Nepal

Kathmandu, June 14

Locals and stakeholders continued their protests holding torch rallies and mass gathering in different parts of Kathmandu valley, today.

The general public, especially people from Newar community, have taken to the streets demanding the withdrawal of the controversial Guthi Bill, which they say has provisions in favour of land mafias and is against cultural conservation.

Today, the protesters took out a massive torch rally in Mangal Bazaar, Lalitpur, at 6:30 pm. The protesters had held a mass gathering at Tokha at 6:30 am in the morning, followed by a similar event at Dhalku at 5:00 pm. There were also protests in other parts of the valley.

Tomorrow, the protesters plan to take out a rally at Budhanilakantha at 10:00 am, and in Bhaktapur at 4:00 pm. A massive rally, beginning from Basantapur, has been planned at 6:30 pm tomorrow, according to Ganapati Lal Shrestha, coordinator of National Identity Protection Joint Struggle Committee that has spearheaded the protests. Yesterday too, the operators and locals staged protests in Kirtipur, Banepa, Dhulikhel and Pokhara, with a massive one at Patan Durbar Square.

Shrestha said they would continue their protests until the government withdrew the bill to draft a fresh one in consultation with guthi trustees, farmers, experts and other stakeholders from across the country.

&We are not against formulating a strong law to curb anomalies in the sector, neither are we against the formation of Guthi Authority,& he said, adding, &But the existing bill does not address actual problems faced by guthis.&

Stakeholders say the billprovision that allows anybody who has occupied guthi land to acquire ownership certificates will only favour land mafias, severely hurting income source of guthis that work to conserve religion, culture and tradition. They say a cash-strapped guthi could not organise jatras and other cultural and traditional functions. The bill also nullifies all guthi property-related evidences including those received through donations.

The bill has a provision that brings all private, public and raj guthis under the proposed Guthi Authority, effectively ending the role of existing trustees who have so far been running the guthis. The bill proposes appointing government employees to run guthis.

&Do you think a government clerk will work for the conservation of culture& asked Shrestha, adding, &Guthi trustees are the ones who have been working to save our identity, so itthe stateduty to protect them.&

Another negative impact of converting private guthis into public guthis, according to stakeholders, would encourage guthi land grab through tenant (mohi) claims, which would again favour land mafias. Moreover, this is against the right to property guaranteed by the constitution, according to Shrestha, because these are personal property that has been donated by families to conserve family culture and tradition.

Another issue raised by protesting stakeholders is the billprovisions that give sweeping powers to chief trustees (mathadhees and pujaris), which increases the chances of misuse/ grab of guthi land in collusion with chief trustees. They are of the view that there has to be a check-and-balance system when it comes to appointment and delegating authority of chief trustees.

Shrestha also said one blanket law would not address the issue because problems related to guthis in Kathmandu were different from the problems related to guthis in other parts of the country. &So we want this law to be drafted in consultation with stakeholders,& he said.

According to Guthi Sansthan, raj guthis have an estimated 66,000 bigha land in the Tarai, and around 561,000 ropani in hills. There are around 2,335 registered raj guthis. Although private guthis are not registered with the Sansthaan, it estimates their number to be in excess of 5,000.

The post Newars continue protests against Guthi Bill appeared first on The Himalayan Times.

Kathmandu, June 14

Bill to integrate some education laws stipulates that higher education will be free for indigent people, including Dalits and differently-abled people.

The bill stipulates that indigent people under the category of Dalits and differently-abled people, who lack means of livelihood, and those whose income is less than the amount fixed by the government, shall qualify for free higher education scheme.

Dalit rights activist Shailendra Prasad Harijan (Ambedkar) said as per the definition of the bill, no Dalit would qualify for free education scheme because it would be difficult to prove that Dalits had no means of livelihood.

&In our country, everybody, even indigent Dalit may hold a small plot of land. It may not be adequate, but almost all Dalits have their own means of livelihood,& he said.

Article 40 (2) of the constitution stipulates that a provision of free education with scholarship, from primary to higher education, shall be made for Dalit students. Special provision shall be made for Dalits for technical and vocational education.

Harijan said the billproposal to provide free higher education to indigent Dalits was a violation of the constitutional right of Dalits guaranteed by Article 40 (2). &The constitution says that all Dalits have opportunity to free education with scholarship from primary to higher education, but this bill proposes to provide this opportunity to only indigent Dalits,& he said.

Chakra Man Bishwakarma, who was a member of the High Level Education Commission that submitted its report to the government five months ago, told THT that the government needed to bring changes in its policies to ensure the Dalits& right to education. He said his commission had suggested that the government should provide free higher education to Dalits, but the government only talked about ‘indigent& Dalits.

He said the government should have special plans to provide technical education to Dalits in a way that could help them develop skills for their traditional professions. According to him, Dalits& right to education could be ensured only if the government provided at least one Dalit teacher for each school. &Many Dalit children do not go to school because of poverty. Dalit children suffer from lack of food and nutrition and therefore, each local level should have a revolving fund to provide food to Dalit children,& he said. He added that each school management committee should also have a Dalit representation to ensure implementation of policies that could protect Dalits& rights.

Another Dalit rights activist Bhola Paswan said although the constitution ensured Dalits& rights to free education up to higher education level, implementation of the governmentpolicies was ineffective.

&The government requires Dalit students to enrol at community schools to be eligible for free education, but due to party politics quality of education at community schools is deteriorating every year,& he said. He added that the government needed to enhance the quality of community schools if it wanted to protect the rights of Dalits and other marginalised communities.

Spokesperson for the Ministry of Education Hari Lamsal said the bill to integrate some education laws was in line with the constitutional provisions and his ministry was still discussing the contents of the new education policies to protect the interests of Dalits and minorities at schools.

The post New bill curtails Dalits& right to education: Activists appeared first on The Himalayan Times.