“The agreement remains largely unimplemented,” said Binod Pahadi, coordinator of a sub-committee constituted by the Parliamentary Committee on Women, Children and Social Welfare (CWCSW) to take the stock of the Badi community. [break]
“The socio-economic condition of the Badi community can be improved in the next several years if the agreement is seriously implemented. However, the government has utterly neglected promises made to the Badi community.”
At a meeting held Tuesday, high-level officials from various ministries apprised the parliamentary sub-committee that there has been no progress in this direction. “The government has not instructed its line ministries to implement the agreement,” said Pahadi. “Nor has it provided budget for the purpose.”
One of the major points of agreement was to distribute land for the Badi families inhabiting rural villages. However, the Ministry of Land Reform and Management (MoLRM) has not provided land to any of the Badi families so far. Similarly, the Ministry of Labor and Transport Management (MoLTM), which is to send youths from the Badi community abroad for employment without making them pay, has not done anything.
In the agreement, which was reached on April 30 in 2007, the government also promised free-of-cost health check-ups and medical treatment facilities to Badi women who still work as prostitutes to make ends meet. Three years ago, the number of Badi women, who were involved in flesh trade, was around 400. Although traditionally involved in prostitution, most of Badi people, men and women alike, do decent works these days.
The only step taken toward implementing the agreement so far is the distribution of identity cards to the Badi people. “However, this too is unsatisfactory,” said Pahadi. According to him, of the total 8,341 Badi people living in mainly 11 districts in the far and mid western regions, only 772 Badi people have obtained identity cards so far.
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