Behind The Scenes

Location

Country: Nepal

Zone: Narayani zone

District: Chitwan (Northeastern part of chitwan, 

Korak vdc, ward no 3, Jimling Tole)        

  

Introduction

Chepangs are one of those janajatis who live in the upper slopes of the central region of the country. They have their own distinct culture, language, and religion and value system. However, they have been severely subjected to discrimination and oppression by the state's discriminatory policies and deprived of their political, religious and cultural rights in Nepal. They are at the bottom of the ladder of social and economic indicators placing them among the poorest of the poor.

There are approximately 81000 chepangs all over Nepal. More than 98% of the chepangs are residing in Chitwan, Makawanpur, Dhading, and Gorkha districts. The population of chepang is unevenly distrbuted in 63 districts of Nepal. A semi-nomadic tribe that is gradually adopting a settled way of life, have very little arable land for cultivation and live on wild fruits like yam and air potato or wild greens such as nettles, they still live a primitive and simple way of life, and remain very close to the nature that they greatly depend on for their livelihood. Almost all chepangs are found in topmost area of hills as they kept on following their ancestors. In spite of their proximity to the capital city Kathmandu, they remain isolated, marginalized and excluded from the benefits of all indicators of development(Nepal Chepang Association 2009).

Jimling is a predominantly Chepang (21 out of 25 households) village seven hours walk from the nearest town. Some of the basic urban facilities such as electricity and toilets are absent here, but there are five taps in the village that supply running water every few days. There is a basic health post in the village that provides some elementary care, and a volunteer woman health assistant nominated from the village liaises with the health post.

Education:

The young kids in this community grow up only to help their parents in agricultural works, as they cannot afford to study after 5th grade in government schools.  There are two government schools about two hours walk from the village. Both schools are provisioned to teach from 1st to 5th grade, with exams administered by the district Department of Education. The geographical conditions and vulnerable life situations of the chepangs deprive them of opportunity for formal schooling and development.

Quality of education: A student studying in grade 3 cannot even write her name without taking reference from helpers.

Economic status:

Among several village development communities in Chitwan Korak VDC, Jimling has faced famine for another consecutive year. It is a regular annual event. The crops grown at a particular season feed the community for only five months; the remaining seven months are famine-stricken. As they do not have any other source of income, they have to rely on forest foods available in the jungle. They even do not have proper fertile land to grow crops. The Chepangs are still apparently semi-nomadic and rely on hunting and gathering as well as some slash and burn cultivation.(Khoriya)

Social life: 

There are more than 25 households in this village. Generally, each house shelters father, mother and 4-5 children. The children neither get proper nutrition nor quality education. They have to go to bed hungry at night as there is insufficient cultivation of crops. Their daily routine is to fetch herbs for cows and goats, remove excess cow dung from the cowshed, collect firewood, go to the river and catch fish and crabs for dinner or collect nettles. Rice (chamal ko bhat) is cooked in some of the houses during only Dashain and Tihar. On other days, maize is their staple food.

Current situation and existing problem:

Have to walk long distance to reach the nearest roads, which has slowed down the barter system, selling, buying and marketing of locally available resources.

·      Starvation, famine, malnutrition are burning issues due to poverty and lack of cultivable land

·      Access to quality education is zero

·      Does not have government certified lands

·      Unmanaged water distribution

·      Open toilet system

·      Lack of awareness

·      No electricity