Former President<\/strong><\/p>\n Nepal Federation of Indigenous Peoples<\/strong><\/p>\n Indigenous Peoples were repeatedly betrayed by political parties: Jagat Baram<\/strong><\/p>\n The demand of the indigenous nationalities is that 11 provinces should be carved out on the basis of identity and capability: Jagat Baram <\/strong><\/p>\n Akanksha Dhami, Nepal News Bank<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Kathmandu. Former President of Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities, Jagat Baram, has said that the debate on constitution amendment should be taken forward effectively to ensure the remaining issues of indigenous nationalities in a constitutional manner. <\/p>\n In an exclusive conversation with Nepal News Bank on the occasion of the 32nd International Day of the World’<\/p>\n s Indigenous Peoples, Baram said that with the effective implementation of the rights enshrined in the constitution, the issues of indigenous nationalities that are yet to be addressed should be ensured through constitution amendment. <\/p>\n According to him, one of the main demands of the indigenous peoples is to ensure proportional representation at all levels and bodies of the state on the basis of the composition of the population.<\/p>\n First of all, there are various provisions in the constitution and there is still work to be done to implement them. And after that, there are many demands and issues that must be included in the constitution. As far as proportional representation is concerned, the constitution has not yet ensured proportional representation. Our main demand is that there should be representation at all levels and bodies of the state on the basis of the composition of the population,” Baram said. <\/p>\n Similarly, the protection and promotion and use of various geography, language, art, culture and civilization of Nepal should be ensured as the constitutional responsibility of the state, he said.<\/p>\n Question on the slogan of political parties<\/strong><\/p>\n According to Baram, the indigenous peoples constitute about 35-36 percent of Nepal’s population. He alleged that the political parties have been raising the issues of indigenous nationalities from time to time to win over a large number of people and votes, but in most cases these issues have not been implemented. <\/p>\n ‘About 35-36 percent of the population lives in Nepal. Nepal’s political parties have been using various slogans from time to time or seasonally to win over the large population and votes. There is a tendency for political parties to raise various slogans, collect votes and then forget about it. The new parties are learning the same trend,” he said. <\/p>\n According to him, although the Nepali Congress, UML, CPN (Maoist Centre) and other political parties had put forward the issues of indigenous nationalities as their political agenda in the past, many of them have not been implemented. He, however, mentioned that the Nepali Congress had a role to play in the construction of some important structures.<\/p>\n According to him, the National Foundation for the Upliftment of Indigenous Nationalities was established under the leadership of the Nepali Congress and the constitutional provision of the Indigenous Nationalities Commission was also made through the past political process. <\/p>\n Baram stressed on the need to raise the demands of the indigenous nationalities through the democratic process.<\/p>\n According to him, the indigenous nationalities who have struggled for democracy in the past should also take forward the issues of their rights and identity through democratic means. <\/p>\n He said, “Although the Nepali Congress, UML, Maoist Center and other parties had raised the issues of indigenous nationalities in the past, most of them could not be implemented.<\/p>\n However, the Nepali Congress has played a role in some important works such as the establishment of the National Academy for the Upliftment of Indigenous Nationalities and the constitutional provision of the Indigenous Nationalities Commission. Therefore, it is our belief that the rights and identity issues of indigenous nationalities should be pursued through the democratic process. “<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n As the oldest democratic party of Nepal, the expectations of the indigenous nationalities are high, Baram said. <\/p>\n According to him, the main essence of democracy is to reach the voice of the marginalized, voiceless and marginalized communities to the center of the state.<\/p>\n He claimed that the Nepali Congress has been playing a role in raising the issues of indigenous nationalities, Dalits, Madhesis, Muslims, women and backward classes, castes, languages, genders and regions. <\/p>\n ‘In a democratic system, everyone’s voice should be reached. It is because of this belief that the NC has been raising the issues of indigenous nationalities, Dalits, Madhesis, Muslims, women and backward communities,” he said. <\/p>\n He accused other parties of raising slogans to attract the votes of the indigenous peoples but not working according to them. According to Baram, the reason why the indigenous nationalities are more inclined towards the Nepali Congress is due to its democratic history and some institutional initiatives in the past.<\/p>\n Therefore, he said that the Congress should address the expectations of the community more effectively. <\/p>\n He said, “The indigenous nationalities are more inclined towards the Nepali Congress because of the democratic history and some institutional initiatives taken in the past.”<\/p>\n Other political parties have repeatedly betrayed the indigenous peoples. “<\/p>\n Baram accused the political parties of repeatedly using the simplicity of the community and faith in the state. <\/p>\n According to him, the community has a tendency to put forth their demands and issues clearly and trust them when the state assures them that it will address them.<\/p>\n But the political parties have not fulfilled their commitments time and again, taking advantage of the same trust, he said. <\/p>\n “Political parties have time and again betrayed the integrity and loyalty of indigenous communities to the nation,” he said. <\/p>\n He said that the indigenous nationalities were committed to democracy as the issues of language, culture and rights could be effectively addressed only in a democratic system.<\/p>\n Dissatisfaction over the attempt to dismantle government bodies<\/strong><\/p>\n Baram alleges that the issues of indigenous nationalities have not been given priority when the old political parties are out of the government after the current political change and the government is formed under the leadership of a new political force. <\/p>\n He claimed that the budget of the National Academy for the Upliftment of Indigenous Nationalities has been reduced to zero and steps have been taken to weaken the structure of the academy. He also alleged that the commission is being worked with the intention of weakening or dismissing it.”Efforts are now being made to weaken the structures built by the state to protect the language, art, civilization, culture and history of the indigenous nationalities,” he said. According to Baram, it is wrong to link development only with tall buildings, roads and physical infrastructure.<\/p>\n According to him, the protection and promotion of the country’s art, culture, language, civilization and nature is also an important basis for development. <\/p>\n Challenges in the official language <\/strong><\/p>\n The Constitution of Nepal has made a provision that a language spoken by more than one percent of the population can be used as the official language in the provinces. According to Baram, the Bagmati Province has made a legal provision to use Tamang and Nepal Bhasa as the official languages of the province. <\/p>\n Similarly, Gandaki Province has formulated a law to use Gurung and Magar languages as official languages, he said. However, he said that even though the law is in place, the implementation aspect is weak.<\/p>\n ‘There are many laws and policies in Nepal. But people have not been able to feel the change due to weak implementation aspect,” he said. <\/p>\n Baram said that he has taken the initiative to bring necessary regulations and programs for the implementation of official language laws in Bagmati and Gandaki provinces.<\/p>\n For this, both the provincial governments have also allocated budget and the implementation is expected to gain momentum in the current fiscal year, he said. <\/p>\n He informed that the process of formulating laws related to official language is also going on in Lumbini Province.<\/p>\n He said he was leading the process. <\/p>\n He said that facilitation has been made in Gandaki Province by keeping the community, government and parliament in one place for the formulation of language act.<\/p>\n Baram said that they have been demanding 11 provinces on the basis of identity and capability since the past, saying that they have been demanding 11 <\/strong> provinces on the basis of identity and capability.<\/p>\n He said that they had proposed 11 provinces instead of seven provinces during the constitution drafting and now they have reiterated the same demand in the debate on constitution amendment.<\/p>\n “If the constitution is to be amended to respect Nepal’s diversity, it should be expanded from seven provinces to 11 provinces,” he said. <\/p>\n According to him, five bases of identity and four bases of capability should be included while determining the name and structure of the province.<\/p>\n He expressed the belief that Nepal’s development would move ahead at a faster pace if 11 provinces could be built by incorporating these bases. <\/p>\n ‘Diversity should be respected to strengthen nationality’ <\/strong><\/p>\n Baram said that the demands of indigenous nationalities are not only a matter of community rights but also related to Nepal’s nationality and prosperity. <\/p>\n According to him, the Tharu and Dhimal communities in the Tara-Madhes and the Sherpa, Tamang and Bhote communities in the mountainous region are playing an important role in the security of the border and the protection of nationality.<\/p>\n “The nationality of all those who wear Bakhu in the mountains, those who wear kachand in the Terai and those who wear caps in the hills should be linked in one place,” he said. <\/p>\n He believes that national unity would be further strengthened if we could move ahead by strengthening Nepal’s diverse art, civilization, culture, language and identity. According to Baram, the demands of indigenous peoples are not very complicated.<\/p>\n He stressed that the State should effectively implement the constitutional provisions respecting the identity, language, culture and rights of the Nepali migrant workers. “It is possible to address the demands of the indigenous peoples if the state and political parties want. Nepal’s prosperity and nationality will be strengthened only when we respect diversity,” he said \u0964 <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Jagat Baram Former President Nepal Federation of Indigenous Peoples Indigenous Peoples were repeatedly betrayed by political parties: Jagat Baram The demand of the indigenous nationalities is that 11 provinces should be carved out on the basis of identity and capability: Jagat Baram Akanksha Dhami, Nepal News Bank Kathmandu. Former President of Nepal Federation of IndigenousContinue reading “Indigenous nationalities have been repeatedly betrayed by political parties: Jagat Baram”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":85710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-samachar-en"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/web-post_ffd22e79.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85731"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85732,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85731\/revisions\/85732"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/media\/85710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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