Popularity of plastic utensils threatens Rautes` livelihood

KATHMANDU, Jan 2: After resisting the winds of change for centuries, Nepal’s only nomadic tribesmen, the Rautes, have realized they are also a part of the global system. The increasing use of modern plastic utensils in Nepalese villages has threatened their only livelihood, which is making wooden utensils and bartering them for food.






The Rautes, who live in the forests of mid-western Nepal, are the only permanent nomads left in the country. Today, there are only about 200 living Rautes, according to Hari Thapa, chief of Contemporary Vision Pvt. Ltd., a non-governmental organization which has been working for the tribe’s welfare for two years now. The Rautes’ mistrust of modern medicine has not helped slow their decreasing population either. They abhor medicine. Their women give birth to babies on the cold floor, and both mother and baby often die during labor or immediately afterwards. [break]



The Raute tradition comprises of three salient features: they leave the forest looking for a fresh place to settle on immediately after someone in their tribe dies; they don’t cultivate land; and they hate education. The Rautes hunt monkeys for food. And, to get food grains, they fell trees to make wooden utensils that they then barter for grains in the villages near the forest where they live. They use wooden nails in their products and the tools they use to build the products are also very traditional.



“Plastic utensils have become popular in the villages these days, so there are few buyers for the wooden utensils made by Rautes,” says Thapa, whose organization brought six Rautes from the Achham district to Kathmandu for a three-day trip this week to advocate for the right to use forest wood and promote the sale of their products in Kathmandu.



In a documentary showcased on Thursday at the Nepal Tourism Board, where the Rautes had been brought in for interaction with the public, many of the tribe living in Accham were shown knocking on villager’s doors, pleading with them to take their wooden boxes called Madhus, pots called Kosi, and wine containers called Jhuma, in exchange of a few kilograms of food grain. The documentary, co-financed by the United Nations Development Program, says the Raute tradition is believed to be 900-years old.



The Rautes refuse to produce better products as this would indicate a splitting from their tradition. These nomads are adamant to continue with their tradition, believing any deviation towards modernity is a disloyalty to their ancestors and gods. They loathe education and permanent settlement.






“Agriculture is a lot of work,” says Mahin Bahadur Shahi, tribal chieftain, in the documentary. “For us, choosing agriculture is like choosing death.”



Despite the innumerable hardships of living in the forests, the Rautes love their lifestyle where their only responsibilities are hunting and building wooden utensils.



The Rautes, who are in Kathmandu, say they would like to live like that, but want state support as their livelihood is being threatened both by the popularity of plastic utensils, and by the hindrance posed by villagers with regards to their use of forest wood.



“Give us food. Give us clothes. But don’t tell us how we should live,” says Shahi.



During their Kathmandu visit, the Rautes met President Ram Baran Yadav, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and speaker Subas Nembang. The Rautes are demanding that the state provide each of them Rs 3,000 in allowance. There is currently a state provision of Rs 500 allowance for each of them.



While Contemporary Vision is advocating that the Raute tradition should be preserved, they should be given financial support to continue to enjoy their “cultural rights”, and the new constitution should give them special rights, a counter argument that they should be gradually mainstreamed into regular society, was also voiced by participants in the interaction at the Nepal Tourism Board.



bikash@myrepublica.com