Minister for promoting Jyapu culture

Kathmandu, December 27:

Minister for Industry Asta Laxmi Shakya today said cultural practices could be a source of income if converted into small industries.

Addressing a programme organised by Jyapu Puchha Ombaha (JPO), Shakya opined that Jyapus, an ethnic group in Kathmandu, should make efforts to identify and promote their cultural values and norms.

“We should find out why we celebrate the festivals,” stressed Shakya, adding that the nation’s cultural practices were being corrupted thanks to modernisation and westernisation.

The Jyapu federation should find out Jyapu population in Nepal and note the festivals observed by them, said Shakya, asking the community members to delve deeper into their cultural practices.

She assured the gathering that Newari language would be given due recognition in the new state order. She said the rights of ethnic groups would be enshrined in the new statute.

JPO president Raj Bhai Jyapu said they had been able to coax the government into declaring Yomari Purnima as the Jyapu Day and a national holiday. He claimed that Jyapus were the first ethnic community indulging in farming in the Kathmandu valley, saying they deserved due recognition. He said other Newars were dissatisfied with the declaration of Yomari Purnima as the Jyapu Day.