Government to Rehabilitate Ex-Kamaiyas in the Winter

The government is planning to distribute land to homeless former kamaiyas(bonded laborers) and start a rehabilitation project for them beginning the winter season this year, State Minister of Land Reforms and Management Gopal Rai has said.

Talking to reporters on Saturday in Kailali district, Rai said rehabilitating kamaiyas was a serious problem. The government will start a pilot project to rehabilitate them, and also provide land for settling them from this winter, he said.

Secretary at the Ministry of Land Reforms and Management Yoddha Shah said out of nearly 20,000 kamaiya families in Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, Kanchanpur and Dang districts, 5683 were landless. "Thus the most pressing concern for the government right now is to provide land to those who don't have it," he said.

He further said the government is not going to ask donor communities to provide funds for the rehabilitation but will accomplish the work itself. The ex-kamaiyas were liberated by a government decree in July this year.

LATEST UPDATE ON KAMAIYA SITUATION FROM THE FIELD (Sept. 12)

From the frying pan into the fire. This is what the present situation of the freed Kamaiyas looks like. Now they are free from bondage. Their debt has been waived but their euphoria has been a short-lived one. Even two meals a day has been almost impossible for them. Many of them are surviving on only one meal a day. The outbreak of Japanese incephalitis in the area has posed a serious threat to the former Kamaiyas as they are the most vulnerable ones who are likely to fall a victim to the epidemic.

Former kamaiya masters are agitating to get the loans, they claim the kamaiyas owe them, back. Even while leaking their wounds, they are all out to get their loans back. They are trying to frame up the former kamaiyas. With the help of some police personnel who are in their favour, the former kamaiya masters are getting some of the former kamaiyas arrested on framed up charges. And it seems that with police connivance, the landlords are intimidating the former kamaiyas into returning back to their landlords and continuing to work for them. They have even threatened the reluctant former kamaiyas with severe police action.

Former kamaiya master Man Bahadur Deuba got Ram Kisan Rana, a former kamaiys of Baise Bichuwa VDC-5, Kanchanpur arrested and tortured by police. Landlord Deuba claims that Ram kisan Rana woes him 20,000 Nepalese rupees.

According to Ram Kisan Rana, a heavily boozed Karna Bahadur Deuba, the son of landlord Deuba, forced himself into his house on the evening of Sept. 4, manhandled him and demanded the money he had taken in loan back and threatened him with severe consequences, if he failed to comply. When the landlord's son was about to beat Rana, the latter's neighbours intervened and saved him. The drunk junior Deuba returned home. But late in the evening, the head of the nearby police post turned up at Rana's house and arrested him and his brother Bal Kisan Rana on the charges of beating the landlord's son, who had a wound on his forehead. But actually he was wounded when he fell down with his legs giving way under the influence of alcohol while returning home. The police detained the two Rana brothers in the police post and beat them thoroughly the whole night.

This being the situation it has been highly imperative for the government to take immediate measures for the rehabilitation, employment and protection of the former kamaiyas.

Many NGOs are making whatever contributions they can from their respective places. Meanwhile, International Labour Organization (ILO) has signed an agreement with District Development Committee (DDC), Kanchanpur on Sept. 11 to provide assistance for the education and light day meal of the children of former kamaiyas. The ILO representative handed over NRs. 350,000 to Kanchanpur DDC Chairman Rishiraj Lumsali that day.