A recent survey reveals that security in Madhesh has improved in recent months despite some hiccups here and there.
The report of the survey conducted in September last year was released recently.
With the country heading to fresh elections of the Constituent Assembly, the issue of security situation during the polls has become one of the major issues of concerns among various stakeholders and people at large. And this is even more apt in the Madhesh region, as it has been one of the main vote banks.[break]
People in general still have the Madhesh Movement of 2007 in mind when relations between Pahadi (people of hill origins) and Madheshi (those living on the Tarai Plains) and between different ethnic groups in the Tarai stooped to an all-time low, raising doubts over any improvement in their relations in future.
Incidents of abductions, killings, rapes, corruptions and cross-border crimes have always been obstacle to the security situations in the Madhesh.
But if to go by the latest survey conducted in 11 Tarai districts, the condition of social harmony has improved significantly in the Madhesh in recent months. Though a very few of the respondents (10%) of the survey mentioned that inter-community relations were deteriorating, an overwhelming percentage of people in Madhesh said that relationship between Tharus, including other Tarai ethnic groups, and Madheshi castes has improved remarkably.
Chandra Shekhar Karki
“The situation had been explosive between these communities in past years over the issues of recognition, identity, federalism and state-restructuring process, especially after the Tharus were enlisted as Madheshi in the Interim Constitution,” the survey conducted by Nepal Madhesh Foundation (NEMAF) revealed. “However, an overwhelming majority of respondents put forward their views that there is less chance of the occurrence of communal strife in future.”
About one tenth of the respondents, who thought either high or low chance of communal strife or conflicts among the communities, cited that the existing ethnic/communal disparity and discrimination, religious conflicts, interference in the rights of one another group, and political conflicts in the area as the major causes of communal strife and conflicts in the region, it is stated in the report outcome of the survey, titled “Harmony, Security and Governance in the Plains.”
According to the survey, one third of the respondents mentioned that though conflict had occurred earlier, the nature of these conflicts were of less repetitive and of short duration.
“Most people mentioned that the major causes of such conflicts were personal and land disputes, rather than social and political causes,” it says. “People seemed to have dealt with the conflict situation in a soft way rather than being aggressive to the opponents.”
It, however, does not completely rule out the chances of strife and conflicts in the future, as the country is yet to delve seriously into the issue of federalism.
Though social harmony seems to be good and improving in Madhesh at present, the chances of strife and conflicts cannot be ruled out, it says.
“Whenever stakeholders debate federalism, people of various communities are often seen polarized along their ethnic interests,” it states. “Marches of rival groups on the streets of Kathmandu in May last year and chanting of slogans against rival communities before and after the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly reminds one of the dangers of communal clashes in the country and in Madhesh.”
Security seems to have been improving after the Madhesh Movement. But people are still not fully confident about it. Thus, a lot needs to be done to improve social harmony, security and governance in Madhesh. (See BOX: Recommendations)
According to the Foundation, the said survey was carried out among 653 respondents spread over 11 districts in Tarai – in Morang, Sunsari, Saptari, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Siraha, Sarlahi, Bara, Parsa, Kapilvastu, and Rupandehi. It had identified these districts of Madhesh/Tarai as the sample districts to identify the situation of social harmony, security, governance, and local development.
Sample wards of the target VDCs/municipalities were selected using random sampling. Then households of the target wards were selected using right-hand rule, and finally household heads in general were selected as respondents. While selecting respondents from the target households, priority was given to those who could provide more information about their locality/village.
This report basically analyses the public perceptions towards social harmony, security and governance in the Madhesh/Tarai region, according to NEMAF.
As per security component of the survey, urban areas in Madhesh had considerably good access to security mechanism as compared to rural areas. However, most respondents said that incidents of crime were decreasing in Madhesh.
Unlike public perception about cross-border infiltration and criminal activities, more than half of the respondents perceived border areas as safer for living whereas 41 percent were unsure about their opinion. This shows that they are still in dilemma about their safety and security. Though the rate of crime has been decreasing in Madhesh, there are still high incidents of smuggling and other crimes in the border areas. People apply cooperative measures rather than offensive measures to combat illegal and criminal activities, the report further states.
As far as governance and development is concerned, survey respondents believed that corruption and misappropriations of local budgets have been the major challenges. “Transparency, accountability and responsiveness, which are considered the best indicators to measure the status of good governance in the Madhesh, were perceived to be very poor,” it is stated in the report.
People said they were compelled to pay bribes to get their works done at the local levels, and about three fourth of the respondents mentioned that distribution of local budget lacked transparency.
Most respondents said that the culture of nepotism exists at the local level. Development projects at local levels seem to have ignored the popular mantras like “Participatory democracy,” “Bottom-up-approach,” and “Putting people first” approaches that continue to dominate the development debates these days in all parts of the world, particularly the Third World, it states.
Some of the other issues that have been the worrying aspects of the Madheshi society are that there is a high rate of unemployment and poverty in the region even though it is where most of the country’s industries are located.
“Most respondents, in fact, cited poverty and unemployment to be the major problems at local levels,” it is mentioned in the report. “People of Madhesh also want awareness programs launched so that they can know what their rights are and what their roles can be to ensure good governance. A conscious and aware mass can be the best defense against any kinds of social evils.”
Recommendations
• Though there is less chance of occurrence of communal strife and deterioration of social harmony, multi-pronged approaches are needed in Madhesh so that every stakeholder could feel himself as equal in all terms. Empowerment of the marginalized, respects for the various groups’ identities and equal treatment of all the stakeholders would help nip the chance of communal tension in the bud.
• Personal disputes should not be treated as ethnic or focal issues and should be solved through dialogues and not by violent means.
• Effective measures should be taken in time to improve security in the border areas. Security mechanism should also give due priority to rural areas.
• Effective awareness program should be designed and implemented as soon as possible to curb domestic violence.
• Educating people and providing them with sufficient employment opportunities can be an important tool to improve security and social harmony.
• Social cohesion and cooperation could be beneficial to combat crime and illegal activities, and therefore, a culture of cooperation should be promoted.
• Effective steps should be taken immediately in order to check the increasing culture of corruption and nepotism. These measures should also be adopted at local levels so that local governments could be made transparent, accountable and responsive to the people.
• Development programs should be based on the principles of participatory democracy and bottom-up approach.
• People should be made aware of their rights. This can further help improve social harmony, governance and security conditions.
• The critical mass of civil society which acts as a watchdog of any society is either weak or absent in the Madhesh. An independent, critical, capable and impartial civil society is necessary to guide and check activities of different actors.
Fact File
• The Nepal Madhesh Foundation (NEMAF) conducted this survey and published a report titled “Harmony, Security and Governance in the Plains: An Analysis of Public Perceptions Across Madhesh/Terai.”
• The household survey was conducted among 653 respondents in 11 districts of Madhesh/Tarai –namely, in Morang, Sunsari, Saptari, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Siraha, Sarlahi, Bara, Parsa, Kapilvastu, and Rupandehi.
• NEMAF categorized the existing administrative districts of Madhesh into five clusters considering culture, language, religion, caste/ethnic composition, gender discrimination, intensity of conflict, issues of politics, nature of recently emerged armed conflict, and scenario of development.
The identified clusters are as follows:
Far-Eastern Tarai (Jhapa, Morang, and Sunsari); Eastern Tarai (Saptari, Siraha, Dhanusha, Mahottari, and Sarlahi); Mid-Tarai (Rautahat, Bara, and Parsa); Western Tarai (Nawalparasi, Rupandehi, and Kapilvastu); and Far-Western Tarai (Dang, Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, and Kanchanpur).
• Administratively, out of the 75 districts of Nepal, 20 are in Tarai, which, from east to west, are Jhapa, Morang, Sunsari, Saptari, Siraha, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Rautahat, Bara, Parsa, Chitwan, Nawalparasi, Rupandehi, Kapilvastu, Dang, Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, and Kanchanpur.
Included in the list is also Bhitri Madhesh or Inner Tarai that consists of flatlands to the north of the Siwalik Range and includes the districts of Chitwan and Dang.
• Statistician Bal Krishna Khadka led the team to conduct this survey which also included Anirudh Prasad Sah, Bhola Koirala, and Nanda Kumar Sah.
• The report was written by Anirudh Prasad Sah with contributions from Sumit Gupta, Ram Kumar Kamat, and Til Bahadur Sunar.
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