A SURVEY OF THE NEPALI PEOPLE 1 A SURVEY OF THE NEPALI PEOPLE IN 2018 :yfgLo ;/sf/ ;anLs/0f The Australian Government - The Asia Foundation Partnership in Nepal 2 A SURVEY OF THE NEPALI PEOPLE A SURVEY OF THE NEPALI PEOPLE I A SURVEY OF THE NEPALI PEOPLE IN 2018 :yfgLo ;/sf/ ;anLs/0f The Australian Government - The Asia Foundation Partnership in Nepal II A SURVEY OF THE NEPALI PEOPLE A SURVEY OF THE NEPALI PEOPLE IN 2018 © School of Arts, Kathmandu University, Interdisciplinary Analysts and The Asia Foundation, 2019 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from The Asia Foundation, Interdisciplinary Analysts and School of Arts, Kathmandu University. School of Arts, Kathmandu University G.P.O.Box 6250, Hattiban, Lalitpur,Nepal Phone:+977-01-5251294,+977-01-5251306 Email: [email protected] https://kusoa.edu.np/ Interdisciplinary Analysts Chandra Binayak Marg, Chabahil, Kathmandu, Nepal Phone:+977-01-4471845, +977-01-4471127 www.ida.com.np The Asia Foundation G.P.O.Box 935, Thirbam Sadak, Kathmandu, Nepal www.asiafoundation.org A Survey of the Nepali People in 2018 was implemented with support from the Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade –The Asia Foundation Partnership on Subnational Governance in Nepal. The findings and any views expressed in relation to this activity do not reflect the views of the Australian Government or those of The Asia Foundation. Cover Photo: Pranaya Sthapit Design & Print: Creative Press Pvt.Ltd. A SURVEY OF THE NEPALI PEOPLE III FOREWORD In a short span of less than three decades, starting from 1990 when the first major political movement restored multiparty democratic system in the country, to 2017 when the elections at all three levels of a new republic and a federally structured country took place, Nepal has gone through some unprecedented socio-political changes. When so many path-changing and historical events take place in such a short duration and in such a rapid pace, it is bound to raise expectations of the people at large, while at the same time causing some uncertainties and raising concerns amongst them about being able to change themselves to accept the new realities. But change is a must. And change brings new opportunities. It is how one adopts and adapt to the new realities that will determine the success or failure of any transition – especially the big and impactful ones. But it is also by showing willingness to accept the change. The Nepali people have time and again shown that they are a resilient breed of people, and are open to changes, big or small. Provided that their expectations and aspirations are also met. Their expectations and aspirations are usually about being able to meet basic needs, having better livelihood opportunities, feeling safe and secure, getting services of decent quality, being able to lead a dignified life, and having cared and able leadership, among others. Indeed, these could be aspirations of citizens of any country, and the people of Nepal are no exceptions in this regard. This volume of A Survey of the Nepali People (SNP) in 2018 attempts to capture these very aspects of the people of Nepal in 2018, based on their lived experiences in the previous 12 months, and their aspirations and expectations for the days to come. This report is a contin- uation of a similar exercise done in 2017, the results of which were reported in SNP 2017. The results presented in SNP 2018 are based on the findings of a nation-wide survey conducted in the aftermath of first ever elections held for a new political setup in Nepal. These elections and the subsequent establishment of federal, provincial local governments in 2018 put a rubber stamp of sorts on the long struggle for political changes that had been ongoing in this country for decades and accelerated the transition. In this context, this report attempts to show what the public feel, and perceive, regarding the various day-to-day experiences of their lives in the new federal republic, expressed during the survey period. The findings presented here there- fore primarily reflect the mood of the people at that particular time, and thus provide the reader with some interesting insights. There is, for example, a general sense of cautious optimism towards the way things are moving forward. These results also raise some inevitable questions and may even tempt one to draw some hasty conclusions. The attempt therefore has been made to present the data as the people themselves have expressed, hoping that the data will speak for themselves, with very rudimentary and straightforward analysis made. This is also to welcome other interested parties and individuals to do further and deeper analysis, should they please to do so. A nationwide survey, by its very nature, gives us a wide range of information to reflect upon and digest. But one should be cautious to draw any concrete policy implications from just one or two surveys. This is so because survey data have their own limitations. For example, one limitation is caused by the mere timing of data collection or survey period. It is often the case IV A SURVEY OF THE NEPALI PEOPLE that the mood of the respondents is influenced by the most recent events in their locality. In this case, it was the elections held at a federated context. Consequently, many of the percep- tions and experiences expressed could have been influence by the formation of local govern- ments. Second, selecting the right sample size for a survey of this scale is almost always a challenge. There are always possibilities of encountering sampling, nonresponse, coverage and measurement errors. It will be up to the interested researcher to dig further into the data of the survey parts of which will be made public in the days to come. At the end, I would like to thank The Asia Foundation, especially the team responsible for this task, for the financial and technical support they have provided to us from the very beginning. Similarly, Interdisciplinary Analysts (IDA) provided the crucial support right from the initial stage of designing the questionnaire, conducting the nation-wide fieldwork, data collection, and compiling the data, for which I am deeply grateful. Furthermore, their critical and constructive feedback throughout the report writing was very helpful. Finally, my fellow colleagues at the School of Arts deserve a heartfelt appreciation for tirelessly working on this report and bringing it to its current shape. Prof. Dr. Sagar R. Sharma Dean, School of Arts, Kathmandu University April 19, 2019 A SURVEY OF THE NEPALI PEOPLE V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A Survey of the Nepali People in 2018 is an output of a tripartite collaboration between School of Arts, Kathmandu University (KUSOA), Interdisciplinary Analysts (IDA) and the Asia Foundation (The Foundation). It was implemented through the Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) – The Asia Foundation Partnership on Subnational Governance in Nepal. The survey fieldwork was implemented by an IDA team led by Dr. Sudhindra Sharma and coordinated by Hiranya Baral. Bal Krishna Khadka provided essential support on the technical aspects of survey methodology; Chandra Bahadur KC worked on the detailed sampling design and Dinesh Dangol and Sandeep Thapa designed the software for data entry. Preliminary analysis and write-up of each of the chapters was done jointly by Dr. Sharma, Akriti Rana, Bal Krishna Khadka and Chandra Bahadur KC. Prof. Dr. Sagar Raj Sharma from KUSOA provided the overall guidance to the survey, supervision to report writing, and contributed in final writeup/analysis of the Economic Outlook chapter. Dr.Uddhab Pyakurel provided inputs and contributed in final writeup/analysis of the two chapters National Mood and Identity/ Social Relations while Dr.Chandra Lal Pandey did the same for Governance and Political Participation and Personal Safety and Dispute Resolution chapters. Dr. Dhiraj Giri led the data analysis and Sabik Neupane assisted in the draft writeup. Sagar Prasai provided the final editorial support, while Srijana Nepal led the overall research including the design of questionnaire and Bishnu Adhikari provided guidance in the implementation of the survey from the Foundation. The SNP 2018 team expresses its sincere gratitude to the survey respondents for their views, the local authorities for their support and all the members who contributed in producing this report in its current shape. VI A SURVEY OF THE NEPALI PEOPLE A SURVEY OF THE NEPALI PEOPLE VII taBLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD ........... .........................................................................................................................................III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................................. V CHAPTER 1 INTRODUctiON ................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2 PUBLIC OUTLOOK AND NatiONAL MOOD ......................................................................... 7 2.1 Direction of the Country ...................................................................................... 9 2.2 Reasons for Optimism........................................................................................11 2.3 Problems and Challenges .................................................................................. 13 2.4 Local Conditions ...............................................................................................