Kathmandu's indigenous people are inept and incompetent

 

In a democratizing world, indigenous and other marginalized people and communities are raising their voice for justice—political, social and economic. Ever since it annexed Kathmandu Valley in the late eighteenth century, the Shah dynasty barred participation of the valley's indigenous peoples from political offices, bureaucracy, diplomatic services, the judiciary, the police and defense forces. Access of indigenous people to health and education professions, a hallmark of a democratic society, was similarly stymied. Opportunities for training and employment in these fields became restricted to elite communities comprised of religious upper castes, land-grabbing aristocracy.

 

By thwarting indigenous peoples' political, social, and economic enfranchisement, as well as their legitimate aspirations for cultural identity and dignity, the Shahs, Ranas and their Brahmin masterminds deliberately froze the advancement of the current generation of indigenous peoples (apart from few token representation) of Kathmandu Valley, far more than any other indigenous group in Nepal. Without literacy, numeracy and other skills that only education can imbue, indigenous peoples were—and still are—barred from entry into Nepal's important public sector jobs. Likewise, the government policy of introducing hybrid but diseased crops made livelihoods of subsistence farmers hard and helped with the extinction of naturally insect-resistant crops and seeds. The compulsory applications of expensive imported pesticides increased the price of vegetables and affected poor people's health. Worse, these days, many subsistence farmers don't grow anything because farming is no more productive and viable. As more and more water is being pumped out, the productivity of lands in Kathmandu is gradually decreasing.

 

Without benefits of comprehensive education, these peoples have been deprived of opportunities to protect their ancient cultures (recognized in Kathmandu's World Heritage Sites), their historic customs and ways of life, as well as their traditional livelihoods. These disadvantages persist. Official and unofficial land-grabs are excellent examples of this exploitation. In the name of development and progress, successive elite governments have expropriated indigenous peoples' lands and then enabled privatization, to the clear advantage of a few political leaders and entrepreneurs close to them. These successive governments compensated indigenous landowning communities with either token amounts of money or nothing at all.

 

Despite their preservation and dissemination of noble philosophies of Buddhism, despite their rational Mandala-based forms of village planning, despite their advanced skills in agriculture, arts and literatures—thousands of books written in Nepal Bhasa and other language were deliberately destroyed—and despite their introduction of herbal medicinal systems, the Valley's indigenous peoples were—and still are—ridiculed as lazy, gutless, dumb, or as croaking frogs of a well.

 

As happens in societies dominated by autocratic and elitist oligarchies (which are also invariably racist and intolerant), Kathmandu's indigenous peoples are inept and incompetent at anything besides servile unskilled labors. Consistent with this demeaning and demonic logic, indigenous peoples are to be denied access to the nation's body politic, to its schools and universities, and to its professions, including those of the public sector. The most glaring example of systematic discrimination is to be seen in Nepal's one-language policy in what is a diverse and multilingual society.

 

Due to 250 years of discrimination, marginalization and state terror, many indigenous people are migrating abroad, where they feel their dignity is respected and they are treated as equal citizens. The migration of educated youths is further paralyzing the activism necessary to topple the current hegemony of Brahmanism, nepotism and cronyism. Most indigenous people struggle to finish primary school—let alone high school—and those lucky enough to complete 12 years of school then struggle to satisfy language proficiency and general knowledge tests required for government jobs.

 

Even those who pass written part of linguistic exams, they are thrown out in oral interviews for having a strong ethnic accent. With few job prospects open to them in their own country, far too many young indigenous youths are forced to turn to indentured labor in the Middle East with its legendary physical and sexual abuses.

 

Although Western countries rid themselves of discrimination decades ago, Nepal's elitist bureaucracy persists with age limitations on government jobs—even though this excludes many talented graduates with impressive qualifications awarded by prestigious universities. They too struggle to ace the discriminatory one-language proficiency examination. In the meantime, the elitist higher castes protect and enjoy the fruits of their political and social monopolies, not to mention the illicit power which these monopolies also cultivate.

 

People of my generation have no confidence that Nepal's nascent anti-corruption cell will expose and curtail rampant corruption and nepotism in public sector, especially the common 'gravy trains' of bribes and favors that enable bureaucrats and politicians to rapaciously feed off each other.

 

International aid agencies and bilateral donors are helpless to tackle historic injustice since they have to work with government and the government is made mainly of one race of people who are smart in communication, and efficient in coxing expats and development workers. This situation of government, NGOs and monopoly of one race is creating a knowledge vacuum. The millions of dollars in international aid poured into the country is going into a bottomless pit that feeds into a system rigged to benefit certain communities.

 

The banal generalizations about valleys indigenes are signs of ignorance, disrespect and decadent education that only generate puppets of elites whose definition of development is a system where they enjoy power and money and the feeling of success among stupid and ignorant people.