Human Development Status of Indigenous Peoples of Nepal

1. Human Development Status of Indigenous Peoples of Nepal Chaitanya Subba, Ph.D.

2. Outline • Historical processes of marginalization • Present mediating factors • Present status • Some critical issues and recommendations

3. Low human development or underdevelopment of indigenous peoples is the result of two hundred and forty years long processes of • Destruction of indigenous cultures that exterminated creativity, self-pride, self esteem, knowledge system and traditional system of knowledge accumulation and transmission, and thus hindered intellectual growth; • Hinduization of indigenous peoples that eroded indigenous spirituality, obstructed emotional growth, and forced them to accept caste-based hierarchical entitlements to rights, privileges, power, positions, wealth, opportunities, goods and services; • Linguistic suppression and discrimination that marginalized indigenous peoples in public domains, invalidated their intangible resources rendering them incapable to claim material resources and power, made them low achievers in education and caused the death of several languages;

4. Political exclusion that rendered indigenous peoples powerless, devoid of resources and prestige, as acceptable subordinates and unacceptable power contenders or highly objectionable superordinates; • Economic marginalization that dispossessed indigenous peoples of their lands, displaced and alienated them from their lands, restricted their traditional access to natural resources, their basic subsistence means, transformed their indigenous or tribal economy into Hindu feudal economy and later capitalist economy which pauperized them further and deprived them of all economic opportunities. • Development policies, processes, outputs and outcomes of the last 50 years skewed unevenly in favour of dominant high caste groups at the costs of non-development or under-development of indigenous peoples and other excluded groups.

5. Present development status of indigenous peoples is the result of cumulative impact of historical processes of marginalization compounded with: • Persistent denial of inherent rights of indigenous peoples to their lands and other natural resources and lack of protection against forced removal from lands and lack of protection mechanisms against land alienation through forgery, deception and other unfair means; • Age long political and administrative culture that assumes consent of the subjugated peoples irrelevant and meaningless and against the principle of sovereign authority; • Utter neglect of the customary laws in seeking consent of indigenous peoples while taking decision that gravely affect them; • Pervasive denial of indigenous peoples rights to engage freely in traditional and other economic activities and denial of their rights to enjoy their own means of subsistence and development.

6. Lack of political will of the state to adopt special measures to improve the life conditions of indigenous peoples and other groups adversely affected by past injustices, persistent discriminatory state institutions and structures and huge existing disparities; • Denial of the indigenous peoples’ right to establish and control their education systems and institutions and neglect of their right to education in mother tongue as well as access to higher education; • Persistent discrimination in education, training, employment, housing, sanitation, health, social security and economic activities; • Inadequate measures and policies to allow indigenous peoples to exercise their rights to decide their development priorities, strategies, plans and programs and lack of legal provisions to respect their rights to administer such development programs through their institutions; and • Migrant or high caste superordination, that started in 16th century from Magarat and Tamuwan and institutionalized and entrenched throughout Nepal since the late 18th Century onward by subordinating local indigenous peoples, engendered high caste conscious oppressive state policies and practices which stymied the development of indigenous peoples;

7. Status indicators as manifestations of discrimination, unequal unjust treatment:

8. Education & language: (Source: Census 2001, NLSS 2003/04) • 3.6 million (46.4% of indigenous population) are illiterate • More than two-third population of 12 groups are illiterate • The proportion of illiterate population of 39 groups range from 35 to 50 percent • 26% children complete full cycle of primary education compared to 43% high caste children • 17.8% female teachers belong to indigenous peoples whereas this percentage is 30.6 percent for the whole country • Of 352, 243 graduates and above, only 8.7% (30595) are indigenous peoples other than urban indigenous group.

9. Education & language: (Source: Census 2001, NLSS 2003/04) • Among indigenous peoples other than urban indigenous group, only 0.5 of the six years and above age population are graduates and above, compared to 3.6% of high castes, a huge disparity extremely hard to narrow down. • About 44% indigenous peoples have never attended schools.

10. Education & language: (Source: Census 2001, NLSS 2003/04) • Nepali (Khas) language still plays crucial roles • To glorify traditionally dominant caste groups and their discourses • To stigmatize and devalue indigenous peoples and other excluded groups and their discourses • To rationalize asymmetrical relationships as functional and beneficial to all • To marginalize indigenous languages • Due to state suppression and neglect, denial of linguistic human rights, decreasing inter-generational transmission as a result of forced disuse, lack of encouragement in the use of indigenous languages in new domains like education, media, etc. • About five dozen indigenous languages are threatened • About three dozens languages are moribund or ‘living dead’ with only a handful elderly speakers, rare chances of survival • About one dozen languages became already extinct.

11. Health and Sanitation(Source: Census 2001, NLSS, 2003/04, DHS 2006; Inclusion Index 2008) • About 42% hill indigenous women are deprived of antenatal care compared to that of 9% hill Brahmin women. • Under five years age children mortality rate per thousand live births is 80 among hill indigenous peoples, compared to national average of 68. • Malnutrition (stunting rate i.e. height for age below normal and underweight rate) found among more than 50% indigenous children under five years of 35 groups compared to 44% such children among hill Brahmans. • Health care system systematic segregates indigenous peoples. Health care services for indigenous peoples: • Inaccessible (distance) • Unaffordable (cost, poverty) • Unapproachable (social/power distance) • Incomprehensible (language) • Annoying (time factor, behaviors of service providers) • Apathetic (care givers’ insensibility) • Worthless (quality of service)

12. Physical Infrastructure(Source: NLSS, 2003/04) • Hill indigenous peoples rank lowest (28-62% households) among all caste and ethnic groups in having access to basic services (within one hour reach to service or facility centers): • Health post 62% households • Bus stop 42% “ • Paved road 37% “ • Dirt road vehicle 54% “ • Market center 35% “ • Agricultural center 35% “ • Cooperative 36% “ • Bank 28% “

13. Poverty & Living Conditions(Source: NLSS 2003/04, Census 2001; GSEA, 2005; JEP studies, Inclusion Index 2008) • About 23% households of hill indigenous peoples and 40% of Eastern Tarai indigenous peoples do not have their own land compared to 19% hill Brahmin households without their own land. • Two-third households of indigenous peoples live in Kachchi houses or thatched huts/plastic shelters without toilets, and 79% hill indigenous households and 68% Tarai indigenous households depend on wood as fuel for cooking. • 44% of hill indigenous peoples are living below the poverty line, above the nation average of 31% and huge gap with high castes with a poverty headcount rate of 18.4% • The poverty headcount rate of 20 indigenous groups range from 51% to 64% and that of 13 groups range from 41% to 50% and that of another 12 groups range from 32% to 40% • If the conventional development approaches and practices of are not radically changed and the present trend of poverty reduction continues, the absolute poverty of dominant caste groups will be eliminated by 2014, that of Dalits by 2035 and the absolute poverty of indigenous peoples will be eliminated only by 2060 .

14. Some Critical Issues/Problems and Recommendations Some Critical Issues/ Problems Recommendations National laws and regulations are not clear to ensure indigenous peoples to benefit on an equal footing from the rights and opportunities as granted to and enjoyed by others • Nepal government should review and amend existing laws, regulations, sector policies and strategies and master plans and enact new laws and regulations, formulate new sector policies, strategies and master plans to ensure that indigenous peoples benefit on an equal footing from the rights and opportunities as granted to and enjoyed by others.

15. Some Critical Issues/Problems and Recommendations Some Critical Issues/Problems Recommendations • International/Donor communities should • Encourage Nepal government to scrap discriminatory laws, regulations, policies, strategies and plans that pave the way for ensuring benefits to indigenous peoples from rights and opportunities on equal footing with dominant group members; • Provide financial and technical support for such endeavor; • Make such action a necessary condition of the proposed or extended projects before releasing the fund.

16. Some Critical Issues/Problems and Recommendations • Social, economic and cultural rights of indigenous peoples have not been fully realized. • Nepal government should enact a separate law on the rights of indigenous peoples of Nepal that • Ensures the right to maintain and strengthen distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions; • Provides effective mechanisms to protect them against the aggression on their cultural values, institutions, and ethnic identities, dispossession of their occupied or used lands, restrictions on the use of forests, pastures, water, sub-surface minerals and other natural resources, forced assimilation and defaming propagation; • Protects archaeological, historical, cultural and sacred sites, monuments and materials in close cooperation with concerned indigenous peoples; • Validate and protect customary laws; • Makes free, prior, informed consent of indigenous people in course of adopting and implementing legislative and administrative measures that may affect them, removing or relocating them with just and fair compensation as per agreement;

17. Some Critical Issues/Problems and Recommendations • Accords top priority to the development of indigenous peoples among myriads of national programs/projects; • Makes participation and consent of indigenous peoples through their representative institutions in the implementation, management and monitoring of development programs mandatory at both national and local level; • Makes indigenous peoples’ organizations authoritative to administer programs/projects related to them and also implement in their areas; • Directs to establish bureaus or divisions, wings, cells, units or focal points in all ministries, government agencies, field agencies and local bodies to deal with indigenous issues and development.

18. Some Critical Issues/Problems and Recommendations • International agencies/Donor communities should • Pursue Nepal government to enact new laws in line with the provisions of ILO Convention 169 and UNDRIP; • Provide technical and financial support to review laws, regulations, policies, strategies and plans and help draft the new law and revise and amend other laws and relevant documents; • Make enactment of new law and revisions of existing laws, regulations and other pertinent documents necessary condition for the agreement of new projects or release of the funds of running project

19. Some Critical Issues/Problems and Recommendations • The socio-economic gaps between indigenous peoples and dominant caste groups have increased and they are unlikely to bridge unless special measures are adopted in wider scale. • Nepal government should • Conduct comprehensive study on the indigenous peoples’ statuses with the collaboration of indigenous peoples’ organizations, indigenous experts and financial and technical support of international/ donor agencies and maintain accurate database with the participation of indigenous peoples in data management; • Develop appropriate tools for monitoring and evaluation with the participation of concerned stakeholders/ indigenous peoples’ organizations; • Enact laws relating to different proposed commissions and revise existing laws related to existing Commissions to ensure the participation or proportionate inclusion of indigenous peoples with the consent of their representative institutions/organizations;

20. Some Critical Issues/Problems and Recommendations • Revise/amend laws relating to forest, park, wild reserves and conservation areas, pastures, land, water resources, land compensation, environmental conservation in line with the provisions of ILO Convention 169 and UNDRIP; • Revise/amend Education Act and Regulation to ensure indigenous peoples’ control over education systems and institutions in their areas, to provide education in their mother tongues, to make education appropriate to their cultures and to increase their access to higher education; • Improve health care system by increasing access to service delivery and control over management of the services;

21. Some Critical Issues/Problems and Recommendations • Revise civil service and other Acts to expand opportunities of recruitment and promotion in government positions; • Set the standards relating to mandatory proportionate inclusion of indigenous peoples in all state organs including National Planning Commission, with the consent of indigenous peoples’ organizations; • Establish separate Commission for indigenous peoples; • Start separate sub-plan for indigenous peoples for their social, economic, cultural, educational and overall development with the participation and consent of indigenous peoples’ organizations with the provision that the activities of sub-plan will be administered by the institutions/organizations of indigenous peoples.

22. Some Critical Issues/Problems and Recommendations • International/donor communities should • pursue Nepal government to bridge socio-economic gaps between indigenous peoples and dominant caste groups through appropriate mechanisms, institutions, policies and programs; • Provide support to government of Nepal and indigenous peoples’ organizations to initiate necessary actions, implement programs at various levels; • Make crucial policy interventions and activities of bridging socio-economic gaps as necessary conditions for further financial and technical support to Nepal as well as conditions for releasing funds further to existing projects.

23. Some Critical Issues/Problems and Recommendations • Rapid de-glaciation and ice mass reduction , permafrost shrinking, and other manifestations of climate change/Himalayan warming are posing threats to indigenous peoples living in mountain, hill areas and low lands especially at river sides aggravating their already existing poverty and vulnerability • Government of Nepal should • Adopt appropriate adaptations and mitigation measures to cope with the climate change and resultant natural calamities. • Establish linkages between environment protection and livelihood issues. • Develop cooperation with indigenous peoples in environment protection and management • Mobilize international/regional resources and seek cooperation to improve knowledge base, both scientific and indigenous, to monitor climate change and implement adaptation and mitigation measures effectively.

24. Some Critical Issues/Problems and Recommendations • International/donor communities should • Extend support to improve knowledgebase to monitor climate change and implement adaptation and mitigation measures effectively

25. Thank You !