The transition from monarchical democracy to a democratic republic was a significant step taken by political parties towards democratization of the Nepal, which occurred in the second people’s movement (2006). At the time of second people’s movement Nepal experienced many structural changes such as the conversion of monarchical democracy to a democratic republic, Maoist converted into a political party and realization of an elected Constituent Assembly all this straighten out by the political parties. With the widespread growth of electoral politics, political parties have proliferated around the world. Parties can be found in every continent and country, and multiparty systems of government have become the primary way to organize politics. Political parties play a vital role in the expansion and consolidation of democracy. The emergence of political parties in Nepal…

The proposed paper aims to discuss how international education produces and reproduces the inequality in the case of Nepalese student migrants in Japan. In the paper, I particularly examine an emerging type of migration that has not received adequate attention in the Nepali migration literature. While much research has focused on either low skilled Nepalese migrant workers typically working in Malaysia and middle east countries, or high education Nepalese professionals studying and working in western countries, there is no enough study on the growing college students particularly their participation in migration. My ethnographic study of Nepalese students in Japan shows that facing the high youth unemployment, political instability and attraction of ‘high-paid’ jobs, more and more Nepalese youth perceive migration as rite of passage to secure their future. In most…

For 240 years, Nepal was ruled as a Hindu kingdom under a Hindu king from the Shah dynasty. The government was administered under widely divergent political configurations across this time, and the country was administered alternately by the king himself, by successions of prime ministers, by Shah family regents, or by Rana hereditary rulers. What varied much less was how the government was performed in the contexts of state-level ritual. In these contexts, regardless of who held the lal mohar or administered the tax structure, the king was annually performed to be the center of power and the pinnacle of the state. The ritual identity of the king rested on a variety of annual events, from Indra Jatra to Dasai to Basanta Shrawan to Shiva Ratri to Bhoto Jatra. Bhoto…

Since the 1980s, Nepal has gained worldwide recognition for path breaking achievements in community forest management. Community forests currently occupy nearly 23% of Nepal’s total forest area, the management of which involves over 18,000 community forest user groups comprising 1.6 million households and nearly 40% of Nepal’s population (DoF 2012). The spatially-explicit impacts of this 30-year transition in forest management, however, have not been documented in part due to the lack of surveys studying the same forest patches through time. The author has studied forest and agricultural practices in a village near Gorkha since 1980 and conducted forest surveys in 1980, 1990, and 2010. This paper describes changes in the village between 1980 and 2010, with a focus on forest status, use, and management. In 1980, the vast majority of…

This paper explores several emergent social movements in Kathmandu; these movements draw most of their membership from an elite group of internationally experienced young people.  “Bipals” or Bideshi Nepalis (Foreign Nepalis) return from study or work abroad with high expectations, both their own and their communities’, for success and contributions to building a better country.  Yet, most quickly find barriers to their progress, whether in the form of entrenched bureaucracies and hierarchies or physical infrastructure limitations. Whereas overseas experience once guaranteed a high-paying and secure job, this is no longer the case in contemporary Kathmandu, and many returnees must forge a new narrative of success. For some, this has taken the form of involvement in entrepreneurship organizations that encourage the creation of independent businesses and advocate for a more productive…

International migration has a long-standing history in Nepal. While Nepalese migration to other countries is not uncommon, India remains the main destination. A large number of Nepalese began to migrate to the coal mining areas in the Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya during 1970s. One of the factors attracting them to Jaintia Hills was the presence of coal mines that needed plentiful of labour. The coal mines offered them with an opportunity to generate income. In Jaintia Hills coal mining is done by means of private ownership. Landowners have adopted a crude form of excavation that employs “rat hole mining” (narrow shafts dug). Most of the Nepalese migrant workers can make a decent earning within a short span of time. However many lose their lives due to accidents resulting unscientific…

In Nepal as elsewhere, the design of climate change policies and programmes is based on the assumptions that policy-makers, scientists and development practitioners make about what constitutes and causes the vulnerability of others. On the other hand, there is little space for Nepali farmers to voice their perceptions and experiences of their multiple vulnerabilities in the policy arena. This research explored the concept of deliberative governance as a process to build a common understanding of problems and issues and develop a basis to develop solutions (Fischer 2003; Leach et al., 2007). This action research first started with of a one-year participatory video project where farmers from Dhanusa District produced twelve films on different facets of vulnerability, interviewing around 50 farmers from different social groups in their VDC. Each film was…

The ‘Gurkhas’ have long been part of the history and tradition of serving in the British Army, and to this day captures the imagination of many young boys who want to be part of this tradition. Recruitment as a ‘Gurkha’ soldier is the most preferred choice of employment among various ethnic groups in the hills of Nepal. The Gurkhas have also benefitted largely from this service, and have been able to generate wealth compared to others in their communities. But more importantly it is the prestige they garner as a soldier, and the respect they get after retirement within their communities that shapes the aspiration of many young boys. Therefore, many put themselves through a rigorous training and selection regime to meet the requirements of becoming a Gurkha soldier. However,…

  This research explores how Malla Newars families had displaced from Bhaktapur and migrated to Choprang Ramechhap after unification of then Bhaktapur Kingdom in Nepal. Basically three research questions have asked in this research: 1) how did then ruling Malla families displace from the Sukuldhoka Bhaktapur and change Malla surname to Dhaugoda? 2) How did Dhaugoda surname change to Shrestha at Choprang, Ramechhap? 3) Why have they interested to change their surname as Dhaugada again?  The research was based on post modernism world view. Qualitative research methodology was administered and in-depth interview with 10 elder people and group discussions were done. The study reveals that 50 households of Newar have been living at Choprang including 9th generation. They had been migrated here from Sukuldhoka, Bhaktapur after conquest over Bhaktapur by…

Nepal’s ongoing sanitation programs have an ambitious goal of sanitation for all by 2017 meaning by then the country will have every single household with toilet and be declared open defecation free (ODF).  As much as these programs form a part of the global and regional responses to sanitation crisis, they also signal a shift in people’s embodied practices from open defecation to defecation in the toilet. Among many things, the two things remain salient in Nepal’s contemporary sanitation programs: first, campaigns for toilet construction; and second, ODF declarations. While the Nepali state is increasing its efforts toward the goal of sanitation for all, my paper explores the multiple contexts and meanings of transformation in bodily habits evident in the move from open defecation to private defecation in the toilet.…