The Dalits of Nepal and a New Constitution - ConstitutionNet

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The Dalits of Nepal and
a New Constitution
The division of responsibility as regards publication and dissemination of the results of the conferences was that these
organisations would prepare and disseminate reports on all the conferences and UNDP would prepare a briefing
paper on the Charter and Dalit issues. This publication is the result of the UNDP promise. It is not much the report of
its activities with the Dalit organisations or of the national conference. Instead, it is a resource for those engaged in
making the new constitution who are committed to ensuring that it includes all provisions necessary for the full
acceptance of Dalits in Nepal.
UNDP, and the various Dalit organisations wish to thank all those involved in this endeavour which was spread out
over several months. In every town where a regional conference was held local Dalit organisations assisted. The
hotels were very helpful, and managed to cope well with large groups of visitors. Robert Sila Muthini of UNDP was
actively involved in the organisation of each conference. Financial assistance was given by the following: DanidaHUGOU,
Enabling State Programme (ESP), Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) and Save the Children US (SCUS), for which our
collective thanks are expressed.
Among the Dalit organisations themselves, a large share of the organisational responsibility fell on the Nepal National
Dalit Social Welfare Organization, especially its chair, Bhakta Biswakarma.
Speakers at the various regional conferences included (in alphabetical order): Sanju Baitha, Hira Bishwakarma, Min
Bishwakarma, Jill Cottrell, Surya Dhungel, Yash Ghai, Mahendra Lawoti, Roberts Sila Muthini, Govinda Pariyar, Prakash
Chandra Pariyar, Shambu Paswan, Durga Sob and Tek Tamrakar. Basant Subba of UNDP translated at some of the
conferences. Speakers at the national conference included Professor Nandu Ram of Jawahar Lal Nehru University of
India.
Thanks are also due to the large number of people without whom this publication itself would not have been
possible, especially Dr Krishna Bhattachan. Others who helped with the editing were Jill Cottrell, Binda Magar and
Robert Sila Muthini of UNDP. We are grateful to the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice for permission to
include their publication Recasting Justice, and to the Jagaran Media Center for use of some individual stories from
their website.