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Fatalism And * e FATALISM AND *. ., 4 . 1 \ MODERNIZATION f~!???>$+, .7xp.SL. + psi +--. c-% :-+$,;.+. 6. d td f*&$ < Wz'5..*ak lib It attempts to' diagnose4 Nepal's ills throukh the eye&of a 'sympathetic yet critic'al I insider. It 'has something of the flavo,ur-of , -4 #. other such attempts: 'Re Tocqueville~s . ~ncienRegime, Weber's Protestant . Ethic, Taine's ~oteiUpon England. P It .,,is worth considering at some length 4,--,yf2* , a,.- Ld , i. because of its insights and because a% Bista, a$-<anM~-~..*~Finsidq. , ll,.x , canc say things wdich i :,;a;:&h&:*%y2*t. t-i:+ - i no outslQr could'say .-Alan ~acfirlane k 8 in Cambridge Anthropolqgy. e C % g DOR BAHADUR BISTA i _r $: f > 8.$7 -, *, 9. p: I continued from front jlap should be scrutinized and their negative A bold and incisive analysis of Nepal's elements purged before they are adopted. society, and its attempts to develop and Nepal's future hope lies in its ethnic cultures respond to change, from someone who is whose simplicity provides a greater both an insider and an outsider to Nepal. At flexibility and thus a greater propensity to an early age Dor Bahadur Bista travelled all development and change, than the over Nepal in the company of the leading cumbersome and ossified structure of the anthropologist Christoph von urbane upper class, and caste, society of the Furer-Haimendor f which helped him to Kathmandu Valley. acquire an insight that enables him to make an objective and frank comment on his country . Born in 1928 in Lalitpur, Nepal, Dor Bahadur Bista was educated at Kathmandu, Nepal has a heteronomous society with a London and Wisconsin, and is now complex ethnic mix. According to Bista, in acknowledged as Nepal's leading social certain areas of Nepal can be found the anthropologist . positive social qualities that can generate and sustain progress-a commitment to Bista has had multifarious experiences in productive labour, a high capacity for teaching, in business and in developmental endurance, efficient cooperative activities for his country. He has been the organizational styles, and a high adaptive first professor of anthropology at Tribhuvan propensity at individual and social levels. University, and his other teaching But these positive elements are threatened assignments have taken him to universities by an alien culture; it is the culture of in Washington, Missouri, Columbia, fatalism, which has an inherent conflict with London, Connecticut and Tokyo. By development. This culture devalues the establishing a brick and tile industry, a concept of productivity. Since this culture is carpet weaving centre, and a storage tanks becoming more pervasive, the productive manufacturing unit, Bista has had first-hand sector of the society is getting discouraged in experience of business and trade in Nepal. the proportion that the fatalistic sector is He was the Royal Nepalese Consul being encouraged. As a result, development General in Lhasa, Tibet; Special Officer for activity is due to an infusion of external aid, Planning; Secretary, Remote Area whose beneficiaries are not always those Development Committee in His Majesty's who contribute to growth. Government of Nepal; and is involved in the The bulk of the author's argument is that International Centre for Integrated Nepal's strengths have always been in the Mountain Development. Along with this his indigenous qualities of its various ethnic extensive field studies and researches, and groups. But it has been under the influence his powerful social and political connections of other cultures which have suppressed its combine to give him the rare insight to own strengths. He believes, that while analyse his own society with objectivity and Nepal should be open to other cultures, they boldness. continued on back flap FATALISM AND DEVELOPMENT NEPAL'S STRUGGLE FOR MODERNIZATION Dor Bahadur Bista Orient Longman ORIENT LONGMAN LIMITED Registered Office 3-6-272 Himayatnagar, Hyderabad 500 029 Of her Ofices Kamani Marg, Ballard Estate, Bombay 400 038 17 Chittaranjan Avenue, Calcutta 700 072 160 Anna Salai, Madras 600 002 1/24 Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi 110 002 80/1 Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bangalore 560 001 3-6-272 :~imayatnagar,H yderabad 500 029 Birla Mandir Road, Patna 800 004 S. C. Goswami Road, Pan Bazar, Guwahati 781 001 'Patiala House', 16-A Ashok Marg, Lucknow 226 001 O Orient Longman Limited, 1991 ISBN 0 86311 245 5 First published by Orient Longman Limited 1991 Laser typeset by Vishnu Da tagraphics, Calcutta, on 10% / 12'/2 Palatino-. Published by Orient Longman Limited, 17 Chit taranjan Avenue, Calcutta 700 072 and printed at Swapna Printing Works Private Limited, 52 Raja Rammohan Roy Sarani, Calcutta 700 009. Dedicated to the People of Nepal CONTENTS , Preface Acknowledgements Introduction 1 General Background 2 The Caste System in Nepal 3 Family Structure and Childhood Socialization 4 Values and Personality Factors 5 Politics and Government 6 Education 7 Foreign Aid and Development Conclusion Bibliography PREFACE The typescript of this book was completed in the summer of 1989 and was submitted for publication immediately after- wards. The period between then and now has seen some remarkable changes in the political system of the country. The chapter on 'Politics and Government' has been updated ac- cordingly, but the rest of the book has been left as it was. This book deals mainly with the socio-cultural aspects and the value system of the Nepali society which still remains as has been described in the following pages. With the introduc- tion of the liberal and democratic multi-party political system possibilities have been opened up for the desired changes in the social structure. We can be optimistic about the future, but it is yet to be seen. June 1990 Dor Bahadur Bis ta If there are no trees, there will be no water whenever one looks for it. The watering places will become dry. If forests are cut down, there will be avalanches. If there are many avalanches, there will be great accidents. Accidents also destroy the fields. Without forests, the householdel's work can not be accomplished. Therefore, he who cuts down the forest near a watering place will be fined five rupees. Fourteenth Edict of King Ram Shah (1606-1636) I have faith in the future, and I hope that the day will come when all will see clearly what now only a few suspect. Alexis Tocqueville ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The people of Nepal have helped create this book. I saw them invariably tied to their traditional structures and values of the past while struggling to enter into new horizons of the future. The dynamics of struggle, conflict, contradiction and trauma were real and obvious. I would like to express my gratitude towards all those who thus provided the theme for the book. Devraj Dahal, Krishna Bahadur Bhattachan, Indra Basnyat, John C. Cool, Joseph Elder, Carl Coon Jr., James Fisher, my son Keshar and daughter Asha read the manuscript at the earlier stages of its growth and gave valuable advice for its improvement. Sarah Tisch and Wendy Fillipi tch helped edit the earlier version. My son Hikmat and Barry K. Barnes took care of all the technicalities and organized the manuscript for publication. Colleagues at Tribhuvan University and the graduate students at the Department of Sociology-Anthropol- ogy gave opportunities to discuss some of my ideas with them. The Toyota Foundation and the Ford Fo~lndation provided financial grants for research and writing. The Center for Nepal and Asian Studies (CNAS) and the then Executive Direc- tor, Khadga Bikram Shah; and the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and the then Director, Colin Rosser gave technical and administrative sup- port. Towards the final stages of the work a British Council Fel- lowship gave me an opportunity to visit Cambridge Univer- sity for three months where I received advice on the manuscript from Ernest Gellner; Alan Macfarlane and Sarah Harrison provided liberal hospitality in addition to the advice for improvement of the manuscript and helped edit the final version later on when they were on a visit to Nepal. The Ford xii Acknowledgments Foundation provided an additional grant for residence at the Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies at the Univer- sity of California, Berkeley, for six months where I enjoyed both generous hospitality and advice for improvement of the text from Leo E. Rose. I am deeply indebted to all of them. I have made use of information and ideas presented in many published works as well as those expressed formally or informally by many academic people, and yet I am alone responsible for expressing them in my own style and arriving at my own conclusions. I consider this work only as a beginning for the purpose I have stated. Better ones are sure to come later. INTRODUCTION This work examines aspects of cultural and social organization of Nepali society, as they have an effect on Nepal's develop- ment. Nepal remained a medieval society until 1950, when the Rana prime ministers, who had been effective rulers of the country for over a century, were overthrown and replaced by a democratic government, operating under the scrutiny of an actively interested and ultimately powerful monarch. The Ranas had fostered policies of nepotism and isolationism, per- petuating a social stagnation that had started in the preceding era. The new government has had as one of its primary goals the guided revitalization of the country and its introduction into the global community as a fully functioning economic member. But the attempts at development have met with mixed success. Certain elements of Nepali society have become impatient with what is seen as a slow rate of development, and the increasing economic disparity among different sections of the people.
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