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The Landscape of Madhesh Politics, Society and Economy of the Plains

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The Landscape of Madhesh Politics, Society and Economy of the Plains The Landscape of Madhesh Politics, society and economy of the plains Edited by Ruhi Tewari Anirudh Prasad Sah Nepal Madhesh Foundation Kopundole, Lalitpur Published by Nepal Madhesh Foundation Lalitpur, P.O. Box No. 214-Lalitpur Tel: +977-1-5533421, Fax: +977-1-5553723 email: [email protected] www.nemaf.org.np www.facebook.com/Madheshfoundation First Edition 2012, December Second Edition 2013, December © Nepal Madhesh Foundation, 2012 No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electrical, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher. ISBN 978-9937-2-5856-2 Book Design Til Bahadur Sunar Printed in Nepal Price NRs. 350/- TABLE OF CONTENTS Publisher’s Note iv Foreword v Abbreviations ix 1. Introduction 1 2. Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh: 5 Tracking the social base (by Ruhi Tewari) 3. Government Expenditure in Madhesh: 43 Problems and prospects (by Dr. Uma Shankar Prasad) 4. The Youth of Madhesh: An overall national 81 assessment (by Sumit Gupta & Ambar Hajariya) 5 . Madheshi Women in Nepal: A rapid 117 assessment of available literature (by Sanchita Maharajan & Rita Kumari Sah) PUBLISHER’S NOTE The increasing interest of the people to understand Madhesh has led to this reprint of ‘The Landscape of Madhesh’. This has,in fact,encouraged us to launch publications that would unfold the underlying issues of Madhesh. It in turn will contribute to foster inclusive democratic process. In this edition, some unnecessary data and figures which created ambiguity and confusion among the readers were either condensed or removed.In addition, some faults which had been discovered in the first edition were rewritten. The others which only required minor typographical changes were corrected. The publisher believes that this reprint will further serve the broader objective of contributing to a socially, politically and economically developed and harmonized Madhesh/Terai. December 2013 Nepal Madhesh Foundation FOREWORD Publications on Madhesh, particularly those based on research, are limited. The highly acclaimed ‘Regionalism and National Unity of Nepal’ (1975) by Frederick H. Gaige is the first systematic interdisciplinary study of the Madhesh and single best introduction of the socio-political context of Madhesh/Terai politics. However, the book remained unread by a large proportion of the population, including Madheshis. Issues pertaining to Madhesh and Madheshi society, its politics, economy, development and other spheres were rarely researched and published till 2007. However, after the Madhesh movement of 2007, a change slowly crept in. Gaige’s book began to be widely read. Now, Madhesh is a widely discussed theme in not just Nepal, but also the international arena. This mass movement inspired many civil society organizations, international organizations and donor agencies to focus on Madhesh. However, the focus remained around political issues such as political representation, federalism, citizenship, meaningful inclusion of Madheshis in the state mechanism, and before and after the CA election, around conflict and security in Madhesh. Other equally important issues such as the status of Madheshi women and youth, inclusive budget, development and overall dynamics of the Madheshi society remained untouched. In this backdrop, Nepal Madhesh Foundation (NEMAF) – established in 2007 – has been working in these areas for the cause of Madheshis. Since its inception, NEMAF has sought to contribute to vi | The Landscape of Madhesh a socially, politically and economically developed and harmonized Madhesh by creating a critical mass of effective civil society in Madhesh/Terai. The creation and strengthening of critical mass has been sought through research, advocacy and publication, both at the central and local levels. This publication is a milestone for NEMAF and is an attempt to create awareness about and strengthen the region and its people, including other excluded groups, by highlighting various critical issues. The process, however, was fraught with challenges. ‘Should we focus on the process or the output’ was the biggest question before us. This dilemma, however, was overcome after Mr. CK Lal, a well-known political analyst in Nepal, made very constructive suggestions. Further, following his advice, we realized that picking the few available experts may produce quality reports but the bigger objective of training and producing quality researchers will remain unfulfilled. In tune with NEMAF’s goal, we decided to give preference to the process over the quality of output of the research. NEMAF endeavored to conduct four researches, given time and resource constrains. Out of more than a hundred applicants, six (equal proportion of women and men) enthusiastic and promising researchers were selected. Within the time frame of four months, we tried to get a snapshot of Madhesh in four prioritized areas: Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh, Government Expenditure in Madhesh, The Youth of Madhesh and Madheshi Women in Nepal. Looking at the competency and background of the researchers, the first two researchers were left to do their work on their own after being given the Terms of Reference; whereas for conducting research on Women and Youth, mentors were made available. Without the collaborative effort of Samata Foundation, NEMAF could not have succeeded in conducting researches on these two topics effectively. Dr. Rabindra Roy, Research Director at Samata Foundation, mentored the four young researchers and later edited the content of the research reports before handing over for final editing. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Samata Foundation for their effort and Dr. Rabindra Roy for taking the challenge on and accomplishing the job brilliantly. We also take this opportunity to thank Ms Ruhi The Landscape of Madhes | vii Tewari (Delhi-based journalist who worked in Kathmandu for a year), one of the editors of this publication, for accepting this editing job despite her busy schedule and giving shape to this publication. Creating a critical mass, specifically in Madhesh, is certainly challenging but NEMAF has always pushed the boundaries; in this case too, it made this ambitious attempt and finally came out with this publication. However, there are many people without whom the whole process and publication could not have been accomplished. We thank all those involved in publishing this book, particularly Mr. Anirudh Prasad Sah (Programme Coordinator at NEMAF), the other editor of this publication, for coordinating and managing the entire research process – from finalizing the Terms of Reference to assisting in various editorial tasks and also in the final editing of the book. Particularly, thanks to Mr. Krishna Kumar for assisting in referencing and Mr. Ram Kumar Kamat, the Special Correspondent at The Himalayan Times for reviewing this book critically. We deeply thank DanidaHUGOU for supporting this cause. We would also like to thank Mr. Rajesh Kumar Chaudhary, Mr. Nand Kumar and Mr. Ram Lakhan Chaudhary for their support. We would also like to thank Ruhi Tewari, Dr. Uma Shankar Prasad (associated with Centre for Economic Development an Administration, TU) and freelance researchers Sumit Gupta, Ambar Hajariya, Sanchita Maharajan and Rita Kumari Sah for their contributions. We believe this publication will be a useful tool to understand Madhesh for many individuals, researchers and academicians interested in the region, both in Nepal and abroad, and will contribute to policy and public debate and foster an inclusive democratic process. Tula Narayan Shah Digvijay Nath Mishra (Executive Director) Chairperson Nepal Madhesh Foundation (NEMAF) Lalitpur December 2012 ABBREVIATIONS AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome APF Armed Police Force BS Bikram Sambat CA Constituent Assembly CBO Community Based Organization CBS Central Bureau of Statistics CC Central Committee CDO Chief District Officer CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women CPN (UML) Communist Party of Nepal (Unifed Marxist Leninist) CPN Communist Party of Nepal CSO Civil Society Organization CSRC Community Self Reliance Center DanidaHUGOU Danida Human Rights and Good Governance Advisory Unit DDC District Development Committee DFID Department for International Development DHS Demographic and Health Surveys EFA Education for All FFC Federal Finance Commission FPAN Family Planning Association of Nepal GDI Gender Development Index GDP Gross Domestic Product x | The Landscape of Madhesh GEM Gender Empowerment Measure GO Government Organization GoN Government of Nepal GPRS Gross Packet Radio Service HDI Human Development Index HIV Human Immune-deficiency Virus HMGN His Majesty’s Government of Nepal ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights IDP Internally Displaced People IGP Inspector General of Police ILO International Labor Organization INGOs International Non Governmental Organizations INSEC Informal Sector Service Centre MDGs Millennium Development Goals MJF Madheshi Janadhikar Forum MoF Ministry of Finance MP Member of Parliament MTEF Medium Term Expenditure Framework NA Not Available NC Nepali Congress NEMAF Nepal Madhesh Foundation NEP New Economic Policy NGO Non-Governmental Organization NHDR Nepal Human Development Report NLSS Nepal Living Standard Survey NPA National Plan of Action NPC National Planning
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