Such attitude of prominent political players prevented Dalits from getting any reservations even after the introduction of democracy in 1990. Do Nepali Dalits have equal share in the army, police, judiciary, private sectors, bureaucratic and education sector? Any Dalit would say, “No, democratic Nepal is not inclusive”.
First, let’s look at the real meaning of democracy and what other democratic countries have done to rid themselves of their past sins. The spirit of democracy is to be inclusive: To create a playing field where no child is deprived of resources needed to nurture its potential to the full. A true democratic country will always care for its deprived communities.
Having said so, let us look at how two giant democracies, India and US, both fully acknowledged their sins of untouchability and slavery. For US, slavery is a thing of past and while untouchability still exists in rural India majority of Indian Dalits have overcome being pigeonholed. US has produced a good percentage of middle-class African-Americans and India has produced many Dalit professionals through its constitutionally-guaranteed affirmative action. Let’s look at them individually.
US
Powerful Madhesi and Janajati personalities in Nepali politics have forcefully pushed back Dalits’ agendas to the bottom of the list.
After 450 years of slavery, the US now has a Black man occupying the most powerful office in the nation. And it doesn’t end there. Many successful and prominent African-Americans can be seen in every walk of life from literature, sports, business, music and science. The US army is inclusive (although that’s not a big issue for a country that has been fighting since Second World War).
Such inclusive results were accomplished because the US is a democratic country that adopted affirmative action to help uplift people who were once slaves. The credit goes to civil right movements and President John F Kennedy who passed laws requiring colleges, government institutions and private employers to hire Blacks. Today, if a Black complains of low achievement, the Whites tell them: “Look nothing stopped Barack Obama from reaching the Oval Office; he did it and yes, you can do it too”.
INDIA
Our ‘big brother’ in the south is far ahead of Uncle Sam. Every year, strikes are carried out by young students (high caste) on the premises of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) against the quotas that are reserved for Dalits and scheduled tribes. But their effort is useless because it’s written in the constitution and no one can challenge it at least in the immediate future. Recently, the Indian government even passed laws allowing convert Christian Dalits – who previously didn’t qualify for quotas – to get reservation.
Such provisions to uplift Dalits were made possible because of the visionary leader Dr BR Ambedkar, chief architect of the Indian constitution, whose idea even Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi didn’t dare to go against. The result: ‘Big brother’ had a Dalit president (K R Narayanan who went to college through the scheduled caste quota) way before Uncle Sam had a Black president. Each year, many Indian Dalit students graduate from world-class institutes like IIT, IIM and AIIMS and many more. Their army is inclusive. So are their government jobs. Now proponents of reservation are even urging the government to ask private companies – many government companies have been privatized these days – to be more inclusive so as to make it diverse.
While there are many underclass Blacks in US and underprivileged Dalits in India, both the US and India have done proper homework. Positive discrimination may not be the right solution but it is important to create a level-playing field where everyone from every caste can have proportionate share.
NEPAL
Historically, Nepali Dalits served high-caste people by surviving on wages barely enough to make ends meet. Dalits’ chronic sufferings can be traced back to thousand of years—as old as Hindu religion itself. Even after the introduction of democracy in Nepal in 1990, there were hardly any changes in the laws that would otherwise have uplifted Dalits intellectually, financially, socially and spiritually.
It was only in 2003, 55 years after the inclusive Indian constitution was crafted, when Nepali Dalit students were provided some reservations for higher education. Ever since such laws were made, there have been many outcries from the high-caste people. Paradoxically, Dalit activists and revolutionary leaders talk against affirmative action as if they had experienced one in Nepal. Without contemplating much, they cite the examples of US and India where not all Blacks are liberated and Dalits still form the poor mass. The Maoist government even reduced Dalits’ reservation for higher education from 15 to 9 percent (actually 9 percent of 45 percent, which in actuality becomes 4.5 percent). According to 1991 census, the population of Dalits is 13 percent.
Right now Nepal is preoccupied with ethnic feuds and the priority of Dalits has been diluted. Powerful Madhesi and Janajati personalities in Nepali politics have forcefully pushed back Dalits’ agendas to the bottom of the list. Dalits regard this as an especially critical moment because the nation is at the eleventh hour of writing the new constitution.
Therefore, 13 percent quotas (if that’s what the census says) in all levels of education, police force, army, government jobs, judiciary and private sectors should be secured for Dalits in the new constitution. The constitutionally-guaranteed right will motivate Dalits to aspire for higher achievements. If one Dalit becomes highly-educated, he will be an example in his community which will help subdue the inferiority-complex lurking amongst Dalit youths (I don’t mean to patronize Nepali Dalits but that’s the situation).
To encourage oppressed Nepalis, we need to have proportional reservation in every field where any ambitious citizen (not only high-caste individuals) can recognize his full capacity. And once the level-playing field is created, then they may scrap positive discrimination. But right now, it’s too early to oppose it. My answer to opponents of Dalit quotas is: If US and India didn’t have what they have today i.e. positive discrimination; there would have seen more underclass Blacks and destitute Dalits because none of the ambitions would have turned into a success.
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