KamaiyaLibera+onMovementinNepal;IssuesandChallenges

DurgaPrasadBhattaCLASSNepal

Nepal1

NepalNew Federal State (Reconstructing)

China

India

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Presenta+onoutline•  CountryIntroduction•  WhoareKamaiyas???•  Categoryanddata•  TheoriginofKamaiyasystem•  ViciousCycle•  MajorIssuesofKamaiyas•  MovementAgainsttheKamaiyaSystem•  MajorChallengesfortherehabilitation•  Conclusion

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OurcountryNepal•  FederalDemocraticRepublicofNepal

•  StateStructure:FederalsystemofNepal

•  Population:2,649,4504(CBS,2010)

•  Area:147,181sqft.

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WhoareKamaiyasBackground:

•  Kamaiya practices are dominant in the agrarian westernpart of Nepal in Tarai (Plane region), particularly in Pivedistrict Dang, banke, Bardiya, Kailali and Kanchanpurdistrict.

•  Includedformsofdebt-bondageandbondedlabor,hadbeenconsideredamajordevelopmentalandhumanrightsissueinNepal,atleastsince1990.

•  The word Kamaiya originally drives from a Tharu word(ethnic group) designating a man in a position within theintra-household division of labor where he carries outphysically demandingwork like tilling the Pield and 'earns'thelivingforthehousehold. Cont…

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•  Traditionally,peoplewithoutlandorworkcouldgetloansfrom landowners allowing them to sustain a minimumlivelihood.

•  In exchange to this, they had to live and work on thelandowner'slandasquasislaves.

•  Exorbitant debtswere charged, andwhole familieswereforced to slave labour for years and even generations,bondedbyindebtednesstothelandownerandbondedbyunequal social relations to sell labour in lieu of the loantaken.

•  Theword'Kamaiya'originatesfrom‘Kam’,whichrefersto‘work’.InaTharuparlance,thetermisusedasasynonymf o r h a r d w o r k i n g h i r e d f a r m l a b o u r .

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•  Kamaiya is a farm labourer serving amaster, a landlord inparticular, in repayment of a loan taken in advance byhimselforhisforefathers.

•  His spouse known as Bukrahi accompanies him in farmworks. She is also responsible for domestic chores of themaster.

•  Therefore, in a common understanding, a male andassociatedfemale(asapair)arecountedasKamaiya.

•  Kamaiya children, who generally work as animal herders.Similarly, female childrenworking as domestic servants ofthelandlordsareknownasKamlahari.

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TheoriginofKamaiyasystem•  There is a claim that before the eradication of malaria in theTarai (pre-1951 period), cultivable lands were abundant andpopulationwasrelativelysmall.

•  Duringthosedays,whenaworkingmanorwomanofafamilywould die, therewas a trend of hiring aman orwoman fromanotherfamilytocompensatethelossoflabour.

•  Over time, this genial practice changed into the forced laboursystemcalledKamaiya.

•  But,accordingtoBASE(1995:4),thelargeinPluxofhillmigrantsinto theTarai following theeradicationofmalaria in theTarairegion,marginalized traditionally landowningTharupeoplebyoccupying their lands.TheTharus lost the land-resources theyhadnurturedto themigrantswhousedtomaintainaclose tiewith the then power centre of the state. The Tharus had norecords of the land they were cultivating. Cont…

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•  Usingtheirpoliticalpower,thenewcommersregisteredtheland—thelandofTharus—intheirnameforcingtheoriginalmasterstoworkfortheirnewlycapturedland.

•  According toaTharuvillageelder(citedbyKarki2001:71),theKamaiyasystemdevelopedfromacustomarypracticeofobtaining a "helping hand for family business" that wasgradually replacedby a ‘patron-client’ relationship as state-ledlandgrantswereintensiPied.

•  Thisishowinequalitybecamestructured,withonepersonastheJamindar(landowner)andtheotherasKamaiyabondedlabourer, bonded by indebtedness to the landowner andbondedbyunequalsocialrelationstoselllabourinlieuoftheloantakenforsustainingaminimumlivelihood.

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Categoryanddata•  Totalnumberofkamaiyawas116,309.

•  The organization has categorized Kamaiyas in threeclasses/types.TheKamaiyasindebt(Saunki)withallfamilymembersworking for the landlord are grouped as ‘a’ classKamaiyas.Theywerethemostexploitedones.

•  TheKamaiyaswhoare indebtbut live in theirownhomesbuilt on unregistered land with some family membersworking as Kamaiyas and others as share-croppers havebeenconsidered‘b’classKamaiyas.

•  Thosewhoareindebtedbutliveintheirownhomesbuiltontheirownregisteredlandof1katthaormoreareconsidered‘c’ class Kamaiyas. The total number of people affected bythesystemgroupsABCwere54,39334,39027,326Source:BASEKamaiyaReport(1995:7) 10

ViciousCycle•  Kamaiyahas tomake an employment agreement every year inMagheSankranti(midJanuary).

•  The day is known as "Maghi", the black day. In principal theagreementisacontractbywhichaKamaiyacanbargain,acceptorrejectthetermsandconditionsimposedbyhislandmaster.

•  Ifhe Pindsamaster, thisonewillgotohis formermaster,payoutstanding loans and then take the Kamaiya to his house. Aprocess similar to replacing old cattle by new among richfarmers in rural Nepal. Simply we can understand that was atrading (buying and selling) cycle of the kamaiyas from oneownertoanotherowner.

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MajorIssuesofKamaiyas

•  NoPixworkingtime.

•  Treatedlikeananimal.

•  Physicallybeatenandabuse.

•  Sexualexploitation.

•  Workingonlyforfoodandcloths.

•  Lackoffreedom.

•  Hadtodoallkindofpersonalworkfortheownerfamily.

•  Wholefamily’sinvolvementanddedication.

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MovementAgainsttheKamaiyaSystem•  Themovementagainstvariousformsof forced labourhasalong history in Nepal. However, none of the literaturepublished so far documents Kamaiya resistances anduprisingsthatwereheldbefore1950.

•  Started after political change in 1950 and intensiPied onlyaftertherestorationofmulti-partydemocracyin1990.

•  Startedfromthe19kamaiyafamilies(135),1May2000.

•  Spreadtoentiredistrict.

•  Strategy:

Ø  Actionfromwithin

Ø  ActionfromAbove

Ø  Actionfromwithinandabove.

Cont…

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•  The Culmination of Both the Movement from 'Above' and'Within'On1May,2000theKamaiyamovementtookanewturn.

•  Nineteen families of Kamaiyas working for the formerminister, came out of his house and claimed theminimumwagePixedforagriculturalworkersbythegovernmenton13January 2000 to be effective from the date of last Maghi.They also argued that the Kamaiya system was againstNepal's 1990 constitution article 20(1) and several UNconventionsandcovenantstowhichNepalisparty.

Whenhe refused to complywith the rules and regulationsrelated to forced labour and minimum wages, the 19Kamaiya family (135persons) Pileda caseagainsthimatVDCofPiceofKailalidistrict.Butherefusedtobepresenttod i s c u s s t h e p r o b l ems . T h e n t o CDO o f P i c e . Cont… 14

•  TheinitialrefusalbytheCDOtoevenconsiderthecase,ledtomajor sit-ins and demonstrations by Kamaiyas and theirsupporters,altogetherinvolvingtensofthousandsofpeople.

•  Also, Kamaiyas in 5 western Tarai districts Dang, Banke,Bardiya,KailaliandKanchanpur-startedPilingsimilarcaseswith their respective CDO ofPices, and the number of suchcasesreachedmorethan1,600.

•  NGOs and human rights organizations, including BASE, INSEC, GRINSO and CCN, helped mobilize and support theseactions. Particularly, BASE, an organization led by young ·. Cont…

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•  From July13, roughly150bonded laborersheld a sit-in, ordharna,atBhadraKaliinfrontoftheSinghadurbar,(ofPiceoftheprimeminister).

•  On July17,2000 the sameday that the150Kamaiyas andtheir supporters were arrested during a demonstration inKathmandu,thegovernmentdeclaredthat,effectivethatday,Kamaiyaorany formofbonded laborwasprohibited in theKingdomofNepal.Kamaiyasweredeclaredimmediatelyfree,andsincethedebtstheyowedwerevoidornull,theydidnotneedtorepayanything.

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AFerbeingfreed•  Afterbeingfreedfromthesystemfewhadagoodexperienceofincomegenerationactivities,suchasvegetablefarmingbutManywere livingunderdire conditions inmakeshift campsscatteredaroundthetwodistricts.

•  Government had provided 5 kattha (approximately 0.17hectare) of land to each family, which was comparativelyunproductivelandandfarfromtheirownvillage.Anditwasnot sufPicient for them. Their demand was minimum 10kattha(approximately0.34hectare)intheirownvillage.

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MajorChallengesfortherehabilita+on•  The biggest challenge to the government and the NGOsinvolvedinthecampaignagainsttheKamaiyasystemwastocreateanenvironmentinwhichalternativerurallivelihoodscould be ensured. Four years after the ‘liberation’, thechallenges stand intact. The lack of ability—or a politicalwill.

•  IdentifyingtherealKamaiyas.

•  LackofaccuratedataoftheKamaiyas.

•  Beingahugenumber.

•  Lackofeducation.

•  Lackofpoliticalaccess.

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Conclusion•  Kamaiyaswerenottotallyslavebutapart.

•  MostoftheKamaiyafamily’ssituationisveryworse.

•  The ban on the Kamaiya system did not address otherassociated issues such as alternative livelihoods through aproperrehabilitationpackage.

•  Theyaredemandingtilldate.

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SomepicturesofKamaiyasandmovement

Kamaiyafamily Kamlari

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SuccessfulStory

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Culture

Sit-insinfrontofthePrimeMinistersofXice

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RehabilitationtilldatePoliceinterruptionDuringmovement

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Thankyouverymuch

Dissimilar and Citation : from various source for information sharing purpose

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