Uplift Their Status
NEPAL houses a diverse group of ethnic communities with their own unique cultures,
traditions and language. The best thing about this diversity is that, these ethnic
communities have been living in perfect social harmony since centuries. This was the
reason why late King Prithvi Narayan Shah, the Great, mentioned Nepal as a 'garden of four
castes and 36 sub-castes' some 250 years ago. Even today, Nepal has remained a common
garden of all those communities and linguistic groups. But it is sad that some of these
ethnic groups lag in terms of socio-economic conditions. These people are yet to be fully
absorved in the national mainstream for various reasons such as lack of access to basic
facilities for education, health and other such facilities. Speakers gathered at a
programme organised to mark the World Indigenous People's Day the other day spoke for the
indigenous people and demanded that the state give serious attention for the promotion and
protection of their religion, culture and language. Considering the importance of the
social and economic development for the overall development of the country, the United
Nations announced the 1994 - 2004 period as the decade of indigenous people.
No doubt, a country cannot tread on the path of development
unless it brings its entire population into the focus of development. The present
government is well aware of this fact and is committed to uplift the socio-economic status
of these indigenous groups as Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said while addressing the
Nepal Tamang Ghedung Association's programme. He termed the indigenous groups as citadels
of this country's unique religious and cultural aspects. He expressed the government's
commitment to make efforts for their upliftment and at the same time asked the civil
society for cooperation to bring up the socio-economic status of the indigenous people
because the efforts of the government alone are not enough to meet this end. Giving more
emphasis on the development of the ethnic and indigenous communities is all the more
important when efforts are being made to mislead them. A country's status means the
development and well being of its entire people, including the indigenous and the ethnic
ones, and policy makers should not forget this while framing development policies for the
nation.
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