Bhutanese Refugees
Fate Still In The Air

By Uttam Maharjan

THE verification of 12,090 Bhutanese refugees belonging to 1,135 families encamped at Khudunabari was completed on 14 December. The camp has about 13,000 refugees belonging to 1,164 families, the lowest among the seven camps set up in Morang and Jhapa districts. Some refugees have not been verified due to absence, non-registration and inter-camp transfer due to marriage. It may be noted that the verification went on without a hitch despite the state of emergency declared in the country.

Nepal and Bhutan agreed to verify the refugees at the 10th round of talks held in Kathmandu last December. As per the agreement, they formed a joint Verification Team (JVT) comprising 5 members from each side. A refugee verification office was set up in Damak, where initially 10 families were from the Khudunabari camp for verification.

At the 11th round of talks held in Thimpu in August, it was decided to add one member from each side to the JVT and verify 16 families a day. The change was made to speed up the pace of the verification. At the 12th round of secretary-level talks held in Kathmandu in November, no remarkable progress was made, when an agreement was expected to be reached to harmonise the categorisation of the refugees for repatriation.

In fact, Bhutan does not seem to be interested in taking back the refugees whom it forcibly evicted, in the 1990s as per its ethnic cleansing policy. Bhutan might have thought that Nepal would rehabilitate the refugees the way it rehabilitated the Burmese refugees of Nepali origin in the 1960s and 1970s. Now, the country is hard pressed to give its citizens a dignified life. The Sukumbasis (squatters) and ex-Kamaiyas (ex-bonded labourers) are yet to be fully rehabilitated. In the present context, there is also a controversy over the citizenship issue in the country. So rehabilitation of the refugees might spark off further complications.

There are apprehensions that in case the refugees cannot be repatriated to Bhutan and Nepal does not, a it has time and again said it will not, assimilate them, they will be stateless people just like the Jews were before the creation in 1948 of Israel as a Jewish state in the erstwhile British mandate of Palestine. Rendering the refugees, or for that matter any other people, is against international law. Nepal has raised this point on several occasions.

In fact, the categorisation of the refugees into four groups has been a setback for breaking the ice in finding an amicable solution to the long-outstanding impasse. The groups include bona fide Bhutanese, emigrated Bhutanese, criminal Bhutanese and non-Bhutanese. Bhutan is adamant on taking back the first group of refugees only, whereas Nepal asserts that Bhutan should take back all the refugees except the non-Bhutanese.

To find a solution to the problem, four stages have to be completed; verification, categorisation, harmonisation and repatriation. The first stage has been completed in the Khudunabari camp. In the process, citizenship certificates, land revenue payment receipts, driving licenses, gun licences and the like were examined. As per the JVT officials, the refugees have one document or the other in corroboration of their being Bhutanese citizens. This shows that all the refugees will stand a chance of going back to their homeland.

However, the JVT has not made any decision on what to do next: whether to repatriate the refugees or fist categories and then repatriate them or to repatriate them only after completing the verification at all the remaining camps. The refugees have been living in the UNHCR-maintaining camps for the last eleven years in expectations of returning to their homeland with dignity. Now a feeling of uncertainty has gripped the refugees. It has not been determined from when the remaining camps will be verified.

If Bhutan wants to take back refugees in all sincerity, the process of categorising, harmonising the cagetorisation of and repatriating the refugees must start right now, while other camps should be verified without delay. This will definitely raise the hopes of the refugees. On the other hand, if Bhutan dilly-dallies, as it often does, in initiating the process of repatriation, it will suffer disgrace in the world arena. It should not forget that last year it had to face tremendous pressure from the world community and donor agencies, which was instrumental in persuading it to commence the process of verification in one of the seven camps.

It may be noted that a ministerial-level meeting is scheduled to be held sometime in February of next year. However, given Bhutan’s point-blank rejection of Nepal’s two agenda-classification of the refugees into two groups only and repatriation of the verified refugees-at the 12th round of talks, the stalemate does not seem to be broken soon. Nepal must, therefore, make a strong diplomatic move to convince Bhutan to accept the categorisation of the refugees into two groups only and take the initiative in taking back the refugees accordingly.

Foundation Is In Education

By Mohan K.C.

THE ordinary people may not be aware of the vital role that ozone plays in protecting the living things on this planet. In fact, the name itself may not be known to the majority of the people. Illiteracy is one particular aspect that has eluded many from the light of education. And education opens up many avenues for gaining information and for entertainment as well. With the literacy rate of not even 50 per cent, there is still a long way to go before the country can become self-reliant in the real sense of the term.

The tradition of learning is a long one. In the past there were many learning centres even at the local level but with the modern system of education introduced in the country, many changes have come along. Even during the Rana regime which spanned a period of just over a century, though education was not open to all yet a beginning was made in the form of Durbar School. There were some schools established in other parts of the country prior to this but Durbar School became the landmark of public education.

It was opened for the elite but gradually the doors were opened to the public also. That such a school was opened during the Rana times is in itself a unique event. Yet the tides of time cannot be stopped and that started the era of open education to all.

The most important event in the history of education was the stress laid on establishing more schools not only in the capital but elsewhere. Though a cash-strapped nation, local people’s participation was the foundation that saw a greater number of schools come up than had ever been imagined. This made access to education simpler.

Every development plan has accorded great priority to education though the budgetary allocations have not been enough. This has, however, not hampered with more and more people receiving education within the country itself.

It is true that in the past, students had to sit for examinations conducted from Patna. With the establishment of the SLC Board in the country, things became much easier. For higher education, the establishment of Tribhuvan University, the pioneer centre of higher education, over four decades ago signified much. All this were achieved through the dedication of scores of intellectuals, scholars, government officials and so on. The role of His late Majesty king Mahendra must be taken with reverence. It’s his significant role that saw the foundation of higher education being laid in Nepal.

Education is the key to development. Education also leads to greater awareness regarding all round development of a person. Be it mental, physical, intellectual, psychological, spiritual, every one of them is the result of education. As for material prosperity, education was what saw the Industrial Revolution unfold in Britain some 150 years ago. It has always been countries that have invested much on education that has seen the greatest development. USA, Japan, Germany etc. would not have been so highly developed had it not been for education and the people’s ingenuity and hard work.

As for hard work, the Nepalese have a penchant for it. The only hitch is education and knowledge about the modern and productive techniques. Lack of resources is also another obstacle in Nepal’s ‘leap forward’. What we have are the farmlands which has not been made to deliver the optimum output. There are many factors responsible for this. Subsistence farming and the lack of adequate
modern know how and inputs like high yielding variety of seeds and so on are major ones. Though they can be overcome with adequate drive but making the people adapt to the modern technique is not as easy as it seems. Though there has been a significant increase in the use of chemical fertilisers and insecticides, they have been used indiscriminately which has led to the decline of the fertility of the soil thereby diminishing production. Such use is often attributed to the lack of adequate knowledge which can be got only if one is educated. So even for the ‘son of the soil’, education has a great bearing in the larger interest of the nation.

Education then paves the way for a person to be adept in their particular profession besides dealing with the varied situations of daily life. So, maybe, not knowing about ozone or its depletion over the South Asia would not make one alarmed as the impacts are not visible like that of possibly an earthquake. The essence of education is not only being literate but also knowing the surrounding in general for our own benefit.

Importance Of Recreation

By Min B. Basnet

HUMAN beings have to be engaged in activities for their livelihood and enhancing their life span. The continuous work not only damages their physical but also mental condition. So, there is a need of refreshment to body and mind. Which gives pleasant leisure. This process of regaining energy and enthusiasm is called recreation.

Human societies of today are not homogeneous. The forms and patterns of culture are different than it used to be in the past. The rural and urban society varies in its process of gaining knowledge. The multiparty of cultural forms exhibits various forms of recreation. Therefore, in order to understand the situation of recreation and its relation with the society, we need to understand clearly the diverse cultural forms, beliefs, value system, technology advancement and impact of modernisation.

From the very beginning of human civilisation, the process of recreation has been accomplished in many forms. Even today, some of the tribal and rural people are still found performing dances, songs, ceremonies etc in a pattern that was practiced by the primitive people earlier.

From the development point of views, Nepalese society can be grouped into three broad categories: The rural/traditional society Semi-urban-transitional society and The urban/modern-complex society.

People entertain themselves in the typical rural societies with simple tools. Children play marble, dandibiyo, kapardi, etc. and younger/elders engage in folk dance/songs. The society which follows its inherited pattern of life-style can be viewed generally as the traditional one. There is no separation of various sector of activities that can be singled out.

By semi-urban society, we can understand those which are gradually distancing from the traditional pattern but not yet able to be fully modern. They are in a state of flux. Though loosely, various cultural aspects are related to each other. But there seems to be a tendency to institutionalise distinct sectors of human
activities and recreation tends to be seperated. In semi-urban or transitional society, people play volleyball, cards, football and go to hat-bazaar, see video, cinema, readings news papers etc.

The urban-modern/complex one is characterised mainly by radial separation of various aspects of life. There we can easily notice a distinct sphere of recreation. Recreation is obtained by more sophisticated and specific means, instruments, tools and the methods of entertainment in the urban are more scientific, knowledgeable, joyful and problematic than the above two types of societies. They see television movies and sports, visit to park and market, go to picnic, play video games, visit zoo, museums, go to restaurant, dance club etc.

The concept, tools and methods of entertaining are also changing in the Nepalese context too. However, Nepalese society still encompasses all three in their way of life. Therefore, each and every act of our socio-cultural life include recreation and various aspects of culture are related due to the same background. But this, situation is prevalent mostly in the rural social settings.

In the name of entertainment some serious social problems are arising today e.g. playing deusi-bhailo in Tihar. Its forms and objectives have change lately and instead of being entertainment it is becoming a social deterioration; similarly, playing cards, drinking liquor in the name of entertainment at festivals, and parties have taken a bad shape. Recreation is an integral part of the over all cultural life of people, negative developments in it can generate many social problems. It is necessary to focus the attention of civilised and conscious people to stop the negative impact of such tools of entertainment and recreations.