'Struggle for Inclusion' an Op-Ed piece by Shakun Sherchand Leslie

Struggle for Inclusion
Kathmandu Post
May 26th, 2011

by Rukmini Chaudhary, Som Maya Tamang and Shakun Sherchand Leslie

Once again, three women -- a Tharu, a Tamang and a Thakali -- congregated at Maitighar on April 26, 2011, to oppose the passage of the Samabesi Bidhayek. This Social Inclusion Bill has resurfaced without significant changes promised after the five-point agreement signed by the then UCPN (Maoist)-led government with the Adivasi Tharuhat Sangarsha Samiti in April 2009 when the Bill was issued as adyadesh (ordinance).

The April 27 banda was a civil disobedience act called by the Newars and the Tamangs, with solidarity from the Adivasi Janajatis, Dalits and Muslims, to protest this discriminatory Social bill. This issue of continued state discrimination has been raised by four political parties --the Sanghiya Loktantrik Manch, Dalit Janajati Party, Newa Party and Independent (Muslim) Party -- by obstructing the proceedings of the CA Constitutional Committee.

The original ordinance had 'imposed' the inclusion of 92 indigenous identities under the broad 'Madhesi' category, thereby manipulating the social inclusion statistics. What it effectively did was allow the hill high caste men, who have had all the historical benefits, to capture the 55 percent under the so-called "free competition" category. In fact, many hill high caste men have surnames which use "la" at the end (e.g., Dahala, Nepala, Khanala). They have sought to secure control of their traditionally dominant groups over the state bureaucracy and resources.

The Social Inclusion Bill perpetuates discrimination by setting aside only 45 percent of these reservations for the Adivasi Janajatis, Dalits, Madhesi, Muslims and women without any logic. The much-touted 33 percent women quota is in reality only required within the 45 percent allocated for the discriminated groups - not within the remaining 55 percent. This would bring the women's total share in government jobs to less than 10 percent-not the promised 33 percent. Furthermore, women would be categorized without caste or ethnic distinctions, thereby undermining the possibility of a truly diverse state structure. Therefore, the new Social Inclusion Bill must take into account the diversity of Nepali women in order to achieve the real changes promised by Jana Andolan II.

After the 2008 elections, only the Madhesi community benefitted from Dahal's 2009 ordinance. They secured a sizeable chunk of state positions at the expense of the quota reserved for other groups who were demanding full proportional representation.

Similarly, these historically marginalized groups were apprehensive about the major parties' proposal to distribute national scholarship schemes. The Adivasi Janajati had been slotted 32 seats, while the Tharus were placed within the Madhesi reservation of 28 seats. Despite the national claim for more educational opportunities for women, their reservation decreased from 33 seats to 20 seats. The Dalit claim for equal educational opportunities was actually curtailed from 15 seats to nine seats.

This resistance to achieving real inclusion as committed by the Interim
Constitution's Social Inclusion Bill can be defined as the traditionally dominant groups' desire to maintain their dominance through the Big Three leadership.

The Bill, if unobstructed, will continue the trend of the one-caste hegemony at all levels of statehood, irrespective of when the constitution is drafted. This would bring the new democratic process to a halt, questioning the preamble of the Interim Constitution which promised a truly democratic, secular, inclusive, federal state.

Without a workable and sincere blueprint for social inclusion that addresses the continuing historical discrimination, the new Nepali state would be encouraging and validating 'caste apartheid' on a new legal level. The democratic constitution for the racially disfranchised black South Africans only came into existence after the state accepted its guilt for its historical racial discrimination and was willing to end it through serious affirmative action.

The Nepali state is rife with nepotism and corruption, fed by continuing caste selection tendencies. Recently, the Kathmandu Municipality selected seven Brahmin men, three Brahmin women (under the women's quota), four Chetri men and only one Newar for the 15 vacant posts. Where is the inclusion? This continuing mono-cultural trend is detrimental to the well-being of the state. Without accommodating the aspirations of the historically discriminated and diverse groups, the trend of protests (and bandas) will not end anytime soon. Repressing diversity leads to exclusion and, in worse cases, instigates violence, as has been apparent in
the Terai and around the world.

As diverse groups feel squeezed out from most functioning organs of governance, they are questioning the Social Inclusion Bill much more seriously. As every Nepali is defined by caste, the new constitution is expected to solve these lingering, historical problems by collaborative dialogue and negotiation to achieve a new national social contract with full proportionate representation at all levels of the state.

The international community's effort in bringing viable balance to disproportionate representation in their own organizations strengthens the previously discriminated identities. To exercise political rights to challenge the unitary and exclusionary caste system without external intervention is in consonance with Nepali democracy.

At the most, donors can act as a powerful medium of change. Instead of applying conditional economic sanctions on Nepal's development, it may be more effective for the donor community to revaluate its role at this historic moment so as to benefit the most deprived of Nepal's 28 million people.

Freedom in the West was achieved through various civil rights movements and civil disobediences. While Nepal struggles to chart out its future, the Adivasi Janajatis and other discriminated groups will continue to fight for the soul of their country.


Chaudhary is a CA member
Tamang is hairman of the Sanghiya Loktantrik Manch
Leslie is president of the Nepal Federation of Himalayan Indigenous Buddhists

Good Night, Moon!

too much spaghetti for dinner... or, was it the near-baguette-like quality of the bread that shakun brought home today from the german bakery...

either way, it's still quite cold here in the tundra of budhanilkantha while ms. leah sleeps gently in front of an electric heater. she's been down since shaks and i came home rather late, near-8ish. the boys have returned to the shelter of their rooms downstairs, where josh has a heater by his desk while ez usually does his homework lying horizontalysis on his bed.

since coming back from the generous warmth of a cambodian new year at scott and sochua's four seasons estate on the kampot river, i've been going to bed before 8 pm in kathmandu reading leah bedtime stories, then closing my eyes -- good night, moon! -- and snoozing off to a deeper, more distant peace.

maybe it's just the january darkness sky in the early evening, or the ice running through our wintry veins, but something in the air these days has shakun and i both feeling apprehensive about the near-term future of nepal. maybe it's just the daily newspapers with too much talk of politics, ambition, threats, intimidation, deceit and endless guile. rows of cheshire cats w/ the fish's boney tail jutting out of the side of their salivating mouths...

as i often say, everyone starts their high-minded speeches intoning symathetically on behalf of the 'women, dalits and janjatis' but forget them by the time the speech is over... our half-baked 'revolution' seems too often only so much 'sturm and drang' signifying little...

of course, i am open to being proven wrong and wait eagerly each morning for the sunrise hoping that the hosannahs will start to sing and that the meek will inherit nepal, but then the morning paper arrives and my wings fail me as the morning fog obscures the new nepal that has been so eagerly promised by politicians and revolutionaries, alike, but remains invisible on the rhetorical horizon.

maybe the ten years of war or apparent futility is finally taking its toll on even the most consciously determined optimist. or, as abraham joshua heschel said decades ago, and i've quoted innumerable times since, 'i'm an optimist against my better judgement.'

i think my better judgement is getting the better of me... ;-)

although, possibly it will all work out and nepal will finally (finally...) get a government that actually truly cares about its people, their profound rural poverty and the near total accumulation of power and privilege here in kathmandu. yes, and pigs may fly. or, as grandma rose used to say, 'if wishes were horses, even beggars would ride them...'

so, we've turned the new year leaf and as winter turns to spring, much will unfold on the intentions of the power elites who rule this country. will they truly move to decentralize power and empower the disadvantaged communities (who seem to be pushed further away from real power no matter what political color comes to kathmandu)? will new investment finally come to the country to restart so much of what has been damaged or destroyed during these ten years of self-mutilation? will the public education system, at last, be depoliticized so that rural children, who do not attend private schools can receive a quality education near their homes? will ethnic leaders, women and even dalits be appointed to key positions of responsibility so that they may help these long-neglected communities? will the donor community realize that they need to invest more in local community institutions and leaders to ensure that their valuable and scarce funds get out of kathmandu to the deprived districts? will the tide of corruption wane so that every step forward doesn't grease the pole so that the country as a whole doesn't continue to slide down instead of slowly groping forward? will some of the children of advantage and privilege return to nepal to steadily and self-confidently rebuild the country that has been stuck under a frightened feudal mind-set for more decades than necessary?

i fear i see too much, too little and too deeply. these are not easy times for power is a charmless game. we can only hope that the players who hog the stage will remember the values they may have once cherished as young men; otherwise, they dance macbre for all to see, once again...

good night, moon!