| ashu |
Posted
on 10-Jan-01 09:52 PM
It's obvious that the Girija government
does NOT know how to resolve a public
policy concern.
With Maghi approaching next week, the government
has now rushed to hastily distribute 2 katthas
of land to the ex-Kamaiyas in Kanchanpur,
Kailali and Bardiya. What can a family do
with 2 katthas?
Meantime, we have evidence that says that
the there are chunks of undesignated land
in the Far Western Nepal
that could be distributed to the ex-Kamaiyas.
I will be gone for some time, traveling to
the Far West, before coming back to report
the state of the ex-Kamaiyas: The whole
Kamaiya movement has been a first-class
experience to understand how social
movements start in Nepal, what their
extents and limitations are, and what the roles
are of the government, civi societies
and activists. I remain grateful to Harvard
for first allowing me-- with a grant -- to
study the Kamaiya issue a few years ago.
More from the fields later.
oohi
ashu
|
| cut and paste |
Posted
on 13-Jan-01 07:46 PM
Maghi sans happiness this year for ex-Kamaiyas
Post Report
GULARIYA, Jan 12 - This year’s Maghi, a festival extravaganza celebrated by the Tharu community of the Terai region, will no longer bring happiness to the ex-Kamaiyas as it did in the past. Though liberated from the semi-slavery bonded labour system, they still dream of days gone by.
Over 300 ex-Kamaiyas (bonded labourers) have been languishing in the makeshift shelters in the Gulariya Municipality-2, in search of food and permanent settlement since Wednesday.
Many ex-Kamaiyas seem more anxious about the lives of their children than the annual Maghi festival that falls on January 14. The ex-Kamaiya children are seen shivering in the bitter cold that has wracked the entire Terai belt for the last couple of days. They have nothing to eat or wear in their tiny tents.
Somali Tharu, 50, says that his children will be deprived of the pork dish, home-brewed spirit and drink during the festival. Maghi is not only their auspicious festival, it also used to be the period for the possible renewal of their contract with their masters. They have now been left stranded after the government announced their liberation from the bonded-labour system on July 17.
Nor do the landlords seem to be interested in hiring them as labourers. A landlord from Padnaha VDC does not have any faith in the ex-Kamaiyas. However, some of the landlords seem to be ready to hire them as a "haruwa", basically a new word for kamaiya. If the labourers resume their previous status only under a new name, a total of 6,949 officially recognized ex-Kamaiyas will fall back into the same old trap.
Officer at the Bardiya-based Land Reforms Office, Dandapani Poudel, said that a total of 3,155 ex-Kamaiyas were landless.
However, coordinator of the Kamaiya Movement Mobilisation Committee, Dinesh Prasad Shrestha, suspected that the number of ex-Kamaiyas could rise as the official record was still to be updated. Shrestha added that the situation could be very poignant unless an immediate solution to their permanent settlement was sought.
There are some liberated Kamaiyas who still want to work as a bonded labourers for their former masters. Poudel, however, said that there was no law barring anyone from hiring people as Kamaiyas.
The Kamaiya Action Committee, which deals with the ex-Kamaiya issue, states that ex-Kamaiyas are reconsidering to work as haruwas as the government failed to arrange their rehabilitation.
About two years ago, the Land Reforms Office in Bardiya had purchased five bighas of land at the Gulariya Municipality-2 for Kamaiya rehabilitation but no more ex-Kamaiyas have been settled there. On the other hand, the ex-Kamaiyas have refused to settle on the "sandy land".
A source close to the Land Reforms Office said a high-level authority at the Ministry of Land Reforms withheld the settlement of the former Kamaiyas on the already-purchased land. Locals also said that there had been financial irregularities while purchasing the land.
An all-party meeting, called by Chief District Officer in Bardiya, Dilliraj Joshi, discussed Friday the modalities of rehabilitating the former Kamaiyas on the land purchased by the Land Reforms Office
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