Makwanpur/November 21

Thuli Maya Bankariya is now in her seventies. She is the only eldest member of Bankariya ethnic group residing at Musedhap of Manahari Rural Municipality-4 in Makwanpur, which lies some 30 km west from Hetauda, the headquarter of Bagmati Province. The Bankariya community is one of the most endangered ethnic groups in Nepal. The community people do not own land and until about two decades back, the community was nomadic.

Thuli Maya from Bankariya community had lost her husband six years ago. Since then, her daughter has been taking care of her. With growing of age, Thuli Maya has ailments in her back and waist for some years and her hearing capacity has also diminished. She laments that getting treatment is not so easy. "The nearest health facility lies at two hours of walking distance." The community people don't have access to road. "In case of emergency, we could not use ambulance to go to the hospital."

Bursting into tears, she recalls her the bygone days and the hardship her community endured. "We used to live in caves until two decades ago. Life was so difficult then. Finding food to eat was difficult." She remembers that most of her grandparents and in-laws died in the caves while some of them died in the forest. She wishes that new generation of her community must not live like them. However, it's not easy to fulfill her desire. For this, she urges the government to make a conducive environment for them. "We are eagerly waiting registration of the land we are using in our names so that our grandchildren must not undergo the plight we have experienced." She laments that their children don't have access to school in their locality. "The nearest school is too far, and it takes more than an hour to reach the school."

Like Thuli Maya, other members of the community narrated their stories of hardship and suffering to parliamentarians who had visited the community on November 15. The visit of their elected representatives had surprised the community members. At the same time, the presence of such high-ranking officials for the first time had elated the community.   

Santoshi Bankariya, another  member of the community, said, "We have planted vegetables, but we face problems when the District Forest Office makes frequent attempts to evict us from our settlement". She lamented that they could not sell their vegetable produce in the market during rainy season for the want of road and bridges over rivers. "Our settlement is surrounded by two rivers and we have difficulties traveling and selling vegetables in the market during rainy season." She shared that they are forced to run away when flood in local rivers engulf their settlement. Santoshi, who has qualification of junior technical assistant, is constantly raising voices among the concerned authorities. She is more concerned on ownership of land the community has been living and cultivating.

The community people also shared that they are deprived with basic facilities of health services, drinking water and electricity.

Listening to the problems of Bankariya community, former Chief Minister of Bagmati Province Dormani Paudel and visiting MPs assured the community of making all level of governments more accountable to solve the problems. He said Land-related Problem Resolution Commission formed by the federal government was preparing to distribute land ownership certificates to the landless people starting from mid-November this year, however, it could not be materialized as the Commission was already dissolved and the new commission has not commenced its work.  He said, "We will pressurize three tiers of the governments for management of Bankariya community, including providing land ownership certificates and basic facilities to them."

In a follow up to the interaction organized in Musedhap, a media briefing was organized where

Minister of Economic Affairs and Planning of Bagmati Provincial Government, Shalikram Jamkattel ensured to introduce special programs and allocate budget for upliftment of the endangered communities. He said the government will make efforts to provide landownership to Bankariya community and provide them support to run schools and livelihood program.

A total of 21 households (79 people) of Bankariya community include 45 women are living at Musedhap. The Makwanpur District Forest Office has provided them nine hectares of land where they have been living since March 21, 2006. The citizenship certificates were issued to them the same year. Based on the citizenship certificates, the government has been providing each member of Bankariya community monthly allowance of NPR 4000 as social security for the past 12 years.

With time, the lifestyle of endangered Bankariya community has been changing. Today they are more confident and raise their concerns with the stakeholders and are able to express themselves. All they demand from the state is a better and a dignified life.

Both the visit and the media briefing were arranged by Janapatra Media with technical support from UNDP's Parliament Support Project (PSP) with an objective to ensure meaningful engagement of MPs with the citizens from marginalized and disadvantaged communities on the issues pertinent to them.