As long as people carry surnames like Adhikari, Aryal, Bishwakarma, Gurung, Gartaula, Sangpang, Sambahangphe, Shrestha, Shah, Thapa, Pariyar, Majhi, Nepal, Nepali etc there is going to be a considerable difficulty in eliminating prejudice resulting from the caste system.
There is no easy way than to educate everyone about the fact that the caste system is a myth amongst other fables we have been believing as real. But we have been trying to educate people since king Mahendra came into being with no success.
I guess some Southern Indian people do not have surnames at all or surnames that identify jat are not used. This is a very good idea if it has worked well. Someone with exposure to the Southern Indian Culture could substantiate whether this has worked. If it has, then we could bring in changes in our constitution to incorporate requirement to eliminate jat-related surnames.
This may sound a very radical step but we could perhaps propose in the new constitution that people should drop their jat-related surnames for good or for at least another few decades. Thus Bhoj Raj Baral may become Bhoj Raj, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Pushpa Kamal, Hisila Yami, Hisila, Babu Ram Bhattarai, Babu Ram and Ram Baran Yadab, Ram Baran! When there are no surnames that associate one with their jat then we will all be equal in jat-terms - logically a very simple solution.
This can a be very controversial topic though to discuss if people are rather less open-minded but "baade baade jaayete tatwa bodh" - let us hear what you think of such a measure (a drastic measure!). If you have other ideas to eliminate caste system, please do not hesitate to bring them up, at least for a healthy discussion.
Nepalko Bhavi Sambidhanma Kasta Kuraharu Bhaye Hunthyo?
What do you think the new constitution of Nepal should offer us?
I guess the constitution should provide an EQUAL OPPORTUNITY to ALL its citizens irrespective of their caste or race, religion, gender, age, origin, background and ability (et al). This literally means that you will be treated equally by the state whether you are a Muslim/Christian or Hindu/Buddhist, straight, transgender or gay, Shudra/Vaishya or Chhetri/Brahmin, 19 or 90 year-old, able or disabled, Madhesi/Pahade or Bhote, Oriental or Aryan, PhD holder, an illiterate or in-between!
It is fairly easy to say this but in order to offer such a fair opportunity to all we need a very transparent system in place in every walk of life. My philosophy is very simple: most good things including the Internet have now been invented by the rest of the world, we simply need to import good ones into our constitution and implement them! Most of them are tried and tested already by the world and we can only pick up those that are the BEST!
I have got a proposal: Hundreds of thousands of Nepalese live abroad now, some commanding fairly good positions where they have seen something work very well in their neighbourhood. I suggest they all suggest "best practices" from their walk of life to be considered in the new constitution of Nepal so that we will be heading towards having one of the best constitutions in the world!
I have got areas that I would like to mention in this site. If you have any reasons why they should or should not be included please list your reasons. Only constraint is that you should list commonsensical, logical (mathematically or scientifically), proven (those implemented successfully somewhere in the world) or tested (piloted successfully in some areas) issues with valid argument either for or against your points.
If you wish to read constitutions of other countries in the world, please follow these links (I think everyone involved in the making of the constitution of Nepal should visit these sites too):
http://confinder.richmond.edu/alpha.php
http://www.constitution.org/cons/natlcons.htm
http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/const.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_constitutions_by_age
I suggest you read points raised here and make comments by clicking on "comment" at the end of each point, either anonymously or by logging in with your genuine address.
I guess the constitution should provide an EQUAL OPPORTUNITY to ALL its citizens irrespective of their caste or race, religion, gender, age, origin, background and ability (et al). This literally means that you will be treated equally by the state whether you are a Muslim/Christian or Hindu/Buddhist, straight, transgender or gay, Shudra/Vaishya or Chhetri/Brahmin, 19 or 90 year-old, able or disabled, Madhesi/Pahade or Bhote, Oriental or Aryan, PhD holder, an illiterate or in-between!
It is fairly easy to say this but in order to offer such a fair opportunity to all we need a very transparent system in place in every walk of life. My philosophy is very simple: most good things including the Internet have now been invented by the rest of the world, we simply need to import good ones into our constitution and implement them! Most of them are tried and tested already by the world and we can only pick up those that are the BEST!
I have got a proposal: Hundreds of thousands of Nepalese live abroad now, some commanding fairly good positions where they have seen something work very well in their neighbourhood. I suggest they all suggest "best practices" from their walk of life to be considered in the new constitution of Nepal so that we will be heading towards having one of the best constitutions in the world!
I have got areas that I would like to mention in this site. If you have any reasons why they should or should not be included please list your reasons. Only constraint is that you should list commonsensical, logical (mathematically or scientifically), proven (those implemented successfully somewhere in the world) or tested (piloted successfully in some areas) issues with valid argument either for or against your points.
If you wish to read constitutions of other countries in the world, please follow these links (I think everyone involved in the making of the constitution of Nepal should visit these sites too):
http://confinder.richmond.edu/alpha.php
http://www.constitution.org/cons/natlcons.htm
http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/const.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_constitutions_by_age
I suggest you read points raised here and make comments by clicking on "comment" at the end of each point, either anonymously or by logging in with your genuine address.
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2 comments:
The notion of caste is appealing. However, the solution, to me, seems not relevant as it erodes our ancestral history. The problem is not only the surname, but also our feature. By removing Gurung from Bhim Bahadur, we cannot remove his mongoloid feature. Here is my thought about how the surnames were created. Originally, the Aryan should have been called through the Pedegree: Kadinya, Bhargava,Garga (which are our gotras) .... and so forth.. at some point in the history people started to call them through the names of places where their dwelling was, e.g. Nepane (later Neupane), ... – It was a general practice also in Europe (E.g van den Berg == from the mountain, van der Zee = from the sea, etc). I truly believe that there was no such thing like damai, kami and so forth.... -- they were created according to their profession much later. This indicates that all damai, kami and so forth also belong to one of those ancient clans. I had talked to some friends from tailor families and found they were originated from the so-called higher families in the same village or other villages. That means a Pariyar can be anything from Acharya to Baral. Same thing applies to Khatri Chhetris, Hamal,… – they have surnames like ours, Paudel etc… Which means all low castes could recover their own surnames. It may take some work but it is doable. If they cannot recover that they can take any name such as "Nepal (not Nepali)" as they please. That way we can reinstate surnames of all low caste Aryan castes. Similar approach can be used for Newars. The most progressive approach has already been applied by Gurungs. In Gurungs, as I understand there were 4 upper castes (Ghale, Ghothane,Lama, Lamthane) and 16-other Gurung layers. Now we can hardly see any surnames other than Gurung. Thakali use their own Gauchan to Jwarchan -- but these days they have become most progressive -- there seems no problem. There is huge problem in Newar community but interestingly there was no such a thing like "untouchability" in Newar community. However, the surnames discriminates their profession. In Newar community also a surnames can be recovered by tracing into the history.
The discrimination is part of the social welfare. If we learn to respect skills and if a skill is well paid then the “look down trend” gets erased. It is not only a legal issue. If it were a legal issue, then Muluki Yen of King Mahendra would have helped. So to achieve the same objective as Bhojraj Baral proposes we need:
- Education. Induction of a sense that the caste is a myth, and every profession is equally alluring, important and respected.
- Fair wage. Every profession should be able to make a living and send their kids to school without any drop outs
- Vocational training. Induction of a sense that everybody can take any job according to their passion. There is some progress but it is infinitesimal. Many Newar families have taken over the tailoring profession and have been making a decent living. Beauty parlors are another example.
Above all education and welfare is the solution, nothing else. One day by keeping our family names we will be as prod as Blacksmith families of England. The person who looks down should be rehabilitated not the one who is looked down due to his caste
hahahahahaha
it's good, at least both of you confess there is a big problem with jats in nepal.
your solutions are big jokes!
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