KATHMANDU, Mar 1: Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal (JSP-N) has decided not to support the land-related ordinance, making it difficult for the ruling parties to pass the ordinances through the federal parliament.
The party argued that the proposed land ordinance will not only devastate the Madhesh region but also cause irreversible damage to the hills and the Himalayas.
Speaking at an interaction organized by the Intellectual Professionals Federation close to JSP-Nepal in the capital on Friday, JSP-N Chairman Upendra Yadav warned that the desertification in Madhes would have a cascading effect on the entire country, including the hills and Himalayan region. “If Madhes turns into a desert, the entire country will follow suit,” Yadav warned.
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Chairman Yadav cited a 1954 recommendation by UN experts to restrict activities in the Chure region but lamented that successive governments have failed to act. Instead, forest destruction continued under resettlement schemes that promoted migration.
Yadav noted that groundwater levels in many parts of Madhes have declined significantly, worsening the water crisis. He argued that protecting Chure is crucial not only for Nepal but also for the Ganges basin in India. He criticized the ordinance as being against national interests, calling it “an act of national betrayal.”
Yadav further alleged that 75 percent of the land distributed under the name of helping the landless is controlled by political party cadres. He claimed that commissions formed to address land issues have only complicated the problem. Citing the example of Sunsari during Manmohan Adhikari’s premiership, he noted that many recipients of land grants are now millionaires while genuine landless people continue to suffer.
Yadav stressed the need to support squatters by providing them with land, free education and training. He pointed to Denmark and Israel as examples of countries thriving through agriculture, urging Nepal to adopt similar strategies.
Yadav also accused land mafias of manipulating the ordinance process by buying and selling parliamentary votes under the pretext of helping squatters, leading to a loss of trust even among neighboring countries. He warned that if the ordinance is passed through “buying and selling MPs,” JSP Nepal will launch protests against the government.
JSP-Nepal has urged the government to withdraw the ordinance. The party argued that the ordinance threatens to turn Madhesh into a desert and displace indigenous communities.
