SURKHET: A five-member family of the Kusunda tribe -- an endangered aboriginal ethnic group of the country -- has been living in a pitiable condition here at Ratpani of Lekhparajuli VDC.

After another family set out to Dang district a couple of years ago, the only family here in Surkhet has been facing problem to make the ends meet.

The government has been providing security allowance of Rs 500 to the family.

Dhanbir Kusunda, family head, said that their ancestors had been living in Maintada area of the district earlier. "I was born there but I do not know where my ancestors arrived there from.''

Although they belong to a nomadic tribe used to roaming in the jungle to hunt animals and look for root foods like yam, dwelling in jungle itself, in earlier times, they have now become an endangered tribe due to inter-caste marriages and change of clan names.

The 12 ropanis ancestral land in Maitada, which his family had been tilling earlier, was already taken by a local money lender after he could not return the loan that he had taken to feed his family members.

Of the five family members, his eldest son has gone to India for employment while one of his daughters already tied knot with a local boy. ''My youngest daughter is studying in grade 3 in a local primary school.''

The sea change brought about in the country following the Janaandolan II has had no impact on these people. "They say that the country changed into republican state, however we know nothing about it as it has brought no change in our life,'' he said. "We want nothing more than a field with a good irrigation system. We just want to spend the life working in the field if the government provides us one.''

Although the tribe has their own culture, tradition and language, he said that he was gradually forgetting them."As we have no other source of income, I urge the government to increase the allowance to Rs 1,000.'' And, with the increment, he plans to buy a pair of oxen to plough the field. Ashok Chhantel, the Kusundas' neighbour, said that Dhanbir and his family members were very affable and helpful.

Kusundas, also known as Banraja (king of the forest), are sparsely populated in Gorkha, Kaski, Salyan, Pyuthan, Dang, Dailekh and Surkhet districts. Their population, according to the 2001 census was just 164.