Nepal general evaluation 1 NEPAL A COUNTRY PROFILE Nepal is a land-locked country sandwiched between two neighbouring giants China (in the north) and India (in the east, south and west). One of the 49 Least Developed Countries (LDCs), with an annual per capita income of US$ 230, Nepal is ranked as 143rd (out of 175 countries) in the Human Development Index (HDI) of UNDP, and falls under the category of ‘low human development’ countries in the human development aggregates (UNDP 2003). Nepal, which stretches in an area of 147,181 sq km, is a land of enormous geographical diversity divided east-west into three distinct ecological zones: the plains (terai) on the south, hills and mountains in the middle and the Himalayas on the north. Thousands of rivers and streams that flow north-south bisect the landscape into hundreds of small hills and hillocks isolating the residents from each other and from the rapidly evolving world of information and development because of the lack of linking infrastructure (transport and communication). These three regions also display an immense diversity of human settlement patterns, population, land distribution, productive resources and levels of economic development. Home to nearly 24 million people, Nepal is a mosaic of over 61 ethnic groups who have their own distinct languages, cultures life styles. Officially, however, it is a Hindu State with a rigid caste system that compartmentalizes the people into 4-tire hierarchy. This caste framework finds a close nexus historically with the system of governance, in which the upper caste, the bahun and chhettri castes in particular, have always held the positions of power and privileges, and by virtue of their being in lower tiers, other groups are routinely discriminated against and deprived of accessing decisive State structures and institutions. 1. CULTURE Nepalese culture builds on its unique geographical, socio-economic and political histories and structures. Its geographical distinctiveness has given rise to diverse cultural structures and practices in different ecological zones. The terai, hills and mountains thus are mutually exclusive in terms of cultural practises. Cultural distinctiveness is also conspicuous along ethnic lines (to which we return shortly). Feudal and subsistence-based socio-economic structures also have implications for cultural practices and manifestations. The following are some of key cultural institutions. Religion Table 1: Population by Religion (No &%) Hindu 18,330,121 80.6 The Hindu religion provides an overarching Boudha 2,442,520 10.7 cultural ideology to the nation. Hinduism is the Islam 954,023 4.2 state religion and thus influential in shaping State policies as well. Treating Hinduism as Kirat 818,106 3.6 state religion has long been a contentious issue, Others 117,482 0.5 particularly amongst non-Hindu communities Not Stated 74,682 0.3 who find their religious ideologies and cultural Total Pupulation 22,736,934 100 practices neglected by the state. Nearly 81 Source: CBS (2002) percent of the total population professes Nepal Interim Report Page 1 of 44 Nepal general evaluation 2 Hinduism as their religion. Buddhism, the second main religion, is professed by around 11 per cent of the population. Islam and Kirat, the other main religions, are practised respectively by around four per cent of the population. Other religious groups which include, Christian, Sikh, Jain, Garaute, Tapjura and Bahai, make up below one per cent of the total population (Table 1). Of these minority religious groups, Christian is the biggest one with around 100 thousand people practising it followed by Sikh and Jain with around five thousand people practising each of them. Caste and Ethnicity Table 2: People of Nepal Nepalese people are socially segmented Groups Population Percent along lines of caste and ethnicity. The caste system, which flows from the Hindu Bahun 2 ,896,477 13 ideology, compartmentalizes people into 4 Chhetri 3 ,593,496 16 rigidly vertical hierarchies. A person retains Other caste groups 3 ,850,999 17 caste position by birth, and there is no Newar 1 ,245,232 5 possibility of change in this position Ethnic Communities 7 ,027,319 31 regardless of one’s educational performance Dalits 2 ,902,907 13 and economic or social achievements. The Religious-linguistic groups 988,863 4 caste position has implications for career Unidentified groups 231,641 1 development and other life-opportunities one would get from the State. Those in the upper hierarchies often maintain a close interaction with the state apparatus whereas those in the lower echelon find themselves discriminated against in political, economic and social decision-making and accessing opportunities available. The caste system is responsible for maintaining inequality amongst groups of people. By its very nature, it restricts the types of work people are allowed to undertake, with the most demeaning and menial work being the role of the lowest caste groups. The feudal nature of the caste system leaves lower caste people economically dependent on higher castes. Refusal to do the allotted work leads to reprisals including cases of economic and social boycotts of the whole community. Other rights denied include opportunities for employment, and the right to marry freely, let alone their right to participation in socio- political decision making structures and processes. The linguistic, ethnic and religious minorities and Madhises (people of of terai origin) are other discriminated groups. The Brahmins and Chhetris, which occupy the first and second position from the top in the caste ladder, constitute 29 percent of the total population but control 77 per cent of bureaucracy, and senior positions in army and police; 67 per cent of state and constitutional bodies; and 63 per cent of current legislature (ESP, 2001:13; 184-185). The Dalits who, according to 2001 census, constitute around 13 percent of the total population do not have a single position of policymaking status in the bureaucracy, army or police. Similarly the ethnic groups who constitute 31 percent1 of the total population do have a very negligible participation in state and constitutional policymaking bodies (see Table 3). The only group that enjoys State privileges besides Brahmin and Chhetris is Newar, constituting 5 percent of the total population. The Newars 1 Calculating the percent of ethnicity, the Newars, which constitute around 5 percent of the total population (CBS 2002), have been excluded in this report. In the national discourse on ethnicity, the Newars find a confusing place in terms of whether or not they constitute an ethnic identity as other groups do (see ESP 2001:180-182). Nepal Interim Report Page 2 of 44 Nepal general evaluation 3 are predominantly the residents of the Kathmandu valley, and the descendants of the rulers who ruled the principalities that existed in the Valley before 1769. Table 3: Participation of caste and ethnic groups in policymaking and policy enforcing bodies (in %) Rank Bahun & Mangol (Ethnic Madhise+ Dalit Newar# Chhetri people) Bureaucracy, army and police 77 1 4 0 18 Judiciary, constitutional bodies, 67 8 13 1 11 cabinet and parliament + The inhabitants of the Terai (madesh) are called Madhise. The term has more a geo-ecological connotation than a caste and ethnic one. The data are good to speak of regional disparity. # Newars are predominantly the inhabitants of Kathmandu Valley. Source: Extracted from ESP 2001:13, 184-185 According to the caste worldview, a person attains social position by birth, not by merits and qualifications. And it is an unwritten law that the opportunities available in the State Table 4: Discrimination against Dalits in Nepal are the privileges of those borne to upper Denial of Entry 10 castes. For the lower caste people, it is just Denial of Services 14 a matter of chance to be able to access the Denial of Access to common services 16 position of power and privileges. The caste Denial of Participation 14 worldview is, therefore, inherently torturous, discriminatory and divisive. Forced Discrimination 9 Dominance 20 The 1990 Constitution, drawn in the Attrocities 20 aftermath of the 1990 People’s Movement Social boycott 3 for the Restoration of Democracy, prohibits Attitudional untouchability 18 through Article 11 (2) any discrimination on Occupational discrimination 18 grounds of religion, race, sex, caste tribe or Educational discrimination 11 ideological conviction. However, the practice of ‘untouchability’ continues to Political discrimination 10 stigmatize some 3 million Dalits even today. Government policy and program 10 The caste system sustains due to the failure Government and NGO Offices 11 of the State to implement stringent Development programmes 13 measures to protect and promote the rights Religious and cultural discrimination 8 of Dalits and to hold the perpetrators—the Total 205 so-called high caste people—accountable for their actions. A recent study (ActionAid Nepal, 2003)—quite comprehensive of its kind— reports 205 kinds of discriminatory practices existing in Nepal (Table 3, also see box 1). Major discriminations include (a) denial (of entry into the house of upper castes as well as public places such as temple and shops; of services such as the sale of milk product; of access to common resources such as drinking water; of kinship such as inter-caste marriage; of participation such as festivals and public programmes), (b) forced labour (no wages for work), (c) atrocities (beatings, burning houses), (d) social boycott