When Dalit lawmakers and activists were protesting on August 4 against the draft constitution, which significantly curtails rights of the Dalit community enshrined in the Interim Constitution, the police used brute force to suppress peaceful agitation. Use of excessive force against the Dalit community provoked huge furor in the media. The suppression in broad daylight of peaceful agitation of the Dalit community, right in front of the Constituent Assembly (CA) building, shows the repressive mentality of the government and higher caste group.Dalit community faces inhumane treatment even in the 21st century. They are barred from entering temples, from fetching water from communal wells or taps and from using public places. Dalit community has faced hardship for more than 3,000 years. Now is the time to do away with the evil of caste-based discrimination through proper legislation.
National Dalit Commission defines Dalits as "those communities who, by virtue of atrocities of caste based discrimination and untouchability, are most backward in social, economic, educational, political and religious fields, and are deprived of human dignity and social justice." According to one research, there are around 4.5 million Dalits in Nepal, which is almost 20 percent of total population. In Nepal we have more than 20 Dalit caste groups; and 80 percent of the Dalit population lives below poverty line. It is said that 40 percent of the Dalits living in Tarai region are landless squatters.
This proves that the Dalit community is the single largest exploited group. If they are out of the mainstream, the country cannot take the path of development. When two out of 10 people are marginalized and discriminated purely based on their castes, how can we build new Nepal?
Nepal has a history of state sponsored discrimination against Dalit community. The autocratic Rana oligarchy framed laws to treat the Dalits as untouchables. Although caste-based discrimination was banned after the establishment of democracy in 1950s, Dalits to this day face prejudice in every sector. Tarai Dalits are more marginalized than Dalits in hills. Recently British Broadcasting Corporation's "Sajha Sawal" team was in Siraha district. It recorded the failed attempt of a young man from the untouchable Dom community to fetch water from communal well. Even though he was accompanied by veteran actor Rajesh Hamal, villagers made human shield to block him even to touch the well.
Finally, after the police action was he able to fetch water in a bucket. This issue made big headlines. The same interaction program featured a young boy who had passed 12th standard but who had not gotten even a peon's job at the local government school. It was heartbreaking.
I still remember when one of my Dalit friends married a girl from the so-called higher caste. After she eloped with him, the girl's parents refused to solemnize the marriage and he was continuously threatened with dire consequences by the girl's parents. He remained hidden for weeks. Even to receive government allowances for inter-caste marriage he had to run from pillar to post. This marriage harried him a lot. Incidents like these will keep repeating without concrete socio-economic programs to uplift the Dalit community.
The draft constitution has taken a step back from the Interim Constitution when it comes to Dalit's rights. There was provision of proportional representation of the Dalit community in every state organ. That constitution even provided for settlements to landless Dalits. In different interactions prior to constitution making, top leaders had ensured Dalits that there would be special provisions for them, but the current draft hasn't incorporated these issues. Therefore, Dalit community was rightfully angry with the draft constitution. To end caste-based discrimination there should be proper representation of Dalit community in every state organ.
Dalit community has been exploited by every political party. Nepali Congress took the Dalit community as a vote bank, CPN-UML leaders used the Dalit community to run I/NGOs and Maoists made them a ladder to power. No political party has truly fought for the rights of the Dalit community.
The seven-decade-old Dalit movement hasn't achieved anything substantial because of internal disunity. Dalits themselves practice untouchability among each other. Bishwakarmas regard themselves as higher on the hierarchy than Damais, for example. When they discriminate among themselves, how they can ask others to treat them as equals? Similarly, Dalit organizations are not united and are only concerned about donor funds.
Caste-based discrimination has tarnished the country's global image. Instead of curtailing the rights of Dalit community, the new constitution should ensure their economic and political rights. Education can bring the Dalit community to the mainstream. Therefore, education till graduate level should be free for the students from the community. Scholarships should be made available for Dalit students in technical and non-technical subjects. Moreover, the government should give vocational training to the unemployed Dalits.
Since Dalit community is known for its skills in different fields ranging from tailoring to carpentry, proper markets should be identified for them so that they can sell their products. Without political and economic empowerment of the Dalit community we won't see much progress in their lives.
As Martin Luther King, who fought racial discrimination in the US, famously said, "We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." This is the right time for the Dalits to fight for their cause as the country is writing a new constitution. There should be constitutional guarantees for the rights of the Dalit community. Without this, there will be perpetual social unrest.
The author is a social activist and freelance writer
dk7030@gmail.com
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