Social change cannot be imposed. It is an inherently slow process which might take decades (or more) to evolve. People by nature are reluctant to change; letting go of long-held beliefs is never easy. If some beliefs have been held long enough, they can be impossible to change even when they have clearly outlived their utility (if there was any in the first place).
Take caste discrimination. For the older generation that was raised to believe that castes were something ordained by gods, a belief which they might have held dear for many decades, the recent drumbeat of inclusiveness might seem like a whole lot of noise. Unsurprisingly, the strongest advocates of the caste system these days come from this group. Their belief in the superiority of certain races is hard to remove since most of them never saw the light of education. But it is troubling when even the young and educated generation is reluctant to embrace the concept of an equitable, inclusive society. [break]
In places like Bajura district in the Far West, there are still many villages which have separate drinking water taps for Dalit and non-Dalit communities. There are taps set aside for menstruating women. The ‘untouchable’ castes are not allowed into hotels and lodges run by ‘high caste’ members. Yes, part of the reason this trend persists is undoubtedly hard-set mindsets of the older generation. But the extent to which caste-based discriminations persist in rural outposts around the country suggests that even educated youth from traditional high castes are finding it hard to embrace changes that have been thrust upon.
One of the reasons the Maoist insurgency gained traction in a short span of time was because of these entrenched discriminations that have been a hallmark of Nepali society ever since Prime Minister Janga Bahadur Rana promulgated the Muluki Ain (National Civil Code) in 1854, formally dividing the Nepali society into distinct ‘touchables’ and ‘untouchables’. The decade-long insurgency contributed to raising national consciousness on these entrenched differences and the subsequent Jana Andolan and post-2006 political agreements secured many long-denied rights for the Dalit and Janajati communities. Yet it is becoming clear that the changes are yet to percolate down to the society.
This is not to underestimate recent achievements. While under a percentage of Dalits were represented in every parliament elected after the restoration of democracy in 1990, the dissolved Constituent Assembly had 8.3 percent Dalit representation. The major political parties are a lot more inclusive today than they were four or five years ago. The 2007 Interim Constitution is the most progressive in Nepali history in terms of the rights of the marginalized communities. But enacting legislation is one thing, putting it into practice is quite another (as Bajura illustrates).
The hope is that the achievements in the last five or six years can be cemented in the new constitution. More importantly, with the transition formally coming to an end, the country will be able to get over petty politicking and truly work towards the creation of an equitable, inclusive society. This is not naïve optimism, but an ideal that all democratic forces should be aiming for.
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