. migration, such as escaping from winter, Young Loba started international labor temporary employment, pilgrimage, meeting migration since the 1990s. Foreign family and relatives. employment or remittance has become one of the primary income sources of the Loba. The main target of the winter migration is Many have been to the United States of trade in India and the mid-hill region of the America, Japan, Korea, Canada, Germany, western development region of