“Only those who can afford it wear warm clothes here. Our children run around in single cloth downs, and sometimes without one, even in winter. We have had no income because of the Corona, so we couldn’t buy warm clothes.”
During the last two weeks two Dalits died due to the cold wave. Ramesh Majhi, aged 40, permanent resident of Haripur Municipality-9, Pidari and Ram Bhagat Majhi, aged 65 of Laxmipur village of same municipality are died.
Ramesh Majhi, who works as a wage laborer on the local landlord, found dead-on late-night 24th November, while he was returning back from paddy field. Next day, his dead body was found laid down on the bundle of straw.
Two years ago, under the People Settlement Scheme of the government of Nepal, Ramesh built a house with Tin roofed, and shared a room with his brother Moti Majhi. Altogether, five people including Ramesh, his wife Chandu, son Pankaj and daughter-in-law Aanchal, and younger son Krishnanandan were living in the single room. Krishnanandan, aged 16, who is in his father’s death rituals, said that his father died due to the cold as he had no clothes to wear.
Dinesh Shah, who runs the clinic in Pidari Bazar, said that when he went for the treatment of Ramesh, he was no more. Asha Devi Majhi, a neighbor, said that Ramesh died due to complications of cold, and other Musahars also facing similar problems as they do not have warm clothes to wear during the cold season. She adds, “Only those who can afford it wear warm clothes here. Our children run around in single cloth downs, and sometimes without one, even in winter. We have had no income because of the Corona, so we couldn’t buy warm clothes.”
Ram Kewal Majhi of Lakshmipur said that his father Ram Bhagat also died due to lack of warm clothes. His five family members are currently living in a mud house with a thatched roof. Even though it has been many days, but no one is there to help them. As the cold weather increases, it affects Musahar community as they cannot buy warm clothes and blankets due to extreme poverty. Therefore, the Musahar community use straw for sleeping.
“People with means have homes, warm clothes and heaters, they can even employ others if they are unable to work because of the cold,” says Manoj Paswan, a local Dalit Story Club member. “But even among the poor, women and Dalit in the Tarai are hit the hardest.” The Musahar community in this Madesh province have homes built with public housing programs but with no roofs. Families do not have warm clothing or electricity. “It has been two years since we paid for the roof but we are still waiting, government does not listen to us,” says a local resident, Pachhulal Majhi.
Police Inspector Vijay Kunwar of the local area police office Haripur said that no information has come to the police about the death of two Musahar. He said that if information comes to the police, we will send it for post-mortem and victim family will be given relief by the government of Nepal.
The first recorded cold wave in the Tarai occurred in 1998. At that time, the difference between the minimum and maximum temperature was a mere 1.3°C, meaning the temperature was constant throughout the day. The longest cold wave recorded was in 2002/03 when it continued from 26 December to 27 January without any sunshine. Prior to this, a cold wave in the plains lasted from 15 December 1997 to 15 January 1998. Even a decade ago, the winter fog used to clear by afternoon. But in recent years it stays for days on end, sometimes for a week or more. People are trying to cope, but cannot seem to stay warm. The cold kills people. Either because of hypothermia, or indirectly through smoke inhalation inside the home as people try to keep warm. Oftentimes, people burn straw in order to warm themselves from the cold. There are fatalities every year from fires.
Additional Information
Musahars are the one caste of the Dalit sub-caste groups basically living in the Southern part of Nepal. Siraha, Saptari, Dhanusha, Sunsari, Morang, Udayapur, Mahotari, Bara, Parsa, Sarlahi, Rautahat and Nawalparasi districts are the Major Musahar populated district of Nepal. According to the government’s census of 2011, the Musahars are the second largest Madeshi-Dalit’s caste group, which covers the 18% population of Madeshi Dalit and 7% of whole Dalit population in Nepal, with a total population of 2,34,490.
Majority of Musahars are living in government land and worked as a wage labor to sustain their life. The Musahar caste group is predominately landless and employed through bonded labour[1]. The Musahars are in dire need of land. With shortage of food and clothes, children do not attend classes regularly. Child marriage, illiteracy, superstitions and lack of basic amenities have made the settlement a hell. They are also deemed as ‘untouchable’ due to extreme caste discrimination – some people, for example, won’t even drink tea or eat food served by a Musahar. They don’t have big space in their shelter to live in, so more than 7 to 12 persons have to live in a small hut. Their literacy rate is also very low[2]. In the whole country Musahars are in the lowest priority from local to state level. These factors make the Musahars one of Nepal’s most marginalized communities[3].
Constitution stipulates no discrimination based on religion, race, gender, caste and tribe. The caste system still plays a significant role in Nepalese education and life. Vulnerable Communities Development Plan 2007 re-emphasizes commitment to free education for girls and Dalits. However, gender differences are very pronounced among children across social groups[4].
A large percentage of primary level enrolled Dalit students drop out before completing basic education[5]. Almost 47.9% of Musahar boys are out of the school whereas 52.1% Girls are out of the schools[6]. According to the data 65.1% of primary school age children are out of the school from the Rautahat, Sarlahi, Mahottari, Dhanusha and Bara districts. Likewise, 78.6% of lower secondary school age students in the same districts are out of school. Dalit castes with high proportion of children not attending school: Dom (58.4%), Musahar (51.3%), Halkhor (44.7%), Kori (35.3%), Dusadh/ Pasawan/Pasi (35%). While 19.9% of children in primary and 14.5% children in lower secondary education are Dalits, the proportion of Dalit teachers in primary and lower secondary levels are only 5.1% and 4%, respectively.
The literacy rate of Dalits (6 years and above) is 52.4% compared to the national average of 65.9% and it is 34.5% for Tarai/Madhesi Dalit. Only, 24.7% of Hill Dalits and 11.8% of Tarai/Madhesi Dalits complete 8th grade which is far behind the national average (41.7%). Dalits comprise only 1.6% of those with a SLC and above; and only 0.8 % of those with a Bachelors’ degree[7]. Women from Musahar and Dom community are at the bottom with literacy rates of 17.4% and 17.9%[8].
The data indicate that many of the lower castes and in particular Dalit castes, including Musahar, have out-of-school rates far above the national average. However, the fact that some low and Dalit castes have quite low out-of-school rates indicates that caste is one of several factors, which may also include poverty and geographic location, highlighting the fact that out-of-school profiles cannot be simplified to a single characteristic of exclusion.[9]
[1] Article 29 of Nepal’s constitution stipulates that all people should be free of exploitation, forced and bonded labour, slavery, and trafficking. Nonetheless, there is no law on forced labour that is in line with international standards.
[2] Chaudhry, J. K. (2008). Landless and its Impact in the life of Musahar: A study of Madheshi Dalit people at Pothiyahi VDC in Rautahat District Nepal. Research Report.
[3] Within overall poverty status, about 42% of Dalits are below the poverty line in Nepal, which is 17% point
higher than that of the national average (25.2%). Also, an average per capita consumption in Nepal is 34,187, yet Madhesi Dalits consumption per capita is NRs.23,106, followed by Hill Dalit 25,298 per annum. Whereas, among the Dalits of both Hill and Madhesi origin, every two in five persons are below poverty line.
[4] 43% of Tarai/MadhesiDalits and 14.6% of Hill Dalit experience discrimination when receiving medical treatment in local health services. On average, 72% of women experience problems in accessing health service. The figure for Dalit women is higher than the national average with 79 and 85% respectively for Hill and Tarai/Madhesi Dalit women, Source- National Demographic Survey.
[5] The status shows that Dalit students Primary level’s enrolment 100%, whereas SEE (grade 10)- 17%, and Undergraduate level is 1.2%.
[6] NEPAL EDUCATION SECTOR ANALYSIS, NIRT (2016). Nepal Education Sector Analysis. Kathmandu, Nepal
[7] Nepal Social Inclusion Survey (NSIS) 2012, Central Department of Sociology/Anthropology, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
[8] National Census 2011, Central Bureau of Statistics, Nepal.
[9] Ministry of Education, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Global Initiative on Out of School Children – Nepal Country Study, July 2016, UNICEF, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2016.
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