KATHMANDU, JUNE 4
Nepal was declared caste-based discrimination-free 16 years ago on 4 June 2006, but Dalits continue to face gruesome discrimination and they are deprived of basic facilities.
Post 2006 popular movement, people's attitude towards Dalits have changed for the better, but there are still many people in society that continue to discriminate against them. The killings of six Dalits in Rukum two years ago were a result of caste discrimination.
Dalit rights activist and Chair of Dalit Welfare Association Moti Lal Nepali said that although the government had declared Nepal an untouchability free country recognising the contribution of Dalits in political movements, the country was not free of caste discrimination in the true sense yet. "Dalit people cannot rent a room in Kathmandu if they disclose their caste. Killings of Dalits in Rukum district and landlord's refusal to rent a room to journalist Rupa Sunar amply reflect rampant caste discrimination in Nepali society," he said.
Nepali said that political, religious, class and societal powers were not yet ready to treat Dalits equally and hence caste discrimination against Dalits continued to exist in society. Nepali said the constitution was envisioned to ensure proportional representation of Dalits, scholarships for Dalits, food, shelter and clothes for indigent Dalits, but those provisions had not yet been implemented.
Dalit rights activist Bhola Paswan said that unless political parties adopted zero tolerance against caste discrimination, untouchability and caste discrimination would continue in society.
"There have been some positive changes in Dalit empowerment as restaurants or tea sellers stopped discriminating against Dalits, but in rural areas, Dalits still cannot take part in feasts along with the so called upper castes," Paswan said and added that although major political parties - Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML had adopted Dalit-friendly policies within their outfits, they still shied away from taking action against their cadres who discriminate against Dalits.
"Although caste atrocities are committed against political cadres of these parties, there is hardly any example where the major parties have taken action against their cadres who discriminate against Dalits," Paswan said and added that Dalits were facing new kinds of discrimination these days. He said he contested election for mayor of Kanchanpur Municipality in Saptari, but his opponents launched a campaign against him saying if a Dalit became mayor other castes would have to salute him.
Dalit rights activist Advocate Mohan Sashankar said that the root of discrimination against Dalits lay in faulty religious belief of pure and impure and unless comprehensive programmes were launched to change this belief, it would be impossible to abolish caste discrimination from society. "In Kathmandu, Dalits face worst discrimination while renting apartments. There are three cases where Kathmandu District Court dismissed the claim of caste discrimination on the ground of lack of enough evidence," he added.
Sashankar said that it was almost impossible to find evidence of caste discrimination.
"It happened with me and many other Dalits who went to rent rooms in Kathmandu.
On multiple occasions, the landlord agreed to give me room but when they came to know about my caste, they told me that they would ask other members of their families to make sure that they had not rented the room out to somebody else.
After a few moments they told me that the room had already been rented out," Sashankar added.
He said anti-caste discrimination laws needed to be changed to secure easy conviction in cases of such behaviour against Dalits.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 5, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.