Tika R Pradhan

Kathmandu, March 22:

As per the directives issued by the Ministry of Local Development (MoLD), two District Development Committees have formed the Dalit and Indigenous Nationalities District Coordination Committees and four municipalities have designated a separate section and a contact person each to cater to the problems facing the Dalits and Indigenous nationalities.

According to the ministry, while the DDCs of Sarlahi and Banke have set up the committees, each of the four municipalities — the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Putalibazaar Municipality of Syangja, Triyuga Municipality of Udayapur, Bidur Municipality of Nuwakot and Bharatpur Municipality of Chitwan — have constituted a separate section and appointed a contact person for the Dalits and Indigenous people.

Undersecretary at the MoLD, Hem Sharma Pokhrel, said though many such committees might have been formed, the ministry has not received the confirmations due to postal delay.

“All the 58 municipalities and 75 districts would have such committees in few weeks.” The separate sections, to be designated at all 58 municipalities, should submit their monthly and annual reports of the activities carried out to the concerned sections of the respective DDCs. The coordination committees at the DDCs will forward the reports to the MoLD.

The coordination committees would be obliged to inspect, monitor and facilitate all the programmes and activities meant for the Dalits and Indigenous nationalities of the respective district. One of the most important responsibilities of the committees is to work as a watchdog and record all forms of human rights violations against these suppressed groups.

However, Padma Lal Biswokarma, a Dalit rights activist, said: “The move is appreciable but

talking about human rights during the state of emergency is just a propaganda.” “Unless provisions for the marginalised and suppressed communities come through constitutional channel, the legitimacy would be questionable,” he said.