Land Reform Programme New Thinking Necessary

By Sanaullah Khan

"The distribution of rights in land relates to the distribution of power, income, social status, and incentives. A land reform that changes this distribution is by definition a change that shakes the roots and not the branches of a society."

– Philip M. Raup

THE recent land reform initiative announced by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is getting both popular support and strong opposition from various sectors of society. The announcement without the enactment of proper Act shows lack of adequate preparation by the government. It can be assumed that the government had high expectation of the cooperation from all sectors of society including all opposition parties and legal organizations. The expectation of the government is genuine at this stage of instability and lawlessness in the country. The Prime Minister did not talk about the mode of reform, may be intentionally. Looking at his sincerity it can be believed that he will be able to decide the best possible mode of land reform policy. However, there is no doubt that he has to take the members of the parliament opposing his policy in confidence and try to implement their genuine demands.

The action of opposition parties, advocates and other common people is also legitimate. They are opposing the policy for the betterment and not just for the sake of protest. Their demand and cry seem to have genuine reasons. Reducing the holding size of merely one per cent large landholders cannot provide enough land to redistribute among 70 per cent landless and small landholders. It is necessary to put certain limit on landholding and this is the demand of time too. At the same time, there should be justice to such landholders, whose land is supposed to be acquired for the good cause. The government can purchase such excess land investing from the state coffers. South Korea and Taiwan in their land reform processes gave enough time to the farmers to sell and buy land before implementing the strict rule. Obviously, Nepal may have some different situation and cannot follow suit as of Korea and Taiwan. There is the need of having an entirely different approach to the problem. The policy of providing employment to the landless and rural poor, extensive development of infrastructure, education, market, trade and rural industrialisation with active participation of rural poor only can help to reach the goal. In fact, in Nepal, people with small and medium landholdings are poorer than those, who have no land but employment opportunities.

Consolidation of land is more important than the redistribution of land. Even small farmers with consolidated landholdings can produce more than large farmers with scattered land parcels. Most of the countries in the world including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, and India were successful in land consolidation to benefit from the land reform. The matter of scale of economy in agricultural production is getting importance at present world of global integration. To compete in the global market, there is the need of group approach in agriculture production. Government should provide atmosphere for group farming of demand based high value crops. As can be seen from the experience of many countries, development of proper infrastructure, market base and strong trade link are essential for agriculture transformation. Even the socialist economies prefer land consolidation. The population involved in agriculture automatically reduces with economic growth. More people engaged in agriculture shows high degree of poverty of that population. Hence, there is a need of reduction of agrarian population with generation of non-agriculture sector employment.

Present policy of the government is not yet clear about the mode of reform which has brought great confusion among the common people. Government must come out immediately with proper policy to vitalize its position and gain mass support. Limiting merely holding size of so-called landlords cannot bring any fruitful result, unless consolidation of land size, rural industrialisation and employment are assured. The present action of the government may provide momentary relief but cannot yield permanent solution. In the long-term, it might have negative effect on economic growth too. So, there is the need of many simultaneous reforms, namely: Land reform – with special programme of land consolidation and utilisation. Farmers who are skilled, devoted, and without any other alternate sources of income should be given priority in land distribution. Such farmers should be allowed to keep more land than those with alternate income source. Promotion of efficient cropping pattern – there is a need of special policy for the promotion of high value crops and cash crops that have high comparative advantages and niche market instead of low-value cereal products. The existing open grazing system of livestock in Nepal is really harmful to agricultural production. High productive stall-fed livestock must replace the low productive open grazing livestock. Rural industrialisation based on primary production – rural Nepal cannot transform unless industries are established in rural areas and people are given employment opportunity. The link between industry and agriculture will increase the quality and efficiency of both the sectors. The value added production could ensure better income along with high employment generation. Development of rural infrastructure, market base, and strong trade link – the rural transformation is possible only if infrastructure and strong market forces properly back it. Therefore suitable policies and programmes must be brought to develop such facilities in rural areas. These facilities will tremendously increase off-farm employment and promote high-income production system. Promotion of education among rural poor and reduction of educated youth’s migration from rural sector – rural Nepal is suffering from high illiteracy and poor quality of education. People who have some education do not live in village and migrate to towns and cities for job. Those who are left behind do not understand modern agriculture. Education must be provided compulsorily to all with special emphasis on agricultural education from primary level. Involvement of educated farmers in
agriculture can boost the income bringing agriculture transformation. Establishing and enabling farmers’ cooperatives and farmers’ associations – to increase awareness among the farmers about various factors of development and make their position strong, they should be linked with strong organisations such as cooperatives.

The government of Nepal has made many attempts in the past to distribute land to landless people. The forest of Terai is almost wiped out in this attempt, but the number of landless people is increasing over time. In most of the times, only those who have power, money and approach do benefit from such schemes. It must be decided before hand who is going to get land before imposing the limit on landholdings. Farmers with small and medium size of landholdings are suffering from high underemployment. People who have access to natural resources and employment opportunities should not be treated equally with those having no such accesses at all.

Nepal can benefit from the experience of land reforms of many countries and has an advantage not to repeat the mistakes that they committed during their reform processes. Nepal, of course, can reduce landholding size to certain extent but the major effort should be towards consolidation of land. The government must come out with new programmes and establish new criteria to employ poor and down trodden people. Investment on rural infrastructure and education of rural poor and women are essential to bring them in the mainstream of development.

At this stage, there is the need of cooperation among all opposition parties and government for the sake of common goal. Those who are in the government and those supporting the reform and opposing it, all are sincere and worrying for the future of the country and its people. As all of them are struggling for a common goal, differences in opinion may be resolved by mutual discussions among the lawmakers and intellectuals from each side. They can sit together and decide the best mode of reform that can bring the real transformation not only to the agricultural sector but also to the overall society.

Time To Project Islam’s Pacifist Face

By Gyan Rai

EVEN as the United States and its coalition partners are marshaling their military might to bring the Afghanistan-based Al-Quad terrorist group led by Osama bin Laden, the Saudi millionaire-turned terrorist, to justice, President Bush, in an address the other day, emphasised that the coming military actions " are not aimed against Islam". But rather, they are aimed against terrorists who, to serve their own parochial interests, have "mis-interpreted the teachings of Islam". President Bush further pointed out the Islam is a great religion and it lays great emphasis on peace.

The reasons as to why President Bush had to make such observations concerning Islam even as the US and its coalition partners are preparing to strike bin Laden’s terrorist group, the Al-Quad, in Afghanistan, are by now apparent to all.

For one, the US, in the aftermath of the horrendous September 11 suicidal attacks on the World Trade Center’s twin buildings and the Pentagon complex by terrorists belonging to bin Laden’s Al-Quad terrorist group, witnessed some Americans venting their anger on people who, in their facial and physical appearances, resembled those from the Middle East. That too, regardless of whether they were American citizens or visitors. Of course, this was not the very first time that some Americans have targeted fellow Americans or other people on the basis of their facial appearance. The Pearl Harbour bombings by Japanese planes in 1941 prompted such feelings. Earlier still, during the World War I, those with German ancestry also had to bear with such anger.

Considering the fact that America is a nation that is made up of immigrants from all over the world on the one hand and the loss of thousands of innocent lives and property worth billions of dollars in the September 11 terrorist attacks on US cities on the other, such a sentiment on the part of some Americans is but understandable. Also, the sense of horror, anger and outrage felt by the peace-loving people of the world on seeing the mindless carnage and mayhem perpetrated by bin Laden’s terrorists in two US cities.

Secondly, the military preparations by US and its coalition partners to take justice to the doorsteps of the Al-Quad terrorist group in Afghanistan are being projected by some Muslim fundamentalist groups in some Islamic nations as the West’s actions against Islam religion itself. While such a projection has made some coalition partners of the US jittery, even some moderate Middle Eastern nations are reported to have developed cold feet in coming out openly in support of US actions to stamp out the scourge of global terrorism.

Thirdly—and by far the most serious one—the forthcoming military strikes against Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda terrorist outfit in Afghanistan is being portrayed by some Islamic fundamentalist and Muslim terrorist groups as being a clash between two civilisations, the predominantly Christian West and the Islamic Middle East.

But then, the American leadership seem to have realised that to allow such sentiments to run riot could, in the long run, be detrimental to world peace in general and to the very ideals that America cherishes and champions throughout the world. Concerning the portrayal—the clash between two civilisations—by some fundamentalist and terrorist groups, it is indeed unfortunate that a religion like Islam, which heavily drew—and still draws—its inspirations from Judaism and Christianity, is being mis-interpreted by some of its adherents and preachers. That too in such a way that Islam’s more universal pacifist face seems to be shrouded by a veil and its martial persona greatly projected and amplified.

That Islam as a religion has no axe to grind against the other two major religions, Judaism and Christianity, can be gleaned from what Prophet Mohammed observed about them. He called both the Jews and Christians as the "People of the Book"—meaning, that Judaism and Christianity were religions revealed by prophets and that their teachings do find resonance in Islam, the religion that Prophet Mohammed bequeathed to the world. For, it needs no elaboration herein that Prophet Mohammed revealed the teachings of Islam in what is now Saudi Arabia in the 7th century. By that period, Judaism and Christianity had already established their distinct identities not only in the Middle East but also elsewhere throughout the world. However, all these three religions were born, propounded and propagated in and around the Middle East region in their initial stages.

As far as similarities in the evolution of these three religions are concerned, while Judaism and Islam were born in a cauldron of strife and tension, the birth—and the rise—of Christianity took place in a more peaceful atmopshere.

The Jewish history reveals that the majority of the prophets of Judaism preached and guided their people not only in times of internal and external problems but also during the periods when their people were forcibly enslaved and taken to other places in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Similarly, Prophet Mohammed, along with his disciples and followers, had to wage frequent warfare against neighbouring tribes and rulers out to extinguish his faith, Islam. But even during such unstable periods, Prophet Mohammed strictly enjoined upon his disciples and followers to respect their neighbours and let them live in peace. Concerning Christianity, Jesus preached his faith during the time when peace enforced by the Romans was prevailing. But like all major religions, in their initial periods, all these three religions had to endure some amount of prosecutions. These, along with better times, found their way into their respective scriptures and teachings. Nonetheless, all these three faiths do give greater emphasis and importance to peace, brotherhood, harmony and love among neighbours and communities. It is only when some die-hard zealots of these faiths that still give great significance to peace, love and brotherhood among humans resort to quoting or amplifying out of context only selective verses or portions of their scriptures that troubles start.

Interestingly enough, all present-day major religions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam, have their share of conservatives who, in modern day parlance, are commonly known as religious fundamentalists.

Momentous events till date have proved that mankind does not live by bread alone. Spiritual sustenance still plays an importance role in gluing societal fabric together. The fact that Islam, like other major religions of the world, is continuing to give spiritual sustenance to Muslim societies does prove that its scriptures are embellished with answers to their societal problems and issues. As such, why then the contention of and portrayal by certain Islamic fundamentalist groups of Christian West versus Islamic Middle East? Or, for that matter, even of the clash of two civilisations?

As far as Islamic civilisation is concerned, like other civilisations, it has seen its heydays. The Alhambra in Spain to the Taj Mahal in India, with the Golden Dome in Jerusalem are eloquent proof. Also the fact that Plato and Aristotle’s treatises that provided the intellectual vigour, stimulus and catalyst to European Renaissance intellectuals were, like those on medicine and astronomy, translated from Arabic.

As such, if the world is to be truly rid of terrorist groups basing their unwanted existence and ill-defined objectives on misquoted or mis-interpreted religious verses and chapters, then it looks to reason for all the peace-loving nations and peoples of the world to work unitedly to isolate all religious fundamentalists belonging to any faith or religious persuasion.

Arughat Bazar On The Bank Of Budigandaki

By Bhimsen Thapaliya

OUR nearest market place then was Arughat Bazar, one and a half hour’s walk from the village. The beautiful market is nestled on the banks of the Budigandaki River. The roaring and formidable river serves as the bordering line between Bagmati and Gandaki zones. The ferocity and unfathomed depth of the river is widely dreaded and an attempt to cross it requires you to be a real daredevil. Only a handful of skilled local fishermen could do it.

Crossing this river was a must for Prithvi Narayan Shah on his unification mission towards east from Gorkha. No bridges existed during that time and it is said that the unifier of modern Nepal and his troops crossed the river on their horses.

A good suspension bridge links Gorkha and Dhading at this point, making it a brisk trading junction. It was the nearest market for a number of northern highland villages of both the districts. Northern traders transported Bhote Nun (Tibetan salt) and sold or bartered with rice here. A traditional fair used to take place here in October in which Bhotes from Thak Khola sold Tibetan salt and purchased rice for winter. It was also a center to sell Radi ( woollen carpet) and bamboo products, popular household manu-facturing of the highland residents. Many Gurungs, Ghales and Magars from northern fringe of Gorkha were recruited in the British Army. So the families of these Gurkha soldiers had relatively stronger purchasing power. Velvet cloth and gold jewelry were very popular among them. Arughat banked on this.

People from northern belt visited Arughat for the shopping of cloth, spices, sugar, tea, cooking oil, kerosene, kitchen herbs and foodgrains. Local farmers came here to sell their surplus agricultural products and buy domestic supplies. This was the reason why the business of Arughat flourished.

However, this trading potential was not known to the local inhabitants, majority of whom were Brahmins and Chhetris. These are the castes with agricultural background and have little knack on business. Only the Newars of the Kathmandu valley, with trading talents and traditions, could take advantage of the possibility. Thus the Shresthas, Shakyas, Bajracharyas and Joshis from the valley came to settle and set up their shops in Arughat. Opening of the market here dates back to the time before the highways were built. Then the commercial routes ran east through the hills and reached Trishuli before finally coming to ‘Nepal’, as Kathmandu was called in those days.

Goods were transported from Kathmandu by porters for which it required several days. The businessmen of Arughat knew well what was in demand in this mid-hill junction. The goldsmiths from Patan went there and established their jewelry showrooms and workshops to cater to the demands of British Gurkha families. Most renowned name among the traders was Kishna Sahu who had created a piece of Kathmandu in Arughat. He was a pious man and had built beautiful temples. He made almost anything available in his store that the locals needed. He sold Ayurvedic medicines and sundry items needed on local cultural and religious events. His three sons still have dominating shares in Arughat’s trade.

Arughat’s natural setting is scenic and beautiful. It is nestled on the rocky banks of the swirling Budigandaki. This is the meeting point of over a dozen routes running to different parts of Dhading and Gorkha. On the western side, there is a rivulet called Istul Khola which joins the Budigandaki nearby. A small hydroproject from Istul Khola lights the market area. On the northern side, there is a large mango and lychee garden manageds by the Ranas. On the Dhading side of the town, there is a flatland surrounded by hills called Salyantar. A lot of changes have taken place in Arughat now. Fair weather roads link it now with Dhadingbesi and Benighat. A third road is underway to make a link with Gorkha Bazar.