Equality: Theory and Practice

By Florian Kollmann, Germany

Observing the Nepali conflict structure, it seems that five major cleavages are dividing the country:

1. Ethnic: Indo – Aryan vs. Other Ethnic Groups

2. Social: High – Caste vs. Low – Caste

3. Regional: Urban Center vs. Rural Periphery

4. Gender: Men vs. Women

5. Religion: Hindus vs. Other Religious Groups

As the first two of these cleavages, as well as the fifth one overlap each other and the fourth is adding additional depth to any one of them, it is possible to talk about Nepal as a rather divided country, in which the high-caste Hindu men are holding the power, making Brahmanism the dominant discourse of society. This does not mean, that interests and values of other groups do not overlap with theirs occasionally.

The function of democratic institutions like parties, but also civil – society institutions like media or NGOs is to give conflicting interests in a society a platform to be articulated; out of this, a deliberating public develops that is able to find solutions that are acceptable to all segments of society, as they participate by their agents like parties or trade unions. So, in the case of Nepal, if the cleavages that I suggested fit to reality, we should expect to find agents to deal with the interest of at least the following groups:

High-caste Hindus, Low-Caste Hindus, Ethnic Minorities, Rural Communities, Women. But in fact, it seems that, throughout all major institutions of democracy and civil society, we find a domination of high-caste Hindu men. The different parties are dominated by Bahun, Chetri and Newar, which lead in the past to an overrepresentation of these in parliament and administration. Therefore, the parties in parliament didn’t articulate the needs of different strata of society. It seems to me, that in civil society we face the same problem: Important positions are held by high-caste Hindu men. So the deliberating public is not, as it is intended to be, the place were all parts of society work out the problems of society together for a common good; instead exclusively the one dominating group of the country meets to deliberate, and mostly there interests are articulated. No wonder , then, that politics usually are more concerned with struggles for power within this group than with the debating of vital political issues: It’s not in the group’s interest to change social or economical patterns, because this would mean losing their privileges. We shouldn’t neglect, though, the fact that concerning economic power, matters are more difficult; there are many Brahmins and Chetri among the poor, and in some ways, lower caste status might have been contributing to economic success, as it provided fixed sets of opportunities for all strata of society. Also, it’s obvious that what is described here is not a bipolar power structure with dominating Brahmins and suppressed Dalits; in fact low caste Hindus might suppress Dalits and ethnic communities, one ethnic community might dominate another and even higher – caste Dalits might try to wield power over lower – caste Dalits, producing a very complex form of social hierarchy, that can’t be addressed only on the one axis I emphasize here; but still, seeing democracy as a deliberative process, we have to state that male members of high castes are the main contributors to this process.

This perspective leads to the point, that after all the 1990 revolution can’t be called revolution at all, because the power structures within the society haven’t been changed by it in such an extensive manner as it is suggested by this term: During the Panchayat system, it was the same segment of society that ruled the country, this system was even perfectly shaped to fit the needs of high-caste Hindu males, using discourses like nationalism and religion to strengthen their position. These discourses are still used to prevent change in the society, which is possible because despite the fact, that the 1990 constitution seemed to be democratic, the instruments to perform discoursive power are still occupied by the dominating group. Nevertheless, what did change in 1990 were the conditions under which articulation could be organized: Freedom of press and association lead to a tremendous growth of civil society organizations of Dalits, women and minorities, seeking for a space for articulation of their needs, concerns and interests. Yet, these organizations are only one part of Nepal’s civil society; there still is an establishment in the NGO sector which is composed the way mentioned above.

I want to stress the fact, that in one way the position of the scientific community as well as NGOs working on democratization is rather contradictory in this context. On one hand, they both contribute to the democratization process by addressing problems which would be ignored otherwise, by organizing seminars that provide platforms for political articulation or doing trainings for disadvantaged people. Yet the fact remains, that on the other hand, most of the work that is done is basically elite – oriented. Seminars are held as well as attended mostly by members of exactly the strata of society that were mentioned above, most organizations itself are lead by them. So in this we recognize a gap between the theoretical approach they promote, which is deeply commited to equality and democracy, and the every – day practice of them as members of the elite. Bourdieu stressed that practice has a discoursive meaning in itself; so the discourse, that is shaped by these civil society actors, is defined by the message that is outlined in their publications and seminars as well as the practice, which in this context means the composition of their staff regarding caste, ethnicity and gender.

Let’s take the gender issue for example. There is a broad consensus in the scientific community as well as in the NGO scene, that gender equality is desirable and may in fact contribute very strongly to democratization. However, we find men at the top of most organizations, we find men on the panels of scientific seminars and we find men as main contributors to most of the books that are published on democratization. As we have to recognize the power of practice, we should expect, that the establishment of gender equality, which is promoted theoretically, is at least restrained by the fact, that women are underrepresented to such an extent even in the most progressive civil society organizations, and that the performative power of the theoretical discourses towards emancipation and woman empowerment is weakened. The same seems to be true regarding questions of caste and ethnicity. The question that arises from that is: Are the theoretical discourses concerned with these matters, that are raised by academics and NGOs strong enough, not only to offset the perpetuation of the traditional power structures that are inherent also in civil society, but to even exceed them?

It’s not my purpose to blame Nepali civil society for these contradictions; in fact it is obvious that there are strong factors determining this situation. Of course, as a consequence of inequality, the pool of educated low – caste, ethnic or female academics that are capable of leading a NGO, attending seminars and contributing to scientific publications is much smaller than that of high-caste Hindu men; and of course, foreign donors contributed a good deal to this situation, as, especially during the Cold War, they preferred stability to democracy and social change. Also, it can be expected, that sensitivity to these matters is much higher in the democratization NGO sector than perhaps anywhere else. Still: NGOs and academics are not only elite–oriented in their work – they also come from the elite, they are part of it.

Many organizations claim neutrality as one of their main characteristics, arguing that being related to one of the parties or political factions would bias their work and make it more difficult to cooperate with other groups. There is no problem about that and organizations should stick to it. But they also should ask themselves, if neutrality towards questions concerning caste, ethnicity and gender is really compatible with their political objectives. Shouldn’t these questions be part of the criteria for the employing of NGO staff, for the composition of panelists at seminars and for the cooperation between NGOs? And, equally important, as donors from outside have a crucial impact on the scene, shouldn’t they also be relevant to the funding of projects from abroad? Again, I do not argue for exclusively addressing these matters; nor would I propose to exclude organizations, that don’t follow them, from cooperation. But I strongly promote the introduction of an element of "gender-, caste- and ethnicity– mainstreaming", which means an ongoing considering of these issues at all aspects of what is done, to scientific work. These issues are relevant to the questions of whom to invite to present a paper at a seminar, whom to ask for a contribution to a book. If this relevance could be established as broadly as the theoretical assumptions about equality in society, the gap between theory and practice could be closed which would give more power to the democratic discourse that is promoted by NGOs in the democratization sector, as counter – discourse to dominating Brahmanism.

(Writer is a FES intern)

Plight of Internally Displaced Persons in Nepal

by Dilli Raman Dhakal, Vice Chairman, CSWC

IDP scenario in Nepal

The internal displacement in Nepal is the resultant effect of the internal conflict between the State and the Maoist rebels. The Maoists launched an armed rebellion against the government in the name of the Peoples' War since February 12, 1996. The intensity of the conflict has been in the upward trend and there are no sign of immediate solutions to the ongoing conflict.  There are numerous conflict-generated consequences and internal displacement is one among them.

Though the problem of IDPs has been substantially affecting the people in many districts of the country, the issue has so far received much less attention to its gravity. However, the major displacements have been confined to some mid-western hill districts, many other districts and locations are also seriously affected by the on going conflict.  It was observed that unlike the refugee issue, the issue of IDPs is still lagging behind for intellectual and public debate.

During our cursory survey, we were told that a so-called association named Maoist Victim Association, formed in Kathmandu was doing nothing with the exception of establishing an office in Kathmandu and posturing one or two individuals having vested personal interest the custodian of all the victims. This so-called association has reportedly failed to assist the victims because of its narrow vision, lack of transparency in its dealing and the undemocratic set up. Hence the CSWC is of the opinion that converging in the name of Maoist Victims even escalates the existing psychosocial and political rivalries between the two opposing ideas/groups/parties. A collaborative and embracing approach need to be developed to address the burning issue of IDPs.

While recognizing the extreme pain and sufferings and with all sincerity and due respect to those people who are displaced due to the atrocities, we feel it is more appropriate to call them "conflict victims", to maintain a more balanced and neutral position, where the victims of both parties will have an opportunity to talk and seek a way to repair the damages caused by the rivalry between the state and the CPN-Maoist. All should contribute to prevent the displacement, repair the damages and create a conducive atmosphere where the people of all faith/ideology can live together, share their gains and pains and act in unison to grow together in peace and harmony.

Special characteristics of Displaced Persons in Nepal

a. Rural based

b. Silent movements/departures rather than organized/mass departures

c. Youths and adolescents

d. All castes and communities affected alike

e. Psychological, socio-economic and physical pressure on woman and children

f. Decrease in agricultural production

Negative Effects of Displacement

1.Economic Hardship

2. Psychological trauma

3. Physical insecurity/safety

4. Unemployment

5. Discontinuation/Interruption/ Closure of schools-Schooling of children

6. Reduced/absence of required health facilities

7. Strain on economic resources in new locations

8. Broken/Dislodged Social infrastructure

9. Destruction of public infrastructure and facilities

10. Political affiliation/divide

11. Additional pressure and burden to women and their security concerns.

Pattern of Displacement Movement

1.District Headquarters,
2. City Centers-Terai
3. Capital,
4. India
5. Third Country for employment (Malaysia and Gulf countries)
The number of IDPs falling in each category is not known.

Involvement of Government, INGOs and international Organization

To the best our knowledge and the information to our access, we learnt that the SNV carried out a research on the issue of IDPs in Nepal. It's a welcome step. The research report has placed some ground for further research and action in the support of IDPs.  The Nepal IDP Research Initiative finding in March 2003 mentions, "the total number of IDPs are 7343 in 56 district till Magh 29,2059". The NRCS information in the same report suggested 37000 registerable IDPs plus a majority of others who do not register. The report also states that the reasonable working figure could be between 100,000 to 150,000.

The other organization, one of the Nepali Human Rights Organization, the INSEC, has done some work in the field. At least it has given a preliminary estimation of the number of displaced persons. Probably the survey carried out by INSEC could be the first initiation ever taken by any Nepali organizations.

We have listed below some of the information and data provided by the government and other organization in regard to IDPs.

Ten districts witnessing No. Of Persons Killed during the 'people's war'
(13 February 1996-4 December 2003)

Number of Victims Killed in connection with 'people's war'
(13 February 1996-4 December 2003)

National Human Rights Commission: The National Human Rights Commission is monitoring the conflict situation and watchful on human rights violations. They have worked to pressurize both the conflicting parties for adhering to the internationally accepted human rights norms and values. However, the IDPs issue has so far not been taken up.

Number of Disappeared Persons From 2057 to 2060 Mangsir 15

The Nepal Red Cross Society and ICRC: The NRCS and the ICRC may have some information on the particular cases and are supposedly aware of the major movement/trend of displacement. Yet, their current activities and supports are meagre and surfacial. Given the expertise of ICRC in this field, their role is vital in the protection of the IDPs along with other major supporting, implementing and donor agencies.

The Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN): CWIN a Nepali NGO serving for the welfare of children has estimated that the number of displaced children was 4,000 by the end of 2003. While in one of its, leaflets, it also states that the number was 8,000. Whatever maybe the closest number, it indicates the problem of children due to displacement.

Ministry of Home Affairs: The Ministry of Home Affairs, HMG/Nepal is directly involved and responsible agency to follow up on the situation of conflict and resultant displacement. They were approached to obtaining details on the IDPs situation/ status. Under Secretary at the Ministry at the desk, Mr. Sharad Chandra Paudel was cooperative and forthcoming, to provided the following information:

Cumulative Killings Due to Conflict from Feb1996 to 19 January 2004

The victim allowance of Rs. 100.00 person/day was provided to the persons duly/officially recognized as victims till FY 2059/60. Now the provision for allowance is discontinued. Wounded persons were assisted for their medical treatment and are still continuing. Affected persons and families were provided minimum compensation for the loss of their property damaged due to conflict. However, it is limited to specified situations, purposes and nature of occupancy.

Recently, the HMG has decided to arrange loan without collateral to the conflict victims through the Employment Promotion Commission, a semi-government organization. However, this scheme could take some time to be operational. In the mean time, the number of beneficiary targeted under the program is limited but could be a welcome move forward to solve the problem partially, if not completely.

The second offer is the incentive proposed to the combatants who surrender and deposit their arms and weapons to the government. This scheme, as we were informed, was underway. So far (21 Jan04) over hundred ex-combatants have received this support. The third offer to the combatants who surrender to the government is to rehabilitate them in Dhakaltar, Tanahu and provide them government security. This is also a recently initiated program from the government.

Mr. Paudel mentioned that the ministry has a list of killed, and incomplete list of those wounded as a result of the ongoing conflict. A record of wounded and displaced persons who approached the ministry for assistance is also available.  A large number of displaced persons never informed about their displacement due to various unstated and specified reasons. Hence the number available at the Ministry doesn't   reflect the exact magnitude and trend of displacement but indicates the seriousness of the problem. The Ministry has been covering all expenses and incentives from its national revenue and no foreign fund has so far been used for the purpose.

The latest figure i.e. Paush 15,2060B.S.(30 December 2004) provided by  the Ministry are presented below: Displaced persons:  2500 persons (who were officially recorded with the government)

Medical Treatment provided to: 954 persons

Estimated Infrastructure and Property Loss:  NRs 405,456,714.00. Whereas a study undertaken in western Nepal by USAID (an independent researcher from Mersycorp) quoting to a recent study has mentioned the estimated damages of property worth to US$ 30 million.

While the figure outside the government domain for deaths and wounded is much higher. On top of the INGOs and organizations working in Nepal, to mention a few, CARE, SC-UK& USA, Ockenden International, organiztions like Norwegian Refugee Council, American Refugee Committee, having a long experience and expertise in the sector of refugee operation and involvement could be very much effective and useful for the conflict victims and the country. Given the global experience of the Norwegian Refugee Council, the CSWC believes that for documentation, data bank construction, imparting professional expertise developed by them and the financial support required to undertake the program could be one of the appropriate agencies among others to help the IDPs in Nepal.

An overview of the Current Plight/situation of IDPs:

CSWC's statistics and views:

With the available information and clues, a team of CSWC led by Dilli Raman Dhakal, met with several people including some conflict victims, key government officials served/serving in the following five districts, the political workers/leaders from those districts and studied the relevant news items appearing in the local and national newspapers/magazines to arrive to the closer point of the magnitude of the displacement. The following estimated figure/data of displacement is based on the observation and has no quantitative substantiation. But it's an aggregate figure established within the available figures from various sources. However, we are of opinion that the validity of the numbers presented below might be questionable as we do not have any firm statistical basis to substantiate and prove the figure, there is no harm per se in having such figure for further discussions and smoothing  out. We are confident that these figures are proximate to the ground reality. Should there be an initiation on the part of the international community to address the issue of IDPs in Nepal and conduct elaborate survey and research, the CSWC is confident that it can handle such a project.

Number of Displacement from the five selected districts (January 2004)

While extrapolating the above figure of the five districts, it can be roughly estimated that the total IDPs in Nepal till this date, should be somewhere between 350,000 to 400,000. The CSWC is in the process of further updating and collecting data/information from allover the country including the already surveyed five districts of the country. Unless the government policy on IDPs is not clear, carrying out survey at the grass roots is a difficult task.

(The author holds a masters degree in Political Science and is the General Secretary of Community Study and welfare Center, contact: Tel: 4426745; email: cswc@ntc.net.np )

Biodiversity, Intellectual Property Rights, and Nepal

Sugam Shrestha, Environmentalist

Beginning with a simple definition of biodiversity, it is the variety of living organisms in a particular habitat or geographic area. A diversity of species plays an important sustaining role for the natural functioning of ecosystems. Biodiversity, therefore, has its capacity to render good health of an environment, aesthetics, food, and drugs for us.

However, uncontrolled population growth threatens biodiversity. It is believed that more than 50 percent of existing species will be lost in the next 100 years. Laws have been formulated and enforced to protect threatened and endangered species but legal and biological difficulties in identifying species or other groups that define biodiversity make such laws contestable. The functioning of our ecosystems also indicates that species are best sustained if their habitats remain intact. Moreover, in countries like Nepal where people largely depend on natural resources for food and energy, it poses all the more intricate situations while making an ecological balance. Further, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its obligations add a new dimension to biodiversity.

WTO, IPR, TRIPS impacts on biodiversity and people: The Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) are rights to make, use and sell a new product or technology that are granted to the inventor or the claimant, usually for a period of 17-20 years commonly taking the form of patents, trademarks or copyrights. Under the Patent, Design and Trademarks Act, 1965 some 44 patents and 29 designs have been protected in Nepal. However, Nepal’s entry to the WTO will oblige it to follow the regime under Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). TRIPS has provided the option to exclude from patentability "plants and animals other than micro-organisms" and "essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals other than non-biological and microbiological processes." But it obliges member countries to "the protection of plant varieties either by patents or by an effective sui generis (of their own kind) system or by any combination thereof."

These provisions have an obvious impact on biodiversity. When a scientist takes a plant sample and by simple translocation of a gene to another place within the same cell can create a new variety which can be deemed new for patentability. Moreover, emphasis on isolating plants with the most marketable merits lead to a decline of other species. In United States, for example, handful of hybrid varieties of corn now cover millions of acres of the midwestern corn belt, where prairies once flourished supporting diverse lives.

Recently, a seed company Monsanto patented a hybrid Indian wheat variety meaning they can take legal action against anyone who would use this variety or one with close resemblance either to cultivate or make products out of it. Indian farmers cultivate some 50,000 varieties of rice. The TRIPS rules would prohibit these farmers from harvesting and reusing the seed of any rice variety that has been patented, like basmati rice. The TRIPS agreement also encourages biotechnology companies to bio-engineer synthetic substitutes for commodities like sugar and plant oils, which might replace their traditional cultivation upon which many communities depend for their livelihood. It also aggravates dependency of communities on seeds marketed by patent holders and most likely the patented seeds would be expensive.

Nepal’s biodiversity commitment: Nepal has ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and as a result is committed to the conservation of biodiversity. The Nepal Biodiversity Strategy (HMGN/MFSC. 2002) maintains that "Nepal will ensure the IPRs of farmers and local communities through appropriate strategies and legislation. Similarly, farmer’s rights in Nepal will focus on rights arising from past, present and future contributions in conserving, improving and making available plant genetic resources, particularly those at the origin of diversity in Nepal. These rights will be vested in the international community as trustee for present and future generations of farmers and for supporting their continued contributions." But once Nepal joins the WTO, existing laws will be inadequate to address TRIPS requirements. TRIPS insists on patenting of plant varieties inviting all concerned to exploit the resource while CBD recognizes biodiversity as sovereign property of the country of origin and the need to share benefits with indigenous communities. These two issues suffer from inherent contradiction. Therefore, many developing countries have argued to supersede CBD provisions over the TRIPS, or at least make it flexible in terms of benefit sharing and allowing developing countries to govern its own patenting laws. Nepal also needs to carefully weigh these issues.

Conclusion: The patents and designs protected by Nepal’s law are of foreign origin which indicates our poor innovative potential. There is lack of a framework from where innovators and entrepreneurs could benefit from their innovation. Consequently, indigenous knowledge has remained unrecognized and unresourceful. It is already a fact that Non Timber Forest Product (NTFP) based products have gained popularity wherein a favorable patent rights might lure in investors and innovators. Nevertheless, it can also be argued that the developing countries cannot afford to invest for new innovations for wider benefits. On the other hand, international companies have advantage of capital for newer development taking the stride of new technologies, who would obviously be the forerunner to receive a patent. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether our biodiversity strategy would protect our farmers’ interests, our biodiversity in the wake of vast seed companies equipped with biotechnology to accrue patenting of our resources, or we accept the challenge and move ahead using our strengthened indigenous capabilities by working together.

(the writer is Environmental Science post-graduate)

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