Practices of Caste and Development in New Nepal
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Enduring inequalities: Practices of caste and development in new Nepal Mandip Rai February 2017 A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The Australian National University © Copyright by Mandip Rai 2017 All Rights Reserved Declaration Except when otherwise indicated, this thesis is my own original work carried out as a PhD researcher at the Australian National University between February 2013 and February 2017. Mandip Rai February 2017 ii I dedicate this thesis to the residents of Patle Gau, Kavre, Nepal, without whose stories this thesis could have never been written. iii Acknowledgements Just to think of the many people and institutions who have contributed towards writing this thesis is daunting. It is inevitable that I will inadvertently miss some names. I apologize to them at the very beginning. As I come from a background which represents the middle class of an economically poor country, pursuing a PhD in any well-recognized university of the Western world was mostly beyond my financial means. And since I could undertake a journey towards such a degree through the scholarship provided by the Department of Foreign Aid and Trade (DFAT – formerly AusAID) of the Government of Australia, I would first like to thank them for financially supporting my study and stay in Australia. I also would like to thank the Australian National University (ANU) for accepting my PhD application without which I would not be writing the words that I am writing now. At ANU, I first thank Associate Professor Patrick Guinness, my Principal Supervisor. Before beginning my PhD I knew practically nothing of the language of Anthropology and Development Studies. But Patrick’s supervision, constant intellectual support and meticulous comments to my writing have now equipped me with sufficient anthropological knowledge that I feel I can effectively communicate with other anthropologists and academics in the field of development studies. I, therefore, sincerely appreciate Patrick’s pivotal role in having this thesis completed. Likewise I also thank Professor Stewart Lockie whose acceptance to supervise me in 2012 helped me obtain the Australian Award Scholarship in 2013. Professor Lockie’s direct supervision during my first year at ANU when I was struggling to leave behind the quantitative language of Economics and learning the interpretive ways of Sociology, has been crucial to me to make that ontoloigical shift and be able to write this thesis. Similarly, I iv remain indebted to Emeritus Professor Barry Hindess and Dr Christopher Gregory, Adjunct Fellow at ANU, for their critical insights and intellectual inputs to me in my writing process. I cannot forget friends and colleagues at ANU who made my lonely long hours of stay at my office bearable and liveable. Therefore, I thank Dr Caroline Schuster, Stephanie Betz, Shiori Shakuto, Faisal Shah, Kathleen Varvaro, Marie Haenga-Collins, Dr. Binod Chapagain, Mohanraj Adhikary, and Pramila Ghimire for helping me refine my arguments in the draft chapters and for moral and emotional support. I shall always remember the support from Gina Abarquez, Elaine Ee, and Rozana Muir of DFAT for helping me manage my student life and finances at ANU. Their help has made my four years of student life at ANU so much easier. I am also very thankful to Hans-Jorge Kraus for assisting me with the use of Endnote which I used for referencing, Candida Spence for formatting the Word documents and Dr. Annie McCarthy for editorial supports. Without their help this thesis probably would not have had the shape that it has now. In Patle Gau in Nepal I am grateful to a number of my interlocutors who let me have the privilege to look closely at their personal lives. Even though I remain protective of their identities, all of their personalities come alive in my mind as I write this. Elsewhere in Nepal I thank Aahuti, Min Bishwakarma, Dr Purna Nepali, Bharat Kandel, Ganesh Bhatta, Dr Janak Rai, Professor Chaitanya Mishra, Dr. Krishna Bhattachan, and many more who were kind enough to spare me a few minutes from their busy lives to make me understand more about Nepal and the Nepalese society. My family in Nepal – my parents Hem Rai and Hemanti Rai, sister Teresa Rai and her family and my mother in law Mira Rai – never failed in providing v me with continued inspiration and motivation throughout my PhD journey. Closer home in Canberra I thank my wife Namita, daughter Mahishma and son Nwaaman for their unconditional love and care without complaining too much about my not being able to provide them with adequate attention. vi Abstract In 2007 a new Nepal in the form of Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal was born. The idea of this new Nepal was to create a political space in which all Nepalese peoples irrespective of caste, ethnicity, gender and religion could relate to each other in equal social relations. Yet Nepal continues to harbour a deeply unequal society led by unequal distribution of opportunities for economic and social mobility. This thesis critically examines the difficulties in attaining equality of social relationships through ethnographic observations of everyday lives between Bahun, Dalit and Tamang communities in a rural village in Nepal. In doing so the ethnography investigates how the structure of caste influences the interplay between everyday cultural as well as organized development (bikas) practices in changing social and political milieu in creating unequal opportunities. Informed by location specific as well as national historical- political contexts, the thesis explores how caste status and its associated practices of discrimination link with wealth, leadership roles, education and networks to create uneven playing fields for various social groups in accessing land, utilizing financial institutions and even migrating in ways that only further consolidate their pre-existing structural positions. The thesis shows how the state’s rhetoric of equal social relations and its discourses and practices of growth-oriented development ignore unequal social relations and thus prove incapable of eradicating the structural poverty of the Dalits. vii Glossary Bahun (Brahmin), Chhetri, Thakuri and Sanyasi: According to the Hindu caste system these are the “high” or “upper” castes. In the latest national political lexicon they are also known as Khas Arya though this new identity is yet to be widely spread. Bastee: A human settlement, a close synonym to Tole. Birta: Land grants gifted by the state to individuals. Birta was tax-free and usually inheritable. The state abolished it in 1959. Dalit: Former acchyut (untouchable) caste group. Dasain: A Hindu festival celebrated in September or October Khet: Irrigated lands where rice can be grown. Kipat: A system of communal land tenure system prevalent in some ethnic groups of the hills. Janajati: Ethnic peoples who claim they are outside of Hindu caste system and who have their own cultures, languages, customs, traditions and religions. Madheshi: The people living in the plains (Terai or Madhesh) but traditionally not referring to the people who later migrated from the hills and mountains to reside in Terai. Raikar: State-owned lands whose tenures can be passed on to individuals who pay taxes to the state for land use. Ropani: A unit of land measurement widely used in the hills including Kathmandu Valley and is equivalent to 5,476 square feet in area. Saujee: Depending on context, it means a property holder, a rich man, a shop- keeper, a business-man, and a local money-lender. Tihar: A Hindu festival celebrated in October or November a few weeks after Dasain. Tole: A cluster within a human settlement. Zamindar: A landlord or a class of landlords working as an intermediary collecting revenues from peasants living in villages to pay to the state. viii Major political events in Nepal 1769 Initiation of the territorial expansion of the kingdom of Gorkha by annexing the surrounding princely states which eventually led to the formation of the present-day Nepal 1814-1816 War with the East Indian Company with the subsequent Treaty of Sugauli which decisively halted the territorial conquests of the Gorkhali/Nepali kingdom; much lands lost to the British; Nepalese sovereignty compromised as Nepal needed the British consent before taking any decision relating to international relations 1846 Kot (court) massacre which saw the diminution of monarchy to mere tutelage and rise of all powerful Prime Minister Jung Bahadur Rana who established a hereditary system to Prime Ministership 1850 Jung Bahadur Rana’s visit to Great Britain and France 1854 Promulgation of the Muluki Ain (national code) by Jung Bahadur Rana which legalized caste-based practices and penal system 1857-59 Jang Bahadur’s assistance to the East Indian Company with 9,000 military troops to suppress the Indian Mutiny 1859 East Indian Company’s return of some of the lands to Nepal which the latter had lost during 1814-1816 war 1914-18 Nepal’s support to Britain with about 100,000 soldiers during the First World War 1923 Recognition of Nepal’s full sovereignty by Britain 1939-45 Mobilization of Nepal’s resources for supporting the British in the Second World War 1951 End of the 104 years of autocratic Rana rule after successful Jana Kranti (People’s Revolution); promise of elections for Constitution Assembly (CA); first experiments with ideas and ideologies of modernity, modernization, and democracy 15 December Dismissal of Nepal’s first democratically elected government by 1960 King Mahendra Shah 1962 Banning of all