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 Commission NSU Nepal Student Union NTC Nepal Telecom NYP National Youth Policy OBC Other Backward Class PBI Peace Brigades International The Landscape of Madhes | xi

PM Prime Minister PR Proportional Representation SES Socio-Economic Status SIRF Social Inclusion Research Fund SLC School Leaving Certificate SNV Season for Non-Violence SPC State Planning Commission STDs Sexually Transmitted Diseases THT The Himalayan Times TMDP Terai-Madhesh Loktantrik Party UCPN (Maoist) Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) UDHR Universal Declaration of Human Rights UML Unified Marxist Leninist UN RCHCO United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator’s Office UN United Nations UNDP United Nation Development Programme UNFPA United Nations Population Fund UNSCR United Nations Security Council Resolution VAW Violence against Women VDC Village Development Committee WOREC Women Rehabilitation Center WTO World Trade Organization

Introduction

The Madhesh movement is the strongest identity-based movement to have taken place in Nepal’s modern history. The history of political mobilization around issues of rights, representation, language, and federalism in Terai dates back six decades, but it was after an unprecedented mass mobilization in 2007 that Madheshi issues occupied the national centre-stage. Since then, there have been remarkable accomplishments, particularly in the realm of political representation. An electoral system with provision for an inclusive proportional representation based system was created; Madheshis comprised one-third of the strength of the Constituent Assembly (CA) 2008; and several Madheshi ministers found positions of power in the cabinet. The efforts to redefine Nepali nationalism have continued, and Madheshis have become more confident to retain their own identities, yet assert their claim to be Nepali citizens. While many Madheshis continue to be deprived of citizenship, steps were taken to partly address the problem with distribution of citizenship certificates in 2006 and 2007. A Madheshi civil society has emerged which has 2 | The Landscape of Madhesh Introduction | 3 vocally raised issues of discrimination, human rights abuses, and encouraged a public discourse on Madheshi issues. But several challenges remain. The permanent bureaucracy, security organs and judiciary continue to be dominated by hill castes, and have not radically changed their old mindset which views Madheshis as outsiders. The inclusion bill remains pending, and government bodies do not follow their own rules on appointing and recruiting on the basis of proportionate representation to Nepal’s diverse communities. Federalism remains elusive, and the CA collapsed on the issue in May 2012 when older parties did not accept an identity- based federal model with two provinces in the Terai and wished to ‘postpone’ the issue. There are equally important concerns regarding the evolution of Madheshi politics and society. Madheshi parties are fractured. Their stint in power leaves a lot to be desired in terms of governance and steps taken for the welfare of Madheshi people. With local government in ruins, development work in the Terai has got affected. And there has been insensitivity towards the issues of marginalization and diversity within the Terai itself. In this backdrop, the Nepal Madhesh Foundation (NEMAF) commissioned four separate studies on key issues which give a glimpse into the polity, society, and economy of the Terai. The book encapsulates these four research papers. The first paper, written by Ruhi Tewari, is entitled, ‘Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh – Tracking the social base’. The paper empirically analyses the composition of six major parties, including UCPN (Maoists), Nepali Congress, Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), Madheshi Janadhikar Forum, Terai- Madhesh Loktantrik Party, and Sadbhawana Party, at four different levels – their parliamentary party in the CA, highest decision- making body, central committee, and district committees in Terai. The objective is to discern patterns in representation in the different parties. The study concludes Madheshis remain under-represented at all levels in the so-called national parties, which have given a higher and disproportionate share of representation to the pahadis (the people of hill origin) of the Terai. In contrast, Madheshi parties give more than adequate share to the Madheshi castes, with different Introduction | 3 parties giving higher share to different castes. But none of the Madheshi parties take into account the diversity within the plains and Dalits, Muslims, indigenous people, and pahadis are under- represented. The second, written by Dr. Uma Shankar Prasad, is on ‘Government Expenditure in Madhesh – Problems and prospects’. The paper is a detailed look at the Nepal’s economy, and examines how Terai fits into this larger framework of the country’s public finances and expenditure. The author argues convincingly that despite its contribution to the national exchequer, the Terai remains relatively neglected with data showing how other regions receive a higher share of public investment. The third paper is written by Sumit Gupta and Ambar Hajariya on ‘The Youth of Madhesh – A national assessment’. It concludes that their current status is vulnerable, and young Madheshis lag behind on indicators like education, employment, health, economic affairs, and overall political participation. At a time of a youth bulge in the country, and growing concerns that it was precisely the inability to mobilise the energy of the youth in productive sectors that led to the upsurge in violence and crime, this study adds value to the discourse. The fourth paper, written by Sanchita Maharjan and Rita Kumari Sah, is titled ‘Madheshi Women in Nepal – A rapid assessment of existing literature’. It looks at an issue that has found little public attention even by advocates of Madheshi rights – the question of gender. Even by the general patriarchal standards of Nepali society, Madheshi women are discriminated against, excluded and under- represented in public life to a staggering extent. The writers show this to be true across a range of indicators – health, education, politics, domestic life and so on. It ends by floating additional research questions that need to be investigated further. The four papers use the terms ‘Terai’ and ‘Madhesh’ interchangeably, but each paper interprets and explains these terms in its respective introduction separately. In an effort to allow each researcher the freedom to express his views and findings, except when essential, 4 | The Landscape of Madhesh uniformity has not been imposed. Another caveat is that these research papers are not exhaustive, but have been written in a short- span, with limited resources, only to flag relevant issues. NEMAF has supported the publication of ‘The Landscape of Madhesh: Politics, Society and Economy of the Plains’ in the spirit of encouraging further discussions on Madhesh-related issues, and creating a vibrant public discourse. The foundation will continue supporting research and writing on related issues in the future. Inclusiveness in political parties in Madhesh (Tracking the social base)

By Ruhi Tewari

1 Introduction When a country is at the cusp of charting out a new future, a fresh course, inclusion becomes the key to addressing several historical wrongs and laying a strong foundation for a more tolerant and balanced society. But can inclusion be merely about enshrining principles and inserting provisions in the new constitution that will guarantee equal rights to the excluded, or about the government introducing policies and measures like positive discrimination? Inclusiveness has to have a much more comprehensive and broad based approach; something that flows in at every level of the social and political arena. This layered method has to percolate down to every level and sphere of functioning of all public as well as private institutions. And one of the most important measures is greater inclusiveness within political parties. This report aims to study and analyse the extent and range of inclusiveness within political parties in Madhesh. To elaborate, while the Madhesh movement has become a strong and robust political movement aimed at ending the 6 | The Landscape of Madhesh discrimination against the region, it is also important to see whether the disparities and exclusion within Madhesh are actually being addressed by political parties. There are two levels of this inclusiveness – one, the representation given to Madhesh by national parties and two, the inclusion within this representation both in national and Madheshi political parties. This report will seek to study and comment on this aspect. It has been divided into four broad sections: One, a brief background and context of the Madhesh region, focussing on the movement. Two, explaining the study, its methodology and laying down definitions of some lexicons used in the study. Three, the empirical findings and conclusions of the report. Four, a brief analysis and concluding observations. 2 a brief background 2.1 Context The Madhesh movement has emerged as the strongest political movement by any identity group in Nepal in the past five years. Demands of people living in the Terai, from autonomy to linguistic rights, go back six decades but it is only recently that these issues have occupied centre-stage. The democratic movements, the Maoist ‘People’s War’, the Madheshi street movements of 2007 and 2008, and the election results which threw up a strong Madheshi political force have all given the movement increasing legitimacy. This section will briefly examine the background of the Madheshi demands, what has been accomplished so far and the remaining challenges, and the diversity within Madhesh – which the Madheshi forces have so far struggled to cope with and accommodate. 2.2 Madhesh movement Nepal has been a traditionally feudal, politically autocratic and socially exclusionary society. Power has been concentrated in the hands of the elites of select hill Hindu high caste communities. With the opening of the democratic space, the Madheshis – who largely but not exclusively live in the southern plains, speak languages like Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh | 7

Maithili, Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Hindi and Urdu, constitute 33 percent of the population, and have extensive cross-border ties – asserted themselves. However, they have always been treated suspiciously, and have to prove their Nepali nationalism at each instance; they have had dismal representation in state organs and politics; their cultural rights have been suppressed and they have been forced to accept symbols of the dominant communities in order to succeed. The core Madheshi political project rested on challenging the hill-centric notion of Nepali nationalism and claiming greater representation in the state structure. The trigger for the first Madheshi movement in January 2007, when the Interim Constitution was promulgated, was silent on federalism and an inequitable electoral system. Madheshi leader Upendra Yadav burnt the Interim Constitution. This was followed by widespread protests in the Terai by activists of the Madheshi Janadhikar Forum (MJF), the killing of an MJF activist by the Maoists in Lahan of Siraha district, and the flare-up of the agitation across Terai – with a strong anti-Kathmandu and anti-Maoist flavour. The government agreed to amend the Interim Constitution and announce that Nepal would become federal. The seats from the Terai were increased in the ‘First-Past-the-Post’ system on account of its greater population. The demand for federalism reflected an aspiration for self-rule at the ground level and the creation of a political unit where the Madheshis would be able to control affairs. The demand for changes in the electoral system denoted the aspiration for shared rule at the centre with meaningful representation. But while these were the visible issues, at the root lay the Madheshi aspiration for securing respect, dignity, and equal citizenship in an erstwhile discriminatory set up. The primary issue underlying the Madhesh movement is the re- definition of Nepali nationalism, which has rested on pillars like one language (Nepali) and one dress (daura-suruwal). While a hill person is considered Nepali, Madheshi citizens have long been treated as the fifth column because of their geographical, cultural, linguistic and kinship ties with people across the border. 8 | The Landscape of Madhesh

The past five years, since 2007, offers us a good window to analyse where the Madheshi movement succeeded and where it did not. In terms of political representation, there has been a great leap forward. There were almost one-third Madheshi MPs in the CA. Madheshi parties constituted the swing force in the politics of power-sharing and government-formation. This has translated into some advantages as far as political appointments are concerned. Madheshi ministers manage to appoint some people from the broader community as heads of government institutions under them. But the structural change in state organs has not taken place at the desired pace. The inclusion bill is pending in Parliament; government bodies have enacted inclusion laws but its implementation is erratic. Less than 1 percent of the total 75 Chief District Officers (CDO) across the country are Madheshis. Madheshi leaders claim that the army has only 800 Madheshis in the 93,000 plus force, though the army contests the figures and claimed that they have more than 7,000 Madheshis in the force. This figure would include Tharus. The push to have greater representation of Madheshis through special measures was halted either by the Supreme Court or the bureaucracy in late 2011 and early 2012. Army officials however point to a separate Madheshi battalion as an example of inclusion. The biggest issue on which there has been a sharp political and social polarisation is federalism. The CA ultimately collapsed without delivering a constitution because of the failure to come to a deal on state restructuring – especially names, numbers and boundaries of federal states. The Madheshi parties had fought elections on the plank of ‘One Madhesh, One Pradesh’. By the end, they showed a degree of flexibility and settled for two provinces. But the older parties, led predominantly by hill Brahamins, first sought to resist federalism altogether and ‘postpone’ it; then they pushed for a north- south vertical province arguing this would be best economically; and finally wanted to carve out Madhesh in several parts, which Madheshi parties believe would make federalism meaningless since it would weaken states considerably. This proved the breaking point in the federalism debate. Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh | 9

2.3 Internal diversity One of the most obvious features – which has not been recognised enough by the Madheshi forces themselves – is the heterogeneity in the Terai. The Madheshi Hindu castes themselves have a range of differences amongst themselves. The so-called high caste communities include the Brahamans, Bhumihars, Rajputs and Kayasthas. They are together just a miniscule proportion of the Terai population but have some of the highest human development indicators in the whole country. Among the well-educated, these high caste communities have risen up in the professional world, as doctors, engineers, professors and teachers, and usually have ancestral land-holdings to some degree. But they do suffer from the issue that afflicts Madheshis across castes and classes – an ‘identity crisis’; being unable to access opportunities in government because of their background, and being at the receiving end of taunts about their nationalism. The Other Backward Classes (OBC),1 a term imported from the Indian political lexicon, constitute several castes and communities who practice various services-based occupations as well as engage in trade; their influence in politics has also grown. Though the Yadavs are included in OBCs, they are sometimes perceived as a middle caste in Nepal’s Terai. Like all other castes, there are substantial class differentials among them. But many Yadavs have ownership of some land. They are sizeable in number across districts, especially in eastern and central Terai. And they have become increasingly influential politically. And finally, there are the Terai Dalits. They belong to various sub-communities, but have suffered common indignities of untouchability and social ostracization. The Dalits are, without doubt, the most suppressed community in Nepal with little access to political power, opportunities or even government services.

1 Includes castes such as Baniya, Kalawar, Sudi, Haluwai, Sonar, Teli, Rajbhar, Kushwaha, Kanu, Barai, Hajam, Yadav, Lohar, Kurmi, Kumhar, Kewat, Mali, Dhanuk, Musalman, Kahar, Bhedihar, Lodh, Malah, Nuniya and Kamar. Manai Mahato enlists OBCs in a report ‘‘Forms of Reservation for OBC in Nepal’’ submitted to SIRF, SNV-Nepal. 10 | The Landscape of Madhesh

Besides the Hindu castes, the Terai is home to a large segment of Muslims. In fact, more than 95 percent of the Muslims in Nepal live in Terai, with some districts like Banke, Kapilbastu, and Rautahat including a major segment. People of hill-origin, pahadis, constitute another major demographic category in the Terai and are estimated to be over 33 percent of the entire population of the plains. The presence of the pahadis in the Terai is, however, politically contested. Madheshis, for most part, have accepted them as a part of the social fabric but there are often voices about them being settlers who had migrated in to systematically trample over Madheshi rights. Pahadis had indeed occupied major political and social positions despite being in a minority since the state ideology was clearly tilted in their favour – this has only changed, partially, in the past five years. During the first Madhesh movement and its aftermath, there were reports of many pahadis – out of fear and insecurity – migrating out of Terai to either northern parts of the districts around the highway where they are numerically dominant, or the capital. The Tharus are the biggest Terai Janjati (ethnic) group. They are spread across the Terai, with larger concentrations in some far western and eastern Terai districts. Right after the Madheshi movement, there appeared to be a period of struggle between the Tharus and Madheshi political leadership. The latter insisted that Tharus were also Madheshis and would be satisfied with a single province across the plains. The Tharus asserted a distinct identity, and western Terai Tharus categorically asked for another state in the west based on their identity. For over three years – between 2007 and 2010 – this conflict only increased. Tharus even waged a movement to establish themselves as a different identity. But by the end-game of the federal negotiations, the Tharus and Madheshis appeared to have reached a sort of détente where the Madheshi political leadership agreed to two provinces in the plains. Besides Tharus, there are other Terai Janjati groups – Rajbanshis in the east, Santhals and Dhimal, among others. The biggest failure of the national political parties, as has been perceived, has been their unwillingness, inability and rigidity in accommodating Madheshis into their party structures, and Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh | 11 as a consequence, their blindness to the aspirations of these communities. The biggest failure, it can be argued, of the Madheshi parties has been to take into account on an equitable basis the concerns of the various communities – the backward classes, the Dalits, Tharus, Muslims – of the Terai, and their unwillingness to accommodate them in the party structures. The common problem of both national parties in Terai, and Madheshi parties, has been their utter blindness to the gender question in the region. Parties which claim to be progressive, which say they are fighting for equal rights, have rarely been heard raising the issue of discrimination internally. Some of these weaknesses are used by rival political groupings and the state to undermine the genuine aspirations of the Madhesh, but this is all the more reason they pay attention to the grievances of all communities. This study seeks to understand political representation of various communities of the Terai in various party structures at all levels. While at one level, Madhesh’s battle is with the Nepali state and seeking to reform it to make it more inclusive and federal; the other contradiction is internal where the various excluded communities seek to carve out their own distinct identities and space. Till the latter is addressed, the legitimacy of the former battle will always come under question. 3 Methodology The term Terai and Madhesh are often used interchangeably but according to some schools of thought, Madhesh does not include the Siwalik and mid-mountain area which ‘Terai’ does.2 Further, the concept of the ‘Terai’ is a geographical construct while the term ‘Madhesh’ has come to acquire socio-political significance.3 However, this report will use the words Terai and Madhesh interchangeably. The report is based on a comprehensive study for six political parties

2 Shree Govinda Sah (2006) mentioned in ‘‘Social Inclusion of Madheshi Community in Nation Building’’ (A report submitted to SIRF, SNV-Nepal). 3 Bandita. Sijapati, 2009. ‘‘Public Discourse and Action to Address Madhesh Exclusion” (Draft report submitted to the World Bank, Nepal). 12 | The Landscape of Madhesh of Nepal – three national and three Madhesh-based. These include, Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) or UCPN (Maoist), Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) or CPN (UML), Nepali Congress, Madheshi Janadhikar Forum, Nepal, Terai Madhesh Democratic Party and Sadbhawana Party. Since the study was conducted before the split in the UCPN (Maoist) in June 2012 and also since comprehensive data for the post-split scenario is not available, this research focuses on the original UCPN (Maoist). The extent of inclusion among the Madheshi leaders of these six parties has been analysed at four levels – the Constituent Assembly (now dissolved), their respective apex decision-making bodies, their central committees as well as their district committees of 10 districts in the Terai region. The parameters of inclusion in the report include caste, gender and minority religion, apart from of course, dividing the list into those from Madhesh and those from the Hills. The caste break-up primarily includes high caste, Terai ethnic groups (Terai Janajatis), Madheshi Dalit, Other Backward Classes and Yadavs. While Yadavs technically fall within the OBC category, they have been kept as a separate category because they are a relatively less deprived layer. Further, while the ‘Terai Janjatis’ are often believed to prefer not being clubbed as ‘Madheshis’, they have been included as Madheshis for the purpose of this study. The four levels from a party’s structure have been chosen because each of them is indicative of a certain power sharing dynamic of the party. For instance, the district committee tells us how and whether people from various castes and from both genders are included and given an opportunity at the grassroots level; the presence of a cross section of castes and a healthy presence of women in both the central committees and the top decision-making bodies of each party reflects the inclusive progression in the party structure and the extent of stake given to different groups in the ultimate power hub. The 10 districts (of the total 19 Madhesh districts) that have been picked for studying inclusiveness at the level of district committees are a representative sample and include – Jhapa, Morang, Siraha, Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh | 13

Mahottari, Bara, Parsa, Kapilavastu, Rupendehi, Banke and Bardiya. The entire Madhesh region has been divided into five clusters of districts with similar characteristics and two districts from each of these clusters have been studied to give a representative picture. The following criteria have been used to divide districts into clusters: 1. Language, caste composition and culture 2. Political issues: Historical milieus and relevant political issues. 3. Conflict level: Intensity of conflict and the factors associated with it. 4. Development: Levels of development in terms of health, literacy and education, among others. 5. Gender: Levels of awareness and gender-based discrimination and violence against women. 6. Population size and population density: Higher population densities of Dalits and other marginalized groups. 7. Human rights violation: Pervasiveness of abductions, murders and other human rights violations after the emergence of Terai armed groups. Districts similar to each other with respect to the above characteristics have been grouped together, giving us five different clusters: • Cluster I: Far-Eastern Terai (Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari) • Cluster II: Eastern Terai (Saptari, Siraha, Dhanusha, Mahottari and Sarlahi) • Cluster III: Mid Terai (Rautahat, Bara and Parsa) • Cluster IV: Western Terai (Nawalparasi, Rupandehi and Kapilvastu) • Cluster V: Far Western Terai (Dang, Banke, Bardiya, Kailali and Kanchanpur) Thus, the report establishes the level of inclusion in the six parties using the above mentioned techniques. 14 | The Landscape of Madhesh

4 empirical findings This section will focus on the findings of the study of all six political parties at the four levels. The empirical findings will give a level-wise analysis and party-wise trend. 4.1 constituent Assembly A major demand of the first Madhesh Movement in 2007 was proportionate political representation. For this, Madheshis sought an increase in electoral constituencies in the Terai so that it would reflect their demographic strength more accurately. This demand was conceded. Along with direct constituencies, the electoral system had allocated quotas for marginalised communities under the proportional representation category. These progressive changes in the election system, as well as the political wave created by the Madheshi movements, eventually resulted in the Constituent Assembly (CA) becoming the most inclusive house in Nepal’s history as far as the representation of Madheshis – as well as other marginalised communities – was concerned. UCPN (Maoist) The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) emerged as the single largest party in the house. A defining political slogan of the party, both during its war-days and during the election campaign, was inclusion and state restructuring. In the house, the Maoists originally had 225 MPs (the number increased when a small left party merged). Out of that, there were 69 MPs from the Terai, which was 30 percent of the full Maoist parliamentary party. Among the 69, there were 35 MPs from hill community (pahadis) and 34 Madheshis. The gender break-up was 39 men and 30 women from the Terai. Out of the 34 Madheshi MPs in the Maoist party, there are 4 Dalits (11 percent of the Madheshi MPs), 14 Terai Janjatis (44 percent), 2 Muslims (6 percent), 8 OBCs (about 24 percent) and 6 Yadavs (about 18 percent). What does this tell us about the representation of Madheshis, and various Madheshis and Terai communities, within the Maoist parliamentary party? While Madheshis constitute over 33 percent of Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh | 15 the population according to the 2001 census, there were 15 percent Madheshis among the Maoist MPs. Within the Madheshis, the Maoists seem to have stronger representation from the Terai Janjati groups, especially Tharus and Rajbanshis, who constitute almost half the entire Madheshi strength. They have also given space to Madheshi OBC castes and Yadavs, primarily under the PR category. This appears to be a conscious attempt to mobilise support among the Terai intermediate and so-called lower castes, who are marginal to small landowners. The fact that there is no Madheshi high caste MP from the Maoist party also indicates the social base of the party. What is a bit surprising is the extremely limited representation of the Madheshi Dalits in the Maoist party, despite the general perception that the party has done more to awaken the awareness of the landless Dalits of the regions. Both Dalits fall under the PR category (it is to be noted that the PR system had specific quotas for Dalits which needed to be filled). As for women, among the 34 Madheshi MPs, there are 15 women, all of whom have come through the Proportional Representation system. In the 2008 elections, 29 women were directly elected to the CA, of which 23 were from the Maoist party. Thus, while the Maoists did push the agenda of women empowerment in politics, all the Madheshi women in the CA came through the PR system, indicating that the Maoists either did not field too many women from this category for direct elections or they failed to gather enough votes to get elected. Nepali Congress The NC became the party with the second largest representation in the CA. The Terai was the NC’s traditional ‘vote-bank’. NC leaders admit that it was the erosion of support in this region that weakened their electoral strength and national political presence. But in a sign that the NC still retains a degree of influence in the Terai region and seeks to cultivate it, 40 out of the party’s 109 MPs came from the region. This would constitute 37 percent of the total parliamentary strength of the party. Out of the 40, there were 16 pahadi MPs and 24 Madheshis, more than half. The gender break-up is similar to the 16 | The Landscape of Madhesh other big two with 35 percent women among all MPs from Terai. Among the 24 Madheshi members, a significant 29 percent (7) are from high castes while there is only 1 Dalit. There are five each of Yadavs and Madheshi Janjatis (21 percent), four OBCs (17 percent) and just two Muslims. Unlike the Maoists and UML, there is a higher proportion of high caste MPs in the NC, indicating its social base in the region. But like the other parties, the NC also seems to have realised the importance of the demographic strength of Yadavs, and other OBC castes – giving them representation, but less than what its demography would dictate. The Terai Janjatis too are represented in less than proportionate numbers. The NC may have had higher representation, but as noted before, most of its top stalwarts in the Terai – Mahant Thakur, J P Gupta, Bijay Gachhedar, Sharat Singh Bhandari and dozens of district level leaders – left the party to join the Madheshi parties. Eight of the 24, which means one-third, of the Madheshi MPs are women. Again, all of them have come through the PR system. Three of them belong to the high castes. CPN (UML) The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) grabbed 101 seats in the house, becoming the party with the third highest representation. Of its 101 members, 41, i.e. 40 percent come from constituencies in the Terai region. Women constitute much less than half the total MPs from Terai, while there are 27 men, there are only 14 women (34 percent). Of these 41, the division between Madheshis and pahadis is almost equal with 22 belonging to the former and 19 to the latter. Among the Madheshi MPs, the highest representation is of OBCs at 36 percent with 8 members. Madheshi ethnic or Janjatis have found the next highest representation – there are five such MPs making their proportion 22 percent. Nine percent are Madheshi Dalits and there are two high castes and three Yadavs. Like the Maoists, Nepal’s second communist party seems to have wider representation of Madheshi ethnic groups and OBC in their Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh | 17 parliamentary party compared to other caste groups. Unlike the Maoists, they have representatives of high castes. It is understood that there was a substantial presence of Yadav leaders in UML, but several prominent faces left the party to join the Madheshi forces. It is interesting that despite the fact that Madheshi population of the Terai is far higher than the pahadi population in the region, the proportion of MPs of both communities in the party is almost similar. Among the 22 Madheshis, only 7 are women, all of whom have come through the PR system. This indicates a similar trend as the Maoists. Madheshi People’s Rights Forum or Madheshi Janadhikar Forum, Nepal The MJF started as a political advocacy movement demanding ethnic self-determination rights with the formation of a Madhesh autonomous region, an election system based on proportional representation, and the setting-up of a federal republic in Nepal. It emerged as a key national force after the first Madhesh movement, registered as a party, and saw the influx of Madheshi and Tharu leaders from other national parties right before the elections. In the 2008 polls, it was among the biggest gainers, taking as many as 52 seats from the Terai. But the constant realignments and splits has reduced it to a fraction of its size. Two major splits – when Bijay Gachhedar-led MJF (Democratic) walked away in June 2009 and when Jay Prakash Gupta-led MJF (Republican) split in May 2011 – left the original Upendra Yadav-led MJF with 12 MPs in the CA. All the 12 MPs are Madheshis from Terai constituencies. Of these, the predominant community are the Yadavs with 67 percent (8) representation, followed by two Marwaris, one Muslim and one OBC. The gender representation is dismal given there are just two women, which would be 12 percent of the party’s parliamentary strength. When it was formed, the MJF did have the reputation of being a political force of the Yadavs, an influential and demographically sizeable community in the Terai. But when it expanded, it became 18 | The Landscape of Madhesh an inclusive party. At one point, its four key leaders belonged to different communities. The chairman was a Yadav; co-chairman a Madheshi OBC; parliamentary party leader a Tharu; and another senior leader a person of hill-origin from the Terai. But the splits appear to have left the party with a high Yadav representation. A caveat is important – this does not mean there aren’t Yadavs in other parties, or that MJF is only a Yadav party. It is only to indicate the higher concentration of Yadavs in the party. Of all its MPs, merely two are women – both from the Yadav community. Interestingly, one of them has been directly elected. Terai-Madhesh Democratic Party The TMDP, formed in 2007 by a former Nepali Congress leader suffered a vertical split after the 2008 CA elections and finally had 10 MPs, all of whom were Madheshis. Among them, 6 were from high castes, 2 are OBCs and 1 each from the Marwari and Yadav communities. Only 20 percent are women. Both the women are from the high caste and have come through the PR system. When the TMDP was initially formed, it was seen as a possible alternative to the Yadav-led MJF. Many of its top leaders belonged to the high castes of Terai. But the party did make a conscious effort to be seen as inclusive by giving important party positions to those from intermediate castes and Tharus. But after Mahendra Yadav split from the original TMDP in end 2010-early 2011, the party was left with an even higher representation of high caste MPs. A caveat is important – this does not mean there aren’t high castes in other parties, or that TMDP is only an high caste party. It is only to indicate the higher concentration of high castes in the party. Sadbhawana Party When Rajendra Mahato broke away from the Nepal Sadbhawana Party in 2007, he launched his own party. The party won nine seats in the CA, but after two splits, it was reduced to three. At the time of the end of the CA, the party had three MPs, all Madheshi men – one each from the high castes, OBC and Yadav communities. Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh | 19

It is difficult to make any generalisations based on the limited party strength of the Sadbhawana Party. What is clear is that after shrinking over the past five years, the party does not have a clear social or caste base in the Terai which it can rely on and call its own ‘vote-bank’. The absence of any woman in the parliamentary party, as well as any Terai ethnic caste, reveals a major gap in the rhetoric of inclusion of the party and its own internal practices. Since the party strength is extremely less, it would be unfair and difficult to comment on the absence of women. Table 1: Terai MPs, including pahadis and Madheshis, in CA

Percentage of MPs Percentage of women Party from Terai in CA among Terai MPs UCPN (Maoist) 30 43 CPN (UML) 40 34 Nepali Congress 37 35 MJF-Nepal All Madheshis 12 TMDP All Madheshis 20 Sadbhawana Party All Madheshis No women

To sum up, a study of the composition of the parliamentary party of major forces – in particular representation from the Terai – gives us a glance into major political undercurrents. One, the Madhesh movement, the addition of seats in Terai, and the introduction of the PR system with quotas for marginalised communities played a major role in making the CA an inclusive house. In particular, the PR system ensured representation for women from all parties and Dalits who may not have either been given tickets or won from constituencies in direct elections. In the future too, this is a clear indicator that the electoral system will play a crucial role in determining representation, political strength, and thus the shape of the government. Two, as far as the specifics of the representation is concerned, there is a clear difference between national and Madheshi parties. National parties have a sizeable presence of people of hill origin (pahadis) 20 | The Landscape of Madhesh

MPs from the Terai along with Madheshi MPs; the Madheshi parties of the Terai represent the Madheshi population of the region. They have either not made an effort to cultivate the pahadi population of the region (who constitute 33 percent of Terai’s population) or the people of hill origin do not have confidence in the Madheshi parties. The other way to interpret it is that the Madheshi parties themselves have emerged since the national parties gave disproportionate space to the pahadis MPs in comparison to Madheshis. Three, each party seems to have its own social base. This cannot be neatly compartmentalised, and there is an obvious overlap of social constituencies in each party. So both national parties and Madheshi parties have representation, even if notional, from all major communities. But the tilt is clear. The Maoists seem to have higher representation of Terai Janjatis and OBCs and none from high caste communities. The NC has higher representation of Madheshi high castes, and fewer from Terai Janjatis. Among Madheshi parties, the MJF – after the splits – is left with higher Yadav representation; while the TMDP has a concentration of high caste MPs. Four, Dalits and Muslims are under-represented in all parties in relation to their demographic strength. This indicates that a major phase of social and political churning is yet to take place in the Terai, and communities which are extremely oppressed and rank low on human development indicators have not yet found a strong political voice. With the opening of democratic space, these groups will assert themselves. If parties are able to accommodate their aspirations and give them space, they will align with established forces. Otherwise, it would not be a surprise if they quit and set up their own formations. Fifth, even though the rhetoric of all parties is for inclusion, there is abysmal representation of women across the spectrum. Society in Madhesh, like most of Nepal and even South Asia, is perhaps patriarchal. Such an attitude is clearly reflected in the representation. Very few Madheshi women have won through direct elections, and if not for reservation under the PR category, one can safely assume that they would not have much political voice. Apart from the proportional representation route, it is imperative that political parties start fielding more and more Madheshi women, giving them Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh | 21 a chance to enter the CA through direct elections or at least compete with their male counterparts. The 2008 CA elections marked a breakthrough. Despite all its flaws, representative democracy grew by leaps and bounds with the remarkable representation of some of Nepal’s most marginalised communities of the Terai. As Nepal heads for new CA polls, the trends from then can give parties and civil society lessons on achievements that need to be protected, and gaps in representation that need to be addressed. 4. 2 Highest decision-making body (based on available data)4 Nepal’s political party structure is such that decision-making is concentrated at the highest levels, with a few leaders taking a call on all crucial issues. While debates on internal party democracy have sporadically taken place, it has had little impact. Some parties have conventions at regular intervals to elect office-bearers and executive committees – but besides this expression of internal will, there are few mechanisms to take into account the concerns and voices of party leaders and activists at different levels. This drastically increases the importance of the top leader (chairman or president of the party), his or her aides, the office bearers, and the top decision- making mechanism. A brief analysis of the composition of these mechanisms is useful to understand inclusion. Each party has a different structure and hence, a distinct top power hub. The ‘top decision-making body’ for each party has been picked based on available data and anecdotal understanding. UCPN (Maoist) The Maoists have a head-quarter which originally meant the party chairman, Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’. A restructuring of the party’s top level mechanism a few years ago introduced the idea of a

4 While some parties, especially the Left parties, have clear organizational structures with designated apex bodies which ratify all decisions, the others have a group of top few as office bearers which have been used to denote ‘top decision-making bodies’ for the purpose of this study. 22 | The Landscape of Madhesh more collective leadership. Three vice chairmen, a general secretary and two secretaries were added. The highest decision-making body is the Standing Committee, which meets regularly and decides on the party’s stance on day to day political issues. Then is the Politburo, followed by the Central Committee. The Maoists have a 16 member standing committee. All 16 are men, and people of hill-origin, pahadis. While in a communist party structure, there is a strict criterion to get to the top levels, and this is understandable. But the complete absence of any Madheshi leader – be it high caste, Yadav, OBC, Dalit, or Terai Janjati – reflects very poorly on the party. It is an indication that on issues of contemporary politics, be it government formation or the stance of a party on a key political issue of the day, there is no voice from the Terai. When probed, Maoist leaders provide two explanations for this glaring gap – the fact that the party expanded into the Terai at a later stage in their rebellion meant that many comrades have not yet risen to higher levels; the other is that many of the senior Madheshi leaders quit the party and have set up their own parties and armed groups. But, it can be alternately argued that precisely because the Maoists did not give Madheshis space in the top leadership did the Madheshi leaders get alienated and that led to the exodus. The absence of a single woman also exposes the claims of the Maoists that they have fought for women’s empowerment and political representation. At the peak of the war, the Maoists claimed that over 40 percent of their army consisted of women cadres. While the veracity of this data is contested, the fact is that while Maoists mobilised women at the lower levels in the party structure, they have not given them proportionate space at the decision-making levels. Nepali Congress The NC’s party convention in late 2010 in Kathmandu led to the emergence of a new leadership. Three office-bearers were elected – president, general secretary, and treasurer. Two other office bearers – a vice president and a second general secretary – were subsequently nominated. Of the top five, four are men of hill-origin, and there is one Madheshi Yadav woman. While the presence of a Madheshi Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh | 23 woman is laudable, the overall representation at the top level speaks poorly of Nepal’s oldest democratic party – which had its base in the Terai originally. One reason offered by NC leaders is that many of their senior colleagues left to form Madheshi parties, and this left a vacuum at the top. The point, however, is that the national parties, across ideologies, appear to be becoming more insular and with a limited social base in the Terai if the representation at top levels is an indicator. CPN (UML) The UML’s Butwal convention in early 2009 threw up a new set of elected office-bearers and central committee. Office bearers include a chairman, three vice-chairpersons, a general secretary, and three secretaries. The Standing Committee has 11 members; all of them are of hill-origin and there is only one woman. Once again, for a communist party that has preached inclusion, the shocking absence of any Madheshi representative at the top decision-making level is instructive. The UML convention happened after the Madhesh movement, and 2008 elections which threw up a mandate in many parts of the Terai in favour of Madheshi forces. Yet the party does not seem to have made an effort to reach out to this constituency by providing them representation at the top levels. UML leaders provide an explanation similar to that of the Maoists – that there aren’t enough Madheshi leaders who meet the criteria of experience, or have the organisational support base to have won through internal party elections. While this may be true, the fact that such a situation exists is itself an indictment of the party’s policies and limited social base so far. The sole woman representative – the widow of one of the party’s tallest leaders, Madan Bhandari – also does not speak highly of the party’s commitment to gender equality. MJF-Nepal If national parties lack any representation of Madheshi leaders at the top, Madheshi parties represent the other pole – where they have almost no leadership of pahadis in their parties. Of the eight top members in MJF-Nepal, all are Madheshis. One is from a Madheshi 24 | The Landscape of Madhesh high caste community, five are Yadavs, and two are Muslims. Out of the eight, one is a woman. As seen by the analysis of MJF MPs in the CA, there is a higher concentration of Yadav leaders in the party’s decision-making apparatus as well. MJF leaders point to the demographic dominance of Yadavs in eastern Terai – their stronghold – as a reason for this phenomenon. But the absence of other communities, OBCs, Dalits, and Janjatis, does mean their voices go unheard and the party’s claim of being representing the aspirations of all Madheshis suffers a jolt. Terai-Madhesh Democratic Party The TMPD is headed by a chairman, has two vice chairmen, two general secretaries and one joint general secretary. All six are Madheshi men. Four belong to Madheshi high caste communities (three Brahamans and one Kayastha), one is a Terai Janajati, while one is a Madheshi OBC. Like in the CA parliamentary party of TMDP, there appears to be a dominance of high castes. The party did have representation of leaders of some other communities – including Yadavs – before it split. There is, disappointingly, no woman at the leadership levels. The exclusion within Madheshi parties is a severe handicap in their claims of being pan-Terai outfits. Sadbhawana Party Data for Sadbhawana party’s top decision-making body was not immediately available since the party was in the middle of an organisational overhaul following a party convention. Table 2: Madheshis and Madheshi women in the top decision- making bodies Percentage of Madheshis Percentage Party in top bodies of women UCPN (Maoist) None None CPN (UML) None 9 Nepali Congress 20 20 MJF-Nepal All Madheshis 12.5 TMDP All Madhesis No woman Sadbhawana Party Unavailable Unavailable Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh | 25

4.3 central committee UCPN (Maoist) The Maoist party has not had a party convention for over twenty years, and thus, its Central Committee (CC) – unlike other major national parties – is nominated by the top leadership rather than elected. The CC however has kept expanding at regular intervals; the last major reshuffle happened after the merger of the party with another left party in early 2010. Out of 139 CC members, there are 7 Madheshis. Out of the seven there is one Dalit, one Terai Janajati, one OBC, and four are Yadavs. There is no Madheshi woman in the entire CC. For all its claims of being champions of inclusion, the under- representation of Madheshis – and the different castes as well as women of Terai – is glaring. The Maoists lost several of their top Madheshi leaders since the latter felt they were not given adequate space and recognition; the party though does not seem to have learnt its lessons. Given the limited numbers, it is not possible to draw any conclusion about the party’s social base in Terai from the representation – except to state that the Maoists do seem to recognise the demographic strength and political influence of Yadavs who are in higher numbers than others put together. Nepali Congress The NC’s Kathmandu convention in 2010 had for the first time introduced a policy of quotas for the central working committee elections, where Madheshi candidates competed amongst themselves to get elected to the party’s top decision-making body. In the 80 member body, there are 13 Madheshis – which would be around 15 percent, far less than what principle of proportionate representation would dictate. Out of the 13 Madheshis, 3 are from high caste communities, there are 5 Terai Janjatis, 2 Muslims, 1 OBC and 2 Yadavs. Only three of the 13 are women. It is difficult to draw any major conclusions from the limited numbers. But the absence of any Madheshi Dalit in the central committee seems to be a glaring gap. All other communities too are represented in numbers less than their demographic strength. 26 | The Landscape of Madhesh

CPN (UML) After its Butwal convention, UML had a 115 member strong central committee, out of which 19 were Madheshis. This is a little over 15 percent, even though the Madheshi population is over 33 percent of the country. Out of the 19, there are 9 OBCs, 2 high castes, 1 Muslim, 2 Dalits, 3 Yadavs, and 2 from Madheshi ethnic communities. Only 2 of the 19 are Madheshi women. Like in the parliamentary party, the UML seems to have higher participation of OBCs. All other communities are represented in far less numbers than their demographic strength. Like all other parties – be it national or Madheshi – Dalits remain under-represented, throwing up serious questions about who actually represents their interests or if it is articulated at all. Madheshi Janadhikar Forum The MJF has 42 central committee members, 40 of whom are Madheshis and 2 are of hill-origin. Four belong to high caste communities; 3 represent Madheshi ethnic communities; there are 5 Muslims, 7 OBCs, and 22 Yadavs. There are five women in the entire CC. This data throws up some interesting insights. For its claims of being a pan-Terai party, the MJF – like other Madheshi parties – represents the interests of the Madheshi population in the Terai and does not offer adequate representation to the pahadis, who constitute 33 percent of the population of the plains. Within the Madheshi community, the MJF appears to be the natural choice for Yadavs. Over 50 percent of the entire CC consists of Yadavs. While the party has sought to give space to the sizeable OBC population in the Terai, the representation of Terai Janjatis is limited. Once again, there is not a single Madheshi Dalit in the entire CC. The representation of women is less than 10 percent of the CC, which reflects poorly on their commitment to gender equality. Terai-Madhesh Democratic Party The TMDP has a 51 member CC, all of whom are Madheshis. 17 Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh | 27 belong to high castes; 2 are Madheshi Dalits; there are 10 Terai Janajati, 3 Muslims, 10 OBCs, 7 Yadavs, 1 Punjabi, and 1 Sanyasi. Seven of the 51 are women. If MJF is the natural choice for Yadavs, TMDP appears to the natural choice for Madheshi high caste communities – Brahamans, Kayasthas, Rajputs and Bhumihars. They constitute exactly one- third of the party’s CC, which is far above their demographic strength in the region. TMDP has also given representation to ethnic groups in Madhesh, with around 20 percent space in the CC. While Madheshi Dalits are represented, it is less than five percent of the CC which indicates once again that Madheshi parties have not been able to take into account concerns of this large and oppressed community. Like in the parliamentary party, the representation of women is limited. Sadbhawana Party Sadbhawana Party has a 56 member CC, of which 51 are Madheshis and 5 of hill-origin. Among Madheshis, there are 12 high castes, 3 Madheshi Dalits, 12 Terai Janajatis, 5 Muslims, 15 OBCs, and 4 Yadavs. Ten of the 56 are women, 8 of whom are Madheshis. While Sadbhawana seems to have made a conscious effort to give representation to all Terai communities including pahadis who live there, there is a clear tilt with higher representation of OBCs. There appears to be a direct co-relation between the caste background of the party chairman and the representation of that community in the party’s decision-making apparatus across the board – so MJF, led by Upendra Yadav, and TMDP, led by Mahant Thakur, have higher Yadav and high caste representation, Sadbhawana led by Rajendra Mahato has higher OBC participation. Madheshi Dalits are under- represented once again, occupying less than 5 percent of the seats. Women constitute less than 20 percent of the CC. 28 | The Landscape of Madhesh

Table 3: Madheshis and Madheshi women in central committee

Percentage of Percentage of Party Madheshis in central women among committee Madheshis UCPN (Maoist) 5 None CPN (UML) 15 10.5 Nepali Congress 15 23 MJF-Nepal 95 12.5 TMDP All Madheshis 13.7 Sadbhawana Party 91 15.6 4.4 district committees5 As noted in the introductory section, besides the CA, top-decision- making bodies, and the central committee, this study also includes within its ambit a brief analysis of the composition of committees of these 6 parties in 10 Terai districts. These include Jhapa and Morang in the east; Siraha, Mahottari, Bara and Parsa in central Terai; Kapilvastu and Rupandehi in western Terai; and Banke and Bardia in the far-western plains. UCPN (Maoist) For the Maoists, the data is available only for six districts – Jhapa, Morang, Mahottari, Parsa, Rupandehi and Kapilvastu. The scope of the study is, thus, limited to these six district committees. This is based on data before the party split in the June 2012. Among the 801 total members of district committees across these 6 districts, 290 are (36 percent) Madheshis. Of these, 25 are Dalits (8 percent), 29 are from high castes (10 percent), 62 are Janjatis (21 percent), 41 are Muslims (14 percent), 91 are OBCs (31 percent), and 42 are Yadavs (14 percent). Jhapa has an 81 member strong committee; there are only six Madheshis (7 percent) – all of whom are Janjatis. Among them is one

5 Of the 10 districts used as sample – Jhapa, Morang, Siraha, Mahottari, Bara, Parsa, Kapilvastu, Rupandehi, Banke and Bardia. Data of district committee were collected from the district offices of the six parties in each sampled districts in the month of June 2012. Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh | 29 woman. Morang has a 206 member committee, with 54 Madheshis who would constitute 26 percent. The committee includes 5 Yadavs, 14 OBCs, 2 Muslims, 27 Janjatis, 2 high castes, 5 Dalits; there are 3 women. Mahottari has 55 district committee members, of whom 33 are Madheshis (60 percent). This includes 5 Yadavs, 15 OBCs, 1 Muslim, 3 Janjatis, 8 high castes, 1 Dalit; there are no women in the committee. Parsa has 97 members in its district committee, of which 78 are Madheshis – making it 80 percent of the committee. This includes 5 Yadavs, 41 OBCs, 12 Muslims, 8 Janjatis, 4 high castes, 8 Dalits. There are 10 Madheshi women in the Parsa committee. Rupandehi has 257 members, 66 of whom are Madheshis (26 percent). This includes 1 Dalit, 5 high castes, 15 Janjatis, 16 Muslims, 9 OBCs, and 20 Yadavs; there are 5 women. Kapilvastu has a 105 member strong district committee, of whom 52 are Madheshis (50 percent). There are 10 Dalits, 10 high castes, 3 Janjatis, 9 Muslims, 12 OBCs, and 7 Yadavs, there is 1 Madheshi woman. The first striking thing about the composition of these Maoist district committees is that despite its rhetoric of inclusion, Maoist committees in the Terai are even less representative of the demographic mix of the plains than NC and UML. Only one-third of the members are Madheshis, even though their population is two-thirds in the region. The domination of pahadis in district committees alienated many prominent Madheshi leaders who walked away from the party after 2006. The party appears to have learnt no lessons. The data in other sections reveals that other elements of the party structure – be it the headquarters, standing committee or central committee – have not internalised principles of inclusion. Among the Madheshis, the party has relied on intermediate castes like Yadavs and OBCs, and Terai Janjatis. While the Maoists are reported to have a sizeable support base of the Madheshi Dalits, this is not reflected in the party’s representative structures. The gender representation remains dismal in the Maoists as well at the lower 30 | The Landscape of Madhesh levels of the structure. Madheshi women comprise less than three percent of the entire membership of these six district committees. Nepali Congress The NC has a total of 384 members in all the 10 district committees if taken together. Out of these, 163 are people of hill-origin (42.4 percent) and 221 (57.5 percent) are Madheshis. This would indicate a higher representation of pahadis than its demographic strength. Among the Madheshis, there are 35 members of Madheshi high castes (16 percent of total Madheshis), 24 Terai Janjatis (10.8 percent of total Madheshis), 84 OBCs (38 percent of Madheshis), 56 Yadavs (25.3 percent), 18 Muslims (8.14 percent), 3 Dalits, and 1 Marwari. A breakdown of the composition in the districts is given below. Jhapa has a pahadi majority, but with a sizeable population of Terai ethnic groups. Out of the 50 member district committee, there are 7 Madheshis - which comprises 14 percent, once again less than their demography would dictate. Among the Madheshis, there are four Janjatis, one Muslim and two OBCs. Reflecting the dismal gender representation, there is once again no Madheshi woman. In Morang district, there are 61 district committee members, out of which there are 45 pahadis and 16 Madheshis, which is 26 percent of the entire committee. Among the Madheshis, there is one Yadav, five OBCs, one Marwari, eight Janjatis, and one high caste. There is no Madheshi woman. This data is revealing. Morang is a traditional NC stronghold. There is an almost equal number of pahadis and Madheshis in the district; yet the NC has almost three times the number of pahadis district members than Madheshis. Among the Madheshis, there is one Yadav, five OBCs, one Marwari, eight Janjatis, and one high caste. Siraha – which was the origin of the Madheshi movement of 2007 and has an outright Madheshi majority – the NC has a 42 member strong district committee. Out of this, there are 40 Madheshis (95.23 percent); one of them is a high caste; there are 3 Janjatis, 2 Muslims, and in a reflection of the demographic strength of the intermediate castes in the district, 14 OBCs and 20 Yadavs. There isn’t a single Dalit Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh | 31 in the committee. There are six Madheshi women in the committee. Close-by, Mahottari has a 50 member strong district committee, out of which there are 46 Madheshis (92 percent). Among them are 15 Yadavs, 14 OBCs, 15 high castes, 1 Dalit, and 1 Muslim. There are four Madheshi women. The women representation is 8 percent of the committee. Bara has a 48 member strong district committee, out of which there are 41 Madheshis (86 percent of the entire committee). Out of them, there is 1 Dalit, 2 high castes, 3 Janjatis, 24 OBCs, and 11 Yadavs. There are four Madheshi women in the entire committee. Parsa has a 31 member committee, which includes 26 Madheshis – this constitutes 84 percent of the entire committee. There are 3 Yadavs, 14 OBCs, 2 Muslims, 6 high castes, and 1 Dalit in the entire committee. There is only one Madheshi woman in the committee. Rupandehi has a 25 member committee. There are 10 Madheshis, which is 40 percent of the committee. Out of them are two Yadavs, one OBC, four Muslims, three high castes; there is no Dalit and no Madheshi woman. Kapilvastu has a 37 member committee, out of which there are 25 Madheshis (67.5 percent) – there is one Yadav, six OBCs, five Muslims, two Janjatis, six high castes, and once again no Dalit and no Madheshi woman. Banke in far west Terai has a 27 member NC committee, out of which there are nine Madheshis; this would be exactly one-third (33 percent) of the committee. There is one high caste, one Janjati, one Muslim, four OBCs, two Yadavs. There is once again no Madheshi woman or Dalit. Bardiya has a 13 member district committee out of which five are Madheshis. This would be 38.4 percent of the population. Among them are three Janjatis, one Muslim, one Yadav and no women. Certain patterns are clear. The first is that when numbers are taken together, the representation of Madheshis in district committees of the Madhesh is less than their demographics would dictate. People of hill-origin are higher in numbers. Second, while at the grassroots, NC does seem to have given more representation to Yadav and OBC community leaders, 32 | The Landscape of Madhesh these numbers shrink as one goes up in the party structure – as the CA and central committee data showed, other communities, including high castes, had greater representation. Third, the NC cannot – with much honesty – claim to represent Dalits of the Terai. They are massively under-represented; even in a district like Siraha, which is home to a sizeable Dalit population, and there is not a single Dalit member in the entire district committee. Four, the NC does not seem to have taken into account the emerging power of the Terai Janjatis. In Bardiya, home to a large Tharu population, the NC has merely 3 Janjatis in its 13 member strong committee. In Banke, which is home to Madheshis, Muslims, Tharus, and pahadis, 18 out of the 27 member committee consist of pahadis. And finally, the representation of women – like at other levels of the party – is dismal, and in many district committees, there is not a single woman. There are less than 5 percent Madheshi women if all the 10 district committees are put together. All of this indicates that NC needs to do a thorough review of the social dynamics of the region and include other communities if it wants to broaden its base; otherwise it will be reduced to a party with only a few social constituencies instead of the umbrella outfit it once was. CPN (UML) The CPN (UML) has 638 members in their district committees across the 10 sampled districts. Of this, 286 are Madheshis (45 percent), while the remaining 55 percent are pahadis. Among Madheshis, 29 are Dalits (10 percent), 21 are high castes (7 percent); there are 64 Janjatis (23 percent), 1 Marwari, 42 Muslims (15 percent), 74 OBCs (26 percent), 33 Yadavs (11.5 percent). Jhapa has a 75 member district committee, out of which there are only 7 Madheshis (9.3 percent). Among the Madheshis, there are six Janjatis, and one Muslim. There is no Madheshi woman. While Jhapa is the place of origin of many top UML leaders, given its history as the bastion of the far-left insurgency in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it is clear that the party largely represents the interests of the pahadi population in the district. Morang has 101 members in the district committee, out of which Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh | 33 there are 25 Madheshis (24 percent) – the district itself, as noted in the section on NC, has 50 percent Madheshis. Among the Madheshis, there is 1 high caste, 13 Janjatis, 1 Marwari, 4 Muslims, 3 OBC, and 3 Yadavs. There are two Madheshi women. Siraha has a 49 member district committee, out of which there are 39 Madheshis (79.5 percent). This includes 15 Yadavs, 10 OBCs, 1 Muslim, 8 Janjatis, 4 Dalits; there are 4 Madheshi women in the committee. Mahottari has 71 members, 57 of whom are Madheshis (80 percent). Out of them, there are 7 Dalits, 8 high castes, 11 Janjatis, 4 Muslims, 17 OBCs, and 10 Yadavs; there are 6 Madheshi women in the committee. Bara has an 81 member committee, with 50 Madheshis (62 percent). This includes 7 Dalits, 3 high castes, 8 Janjatis, 8 Muslims, 16 OBCs, and 8 Yadavs; there are 5 Madheshi women. Parsa has an 87 member committee, with 63 Madheshis (72 percent). This includes 7 Yadavs, 20 OBCs, 11 Muslims, 8 Janjatis, 8 high castes, 9 Dalits; there are 2 Madheshi women. Rupandehi has a 78 member committee, but with only 18 Madheshis (23 percent). Among them are two Dalits, three Janjatis, one Muslim, six OBCs, six Yadavs; there are three Madheshi women in the entire committee. Kapilvastu has a 53 member committee, with only 15 Madheshis (28.3 percent). Out of them is one high caste, four Janjatis, seven Muslims, one OBC, and two Yadavs; there are two women. In the far-west, Banke has a 26 member committee, 7 of whom are Madheshis (27 percent). Among them is one high caste, one Janjati, four Muslims, and one OBC; there is one Madheshi woman. Bardiya has a 16 member committee with 5 Madheshis (31 percent); out of them are 2 high castes, 2 Janjatis, and 1 Muslim; there are 2 women. Certain patterns are once again clear. In districts where the Madheshi population outnumbers the pahadis by far, the UML units have taken into account this demographic reality and their committees have sizeable Madheshi representation. But in districts where there is a sizeable pahadi population – either in majority, or in equal numbers, or constituting a significant 34 | The Landscape of Madhesh minority – the district units have a disproportionately higher pahadi membership. Jhapa, Morang, Rupandehi, Kapilvastu, Banke and Bardiya all point to this trend. Majority of the district committees are led by pahadis as well, even in Madheshi dominated districts like Siraha. The NC has higher representation of Madheshis in relative terms than the UML in its Terai district committees. The gender breakup of the district committees is revealing. Women are represented neither in accordance with the proportion of their population, nor in the desired norm of one-third of each committee. While there are more women in both absolute and relative terms compared to the NC, pahadi women have higher representation than those from Madhesh. Madheshi women constitute around five percent of the entire membership of the 10 district committees, with some units like Jhapa not having a single Madheshi woman. The UML has a higher representation of Terai Janjatis who constitute almost one-fourth of its total Madheshi membership in the district committees sampled so far. This is interesting for the rise of Janjatis as an independent force in the Terai will have implications for the UML party structure, like the rise of Madheshi castes led to an erosion in the base of the NC after the Madhesh movement – unless UML can take into account their concerns and aspirations. It also has higher representation of Dalits and Muslims than the NC – even though the numbers are still less than the demographic strength. Madheshi Janadhikar Forum Among 266 total district committee members across the 10 sample districts, MJF has 256 Madheshis (nearly 97 percent). Of these, 5 are Dalits (merely 2 percent), 28 are from high castes (11 percent), 21 are Janjatis (8 percent), 2 are Marwaris, 32 are Muslims (12 percent), 53 are OBCs (21 percent) and 106 are Yadavs (40 percent). In Jhapa, the 17 member district committee has 14 Madheshis, which constitutes 82 percent of the committee. There are three pahadi members. Among the Madheshis, there is one high caste, four Janjatis, four OBCs, and four Yadavs. There is one Madheshi woman. In Morang, a stronghold of the party, there are 33 district Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh | 35 committee members. All of them are Madheshis; among them are 2 Dalits, 1 high caste, 13 Janjatis, 1 Marwari, 3 Muslims, 6 OBCs, and 7 Yadavs. There are only two women. All the 25 members in Siraha are Madheshis. One is high caste, there are 5 OBCs, and 19 Yadavs. There is one woman in the committee. All the 30 district members in Mahottari are Madheshis. Among them is 1 high caste, 1 Janjati, 3 Muslims, 4 OBCs, and 21 Yadavs. Two are women. Out of a 31 member strong Bara district committee, 30 are Madheshis. There are 2 high castes, 2 Muslims, 12 OBCs, and 14 Yadavs. There are two Madheshi women. The 22 member Parsa district committee has 21 Madheshis. Four are high castes, there is one Janjati, four Muslims, five OBCs, and seven Yadavs. There is one woman. Rupandehi has 27 Madheshis in a 29 member committee, with 1 Dalit, 3 high castes, 1 Janjati, 3 Muslims, 3 OBCs, and 15 Yadavs. There are three women in the committee. In western Terai, all the 24 members in the Kapilvastu district committee are Madheshis. Among them are five high castes, one Janjati, five Muslims, four OBCs, eight Yadavs and one Dalit. There is one woman. In far west Terai, Banke has 31 members, out of whom 29 are Madheshis. One is Dalit, there are five high castes, and one is Marwari. There are 11 Muslims, 6 OBCs, and 1 Yadav. There is one Madheshi woman, who happens to be a Dalit. Bardiya has 24 members, of whom 23 are Madheshis. Five belong to high castes; there are 10 Yadavs, 5 OBCs, and 1 Muslim. There are no women. The most striking feature in the MJF representation is that if the national parties have a disproportionate representation of pahadis living in the Terai in their district committees, the MJF clearly represents the Madheshi population. It has given Madheshi representatives more space in its party structure than even their demographic strength would dictate. Jhapa and Morang are examples in this regard. The second feature is the obvious Yadav domination in MJF. Fourty 36 | The Landscape of Madhesh percent of the party members are Yadavs at the district level among those sampled. Many districts are led by Yadav presidents. When this is highlighted, the MJF leaders point out that their committees are merely representative of the fact that Yadavs constitute the single largest demographic block in the Terai. Like other national parties, the representation of Terai Janjatis is less than their strength. Even in a district like Bardiya, with a sizeable Tharu population, there is no Tharu in the committee. Like other parties, the gender representation is once again dismal. Taken together, they comprise around 5 percent of the entire district membership of MJF. Terai-Madhesh Democratic Party The TMDP has 188 district committee members, out of whom 185 are Madheshis. There are 2 Dalits (1 percent), 39 high castes (21 percent), 30 Janjatis (16 percent), 2 Marwaris, 24 Muslims, 57 OBCs (30.3 percent), 24 Yadavs (13 percent), and 7 others.6 All 21 members of the Jhapa committee are Madheshis. This includes 1 high caste, 16 Janjatis, 1 Marwari, 2 OBCs, and 1 other. There are two Madheshi women in the committee. Morang has 14 district committee members, of whom all are Madheshis. There is one Dalit, one high caste, three Janjatis, one Marwari, four Muslims, and four OBCs; there are no Madheshi women. All 15 committee members are Madheshis in Siraha. Two are high castes, two are Janjatis; there are six OBCs, five Yadavs. There are no women in the committee. In the Madhesh heartland of Mahottari, 28 of the 29 district committee members of TMDP are Madheshis. This includes 12 high castes, 1 Janjati, 2 Muslims, 11 OBCs, 1 Yadav and 1 other. There are three women in the committee. In Bara, all 30 members are Madheshis. Four are high castes, two are Janjatis, and two are Muslims. There are 14 OBCs, 6 Yadavs, and there are 2 others. There is no woman in the committee. All 10 members of the Parsa committee are Madheshis, with 1 Dalit, 2 high castes, 1

6 The‘Others ’ include the members with surnames/titles – Sina, Madheshiya, Godiya, Sai, Naw, Tamoli, Raidas, Madhesi, Gupt and Bairagi. Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh | 37

Muslim, 5 OBCs, and 1 Yadav. There is one woman in the committee. In western Terai, 17 of the 18 members of the Rupandehi committee are Madheshis. One is high caste, four are Janjatis. There are six Muslims, two OBCs, two Yadavs, two others – none is a woman. Fourteen of the 15 members of the Kapilvastu committee are Madheshis. Six are high castes, three are Muslims, and there are four OBCs and one other. There are two women. In far west Terai, all 19 members in Banke district committee are Madheshis. Five are high castes, there are two Janjatis, four Muslims, eight OBCs and no women are in the committee. Bardiya has a 17 member committee, of whom are all Madheshis. Five are high castes; there are two Muslims, one OBC, and nine Yadavs. There are only two women in the committee. Like MJF, the TMDP also thus clearly represents the Madheshi population of the Terai and not the pahadis who live. Two, while there is disproportionate representation of high castes at the top level of the party and in the CA, at the district level, the representation is more diffused. In fact, there is a higher representation of OBCs at the district level than any other caste group. Three, except in Jhapa, the representation of Terai Janjatis in the district committee is less than proportional. And finally, the gender representation is once again dismally low, less than 10 percent of the entire membership in the 10 districts taken together. Sadbhawana Party The Sadbhawana Party has 120 district committee members in the 10 districts taken together. Out of that, 119 are Madheshis. This includes 4 Dalits (3 percent), 25 high castes (21 percent), 18 Janjatis (15 percent), 6 Muslims (5 percent), 47 OBCs (39 percent), and 18 Yadavs (15 percent). Jhapa has 16 members in the district committee. All are Madheshis, out of whom there are 14 Janjatis and 2 OBCs. There is one woman. All 12 members in Morang are Madheshis; among them are 1 high caste and 1 Muslim. There are three Janjatis, five OBCs and two Yadavs. There are two women in the committee. 38 | The Landscape of Madhesh

All 12 members in Siraha are Madheshis as well, with 1 Janjati, 5 OBCs, and 6 Yadavs. There is one Madheshi woman in the committee. All 10 members in Mahottari are Madheshis. There are four high castes, one Muslim, four OBCs, and one Yadav. There is no Madheshi woman. Twenty of the 21 members of the Bara committee are Madheshis. One is Dalit; there are five high castes, nine OBCs, five Yadavs. There are two Madheshi women. All 10 members of the Parsa committee are Madheshis, with 1 Dalit, 1 high caste, 1 Muslim, 1 Yadav and 6OBCs. There is one woman. All eight members in Rupandehi are Madheshi; out of them are four high castes, four OBCs, and there is no woman in the committee. All 12 members in Kapilvastu are Madheshis as well. Four are high castes, two are Muslims, there are five OBCs, and one Yadav. There is no woman. In far west Terai, all 11 members in Banke are Madheshis. One is a Dalit; there are five high castes, one Muslim, and four OBCs. There is no woman in the committee. Bardiya has eight members, all of whom are Madheshis. There is one high caste. Three are OBCs, two are Yadavs; there is one Dalit and one other. There is once again no woman in the committee. Like the other two Madheshi parties, Sadbhawana too represents Madheshis of the plains – in contrast to the so-called national parties which give more than proportionate representation to the pahadis of the region. The Sadbhawana, like at the top levels of the party, tends to have higher representation of the OBCs. Once again, Terai Janjatis and Dalits are under-represented in the party structure. The gender balance is once again skewed with less than 5 percent of the membership comprising women. Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh | 39

Table 4: Madheshis and Madheshi women in district committees7

Percentage of Percentage of Party Madheshis in district women among committees Madheshis UCPN (Maoist) 36 6.8 CPN (UML) 45 9 Nepali Congress 57.5 8.14 MJF-Nepal 97 5 (1 hill woman) TMDP 98.4t 5 (no hill woman) Sadbhawana Party 99 5 (1 hill woman) 5 concluding observations A detailed study of the district and central committee, top decision- making bodies, and composition of the former parliamentary party of NC, UML, Maoists, MJF-Nepal, TMDP and Sadbhawana party throws up several interesting insights. These are politically important because at a time of identity assertion and emergence of newer identity-based political movements, it tells us which party represents which social constituencies, and whether parties are accommodating aspirations and interests of the multiple communities in the country. Representation is admittedly only one element to judge a party’s ideological orientation and general approach towards issues – but at a time when ethnicity is an important indicator of political choice, representation does assume great salience in determining the outlook of parties. The clear conclusion one can draw from the data is that national parties, despite calling themselves national, have a higher and almost disproportionate representation of the pahadi population of the plains; in comparison, the Madheshis are not adequately represented. This is in stark contrast to the Madheshi parties, who have made no effort to include pahadis of the region and have stuck to the Madheshi constituency. This ethnic polarisation reflected in

7 Of the 10 sampled districts, except in Maoists where data for only six districts was available. 40 | The Landscape of Madhesh the composition of the party structures is revealing about the fault- lines inherent in Nepali society. None of the three big parties – NC, UML or Maoists – have a proportionate number of Madheshis at any level of the party structure. It is perhaps precisely this under-representation that left the field open for newer Madheshi political forces to lay claim over the mantle of representing Madheshi interests. The case of the communist parties is the most instructive in this regard. Despite its claims about inclusion, the Maoists at the district level as well as central committee have even fewer Madheshis than the other parties; they have no Madheshi at their top decision-making bodies like the standing committee. There is, however, a difference in the constituencies the big parties seek to cultivate in the Terai. While Maoists and UML seem to have consciously given more representation to the Madheshi Janjatis, OBCs and Yadavs, NC has given more space to the high castes of the region. The emergence of Madheshi parties marks a watershed in Nepali politics. Through them, Madheshis have finally got proportionate representation in political structures. But for the Madheshi parties and their electoral success as well as the new election system, it is doubtful whether the CA would have been as inclusive as it turned out to be. But there is a difference within the Madheshi parties as well. The MJF-N seems to have higher representation of Yadavs at all levels of the party; the TMDP has higher representation of high castes at the top levels of the party but has more diffused representation on the ground; and Sadbhawana has a slight bias towards OBCs in representation. What is as revealing however is not who the parties include – but who they do not include. Among caste groups, Dalits remain the most marginalised politically. They are barely represented in power structures of political parties – be it national or Madheshi – at any level. This would indicate that there is a fertile ground for a party that gives space to Dalits, or raises their agenda and issues vocally. Among religious groups, Muslims are under-represented at all levels. Some Madheshi parties seem to have given them space, especially in those districts where they are in sizeable numbers. But Inclusiveness in Political Parties in Madhesh | 41 this is less than their population strength. The Terai Janjatis have been ambivalent about being categorised as Madheshis – and have asserted their distinct identity. While the Maoists and UML have a high number of Terai Janjatis, Madheshi parties seem to have given them space in some district committees (like Jhapa), but not adequately represented them or their interests. The disillusionment of Terai Janjatis with existing forces and their independent assertion may weaken communist parties more than other formations. Across the board however, the most shocking absence is that of women. Madheshi women suffer from the most regressive traditions in a patriarchal society (as the research paper on Madheshi women points out), and thus, need political rights and awakening to alter the power structure both at home and beyond. But this seems to be a long battle, for at present, no party – be it national or Madheshi – seems committed to giving space to women in respectable numbers, let alone addressing their issues vocally. Nepali politics and society are in a phase of extraordinary churning. New social forces are asserting themselves and democratisation of the society is taking place at a remarkable speed. The Madhesh movement has altered Nepali politics, led to new parties and forced the polity to become more inclusive. But national parties remain relatively conservative in accommodating the marginalised social groups; and Madheshi parties – either due to the leadership in place, or due to the reflection of the hierarchical and stratified nature of Madheshi society – have been unable to become outfits that represent all communities and groups living in the Terai. This indicates that politics will continue to evolve, and if the existing parties are unable to include and reflect Nepal’s diversity in their party structures, newer alternatives are bound to emerge. 42 | The Landscape of Madhesh

References

CBS. 2001. Population Census. Kathmandu: HMGN. Gaige, Frederick H. 1975. Regionalism and National Unity in Nepal. Delhi: Vikas. Mahato, Manai. (2009). Forms of Reservation for OBC in Nepal. A report Submitted to Social Inclusion Research Fund, SNV-Nepal. Nepal Constituent Assembly official website - http://www.can.gov.np/en Official website of CPN (UML) - http://www.cpnuml.org/ Shah, Shree Govind. 2006. Social Inclusion of Madheshi community in Nation building. SIRF, SNV-Nepal. Sijapati, Bandita. 2009. ‘‘Public Discourse and Action to Address Madhesh Exclusion” (Draft report submitted to the World Bank, Nepal) UCPN (Maoist) official website – http://ucpnmaoist.org/ GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE IN MADHESH (Problems and prospects)

By Dr. Uma Shankar Prasad

1 Introduction Government expenditure plays a crucial role in the balanced and equitable development of a country through allocative and distributive measures. From an egalitarian point of view, allocation of higher proportions of budget to the comparatively underdeveloped regions is important for just and dignified prosperity and sustainable economic growth. Balanced socio-economic development based on ethnicity, class, caste, language, gender, culture, religion and region is a pre-requisite to sustainable peace. The current trend of government/public expenditure in Nepal is guided by political or electoral motives. Decisions about public expenditure are dictated by politicians seeking to promote their interests by maximizing their electoral gains (Basu, 1995). Politicians not only wish to be re-elected and to extend their stint in power, but also to spread their ideology and make it popular among people. Terai/Madhesh is the economic heartland of Nepal. The terms Terai and Madhesh have been used interchangeably for the purpose of this 44 | The Landscape of Madhesh study. The region is the foremost industrial and agricultural zone of the country. However, the idea of green revolution has almost failed in Terai because of marginal investment in the agricultural sector owing to a biased government policy. The speed of industrial development too has been sluggish. There has been insignificant investment in infrastructure. Health and education sectors are comparatively dismal. Rapid deforestation in the Chure range in the name of so-called landless resettlement programme has created problems like floods and siltation in rivers. For nearly 240 years under a unitary system of governance, the regional, social, economic and political inequalities remained more or less unchanged. The culture of sharing wealth in an equitable manner among ecological as well as development regions to reduce regional disparities has not been encouraged. The per capita capital expenditure in Madhesh has been far below the national average. The rate of growth of per capita government expenditure as well as improvement in Human Development Index (HDI) has been the lowest in Terai/Madhesh and far below than national average. The direct expenditure made by INGOs through various projects in Terai/Madhesh appears to be marginal. The Madheshi Dalits who constitute about five percent of Nepal’s total population have the lowest HDI rankings. About 80 percent of the Madheshi Dalits live below the poverty line. The literacy rate of Musahar was just 7.3 percent compared to the national average of 53.7 according to the 2001 census (CBS, 2003). The socio-economic condition of the Muslim community has not been encouraging. The participation of Madheshi Dalits and Muslims in all levels of governance and polity of political parties, cabinet, Parliament, legislature, judiciary and the civil service has been negligible. The paper is divided into six sections. The first section is a brief introduction. The second section discusses theoretical perspectives on the role of the public sector. Section three talks about budget formulation and its execution process in Nepal. Section four analyses the problems related to inequitable government expenditure in Nepal, particularly in the context of Madhesh. The fifth section is a critical examination of the sectoral prospects of government Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 45 expenditure for sustainable development. The last section is an overall conclusion. 2 Importance of the public sector: Theoretical perspectives In ancient times, before the systematic economic doctrines emerged, not much role was assigned to the public sector. As far as studying the economic role of the government was concerned, mercantilists were pioneers. They believed that government intervention was essential to expand exports. Opposite to the mercantilists’ view, classicists advocated for limiting the role of government and promoting private economic activities for development. The theory of fiscal policy developed by J. M. Keynes in 1936 rejected the conclusion of classical economists and suggested the necessity of government intervention in the economy by the use of fiscal measures to achieve the objectives of full employment, stability, growth and social welfare (Musgrave, 1985). Kalecki (1971) talked about the importance of the public sector in achieving and maintaining full employment in a capitalist economy. He believed that monetary as well as real variables could be controlled if appropriate fiscal policy is applied. The commonly used national income identity used by Keynes for explaining the behaviour of macroeconomic and fiscal variables is a component of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimated in terms of expenditure pattern. However, Kalecki (1971) derived the national income identity based on the profit model. Kalecki analyses the economy in terms of social classes (capitalists and workers). According to him, fluctuations in national income are caused by fluctuations in capitalists’ expenses on investment. Kalecki’s National Income Identity (1971) has been modified by Kumar (1988) to describe the analysis of fiscal policy regime in which various fiscal variables can be analysed as a whole in a single macroeconomic framework. Kumar (1999) has further elaborated the national income identity 46 | The Landscape of Madhesh over Kaleckian identity by incorporating black economy in the model. Kumar (2002) concludes that black economy lowers the rate of economic growth and prevents it from reaching its potential. It affects estimates of employment generation and the number of people below the poverty line (Kumar, 2006). Kumar’s modified national income identity seems to be more realistic than Kaleckian national income identity because it separates fiscal variables in the identity and also gives the actual concept of an economy by dividing the whole economy into two parts-black and white. For the past few decades, there has been a policy shift regarding the role of government because of globalization, liberalization and privatization. This shift has broadly been tagged as the New Economic Policy (NEP). Conceptually, the NEP ideology is based on the idea of the market and is antagonistic to the role of the state in the country. The basic principle of NEP is that the market is the best regulator of the economy. Therefore, the government should minimize its involvement in the economy leaving all economic decisions to the market forces and creating economically more liberalized economies in the world. Broadly speaking, NEP seeks to reduce the role of the public sector and enhance that of the private sector. The logic is that economic agents do the best if left alone by the government and hence, the invisible hand leads to the betterment of society. The ideology emphasizes self-interest as the motivating force for an individual. The impact of globalization on fiscal policy, economic stability and overall development in developing countries has been a topic of concern among economists around the world, particularly in developing countries. Many claim that globalization has neither succeeded in reducing poverty nor has it succeeded in ensuring stability in developing countries. It is widely believed that the economic crisis of recent years has been the outcome of the NEP. Supporting institutions are working on behalf of the wealthiest industrial countries of the West (Amin, 1997; Chossudovsky, 2001; Kumar, 2002; Stiglitz, 2002). Critics of NEP argue that it adversely affects the poor in both the short and the long-run because of internal contradictions in the Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 47

NEP package. They argue that growth in employment will slow down because investment will take place in urban areas with increasing capital intensity. As a result, growth rate will be higher in urban areas compared to rural areas and regional disparity will widen. The quality of employment would deteriorate by effecting wage rates (Amin, 1997; Chossudovsky, 2001). However, proponents of NEP argue that reforms would increase efficiency and lead to higher growth and, in turn, reduce unemployment and poverty. They argue that NEP would benefit the poor in the medium and long-term, although they may be adversely affected in the short-run. They attach importance to employment generation and improvement in labour market through freer trade, investment and higher growth (Krueger, 1984; Bhagwati, 2004). Public sector economics focus on those economic problems which cannot be solved by the free market system and those related to market failure in a capitalist economy. Market failure is a result of existence of public goods, merit wants, externalities, unacceptable distribution in income and wealth, fiscal federalism and decreasing cost function (Tresch, 1981). Because of joint consumption and non-excludability characteristics, public goods suffer from the ‘free- rider’ problem. When a market fails, government intervention is required for social welfare. Since there are no free markets in the real world, legitimacy of public action is essential to correct the distributional imbalances in an economy. In a hypothetical situation of the ‘first best’, free markets may be optimal but under the realistic situation of the ‘second best’, all markets should be taken over by the state to achieve optimality (Kumar, 2002). According to Musgrave (1985), the public sector has three primary economic problems to resolve if the system is to reach optimum welfare, i.e., the attainment of the most equitable distribution of income (the distribution problem), the maintenance of high employment with stable prices (the stabilization problem), and the establishment of an efficient pattern of resource use (the allocation problem). 48 | The Landscape of Madhesh

Subsidy in agriculture is a worldwide phenomenon. Under WTO regime, developing countries are forced to withdraw agricultural subsidies. The developed countries, particularly the major agricultural exporting countries in the world like the USA and Canada, have managed to legitimize their subsidies. They have even increased the amount of subsidy to their farmers under the system of green, blue and amber boxes-tagged as non-trade distorting subsidies under WTO rules. Cuts in subsidies in developing countries have led to a food security problem for the middle classes and the poor. Transfer payments (pensions, unemployment benefits, senior citizen and widow allowances etc.) are forms of income redistribution, not returns on the factors of production. They may be categorized into two main components. First, all cash payments that the government makes directly to individuals, and second, all the cash grants that the government makes to charitable and non-profit institutions. Direct transfers to individuals are the easiest and most effective category of government expenditures for distributive purpose. In these transfers, there is a direct relationship between cost to government and benefit to individuals because a rupee spent by the government adds a rupee directly to the individual. The beneficiaries of these transfers are easily identifiable because these programmes usually target select groups. On the other hand, indirect transfers are more complex because private institutions play the role of intermediaries between the government and intended beneficiaries. In developing countries, where the private institutional set-up is poor, beneficiaries are likely to bypass the intermediaries in sharing benefits. Public sector ultimately plays a crucial role in employment generation, poverty reduction and enhancing social welfare. Public spending can foster human development through better education, health care, nutrition, drinking water and other basic facilities. Taxation can help in resource mobilization for the promotion of investment and redistribution of income. Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 49

3 Theoretical dimensions of budget formulation in Nepal The efforts for planned development in Nepal have now been on for five decades. The First Five Year Plan was formulated in 1956. So far, nine five-year plans, one three-year plan and one three-year interim plan have already been completed. Currently the three-year plan (2010/11-2012/13) is being implemented. Prior to 1951, there was no budgeting process in Nepal. After the fall of the century old Rana oligarchy in 1951, the then government introduced a budgetary system in Nepal’s financial administration. Accordingly, the budget was prepared and announced on Radio Nepal in January 1952 by the then finance minister. With the establishment of the legislative assembly, the submission of the budget to the House has become a regular practice. The government has been presenting a budget every fiscal year. Until 1959, the budget was published in the Nepal Raj Patra, the government gazette. Since 1959, the budget has been delivered by the finance minister to the legislative body every year (http://www.asosai.org). The government’s periodic plan is the main base for budget formulation in Nepal. Budget is the annual breakdown of overall as well as sectoral objectives, policies, activities, working policies and priorities of the periodic plan. It is regarded as a politico-economic instrument of the government. It includes vision and basic principles, objectives, policies and programmes. Budget provides the summary of actual income and expenditure of the government under three broad headings-actual of the previous fiscal year, revised estimates of the current year and estimates of the next year. It provides function- wise and ministry-wise economic heads as well as line item-wise estimates of the income and expenditure of the government. The priorities of the past periodic plans have been primarily focused on infrastructure development, social development, integrated rural development and the fulfilment of basic needs of the people, private sector development, poverty alleviation and employment generation and so on. The concept of balanced regional development emerged during the fourth and fifth Plan period, the materialization of the 50 | The Landscape of Madhesh objective of maintaining regional balance has not been experienced yet. Consequently, the results of development could not be equally delivered among the people due to the growing imbalance between political regions (NPC, 2010). 3.1 basis of budget allocation The National Planning Commission has followed the criteria mentioned below for budget allocation at the district level in the fiscal year 2012-13. •• The directive principles and policies of the state stipulated in the Interim Constitution of Nepal •• Objectives, strategies and priorities of the periodic plan •• Policies and programmes delivered in the Parliament by the government •• Programme/projects prioritized by the Medium Term Expenditure Framework •• District development index, population, geography, cost index •• Existing infrastructure and geographical inaccessibility •• District and regional balance •• Foreign grants related agreements made with donor communities •• Directions provided by the parliamentary committees of the Parliament •• Suggestions provided by the honourable members of the Parliament •• District level programmes and allocated budget forwarded through the line ministries •• Suggestions and priorities provided by the line ministries based on sectoral policies •• Programmes and projects demanded/requested at the local level •• Ongoing programmes and projects •• Employment-centric, inclusive economic growth and poverty alleviation oriented programmes and projects •• Programmes and projects directly related to local level economic development Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 51

•• Programmes and projects related to the possibilities of utilization of local resources and people’s participation However, these 17 so-called bases of budget allocation have remained limited to theory. They have not been adequately implemented. Political domination has been deep-rooted in the budget allocation process. Therefore, an ‘Integrated Composite Budget Allocation Index’ is required in the budget allocation process in Nepal. 3.2 budget formulation process The National Planning Commission and the Ministry of Finance are the key players in the budget formulation process in Nepal. The budget is the annual breakdown based on the guidelines provided by periodic plans. According to the Budget Formulation Guideline (Fifth Edition), 2012 published by the Ministry of Finance, the budget formulation process in Nepal comprises the following steps: • The National Planning Commission and the Ministry of Finance set budget ceilings for all line ministries by considering the overall development policy of the Government of Nepal and availability of financial resources to support the plan within the last week of November. They also issue budget preparation guidelines. • The ceilings and guidelines are passed on through the minis- tries to departments, district level offices as well as lowest level spending units within the third week of December. • The lowest level spending units, district level offices and depart- ments play back the programmes and the budget up to the Min- istry of Finance within the first week of March. • The National Planning Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the line ministries then meet at the National Planning Com- mission for budget discussions within the second week of May. • The finance minister submits the budget to the Parliament with- in the second week of May. • Following the Parliamentary approval by the second week of July (Asar 29th), the Ministry of Finance releases authorizations for expenditure to line ministries, which, in turn, release autho- rizations to spending units within the last week of July. 52 | The Landscape of Madhesh

• The Ministry of Finance and line ministries conduct monthly, mid-term and annual monitoring and supervision (MoF, 2012). Before 1991, the budget formulation approach was mostly top down. After restoration of democracy, both top down and bottom up approaches have been followed. The top down approach is followed at the central level and the bottom up approach is followed at the local level. There is a widespread perception that Nepal’s large share of public resources has been mis-spent. Public spending continues at a rate which is not sufficient to provide a reasonable level of basic public services, particularly in rural areas. Institutional weaknesses remain at all levels - NPC, line ministries, local governments, village committees etc. Technical skills are low at many points. Implementation of the much-emphasized decentralization scheme is weak. Excessive political interference at key points and increasing corruption are major factors undermining the effectiveness of public spending. 3.3 Project prioritization With the beginning of the Tenth Plan, the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the Immediate Action Plan were introduced. Project prioritization, reclassification of budget expenditures, performance-based disbursement, budget expenditure authorization immediately after budget approval by the Parliament and sectoral business plans were also brought into practice. With the implementation of the MTEF, project prioritization was carried out on the basis of objective criteria. The National Planning Commission has started to prioritize both the current as well as capital expenditures. The prioritizing bases for general administrative and current expenditures are divided into five categories: (a) expenditures for providing direct services to the people (b) expenditures for maintaining good governance (c) contribution to raising revenues (d) contribution to developmental works: (e) others like human resource development, environmental Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 53 conservation, regional balance etc. Programmes/project expenditures of each sector are divided into three score categories - P1, P2 and P3, according to priority rankings. Programmes and projects that greatly contribute to poverty alleviation, sectoral objectives and with higher ratings of participation fall under category P1, whereas those which are not as crucial in these aspects have been categorized under P2 and P3. The concerned ministries have closely been involved in there- prioritization exercises. Critics argue that the method of information collection for budget formulation in district level offices is traditional. The project prioritization does not represent any scientific argument. The tendency of estimating budgetary requirement on incremental basis instead of actual need assessment of programmes is widely prevalent in the budget execution process. 3.4 budget classification The total budget is divided into three main categories: recurrent, capital and principal re-payment. Recurrent expenditures basically denote the government’s day-to-day operating costs, cost of security etc. Capital expenditures include development costs of projects, and programmes like infrastructure development (road, canals, electricity, telecommunication etc.), research and development etc. Principal repayment denotes liquidation of loan liability. 3.5 Problems in the budget formulation process Various problems exist in Nepal’s budget formulation process both at central as well as local levels. The increase in current expenditure, lack of control of non-budgetary expenditures (Disaster Relief Fund, Army Welfare Fund, Police Welfare Fund, Direct Payment by donors etc.), very low capital expenditures, donor driven priorities, problem of irregularities and beruju, lack of effective monitoring and evaluation of government expenditures as well as lack of effective public expenditure system and monitoring and reporting tasks are some major problems (NPC, 2010). 54 | The Landscape of Madhesh

There has also been a high level of political interference. Many programmes and projects are included directly by influential politicians. The priorities of the periodic plan often change when political leadership changes. There is lack of coordination between ministries and the National Planning Commission. Information collection method for budget formulation in district level offices is traditional. The local government has relatively less experience and inadequate human capacity to formulate and execute plans, programmes and projects. Poor coordination between the central and local governments has caused duplication in projects. The benefits of public spending accrue largely to the relatively better- off segments of the society. A significant proportion of increased spending on health and higher education has largely benefited the relatively well-off urban and non-poor population. Similarly, in the power sector, the benefits accrue largely to urban communities and rural areas where the majority of the population live are under- served. 4 Problems related to government expenditure in Terai The public sector occupies a dominant position in Nepal’s economy. Although the role of private sector is increasing, many sectors like defence, police, public health and sanitation, education, roads etc. are still under the public sector. The government has invested in several industries and infrastructure projects. Government expenditure plays a critical role in poverty reduction through allocation of higher proportions of the budget to social sectors and pro-poor programmes. Following the introduction of NEP, growth of government expenditure has been very slow, mainly due to lower growth of development expenditure. Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 55

Figure 1: Growth of public expenditure as percentage of GDP, 1969-70 to 2009-10

25.0

20.6 19.7 20.0 16.7

14.9 15.0 13.0 12.9

9.9 9.7 10.0 6.7 7.0 7.7 7.0 5.0 5.0 4.7 2.2 0.0 1969/70 Capital1979/80 (Development)1989/90 expendit1999/2000ure 2009/10 Total expenditure Recurrent (Regular) expenditure Capital (Development) expenditure Total expenditure

Source: Economic Survey, various issues, Ministry of Finance, Government of Nepal The magnitude of total government expenditure was 5.6 percent of the GDP in 1965-66; it increased to 7 percent in 1969-70 and to 20.6 percent of the GDP in 2009-10 (Figure 1). Nepal’s public expenditure till 1997-98 was broadly divided into two parts: regular and development expenditure. Both the expenditures were further categorized into various sub-groups. Since 1998-99, such expenditures are classified as recurrent, capital, and principal re-payments. The functional classification of public expenditure in Nepal is divided into the following main categories: administrative expenditures, economic services, social services, defence and miscellaneous. 56 | The Landscape of Madhesh

Table 1: Growth of public expenditure, 1979-80 to 2009-10

Share of taxes as percentage of GDP Types of expenditure 1979-80 1989-90 1999-00 2009-10 Recurrent (Regular) 5.0 6.7 9.7 12.9 Administrative Expenditure 1.3 1.5 1.5 2.2 Defence Expenditure 1.0 1.0 0.9 1.4 Expenditure on Social Services 0.8 0.7 3.5 5.3 Expenditure on Economic Services 0.5 0.4 1.3 1.3 Loan Repayment, Investment and Interest Payment 1.0 2.3 1.3 0.9 Miscellaneous 0.5 0.7 1.2 1.8 Capital (Development) 9.9 13.0 7.0 7.7 Administrative Expenditure 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.3 Defence Expenditure 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.1 Expenditure on Social Services 1.9 4.0 2.4 3.1 Expenditure on Economic Services 7.8 8.2 4.2 3.7 Loan Repayment, Investment and Interest Payment 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 Miscellaneous 0.2 0.8 0.1 0.3 Total 14.9 19.7 16.7 20.6 Source: Economic Survey, Various Issues, Ministry of Finance, Government of Nepal Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 57

Table 1 shows that both regular and development expenditure in Nepal has grown faster than its national income. When we compare the trends in functional classification between regular and development expenditures, it is clear that the percentage share increase in social services, particularly after 2000 AD, is largely due to increase in regular expenditure rather than development expenditure. The share of social services in development expenditure decreased from 4 percent of the GDP in 1989-90 to 3.1 percent in 2009-10. Therefore, it can be argued that development expenditure in all sectors has decreased in Nepal, particularly after the mid- 1990s because of two reasons: internal conflict that prevailed in the country and introduction of the New Economic Policy. The problem lies in the public expenditure structure due to a continuous rise in regular expenditure, which has resulted in reduction of development expenditure. Increased share of regular expenditure has increased borrowing, and consequently, the interest burden of the country has soared. The government is forced to borrow because of the hidden existence of black economy. To address the problem, luxury consumption needs to be controlled to check the rising debt burden. Direct tax revenue collection needs to be increased. 4.1 regional disparity in government expenditure Regional inequality inherent in Nepal is one of the major reasons why the country needs federalism. Economic literature suggests that public expenditure should be directed more towards the less developed regions. The issue of regional differences in public expenditure has been critical in Nepal. Per capita government expenditure across regions remains highly unequal, which is undesirable if we want an egalitarian and just Nepal. 58 | The Landscape of Madhesh 80.9 77.4 122.9 144.7 132.3 121.0 135.6 131.0 94.4 2009-10 2006-07 to expenditures 61.0 72.3 51.9 47.0 70.6 65.2 77.4 66.8 67.7 Growth rate of public public of rate Growth 2006-07 2001-02 to 2001-02 to 6.2 9.7 5.9 71.7 22.1 11.8 61.5 11.0 100.0 2009-10 5.4 9.8 9.7 8.0 5.0 77.1 17.5 67.4 100.0 2006-07 9.8 7.6 5.0 5.6 11.2 66.3 75.0 19.4 100.0 % share of public expenditures public of % share 2001-02 9.6 7.1 22.7 35.2 19.5 13.0 43.8 49.1 100.0 2011* % share of of % share population in population egion hare of public expenditures by ecological by expenditures regions public of development and hare R , various issues, Financial Comptroller General Office, Government of Nepal of Government General Office, Comptroller Financial issues, , various Statements Financial : Consolidated evelopment region cological region D Eastern Central Western Mid-western Far-western Nepal E Mountain Hill Terai/Madhesh Table 2: S Table Source * Population Projection for Nepal 2002-2021, Central Bureau of Statistics and UNFPA Nepal, 2003 Nepal, UNFPA and Statistics of 2002-2021, Central Bureau Nepal for Projection * Population Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 59

Table 2 shows that the share of public expenditure for the hill and the central development region is higher than that of the population. In federal Nepal, these disparities in public expenditures will need to be addressed. Since the majority of the poorest of the poor live in Madhesh, more expenditure will have to be allocated to this region for poverty alleviation programmes.

Figure 2: Share of public expenditures by ecological regions

100.0 77.1 80.0 75.0 71.7

60.0

40.0

19.4 17.5 22.1 20.0 5.6 5.4 6.2 0.0 2001/02 2006/072009/10

Mountain Hill Terai

Source: Consolidated Financial Statements, various issues, Financial Comptroller General Office, Government of Nepal Figure 2 illustrates that there is wide variation in public expenditures in Nepal. Government expenditure is higher in hills compared to other ecological belts. 60 | The Landscape of Madhesh % 6.5 4.2 8.7 7.7 7.7 9.2 15.3 12.4 19.7 hange C I) 2006 0.436 0.543 0.494 0.526 0.531 0.516 0.452 0.461 0.509 index ( HD uman development development uman H 2000 0.378 0.510 0.474 0.484 0.493 0.479 0.402 0.385 0.466 67.4 65.2 79.9 104.5 128.3 113.4 103.3 118.5 110.4 2009-10 2006-07 to 2006-07 to Growth rate 46.6 52.6 29.9 31.8 46.2 47.4 55.1 46.6 46.8 2006-07 2001-02 to 2001-02 to I by various areas various I by 7,985 4,078 4,706 5,136 6,810 5,612 9085 14,883 15,882 2009-10 3,904 8,891 1,786 2,205 9,611 2,526 3,117 2,667 5,050 2006-07 2,663 5,828 1,375 1,673 6,576 1,714 2,010 1,819 3,441 Per capita public expenditure public capita Per 2001-02 egion R , Various Issues, Financial Comptroller General Office, Government of Nepal of Government General Office, Comptroller Financial Issues, , Various Statements Financial : Consolidated evelopment region cological region E Mountain Hill Terai D Eastern Central Western Mid-western Far-western Nepal Source Table 3: Per capita public expenditure and HD and expenditure public capita 3: Per Table Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 61

The data presented in Table 3 reveals that the percentage growth in per capita government expenditure has not been consistent with percentage change in human development index across ecological as well as development regions. The growth rate of per capita government expenditure as well as improvement in HDI has been the lowest in Terai and far below the national average.

Figure 3: Per capita public expenditure by ecological regions, 2009-10

16,000 14,883 14,000

12,000

10,000 7,985 8,000

6,000 4,078 4,000

2,000

0 Mountain Hill Terai

Source: Consolidated Financial Statements, various issues, Financial Comptroller General Office, Government of Nepal Figure 3 demonstrates that the per capita expenditure in Terai has been far below the national average. Madheshi political leaders believe it is a part of internal colonization (Yadav, 2005). For example, per capita capital expenditure was only Rs. 241 and Rs. 242 in Rautahat and Mahottari districts respectively compared to the national average of Rs. 2,135 in 2006-07 (Prasad, 2009). It is well known that the expenditure need of mountains is higher than other ecological regions due to difficult geographical conditions and high incidence of poverty there. But this need is never addressed. 62 | The Landscape of Madhesh Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 63

4.2 Government expenditure on security in Madhesh Security is one of the main concerns of Terai. More than three dozen armed groups in different names are now active in Terai that have posed challenges to the security of the region. Incidents of abduction, killing, rape, extortion, etc. are becoming frequent. People have been terrorized and development activities, jeopardized. An open boarder with India has been a catalyst for rising crime, smuggling and trade of small arms. The Nepal Police and Armed Police Force are the main security agencies in Nepal. Nepal Police, under the Ministry of Home Affairs, is established to maintain law and order and security in the country. Policing in Nepal goes back to the ancient period, though the formal civil police organization was not established prior to 1864. During the Rana Regime (1864-1951), the police organization was conceived and there was a gradual progression towards modern policing. The first Rana Prime Minister, Jung Bhadur Rana, first set up the police structure in Nepal to maintain social security and to establish law and order in the society. He set up three polices stations in Biratnager, two in Saptari and one in Mohottari - all of them headed by lieutenants. After the downfall of Rana regimes in 1951, the police headquarters was established in 1952 in Kathmandu to be headed by the Inspector General of Police (IGP). Nepal police was formally established when the Police Act, 1956 was promulgated. Subsequently, the Police Regulation, 1959 was promulgated. Currently, the total strength of the Nepal police is 60,130 personnel, consisting 1,702 gazetted ranks and 58,428 non-gazetted ranks (http://www.nepalpolice.gov.np). The structure of Nepal police is divided into four broad categories. The categories comprise Central Police Offices, Regional/Zonal Police Offices, District Police Offices and Metropolitan Police. The police personnel at regional, zonal and district level are the key persons who deal with security concerns. With the announcement of the People’s War in 1996, the country fell into the grip of armed conflict. The government felt the need to raise a new Paramilitary Force to neutralize the conflict effectively. Upon Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 63 the recommendations made by Armed Police Force Establishment Suggestion Task Force, the Armed Police Force was created on 24 October 2001. The APF’s primary mission is maintaining internal security. Currently, the total strength of the Armed Police Force is around 31,000 (http://www.apf.gov.np). The major functions of the Armed Police Force include controlling an armed struggle, armed rebellion or separatist activities, terrorist activities, riots etc. in any part of Nepal, rendering assistance in relief work, post natural calamities or epidemics, carrying out relief operations in case a citizen of Nepal or any person is abducted, controlling heinous or serious crimes or a disorder of serious nature, maintaining border security, providing assistance to the army in case of external intervention and providing security to vital utilities and other places of public importance as prescribed by government of Nepal etc. (http://www.apf.gov.np). Table 4: Government expenditure on security in Terai in 2010-11

Expenditure

S. N. Office Total Madhesh Percentage (Million (Million of total in NRs.) NRs.) Madhesh Nepal Police (NP) 12,628.6 4,225.1 33.5 1. Central Police Offices 1,768.3 70.8 4.0 2. Regional Police 2,104.8 1,250.5 Offices 59.4 3. District Police Offices 7,170.5 2,903.8 40.5 4. Metropolitan Police 1,585.0 - - Armed Police Force (APF) 6,515.5 3,508.1 53.8 Total 19,144.1 7,733.2 40.4 Source: Financial Comptroller General Office, Government of Nepal Table 4 shows the government expenditure on the security sector (comprising Nepal Police and Armed Police Force) in the districts of Madhesh as a percentage of Nepal’s total security sector expenditure in fiscal year 2010-11. 64 | The Landscape of Madhesh Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 65

There are altogether 28 Central Police Offices, 23 Regional/Zonal Police Offices, 75 District Police Offices and 3 Metropolitan Police across Nepal. Out of 28 Central Police Offices, 10 are located in Terai. Similarly, 14 Regional/Zonal Police Offices and 20 District Police Offices are in Madhesh districts. However, no Metropolitan Police is situated in the region. The data presented in Table 4 reflects that 40.4 percent of Nepal’s total security sector government expenditure was concentrated in 20 districts of Madhesh in fiscal year 2010-11. Around 33 percent of the Nepal’s Police expenditure was spent in Madhesh. Similarly, the share of Armed Police Force expenditure in Madhesh was 53.8 percent.

Figure 4: Government expenditure on the security sector, 2010-11

70 66.5 59.6 60 53.8 50 46.2 40.4 40 33.5 30 20 10 0 Nepal Police Armed Police ForceTotal

Terai Region Other Regions

Source: Financial Comptroller General Office, Government of Nepal

Figure 4 reveals that 40.4 percent of total security sector expenditure in Nepal was made in Terai and 59.6 percent of the expenditure was spent in other two ecological belts of the country-Hill and Mountain. The above analysis shows a considerable amount of Nepal’s security sector government expenditure has been spent on Madhesh. Hence, lack of government expenditure in the security in Madhesh Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 65 has not been an issue in coping with unrest in the region. The major reason behind the lack of such security canbe linked to the inequitable distribution of government’s capital expenditure and budget allocation, socio-economic problems like unemployment - particularly youth unemployment, high incidence of poverty and other socio economic factors. 4.3 disparity in direct expenditure by INGOs More than 200 INGOs currently function in Nepal in various sectors like peace, inclusion, poverty and employment generation, livelihood, human rights, sanitation, environment and climate change, health, education, agriculture, forestry, gender and micro finance among others. It is assumed that most of them prefer to work in hill and mountain regions. Some INGOs have been working in Madhesh as well. Many INGOs working in Nepal implement their programmes and projects directly. The expenditure made by these INGOs is not included in the government budgetary system. In this context, authentic data has not been available about the expenditure incurred directly by these INGOs. It is widely believed that the proportion of expenditure spent in Terai by these organizations is marginal. Their coverage is partial and the activities are confined to just a few VDCs. The human resources involved in projects, particularly at the managerial level, are non-Madheshis. 4.4 Issues of corruption It is evident that no exact estimate of corruption is available. However, some indirect methods based on guesses are presented around the globe.There has been strong consensus among development analysts that corruption in Nepal has been increasing by the day. But the magnitude of corruption is unknown since no systematic study has been conducted (Prasad, 2008). Although the Rana rule has been regarded as the ‘golden age’ of corruption in the history of Nepal, many cases of corruption also existed before the unification of Nepal in 1769 by Prithivi Narayan Shah. The Panchayat regime (1960 to 1989) also saw huge corruption. 66 | The Landscape of Madhesh Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 67

Even after restoration of democracy in 1990 it is argued that the size of black income has not decreased. No act was formulated to curb corruption in Nepal before the unification. The Muluki Ain (Country Code), the first written law of the country, was the first legal attempt to check corruption under the Rana regime. The ‘Buch Commission’ formed in 1953, headed by NM Buch-an Indian administrator, comprising of senior officials of Nepal, was the second effort to check corruption in the country. The commission was called the Administrative Restructuring Commission. As the name suggests, the commission was formed not only to check corruption but also to find ways to reform the entire administrative sector. The government enacted two anti-corruption laws in 1952 – Nepal Corruption Act and Nepal Corruption Control Regulations. The Act was further amended in 1965 and 1991. The act has restricted government officials from being involved in income-generating private businesses directly or indirectly. The act suggests what steps the corruption control department and special police department should take to curb corruption. Government bodies and independent institutions involved in corruption control in Nepal are: Auditor General’s Office, Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, and Department of Revenue Investigation. However, activities of these institutions are also looked at with suspicion. The government established the Office of the Auditor General in 1961 to prevent financial irregularities in the country. The responsibility of the office has been to examine the financial matters of government offices and to come out with reports. Each year, the department submits its audit report to the government. On the basis of this report, the government takes action. However, the office is not entitled to take any action against corruption. Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, established in 1991, is a constitutional body to curb corruption in Nepal. It plays the role of an ombudsman, investigator and prosecutor. The Department of Revenue Investigation was established with the mission to control illegal activities in matters of taxation and to Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 67 conduct research activities in tax administration. The objectives of the department have been to control leakage in direct taxes as well as indirect taxes, to check the irregularities in foreign exchange transactions and to take legal action against these activities. An analysis based on key informants’ estimate argues that as much as 60 to 90 percent of all funds are misused in Terai. In hill districts, between 25 and 50 percent of all development funds are misused. The study further reveals that local NGOs applying for grants are said to be paying commissions of up to 50 percent. Gross irregularities are alleged everywhere in tendering processes. Local governments often pass most of their annual budgets in the last two weeks of the financial year to avoid scrutiny (http://www.economist.com). However, it is strongly believed that a high share of the misused funds go into the pocket of non-Madheshi high ranking officials. 5 Prospects of government expenditure in Madhesh The Interim Constitution of 2007 has declared Nepal to be a federal democratic republic. The federal arrangement of the state is the outcome of a long people’s struggle, the historic people’s movement of 2006 and the Madhesh movement of 2007. The new constitution is expected to put an end to all kinds of discrimination based on ethnicity, class, caste, language, gender, culture, religion and region. The new constitution will formally eliminate the centralized and unitary form of the state. It is believed that the forthcoming constitution will lay a foundation for a prosperous, modern and equal new Nepal. 5.1 concerns of Madhesh in new constitution and the Three Year Plan Nepal has made substantial achievements towards political as well as administrative decentralization during the last six decades, dating back to 1950s. However, fiscal decentralization practices have been stagnant. The progress in strengthening the role of local governments in the development process has not been encouraging. Fiscal decentralization initiatives have almost failed in minimizing the political, social, economic, regional and ethnic inequalities 68 | The Landscape of Madhesh Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 69 inherent for nearly 240 years of a unitary system of governance. The dissolved CA Committee on Natural Resources, Economic Rights and Revenue Allocation has clearly demarked the expenditure responsibilities between three layers of government (central, state and local) in federal Nepal. The report is silent on whether the expenditure responsibilities will be under constitutional or legislative provisions. Therefore, these expenditure responsibilities will have to be clearly stated in the new constitution (constitutional provision) to obtain optimal institutional framework for the benefits of economies of scale. Currently, Nepal has only two tiers of government - central and local level. The expenditure of local levels − VDCs and DDCs − is miniscule, i.e., only around 9 percent of total government expenditure. Local level revenue is only about 4 percent of total government revenue. Therefore, an analysis of decentralization efforts in Nepal shows that the overall fiscal situation at the local level is disappointing and inadequate to support development objectives of the rural people. Therefore, substantial power of revenue collection and expenditure to the local level should be guaranteed in the new constitution. Intergovernmental transfer in Nepal has not been systematic and effective. It is influenced by political domination. The Ministry of Finance directly provides fiscal transfers as a grant to DDCs, municipalities and VDCs irrespective of their population, area, development status and expenditure need. One million rupees is transferred to every VDC per annum. One billion is allocated to each municipality. The dissolved CA Committee draft report has not presented the modality of intergovernmental transfer. Therefore, a well-designed fiscal transfer modality has to be developed in federal Nepal. The existence of multiple and sound institutional arrangements will be necessary to deal with fiscal imbalance and intergovernmental transfer in federal Nepal. For that purpose, the dissolved CA Committee on Natural Resources, Economic Rights and Revenue Allocation has also proposed the formation of two commissions in its concept paper - the National Natural Resources Commission and Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 69

National Finance Commission. However, a three-tier institutional set-up may be useful, for which constitutional provisioning is needed. A Federal Finance Commission (FFC) and the National Planning Commission will have to be constituted at the central level to make national level development plans and to make recommendations for additional grants and loans. A State Planning Commission (SPC) and a State Finance Commission can be established in each state to prepare state development plans and to deal with the transfers to be made to local bodies. The main objective of the Three Year Plan (2010-11 to 2012- 13) with respect to Madhesh is to improve the living standard of the Madheshi community by bringing them in the mainstream of development to ensure justifiable access to economic, social, human and cultural rights and opportunities for them (Three Year Plan, NPC, 2012). In order to achieve this objective, the plan has put forth various programmes like refining policies and legal and structural provisions related to the social, economic and political spheres, according to the principles of positive discrimination and reservation. This, while ensuring representation in the process of decision-making and reforming the necessary policies and structures in order to increase the access of Madheshi communities, carrying out the targeted programmes for social and economic upliftment etc. However, the implementation of these programmes has not been encouraging. 5.2 sectoral prospects Agriculture, industry, goods and service trade, foreign investment, tourism etc. are the sectors of comparative advantage for Madhesh. These sectors have not been able to achieve adequate expansion and development due to biased government policies against Madhesh. But the negative impact of this has been clearly visible not only on Madhesh but on the entire nation. Agriculture Agriculture is considered to be backbone of Nepal’s economy. A total of 74 percent of the total population still depends on agriculture for 70 | The Landscape of Madhesh Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 71 its subsistence. As one-third of the GDP comes from the agricultural sector, it is clear that it has an immense role to play in reducing poverty and ensuring food security and balance of trade in Nepal. However, the growth rate of agriculture has not been encouraging due to low investment both by the government and the farmers themselves (NPC, 2010). Agricultural development has significant short term potential for poverty reduction in the rural economy where the majority of Nepal’s poor live. However, government expenditure in the agricultural sector has fallen steadily over the past few years. Fertilizer subsidies have been abolished. The Green Revolution in states like Haryana and Punjab in India has been immensely successful in enhancing agricultural production and productivity. The concept of Green Revolution has almost failed in the context of Nepal because of the lack of political dedication. The subsidy programme for individual shallow tube wells has been eliminated and for community shallow and deep tube wells, has been reduced. Moreover, the misuse of resources in this sector has been rampant, leading to stagnation in the rural economy and lack of progress in poverty reduction. Table 5: Real growth rates of gross domestic product

Percentage change Fiscal year Real GDP Agriculture Industry Services 2002-03 3.8 3.3 3.1 3.7 2003-04 4.4 4.7 1.5 6.8 2004-05 3.2 3.5 2.9 3.3 2005-06 3.7 1.9 4.4 5.6 2006-07 2.8 1.0 4.0 4.5 2007-08 5.8 5.8 1.6 7.3 2008-09 3.8 3.0 -1.4 6.0 2009-10 4.0 1.3 3.3 6.0 Source: Economic Survey 2010/11, Ministry of Finance, Government of Nepal, 2011 Nepal is historically a low growth country, with the GDP growth rate averaging at less than 4 percent during the last five decades. The Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 71 agriculture sector that supports the livelihood of more than three- fourth of the population grew by less than 3 percent on average during this period. The pattern of annual growth of agriculture has even been negative in few years. Agricultural production has fluctuated every year due to weather conditions. Table 6: Production of major food crops and cash crops, 2006-07

Production (‘000 MT) Production (%) Products Other Other Nepal Madhesh Madhesh regions regions Paddy 3,680.8 2,626.8 1,054.0 71.4 28.6 Wheat 1,515.1 997.3 517.8 65.8 34.2 Sugarcane 2,599.8 2,566.4 33.4 98.7 1.3 Oilseeds 135.7 101.4 34.3 74.7 25.3 Source: Statistical Year Book of Nepal 2006/07, Central Bureau of Statistics, Government of Nepal, 2007 The cultivable land in Madhesh is 49 percent against 51 percent in the hill and mountain regions taken together. The production of food crops in Madhesh was 57 percent of the total production in Nepal in 2007-08. Madhesh accounted for 74 percent of total cash crop production in the same fiscal year (Jha, 2010). The above Table explains that the production of the major food as well as cash crops in Nepal is highly concentrated in the Terai region. Therefore, the concept of ‘Special Agricultural Zones’ as envisaged in the Three Year Plan (2010-11 to 2012-13) should be adequately implemented. The ‘National Special Agricultural Zone Commission’, as mentioned in the Three Year Plan, should be formed immediately. Moreover, more investment in agriculture, more efforts to attract private sector investment for agriculture commercialization, regular and adequate supply of chemical fertilizers, establishment of a chemical fertilizer factory, expansion of agricultural road network, shallow tube wells and other irrigation facilities, more importance to commercial livestock production, research and development programmes, adequate physical infrastructure for agriculture 72 | The Landscape of Madhesh Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 73 commercialization, improved breed livestock, standard laboratories and technology development and dissemination centres’ network, adequate development of agro-industry and technology development etc. are necessary for the overall development of the agriculture sector. Tourism Nepal is uniquely endowed with rich and diverse natural resources and cultural attractions. Tourism is a sector of comparative advantage for the country. Tourism can contribute to poverty reduction through its economic, social, environmental and cultural benefits. It provides diversified employment opportunities, bringing in additional income to a population in need. Tourism also increases government revenues which can be used to alleviate poverty through more investment in education, health and infrastructure development. Unfortunately, the tourism sector in Nepal is focused in the Himalayan and hilly regions. But the Madhesh also holds great potential to attract tourists. Till date, however, the region has not been viewed as a tourist destination. Potential tourist destinations and opportunities have not been well documented. Therefore, the people of this region are yet to reap much benefit from the tourism industry. Effective promotion of tourism in the region can attract neighbouring Indian tourists, particularly to urban hubs like Biratnagar, Janakpur, Birganj, Bhairahwa and Nepalganj. Diverse groups live in the Madhesh and thus, it is rich in ethnic cultures. The exotic festivals of the indigenous Tharu, Dhimal, Santhal, Rajbansi and Jhangad are sure to attract international visitors. Likewise, considering rather sizeable Muslim and Madheshi communities and their traditional social and cultural practises, there is little reason why the Madhesh cannot be a melting pot for the Nepali tourism industry. Eastern Terai, with its natural beauty and long history, could be a major transit point for tourists from West Bengal. Remnants of and links to the epic Mahabharata still exist around the Jhapa area. If packaged Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 73 properly, this history could certainly be an attraction. This would also mean that from the influx of tourism revenue, historical ruins like the palaces of king Birat, Dharampal, among other such cultural heritage sites, can be protected. The Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve is another natural wonder in this region that can easily be marketed. In central Terai, Janakpur (the birthplace of Sita where she married Rama, according to Hindu mythology) needs no introduction. It would be an ideal place to introduce wedding packages for Hindu couples from all over the world. Similarly, the Simraungadh area in Bara district still holds large ruins from medieval Nepal and hosts the Shree Gadhimai temple fare. The Western Terai region is probably the best developed in terms of tourism in the region. Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, is marketed as a place of pilgrimage for millions of Buddhists all over the world and still more could be done. Aside from Lumbini, there is also potential in Trivenidham, Ramgram Stupa, and Tilaurakot to attract more tourists. As far as the Mid- and Far-western Terai/Madhesh are concerned, the Bardia National Park situated on the bank of the Karnali River, and Ghodaghudi Lake − one of the nine Ramsar sites of Nepal, and Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve cannot be overlooked. These regions are over-flowing with natural and scenic beauty, and obviously have tremendous potential. There are, thus, enormous possibilities and opportunities for development of tourism in the Madhesh region. Hence, a comprehensive plan for the development of tourism infrastructure in this region is vital (Prasad, 2011). Industries, trade and infrastructure The Madhesh region accounts for 58 percent of total manufacturing establishments and 67 percent of total manufacturing production (Jha, 2010). Industrial production and productivity in the region have been adversely affected in recent years due to unfavourable investment climate, power shortage, strikes, labour problems, forced donations, lack of raw materials and so on. 74 | The Landscape of Madhesh Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 75

Madhesh has comparative advantage in trade in services, particularly health and education. If quality health and education institutions are established in the region, trade deficit could be reduced by attracting service seekers from West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in India. For example, currently a high proportion of eye patients come from India to Lahan eye hospital for treatment. The condition of existing basic infrastructure like roads, railways, irrigation facilities as well as communication, health and education services is dismal. The available irrigation facilities are in poor condition. Both social as well as physical infrastructure has to be adequately developed. Power supplies for industries, proper irrigation facilities for the agriculture sector, development of roads, railways, and communication, health and education services have to be enhanced. The construction of projects like Postal/Hulaki Highway, east-west Terai Railway, Nijgadh International Airport and Kamala Diversion Project should be completed on time. Therefore, heavy investment under the big push theory of economic development is necessary for the overall development of industries, infrastructure and trade. Forest and soil conservation Forests resources are considered prerequisites for development of agriculture, industry, water resources, environment and bio-diversity in Nepal. They consist of important resources such as water, forage, herbs, wildlife, other non-timber forests products, bio-diversity and environmental services. Therefore, sustainable management of forests resources requires enhancing the contribution of forestry sector in economic development and social upliftment. Forests are instrumental in reducing the negative impacts of climate change and adaptation of human ecosystem in changing environment. Therefore, conservation, management and sustainable development of forests are very important (NPC, 2010). Forests encroachment, illegal export of forests products, so-called landless resettlement programme, illegal collection and export of non-timber forests products, use of forests area for development Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 75 works and other purposes, uncontrolled grazing etc. have led to fast degradation of Chure forest area. The mismanagement of the Chure forest area has resulted in several hazards, and has also caused loss of life and farmland. The conservation works in Madhesh should be launched with upstream and downstream environmental linkage and sustainable management of Chure ecological system. In this context, the ‘Model Chure Protected Area’ project should be initiated at least from one district with joint collaboration of the President, Chure Conservation Programme and other stakeholders like District Forest Office, District Soil Conservation Office, District Administration Office, District Police Office, local I/NGOs etc. The project can be replicated in other districts on the basis of the periodic evaluation. Dalit empowerment programme Madheshi Dalits, who constitute five percent of Nepal’s total population, are the poorest of the poor among ethnic groups in Nepal. They have fallen into the vicious circle of poverty largely due to illiteracy, low income and employment, socio-economic and political discrimination, limited land etc. Their participation in all levels of governance has been negligible. The government should launch a special package for Madheshi Dalits – ‘Long-term Madheshi Dalits Empowerment Programme’ to eradicate poverty. Since NGOs/INGOs and the donor community work for the marginalized, oppressed and vulnerable and are committed to poverty alleviation of these groups in Nepal, they will have to allocate more funds for Madheshi Dalits. 6 concluding remarks Government expenditure plays a crucial role in balanced and equitable development of a country. From an egalitarian view, allocation of higher proportions of budget to the comparatively underdeveloped regions is important for ensuring balanced economic growth and sustainable peace. But, the current structure of government expenditure in Nepal is guided by political or electoral motives. 76 | The Landscape of Madhesh Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 77

Budget formulation and execution process has not been properly implemented. The tendency of estimating budgetary requirements on incremental basis, instead of actual need assessment of programmes is more widespread. Excessive political interference at key points and increasing corruption are major factors undermining the effectiveness of public spending. Priorities of the periodic plan often change when political leadership changes. Therefore, an ‘Integrated Composite Budget Allocation Index’ is required in the budget allocation process in Nepal. For nearly 240 years of a unitary system of governance, the regional, social, economic and political inequalities remained more or less unchanged. Per capita capital expenditure in all Madhesh districts has been far below the national average. The percentage growth in per capita government expenditure has not been consistent with percentage change in human development index. The growth rate of per capita government expenditure as well as improvement in HDI has been lowest in Madhesh and far below the national average. It is widely believed that the proportion of direct expenditure made by INGOs through various projects in Madhesh is inadequate. Their coverage is partial and the activities are confined to few VDCs. It is argued that as much as 60 to 90 percent of all funds are misused in Madhesh. In hill districts, between 25 and 50 percent of all development funds are misused. Local NGOs applying for grants are said to pay commissions of up to 50 percent. The fiscal decentralization initiatives have almost failed in minimizing the political, social, economic, regional and ethnic inequalities inherent for nearly 240 years of a unitary system of governance. Therefore, the expenditure responsibilities will have to be clearly stated in the new constitution (constitutional provision) to obtain optimal institutional framework to reap benefits of economies of scale. Substantial power of revenue collection and expenditure to local governments should be assured in the new constitution. Well-designed intergovernmental transfers should be developed in federal Nepal. A State Planning Commission (SPC) and a State Finance Commission should be established in each state to prepare state development plans. Government Expenditure in Madhesh | 77

Agricultural development has significant short term potential for poverty reduction in the rural economy where the majority of Nepal’s poor live. However, government expenditure in agriculture has fallen steadily over the past few years. The concept of ‘Special Agricultural Zones’ as envisaged in the Three Year Plan should be properly implemented. The ‘National Special Agricultural Zone Commission’ as mentioned in the Three Year Plan should be formed immediately. More investment in agriculture sector is necessary for the overall development of the agriculture sector. The effective promotion of tourism in the Madhesh could boost the region’s economy, thus leading to development. Both social as well as physical infrastructure has to be adequately developed. Environment conservation in the Terai is another area that needs to be worked on. Further, elevation of marginalized communities is essential. Madheshi Dalits, who constitute five percent of Nepal’s total population, are the poorest of the poor among ethnic groups in Nepal. They have fallen into the vicious circle of poverty and hence, the government will have to launch long-term empowerment programmes for them. Further, NGOs/INGOs and the donor community will have to allocate more funds for the Madheshi Dalits. Overall, for the balanced development of Madhesh and Nepal as a whole, the allocation of budgetary resources has to be made more equitable and focussed, and the state has to play a larger role in ensuring growth and prosperity in the hitherto ignored region of Terai. 78 | The Landscape of Madhesh

References

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NPC. (2007). The Three-year Interim Plan (2007/08 – 2009/10). Kathmandu: National Planning Commission, Government of Nepal. NPC. (2010). The Three-year Plan Approach Paper (2010/11-2012/13). Kathmandu: National Planning Commission, Government of Nepal NPC. (2011). Three-year Plan (2010/11 – 2012/13). Kathmandu: National Planning Commission, Government of Nepal Prasad, U. S. (2008). Impact of New Economic Policies on the Fiscal Sector and Its Implications on Poverty Reduction in Nepal. New Delhi: Unpublished Ph. D. Thesis, Centre for Economic Studies & Planning, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Prasad, U. S. (2008). Missing Dimension in Nepali Economy. The Kathmandu Post. May 13. Prasad, U. S. (2009). Federal Budget. The Kathmandu Post. June 30. Prasad U. S. (2011). The Unexplored Frontier. The Kathmandu Post. April 29. Stiglitz, J. E. (2000). Economics of the Public Sector. New York: W. W. Norton and Company Inc. Stiglitz, J. E. (2002). Globalization and its Discontents. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. Tresch, R.W. (1981). Public Finance: A Normative Theory.Texas: Business Publication. Yadav, U. (2005). Madhesh and Madheshis: Problems and Way Outs. Kathmandu: Madheshi Peoples’ Rights Forum

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THE YOUTH OF MADHESH (An overall national assessment)

By Sumit Gupta & Ambar Hajariya

1 Introduction 1.1 Background The youth is an invaluable strength of any nation and a crucial agent of change. It is the pioneer in all aspects of the state, including economy, society, polity and cultural transformation. This segment is a particularly important component of a nation because of its qualities like courage, inquisitiveness, self-confidence and innovativeness, which are vital for nation building. In Nepal, youth refers to the age group of 16-40 years and it accounts for 38.8 percent of the total population (NYP, 2010); whereas Majupuria and Majupuria (1985) in their book mentioned that in reference to Nepal, youth can be divided into early and late youth. Early youth begins after maturity, covering 19-20, late youth extends up to 28-29. We can conveniently include the age group between 15-28/29 years for the identification of youth in Nepal. They further add, “Youth is the period aptly described by a psychologist as the time when we look at what we want and then find out that we cannot have it both ways. Youth is the age in which an 82 | The Landscape of Madhesh

individual has one foot in adolescence and the other in maturity. At this stage, traditions are made and lost quickly. Psychological needs also change and these changes affect attitudes towards work, life and understanding.” For the purpose of this study, however, we will follow the age group as defined by National Youth Policy (NYP) i.e. 16-40 years. NYP (2010) also emphasizes on fulfilling the basic needs of the youth and promoting basic values and norms based on the principles of equality and equitable distribution, constitutional supremacy, individual freedom, universal principle of human rights, democratic values and norms, protection and promotion of ethnic, linguistic and environmental heritages and co-existence. It also classifies youth who are women, indigenous peoples, Dalit and Madheshi or backward classes as ‘priority groups’. ‘Youth of marginalized minorities groups’ refers to the youth who are deprived of state and non-state services and facilities, are marginalized and remain out of overall national development because of geographic remoteness and on grounds of ethnicity, language, culture, class and gender. The youth of Madhesh belong to this category. Hence, the assessment of the status of Madheshi youth is crucial for understanding the current status of youth in Nepal overall and to explain the degree to which Nepal’s development process actually helps empower the youth. This will also help identify areas where needs have remained unaddressed, and factors that have actually exacerbated frustration, anger and tension among the youth. As this study seeks to provide sufficient background information for policy advocacy and youth-centered policy-making, the outcome of the study will hopefully help all stakeholders understand and analyze the status of Madheshi youth better. Youth has always been a key catalyst of every political change, democratization process and many other social movements in Nepal. The peaceful popular movement, decade long armed conflict from 1996 to 2006, the 2007 Madhesh movement as well as past movements for identity and recognition have all demanded special attention to the existing youth situation. The Youth of Madhesh | 83

Meanwhile, this study will help enlarge and expand our knowledge of the status of Madheshi youth and provide essential background for informed policy advocacy for inclusion and participation of Madheshi youth. In order to assess the status of Madheshi youth, this study specifically seeks to examine their socio-economic and political status. Almost all indicators - whether be it of socio-economic or political, the youths of Madhesh lag behind with respect to the youths of other regions. In absence of segregated data, though, do not depict their status clearly. 2 Methodology The study is largely based on an extensive survey of existing literature and content analysis and generally uses secondary sources of data and available text. The relevant information has been gathered from recent reports in national English dailies, magazines, books, documents from Ministry of Youth and Sports, CBS and relevant websites. The research uses both qualitative and quantitative information. The weekly progress of this study was discussed in regular meetings with our mentor, coordinator and peer reviewers, and their relevant inputs were incorporated. Interpretation of data also includes perspectives of the researcher wherever necessary. Most of the data analysis is based on abstraction. The draft of this study was presented at a seminar organized by Nepal Madhesh Foundation (NEMAF) on 5 July 2012. The comments of the participants and intellectuals present in the seminar were further incorporated into the draft, after which the final report was prepared and submitted. Limitations of the study 1. The study had to be completed in a short duration (8 weeks). 2. There were limited sources of data available as there isn’t much previously done research on Madheshi Youth available. 3. Some slightly outdated data had to be taken into consideration due to unavailability of recent and issue specific data. 4. Most of the analysis is based on abstraction and extrapolation. 84 | The Landscape of Madhesh

3 analytical insights “Madheshi community, in spite of having a long history of origin and habitat within the present day Nepal, is practically considered outsiders and they have been mostly marginalized and face exclusion in active political participation, administration and governance, decision-making and policy planning and moreover, they face serious humanitarian problem i.e. of their true identity in their own native land. The Madheshi people feel highly discriminated and has almost lost the sense of belongingness to this nation” (Shah, 2006). Due to exclusion and discrimination of Madheshis, it is obvious the Madheshi youth’s status is also affected and the extent to which this marginalization is having an impact has been explored and discussed in our findings below. 3.1 socio Economic Status Education Education is often considered as the root of civilization. Education is the basic criteria for employment and for mobilizing the capabilities and skills of youth effectively. For social development, education is the primary indicator as it is related to an individual’s capacity enhancement and the development of her professional skills that aid in employment and in her quest for prestige, power and property. Hence, educated Madheshi youth can go a long way in contributing towards the development of their region. The main government policies with respect to education in Nepal include the assurance of access to education for youth and taking initiatives to extend free and compulsory education up to the higher secondary level in gradual manner. Youth policy of Nepal emphasizes on scientific, empirical, skill-oriented and technical education for youth. According to the policy, higher education shall be made easy and widely available for talented youths and special programmes targeted at priority groups shall be launched. As the data of National Living Standard Survey (NLSS) 2011 suggests, the consolidated literacy rate of the Madheshi population The Youth of Madhesh | 85 of 15 years and above is 51.6 percent. Madheshi men score much better (67.6 percent) than their women counterparts (39.1 percent). However the data does not elaborate the accurate literacy position of Madheshi youths. The enrollment rate at the higher secondary level for Madheshi men and women is 57.7 and 62.1 percent respectively; this is much worse in case of Madheshi men when compared to the men’s national average of 76.8 percent whereas the enrolment rate for Madheshi women is to some extent better than their male counterparts but again poorer compared to the women national average of 74.8 percent. The enrollment rate at tertiary level for Madheshi men and women is 16.2 and 9.9 percent respectively. At this level, the enrolment rate of Madheshi women is dismal compared to the women’s national average of 13.4 percent. Madheshi men though have better enrolment rate than those of Madheshi women at the tertiary level; their rate is low compared to men’s national average of 22.9 percent. The schooling pattern and preferences of Madheshi students are mainly community/government school (66.1 percent) and private school and institutions (31.7 percent). Levels of education among the youth in Madhesh remain low and they have poor access to higher education. The educational status of Dalits, OBCs, Muslims and Janjatis is even worse, which has become one of the major factors for the underdevelopment of Madhesh. A key reason behind why education among Madheshi youth is dismal is the state’s language policy that lays more emphasis on Nepali than people’s mother tongues. Though NYP does mention the state’s role in improving the educational status of youth from marginalized communities, its outcome is not visible on Madheshi youth yet. Health Health is basic to a youth’s life and well-being. There are several determinants of the status of health of the youth. For instance, access to sources of potable drinking water, sanitation facilities, contraceptive availability, safe sexual activities, right to food, health insurance, right to motherhood and family planning and access to health services provided by state, among others, are pertinent to the good health of young individuals. 86 | The Landscape of Madhesh

NYP (2010) states, “The access of the youths to health information shall be maintained while making the basic health services easily available for the youths. Youth shall be encouraged to have safe and positive sexual activities, increasing awareness regarding possible risks of HIV/AIDS, establishing health counseling service centers, securing their right to food, initiative regarding health insurance provisions, right to motherhood and family planning, right of women for reproductive health, establishment of pregnancy and delivery time care as the obligation of the state”. According to the ‘District and VDC profile of Nepal, 2010’, the access to improved source of drinking water seems better in the Madhesh region as compared to other districts of Nepal. The districts of Madhesh rank comparatively higher as against hill and mountain districts with respect to access to improved source of drinking water. However, another set of data shows that the access to piped water is less in Madhesh as compared to hills and mountains. Hence, the verification of this data is needed because piped water is an improved source of drinking water. The access to toilet facilities in districts of Madhesh is also lower than those in hill and mountain. Similarly, the use and prevalence of contraceptives in Madhesh is just about average, with respect to other regions. Lower use of contraceptives supports the argument that Madheshi youth are still unaware about the need for safe sex and are reluctant to talk about such issues. Hence, they are vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases like HIV/AIDS. They often consume contaminated street foods like chatpate, pakora, pani puri, samosa etc. Further, the people of Madhesh believe in traditional systems of treating ailments like Dhami Jhakri, instead of the modern approach. The health facilities provided by Nepal’s government are not easily accessible in Madhesh. The rate of immunization is also less in Madhesh as compared to hills and mountains. The use of family planning methods is also less there which seem to affect their fertility rate too. Adopting family planning methods is the lowest among young Madheshi women in the age group of 15-19 years. All of this suggests the health status of Madheshi youth is worse than that of the rest of the country and there is a need to improve their The Youth of Madhesh | 87 health status. Though the health policies adopted by the government of Nepal use attractive and popular slogans, their direct impact has not been felt in Madhesh. People of Madhesh are mainly affected by acute illnesses like diarrhea, cold/fever/flu, dysentery and other such diseases. When some Madheshis were asked about the effectiveness of government health facilities, about one-third of them said they were ‘average’ and ‘not very good’ (NLSS, 2011). According to a study of Family Planning Association of Nepal (FPAN) 2010, most young women in Nepal face several health problems. Their poor health status is the result of early marriages and pregnancy, lacking nutrition, poor maternal care, high fertility, low literacy etc. Early marriage is still a practice in Madheshi society, which is adversely affecting the health status of young Madheshi women. This study could not find any segregated data on the health status of Madheshi youth. However, by linking their health status with the overall status of Madheshi people, we can conclude their health situation also leaves much to be desired. Government health facilities are not easily accessible to rural Madheshi youth due to lack of transportation and absence of health professionals. Gender Gender analysis is critical to assess the status of Madheshi youth. Gender discrimination in the Madheshi community is more pronounced than in other communities. Jha1 said that in any programme they organize, the participation of not just Dalit women but Madheshi women overall is minimal. Meanwhile, Muslim women are also backward and it is necessary to give them adequate opportunities. Though Jha appreciates the inclusive processes initiated by the state, she also believes that women should be aware to be able to exercise their rights by themselves. For this, the men in our society also need to play a certain role (NEMAF, 2012). Young

1 Rupa Jha, a media worker, said in the Madhesh Manthan-I, a discussion programme organized by NEMAF on 17 September 2011 in Kathmandu. 88 | The Landscape of Madhesh

women of Madhesh still seem backward as far as exercising women’s rights is concerned. Nepali families usually value sons more than daughters. The discriminatory law for inheritance of parental property in Nepal adds to this bias. Daughters were earlier not entitled to inherit parental property but now, are entitled to a share which they have to return after their marriage. Sons, however, can keep the parental property forever. This illustrates the male-dominant nature of Nepal’s society, which is obviously also deeply inherent in the Madheshi society. There is also a large difference in employment status of men and women in the non-agricultural sector. Less than 20 percent women (17.5 percent) and more than 80 percent men (82.5 percent) are employed. Sixty-five percent of women are deprived of wage employment in the non-agricultural sector compared to males. This is also because of the larger involvement of women in household jobs like cooking for the family, washing dishes, cleaning the house, fetching water, bringing up children, and looking after the old and sick members of the family. The economically active population in the age group of 10 years and above is 48.9 percent for women and 67.6 for men. Among the economically active population, 89.3 percent women and 92.6 percent men are employed (CBS, 2001). Although the young women work for as many hours as their male counterparts, they are often discriminated against in terms of wages. According to CBS data, out of 100 young women in Madhesh, not even one (0.8 percent) owns a house and less than 6 (5.4 percent) own livestock; slightly more than five (5.3 percent) own land. Hence, young women in Madhesh are vulnerable even with respect to land ownership. The Rising Nepal mentions a news in which Sitadevi Mandal, 30, of Inaruwa VDC - 1 of Saptari was the latest victim of the superstition. Sitadevi said, “I was mentally and physically tortured by my in- laws and sister-in-law”. The trend of accusing widows of practicing witchcraft is increasing in eastern Madhesh, thus adding to the vulnerability of women. The Youth of Madhesh | 89

In Madhesh, girls are still considered to be a ‘burden’ for parents, mainly because of the widespread prevalence of the practice of dowry. People mostly prefer sons to daughters assuming the former will give them financial and social security in their old age. The Gender Development Index (GDI) in Madhesh is lower (0.423) than in hill areas (0.534). The Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) of Madhesh is also lower (0.469) compared to that of hill areas (0.515) (NHDR, 2009). These indicators show the extent to which young Madheshi women are backward and discriminated against. Sah (2009),2 finds most of the victims of witchcraft accusation were innocent, poor women and were generally targeted by their relatives, neighbors, women’s group and Dhami (traditional healer). The study was conducted in two VDCs of Mahottari district. Accusing women of witchcraft is yet another way in which women in Madheshi society are often made to suffer. Terai women observe the Purdah3 system, though the trend is now on the decline. However, a Terai woman acts confidently in her domestic rites (Majupuria and Majpuria, 1985). The system of Burkha4 is also practiced in Muslim society of Madhesh. Purdah and Burkha ensures women are kept in veils and are unable to exercise their freedom. The Madheshi society continues to be male- dominated and the quest and resolution for gender inclusion seems far away. The status of the female youth in Madhesh is vulnerable and also deprived compared to that of their male counterparts, and also worse than that of the women in hill/mountain areas. The study on women in Madhesh further examines the gender gap and similar issues. Migration Migration is another vital indicator of the socio-economic status

2 A study on witchcraft, conducted by Khar Bhusan Sah in 2009 and submitted to SIRF, SNV-Nepal. 3 A curtain or screen, used mainly in India to keep women separate from men or strangers. 4 Burkha is a full body cloak worn by some Muslim women. 90 | The Landscape of Madhesh

of Madheshi youths. Rural Madheshi youth often migrate to urban areas of Nepal like Pokhara, Biratnagar, Birgunj and Kathmandu for better job and opportunities and improved standard of living. They also often migrate to India and other Gulf countries, taking huge loans often against their ancestral land. The main reason behind the large-scale migration of Madheshi youth is decreased agricultural productivity and increased living expenses. Mandal (2009),5 found that labor migration was the second highest preferred employment opportunity in the sampled population. The research found that 1 percent of economically active sampled population (Madheshi) is employed in government services and international labor migration applies to more than 70 percent. Further, the study highlights that the dismal condition of agriculture plays a dominant role in leading to international labor migration. The study shows international labor migration (particularly to Malaysia, Qatar, Dubai, Jordon, Saudi Arab and Kuwait) accounts for 68 percent of the total migration, followed by internal migration and migration to India at 19.84 percent and 11.9 percent respectively. The study concludes that international migration has improved the economic status of Madheshi youth. Nevertheless, the ill-conceived foreign employment law hinders a smooth flow of Madheshis abroad and hence, needs to be revised (Mandal, 2009). But the study cannot be generalized for Madheshi youth across the entire region since it samples one district only. There is need for more research on this issue to assess a broader trend. Due to Madhesh’s proximity with India’s borders, yet another factor for migration is marriage. The trend of migration of Madheshi youth to India for higher education also seems to be increasing. The migration of hill people towards Madhesh is also on the rise because it is perceived, life in Madhesh is comparatively easier. The villages of Madhesh today have become almost deprived of the young population because of increased internal and international migration.

5 A study carried out by Umesh Kumar Mandal, in Arnaha VDC of Saptari district entitled "International Labour Migration: A Rural Livelihood Strategy of Madheshi Community" in 2009. The Youth of Madhesh | 91

Employment Employment is the main factor determining the economic status of Madheshi youth. It also helps assess their livelihood conditions. In Madhesh, it is often seen that youth living in joint families have less financial responsibilities. NYP (2010) states, “Development of rural and agro-industry shall be focused on by providing entrepreneurship and vocational training, in order to enhance employment.” It emphasizes on generation of youth human resources, youth for economic and social transformation, motivation of youth and a system of equal pay for equal work. Legal and social initiatives shall be taken to end all kinds of bonded labor. NYP (2010) also talks of providing social protection to unemployed youth. But so far, there has been no significant improvement in the employment status of Madheshi youth as the migration rate of labor has been on the rise, and most of those unemployed are frustrated and indulged in criminal and illegal activities. The Yuva Swarojgar Karyakram6 which was popular during the government in which Dr. Baburam Bhattarai was Finance Minister turned out to be a huge failure later due to inconsistency in the commitments of upgrading the employment status of youth. But recently in a news story called ‘Employment will be main focus: PM’.,7 it was mentioned the upcoming budget will focus on improving the employment status of youth. After Dr. Baburam Bhattarai swron in as the Prime Minister, he said that the government is planning to introduce a programme to guarantee at least 100 days of employment for in a year and if it is not possible to provide such employment, a 50 day unemployment allowance will be paid to all the unemployed youth. The effectiveness of such commitments and programmes will be revealed in the days to come. According to NLSS (2011), about one-third of the Madheshi population remains inactive as far as their employment is concerned. Segregated data, particularly for Madheshi youth, is not available.

6 Youth Self-employment Programme launched by the Government of Nepal in 2009. 7 The Himalayan Times on 11 July 2012. 92 | The Landscape of Madhesh

However, a research need to be carried out in order to know the employment status of Madheshi youth. For joining the civil service at the officer level, the minimum education requirement is a Bachelor’s degree, and hence a lot of Madheshi youth are focused on getting degrees to secure their careers. However, while most of them do become educated, they remain unemployed or underemployed. Further, the youth is increasingly exasperated about the contradictory dynamics in today’s world – the very modern market economy that ushers in titillating sexually explicit print and electronic material, and the socio-economic realities that postpone the age of acceptable sexual expression. The lives of youth are full of frustrations, anxiety, confusion, desperation and rage (Liechty, 2003). Due to unemployment, the desires and expectations of Madheshi youth remains suppressed. Most of the industries of Nepal are located in Madhesh, but the employment status of Madheshi youth has been worsening. The Tharu youth of Madhesh are more involved in agricultural activities. According to Dhital (2009),8 70 percent of the respondents expressed problems like lack of citizenship and missing employment opportunities. The citizenship issue is another restricting factor for Madheshi youth as far as government jobs are concerned. There is need for an effective citizenship policy to protect the right to nationality of Madheshi youth. The major occupations of Madheshis, according to a recent study, are agriculture, industry/business, service industries and labor- intensive work. Others are mostly students, housewives, retired professionals or simply unemployed. On the basis of different studies, it can be explained that the youths of this region, due to lack of proper employment opportunities within their nation, are forced to migrate to India and other countries. They also face problems in acquiring citizenship because of the discriminatory nature of the state. The Nepal government and the Ministry of Youth and Sports have initiated the procedure

8 A study conducted by Maina Dhital in Sunsari and Morang districts of Madhesh in 2009. The Youth of Madhesh | 93 for implementing the Worksite Training Programme, 2011/12. It is meant to support and aid in the fulfillment of goals/objectives of NYP. It aims to provide skill-oriented training to unemployed youth and make them independent. It also seeks to provide sufficient manpower to the Nepali labor market and extra opportunities to youth, thus reducing the unemployment figures. It also mentions providing 45 percent reservation to women, indigenous, ethnic groups, Madheshis, Dalit, disabled and backward communities. Its effectiveness, however, will only be known when implemented. The employment status of Madheshi youth, hence, seems dismal due to lack of higher education, inadequate employment opportunities in the country, citizenship issues and foreign labor migration. Though several attempts have been made by the government, they have had very little effect on their employment status. Dowry system and marriage Marriage is an important factor to be analyzed while assessing the socio-economic conditions of Madheshi youths. Generally, marriage is considered as a legally and socially accepted union of two people of the opposite sex. The type of marriage generally preferred in Madhesh is arranged and intra-caste marriage. But nowadays, the trend of love marriages, elopement, and inter-caste marriage and cohabitation seems to be increasing. Earlier, the system of child marriage and polygamy were prevalent in Madheshi society but in recent times, this trend seems to be decreasing due to increased awareness among the youth about their health, education and independence. So far, as the context of marriage is concerned, young people mostly prefer the freedom of choice these days. Unlike the earlier dependency on their parents and relatives, the youths are also now more selective about their marriage. The culture of dowry is yet another significant feature of the marriage system in Madhesh. Generally, in this system, the bride’s side has to pay 'Tilak', a certain amount to the boy. However, this system, like everywhere else, has led to serious adverse effects on women. There are prevalent evidences of torturing and punishing the bride. Moreover, husbands misbehaving with their wives and often even 94 | The Landscape of Madhesh

killing young brides for dowry are common occurrences. Hindu scholars often emphasize that youth should lead a life of celibacy, ‘Brahmacharya’, upto 25 years of age. The trend of late marriage seems to be increasing these days. Youth pursuing higher education prefer to marry later, once they become self-dependent. Sah (2009)9 found that the proportion of under-18 girls getting married is the highest among Madheshi Dalits (79.4 percent), followed by the middle castes (75 percent), hill high caste (52.4 percent), hill ethnics (45 percent) and hill Dalits (44 percent). Muslim women have the lowest marriage age compared to other religions (16 years). This illustrates that young women of Madhesh continue to be subjected to social malpractices and illegal acts like child marriage. However, the trend seems to be declining these days. A news report10 mentions, “Many enthusiastic and energetic adolescent girls belonging to the Muslim community of Banke have now united together to end the malpractice of the dowry system.” In the news, Seikh11 said, “There are thousands of dowry oppressed women in the district despite the government’s efforts to wipe this social menace out. This malpractice has also given rise to cases of violence against women.” Das (2009)12 found that the dowry system was largely initiated in the Hindu culture. It started as giving gifts of love to brides, but later developed in a compulsory custom which subsequently, became a system that went against women’s dignity. The study also finds parents often lose all their savings and wealth after paying large dowries to their daughters and these evidences are more observed among the middle class. Hence, dowry seems to have increased the wealth gap and also invited gender inequality.

9 A study conducted by Santosh Kumar Sah in Dhalkebar VDC of Dhanusha district funded by SIRF, SNV-Nepal. 10 The news entitled ‘Girls from Muslim Community up in Arms Against Dowry’, published in The Rising Nepal on 6 May 2012. 11 Nashimuh Seikh, the President of Shanti Kishori club of Indrapur, Banke. 12 A report entitled “Exploration of Causes of Dowry System in Dhanusha District of Nepal” was submitted to SIRF, SNV-Nepal by Sanjay Kumar Das in 2009. The Youth of Madhesh | 95

Madheshi girls and their parents prefer doctors, engineers, administrators, teachers, army or police personnel and social workers to other professionals as grooms. Whereas the boy and his family opt for educated, ‘beautiful’ girls from reputed families willing to give sufficient dowry. Child (early) and traditional marriages along with dowry system continue, and are prevalent even in the Madheshi society, posing a grave problem to the youth. This will hinder ther overall development of Madhesh and the nation as well. Social groups of Madhesh Social groups of Madhesh include the Madheshi high caste, Madheshi middle caste, Terai Janajati, Madheshi Dalits and Muslims (Table 1). Table1: Social groups in Madhesh based on caste

Overall Presence in Total presence Social groups Madhesh (in population in Nepal percentage) (percentage) Madheshi High 246,543 3.4 1.1 Caste Madheshi Middle 3,065,798 42.9 13.8 Caste Terai Janajati 1,980,947 27.7 8.7 Madheshi Dalit 886,204 12.4 3.9 Muslim 971,056 13.6 4.3 Source: CBS, 2001 The Madheshi middle caste constitutes the highest proportion, followed by Terai Janajati, Muslim and Dalits. The population of Madheshi high caste is the least. According to the Census of 2001, 59 castes and ethnic groups have been identified in Madhesh. Brahman, Rajput and Kayastha are the major Madheshi high caste whereas the major Madheshi middle caste includes Yadav, Teli, Kurmi, Baisya and Kalwar. Tharu, Dhanuk, Rajbanshi, Dhimal, Tajpuriya, Gangaietc belong to Terai Janajati and Chamar, Musahar, Dom, Tatma, Bantar, Dushadh etc 96 | The Landscape of Madhesh

are considered as Madheshi Dalits. Those Madheshi caste/ethnic groups whose share is less than 1 percent of the total population of Madhesh are Nuniya, Kumhar, Danuwar, Haluwai, Rajput, Kayastha, Badhae, Santhal/Sattar, Jhangar/Dhagar, Bantar, Barae, Kahar, Gangai, Lodha, Rajbhar, Bin/Binda, Bhediyar/Gaderi, Nurang, Tajpuriya, Chidimar, Mali, Bengali, Dom, Kamar, Meche, Halkhor, Punjabi/Sikh, Kisan, Koche, Dhuniya, Jaine and Munda, Kuswadiya/Patharkata. “Janjatis, Dalits, and Muslims are socio-economically more disadvantaged as compared to other Hindu castes. Brahman, Kshatriya and Kayastha are in minority but they are relatively well- educated, resource rich and more aggressive in politics, governance and in leadership role” (Shah, 2006). Though the proportion of high caste Madheshi youth is less, their socio-economic and political status is significantly higher than the indigenous groups, middle castes, Muslims and Dalits of Madhesh. The Human Development Index (HDI) of Madhesh is lower (0.494) than that of the hills (0.543). Among different social groups of Madhesh, the HDI of Brahman/ Chhetri is highest (0.625), followed by Terai Janjati (0.470), middle castes (0.450) and Dalits (0.383).The Human Poverty Index (HPI) of Madhesh is also higher than the hills as the data of 2006 suggests - 36.9 in Madhesh and 32.7 in the hill region (NHDR, 2009). These developmental indicators support the argument that Madheshi youth are still backward as compared to their hill counterparts. The developmental status of various social groups of Madhesh, except high caste Brahman/Chhetri, is dismal. The Madheshi community seems less migratory in nature as 95.4 percent of Madheshis live in the Madhesh region while the remaining 4.6 percent live in hills and mountains; whereas, about 18 percent of the hill people live in Madhesh region and they migrate more easily from their settlements. “The hill Brahamans, Chhetris and Newars are well educated, resource rich, possess more land property, and they have achieved leadership dominance not only in their settlements or regions but also in Madhesh region” (Shah, 2006). The Youth of Madhesh | 97

According to Mahara,13 a Dalit youth, 9 percent reservation for Dalits is mainly meant for hill Dalits only whereas for Madheshi Dalits, it is clubbed under the overall category of Madheshis. He further mentions that Madheshi leaders, even though they win elections from Madhesh, mostly provide opportunities to hill Dalits. “Nearly 40 percent of the Madheshi population is comprised of Dalits and Janjatis who are inherently disadvantaged in many social and economic aspects. Again, poverty is high among Muslims, population living in rural areas; they have an average low rate of literacy and their socio-economic development voices have reached nowhere; they share 13 percent of total Madheshi population” (Shah, 2006). These facts indicate that the status of Madheshi Dalits is more vulnerable compared to other social groups of Madhesh. According to Sigdel (2009),14 34.8 percent of Madheshi Dalits don’t have citizenship certificates. The condition of Madheshi Dalit women is worse and 45.5 percent of them don’t possess citizenship certificates, as against 25.5 percent of men. Citizenship is a proof of the national identity of a citizen and it guarantees permanent citizenship rights. Dalit youth of Madhesh face citizenship problems which affect their right to nationality more and prevent them from exercising other state guaranteed rights and provisions. Religion Religion has long been guiding Madheshi society. Weber’s The ‘Prostestant Ethic’, guided western societies to economic progress but in Madheshi society, religion seems to have hampered economic progress. The system of sacrificing animals (Bali) for gods and goddesses is still practiced. The tradition of fasting during festivals affects the health and normal daily lives and health of Madheshi youth. Major religions followed in Madhesh are Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. Currently, our nation is secular,

13 Ganga Mahara, a Dalit youth, said in the Madhesh Manthan-I, a discussion programme organized by NEMAF on 17 September 2011 in Kathmandu. 14 A study conducted by Uddhav Sigdel entitled ‘Citizenship Problem of Madheshi Dalits’ in 2009. 98 | The Landscape of Madhesh

according to the constitution. Some Madheshi youth, particularly from youth Hindu organizations in Parsa district, often demand that Nepal be re-converted to a Hindu nation. Table 2: Religions of Madhesh Sample Population Religion Frequency (percent) (percent) Hindu 1779 89.0 85.2 Buddhist 27 1.4 3.9 Muslim 182 9.1 8.6 Christian 5 0.3 0.3 Kirat 7 0.4 1.5 Total 2,000 100.0 100.0 Source: Interdisciplinary Analysts, NEMAF, Small Arms Survey and Safer world, August, 2011 Table 2 shows that most people in Madhesh are Hindus, followed by Muslims and Buddhists. “However it is found that many youth have lost their faith in religion; therefore there is need for regenerating faith in religion preferably by introducing moral education in the curriculum and arranging seminars and symposia” (Majupuria and Majupuria, 1985). Nepal has now been declared a secular state and the views of Madheshi youth about what kind of state they envision Nepal to be can be another important research agenda. Madheshi youth culture Madheshi youths are mainly involved in agricultural activities and their caste-based occupations. There has been a remarkable shift in the culture of Madheshi youths due to globalization, modernization, and national political upheavals. Most urban Madheshi youth these days enjoy being a part of social networks like Facebook and Twitter, which in Nepal are a relatively recent trend. GPRS facility provided by mobile networks has also led to the proliferation of the ‘Facebook culture’ among Madheshi youth. The youths also enjoy a more globalized cultural experience and like to watch Hindi, Bhojpuri and South-Indian movies. The Youth of Madhesh | 99

The lives of Madheshi youths have also been hugely affected by political upheavals in the nation. Their creativity has been hampered due to violent conflicts and instability in the nation. They spent a significant portion of their time thinking about their future and the future of Madhesh as they were earlier treated like second class citizens. “The transition of youth to adulthood is being prolonged or blocked; Young people are increasingly unable to attain the social and economic status of adulthood because of structural exclusion and lack of opportunities” (DFID-CSO Youth Working Group, 2010). Madheshi youth, due to structural exclusion, seems to be living in frustration and dilemma regarding their future. 3.2 Political status Decision-making process The involvement in the decision-making process is an important criteria for assessing the participation of Madheshi youth in politics. According to the Interim Constitution of 2007, any person to stand for CA elections and become a member has to be above the age of 25 years and hence, youth between 15-24 years can’t be CA members. According to NYP (2010), “Motivational programmes shall be launched in order to make the youth actively participate in the policy and decision-making processes in the economic field.” But till now, no significant programmes have been launched for the improvement of Madheshi youth’s participation in the decision- making process. “Young people who feel alienated from society and excluded from job opportunities and decision-making may turn to violence, crime, territorial or identity based gangs (as for example in Central America and Jamaica)” (DFID-CSO Youth Working Group, 2010). This trend can be seen clearly in case of Madheshi youth; their participation in armed groups of Madhesh is mainly due to unemployment and their minimal roles in the larger decision-making process. 100 | The Landscape of Madhesh

Shah (2010)15 mentioned that the self-confidence of Madheshi society has now not only been strengthened but youth enthusiasm is also increasing. The Madheshi society, which was earlier hesitant to expose its identity, today says Garva se Kahu Hum Madheshi Chhi (be proud to say we are Madheshis) - is not a minor achievement by any measure. Though Madheshi youth are now proud of their identity, they are still largely kept out of the decision-making process of the nation because of some stagnant and status-quoist forces. Representation of Madhehsis in National Planning Commission (NPC) during monarchy and then democracy was earlier less than 10 percent. No Madheshi has yet become the chief secretary of the country. Barriers to youth participation in policy and planning can be attributed to: 1. Current policy dialogue, constitution and formulation take place in very formal environments, discouraging diversity. 2. The final stages of decision-making involve few very senior colleagues and often happen behind closed doors. 3. Youth and civil society consultants are artificially separated from each other. (Extracted from DFID-CSO Youth Working Group, 2010) Madheshi youth are excluded from talks, dialogues and policy formulations that are also linked to their future. The decision- making process of the state still rests on few Madheshi elites and elderly citizens who ignore the aspiration of youths. These barriers can only be overcome by consultation and dialogue and by systematically supporting youth entry into the mainstream process at the national level. This can include creating a youth group in Parliament, and youth commission/councils etc.; the representation should be proportional in every commission/council in the state. However, empirical data on the role of Madheshi youth

15 Madhesh bidrohko tin barsha" published in the Kantipur daily dated on 22 January 2010. The Youth of Madhesh | 101 in the decision-making process isn’t available, and hence, leaves much scope for research. Political participation The political awareness of Madheshi youth seems to have increased in recent times, after the heavy influence of the successful People’s Movement and Madhesh Andolan (Movement) on their psyche and lives. A lot of politically inclined youth are now part of student and youth wings of Madhesh-based political parties. Few of them also have been included in youth and student wings of national parties like Nepali Congress, CPN (UML), UCPN (Maoist). Most remarkably, the president of Nepal Students' Union (NSU) – Ranjit Karna – is of Madheshi origin. NYP (2010) mentions, “The meaningful participation of youth in the peace process of Nepal, restructuring of the states and constitution making and post nation building activities shall be enhanced and the pioneer role of the youths in the implementation there of shall be focused on.” It also emphasizes on the participation of youth in the policy making, planning and implementation process. It further adds that youth shall be mobilized in the development and promotion of democratic values, norms and cultures. But Madheshi youth continue to be ignored as far as their role in the peace process is concerned. “Citizenship provides legal status by giving citizens civic, political and social rights. Without citizenship, Madhesh cannot enjoy the freedom given by democratic Constitution of Nepal. Without citizenship, they were also deprived of the rights to participate in political institutions and enjoy the privilege of being identified as a member of political community” (Mathema, 2011). This, in turn, hampers Madheshi youth’s overall development even in the political sphere by restricting their political participation to a great extent as citizenship is also a basic requirement for voting and choosing one’s representative. Madheshi politics is often characterized by the division in ideology between different social groups of Madhesh. Tharu youth often 102 | The Landscape of Madhesh

claim their native land as Tharuhat whereas Madheshi youth claim it as Madhesh. Such political bargaining in the nation seems to affect the political socialization and culture of youth significantly. Agrahari (2012),16 of Gorkahapatra daily in a discussion programme mentions that Madheshi youth are not satisfied by the activities of their leaders. They often become aggressive towards their leaders because they believe the leaders have ignored the contribution of martyrs of Madhesh. In fact, their participation was a crucial determinant of the success of the Madhesh movement of 2007; the memories of the death of Ramesh Mahato, a youth martyr should also be remembered by Madheshi political leaders. Tula Narayan Shah, in the Kantipur Daily published on 22 January 2010, mentions that the new generation of Madhesh is now seeing a future in politics. This gives hope of the possibilities of meeting the crisis of effective leadership from the region. Though Madheshi youth seeks to contribute to the unresolved political issues of Madhesh, they are often neglected by the senior leaders. Chaulgain (2012)17 mentions, “Even the youths who have widespread cynicism about politics and who continuously used to say, politics is not something of our interest, are keenly talking about the condition of our nation, political leaders and their roles. The latest statistics reveals that almost 75 percent of the country’s population is under the age of 35, but they feel alienated from the political parties and the process. Perhaps this is because of limited ideology of political representativeness or long-run political instability. Whatever is the reason behind it, the nation should not forget the youth’s magnitude as this will be providing leadership in future.” He further adds, “Frustrated youth are leaving the country in large numbers because of political instability.” The Ministry of Youth and Sports also initiated the ‘Sthaniya Yuva Sajhedari Karyakram Sanchalan Nirdeshika’ 2012, to enhance the role

16 Sitaram Agrahari, Chief Editor of Gorkhapatra mentioned in “Madhesh bidrohka panchau varsha ra kehi yathartha.” 17 Bhawani Chaulgain in his write-up titled ‘Youth and Politics’ in The Himalayan Times on 4 June 2012. The Youth of Madhesh | 103 of youth in the development sector for creative change in the nation and overall contribution to the nation by their effective participation. The programmes under it includes trainings, employment, entrepreneurship, awareness about gender violence, and social malpractices, programmes for conflict affected and disabled youth, awareness about human trafficking, environment protection and sustainable development, programmes for marginalized and minority youth and rehabilitation, among others. It also gives preference to women, indigenous, ethnic groups, Madheshis, Dalits and backward youth. The effectiveness of this programme will be of great concern for Madheshi youth as it talks much about inclusive participation of youth in national development. Ministry of Youth and Sports has also launched a programme called ‘Rastriya Yuva Prativa Samman Karyabidhi’, 2011-12. It proposes to reward talented youth, to enhance their abilities and include them in the process of national development. It also mentions priority groups as women, indigenous, ethnic groups, Dalits, Madheshis, and youth from backward areas. The recent emphasis of the international community on youth participation has been particularly strong in post conflict settings. Peace process appears as a window of opportunity for promoting a high degree of youth participation. To some commentators this may seem opportunistic, but the consensus is that initiatives focusing on youth livelihood are a key entry point for youth participation and central to sustainable peace building. Such initiatives are about more than skills transfer, they also relate to governance, voice and accountability (DFID-CSO Youth Working Group, 2010). But Madheshi youth are still kept away from conflict transformation and the peace building process of the state. “The Embassy of Finland in Kathmandu funded a Nepali NGO (Alliance for Peace) to create awareness about the country’s 2008 Constituent Assembly elections. Young people were less involved in party politics and were not recognized as belonging to any particular party. Thus, young people’s involvement in voter awareness helped the campaign to maintain a neutral position. Educating people had a ripple effect as they communicated within their families, peer and 104 | The Landscape of Madhesh

friend groups” (DFID-CSO Youth Working Group, 2010). There is still a need for increasing political awareness of Madheshi youth, which will be helpful for them in choosing right representatives, who can raise their voices and address their issues adequately. All of this suggests the Madheshi youths have low political participation in the state, which is directly associated with their future, though they seem to be aware of political happenings and other such nuances. They are often ignored in the political process and peace-building process of the nation. Crime, violence and law NYP (2010) emphasizes on launching special programmes for discouraging the involvement of youths in various kinds of violence. It focuses on making special arrangements to prevent youth from indulging in crimes, illegal and anti-social activities and violence. Shakya (2009)18 found, “People have become more violent and they find weapons as power and voice. Many other groups have learned from the past insurgency that a violent movement is an effective means to demand their rights.” The rise in the involvement of Madheshi youth in armed groups of Terai also seems to support this argument. The news report19 mentions, “Several youths of Mahottari district are addicted to drugs and have found it easy to have their access to drugs owing to the open Nepal-India border.” The Secretary of Bajrang Youth Club, Rakesh Shah, said, “The youth is hooked to drugs owing to family disputes, family problems, imitation and unemployment.” There is need to study other districts of Madhesh, so as to assess the involvement of Madheshi youth in drug addiction there as well.

18 Anjana Shakya mentioned in a study conducted in five districts representing all development regions entitled ‘‘Social impact of armed conflict in Nepal- cause and impact’’. 19 In the Rising Nepal daily of 7 June 2012, a news report titled ‘Drug abusers rise in Mahottari’. The Youth of Madhesh | 105

In a recent report,20 it is mentioned since 2007, Madhesh has witnessed bombings, abductions, torture, domestic violence and crime. “The criminal behavior that does take place can be linked to poverty, poor education and unemployment and the aspiration of young males’ pursuit of the ‘3M’s’- money, machines (cell phones/ motorbikes and other gadgets) and masti (fun).” The report also mentions, “The most common incident was assault and the majority of victims were young men who were known to the perpetrator. Two-thirds of all incidents involved a weapon; usually a blade or a blunt weapon.” Political instability is seen as a key factor contributing to insecurity in the Madhesh region, both because political representatives are hindering progress and peace, and because politics and crime are increasingly becoming interlinked. Proximity of Madhesh to Indian borders is leading to cross-border crimes, smuggling and dealings in fake currency and arms. Crime in Madhesh has become lucrative and attractive because of the region's roots in poverty, unemployment and lack of economic opportunities. Problems of drugs and alcohol addiction are also giving rise to crime and domestic violence. Madheshi youth is inclined towards criminal activities because they have few other options to fulfill their personal desires and earn a sustainable livelihood. The Ministry of Home affairs published a report in 2009, claiming there are 109 armed groups active in Nepal and that most of these operate in the Madhesh region. Madheshi youth are mainly used as combatants in these groups. Impact of armed violence can be easily seen on the business community and economy of Madhesh and security is often questioned in the region. Thakur21 mentioned that Madheshi youth today are joining various groups, and are involved in different criminal activities and no political party is paying serious attention to these issues. Hence, the

20 A report by IDA, NEMAF, Small Arms Survey, and Safer World entitled ‘‘Armed Violence in Terai’’, August 2011. 21 Ranju Thakur mentioned in a discussion programme organized by NEMAF on 11 April 2012. 106 | The Landscape of Madhesh

increasing inclination of Madheshi youths towards criminal and violent activities should be controlled by providing them ample employment opportunities and letting them engage in creative work. If creativity and capabilities of Madheshi youth continues to be ignored, their interest in criminal and illegal activities will rise, which will be detrimental not only to Madhesh but the entire nation as well. Participation in various sectors The participation of Madheshi youth in Government organizations, Non-governmental organizations, International NGOs and the private sector is a parameter to assess the political status of Madheshi youth. “The Madheshi youth, who saw employment opportunities neither in the government nor in the private sector, had to revolt to open new opportunities for them” (Mathema, 2011). Army Act (Sainik Ain) 2006, also talks about effective participation of youth in the army but so far, it has not been successful on the ground. Talks of integration of 10,000 Madheshi youth into the army have been ignored now,” says student leader Suresh Mandal (NEMAF, 2012). The issue of integration of Madheshi youth in the army has become a bargaining issue in Nepal. Major political parties still do not seem interested in addressing this serious issue adequately. “Educational facilities and job opportunities either in government or international organizations functioning in the country are not easily available for Madheshi people. They are not allowed to work in military services and very few people work in the police service” (Shah, 2006). According to Nyaya Parishad bulletin, HMG (2001), in the manpower distribution in judiciary, only 10 percent Madheshi were chief justices and Supreme Court justices, 16.7 percent were chief judges of appellate courts, 12.3 percent were judges of appellate courts, 6.1 percent were judges of district courts and there were no Madheshi first class officers in judicial services. Overall 91.7 percent of the manpower in the judiciary belonged to the people of hill The Youth of Madhesh | 107 community (Pahadis) and merely 8.3 percent was Madheshi (HMG, 2001). This data shows that Madheshi youth is marginalized even in the nation’s judiciary. Now is the time for the nation to build an effective policy in order to increase the participation of Madheshi youth in judiciary. Madheshi youth has never been fully integrated in the overall socio-economic and political agenda of the country; they have been excluded from the national mainstream. Though some initiatives have been taken by the government in recent times, their implementation has not yet yielded any desired results. “Most of the educated youth want to join government services since they find these jobs to be secure, lucrative and prestigious” (Majupuria and Majupuria, 1985). But due to the discriminatory tactics of the state and citizenship issues, Madheshi youth’s dreams of getting government jobs and securing their future remain distant. The banking and financial sector of Nepal also does not have any inclusive policies to integrate youth from marginalized communities. Further, most of the appointments in NGOs, INGOs and private sector of Nepal are made on the basis of nepotism, which is another rigid barrier for the Madheshi youth. There is a need to assess their participation in the government sector, NGOs, INGOs, private sector of Nepal, which will help in the formulation of inclusive policies. It is also found that the social research work of the Madheshi community that should ideally be carried out by them in order to generate emic explanations are often conducted by those from the non-Madheshi community. 3.3 International conventions, declarations, laws and programmes United Nation’s Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 (relevant provisions) United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, incorporates certain provisions that can be linked to Madheshi youth. Its provisions mainly aim to ensure rights and freedoms for everyone without distinction of any kind such as race, color, sex, language, 108 | The Landscape of Madhesh

religion etc. Inhuman acts or torture are liable to punishment. It also talks about the right to nationality of an individual and participation in the government of his/her country and to freely choose representatives. It further mentions everyone’s right to education, employment, health, and cultural right of individuals. But the status of Madheshi youth, seen from these criteria, is dismal. Most of them lack citizenship certificates which keep them from exercising their rights and most particularly, their right to nationality. Their educational status, employment and health conditions seem vulnerable. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (relevant provisions) According to this convention, states should recognize the right of people to freely own, trade and dispose of their natural wealth and resources. It aims to ensure equality between men and women, freedom from inhuman or degrading treatment, right to liberty and freedom of movement, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of opinion and expression, prohibition of propaganda advocating war or national, racial or religious hazard, right to peaceful assembly and freedom of association and right for the members of religious, ethnic or linguistic minorities to enjoy their culture, practices, their religion and use their language. However, severe gender disparity in Madheshi society continues; cases of torturing young Madheshi women for dowry or barbaric practices like accusing women of witchcraft and killing them are still prevalent. Further. Dalits also often face discrimination and are treated as ‘untouchables’. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) (relevant provisions) The ICESCR provisions right to self-determination without discrimination of any kind. It provides that each state should ensure equal rights for men and women. It mentions that children and youth should be protected from economic exploitation. Their employment in dangerous and harmful work should be prohibited. It further provisions right to education, especially free primary education for The Youth of Madhesh | 109 all and right to attainable standard of physical and mental health. One of the demands of Madhesh has been self-determination and self-governance, which is still ignored by the state. Madheshi youth are still economically and politically exploited. Due to worsening unemployment situation, Madheshi youth are forced to participate in dangerous criminal and illegal activities. Youth affairs and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) MDGs talk about the need to ensure cross-sector collaboration or youth livelihood intervention in order to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. It emphasizes on encouraging out-of-school youth to enroll in schools again in order to achieve universal primary education. It emphasizes on raising young women’s expectations and building their self-esteem in order to promote gender equality and empower women. It also highlights the role of youth in combating HIV/AIDS as it is largely a disease affecting young adults. MDGs also emphasizes on the role of youth to ensure environmental sustainability and develop a global partnership for development. The economic status of Madheshi youth is only worsening, illiteracy remains high, gender issues are still unaddressed and all these areas need serious improvement. There is a need to increase level of awareness of Madheshi youth and enhance their participation in combating environmental degradation and fatal diseases like HIV/ AIDS. World programme of action for Youth (UN) This programme’s priority areas include promoting human rights education, infrastructure for training youth workers and youth leaders and improving the level of basic education, skill, training and literacy among youth. It also prioritizes providing employment opportunities for specific groups of young people and voluntary, community services involving youth. It also stresses on areas to combat HIV infections and AIDS among young people, elimination of sexual abuse of young people and combating malnutrition. It talks about protecting youth under the age of 18 from direct involvement in armed conflict, re-integration of youth ex-combatants and protection of non-combatants and promoting active involvement 110 | The Landscape of Madhesh

of youth in maintaining peace and security. The educational status of Madheshi youth is still dismal due to high illiteracy and lack of higher and specialized education; their employment status is also vulnerable and their participation in peace building process is often ignored by the concerned authorities, as explained in the study above. Interim Constitution of Nepal and relevant provisions The Interim Constitution of Nepal 2007 defines individual’s fundamental rights, among others, as the right to freedom of opinion and expression, to assemble peacefully and without arms and to form political parties and organizations. It also provisions right to equality among all citizens of the country without discrimination on any grounds (religion, race, sex, caste, tribe, origin, language etc). It advocates empowerment, protection and advancement of Madheshi and other backward groups through special provisions. It abolishes untouchability and racial discrimination. The Interim Constitution also provides fundamental rights like right regarding environment and health, education and culture as well as right to employment and social security to every citizen. It provisions certain rights to women like right to reproductive health and in reproductive matters; right against any forms of gender violence and it also provides for equal rights for sons and daughter on ancestral property. It guarantees the right to social justice and right to religion as well. It emphasizes that it is the responsibility of the state to address problems related to women, Madheshis, Dalits and other oppressed and minority communities. It also provides reservation for Madheshis for a certain period of time with regard to education, health, housing, food sovereignty and employment based on the principle of positive discrimination. However, social ills like untouchability and discrimination are still practiced in the Madheshi society, due to which Dalits are the worst affected. Though the Interim Constitution guarantees certain fundamental rights to Madheshis, the education, employment, health and gender status of Madheshi youth continues to remain bleak. The Interim Constitution of Nepal does not clearly mention The Youth of Madhesh | 111 anything about the improvement in their status. Though it promises to improve the status of Madheshi people based on the principle of positive discrimination, the direct effect of the provision has not been seen, on the youth so far. 4 conclusions and recommendations Madheshi youth should be considered as partners and leaders in the development of the nation. The agency and dynamism of Madheshi youth needs to be recognized and they should be given priority by the state as far as inclusion is concerned, since they have been excluded so far. The mainstreaming of Madheshi youth is vital and should be carried out by taking in to consideration factors like organizational development, policy and planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. To sum up, various problems faced by the youth of Madhesh include illiteracy, dismal levels of attainment of higher education and lack of access to scientific and job-oriented education system. The health status of Madheshi youth is also vulnerable due to less awareness regarding vaccination, communicable diseases and STDs. They often suffer from acute illnesses like diarrhea, dysentery, air-borne diseases, cold/fever/flu and others. An improvement in sanitary conditions as well as health awareness programmes are needed to combat such illnesses. Government should also be able to formulate effective policies for the improvement of the health status of Madheshi youth. Further, the lack of quality and higher education and discriminatory policies of the state and citizenship issues lead to their unemployment and underemployment. Due to this conditions and decreased agricultural production, they are forced to migrate to foreign countries particularly Gulf countries and India. The status of young Madheshi women is even worse than that of the young men because of continuance of unscientific traditional practices, patriarchy and existence of the purdah system. Further, modernization, globalization and consumerism culture also seem to be adversely influencing the lives of the Madheshi youth. 112 | The Landscape of Madhesh

The participation of Madheshi youth in the nation’s decision-making process is negligible. The state lacks a well-defined mechanism to ensure the participation of Madheshi youth in national policies and strategizing. The policy formulation processes of the state are still in the hands of the elites and senior leaders. The political participation of Madheshi youth in major political parties is minimal, except a few exceptions. The level of political awareness of Madheshi youth has increased. Yet, they have to claim their rightful share in the political processes of the nation. Due to unemployment, illiteracy, anger and frustrations, their inclination towards criminal and illegal activities are increasing. The participation of Madheshi youth in various sectors like the public sector, armed forces, judiciary as well as the non governmental and private sector remains wanting. Any kind of resentment and feeling of discontent among Madheshi youths can be detrimental to the interest of the entire country, and hence, effective strategies should be adopted to include and integrate them in the overall nation-building process. Since not much research has been done on the youth of Nepal, particularly from Madhesh, research and analysis should be prioritized by different concerned organizations – both governmental and nongovernmental – in order to identify the real problems, actual status and issues facing Madheshi youth. The data for youth in all aspects should be segregated and further analyzed regionally in order to assess the real scenario of youth of the nation, to help design inclusive policies.

To collate, some recommended strategies include: 1. Institutionalizing policies regarding Madheshi youth’s participation 2. Engaging with the Madheshi youth in the nation’s development process 3. Formulating effective literacy programmes and qualitative income generating education 4. Providing adequate employment opportunities 5. Involving youth in creative and productive works 6. Conducting and promoting research work on the status and issues of Madheshi youth The Youth of Madhesh | 113

7. Mapping international provisions and assessing overall global youth situation and comparing with the youth of Madhesh, then working towards improving their status 8. Effective monitoring and evaluation of plans and policies concerned with the upliftment of the youth from marginalized communities 9. Dedication of the state and stake holders towards the improvement of youth situation and a recognition that it is the youth that will drive the future of the nation 10. Mainstreaming Madheshi youth through creating parliamentary groups, commissions/councils etc. And ensuring proportional representation in every commission/council in the state. As not much research work has been done on the youths of Nepal and specifically of the Madhesh region, some topics of further research can include: 1. Role of Madheshi youth in the nation building process. 2. Socio-cultural aspects of Madheshi youth. 3. Impact of globalization and modernization on Madheshi youth. 4. Involvement of Madheshi youth in armed groups. 5. Role of Madheshi youth in the Madhesh uprising. 114 | The Landscape of Madhesh The Youth of Madhesh | 115

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Karyabidhi, 2068. Kathmandu: Ministry of Youth and Sports. Nepal Government. (2068 B.S.). Yuba Bulletin 2011. Kathmandu: Ministry of Youth and Sports. Nepal Government. (2068 B.S.). Yuva Sajhedaari Karyakaram Sanchalan Karyabidhi, 2068. Kathmandu: Ministry of Youth and Sports. NEMAF. (2011). Samabesi Bidheyak Ra Madheshka Sawal. Madhesh Manthan 1. Lalitpur: NEMAF. NEMAF. (2011). Nepali Senama Madheshi Samudayako Samabesikaran. Madhesh Manthan 2. Lalitpur: NEMAF. NEMAF. (2012). Madhesh Bidrohko Panch Varsha: Upalabdhi Ra Chunauti. Madhesh Manthan 4. Lalitpur: NEMAF. Sah, K. B. (2009).. A Study of the Problem of Witch Accusation in Nepal. Social Inclusion and Nation Building in Nepal: Abstract of Researches (pp.193). Kathmandu: SIRF, SNV-Nepal. Sah, S. K. (2009). Assessment of Environmental Governance for Socio-Economic Aspects of Child Marriage: A Case Study of Dhalkewar VDC of Dhanusha District. Social Inclusion and Nation Building in Nepal: Abstract of Researches (pp.196). Kathmandu: SIRF, SNV-Nepal. Shah, S. G. (2006). Social Inclusion of Madheshi community in Nation building. SIRF, SNV-Nepal. Shah, T. N. (2010). Madhesh Bidrohko Tin Varsha. Kantipur Daily. January 22. Shakya, A. (2009). Social Impact of Armed Conflict in Nepal-Cause and Impact. Social Inclusion and Nation Building in Nepal: Abstract of Researches (pp.181). Kathmandu: SIRF, SNV-Nepal. Sigdel, U. (2009). Citizenship Problem of Madhesi Dalits. Social Inclusion and Nation Building in Nepal: Abstract of Researches (pp.151). Kathmandu: SIRF, SNV-Nepal. SIRF. (2007). From Exclusion to Inclusion: Socio-political Agenda for Nepal. Kathmandu: SIRF, SNV- Nepal. SIRF. (2009). Social Inclusion and Nation Building in Nepal: Abstract of Researches. Kathmandu: SIRF, SNV- Nepal. SPW, DFID. (2010). Youth Participation in Development. London : DFID-CSO Youth Working Group. The Himalayan Times daily. (2012). March 25. The Himalayan Times daily. (2012). Employment will be Main Focus: PM, 3. July 11. The Interim Constitution of Nepal. (2007). Kathmandu: UNDP/SPCBN. The Rising Nepal Daily. (2012).Girls from Muslim Community up in Arms against Dowry. May 30. The Rising Nepal Daily. (2012). Drug Abusers Rise in Mahottari. June 7 The Rising Nepal Daily. (2012). Women Tortured Calling Her a Witch. June 7 116 | The Landscape of Madhesh

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By Sanchita Maharjan & Rita Kumari Sah

1 Introduction 1.1 defining Madhesh and Madheshi Madhesh, one of the three ecological zones of Nepal, covers 23 percent of the total land area and is 800 kilometers with its width varying from 25 to 32 kms. The boundary of Madhesh starts from the foothills of the Siwalik or Churiya range of the Himalayas in the north and extends up to the Indian border in the south. Out of the 75 districts in Nepal, 20 districts, namely Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Saptari, Siraha, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Rautahat, Bara, Parsa, Chitwan, Nawalparasi, Rupandehi, Kapilvastu, Dang, Banke, Bardiya, Kailali and Kanchanpur have been known as Madhesh (Jha, 2011). This belt is divided into eastern, central, western, mid-western and far-western regions. As far as the population of these areas is concerned, 29.4 percent of the population resides in eastern Madhesh, 35.1 percent in central, 15.6 percent in western Madhesh and 11 percent and 8.9 percent population reside in mid-western and far-western regions of Madhesh respectively. The 118 | The Landscape of Madhesh total population of Madhesh constitutes 49.3 percent of the entire population of Nepal, making it the most densely populated region of the nation (CBS, 2001). The residents of Madhesh can be categorized into Madheshi and pahadi or hill communities. Madheshi people have been living in Madhesh for centuries with their own distinct language and dialects, unique pattern of dressing and traditions whereas the hill people are of hill origin and they came to Madhesh during the course of migration. Their tradition, culture and rituals are different from those of the Madheshi communities. Cheah (2008) says, ‘‘Madhesh not only implies a physical composition of the space that stretches across the southern belt of Nepal, but also includes the cultural and lingual space that exists as a basis of identity amongst many people residing in the region.’’ Similarly, the pioneer researcher on Madhesh, Gaige (1975) defined Madheshi people as those who speak plains' languages as their mother tongue or first language, whether they were born or live in the plains or hills. Languages of the plains include Maithili, Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Rajbanshi, Bengali, Marwadi, Majhi, Magahi, Hindi, Tharu and Urdu. ‘Terai’ has been used and is being used to represent the southern belt of country but the local natives preferred to use the term ‘Madhesh’ especially after the Madhesh movement of 2007. The understanding and use of the two words ‘Terai’ and ‘Madhesh’1 are still a matter of contention in the political arena and among the people. Shah (2006) notes, Madhesh does not include the Siwalik and mid-Hill area which Terai does, whereas Gupta (2009), a Madheshi leader mentions ‘‘Madhesh as a continuous portion of land which extends from zonal region Mechi in east to Mahakali in west, Inner Terai (Bhitri Madhesh) in north to Indo-Nepal border in south.’’ According to the Nepali Brihat Shabdakosh, the meaning of Terai is the flat land next to hills and Madhesh denotes the territory which is socially, politically and culturally different from the rest of the country. Terai is believed to have originated from Farsi language which means wet

1 The term ‘Madhesh’ is used for this research. In many documents, ‘Madhesh’ is used interchangeably with Terai. Madheshi Women in Nepal | 119 land. In the context of Nepal, Madhesh and Terai are often used interchangeably. Similarly, there is a debate around the use of the term ‘Madheshi’ and ‘Teraibasi’ and Bhattachan (2008) says (cited in Yadav, 1997), “Madheshi is a historical, political and sociological concept that refers to a group or communities discriminated by the dominant groups whereas Teraibasi refers to any caste or ethnic group, including the dominant caste or group.” Gaige and Hachhethu (2007) also define Madhesh as a plain landscape from Siwalik Hill range and the term Madheshi broadly encompass people of non-hill origin; their cultural identity is specifically associated with the Hindu castes (from the plains) of Maithili and Bhojpuri speaking populations. Mother tongue of 12.30 percent of the total Nepali population’s is Maithili, which is the second most spoken language after Nepali in the country. Bhojpuri and Tharu are the mother tongues of 7.53 percent and 5.86 percent of the total population respectively. Similarly, Awadhi and Bajjika languages occupy the eighth and twelfth largest languages in Nepal respectively (CBS, 2001). The Madheshi community is composed of the traditional Hindu caste2 hierarchy such as Brahaman, Kshatriya, Baisya and Dalits, and indigenous peoples, other native tribes and Muslims. According to the 2001 national Census, 59 castes and ethnic groups are identified in Madhesh. Brahman, Rajput, Kayastha etc. belong to Madheshi high caste, Madheshi middle caste constitutes Yadav, Teli, Kurmi, Baisya, Kalwar etc. Tharu, Dhanuk, Rajbanshi, Dhimal, Tajpuriya, Gangai etc. belong to Terai Janajatis (ethnic groups) and Chamar, Musahar, Dom, Tatma, Bantar, Dushadh etc. are considered as Madheshi Dalits. Madheshi middle caste represents 42.9 percent of the total population in Madhesh, followed by 27.7 percent of Terai Janajatis

2 The Hindu concept of ‘caste (social group)’, wherein society is segregated into groups that are ranked hierarchically, is still in practice in Nepal. The caste system consists of a set of rules determining which interactions are possible between different caste groups- from issues as varied as marriage, to trade and water usage (PBI, 2012). 120 | The Landscape of Madhesh and 12.4 percent of Dalits. The population of Madheshi high caste is 3.4 percent and Muslims constitutes 13.6 percent (CBS, 2001). Those Madheshi caste/ethnic groups whose share is less than 1 percent in Madhesh are Nuniya, Kumhar, Danuwar, Haluwai, Rajput, Kayastha, Badhae, Santhal/Sattar, Jhangar/Dhagar, Bantar, Barae, Kahar, Gangai, Lodha, Rajbhar, Bin/Binda, Bhediyar/Gaderi, Nurang, Tajpuriya, Chidimar, Mali, Bengali, Dom, Kamar, Meche, Halkhor, Punjabi/Sikh, Kisan, Koche, Dhuniya, Jain and Munda, Kuswadiya/Patharkata. The term ‘Madheshi women’ refers to those women who speak the languages of Madhesh and their total population is 3,698,957. Of that, Madheshi high and middle social group women add up to 1,326,303, Janajati women to 885,173, Dalit women and Muslim women to 785,869 and 479,623 respectively; the population of unidentified groups is 221,989 (CBS, 2001). Madheshi women are given a place secondary to men in society. They are not only excluded from political and social life but also discriminated on the basis of culture, language and region. Dalit women are further suppressed because of caste-based discrimination. Madheshi women are constrained in terms of mobility, marriage decisions and job opportunities due to superstition, belief and norms of the patriarchal society. Their rights are violated within their own community as an influence of the Hindu and Muslim culture. Their presence is negligible in the political arena. They have to face many forms of violence such as accusations of witchcraft and consequent attacks, domestic violence and various others, which are deeply rooted in the society. Even among Madheshi women, Muslim women and Dalit women are comparatively more backward than the women of high and middle castes. Given their status in the country and their human development parameters, this study is carried out to give a glimpse of the present scenario of Madheshi women on the basis of socio-economic and political indicators, so that policies targeting Madheshi women can be launched for their upliftment and empowerment. For this study, people of non-hill origin who speak their native language and 20 districts mentioned above have been taken into consideration. Madheshi Women in Nepal | 121

1.2 Rationale The identity of Madhesh is always questioned and those from the region are often carelessly tagged as ‘Indians’, ignoring their history and existence in Nepal since time immemorial. Madheshis have been denied access to their dues and have been at a disadvantage because of discriminatory policies like mono-linguistic provision imposed by the state. Though dominant communities are not aware of the facts of deprivation and exclusion of Madheshi people, they mislead stakeholders by misinterpreting facts and existing data. Madheshi women are further discriminated against owing to the overall skewed gender dynamics. The patriarchal structure has undermined their dignity, self-respect and confidence. They are excluded socially, politically and regionally. This work is an attempt to document the current status of Madheshi women which can be a base for further research. This study provides essential background information for informed-policy advocacy and to launch women- centric programme for the betterment of their livelihood. This study will help identify potential research areas on Madheshi women. This study seeks to examine and assess the socio-economic status of women in Madhesh as well as their political status. 2 Methodology The research work has been designed to examine the status of Madheshi women on the basis of a review of quantitative and qualitative information on socio-economic indicators i.e. education, health, employment as well as political status. Documents of government organizations were the major sources of literature for quantitative data. Other relevant books, reports, journals, newspapers, magazines, thesis, articles and documents of many non-government organizations were also reviewed for the study. Documents available in the internet were also used in the study. Personal communication was the basis of verifying secondary information. The qualitative information was analyzed thematically whereas 122 | The Landscape of Madhesh quantitative information has been illustrated in tabular forms. To refine the findings of the study, a series of presentations was carried out both in-house and with Madheshi scholars. In addition, peer review was also encouraged. Limitations of the study This study, as mentioned above, is based on content analysis of secondary information published by government and non- government organizations. The content analysis was carried out in the months of May and June, 2012. Documents on Madheshi women are limited because very few studies/researches have been conducted on this issue. Thus, the study was based on the abstraction of general information about all women in Nepal, and the Madheshi population as a whole. The study focuses on specific social groups and only a few districts of Madhesh have been taken into consideration to give a glimpse of the overall scenario. 3 result and discussion 3.1 socio-economic status of Madheshi women Education Socio-economic status of any individual depends upon his/her educational level to a great extent, since education and literacy have a positive impact on health, economy and overall well-being of the family and society. The Madheshi women have low literacy3 rates and the largest gender gap in literacy is also found in Madhesh (Bennett et.al, 2008). The literacy level among them is much lower (36 percent) than their counterparts from hill/mountain areas (63 percent), and Madheshi men are twice as literate as Madheshi women with the literacy rates of Madheshi men and women at 70 percent and 26 percent respectively (ibid). According to a report, Analysis of the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (2006), nearly 85 percent of Madheshi Dalit women

3 A person who is able to read and write in any language with simple arithmetic computations is considered as literate. A person can be literate either through formal education or through informal education. Madheshi Women in Nepal | 123 are not educated and the survey could not find a single Dalit woman educated beyond School Leaving Certificate (SLC) level. Similarly, 75 percent of Madheshi other caste women and 78 percent of Muslim women have no education. However, the preliminary report of CBS (2011) shows an improvement in the education status of all Nepalis with the literacy rate of men at 72.2 percent, women at 51.2 percent and the overall literacy rate at 60.9 percent. Table 1: Literacy rates by ecological belts and gender of different age groups

Population 5 yrs Population 6 yrs Population 15 yrs Ecological and older (%) and older ( %) and older (%) regions M F Total M F Total M F Total Mountains 69.6 45.3 56.4 70.7 45.8 57.2 66.4 32.4 47.5 Hills 77.5 59.4 67.6 78.8 59.9 68.5 76.7 52.1 62.9 Terai 64.9 43.5 53.3 66.4 44.3 54.4 67.6 39.1 51.6 M: Male, F: Female Source: CBS, 2011

Table 1 shows the hill region has the highest overall literacy rate followed by Terai and the mountains. The educational status of females is comparatively poor than their male counterparts. The status of education of Terai women is dismal, especially when we look at the age group of 5-15 years, but appears deceptively less grim among the population of 15 years or older because of the kind of data available.4 The slightly less grim picture of the educational status in older age groups in Terai is because of the blanket use of the term ‘Terai women’. There is no segregated data for Madheshi women. Low literacy rates among the women of this region are due to social prejudices against female education, gender discrimination, the

4 The data is cumulative, including women of hill origin. 124 | The Landscape of Madhesh system of early marriage and their low participation in formal education (Majupuria, 2007). This trend is attributed to the tradition of giving preference to sons. Women are deprived of attaining their fundamental right to education, which has an adverse impact on their overall socio-economic status. According to Kayastha,5 the enrollment of Madheshi girls in schools has increased significantly due to government schemes like ‘Free Education for All’ (FEA)6 and scholarships given to girls and Dalit children. Though people have been sensitized about the importance of educating the girl child, families often try to minimize the expenditure by compromising on the quality of education. Muslim girls receive their education in Madarsas7 which aren’t upgraded (Ansari, 2012) as other schools are. Due to the reluctance of the family to send Muslim girls for higher education, their studies come to an end after the completion of Madarsa education. This is one of the main reasons behind the backwardness of Muslim women. Besides, the proportion of educational institutions in Madhesh to the region’s total population is adversely skewed, which means there are very few educational institutions, given the total population in Madhesh (ibid). Health Health is a fundamental human right and everyone has the right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical, mental and reproductive health, without any discrimination. Though several efforts have been made by the government to make health services accessible and affordable, due to the lack of effective implementation of the existing health policies and programmes, lack of gender sensitive/friendly health care providers and health facilities and

5 Personal communication with Mahendra Kayastha, a teacher at Shree Shikshya Sadan Higher Secondary School, Dharan on 2 July 2012. 6 Education for All (EFA) is the scheme of the Government of Nepal, supported by Norway. EFA (2004-2009) sector programme was a comprehensive primary education intervention as part of Nepal’s EFA National Plan of Action (NPA) (2001-2005). 7 Religious schools or colleges for the study of the Islamic religion. Madheshi Women in Nepal | 125 also a dearth of skilled health care providers at community health facilities, women’s access to health services is being hindered. This is causing physical, mental and acute and chronic reproductive health problems in women, leading them to discriminated and isolated lives (WOREC, 1998). Apart from other health concerns, reproductive health is the main cause of concern for women. Madheshi women have to face several complications during their pregnancy and delivery. A majority of child-births still take place at homes in Madhesh. Only 18 percent of total deliveries happen in health posts and hospitals in Nepal overall. This statistic is lower for Terai-origin groups (13 percent) than for hill/mountain groups (20 percent) and also abysmally low for socially and economically disadvantaged groups like the Dalits (9 percent) and Muslims (12 percent). More than 9 percent of hill/ mountain women have no assistance during their delivery, while less than 2 percent of Madheshi women get any assistance during their deliveries. This is in reference to the practice of women being left alone during their deliveries, but the proportion of Madheshi women being handled by Skilled Birth Attendants (SBAs) during their deliveries is much lower than hill/mountain women (13 percent compared with 21 percent) (Bennett et.al, 2008). Table 2: Antenatal care in delivery

Caste Antenatal care (%) Brahman/Chhetri of Hill and Madhesh 63.2 Madheshi Middle Caste 77.4 Dalit 55.6 Hill Janajati 46.7 Terai Janajati 55.3 Muslim 60.3 Source: DHS, 2001 Madheshi women still have to depend on untrained health workers, relatives and traditional practices for deliveries, that put them at high risk of maternal mortality. Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) continue to be the most common source of assistance for 126 | The Landscape of Madhesh about 40 percent of them. Even women from relatively educated and well off Madheshi Brahaman/Chhetri families who use doctors for 63 percent of their deliveries are assisted by TBAs in 17 percent of the cases (ibid). In terms of receiving antenatal care from an SBA of some type, 60.3 percent Muslims receive such help, 55.6 percent Dalit women and 55.3 percent Terai Janajati women. Madheshi/ hill high castes at 63.2 percent and Madheshi middle castes at 77.4 percent do somewhat better. Satisfactory data on this indicator for Dalit women is because of their involvement in this profession. Caste/ethnicity and regional identity do influence fertility levels. One of the reasons behind taking help from TBAs is the hesitancy to approach male doctors. Further, due to the tradition of considering the new-born baby and the mother untouchable, they are not properly taken care of. Women are expected to work immediately after giving birth, irrespective of their health status. CBS (2011) indicates the increasing trend in the use of contraceptives, which reflects a degree of awareness among people that will not only control population growth rate but also will have a positive impact on the health of women and children. Remarkable reduction in total fertility with great decline in infant mortality rate and mortality rate in a decade is proof of this (Table 3). Table 3: Mortality rate 2001 (%) 2006 (%) 2011 (%) Total Fertility Rate 4.1 3.1 2.6 (per women) Infant mortality Rate (per 1000 64 48 46 live birth) Mortality Rate under five (per 91 61 54 1000 live birth) Source: CBS, 2011 According to Basnet (2012), early marriage and subsequently, early pregnancy is prevalent in Madhesh. When some families were asked to allow girls to use contraceptive so they could attain maturity before conceiving, they replied that if their daughter-in- law didn’t get pregnant in the very first year of marriage, neighbors Madheshi Women in Nepal | 127 and relatives would start gossiping. Hence, social prejudices and perceptions also influence how women are treated by their own families. Some people even believe the use of contraceptives brings health problems and impotency. The rapid growth in the population of Madhesh is caused not just by the early marriage custom but also by the reluctance to use contraceptives and other family planning methods. Table 4: Distribution of married couples using family planning methods by type

Other Con- Vasec- Laparoscopy/ Tradi- Ecological Tempo- Total dom tomy Minilap tional regions rary (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) Mountain 15.3 48.5 29.8 5.5 1.0 100 Hill 14.4 47.7 21.7 15.8 0.8 100 Terai 9.2 33.4 6.7 49.7 0.9 100 Source: DHS, 2001 Other than the Madheshi high castes, the use of modern methods of contraceptives is the highest among the Terai Janajatis (65 percent) and the lowest is among the Muslims (17 percent). However, Table 4 shows that it is Madheshi women who are ahead in the use of family planning methods. Is it due to awareness among them or patriarchal norms that dictate it is solely the women’s responsibility? According to a UNFPA Report (2007), family planning is still considered a woman’s responsibility. Many men are reluctant to accept sterilization; 23 percent of the surveyed men believed women become promiscuous if sterilized, while 14 percent said it was the women’s responsibility and not theirs. On the bright side, due to advancement in technology, women’s health is gradually improving. However, on the flip side, women’s health suffers since they have to go through sex selective abortions, especially women belonging to middle and upper social groups. There are also adverse social beliefs about abortions and miscarriages. In Madhesh, miscarriages and abortions are viewed with suspicion and are considered as results of wrong doing or/and witchcraft. Women 128 | The Landscape of Madhesh who suffer miscarriages or undergo abortions are not provided with proper care and nutrition or even minimal rest (WOREC, 2005). Moreover, women, especially in the Madheshi Dalit community, give birth to a baby annually in the quest for a son, hence, adding to the number of children in the family. As a consequence, several Dalit families become economically weak due to added family burdens and expenses. Adolescent pregnancy and motherhood are other major social and health concerns for Madheshi women. Religion Majority of the population of Madhesh follows Hindu and Muslim religions. Often, their religious values prevent them from accepting positive changes and adapting to modern norms, which hinder the development of the female personality. There is no segregated data for Madheshi women based on religion. Table 5: Population of Nepal by religion Religion Population Percentage Hindu 18,330,121 80.62 Buddhism 2,442,520 10.7 Islam 952,023 4.20 Kirat 818,106 3.60 Christian 101,976 0.45 Jain 4,108 - Shikh 5,890 - Others 86,080 0.39 Total 22,736,923 100 Source: CBS, 2001

Marriage and dowry Marriage is a way of regulating and governing the relationship between sexes and a mechanism by means of which the relation of an offspring to the community is determined (Majupuria, 2007). It continues to be universally regarded as essential for a girl, irrespective of class, caste, religion and ethnicity. ‘Control of her sexuality and its safe transfer into the hands of the husband’ is considered to be of utmost importance. Subsequent expectations and relationships Madheshi Women in Nepal | 129 impose a considerable burden on young girls, who are often ill- equipped to adjust to a totally new environment and unfamiliar relationships. It is rarely that there is a highly personal relationship between a man and a woman (Misra, 2007). Upon marriage, a woman moves to her husband’s household, which determines her life from thereon. Earlier, parents used to take all decisions regarding marriages but in this modern world and with enhanced education and means of communication, youngsters prefer to marry someone of their choice. Yet, practices like child marriage, polygamy and unequal marriages continue to persist. The dowry8 system is very much prevalent in the Madheshi society because of which several married women have to face torture and other forms of domestic violence. One of the reasons why families prefer sons is because they want to avoid paying dowry. Further, sons are believed to maintain and extend the lineage, inherit property, provide support to parents in old age whereas daughters are regarded as liabilities because they marry early on which parents have to spend a lot of their savings, and leave home. Nepali girls generally get married at an early age which is sanctioned by ancient Hindu laws followed by many in this country. The mean year of marriage for women was found to be 19.5 whereas that of men was 21.9 (CBS, 2001). Though the permissible age of marriage for both men and women is 20 years according to the 1990 Constitution as well as the Interim Constitution of 2007, it is yet to be followed completely, especially in rural areas. The survey on Population and Health Status (CBS, 2011) showed that 46 percent of Madheshi girls get married before 18 years and give birth to a child even before they turn 20. There are many cases in Madhesh of girls being married off at the age of 16, and sometimes even earlier than that. The reason behind this tradition, as expressed by the respondents from Kayastha, Yadav, Baniya, Bin, Musahar, Dusadh and other castes, was that early marriage of their

8 Dowry refers to ‘the money, goods, or estate’ that a woman brings to her husband of his family following marriage. 130 | The Landscape of Madhesh daughters helps them to find eligible bridegrooms with respectable social status, paying less dowry. The situation, according to them, becomes more difficult if girls get married at the age prescribed by the constitution. The girls who rebel against the decision imposed by their family members are believed to bring shame to them (Basnet, 2012). Dowry is one of main causes of exploitation of married Madheshi women. Those brides who bring less dowry are not only looked down upon but also often ill-treated and sometimes even burnt to death. Twenty year old Untima Mahato of Lamaria, Jagaranthpur-8 of Parsa was killed by her in-laws for dowry. Similarly, 21-year old Rina Devi complained against her husband and mother-in-law alleging they tried to burn her by pouring kerosene on her. She belonged to Kataichauri of Basahiya VDC-9, Janakpur (Kantipur Editorial, 2012). Dowry is often more prevalent in families with a higher social status; the richer the family, the higher the transaction. Domestic violence The orthodox and regressive mindset of the society that women are physically and emotionally weaker than men makes women victims of domestic violence9 (Misra, 2007). Though women today have proved themselves in almost every field of life affirming that they are no less than men, reports of violence against them are frequent and numerous. Domestic violence against women is a deep-rooted social practice. Most such cases are not made public and women tolerate violence against them because of economic, social and cultural reasons and their dependence on men. The Informal Sector Service Centre (INSEC) has mentioned that out of 3,039 cases of human rights of violation in total, 648 women and 379 girls under the age of 18 across the country were subjected to violence in 2011. It recorded 272 cases of domestic violence, 114 polygamy cases, 111 rapes, 54 witchcraft accusation cases, 31 sexual abuses and 30 cases of women trafficking, among others. The Nepal

9 Under the Domestic Violence and Punishment Act 2008-09, domestic violence is defined as “physical, mental, sexual, financial as well as behavioral violence.” Madheshi Women in Nepal | 131

Human Rights Year Book (2012) mentioned that women from low economic status and Janajati community were the worst-hit. Domestic violence is common all over Nepal and in all communities but violence against women (VAW) because of dowry is more prevalent in Madhesh. Other forms of the violence against Madheshi women mostly include torture for alleged witchcraft, sexual harassment, polygamy, child marriage, spousal conflict and alcoholism of male members of the family. Such violence has had an adverse impact on women not only on the psychological front but also in health issues, like gynecological problems, trauma, unwanted pregnancy, physical, sexual injury, as well as denial of fundamental women’s right and children’s well-being (Mandal, 2008). The death of women because of domestic violence is more prevalent in Madhesh, which shows that Madheshi women have to face intense forms of domestic violence, more than women in other parts of the country.

Figure 1: Killing of women during arguments

20 18 18 16 14 12 10 10 10 8 7 6 3 4 2 2 2 1 1 0

Source: Nepal Human Rights Year Book, 2012

Figure 1 indicates the relative liberty enjoyed by women of other 132 | The Landscape of Madhesh social groups compared to Madheshi women. As the graph indicates, women of other social groups do argue with the perpetrator during discussions whereas Madheshi women don’t because of fear, an evidence of extreme male dominance. It is observed that women of urban areas with higher social status and better education face less violence than rural women particularly those that are poor and illiterate. Dalit and Muslim women have to face several extreme forms of violence. Employment Employment enables a person to gain confidence and enhances his/ her decision-making capacity. Employment and education are inter- related. In Madhesh, patriarchal norms do not permit women to work outside their homes as it is considered to be against family prestige and it is also believed women may misuse their liberty. Ram Baran Sah10 said male members feel proud to keep women within the confinement of homes. However, women are basically engaged in agriculture (Table 6) on their own lands and are often paid lower wages than men, if at all they are paid. This makes them poor and vulnerable to exploitation. The unemployment status among Madheshis seems worrisome with less number of employed populations (75.7 percent) and the highest rate of unemployment that is 2.7 percent whereas employed population in mountains is 86.9 percent and in hills is 79.8 percent. Similarly, the unemployed population of mountains is 0.7 percent and that of hills is 1.6 percent (NLSS, 2011). This scenario may be due to political instability, a decade long conflict, followed by the Madhesh movement as well as trade union issues and power crisis. All this has forced several Madhesh-based industries to shut down. The situation has further become aggravated due to the hesitancy of Madheshi youth to enter the agricultural sector, which is the basic source of income in Madhesh. Hence, the youth is forced to migrate and seek jobs in India and Gulf countries.

10 Personal communication with Ram Baran Sah, a tea shop owner in Itahari on 5 July 2012. Madheshi Women in Nepal | 133

Table 6: Employment status of women belonging to different social groups

Paid labor Self-employment Non- Non- Social group Agriculture Agriculture agriculture agriculture (%) (%) (%) (%) Hill Brahman/ 5.5 11.8 65.1 17.6 Chhetri Terai 2.7 13.2 75.4 8.7 Brahman/ Chhetri Terai Middle 15.7 5.1 66.3 13.0 Caste Hill Dalit 49.0 13.9 40.6 6.4 Terai Dalit 14.3 18.3 56.6 10.9 Hill Janajati 8.8 14.3 70.2 7.3 Terai Janajati 13.6 10.4 68.5 7.4 Muslim 19.1 15.7 55.6 9.6 Nepal 9.5 13.9 64.5 12.0 Source: CBS, 2001 Table 6 shows that Madheshi women are mostly engaged in agriculture, along with handling the responsibility of their household, but their contribution is seldom recognized. They have less access to the income they help generate and most of the decisions are taken by male members. The fact that they barely work in any non-agricultural sector makes them even poorer. In non- agricultural wage employment, women are mostly employed in low paying and less productive jobs. Ownership of land and cattle The constitution guarantees an equal status to both men and women but there is a huge gender gap (Table 7) in the ownership of property. A daughter has a right on her father’s property till she gets married and after her marriage, she is entitled to be the co-owner of her husband’s property, without autonomy. Property is inherited by 134 | The Landscape of Madhesh sons. Men are scared of giving ownership to women but are ready to accept her service. However, the trend of registering property in the name of women has increased in recent times due to the provision of 20 percent revenue discount for women while registering land and houses; and, generally people prefer to register the property in the name of their wives to avoid sharing of the property of Anshabanda with brothers. In the case of Madheshi women,11 they have even more limitations in land ownership because of the lack of citizenship certificates. Citizenship certificate is the legal identity of Nepali nationality and its holders have access to many rights, opportunities and services. Without the certificate, Madheshi women cannot have access to formal sector employment, micro-credit schemes, civil registrations, passports, government benefits and allowances for aged widows as well as allowances for disabilities, internally displaced people (IDPs) and victims of armed conflict (UN RCHCO, 2011).

11 Sakrun Nat (47) of Kohalpur could not register 1 kattha of land in her or her husband’s name because neither of them has citizenship certificates. They had to register it in the name of a person who did have a certificate but are always afraid they may lose their land any time. Sakrun could not acquire a citizenship certificate because her parents did not have their certificates and she married a man of Indian origin who could not acquire citizenship by naturalization though he has been living for many years in Nepal (UN RCHCO, 2011). Madheshi Women in Nepal | 135

Table 7: Ownership of houses, land and livestock: Women’s share12

House (%) Land (%) Livestock (%) Social group House- House- House- Women Women Women hold12 hold hold Hill Brahman/ 85.8 7.5 78.1 14.6 74.3 7.9 Chhetri Terai Brahman/ 76.9 7.5 47.1 13.9 35.0 2.7 Chhetri Terai middle caste 92.2 4.2 75.1 10.2 68.9 6.7

Hill Janajati 87.5 5.8 78.7 10.4 72.4 7.5 Terai Janajati 90.6 2.9 73.2 7.9 75.7 8.4 Hill Dalit 91.9 3.5 56.7 4.3 62.0 5.5 Terai Dalit 95.9 2.3 56.7 4.3 62.0 5.5 Religious 88.3 3.6 57.8 6.9 52.7 5.3 Minorities Others 81.3 3.6 62.6 7.2 61.5 5.4 Total 88.3 5.5 75.6 10.9 71.5 7.8 Source: CBS, 2001 Women in Nepal barely own property, making them dependent on males, and hence, low on self-esteem and confidence. As above table shows, women share less ownership of property and belongings and among Madheshi women, Brahaman/Chhetri women have 7.5 percent ownership of households, 13.9 percent of land and 2.7 percent of livestock, and yet they are restricted from enjoying autonomy of their share. This is comparatively better than the women of middle social groups, as the numbers in the relevant table indicate. Madheshi Dalit women have the least property rights, which makes them poorer and more vulnerable

12 The household is “the basic residential unit in which economic production, consumption, inheritance, child rearing, and shelter are organized and carried out”; the household may or may not be synonymous with ‘family’. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models. The term refers to all individuals who live in the same dwelling (http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household). 136 | The Landscape of Madhesh

(Table 7). A significant extent of ownership of property by women is due to the provision of less tax on properties owned by women. In addition, under the land reform policy introduced during the tenure of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in 2001, land ceiling had been imposed. Hence, land owners started transferring parts of their lands to their kin.There were even fake cases of divorces aimed at legally creating multiple owners of one property. Such cases were more prevalent in rich high castes. Political status The political representation of Madheshi women was negligible before the Constituent Assembly (CA) election in 2008. A significant improvement of their representation in the now dissolved CA is due to the mandatory provision of reservation of 33 percent seats for women, as guaranteed by the Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007 (Table 8). Apart from this, a proliferation of political parties based in Madhesh has also led to the increased participation of women in politics. The study, part of this book, on inclusiveness in political parties in Madhesh dwells further on this subject. Table 8: Elected women candidates in CA, 2008

Number Political parties Madheshi Total Female Male women UCPN (Maoists) 229 77 152 14 Nepali Congress 115 39 76 9 CPN (UML) 108 38 70 9 Madheshi Janadhikar Forum 54 13 41 13 Terai-Madhesh Loktantrik 21 6 15 5 Party Others 74 24 50 10 Total 601 197 404 60 Source: www.nepaldemocracy.org Madheshi women’s participation in various decision-making levels is dismal. The perception that socially and politically ‘active’ women Madheshi Women in Nepal | 137 ruin family prestige prevents them from engaging in public life, reduces their chances of representing their own community and has an adverse impact on the decision-making process at the national level. Mostly, Madheshi women’s voice is unheard and their issues remain unaddressed. Only one Madheshi woman has been able to have a significant position politically from 1951-2006, whereas they represent 33 percentof the total population of Madhesh as per CBS, 2001. The representation of Madheshi women in the now dissolved CA was not in proportion to their population. It is observed that Madheshi women’s presence in politics is either because they belong to a political family or because of the need to fulfill the provision imposed by the Constitution. There are reports that a number of women politicians are relatives of male members of the CA and are less independent. This connection might make women members support the parties ‘interests’, as opposed to other and more pressing interests (International IDEA, 2008). But the numerical representation is being questioned now and there is demand for more meaningful participation so that women are able to adequately represent the suppressed voice. 3.2 International covenants and conventions (relevant provisions) Human rights are basic rights and freedoms that all people are entitled to regardless of nationality, sex, national or ethnic origin, race, religion, language, or other status. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, outlines fundamental consensus on the human rights of all people. These include security, freedom from slavery and torture, protection of the law, freedom of movement, speech and religion, right to social security, work, health, education, culture and citizenship, among others. Individual rights include freedom of expression, freedom of movement, right to have one’s personal views, right to information and right to assembly. As declared in Article 1, 2 and 7 of UDHR, as human beings, women too have equal human rights (Malla, 2010). 138 | The Landscape of Madhesh

In this context, Malla (2011) opines, “Unless laws that define women’s experience are made a part of the country’s legislation, different kinds of discrimination will remain completely unrecognized.” Hence, laws are conceived to be important on the basis of which the struggle for equal and fundamental rights can be carried out. Malla further says, “All forms of gender discrimination and exploitation are violation of human rights. Equality, non-discrimination, and right to lead a life with dignity, should be constitutionally guaranteed. The law and constitution can be interpreted as upholders of human and fundamental rights.” The Government of Nepal is obliged to respect, protect and fulfill the rights mentioned under the various International Conventions and Treaties, as it has not merely ratified the covenant but has also incorporated some of these rights as fundamental rights in the Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007. Article 1 of United Nations Charter, 1945 ensures respect for human rights and freedom for all without distinction of any kind, including sex, and Article 26 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), 1966 assures equality before law. Convention on Elimination of All Kinds Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), 1979 defines discrimination against women and obligates the ratifying nation to take legal actions to end discrimination. This convention of human rights affirms the reproductive rights of women and the right to acquire change or retain the nationality of her children. Similarly, Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, 1993 and Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 1995 provide a crucial platform to address issues of women and recognize and condemn gender-based violence against women in private and public life. United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325, 2000 reaffirms the role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and negotiations and UNSCR 1820, 2008 recognizes sexual violence against women and girls as a tactic of war and as a crime against humanity. 3.3 Women and the Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007 The rights recognized in the Interim Constitution of Nepal include Madheshi Women in Nepal | 139 the right to a dignified life, liberty, freedom of speech and freedom to join with others in gatherings of associations, among others. According to the Interim Constitution, everyone is equal, and there must be no discrimination on the basis of sex, ethnicity or caste, language or religion. Discriminating somebody while providing goods, services or facilities is punishable under law. Article 20 of the constitution ensures that no woman shall be discriminated against in any way on the basis of gender and guarantees them the right to reproductive health and other reproductive rights. This article gives both sons and daughters equal rights to ancestral property. Similarly the ‘Right to Social Justice’ under Article 21 gives women, Madheshi communities and other backward groups the right to participate in state structures on the basis of principles or proportional inclusion which is the recognition of oppression of those communities too. The Interim Constitution of Nepal is considered to be more progressive than the previous constitutions. Bhattachan (2008) explains in a gist, “The positive changes made in the Interim Constitution include that Nepal is a secular state (Article 4 (1)) and right to justice i.e. right of women, Dalit, indigenous peoples, Madheshi community, oppressed class, poor farmers and workers to participate in the state structure based on the principle of proportional inclusion (Article 21), and political parties shall give attention to the principle of inclusion while selecting candidates for the first-past-the-post election for CA and ensure proportional representation of women, Dalit, oppressed caste/indigenous peoples, backward region, Madheshi and others as per the law (Article 63 (4)).” From the perspective of human rights, the status of women in Nepal is gloomy, the situation being even worse in case of Madheshi women due to prevailing socio-economic and cultural biases. The living conditions of women in Madheshi society are dismal even among middle-class and educated families due to the exploitation and discrimination by male members of their families. Women 140 | The Landscape of Madhesh have been suffering because of patriarchy and exploitation, besides poverty, illiteracy and a conservative society. 3.4 Muluki Ain, 1962 (relevant provisions) The Country Code (Muluki Ain) of Nepal or the Panchayat Constitution, 1962 are the first unified laws, with the objective of maintaining peace and fostering good relations among people irrespective of class, caste or region. The 11th and 12th amendments to the Code for maintaining gender equality in 2006-07 can be considered as landmark amendments for ensuring rights of women in Nepal. Section 1 of the chapter on partition recognizes daughters as heirs of parental property (11th amendment of the Country Code) in equal terms to the rights of the sons and Section 12 recognizes a widow’s right to claim her share of property from the joint family estate after the death of her husband, and to use this property even if she gets re-married. Section 4 (a) recognizes women’s right to a share in the husband’s property even after a divorce. Finally, Section 4 (a) repealed the provision that required a woman to return property taken from her husband, in case of married to another or after divorce. Chapter on the Birth, Death and Other Personal Events Registration Act,1976-77, Section 4 (1)(a) recognized women’s rights to register birth, death and other personal events. 3.5 Law against domestic violence On April 19, 2009, the Parliament of Nepal enacted a law on domestic violence known as the Domestic Violence (Crime and Punishment) Act, 2008. Under this Act, domestic violence is defined as “physical, mental, sexual, financial as well as behavioral violence.” Victims of domestic violence can seek legal action by filing a complaint with the police, the local government or women commission within 90 days of being subjected to the act(s). Hearings of their cases will be heard in court in camera. Government-run service centers will provide victims security, treatment and rehabilitation as well as psychological counseling. Where physical or psychological injury has been inflicted, the perpetrator will be responsible for bearing Madheshi Women in Nepal | 141 the costs of the victim’s treatment. The perpetrator shall be punished with a fine of Rs. 6,000 or four months imprisonment or both. The maximum penalty is a six months prison term and fine of Rs. 25,000 or both. Repeat offenders will face double penalty (www.loc.gov/law web/servile/110c. Retrieved on 9 June 2012). 4 conclusions and recommendations 4.1 Conclusions Madheshi women are backward because they are excluded economically, educationally, politically and regionally. They have been confined to backrooms and bedrooms and to the role of giving birth to babies and feeding the families. Further, regressive systems like dowry, ‘purdah’ and other social customs in Madhesh restrict them from active participation in any field, thus curtailing their empowerment. They don’t have access to representation and participation in the power wielding and decision-making levels leading to a crisis of identity and recognition. They are also deprived of resources, opportunities and land ownership. Education Education is not easily accessible to Madheshi women due to male dominance and social structures. The ratio of girl students to boys in all levels of education and age groups is heavily skewed against the former. Health Madheshi women have little decision-making power in matters concerning their health and medical care. The discriminatory pattern of nutrition makes them weak coupled with immense household chores, thus making them more vulnerable to diseases. Early marriage and pregnancy also cause various health problems. Marriage and dowry The dowry system, prevalent in Madhesh, can be referred to as a ‘social disease’ which is an insult to the dignity of women. Girls are often considered as burdens due to this practice and many have to 142 | The Landscape of Madhesh face several forms of violence. The girl child is eliminated through sex selective abortions and infanticides. Violence Accusing women of witchcraft is extremely common in Madhesh and surprisingly, only Dalit and poor women have to face such accusations. Among the crimes against Madheshi women, rape, attempt to rape, polygamy, trafficking and sexual harassment are most common. Employment Most of the Madheshi women are engaged in agriculture and those who work as paid laborurers are exploited. The societal structure does not permit Madheshi women to actively participate in income-oriented activities like non-agricultural jobs and business, preventing them from leading their lives with dignity. Not just Madheshi women but Madheshi men have also been discriminated against in government services. The data shows the dominance of three hill communities – Brahamans, Chhetris and Newars, who constitute 36 percent of the total population of Nepal but occupy 89.2 percent of civil service positions; the remaining population of Terai and other hill social groups comprise 64 percent of the population but occupy only 10.8 percent of civil service positions. There is an over representation of Brahamans and Chhetris in all the sectors of governance. In recent days, the representation of Madheshi community has improved but they are more confined to technical fields. In such an adverse scenario, Madheshi women have to go through immense struggle to get their due. Ownership of land, cattle etc. Madheshi women have less ownership rights in houses, land and livestock. The household head takes a prominent identity in households and the responsibility of socio-economic wellbeing of household members. Religious beliefs and social traditions stress the norms of superiority of males over females. Madheshi women are at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing household resources and opportunities and ownership of property. Madheshi Women in Nepal | 143

In Nepal’s context, land ownership remains the main source of wealth and identity and the source of economic and political power (Pathak et. al, 2009) within a family, and society at large. Madheshi women have been excluded and denied equal rights to own assets, make decisions and work for their implementation. They have less autonomy even in the self-earned property and have to depend on the male members of the family. Additionally, divorce, legal separation, infidelity or widowhood also result in the loss of husband’s property to one of his male relatives. Madheshi women are denied access to land ownership, government services and employment opportunities due to lack of citizenship certificates. One of the documents an applicant can provide is a land or tenancy certificate along with necessary recommendations certifying birth and permanent residence in Nepal. This is not possible for landless and wage-workers. Further, men are reluctant to let women from their families acquire certificates because they fear women will claim a share in property once they have these certificates. Political status Madheshi Women have been suffering all suppression and discrimination in silence. However, the campaigns by the government, interventions by many I/NGOs and publicity given to issues related to Madheshi women have started to have an impact. International covenants and conventions and Interim Constitution, 2007 Many amendments have been made in the Constitutions to grant women equal status with a view to improving their social, political and economic conditions and status, but the law alone is not sufficient to bring about a radical change. Ancient forms of discrimination and repression like child marriage, dowry deaths and sexual abuse still continue, irrespective of legislation in various fields. Apart from this, tradition, prejudice and faulty social, economic and political practices have relegated women to secondary and/or ‘special interest’ as far as their human rights are concerned. 144 | The Landscape of Madhesh

Being a signatory to many International Treaties and Conventions, the government of Nepal carries the obligation to implement them but it has so far been tardy. Discrimination of Madheshis based on social group, gender and region results in rampant poverty, low status, suppression and oppression and low esteem. In spite of ratification of International Labor Organization (ILO) 169, the indigenous peoples do not have access to their own resources yet. State’s negligence towards this region has made it a fertile ground for crime. The Country Code and Interim Constitution including, previous Constitutions, clearly say there would be no discrimination based on gender or marital status but they are yet to be practiced. Despite declaring domestic violence as a crime, the government has made little progress in adopting measures to prevent such crimes. Further, despite constitutional and legislative arrangements on the right to citizenship, those that seek citizenship in the name of mothers face hurdles in obtaining citizenship due to patriarchal structures in all administrative authorities; there is also constitutional discrimination as a woman who brings a non-Nepali husband to Nepal after marriage cannot provide citizenship to her spouse as easily as a Nepali man can to his foreigner wife. However, children of Nepali women married to a foreigner have access to citizenship if they are not already citizens of another nation. In the context of Madhesh where many women get married across the border, their kids get deprived of the privilege due to this provision of law. After the dawn of democracy in 1990, Madheshi people started demanding participation and representation in government bodies, judicial service and national legislature as Madhesh contributes almost two-thirds of Nepal’s GDP given 60 percent of the fertile land and all major transit routes of import-dependent Nepal are located here (Mathema, 2011). They claimed their contribution was not acknowledged by the state and hence, they revolted in 2007, demanding equal rights, fair representation and greater autonomy within Nepal. During the People’s War from 1996 to 2006 and the Madhesh movement of 2007, the people of Madhesh showed their potential and took pride in their identity with the slogan, Garvsekahu Madheshi Women in Nepal | 145 hum Madheshichhi, Bhagaudanai, Dhartiputrachhi.13 They realized until they have access to Banduk,14 Kalam15 and Arth16 (Shah, 2012), their presence won’t become visible and noticeable and they are seeking to make Kathmandu17 realize the presence, geographic importance of Madhesh and their contribution in nation building. They are raising their voice against the imposition of mono- linguistic policy, marginalization and deprivation, invasion of hill people, issues of citizenship and restriction on the recruitment of Madheshis in the army. In the same context, Madheshi women have also started their struggle for emancipation and for their rights and identity. Much is talked about the betterment of their status and rights in the constitution but a lot is yet to be done. They constitute slightly more than the male population but they are treated like minorities and have been ignored for time immemorial. Government and non- government organizations have come up with many revolutionary slogans about Madheshi empowerment but nobody has been able to show satisfactory results yet. Finally, in the Nepali context, culture, ethnicity, geography, religion, and social strata are major factors that determine the status of Madheshi women. The various roles of women, at the family level, societal level and national level are substantial but remain unnoticed and are often taken for granted. 4.2 Recommendations Apart from a skewed state structure, a patriarchal society – which perceived men and women to be unequal – is also responsible for the dismal status of Madheshi women. Misra (2007) mentions what Dr. Justice A.S. Anandonce said, “Fight for gender equality is not a

13 English translation of the statement is, “Let’s take pride in being Madheshi; we are the sons of the soil, not cowards.” 14 Gun representing Nepal police, Armed Police Force and Nepal army 15 Denotes pen which represents administration and judiciary 16 Money which represents Finance ministry and Planning Commission 17 Shah coined the term ‘Kathmandu’ for ‘centre’ irrespective of any social groups on 7 April 2012 in a training organized by SAMATA Foundation on ‘Academic and Policy Discourse on Dalit and Social Inclusion’. 146 | The Landscape of Madhesh fight against men but against traditions that have chained them- a fight against attitudes that are ingrained in the society - it is a fight against system - a fight against the proverbial Laxman Rekha,18 which is different for women and different for men.” Based on the study, the following recommendations are being made: • Analysis and breakdown by caste or ethnic identity is generally avoided while studying the main findings of the DHS primarily to avoid potentially controversial social categorization (Bennett et.al, 2008). Hence, a strong recommendation is that an analysis based on different indicators of caste, region and also gender di- mensions be carried out since women’s membership in different social groups is a major factor in their health and development outcomes. • Lack of statistical details of Madheshi women on the basis of social group, age, education level, employment and region blur facts and do not reveal their true situation, hindering policy-lev- el intervention. The documentation of data specific to Madheshi women must be done. • Education plays a vital role in changing attitudes. Derogatory stereotypes and discriminatory attitudes toward women have to be eliminated from educational curricula and relevant curricula should be developed to promote gender equality and condemn violence against women. • Women should be made aware of their rights and be empowered to fight for their rights. Unless Madheshi women are provided free and quality education, they will not be able to become inde- pendent. They should be able to group together as the fighting force against discrimination. • Religious norms and cultural values have contributed immense- ly to the existing gender bias; the culture which always advo- cates that women should practice sacrifice, servitude and toler-

18 According to the Ramayana, a boundary line was drawn by Laxman, brother of Ram, for his sister-in-law, Sita, who was not supposed to cross that boundary — that has now become symbolic of the invisible line which women should not cross. Madheshi Women in Nepal | 147

ance. For the progress and empowerment of women, these old traditions and values should be done away with. As a patriar- chal society is the main root of discrimination against Madheshi women, education and awareness programmes should not only be women oriented but must also focus on changing the attitude of men towards women. • As far as proportional representation of Madheshi women is concerned, many discriminatory policies are yet to be reviewed and revised to give way to appropriate inclusive policies to in- stitutionalize the achievements made by the sacrifice of many people. The imbalance of representation of marginalized com- munities at decision-making levels is the cause of the slow pace of legal changes required to address issues of marginalization and deprivation. It needs to be ensured that positive discrimi- nation is introduced in a manner that it is advantageous to the marginalized. • Measures to discourage the regressive value system, cultur- al practices and eliminate dowry and other atrocities towards Madheshi women should be adopted. As long as there is no structural mechanism for fair representation of women, both remedial and preferential affirmative action should be applied to eliminate the continuing domination of men. • Limitations to women’s physical, sexual, economic, social and political autonomy also affect women’s decision-making pro- cesses. Madheshi women need specific empowerment pro- grammes to enable them to be more independent in at least their household’s decision-making process. • Madheshi women’s traditional skills like weaving baskets using bamboo and embroidery etc. should be modernized as per the demands of the consumer market to uplift their economic status and make them financially independent. • Training journalists and other media personnel about women’s human rights and the root causes of violence against women may influence the way in which the issue is reported and that could help societal attitudes. • Apart from a rights-based approach of advocacy programmes, 148 | The Landscape of Madhesh

need-based programmes should also be designed on the basis of needs and conditions of Madheshi women of different social groups. • The language barrier must be eliminated. All activities targeting Madhesh should cater to the regional language. • Programmes should be designed to spread awareness about family planning to reduce the burden on women. • A comprehensive strategy should be formulated to enable Mad- heshi women to access community resources, to challenge tra- ditional norms and to access economic resources. • Public awareness campaigns are needed to promote women’s rights and spread information about relevant laws and remedies. Scope for further research The study proposes some areas for further research: 1. There is an urgent need to segregate data for Madheshi women since the data available is cumulative. 2. A comprehensive research is required on Madheshi women ac- knowledging social, religious and cultural diversity to address issues accordingly. 3. As family relations and patriarchal norms are also responsible for the dismal status of Madheshi women, there must be the re- search on the kind of intervention needed in the male attitude so that they can cope with the altered global context. 4. Due to unstable politics and power crisis, Madheshis are being deprived of employment opportunities, compelling them to migrate, creating social friction among family members. Many Madheshi women are targets of this recent problem, which has also increased the crime rate. Research to identify solutions to address such social issues is needed. 5. Women are the worst victims of conflict. Madheshi women had to face a decade long Maoist insurgency and Madhesh move- ment. An assessment is necessary to document their sufferings, physical and psychological scars and plight that they suffered during that period. Madheshi Women in Nepal | 149

6. Many people believe that the Maoist insurgency has socially, po- litically, economically and culturally empowered Nepali women by improving their competitive capacity. Does this statement hold true in case of Madheshi women too? 7. An intensive research needs to be carried out on the loopholes in state policies so that informed policy advocacy can be initiat- ed on behalf of Madheshi women. 8. This study has revealed that the women of hill and mountains enjoy more freedom compared to Madheshi women. A research is necessary to explore the link between socio-demographic fac- tors that influence women’s autonomy in decision-making so as to better understand the problems of Madheshi women and ad- dress them accordingly. 9. As Madhesh shares its border with India, a cross- cultural study is also of utmost importance. 150 | The Landscape of Madhesh

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