In a move that caused disappointment and frustration for indigenous rights organizations in Nepal, last month King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev nullified a year-old law that would have reserved 10 percent of Nepal’s civil service positions for Nepal’s indigenous peoples.
King Gyanendra, who dissolved his parliament in February of 2005, recently passed a civil service ordinance that changed the procedures for hiring government employees. The ordinance replaces the civil service seat reservation policy for indigenous peoples, or Janajatis, with the "possibility of positive discrimination (affirmative action) in special cases."
"Janajatis hold no decision making positions in Nepal," said Om Gurung, the director of Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN), a Katmandu based umbrella organization that works to preserve indigenous cultural knowledge and assist Nepal’s indigenous people in obtaining their rights.
"The king’s ordinance will continue to keep the Janajatis out of [national level government] positions and he will elect pro-monarchy representatives instead," Gurung said in a phone interview.
The recent ordinance also eliminates seat reservations for dalits and women, and prevents unionizing among government employees.
NEFIN has issued a memorandum to the King demanding that he revoke the ordinance. According to Gurung, NEFIN is currently organizing an informal coalition of women, dalit, and other Janajati rights organizations to put additional pressure on the government.
He also said that NEFIN is prepared to take more radical measures by organizing protests in Katmandu’s streets and continuing to demand that the King respond to Janajati issues.
Although modern Nepal is a single nation, unified by Nepali language, parvati culture, and Hindu religion, the peoples who live within Nepal’s political boundaries are much more diverse than Gyanendra’s vision of a homogenous Kingdom. Forty-one percent of Nepal's 26 million people come from indigenous populations who have their own living languages, religions, food, clothing, and customs.
Historically, Nepal has had very little tolerance for ethnic differences. Until the 1990s, Nepali peoples were not allowed to use ethnic languages in public.
Kathryn March, professor of Anthropology, Asian Studies, and Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Cornell University, says that even with the constitutional monarchy’s significant concessions that allowed for public, ethnic expression, there has been no legislation that makes a clear commitment to social equity for indigenous peoples.
David Holmberg, Professor of Anthropology and Asian studies at Cornell University, said in a phone interview that indigenous peoples' organizations in Nepal have discussed at length how the seat reservation program should be implemented, considering that some Janajati groups already enjoy greater representation than others.
"There are a lot of complexities in the [reservation] issue," said Holmberg. "NEFIN lists three or four different categories of indigenous peoples. Some indigenous groups are well off and in very different positions than other groups."
But he agreed that indigenous groups were in favor of the reservation policy.
"Social exclusion is one of the main reasons for the current troubles and the Maoist rebellion in Nepal," said Gurung.
For the last decade, Nepal has been plagued by a bloody conflict between the Maoist rebels and Nepal’s monarchy. When the King dissolved parliament in February of 2005, he accused the government of failing to extinguish the Maoist rebellion and promised to bring peace to the nation within three years.
"The king is only making the situation worse," said Gurung. "He decided to abolish the laws [that provide for a seat reservation program] because he believes that all Nepal’s peoples are equal and that Nepal is one nation, one government, one religion, one language."
