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Presenters, Chairs and Panelists ||
Paper Abstracts Daily Report, Thursday, 10 March || Daily Report, Friday, 11 March |
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| “Nepal Tarai: Context And Possibilities” | |||||
| Prof.
Arjun Guneratne "The Tharus and the State: Reflections on Democracy, State Building and the Shaping of Ethnic Identity in Nepal and India " This paper examines the relationship of the Tharu, one of the more numerous of the ethnic groups that inhabit the Tarai, to the various states that encompassed them during the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. The term Tharu is an ethnonym shared by a number of different ethnic groups that had no shared identity for most of the period reviewed in this paper, although that has changed in the last 50 years. This paper discusses their relationship to three of these states: the Shah and Rana states of the 19th and early 20th century, the British colonial state and the post-Rana state of the later 20th Century. The paper argues that the political ecology of the 19th and early 20th centuries in the Tarai made the Tharu an indispensable part of state building for both the British and for Rana Nepal. The capacity of Tharu society to survive in often extreme malarial conditions made them an irreplaceable source of labor in the Tarai in the context of a state project predicated on the enhancement of revenue, while the Tharu elite furnished the state with a necessary cadre of lower-level administrators. However, following on the economic and political transformations that took place in the post-1951 period, the state’s interest in the Tarai changed, both as a function of Weberian bureaucratic rationalization that made the administrative role the Tharu had played largely irrelevant, as well as the emergence of the Tarai as a crucial site of national identity building. The Tharu were marginalized as a consequence. That marginalization was an important factor shaping Tharu ethnic consciousness in the modern period. The paper concludes by discussing the demand by elite Tharus that the state create a program of affirmative action modeled on the Indian situation as a way to provide Tharus with avenues for advancement.
Dr. B.C. Upreti The concept of citizenship developed in Europe with the growth of liberal democratic values and institutions. It acquired prominence all over the world with the development of democracy as a system of governance. In fact, citizenship is a primary and essential condition for the people of a country. It provides status and recognition to an individual and accords the opportunity to the people at large, To take part in the socio- political processes of the country, as their legitimate right. The denial of citizenship for any reason is indeed the denial of status, recognition and opportunities to the people. Hence, citizenship is an essential instrument for the development and prosperity of the people of a country. However the question of citizenship has been controvertial in many countries particularly in the context of granting citizenship to the foreign nationals. In South Asia the citizenship is one of the many contentious and complex issues that the Nepali society is faced with to day. The politics of citizenship has its roots in the history of state and society formation in Nepal. In the modern times, the question of discrimination in the rules of citizenship has been accorded a constitutional status. Why the people of Terai are subject to discrimination in terms of citizenship is a complex issue and needs a deeper probe of the dynamics of the Nepali society and polity. The discriminatory citizenship rules persist in Nepal even after the down of democracy is an indication to the fact that the basic tenets of the Nepali politics have not changed with the change of system of governance in the country. There is resentment in the Terai over the issue of citizenship. It is due to the discrimination in citizenship that the people in the Terai are subject to marginalization and discrimination in numerous ways. There are serious implications of this kind of discrimination in citizenship rules. The issue of citizenship is not an isolated phenomenon. A large number of socio-economic and political issues associated with it. Since the question of discriminatory provisions of citizenship is region and community/ ethnic Specific it has serious implications for the process of nation-building in Nepal. Keeping these aspects in view, an analysis of the politics of citizenship would help in understanding some vital aspects of the Nepali society and polity. There are three Important issues which need a deeper probe in order to understand the dynamics of the politics of citizenship in Nepal. These are: What are the motives behind discriminatory citizenship rules? What have been the nature and dynamics of reactions against these laws in the Tarai? What are the implications of the politics of citizenship in Nepal?
Dr. Bernardo
A. Michael The Tarai has always been considered an integral part of the modern Nepali state. However, the status of this important stretch of territory was open to ambiguity and flux in much of the period prior to the Anglo-Gorkha War of 1814-1816. A host of petty hill principalities and little kingdoms, further south in Moghlan (the plains of North India below the foothills of the Himalayas) constantly competed to control these lands and their resources. Furthermore, a web of tenurial, taxation, and hierarchical political relationships knitted the lands of the tarai to those of Moghlan. For the rulers of the emerging kingdom of Gorkha, governance of the tarai posed the usual set of dilemmas and possibilities¯disputes with neighboring little kingdoms and problems of revenue administration mediated their efforts to tap the valuable agrarian resources of these lands. Gorkha was also increasingly drawn into a series of disputes with an emerging territorial power in north India¯the East India Company. Company officials increasingly articulated their claims in terms of the establishment of clear territorial boundaries all the while choosing to ignore the web of tenurial, taxation, and political relationships that had traditionally constituted territory in south asia. The Anglo-Gorkha War of 1814-1816 resulted in the delineation of the boundaries between Gorkha and the Company state. Nepal's tarai as we know it emerged, it might be argued, out of the historical specificities of that colonial encounter and its aftermath, an encounter that affirmed the geographical credentials of the modern state in south Asia¯occupying a definite portion of the earth's surface, divided into non-overlapping divisions and sub-divisions.
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Dhirendra Premarshi
Ekraj Chaudhari
and Shree Ram Chaudhari Tharus are the autochthonous people of Nepal Terai, they are dominant in the Terai and have largely maintained their cultural integrity to a larger extent. The total population of Tharus in Nepal is estimated to be 1533879, which is 6.75 percent of the total population of the country (CBS 2001). It is widely accepted that Tharus were the only inhabitants of Terai before Malaria was eradicated (Goldstein 1983).They were the original cultivators, therefore the landowners of Nepal Terai. But the Tharus have been politically, economically, socio-culturally marginalized in their own land compared to the living status of other hill people who migrated to Tarai in recent past. When talking about Terai and Tharu issues, one can not simply overlook the issues of Kamaiya, and the land dispossession, and consequently the present status of Kamaiyas and related issues. According to the government sources, there are 17210 families of ‘freed’ Kamaiys in five districts, Banke, Bardia, Dang, Kailali, and Kanchanpur, where as non-governmental sectors claim the numbers of families to be as high as 19464, which still might count higher than this, too (Agrashan 2004) . This paper adopts the political-economic approach to explore the reasons of land dispossession and marginalisation of Tharus in western Terai. We shall argue that the process of marginalization of Tharus that began with their incorporation into the Nepalese state continues till today. We shall also argue that the efforts made so far to solve the problem of landlessness and other problems have failed to meet the objectives. This paper will also provide some practical suggestions for the overall development of Tharus in the western Tarai, Nepal. Agricultural land used to be the most important national resources, as it is today. The abundance of such land, both cultivated and cultivatable, made the Terai the most valuable territorial acquisitions of the Gorkhali government (Regmi 1972, 1999). Therefore, the colonisation of Terai land for agriculture was the state’s priority and obviously the ruling elite had their vested interests in owning productive land, forests and other resources for their personnel benefits. The emergence of the Rana regime in 1846 accelerated the appropriation of vast areas of Terai. The Rana family was the major beneficiary of birta land made after 1846. Jung Bahadur Rana, then prime minister, proved utmost loyalty to British India by helping to suppress the popular Sepoy Rising (1857 – 8) in the state of Oudh, 9000 Nepalese troops were at the relief of Lucknow (Seddon et.al. 1983). The Naya Muluk districts of the Terai annexed by British India in 1861, half of the entire The Naya Muluk areas was granted as birta to Jung Bahadur Rana and his brothers (Regmi 1999). These birta holders were mostly absentee landlords, who used the peasants as tenants, and, ‘subject’, in order to cultivate their lands for them and to reap a substantive share of the produce. Since the low population of the time was felt to be a constraint on the supply of agriculture labour, migrants of the hills and India were encouraged to settle there. This brought about the emergence of intermediaries and local functionaries like jamindars, ijara, chaudhary, parganna, etc., who by their political alliance used legal and extra legal means to appropriate lands and economic surplus in Terai. Migrants from the hill and India were encouraged to settle there to expand agriculture and to fell trees for timber for timber export to India. This led to a further encroachment of Tharu land (e.g. Dang Valley and in areas where they were already settled because of their malaria resistance capacity). The construction of the railway link in the northern plains of India opened up more prospects for trade of the Terai resources, and at the same time, selling of timber to India was another opportunity fo the ruling Rana. The Tharus with their malaria resistance capacity were used by the state to clear the malaria prone forest, and later on they also settled down in these reclaimed lands where they were promised entitlement with security (Dhakal et.al. 2000). Hence, emergence and domination of the land-owning elite and landlords, influx of high caste hill migrants, the exploitative land taxation policy, privatisation of land, dominant roles of money lenders and co-option of Kamaiya system in its exploitative forms were the catalytic conditions that exacerbated the feudal system and led to the land dispossession of Tharus (Ibid.). The paper explores the overall impacts of these historical processes on the Tharu and political-economic history of western Terai. Based on the reviews of literatures and our own experiences as Tharus, communal labour exchange and labour obligatory system in Tharu system, for e.g., Begari, and the burgeoning political and socio-economic contexts and processes eventually transformed a localise system into newer setting in which the members of the system themselves turned out to be the victims. The present problems of Kamaiya is to be seen as an outcome of the historical process of institutionalised exploitation and unequal distribution of land under the patronage of the statehood. Therefore, we believe, the solution lies on the land rights issues ensuring the land rights to the tillers, and (freed?) Kamaiys, almost 90 percent of them are from Tharu ethnic group. We also feel and argue that the present forms of unequal and exploitative relationships should be altered through the process of restructuring of the power relationship which eventually becomes possible through the process of the restructuring the state.
Ganesh B.K. ef}uf]lns
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Dr. Harald Olav
Skar This paper aims at looking at the tarai as a border region, and at the same time as a region controlling access to the power center of the kingdom; Kathmandu. It explains how the border is competing with other identity markers that are border-crossing (ethnic, caste identities (Tharu, Yadav etc). and the use of tarai for military purposes. The paper is divided into two parts; First part explores the advantage and disadvantage that the border represents in relationship to development. It offers explorations of meaning, as Tarai is seen as a political border against India, that is as an external border (including: The movement of Buddhist Hill people to stem the Hindu tide, the A, B, C ghouns, the Purnabas company and the border as a modern trade region, taking advantage of price differences on both sides of the border, for legal and illegal export (wood extraction, blockade and customs), the use of water across the tarai. Landscape etc. The second part explores the internal meaning of the border region for the country; as a gate-keeper for access to the capital. It tells of the strategic importance of the border in strategically controlling traffic and transport of goods in relationship to Kathmandu. It looks at the ethnic Tarai Autonomous Regions proclaimed by the Maoists and the increased possibilities offered by the border for warfare and jungle hiding (ref Chitwan-Bardia national parks, UMLæ’s Lucknow meeting etc), including the Congress party’s attachment in the Eastern Tarai and it’s ties with India. The tarai is then seen as a strategic landscape, not as an area dividing countries but as a pawn in a game of power, ..and as such a region having an increased value for the Nepalese Stat e.
Prof. Hari Bansh
Jha 1.0 Background Of the three ecological regions in Nepal, the population in Terai has been growing fast. In 1954, this region constituted 35 per cent of Nepal's total population, which increased to 49 per cent in 2001 (Census Report 2001). The majority of the people in the region practice Hindu religion. Islam and Buddhism are followed by minority population. But mainly after the political change of 1990, there has been perceptible growth in Muslim and Buddhist population in the region. Of late, due to the influx of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, such districts as Jhapa and even Morang are largely affected by the Christian population. Moreover, the Christian missions have intensified their net in many parts of Terai, particularly in newly settled pockets and townships along the East-West Highway, though conversion of religion is banned by constitution. It is largely believed that the Hindu population in Terai is almost static; while there has been substantial growth in the Muslim and Christian population. 2.0 Objectives The proposed paper aims at analyzing the impact of change in religious composition of population on socio-cultural and economic life of the nation. But it will not be confined to some of these aspects and wherever needed it will incorporate other related issues as well. Specific objectives of the paper are to: ?
Analyze the magnitude of change in religious composition of population
in Terai during last five decades or so; 3.0 Methodology To achieve the above objectives, the paper will draw upon both secondary and primary source for materials for data collection. The secondary source materials will constitute publication of CBS, NPC, research organizations and also leading articles and stories on the subject by individual writers. In order to supplement such information, interview will be taken from the key informants and knowledgeable persons on the themes related to the subject matter.
T his paper presents a historical analysis of the government forest policies that had significant impact in Tarai Nepal. The analysis is done for the unification period, Rana period, Panchayati period and after 1990 revolution . The study clearly reveals that the state had different policies in these periods in the management of the Tarai forest. But there also seems a commonality in the policies adopted in these different periods. In all these periods, state’s main interest in the forest was to strengthen the political system existing at that time. During the unification period (1750s to 1846) the policy of the state with regard to Tarai forest was that it has to be maintained in the same natural state. At that time the dense forest in Tarai was a fence against the possible attack on Nepali territory by the expanding forces of East India Company. The greatest change in Tarai forest occurred during the Rana period. They had expanded the practice of granting Tarai forestland to the government and army personnel who were mostly their kin members, who cultivated the land through tenants. This was aimed at generating revenue for the state, which was to be used for the luxurious lifestyle of the ruling class. The role of the British pressure on Ranas who responded to that pressure by using the Tarai forest to meet the demands of timber in India and Europe is described in the paper. The impact of British administrative system and education has also been analyzed. Hunting was also one of the ways Ranas used the Tarai forests. The paper also incorporates findings of a study conducted in Chitawan among the elderly Tharus who narrated the problems caused by that practice. During a brief period from the downfall of Ranas to the initiation of Panchayati period, forest was nationalized by the state with the intention of taking back the forestland grant made earlier. But with this policy, forestland was again converted to agricultural land to prevent nationalization. During the Panchayat period (1960-1990), nationalistic and hill-centered interest superseded the protection of Tarai forest. This led to the resettlement of hill people and Sukumbasis in the Tarai forestland. The paper describes how this policy was developed and implemented and the deforestation it caused in Tarai. The problems faced by the indigenous Tharu and other groups when they become distanced from the forest, establishment of national parks and its impacts on the Tarai people, the political conflict of the 1979 and the state sponsored destruction of the forest to solve the problem, the practice of community forestry and policies envisioned in Master Plan for Forestry Sector for the Tarai are discussed in the paper. Post-democratic period was characterized by emphasis on community forestry. Given the potentiality to generate resources, forest bureaucracy is also seen hesitant to handover forests to the people in Tarai. At present, the concept of collaborative forest management is being promoted instead of community forestry.
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Khreizodilhou
Yhome This
paper is part of my thesis. Much of the arguments presented in this
paper are drawn from the findings of my research work on Indian
Diaspora in Nepal. The paper discusses the politics of identity
and identity formation in Nepal in the context of the Madhesis.
•
The problem of the Madhesis is identity – cultural and political.
Mrinmoy Majumder Social inclusion is a positive phrase. The historical and political alienation of Nepal’s Tarai has largely been due to the lack of strategic control over productive resources. In this green belt of the country the economic activity rate is also at its lowest. Therefore, the relationship between economic participation and development in the Tarai should be considered to be inverted since some of the policy stresses here are the making of extreme underdevelopment. In this paper, I wish to contest the efficacy of the inclusionary mechanisms like reservation and quotas, which are command and control in nature and often results in another class divide. Moreover, poor information dissemination in the Tarai might make things further worse whereby the real underprivileged never come to the fore. Hence, I wish to recommend a more market based inclusionary mechanism whereby people of the Tarai would have a better stronghold in the decision making process. Economic inclusion is fundamental to social inclusion. My framework of analysis is a social economy where people of Tarai strengthen their indigenous adaptive capacity through micro-level enterprenuership development. The term social economy is used to describe economic activity not accounted for by the private or state sectors. Social enterprise, a subset of the social economy is a business with social objective. It combines entrepreneurial skills with a strong social purpose. Profits are reinvested in the business or in the community, offering the possibility of effective, sustainable self-help leading to wider benefits. This includes activities of the voluntary and community organizations, charitable organizations, mutual societies, cooperatives, social firms and development trusts. Development trusts are a model of community enterprise joining up the delivery of a range of local services. So, as far as the infrastructure and service delivery mechanisms are concerned, development trusts can be immensely effective in the context of the Tarai. To substantiate this I would forward case studies from different parts of Tarai and integrate them on a macroeconomic scale to show the possibility of a strong social voice, which would demand its own rights from the state. Moreover, at the face of Nepal’s WTO membership and the SAFTA negotiations on, I would also like to show the net trade advantages Tarai has, in using the porous borders with India which have been regarded as a disadvantage so far. Thereafter the Tarai would become inevitable in diversifying Nepal’s trade connection both within and outside the region and this would be a starter for the Tarai to activate its economic and political voice. In a nutshell, my three-legged model of a social economy in the Tarai is to enrich social cohesion which strengthens ‘external social capital of a region rather than focusing on building “internal social capital only”. A distinction is to be made between a group’s internal social capital, for instance, within an ethnic minority community, and its external social capital, being its diverse informal contacts with wider networks enhancing the indigenous capabilities, opportunities and access to the political decision making process. Key Words: Social Economy, Development Trusts, External Social Capital, Economic Voice
Scott E. Justice,
Ashok Choudhury, Ajaya Choudhury Despite the reformed zamindari system, the modern, progressive zamindar of Rupandehi District of Nepal could not escape the sins of their fathers. With more than a gentle nudge from the Maoists, the Rupandehi rural political economy has permanently passed out the zamindar phase, something the Nepal government could not manage in various land reform programs. We argue here that in comparison to their contemporaries of Eastern UP and Bihar (and even western Terai of Nepal), the Zamandhars of Rupandehi represented a kinder, gentler form of the regressive zamindari systems. After presenting a historic overview, we describe the modern period's characteristics and the zamindars' most recent fate through a series of case studies.
Dr. Sondra L.
Hausner This paper will focus on the dynamics of four Tarai border towns, and will look at the Tarai as a site of migration. Rather than review cultural or historical aspects of the region, the paper focuses on the contemporary political and geographical reality of the Tarai as a place through which migrants leave Nepal and travel to the Indian plains, in search of work, safety, and opportunity. The paper focuses specifically on women migrants. The theoretical aspect of the paper centers on the questions of voluntary versus forced migration, and includes a critique of the rhetoric of trafficking as the sole measure through which the development industry (both international and national) views the movement of women across the Nepal-India border. The research will take place in and center on dynamics at borderposts. The paper will approach the question of women’s experiences of migration through an analysis of ethnographic research in four Tarai bordertowns. The research will take place in Kakarvitta, Jhapa district, on Nepal’s Eastern border; Bhairawa, Rupandehi district, and Nepalganj, Banke district, on the Southern border; and in Mahendranagar, Kanchanpur district, on the Western border. The research will be predominantly conducted with women crossing the border. Borderguards and local community members – who likely observe many comings and goings of women and their companions and are well aware of the realities of migration, prostitution, and trafficking – will also be interviewed. The methodology consists of open-ended, informant-guided ethnographic interviews: the research will not be based on pre-formulated questionnaires or conducted in focus groups, but will take the form of conversations with migrants as they pass through the national border. The research for this paper will be conducted under the broader auspices of Save the Children-US by a team of eight, for a project on the Safe Migration of Women and Girls.* Each Tarai border crossing poses a particular set of geographic, cultural, and political realities, with various histories of girl-trafficking intensity, for example – certain routes are more plied than others, with direct lines to railway stations to Mumbai, for example, while others pose fairly new markets – and of conflict intensity. The Far West, for example, has experienced the strongest conflict between Maoist insurgents and security forces, and will likely have the highest number of migrants leaving for reasons of conflict alone. The paper is not about the Tarai as a singular location but as a border area and place of active migration to India. Understanding the Tarai in contemporary geopolitical terms means acknowledging its role, among others, as a series of points of exit, and as a region of transience. This paper will bring to light the realities of people’s migratory choices at a very pivotal moment in their lives, through the lens of the Tarai locations in which they occur.
Dr. Tatsuro Fujikura The paper seeks an understanding of the ongoing processes of kamaiya (‘bonded laborers’) mobilizations and struggles through exploring a range of factors that contribute to the construction of western Tarai as a particular kind of socio-political field. The kamaiya liberation movement initiated in May 1st, 2000 resulted in the Nepali government’s declaration of their freedom in July 17th in the same year. Ever since its immediate aftermath, the kamaiya liberation has been variously interpreted and evaluated. On the one hand, it has been hailed as one of the major triumphs of human rights mobilization initiated by the NGO sector in Nepal. On the other hand, some have described kamaiya liberation as a major failure that succeeded only in giving kamaiyas the freedom to starve. The divergent interpretations and evaluations of kamaiya mobilization reflect the complexity of western Tarai as a social, economic and political field. An understanding of kamaiya issue demands, on the one hand, knowledge of the internal socio-economic organization of the Tharus, the indigenous inhabitants of Tarai, a group from which a vast majority of kamaiya had been recruited. The transformation of labor practices among the Tharus, on the other hand, cannot be understood without an exploration of the history of colonization of the Tarai by the political formations with their centers of power in the mid-hills. Since the 1950s, Tarai became ‘incorporated’ in the (internationally sponsored) national project of development. In concrete terms, this has resulted, among other things, in the implementation of malaria eradication programs, extension of national education system and highway networks into the area and operations of large-scale ‘integrated rural development’ projects. The process of grassroots self-organization of Tharus of western Nepal cannot be understood without their engagements with the rhetoric, institutions, and practices of development as well as human rights. Their engagements with the latter contribute to a hybrid character of their movement, making it hard to define it exclusively as ‘ethnic’, while in no way completely canceling out the inter-ethnic (mainly Pahari-Tharu) relation as a critical factor in the process. The kamaiya mobilization in the year 2000 shows ways in which networks of (Tharu as well as non-Tharu) activists succeeded in bringing to fore a particular form of subjugation and exploitation of a group of people in western Tarai as a national and transnational issue. During that time, the movement constructed the kamaiya practice primarily as an issue of human rights, and succeeded in bringing about a major disruption to the practice. However, the problem of course was not simply of freedom and unfreedom, as made evident by the subsequent struggles by the ex-kamaiyas for rights to land. Their current struggle, involving coordinated ‘capturing’ and occupation of the government held lands (such as airports and land belonging to the Cotton Development Board) and community forests, raises fundamental questions about what constitutes fair mechanism for the distribution of wealth and means of production, as well as the responsibilities of the Nepali state towards its marginalized members. In other words, the kamaiya struggle reflects, and is seeking to force the power-holders at the center to confront, the contradictory effects of the history of incorporation of western Tarai into the Nepali polity.
Prof. Yogendra
P. Yadava Like other countries, Nepal has adopted and pursued a language policy in response to its existing socio-political ideology. This is “one nation – one language” policy, which authorizes Nepali, the language of the dominant ruling elites, to be the language of the nation (rashtra bhasha as opposed to national languages (rashtriya bhasha)), the only official language and the main medium of education and media. Such a language policy has been pursued under the pretext of being more viable from the point of view of national integrity and administration. However, this policy has been deliberately intended with the assimilationist goal of the Nepali-speaking ruling elites in the country to accrue all national resources to their own social, economic and political benefits and debar other speech communities from opportunities and marginalize them to a trivial status. The Terai in Nepal is an important case for study. Also known as Madhesh, this region constitutes the southern plain region of Nepal running parallel to the lower Himalayan ranges. It is enormously rich in its socio-cultural diversity and natural resources. It has been the center of spiritual values and intellectual pursuits since the prehistoric times. Historically, it has been a part of the Kingdom of Nepal for about two centuries and a half. Nonetheless, it has been acutely lagging behind in development activities and information in comparison with most of the regions in hills and mountains and remained far from being integrated into the national mainstream. One of the major factors that has been detrimental in integrating the Terai into the national mainstream and depriving it from accessing social, economic and political benefits of the national system is the existing language policy. Language is a key that opens the door to good life. It establishes communication patterns that help people gain access to social and economic goals. Policies should, therefore, address questions of how people from different language backgrounds could have access to the national system. However, Nepal’s “one nation – one language” policy has deprived the speakers of almost a dozen languages such as Maithili, Bhojpuri, Tharu, Awadhi, Bajjika, Urdu, Rajbansi, Dhangar/Jhangar, Angika, Meche, Santhal and Kisan languages (apart from some Indian languages also spoken in Nepal, e.g. Hindi, Marwari, Punjabi, Bengali, etc.) for fully participating in the national system and avail its opportunities. The imposition of such a monolingual policy on the multilingual context of the Terai brings out some basic questions. First, we cherish the ideal of national integration but the existing language policy which recognizes just Nepali and no Terai (and other indigenous) languages in the national system will fuel more conflict than harmony since languages are strong markers of identity. Secondly, the recognition of a single language lends power and prestige to it and concomitantly marginalizes the rest of the languages in a nation like Nepal, which is characterized by linguistic diversity. Thirdly, the language policy adopted in Nepal has aggravated regional barrier. Finally, it is impossible to visualize the mass participation of the Terai people in the democratic and development process unless their languages are promoted to equal status and elaborated in functions such as administration, education, mass media, etc. This paper addresses the issue of the language situation in the Terai vis-à-vis the politics of Nepal’s language policy as a whole and the marginalization of the Terai languages and its bearings on the national integration. It consists of four sections. Section 1 identifies the languages spoken in Nepal with their demographics, literate traditions and genetic affiliation. In section 2 an attempt has been made to ascertain the domains in which these languages are used. Section 3 focuses on the linguistic issues of the Terai that have restrained its people from being integrated into Nepal’s mainstream and avail the opportunities of its national system. Finally, we sum up the findings of this paper and suggest ways to enable the equitable share of the Terai people in the fruits of national development through the inclusion. |
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Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival || Clearinghouse for South Asian Non-Fiction Film