Chitwan Tharus in Southern Nepal: An Ethnoecological Approach

By Dr Khadga Basnet

Good ethnoecological studies are not easily available because it is fairly new and emerging area of study, particularly in Nepal. Because of its interdisciplinary nature and applicability, recently, it has become popular in different academic disciplines including biology (zoology and botany), environmental science, geography, and social studies as well as in government and non-government organizations.

All of them are facing a similar problem-lack of good research books on the subject. The Chitwan Tharus in Southern Nepal: An Ethnoecological Approach by Dr Ulrike Muller-Boker, a well-known professor of Human Geography at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, is an exceptional ethnoecological book available in different book stores in Nepal.

Translated by Philip Pierce into English from its original German version and introduced as the publication number 21 of the Nepal Research Center, the book is filled with pertinent information on ethnoecological research (planning and methods, interpretation and application, and future direction). It is based on the author’s long-term field research and intimate experience, and first hand information.

This book is organized into 9 chapters, which the author has grouped into 3 parts. Each chapter has a particular ‘theme’ and starts with a brief introduction leading to major issues forming objectives, describing approaches, interpreting and presenting findings, and ending with a quick summary.

The first chapter ‘Concepts, theory and methods’ is considered as the first part of the book.

Although theoretical and methodological aspects are the focus of this part, field conditions of Chitwan have been described as well. Thus, this part (or the first chapter) builds a strong foundation on which parts two and three depend.

Chapters two to four are considered as the second part and devoted to ‘regional geography’ and bring out ecological, socio-economical, historical and political conditions of the study area. Chapter two describes not only biological and physical environment but it also shows how the Tharus adapted to the malaria- infested environment, whereas chapter three provides a qualitative distinction between Chitwan’s development tracing historical phases (eg, strategic and economic aspects) until the middle of the century and present conservation approaches and policies thereafter. The focus of the fourth chapter is social, economic, and religious aspects of the Chitwan Tharus and their attitude towards multi-ethnic situation.

Chapters five to nine form the third part, are probably the most important part of the book. Chapter 5 explores the Tharus’ understanding of natural environment- their classification of land (eg, natural, semi-natural, and agricultural), soil types, climates, geographical spaces and natural phenomenon such as flooding and erosion. Chapter six presents a qualitative analysis of how the Tharus use natural environment by looking at their traditional form of economy (eg, agriculture, gathering, and hunting) which has been taken as a measuring rod for viewing ‘present problems’ like crop intensification, restriction of national park.

This chapter is enriched with lists of a large number of plants (with local and scientific names) and their food, medicinal, and ornamental/other values reflecting the Tharus’ knowledge about the local resources and their use. Chapter seven, as a follow up of chapter six, describes the traditional technology categorizing it as ‘eco-technology’ because it is based on self-regenerating local materials, which are listed with their local and scientific names and points out the Tharus’ social and cultural identity. The eighth chapter explores the increasing conflicts and pertinent issues- natural protection versus traditional means of livelihood and economic activities, national and international policies and their implementation. Chapter nine is an overall summary of the text. Towards the end of the chapter, the author expresses how an ethnoecological approach enables one to explore complex subject likeman-environment relationship in any culture. Generation-old information combined with scientific studies can serve as a strong tool in ecological research, planning, and development in developing countries. Like in a flow chart, all three sections and chapters of the book are treated in an appropriate order and subjects are integrated so well that any reader will be able to relate materials from one chapter to another.

A large number of figures (7 maps, 21 drawings, and 24 high quality photographs), 40 tables, and other illustrations throughout the book have made the text easier to understand. An extensive list of references (more than 440) including some classical studies covers about 20 pages.

Although, more than 60 percent of the references are directly or indirectly related to Nepal, only a few are from the subject matter. This shows either ethnoecological research is rare or the author is very selective of such studies in Nepal. Besides adding to the already rich list of references, a large number of footnotes provide opportunities for researchers/readers to explore further on the subject. The author is very sensitive to acknowledge all people (scientists, administrators and managers, and helpers) who contributed directly or indirectly in her study. A detail table of contents compensates the lack of authors and subject indices. Sometimes, sentences are long and unclear, a common symptom of any translated version.

Except for this, the book sketches a clear picture of the Chitwan Tharus and their interactions with the natural environment. Moreover, it also provides a good framework for understanding ethnoecological issues, methods, and planning research, and proves valuable not only for human geographers and social scientists but also for ecologists/environmental scientists, biologists, planners and so on. Therefore, this book can be a valuabmle new acquisition for libraries and individual collection, and an excellent guide for researchers, and good reading material for tourists.

Religion and Human Rights

By Fr Charlie Law

Recently, I attended a Film and Cartoon Workshop on Human Rights in the Himalaya Hotel. It was sponsored by the British Council and attended by many Egos and agencies. The organizers called me as the Head of the Department of Social Work in St Xavier’s College.

The films covered various topics: exploitation of street children, plight of the aged, cruel use of young girls and boys for prostitution. The workshop seemed a solid success to all. The artistic exposure of injustice evoked sad and angry emotions in all of us.

For instance, in one documentary, a prostitute, tricked into her cruel "profession" and residing in a foreign country, was answering a letter sent by her mother: "Sorry, Mother, I have been busy, no time to write... I miss my family very much.. when I get enough money I’ll return home... your news about the family makes me sad... you don’t have to write too often."

We saw the loneliness of the aged. We related to their shuffling helplessness and desire for acceptance and some small job in life. We saw their need for family affection. We felt their hopeless desire for a visit from a loved one.

One documentary lasted only ten minutes. It was like a visual lyric poem. It began with a ten year old girl walking along a village path. We saw beautiful hills all around. She played silly games with her older sister. She found a lost goat and hugged its face to her cheek. Then some men came to the village to negotiate with the father. Soon, they were leading the older sister down the village path. Sad and lonely,t he girl then roamed about. She sat on the brow of a hill and brooded. Later the men came again. We last see her going down the same path that her sister had used. We know where and to what.

All this was very moving. But I find that often these films and the explanation afterwards lacked religious underpinnings. I have attended various workshops and seminars. I find that quotations from the great scriptures are missing. I think what is expressed has a religious base. But the participants seldom explicitly give out their spiritual beliefs.

I recently had a long conversation with a gentleman running a successful NGO. I mentioned my doubt: do we come out strongly enough with our deep faith? He expressed surprise at first. Then he agreed with me. Almost everyone in Nepal is religious. Yet we seem to overlook this in expressing our social concerns and possible solutions.

About five years ago, I attended a seminar run by the UN. Ms Mabelle Arole organized this meeting. She called together representatives from Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Sikkhism, tribal indigenous religions and Christianity.

At the very start, a senior official of the UN gave us the objective of the meeting. He said that UN field workers go into the villages and slums of various SAARC countries. They wish to bring about greater awareness concerning human rights, especially as regards children and women.

But, he said, their workers often mepeople say: this or that right of women of children is against their religion. "How can that be so?" he wondered.

So the UN was calling us together to find out what were the actual beliefs of the various religions practiced in South Asia. The discussions were deep but lively. There were many points of agreement. I know that all expressed concern about injustices perpetrated against women and children. All could bring the scriptures and tenets of their particular religion to bear against these injustices.

Mabelle Arole brought out a book summarizing out days together. I found out that she had cancer while compiling this book, so this was really her final legacy. The title of the book gives its theme: Religion and Rights of Children and Women in South Asia. Mabelle brought together our many concerns: Women in the Scriptures, Religion and Rights of the Child, Religion: A Resource for the Promotion of the Rights of Children and Women.

It seems to me that we should do more studies like this one. In our St Xavier’s Social Work Department, one study is being made on the beliefs of Buddhist monks about the rights of and injustices against Nepalese children. I hope that we and others can do more such research.For, I believe that without the use of ordinary person’s deep religious beliefs we are waging a war with one of our chief weapons locked in the arsenal. As Mabelle Arole believed, religion is a valuable resources for the preservation of human rights.

Reflection on political game

By Ubaraj Katawal

People live by narrating their dead history. The British people are now living by reading their golden past and we are living with the fact that we were never colonized. Similarly, Nepali Congress is living its present by recalling its systematic past. It tries to dominate other political parties because they do not have a long and heroic past like its . An eighty-year-old man tries to rule twenty million people because his past history is long and "towering". What cannot be understood of the speech of congress leaders is their use of the term "towering".

It is a foolish idea for anyone to try to live in the present by just recalling the past. Past is past. Without struggle there is no present, there is no future. An oleo man lives in the present not by his past, but by his higher level of knowledge and understanding of life. Past hangs on him not as an end but as a means.

Old age has nothing to do with life and living. Even a young woman can give a new thinking and vision for people. In political leadership too, experience is very essential but it does not come only by becoming old or aged.

Sometimes even an experience of the past fails in the present. So, I think a man always lives in the present and his life is never complete. Till the last hour of his life, man is getting new experience but he cannot be a winner in the present without playing tough. In the field, we can check whether he is still valorous and tactful. Politics is a big and tricky game. To play it, political players must employ many tricks. Let them play it and see who plays and wins. If we think that "A’ will be the winner because he won it last time, we will be fools.

Of late, Nepali Congress is playing a game within the party and we have seen both good and bad players in it. Let them play the game and let’s hold our tongue, at least, before observing their performances. But there are many fools who are announcing that Girija Koirala will be the unchallenged winner. And they put the following reasons: has the longest political career, he won it last time, and the second generation does not have political guts and necessary ingredients to replace him.

Koirala may have been the star player but who can guarantee that he will always win ?I do not think it is bad of Koirala to be a candidate for the party presidency but to think others cannot handle the party is quite ridiculous. We are not unaware of his ways and tactics in these past ten years after the restoration of democracy. Despite the intra-party squabbles, he could have answered dissidents in a fitting way.The blame is on other leaders as well. But he is the one who has been in power for a long while.

Drastic change in the life standard of our leadership and the decreasing purchasing capacity of people are some of the reasons that have served to escalate the Maoist insurgency in the country. Not only the people, the government is also confused over the role and status of the Maoists. They are neither revolutionaries nor terrorists but they represent "unconsciousness and helplessness" of our people. The problem of insurgency can never be solved unless the sufferings and miseries of the people are healed.

He, who understands the needs of time and expectations of people, is fit for leading the nation. In a country where more than 80 percent of population is dependent on agriculture and more than 40 percent of people are living under the poverty line, no one can say that democracy has been performing well. In this system, power-holders try to fill their own bellies before satisfying the needs of people. A handful of people get hold of more than 90 percent of country’s economy. Consequently, they reach to the decision-making position and do their best to better themselves at the cost of the 90 percent poor people. Take for instance, the current price hike of kerosene of common people. Unscrupulous businessmen continue to decide the fortune of farmers, while the government remains a mute displays blind eyes.

Though we have democracy, our leaders have proved to be quite useless and senseless. If we cannot raise the voice against it, time will surely speak, sooner or later. Pent-up emotions of people may explode anytime. The Maoist activity is just a symptom of this dangerous explosion. Maoists are right to a great extent. They seem to have understood the condition of our nation better than the present advocates of democracy. If they stop killing police and people randomly and make target only to those who are committing economic and political fratricide in the society, they will surely lift the winner’s cup one day. Another essential aspect of the non-violent Maoist revolution is the need to assure people that they are fighting for a good cause.

Apparently, the Maoists are deliberately unleashing violence. The government, on the other hand, is spilling the blood of innocent policemen to lengthen its life. If the Maoists can really assist people in overcoming their hardships, I do not think that people will not hesitate to support them. By the way, who are the "Maoists" ? But the people who represent that class of society, dissatisfied with the government.

Parliamentary privilege and immunity

By Ram Bahadur KC

There are some essential qualities of the multi-party polity that are often chartered as democratic characters.The most common are parliamentary mandate, status privilege, immunity and so on. They are common in almost all democratic countries. The magnitude and nature may vary to suit a country’s culture and tradition but the intents are the same such as sovereign people, liberal democracy and development. The knowledge of these characters, and their meanings and implication are very important for lawmakers, sovereign voters, bureaucrats and common people. Only then can the assigned responsibilities of the respective bodies be meaningfully implemented and supported thereafter.

Parliamentary privilege: Parliamentarians once endowed with parliamentary mandate (the sovereign right of the people being represented) and status (benefits and responsibilities being assigned to safeguard the free exercise of the mandate) also need another important instrument what is called as parliamentary privilege. Such a parliamentary privilege or non-accountability is the ‘freedom of speech’ -a genuine parliamentary protection that members of parliament enjoy form legal action, resulting from an opinion expressed or vote cast in their Assembly. Parliamentary privilege is undoubtedly one of the most effective means of ensuring the proper democratic functioning of parliamentary systems. Apart form being a fundamental freedom of parliamentarians, parliamentary non-accountability is also an essential prerequisite for enabling parliamentarians to defend and promote human rights and fundamental freedom in their respective countries. Parliamentary immunity of inviolability is another part of the system of protection for the members of parliament. The immunity protects members of parliament against civil or criminal proceedings for acts carried out in performance of their parliamentary duties. Freedom of speech is the real foundation for the protection of a member of parliament. It is said to be the heart of the parliamentary system. The concept of immunity resulted in many countries from a fear that the member of parliament might be impeded in the exercise of his or her function due to the action of the Government or the Judiciary. Majority of democratic countries have the system of immunity.

In some countries, immunity is very limited and only protects the members of the parliament within its precinct, or on the road to and from the parliament. In some countries it also frees the member from an obligation to jury services. As a parliamentary privilege, there is a wide range with regard to the duration of immunity. In certain countries it begins during elections, in others it only applies during the meeting of the parliament.

The case of Nepal: There is a good provision in the Constitution (clause 62) of Nepal, 1990 which clearly states that there shall be freedom of speech in both Houses of Parliament and no member shall be arrested, detained or prosecuted in any court for anything said or any vote cast in the House. Similarly, no member shall be arrested between the date of issuance of the summons for a session and the date on which that session closes, but the clause of non-arrest will not be applicable in the case of criminal charges, subject to clause of non-arrest will not be applicable in the case of criminal charge, subject to forthright information to the chairing person. But in some other countries, the privilege is absolute, and all forms of proceedings, whether penal, civil or disciplinary, are covered.

Although there has not been made a distinction between privilege and immunity, the spirit is the same. The main provision of the privilege and other sub-provisons amply try to protect members’ freedom of speech and their protection from arrest, detention or prosecution. The privilege provisions are widely committed to independence and autonomy to regulate internal business, no comment about the good faith concerning any proceeding of House of Parliament, publication of document or report, empowering each House to have an exclusive right to decide about the breach of privilege. The privilege is applicable not only to the House but also to the Committees, constituted by the House; and not only to the members but also to any person other than a member entitled to take part in a meting of the House.

In a way, the Constitution has also the provisions of privilege as found in other democratic countries. The Constitution has also the provision of delegated legislation to enact necessary laws relating to such privileges when necessary to meet the changing needs of our parliamentary democracy.

Inter-parliamentary Union:

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has quite rightly emphasized that parliamentary privilege is essential to the functioning of the parliamentary democracy as it permits prime ministers to fulfill their mandate, entrusted to them by their constituents, without fear of retaliatory measures on account of their opinions. The Council of the IPU has also very rightly noted that all the parliamentary democracies without exception guarantee members of parliament non-accountability and affirmed that bringing judicial proceedings against members of the parliament in respect of votes cast and opinions, expressed seriously, undermines the institution of parliament as such and parliamentary democracy itself.

The meaning and significance of the above observations should be very well realized and practised to make democratic polity a success. Democracy affords more equalities and opportunities for stability and development, but also equally demands to sincerely observe the principles of democratic values and cultures. Democratic polity does not work in the vacuum of mere speeches and rhetoric, but through sincere commitments and fulfillment of responsibilities.