| the real ashu |
Posted
on 16-Jul-01 06:45 AM
It's been a year since the Nepali government -- under pressure
from bonded laborers, activists, media and members of
the international community -- freed up to 200,000 (estimates vary) bonded Tharu agricultural laborers (aka Kamaiyas) from the vicious cycle of debt bondage in the Far Western zillas of Dang,
Banke, Kailali, Kanchanpur and Bardiya.
Martin Chautari, together with activist Dilli Chaudhary's
organization -- Backward Society Education (BASE) -- and
ActionAid Nepal and Save the Children (US), is hosting
a press conference/interaction program on
"To freedom from bondage: Taking stock of the last one year"
Speakers will be: Dilli Chaudhary, Ek Raj Chaudhary, Shiva
Bhusal, and others.
MC'd by Sanjog Rupakheti.
Similar programs will also take place in the five Far Western zillas too.
Dilli and I recently also met with the Prime Minister Girija Koirala for about an hour at Baluwatar to press for a speedy settlement of the still-landless ex-Kamaiyas. The government seems to be doing its work at an excruciatingly slow pace, and, for the last few months, "our friendly neighborhood" Maobadis have been visiting ex-Kamaiya camps -- recruiting new members, especially in Kailali and Kanchanpur, much to everyone's
chagrin.
Place: Hotel Orchid, Tripureswor
Time: 3 pm
Date: This coming Wednesday, July 18.
Journalists, activists, and members of the public are warmly
invited come attend the program, to ask questions and to learn more about the continuing struggles of the ex-Kamaiyas.
On another note, a long peer-reviewed research paper (sort of
a pre-book version) on the ex-Kamaiyas will be coming out in
the December 2001 issue of The Studies in Nepali History
and Society.
oohi
ashu
|
