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Kathmandu: India, for the first time, is said to be pos­itive about allowing trucks with Nepali number plates to carry cooking gas into Nepal. The Indian side reportedly showed this readiness during the Nepal-India Intergovern­mental Committee (IGC) meet­ing in Kathmandu this week.

The Indian side has accepted that it may not be possible for Nepali trucks to meet its rigorous anti-explosion test requirements. Nepal Oil Corporation had last year given permission to 775 such trucks to import fuel from India. But since none of them could get India’s anti-explosion certificates, they have been unable to operate. APEX BUREAU  

A village at a distance of 14 km from the headquarters of Baglung, a district in the western hills, has been practicing an extreme form of exclusion where dalits and non-dalits do not attend each other’s social functions, including weddings and funerals. Dhamja of Kathekhola-3 rural municipality, a community long reputed for its religious diver­sity, is now completely divided. Local resident Bhabilal BK says that in the past two months, the dalits and non-dalits of the village of Asauje have even stopped talking to each other. The locals trace the origin of the problem to a wedding ceremony of a non-dalit family. Some members of this family apparently objected to the presence of an inter-caste couple in the ceremony, following which all attending dalit members boycotted the event.

Before that villagers used to attend wedding ceremonies and funerals together. But they have stopped inviting each other now. And even if they receive an invitation from another community, they don’t accept it.

“My daughter got married last week. I’d invited the whole village, but no one from the so-called upper caste Bistas attended the wed­ding,” says BK. “In fact they made a collective decision not to accept a dalit’s invitation. I had made a special request to the elders of that community and had told them that I would make a separate dining arrangement for the non-dalit community. Still no one came,” rued BK. Despite claims that caste-based discrim­ination here is on the wane, separate dining arrangements for dalits and non-dalits at feasts and festivals are now common.

Not only during celebrations, but the two communities have begun shunning each other even on sensitive occasions like funerals. When the wife of Rana Bahadur BK passed away, no one from the non-dalit community attended the funeral. Another local Amar Bahadur Sri­sha says that caste-based discrimination has wrecked social harmony and unity in the vil­lage. “Our ancestors lived amicably with each other, but now there has been a decisive rift in social harmony,” argues Srisha.

Buddhi Bahadur BK, another local resident, asks heatedly who’s going to speak up against such injustice. “The dalit community has been oppressed for years. We won’t stay silent any­more,” says a visibly angry BK.

“At a time when there is widespread talk of the decline in caste-based discrimination, such cases shock us,” says ward chairman Yam Bahadur Srisha. “Discrimination is firmly entrenched, and taking on a more insidious form,” says Srisha. “Discrimination won’t be stamped out by laws only. A change in attitude is necessary.”  

There aren’t many places that offer a good view of the sunrise. But there also are a few sites from where it looks as if the sun is rising not from the distant horizon but right in front of one’s eyes. Sandakpur, which lies at the border point between Nepal’s far-eastern districts of Ilam and Panchthar, and the Indian state of West Bengal, and which is situated at an altitude of 3,636m, is one such location from where the glowing sun appears to rise right in front of the observer. Between October and April, huge numbers of tourists flock to Sandakpur. They need to use Nepal’s territory to get a good sunrise view. There is a hilltop on the Nepali side that offers spectacular views of the sunrise and the sunset. But the Nepali territory doesn’t have adequate infrastructure and hotels to accommodate the legions of tourists in Sanda­kpur. As a result, it’s the Indian side, which has many more hotels than the Nepali side, that makes most of the money from the region’s tourism.

Whereas the Nepali side has just two hotels, the Indian side has 14—three privately run and 11 operated under the West Bengal state gov­ernment. Both hotels on the Nepali side—Sherpa Shaile and Sunrise—are private. Pema Dandu Sherpa, manager of Sherpa Shaile, says Nepal has failed to tap the tourism potential of Sandakpur.

“Tourists view the sunrise from the Nepali side. But because we don’t have enough hotels, most of them have no choice but to stay in the hotels on the other side. Nepal government hasn’t shown interest and taken the initiative to develop adequate tourism infrastructure,” says Sherpa. Other Nepalis in the region also say that India has earned billions by milking Nepali territory.

Domestic tourist Tyson Kerung said he felt bad at the current state of affairs. “It’s sad that we cannot feel the pres­ence of the Nepali state in such a profitable area that attracts hordes of tourists,” says Kerung.

Pasang Dawa, a hotel entrepreneur, informed that tourists wanting to stay in Sandakpur pay anywhere in the range of 500 to 3,500 Indian rupees per night.

BY BHIM KUMAR BASKOTA | SANDAKPUR, ILAM

The hand pump in front of the house dried up two years ago. An electricity pole stands adjacent to their house, but they have to rely on a tuki (a traditional oil lamp) at night because their house does not have a power meter. They have been married for 10 years, but their marriage hasn’t been registered. And because they don’t have citizenship cards, their son’s birth hasn’t been registered either, which in turn has hindered his school enrolment. These are just some problems that the family of the 30-year-old Rajwati Musahar from Birta of Gaushala municipality in the central plains district of Mahottari has to face. “I often go to the municipality office, but no one listens,” she says.

Hand-to-mouth existence

Birta’s 60 Musahar families—with a total population of 250—are deprived of even basic rights and state services. “We live hand to mouth,” rues Rajwati. “No one understands our pain.”

There is hardly anyone in Birta’s Musahar community who has completed secondary school. Most children haven’t even been to a school. “My children go to morn­ing school, but they cannot be formally enrolled as they don’t have birth certificates,” says Jitani Devi Musahar, another local resident.

Rambabu Shah, chairman of ward 4, says the process of getting children enrolled in schools has already begun. “We will also ensure that the children have books and uni­forms they need in school,” says Shah.

Toilet woes

Part of why the Musahars have been denied government services is that they don’t have a toilet in their homes. The municipality, under its ‘no open defecation’ campaign, has barred households without a toilet from accessing govern­ment services.

“We don’t even have land to build a house, how can we build a toilet?” wonders Kabita Musahar, a mother of two.

“Our settlement has five hand pumps. Four of them went dry after the 2015 quake. We have to stand in a long line to fill water from the remaining one,” says 70-year-old Sukadev Sada.

Bikhani Sada claims that people from other caste groups even stop them from using the hand pump. “We have to go to the nearby pond to bathe and wash clothes. The pond water makes my body itch,” she says.

Shivanath Mahato, mayor of Gaushala municipality, claims that he will make sure the Musahar community will soon have ample access to drinking water.

BY RAJKARAN MAHATO | GAUSHALA, MAHOTTARI