Chance At Dignity

LIBERATION of Kamaiyas through a decree by the Nepalese government headed by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala is a cause of jubilation for all those who believe in human rights. But the big question is what next? The poverty being as abject as it was, the freed Kamaiyas are still a part of their local native economy. They are still ensnared by the same shackles that first led them into the bondage—illiteracy and poverty. The circumstances that surround them have not changed. Living in isolated camps, though freed from their masters they are now faced with a new form of insecurity.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has launched a US$3.5 million project funded by the United States Department of labour (USDOL) that aims to rehabilitate bonded adult and child labourers, thereby preventing them from re-entering exploitative forms of labour. This project has come at a time when rehabilitation of the Kamaiyas is a major problem with us. The freed Kamaiyas are now in need of a programme that will help reduce their poverty in a sustainable manner and which provides for suitable education, training, better opportunities for livelihood and jobs. At a time when the subject of ILO’s Global report happens to be Forced Labour, this project should be termed as timely as it strives to give the Kamaiyas the opportunity to live a life with dignity. ILO’s Conventions on Forced Labour—which are in the process of ratification by Nepal—should also ensure that we have seen the last of this practice of debt bondage. Nepal, as a member state of ILO’s Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, is determined to fulfil its obligation to eliminate forced labour. This national obligation alone should be the moving force to see this project through successfully. Our government’s commitment to the Rights at Work is again in congruity with our commitment to safeguard Human Rights for all, be they children, women or the poor. To be implemented by several local agencies including NGOs, employers’ and workers’ organisations and various departments of His Majesty’s Government, the ILO project will help find a decent way of life for those who have been dogged by perpetual poverty. While this project will give the kamaiyas a new lease at life, it will also be a sequel to the ongoing projects of ILO that are already being implemented in the country.

Farm Relief

NEPAL is overwhelmingly dependent on agriculture and farmers are heavily dependent on the weather. That fact of life is underlined every year. When weather smiles, the crop is good. When it frowns, there is little to harvest from the fields. Monsoon is the chief purveyor of water to the fields. So, if monsoon is weak or erratic, the fields don’t get the crucial input. Irrigation networks link only a small per cent of the arable land in Nepal. True, there are other variables like fertilisers, seeds and so on. But the singlemost important factor that can mean good or bad harvest has to do with the weather over which the farmers have no say. If weather gods are not benevolent in a particular year, farmers and, by extension, the Nepalese economy, suffer. That is what’s happened this year. Inclement weather has told on the farm output. This year they have also suffered from the inability to get due returns for their produce, a reflection of the weak buying power of general consumers, hard hit by the spiralling market price, and imports. The farmers are a worried lot. In order to lessen their worry somewhat, the government has decided to act, which is not often seen in the scheme of how agricultural sector is generally treated by policy-and decision-makers.

The government has announced an interest relief to small farmers, who form the bulk of the Nepalese farmers, in view of "the unfavourable conditions created by adverse weather conditions, prices and production." The Agricultural Development Bank will waive the remaining interest-if the interest equal to the principal has been paid—for loans up to Rs. 30,000 for one or more objectives. Another provision is to let defaulting farmers take back the auctioned collateral through some incentive. All this is well and good. But these are at best temporary measures, aimed at lessening the farmer’s woes to some extent. The more important long-term task, needless to point out, is to address the cause for farmers’ uncertain fortunes. Shielding them from the vagaries of weather, like witnessed this year, demands greater attention to expanding irrigation facilities. The government must also intervene to create market conditions which give them due returns for their produce. So long as the farm production is correlated chiefly to weather conditions and farmers are unable to reap due benefits for their labour, they will continue to be victims of uncertainties. It must be understood that relief like the present one alleviate their suffering only to a very limited extent.