Equal Opportunities
PRIME Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba pledged to
ensure equal opportunities for all the ethnic groups for the sustainable development of
the country. Realising the urgency of equal development of all the ethnic communities, the
government has been committed to bring the indigenous people into the mainstream of social
and economic development of the country. Inaugurating a special function in Kathmandu the
other day organized by Nepal Federation of Nationalities World Indigenous Day-2001
Celebration Main Committee on the occasion of World Indigenous Day, Prime Minister Deuba
said that indigenous people constitute almost half of the country’s total population
and their equal development is a must for the speedy and sustainable development of the
country. Prime Minister Deuba is, in deed, right in saying this, as Nepal is a mosaic of
several ethnic, cultural and linguistic groups. It is, thus, His late Majesty Prithivi
Narayan Shah described Nepal as a garden of 4 castes and 36 sub-castes. The Constitution
of the Kingdom of Nepal has also stated that Nepal is a multi-racial, multi-ethnic,
multi-cultural and multi-linguistic country and has guaranteed equal development of all
the ethnic communities. In fact, the ethnic and cultural diversity is one of the assets of
Nepal. This diversity needs to be maintained and a conducive atmosphere has to be created
so that all ethnic groups can enjoy equal rights and opportunity. For this, the government
has already formed a National Committee of Indigenous People and Nationalities through
which different programmes for the development of nationalities and indigenous people are
being carried out. As said by Prime Minister Deuba, all citizens are equal and must get
equal opportunities for their development and nobody should feel neglected. The
development of the country is possible only when all people equally contribute in the
society for nation building. As a member of the Untied Nations, Nepal has ratified several
UN instruments concerning human rights. At the call of the United Nations, Nepal has been
carrying out different programmes for the development of the indigenous population.
However, Nepal may not have been able to completely translate its promises into action yet
due to the complicated social structure, deep-rooted superstition, massive poverty and
ignorance. Poverty is the root cause of all the problems in the country. The government
has, thus, concentrated all its efforts to alleviate poverty for the solution of several
other problems. Once poverty is eradicated, social problems being faced by the indigenous
people would also be solved to a large extent.
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