Wednesday, 16 December 2015

Foreign Aid crippling down Nepal and Nepali

Historically Nepal was prosperous nation in South Asia proves from Nepal's historical facts since Nepal has trade with Tibet and China and there was no open borders for foreign aid to come.

BUT once foreign aid start to come in Nepal in the name of missionaries in 1960s then Nepal economic status started to go down due to increase corruption because of the greed of our rulers and ruling class mindset I suppose since they are the one who handle foreign aids.

I completely agreed with Dambisa Moyo, 44, a Zambian national and has a PhD in economics from the St. Anthony’s College, Oxford University who previously worked as a consultant at Goldman Sachs and as an economist for the World Bank asserted in her famous acclaimed book titled "Dead Aid, Why Aid Is Not Working and How There is Another Way for Africa."

She said that,


In fact, Dambisa does not criticise emergency and humanitarian aid, she welcomes it. The problem is the government to government, IMF, WB and other non-binding economic growth support which has not worked in the last 50 years. It has successfully made African economies dependent on life support.

I realised that Nepal is in the same position as Moyo stated thus she can't uplift her and her children are becoming poorer and poorer in the region because of too much dependency on foreign aids and international communities are pouring foreign aid on her for not to allow her to work independently because if she works independently then she'll be like other neighbouring nations who get less aid. Therefore, to keep our ruler in slavery mindset pouring foreign aid on her is best way to do.

It is crucial for everyone of us to understand WHY more foreign aid is pouring in Nepal but WHY not in other South Asian countries. What is the hidden interest of western world on Nepal ? That's the BIG Question that we need to pose and find out for the sake of humanity and prosperity of everyone of us!!

Sunday, 6 December 2015

Promote access to Skilled Birth Attendants rather than institutional birth in Nepal

I posted below write up on 5 December as a discussion in the Global Health Nursing and Midwifery (accessed from in which group moderator, Elizabeth Glaser made her remarks and I addressed her concerns accordingly. 

In the context of Nepal working in remote and rural hill districts after the two recent devastated earthquakes hit Nepal that took around 9000 lives I strongly realised it is paramount to promote access to skilled birth attendants rather than promoting institutional birth that the government of Nepal is doing since last decade with the support of DFID/UKaid and else donor agencies to bring all pregnant women to give birth at a health facility which is not practical and feasible solution especially for those women who are living in rural and remote hill and mountain districts because to get to nearby health facilities it takes minimum 2 to 5 hours walk within their own Village Development Committees. Therefore, it is essential to change and adopt the strategies based on the geo-ecological regions of the nations because strategies that work in plain areas will definitely not work in hill and mountainous regions. Besides, socio-cultural factors also hinder utilisation of the services. 

With the support of UNICEF we, from Midwifery Society of Nepal mobilised 25 nurses to restrengthen and re-stablish birthing services in six most earthquake affected districts namely Sindhupalchok, Nuwakot, Dhading, Rasuwa, Gorkha, and Dolkha and came to understand actual situation that pregnant and labouring women are facing to get to nearby health facilities how much they have to struggle within their family because of socio-economic status related to cultural taboos and transportation barrier although maternity service is free of charge in the health facility. However, in the village where ambulance has access labouring women to take from home to health facility family members have to pay NPR 2000 for one way for half an hour drive which is far more costly than the money that the government pay back (NPR 1000) to labouring women if they give birth at a health facility. Moreover, in many hill and mountainous districts there is no access of transportation so labouring women have to carry in a local stretcher by men. In Nepal due to large number of male migrant workers going abroad it is very difficult to find out men in the villages. Our nurse who had been deployed for 3 months in the epi centre of 25 April 2015 earthquake, Barpark of Gorkha district told us that to refer to complicated deliveries to the higher centre in Kathmandu villagers take loan of around NPR 200,000 to hire helicopter just for one way and it takes family a year or more to repay back the loan that they had taken in emergency situation to save the lives of labouring women and babies. Another our nurse who had been deployed in hiil, Rasuwa district remote Village shared us that during her 3 months stayed there she has assisted only one birth at a health facility and for rest of the births (7) they went to labouring women houses because they couldn't bring her at a health facility. 
Therefore, to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths it is important to promote skilled attendant births rather than promoting institutional births. Nepal neonatal deaths remain stagnant since 2006 to 2011 as demonstrated by the Nepal Demographic Health Survey 2011. Similarly, maternal death has not reduced that much despite the government of Nepal is promoting institutional births training less educated human resource, Auxiliary Nurse-Midwives as a skilled birth attendants. According to the Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2015 Estimates by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and the United Nations Population Division Nepal maternal deaths is 258 per 100,000 which falls among 46 highest maternal deaths nations in the world and 2nd most maternal deaths occurring nation in South Asia after Afghanistan.
What's can be the suggestions and thoughts in improving maternal and neonatal health status in the context of Nepal where main barrier is its geo-ecological regions unlike other countries? I am thinking about Afghanistan model of strategies for producing community midwives training local eligible women/girls as a midwife based on the ICM standard and deployed them in their own village so that they will serve their community.

Elizabeth Glaser Moderator

Replied at 1:26 AM, 5 Dec 2015

Dear Laxmi,
Thank you for your thorough reporting on this matter. 
Could I ask a few questions in order to have a better understanding of the situation? 
From what you reported, a family may have to pay 2000 npr for a one way trip to a facility - which could add up to about 5% or more of a rural family's annual income? 

If a woman were to give birth in a rural village with a skilled birth attendant , how much might it cost her?
Would the skilled birth attendants have supplies to treat maternal hemorrhage or resuscitate an infant?


 Laxmi TamangReplied at 10:14 PM, 5 Dec 2015

Dear Elizabeth,
Many thanks for your concern about the issues relating to financial status of rural families and SBA. Just to let you know that despite some progress in poverty reduction in recent years, Nepal remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with a Human Development Index of 0.463, placing it 157th out of 187 countries listed in the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report 2013.

Over 30% of Nepalese live on less than US$14 per person, per month, according to the National Living Standards Survey conducted in 2010-2011. While the overall poverty rate for Nepal is 25%, this figure increases to 27% in rural and 42% in the mountainous region with almost equal proportion in hill region, 24%. But it ranges from 16% to 39% from eastern to far-western hill regions. The same survey shows that household having 5 or more members and 2 or more under 6 years children have higher rate of poverty that ranges from 21% to 37% and 41% to 47% respectively. Similarly, households having illiterate household heads and illiterate or below grade 5 women as family members have more poverty rate (34% and 40% respectively) compared to their counterparts. In these remote hill and mountain zones, the terrain is rugged, rainfall is low and the poor-quality soil is difficult to farm. About 80% of Nepal's people live in rural areas and depend on subsistence farming for their livelihoods. Household food insecurity and poor nutrition are major concerns in these areas, where about half of children under five years of age are undernourished. Most rural households have little or no access to primary health care, education, safe drinking water, sanitation or other basic services.

Poor rural people in Nepal generally have large families, very small landholdings or none at all, and high rates of illiteracy. They are also concentrated in specific ethnic, caste and marginalized groups, particularly those of the lowest caste (dalits), indigenous peoples (janajatis) and women. Therefore, from such situation we can imagine how much income they have in a year and have to expenses in health service although maternity service is free, mothers they don't have to pay once they arrive in a health facility. Besides, they also receive transportation cost depending upon in which ecological they live it varies. For instance, NPR 500 for low flat/plain area in which we have 20 districts, NPR 1000 for hill region and NPR 1500 for mountainous region's women if they give birth at a health facility. 

As I said maternity service in government health facilities is free, women they don't have to pay. But my major concern is to force women to come to health facility is not feasible due to rugged terrain access to nearby health facility with their own village takes minimum 2 to 5 hours depending upon their location within the Village. Anyhow government is giving the salary and allowances to an Auxiliary Nurse-Midwife (ANM) so why she just have to wait and see the way hoping that labouring women would come to give birth. In a year they hardly have 40-50 births that I came to know from the government official data and usually there are two ANMs deployed in a birthing centre within a village. ANMs are trained as a skilled birth attendants by the government of Nepal providing them two months additional training as per the National Skilled Birth Attendant Policy 2006. However, follow up evaluation found that they are not that much competent and knowledgeable as compared to Diploma Level Nurse undertaking 3 years nursing course who are called staff nurse. Currently Nepal government has 1478 health facilities functioning at the level of birthing centres in rural areas and skilled birth attendants who are working there equipped with required supplies to treat maternal hemorrhage and resuscitation a newborn. My major concern is instead of providing frequent short-term training to low level human resource investing large amount of money why not trained those existing ANMs or else who are interested to be a qualified Midwife and mobilised them in the community level as done in Afghanistan because Afghanistan has similar geographical challenge as to Nepal. I am telling this based on the national skilled birth attendants policy 2006 in which it has clearly stated in its long term measure professional midwife of bachelor level will be produced to improve maternal and neonatal health in Nepal and we, from Midwifery Association of Nepal has been advocating since its establishment in 2010.

Status of maternal mortality in Nepal and its way out

Although different organisations produced different figures relating to reduction of maternal deaths in Nepal however I was quite aware and sure that maternal mortality in Nepal has not reduced that much as it supposed to reduce since 1990 to date, 2015 due to absence of skilled competent, compassionate, caring, communicative counsellor and courageous human resource to serve women in rural areas where majority, 87% people live in Nepal. Unless and until Nepal will not have such human resource in rural setting as envisioned by the government of Nepal in the National Skilled Birth Attendants Policy 2006's long term measures in producing professional midwives maternal and neonatal deaths won't reduce to bring sustainable development in the country promoting women's and newborn's health.

According to the Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2015 Estimates by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and the United Nations Population Division Nepal maternal deaths is 258 per 100,000 which falls among 46 highest maternal deaths nations in the world and 2nd most maternal deaths occurring nation in South Asia after Afghanistan. I can't imagine that after Afghanistan Nepal is the 2nd most maternal deaths occurring nations. I can't believe at all how much our mindset is corrupt still in this 21st we are allowing our pregnant and labouring mothers to die despite we consider ourselves that we have achieve and succeed in improving maternal and newborn healths and also got awarded by some donor agencies. What a shame!!!

Now it is high time government of Nepal and all donor agencies working in maternal and newborn health needs to think critically to invest in maternal health for sustainable development producing human resource that is critical for the society to provide quality cost-effective respective maternity care that are affordable, accessible, available and accountable learning lesson from Sri Lanka, Pakistan and else nations in the regions.

1. WHO 2015 Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2015 Estimates by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and the United Nations Population Division Nepal accessed from

Saturday, 22 August 2015

हामी हरुवाहरुको सम्झना: कृष्ण भट्टचन

अंग्रेजलाई  विश्व  जिताउने सहयोग  गर्ने साथै हिन्दुस्तानबाट आएको  शाहवंशीय शोसक शासकहरुलाई  हालको नेपाल भुमि एकीकरण  गराउन सफल  वीर बहादुर गोर्खा सैनिकहरु  रे | 

 तर  आफ्नै  देशमा  हरुवा र दास बन्न  सफल  साथै  जीवन भर हिन्दुस्तान  र  अंग्रेजको लागि  बलि दिने वीर  बहादुर गोर्खा सैनिकहरुको  समुदाय र  सन्तानहरुको  बारेमा  आहा कति  तितो सत्य, तथ्य  र  यथार्थमा  आधारित कविता हो यो  डा. भट्टचनको  जुन   साभार गरेको  रहेछन ‘हामी हरुवाहरुको सम्झना’ शिर्षकमा पुष ५, २०६२ को दृश्य नेपाल वर्ष १ अंक २ बाट |

भन्छन्, ‘जित्नेको इतिहास हुन्छ
हार्नेको सम्झनामात्र बाँकी रहन्छ’
हामी, कहलिएको ‘भुसतिघ्रे’,
‘भोटे’, ‘लाहुरे’,
‘तिघ्रे र पर्वते स्वाँठे’,
‘जङ्गल फाँडेर खनीखोस्री खाने’,
‘अयोग्य, मतुवाली र पाखण्डी, नीच, निर्दयी’
धेरै गहिरो चोट र व्यथाहरुका सम्झनाहरुमात्र
बाँकी छ

हामीलाई सम्झना छ,
हाम्रो आस्था र श्रद्धाको
फेदाङवा, यावा, सावा र युमा,
सुम्निमा र पारुहाङ,
पे, पच्यु, घ्याब्रे र पेतालुता,
बाठौ र गुरुवा,
बोम्बो र साङदुङ्ग,
आजु र अजिमा,
ट्होम र लम च्हयोम ट्हुङ्ब,
ल्ह ल्हाङ्वा न्हुर्बु, ल्ह घाङ्लासिङ्गी कर्पो,
ल्ह छयुरीन ग्याल्मो र ल्ह ह्यावा ¥हाङ्ज्युङको
हामीले, पहिले
सबैभन्दा पहिले
यही धर्तीको यही ठाउँमै विजय पाएका थियौं

ठाउँ र समयसँग
बन जङ्गलसँग
खोलानाला र पानीसँग
कीट पतिंगरसँग
हामीलाई झल्झल्ती सम्झना छ,
हामीले उहिले, उहिले जुन ठाउँमा जितेका
हामी हिजो र आज त्यही ठाउँमै हा¥र्यौ ।
हामीले हा¥र्यौ, ‘त्योसँग’
‘त्यो’ ‘बा हुन, वा होइनन्’

जसको उहिले उहिले बाउको ठेगान थिएन हो, हामीले ‘त्योसँग’ नै हा¥र्यौ ।
हामीले निम्ता बाँडेकै दिन हा¥र्यौ
हामीले दौडेकै दिन हा¥र्यौ
हामीले अठार धार्नी नाक कान जोखेकै दिन हा¥र्यौ
हामीले भोज खाएकै दिन हा¥र्यौ
हामीले तामा छोएकै दिन हा¥र्यौ
हामीले रक्सीसँग कानुनी बिहा गरेकै दिन हा¥र्यौ
हामीले छाती नापेकै दिन हा¥र्यौ
हामीले रगतको पञ्जा छाप लगाएकै दिन हा¥र्यौ
हामीले नुन खाएको दिन हा¥र्यौ
हामीले टीका लगाएकै दिन हा¥र्यौ
हामीसँग सम्झनाको क्याराभान छ,
त्यसले हामीलाई च्याम्पतिलाई जस्तै कति
घुमायो कति,
त्यसैले हामी हा¥र्यौ
त्यसले हामीलाई माछालाई जस्तै कति जाल
ग¥यो कति,
त्यसैले हामी हा¥र्यौ
त्यसले हामीलाई निर्दोष भेडाबाख्राहरुलाई
जस्तै कोखाबाट निकालेको छुराले कति हान्यो
त्यसैले हामी हा¥र्यौ
त्यसको प्रत्येक घुमाइमा हामी फनफनी घुम्यौ,
त्यसैले हामी हा¥र्यौ
त्यसको प्रत्येक जालमा हामी सर्लक्कै पा¥र्यौ,
त्यसैले हामी हा¥र्यौ
त्यसको हनाइमा हामी अचानो भयौं,
त्यसैले हामी हा¥र्यौ

हामीलाई सम्झना छ,
हामी मुलाको जरा भएर बस्यौ, मुला

तल, झन तल, ओरालो लाग्नथाल्यौं
अँध्यारै झन् अँध्यारो प्यारो मान्न थाल्यौ
जति धेरै सुन्निन सकियो, उति राम्रो मान्न थाल्यौ
जहाँको तही सड्दाको गन्ध सुगन्धित मान्न थाल्यौ

पहिचान ओरालो÷अँध्यारो–सुगन्धित
मातृभाषा ओरालो÷अँध्यारो–सुगन्धित
धर्म ओरालो÷अँध्यारो–सुगन्धित
संस्कृति ओरालो÷अँध्यारो–सुगन्धित
हक अधिकार ओरालो÷अँध्यारो–सुगन्धित
हामीलाई ताजा सम्झना छ,
त्यो हामीकहाँ आउँदा उखुको टुप्पा भएर आयो
जहाँ जसले जसरी लगेर सारे पनि हर्लक्कै सरेर आयो,
त्यो पानीढलोमा दुबो भएर हलक्कै सप्य्रो
त्यो पूर्वमा ‘चारदामे’ फर्सीको बोट भएर फैलियो
त्यो चारकोसे झाडीमा सखुवा भएर अग्लियो
त्यो हिमालको टुप्पामा पनि भर्खरै हिउँ भएर चुलीन थालेको छ
त्यो जहाँ जहाँ सप्रन खोज्यो
त्यहीं त्यहीं सप्य्रो, खुबै सप्य्रो
आगोले ढडाए झनै हरियो भरियो भएर आयो,
सधै माथि, झन् झन् माथि माथि
ताक्दै चंगाजस्तै अकासियो,
उज्यालो, झन् उज्यालोमात्र खोज्दै आयो
गुलियो, फरक फरक गुलियो हुदै आयो

शाही गुलियो,
जहानियाँ गुलियो,
बिर्ता गुलियो,
जागिर गुलियो,
फर्सी गुलियो
निर्दल गुलियो
बहुदल गुलियो
एकसय सत्ताइस गुलियो
सोच गुलियो
नीति गुलियो
व्यवहार गुलियो
हामीलाई सम्झना छ,
त्यो हामीकहाँ कसरी आयो
हो, हामीलाई राम्रै सम्झना छ,
त्यो गंगाको फाँटबाट भाग्दै
पहाड उक्लदै आयो
त्यो तीनचोटि फुक्दै आयो
पहिलोपटक त्यसले ढुंग्रो फुक्यो,
खरानी उड्नेगरी फुक्यो
दोस्रोपटक त्यसले शंख फुक्यो
सातोपुत्लो उड्नेगरी फुक्यो,
तेस्रोपटक त्यसले कान फुक्यो
कानको जाली फाट्नेगरी फुक्यो
हिजोआज त्यसले माइक फुक्यो,
स्वरै सुक्नेगरी फुक्यो
त्यसको प्रत्येक ढुंग्रो फुकाईमा
हाम्रा आस्थाका बन–जङ्गल–जमिन खरानी भएर उड्यो
त्यसको प्रत्येक शंख फुकाइमा
हाम्रा अधिकारहरुलाई वाजले चल्ला उठाए जस्तै उठाएर लग्यो
त्यसको प्रत्येक कान फुकाइले
हाम्रा आमाका मिठा धुनहरु सुन्न छाड्यौं
त्यसको प्रत्येक माइक फुकाइमा
हाम्रा सामुहिक अस्मिता कालो नीलो भयो,

हामीलाई सम्झना छ
त्यसले जेली खेल खेलेर
पञ्जा, छक्का र सत्ताको सिक्वेन्स देखाएर
हामीले बाजी नथापीकनै
च्याँखे पनि नथापिकनै
थाहा पायौं,
हाम्रो जमिन स्वाहा भएको
थाहा पायौं,
हाम्रा चरण हरण भएको
थाहा पायौं
हाम्रा जङ्गल मरुभुमि भएको
थाहा पायौं,
हाम्रा रोजी रोटी घुमेको
थाहा पायौं,
हाम्रो जिब्रो काटिएको
थाहा पायौं,
हाम्रा शिर उडेको
थाहा पायौं,
हाम्रा सृष्टि–जीवन ध्वस्त भएको
थाहा पायौं,
हाम्रा बचे–खुचेको हामी भित्रको हामी–भावना पनि खरानी भएको
हामीले धेरै हा¥र्यौ, यति धेरै हा¥र्यौ कि
अब हामीसँग हार्न बाँकी कुनै चिजै रहेन
अब त हामीहरुसँग हार्ने भन्दा पनि
जित्ने दाउमात्रै बाँकी छ !
वाजी मार्ने सम्भावनामात्रै बाँकी छ !!
मार्रा भन्ने विकल्पमात्रै बाँकी छ !!!

आत्मनिर्णयको अधिकार मार्रा !
सङ्घीय संरचना मार्रा !
जातीय, भाषिक र क्षेत्रगत स्वायत्तता र उप–स्वायत्तता मार्रा !
समानुपानिक प्रतिनिधित्व मार्रा !
विशेष व्यवस्था मार्रा !
धर्मनिरपेक्षता मार्रा !
भाषिक समान अधिकार मार्रा !
समान महिला अधिकार मार्रा !
सामुहिक अधिकार मार्रा !
हामीलाई थाहा छ
अब हामी सम्झना तन्द्रामै ध्यानमग्न भएर सम्भावना देख्न थालेका छौं, गज्जबको सम्झना ।

बाहुनवादलाई आर्यघाटमा सेलाएको सम्भावना
सत्तरंगि इन्द्रेणी भएर उदयको सम्भावना
झेली खेको नियमनै फेरेको सम्भावना
५९ खोलाहरु मिलेर असार र साउनको कोशी र कर्णाली नदी बनेर उर्लेको सम्भावना
आफै, आफ्नै बलबुताले फेरी हाम्रो इतिहास रचेको सम्भावना
नयाँ शिराबाट इतिहास रचेको सम्भावना
जीवनी भन्दा इतिहास भएर जिएको सम्भावना
यी सबै सबै सम्भावना यर्थाथ भएको सम्भावना ||

स्रोत सामाग्री 
हामी हरुवाहरुको सम्झना लेखक डा कृष्ण भट्टचन

Friday, 24 July 2015

Impact of cow as a national animal of Nepal: Past and Present

In Nepal's Preliminary Draft Constitution 2015 it is stated that Cow will be the national animal of Nepal like it was stated in our old Constitution.

BUT how It can be possible that COW to be an national animal in the country where historically Tamang, Sherpa, Limbu, Sarki etc eat cow meat "beef" as per their tradition and culture that was banned by Rana Regime because Rana rulers considered cow as their MOTHER as per their belief system but for Tamang, Sherpa, Limbu, Sarki cow is an animal like others such as goat, buffalo, pig, etc.

For an animal that is eaten worldwide by more than 85% people to be considered national animal is BLIND in MIND thoughts and ideas. If our law makers are wise they would propose One Horn Rhino as a national animal which is an endanger animal in the process of extinction.

Abuse Of Religious Freedom: Loss Of Identity: Dr. Govinda Bahadur Tumbahang [1]

The statement of great King Prithivi Narayan Shah that Nepal was a Hindustan (the place of the Hindus) in the real sense is criticised especially by the Janajatis whose traditional religion is Kirant, which has distinctive characteristics. The rulers after him prohibited cow slaughter as the Hindus consider her as a "mother" and worship her on her day.
Janajatis like the Limbus, on the other hand, have a tradition of offering a cow's head to a goddess in order to please her. Therefore, the ban on cow slaughter would prevent them from performing their religious rituals. They were bound to lie to the goddess by promising her a cow's head and offering her instead a goat's head. Even now the tradition of lying to the goddess has not stopped. All Janajatis were compelled to observe the Hindu festival Dashain. Two Athpahariyas, namely Lalima and Ritima, who did not obey the order to observe it were hanged to death.
Junga Bahadur Rana, the then prime minister, introduced a Civil Code to strengthen and consolidate Hinduism. The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 2019 and the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 2047 continued this trend. In the beginning several schools and finally Nepal Sanskrit University were established to spread Hinduism at the expense of public taxes. As the state encouraged Hindu religion and discouraged others, they have been marginalised. These are the grievances that the Jananatis have against the state.

1. Abuse Of Religious Freedom: Loss Of Identity: Dr. Govinda Bahadur Tumbahang

Friday, 3 July 2015

Recent devastated earthquake and Tamang historical oppression

“Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.”
― Aristotle

- Confucius

I always feel good reading the factual evidence based history of Nepal how some indigenous tribal ethnic groups like Tamang that I belong to had been oppressed, suppressed and genocide by our past inhumane corrupt manuism ideological governed (the law of manu, also known as Manusmriti) mindset rulers due to FEAR with Tamang community who lives surrounding Kathmandu valley and are brave and honest.

I am very much thankful to Deepak Thapa Chhetri ji for writing bitter reality of Tamang community for the tradition that past feudalistic demonic Rana Rulers gifted. I strongly realised that the oppressed peoples can liberate themselves only through struggle. This is a simple and clear truth confirmed by history and "Truth is on the side of the oppressed." as affirmed by Malcolm X.

Whatever below here Deepak Thapa Chhetri writes in Kathmandu Post dated 1st July 2015 published in the KantipurOnlie is the tradition gifted by feudalistic Ranas and Shahs regimes who ruled Nepal for last 240 years invaded Nepal running away from India in saving their lives due to fear from Muslim invaders to India and imposed the law of manu introduced from an ancient India. This is the bitter historical fact, truth and reality of Nepal.

He starts saying,

It is a story worth telling, the one about how cars were carried over the mountain trails on human backs till the 1950s so that Nepal’s ruling class in Kathmandu could zip around the Valley’s few roads. It is something that adds to Nepal’s exotic mystique, which most of us are guilty of encouraging. For the most part, the grainy, black-and-white photographs of these laborious undertakings showing scores of men struggling with metallic beasts of vehicles tell us nothing more than just that. Until recently, that is, when a newsmagazine carried a story of five surviving members of those labour gangs that carried cars from Bhimphedi all the way to Thankot, whence, in the words of one of them, “The babusahebs [gentlemen lords!] of Kathmandu would race them to their homes.”

The names of this octogenarian quintet from the areas around Bhimphedi are worth recording: Dhan Bahadur Gole, Hira Bahadur Ghalan, Iman Singh Rumba, Jukta Bahadur Waiba and Pote Gole. What ties them together is not only that they are a part of history lost forever, but they are also all Tamangs. That should not be surprising considering that the hills and vales surrounding Kathmandu is a strong Tamang country and they would thus be the natural choice to be the bearers of these vehicles for the rulers.

Blaming the oppressed

A couple of weeks ago, a polite conversation gently veered towards the reality that as a group Tamangs suffered more from April quake than anyone else. But the discussion suddenly turned very uncomfortable when a high-ranking government official made three statements that reflected what seemed like wilful ignorance but, more disturbingly, a willingness to take patently prejudicial ‘facts’ at face value.

Assertion 1: Eighty percent of the crimes committed in the Valley are by Tamangs.

Assertion 2: Tamang families celebrate when they give birth to a baby girl since she will grow up, join the sex trade, and support the family.

Assertion 3: Crime and sex work among Tamangs is culturally ingrained.

As a senior bureaucrat, he would probably be privy to crime statistics—if these existed, for I seriously doubt that our cops actually have broken down the crimes committed by caste/ethnicity. In all probability, he was passing on information gleaned from off-the-cuff remarks made by officials in their tête-à-têtes. But what was disconcerting was he had clearly not given a single thought to why, if true, that could be so.

Our official (and no points for guessing which social group he belongs to) surely had no idea that in their youth Messrs Gole etc from Bhimphedi had no option but to work at porterage. Tamangs were prohibited from accessing the main form of social mobility available to the major Janajati groups—service in the British Indian army. All because they were required by the Kathmandu elite for services that scholar-activist-politician Parshuram Tamang enumerated in 1992 as follows: “During the Rana years, Tamangs were used as menial labour by the rulers and the courtier class—as construction labour for the durbars, for cutting trails, portering, carrying palanquins, running mail, delivering forest-based products, weaving baskets and trays, keeping palaces clean, maintaining the indoors, doing gardening, providing agricultural labour, keeping herds, making lokta paper, holding umbrellas, maintaining hookahs, carrying goods, and serving as surrogate mothers for high-born offspring.”

Anthropologists David Holmberg and Kathryn March found that northern Tamangs had to provide 25 days of compulsory service every year to the rulers/state during the Rana era. This is not corvée labour common to many feudal societies when one provides services free of charge on state projects. The 25 days was something every household had to contribute on an annual basis and often that 25 extended to 30 days as well. Forget getting paid for their labour, they even had to make provisions for their own food.

The one area of government employment open to Tamangs was as pipa, the generic term for menial workers in the Nepali army, which has historically been the preserve of Tamangs. No chance of rising through the ranks. Exiting the country was one way of escaping this burdensome existence and many certainly did that, mainly to Darjeeling, where the Tamang population had reached 50,000 by the end of Rana rule, becoming the second biggest Nepal-origin group there.

If you keep a people down for centuries, it does have an impact on later generations. No wonder that Tribhuvan University’s Nepal Social Inclusion Survey 2012 found that among the 6-25 age group of Tamang males, 47 percent had been educated at just the class 1-5 level, and only 12 percent had studied beyond class 11. The latter figure is half the attainment at that level for the two other large Janajati groups, Magars and Tharus, themselves quite backward. Block all avenues for progress, treat them like dirt, and then despise them for failing to advance upwards. We have heard it all before whether in the case of blacks in America or the Roma in Eastern Europe.

Kidnapping the girls

As for the sex trade, anyone with any interest in the subject will have heard these stories, particularly as they relate to certain villages in Kathmandu’s periphery. But can anyone believe that entire communities are primed to sell their daughters into this heinous profession unless there are extraneous reasons? As Parshuram Tamang had noted: “The system of keti basne imported women from the Tamang hills for all kinds of chores in Rana palaces. The maintenance of scores of female retainers, some of whom served as concubines, is said to have started the trend towards prostitution among poverty-stricken Tamang communities.” Did anyone miss the irony that the cause of their poverty were the Ranas to begin with?

How Tamang women were viewed by the state becomes clear from this quote from an interviewee of Holmberg and March’s: “On the night of the big festival there, the royal herders would just grab the girls and take them off. You were unable to say anything about this even if it was one’s own wife.” If cowherds could get by with such impunity, one can imagine what went on in the stucco palaces of Kathmandu.

Right the wrongs

I probably should stop here given the sheer ignorance of our government official, who, as a Kathmandu native, would have seen Tamangs and their situation throughout his life. But that a person in such a position of power and responsibility can be completely blind to the structural inequities that have played such a major role in the continued backwardness of Tamangs says a lot about our state and its functionaries.

As we enter the phase of recovery from a disaster that has devastated the lives of thousands of Tamangs, we have been provided with a golden opportunity to finally right all these years of discrimination. If managed properly, there will no longer be any need for words such as poet Pratap Bal Tamang’s in ‘Aasyaang—think for yourself!’ (in Manjushree Thapa’s translation of this address to an imaginary maternal uncle): “You too are a citizen—like the others of this country/…The country is yours as well/The universe is yours as well/Your rights exist here too.” One can only hope that whoever heads the reconstruction authority has at least an understanding of this most fundamental of truths.

The Country is Yours by Deepak Thapa

Friday, 12 June 2015

Historical evidence of Genocide of Tamang community in Nepal

Wonder how long government of Nepal and ruling class family members are going to GENOCIDE Tamang community in Nepal.
Tamang community has been intentionally marginalised, harassed, abused, discriminated and exploited physically, psychologically, socio-economically and sexually as per the General Code of Conduct written in 1854 during the time of Janga Bahadur Rana which still very much prevalent in this 21st century using derogatory term "Bhote" which means Tibetan.
In fact, Nepal is historically the melting point of people originated (came) from India (Aryan) and Tibet (Mongolian/Indigenous /tribes). As per the historical fact from India Aryan migrated to Nepal very lately around 9th and 10th centuries who ran away from India to save lives from muslim who invaded India. However, there is proven evidence that since the time of Manjushreee and Buddha in Nepal by then Kathmandu Mongolian people (Kirat which means lion like people) used to live.
Last year in August from Gorkha district Tamang man was killed by the state shooting just because he killed his own cattle to feed his family members. Tamang community being a bonism tradition follower they eat yak and cow meat because they see those animals as cow not GOD or LORD as rulers think as per their dogmatic belief.
In the name of earthquake survivors from Sindhupalchowk, Nuwakot, Dhading, Rasuwa, etc where mostly Tamang people reside now again we have been hearing and reading many news relating to Tamang community members to Genocide them.
The legal definition of Genocide:
Tamang men labour exploitation used them as Pipa (poters) to carry out vehicle of the rulers gifted by British Queen in 19th century. (Location of this picture: Way to Hetauda /Makwanpur to Kathmandu)
Article II describes two elements of the crime of genocide:

Excerpt from the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide
(a) Killing members of the group;
Article III: The following acts shall be punishable:
(a) Genocide;
(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
(d) Attempt to commit genocide;
(e) Complicity in genocide. "
