1

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1Background of the study
Dalit are the de facto untouchables of contemporary Nepal.(Webster, 2014) Dalit refers to a
group of people who are religiously, culturally, socially, economically and historically
oppressed, excluded and treated as untouchables and they belong to different geographical
region, language, culture and castes. The word Dalit comes from the Sanskrit root dal- and
means broken, ground-down, downtrodden, or oppressed. Those previously known as
Untouchables, Depressed Classes, and Harijans are today increasingly adopting the term
Dalit as a name for themselves. (Mayell Hillary, 2014) Dalit refers to ones caste rather
than class; it applies to members of those menial castes which have born the stigma of
untouchability because of the extreme impurity and pollution connected with their
traditional occupations. Dalits are outcastes falling outside the traditional four-fold caste
system consisting of the hereditary Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudra classes; they
are considered impure and polluting and are therefore physically and socially excluded and
isolated from the rest of society (Mendelsohn, 2014).According to National Dalit
Commission (NDC), Dalit are defined as those communities who, by virtue of atrocities of
caste based discrimination and untouchability, are most backward in social, economic,
educational, political and religious fields, and are deprived of human dignity and social
justice. Currently many Dalits use the term to move away from the more derogatory terms of
their caste names or even the term Untouchable. The contemporary use of Dalit is centered
on the idea that as a people they may have been broken by oppression but they survive and
even thrive by finding meaning in the struggle of their existence towards human dignity.
In the context of traditional Hindu society, Dalit status has often been historically associated
with occupations regarded as ritually impure, such as any involving leatherwork, butchering,
or removal of rubbish, animal carcasses, and waste. Dalits worked as manual laborers
cleaning streets, latrines, and sewers. Engaging in these activities was considered to be
polluting to the individual, and this pollution was considered contagious. As a result, Dalits
were commonly segregated, and banned from full participation in Hindu social life. For
example, they could not enter a temple or a school, and were required to stay outside the

village. Elaborate precautions were sometimes observed to prevent incidental contact

between Dalits and other castes.
Dalits in Nepal are a historically state victimized disadvantaged community who have been
compelled to lag at the bottom of the social structure and excluded from national development
mainstream due to the caste system and extreme Hinduism for centuries.
The caste system was introduced in Nepal by King Jayasthiti Malla (1360-95) about 700 years ago.
The National Civil Code, 1854, (Muluki Ain) legalized the caste system and established it as the basis
of social mobility. It laid out detailed codes for inter-caste behavior and specified punishments for
their infringement. Such discriminatory legal system and hierarchical social structures, in course of
time, formed as a rigid value system and codes of social behavior and practices. This value system
and attitude is still dominant in every sphere of the society, which is propelling untouchability and
caste-based discriminations though it is constitutionally and legally prohibited. Caste based
discrimination and untouchability are also in practices within Dalit community that is intra-Dalit
discrimination.
According to the governments figures, Dalits comprise 13 percent of Nepals total population.
However, Dalit civil society claims it to be about 20 percent; a demographic survey conducted by
NNDSWO provides evidence to the claim. Within the Dalit community, there are dozens of sub-caste
groups from the hills (Hill Dalits), the Tarai (Tarai/Madhesi Dalits) and Newar community (Newar
Dalits).

Lwang
village

(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lwang village)
Socio-economic Status of Dalits

The Dalits lag far behind in their income (the lowest PCI), education (the lowest rate of literacy
and enrolment) and other human development indicators (the lowest HDI). Dalits' overall have
the lowest household incomes roughly half the average incomes of Brahman-Chhetri
households and less than a third that of Newar households; the Madhesi Dalits have the lowest
per capita incomes of all.( Khadga, 2014)
Dalits comprise the poorest community in Nepal, in terms of all poverty measures (income,
consumption and human development). Their land holdings are small and landlessness is
extreme among Dalits (15% Hill and 44% Madhesi Dalits). The Nepal Living Standards Survey
(NLSS), 2004, estimated that almost half of Hill Dalits (48%) fall below the poverty line and
incidence of poverty among the Tarai Dalits (46%), which is 15 percent higher than the national
average (31%).( Parajuli, 2014)
The literacy rate among Dalits has grown in absolute terms but the gap between their literacy
(33.8%) and the national average (54%) is still wide. The NLSS, 2004, reveals that only 12
percent of Brahmans, Chhetris and Newars have not been to school, compared to 52 percent of
the Hill Dalits and 47 percent of the Tarai Dalits.
The life expectancy of Dalit is lower (50.8 years) compared to the national average (59 years).
On average Brahmans and Newars live 11 to 12 years longer than the Dalits. Infant mortality is
much higher (116.5 per 1000 live births) compared to the national average of 75.2. Under-five
mortality is also much higher (171.2 per 1000) than the national average (104.8 per 1000). The
nutritional status of Dalits is poor and therefore they are vulnerable to infectious diseases. Health
awareness among the Dalits is low. Because of illiteracy, ignorance and other socio-economic
factors, their living conditions are unhygienic, contributing to their poor health. The Dalits do not
have easy access to clean drinking water and they suffer from water-borne diseases.
This entire report is based on representation of Dalit people of lwang village in developmental
program and user group. Therefore, at the beginning it is necessary to have some knowledge
about three main terms or let say three main topics which are described below:
Lwang Village
Lwang Villages VDC lies in the central area of the Kaski district. VDC covers total of 151.37 sq
km area and total population 4,889 (according 2058 B.S census). This VDC is covered by

Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP). It covers 9 wards where majority of residents
belong to Gurung and Dalit community. Major population of this area has been migrated to the
nearby city Pokhara, Chitwan and Kathmandu. Major occupation seems to be agriculture
however; young generation has been migrating to the gulf countries for better earning. This VDC
covers two villages i.e. Lwang and Ghalel. Lwang village is two hours drive from the Hemja
near Pokhara city. There is one high school near village, which provides education to young
generation of the village. People celebrate their indigenous Gurung culture and villagers
normally speak their own indigenous Gurung language. Though Lwang village have got the
population of Gurung people but people of Dalit community are also living their life there
though they are less in comparison to Gurung people. Lwang has a pristine scenic environment.
One can go to Lwang, spend some quality time with Home-stay families, visit teagardens, trek to
the nearby villages and enjoy the local culture and their hospitable environment. The Home-stay
owners, who all are in Aama Samuha, help in spreading awareness to keep their area clean.
Developmental Activities
Here Developmental Activities does not only mean construction of road, temples, health post etc
but here developmental Activities means participation of people in different kinds of work that
benefit their community and society. So here development denotes whether Dalit people are
participating in works along with gurung people for the welfare of their village. Before visiting
the village different information were received from different sources and according to the
sources it was clear that Dalit people are neglected from almost all works held in the village.
They are still not fully accepted by other people of Lwang village i.e gurung people as other than
Dalit people gurung people are living in Lwang village and the village is even called as village of
gurung people. So, Dalit people are not allowed to fully participate in all the works held in
Lwang village. For example, Lwang village is famous for home stay program so Lwang people
basically focus on home stay program and its improvement. But Dalit people cannot participate
in Home stay program .Informants say Dalits dont have proper homes for running home-stay.
Untouchability is so deep-rooted in Lwang that even guests who belong to a Dalit community are
treated badly and are sent to a Dalits house to spend the night if they happen to visit and stay in
the village as a tourist. However, the Dalits should also be encouraged to take part because in
Ghalegaun, Tanahun (another pioneer in home-stay program) Dalits are first to welcome the

tourists in the village with their music, and receive some of the benefits. (Thapaliya Mandira,
2014)
User groups
User groups involve community forest, Tea garden etc. Actually, Dalit people of Lwang village
get different resources from community forest like medicine, fruits, firewood etc. They even
prepare organic tea through tea leaf which can be obtain from Tea garden and is called
Annapurna organic tea.

1.2Significance of the Study

Basically, this study is required or is important to know about representation of Dalit people
of Lwang village in developmental program and user group. In this way, this study also
seems to be beneficial to gather information about Lwang village and its culture, norms and
values. Therefore, this study may be helpful for other students, teachers, researchers, etc. to
gain knowledge regarding the topic. There are some other reasons which show the
importance and need of this study and they are given below:

From this study, we can know the history of Dalit people in Lwang village, their present
situation and their contribution in any developmental work or even participation in any
work for the village.
This study mainly focus on know the role, participation and membership of
Dalit people in different developmental work and user group like:
Participation in home-stay program
Participation in community group
Participation in user group.
Participation in educational institution.
Involvement of Dalit people in decision making program related to
home-stay program, community group, user group and educational
institution.
Therefore, this study is beneficial to have knowledge about above given information.

This study can be helpful for other researchers for conducting further research in
Dalit people of Lwang village.

1.3 Statement of Problem

This study is conducted with the problem of identifying representation of Dalit people in
developmental program and user groups in Lwang Village. Beside it, this study is needed for
identifying some questions like:

What is the present situation of the Dalit people in the Lwang Village?
Are they suffering from the Caste Discrimination?
Are they a part of the Lwang Village as other people?
Are they benefited by the Home-stay and other Developmental program activities?
Do they represent in developmental program and user groups?
Are they being benefited by the different provision and reservation provided by
government or any NGO/INGO?

1.4 Objectives of the study

The objectives to be achieved through this study have been divided as general objectives
and specific objectives. In general objectives, the purpose of the study, that is expected to
achieve in a general term, is mentioned. On the other hand, specific objectives break
down the general objectives into connected parts and address our research questions.

1.4.1 General objectives

The general objective of this study is to represent dalit people of lwang

village in developmental programs and user group. This will be achieved
through the following specific objectives.

1.4.2 Specific objectives

To know the role, participation and membership of Dalit people in different
developmental work and user group like:

Participation in home-stay program

Participation in community group

Participation in user group.

Participation in educational institution.

Involvement of Dalit people in decision making program related to

home-stay program, community group, user group and educational
institution.

To find out if Dalit people are getting any provision or reservations from
different government, NGO/INGO, or any organization

To know the economic dimensions of the Dalit People.

1.5 Methodology of the study

This study is based on the primary and secondary sources of data. The primary data was
collected using observation method and interview method. The secondary data was collected
from websites. The interview was administered to Dalit people of Lwang village. This study
was conducted in Lwang Village on November, 2014. Further are explained in chapter 3.

1.6 Limitation of the Study

The study has to be limited in its scope due to the reasons:

Data were collected within limited time period so it may not represent the whole
information as required by the topic.
Inadequate information

Lack of structured questions for interview

The information that was collected may not be correct and enough
Due to theoretical limitation.
1.7 Organization of the study
This part of the study shows how the entire report is build or organized. Actually this part
shows a brief textual outline of each of the five chapters. So, Five chapters included in this
report are given below:
Chapter 1
This chapter involves the beginning part/Introduction of the study which mainly
includes background of the study, significance of the study, significance of the study,

objectives, methodology and limitations of the study.

Chapter 2
This chapter involves review of literature that mainly involves literature review of
Dalit representation in developmental programs and user group, conceptual review of

the entire report that also involves pie-chart, Research framework, and research gap.
Chapter 3
This chapter involves the whole design of the research and procedure showing data

that were gathered during research and analysis of those data.

Chapter 4
This chapter involves Analysis of all the data that were gathered during research and

major findings of the study.

Chapter 5
This chapter involves summary, conclusion and recommendation of the study.

CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1Review of Related Studies
We can use various reports published earlier by previous researchers to be prepared beforehand so that we can prepare a better method to conduct our research. We have used the report
published by Mahindra Thapalia, Ganga Sagar Rai, and Abash Shrestha. Their study is

reviewed towards role of Dalit under the following headings: home-stay program,
community group, educational institution, and user group).
Home- Stay Program
The report says that home-stay tourism is a community-based program introduced by the
Government of Nepal, where tourists can have interaction and direct experience of the dayto-day life of the community. The concept of home-stay addresses the theme of eco-tourism
in Nepal. The programs preliminary positive impact on women, local economy,
environment, children and the community shows the effectiveness of the home-stay
approach. This approach preserves the rural lifestyle, culture and identity. A growing number
of locals are operating the home-stay program, offering tourists a window into their local
culture in areas without hotels. Dalits were not so involved in home stay program. Only those
Dalit people who can play musical instrument of their culture or tradition to give folk music
are involved in home-stay program. Actually, these Dalit people are invited in home-stay
program only to welcome guest who arrive from different places. Informants say Dalits dont
have proper homes for running home-stay. However, the Dalits should also be encouraged to
take part because in Ghalegaun, Tanahun (another pioneer in home-stay program) the Dalits
are first to welcome the tourists in the village with their music, and receive some of the
benefits. (Thapaliya, 2014)
Community Group
The report says that community group involves different clubs like Lions Club, Green Hill
Club, Aama Samuha, etc. These clubs helps Dalit people in many different ways. They help
them by providing scholarship to their children so that their children can get good education,
by constructing roads, temples etc of the village. Not only this, these clubs also help Dalit
people in keeping surrounding and environment clean as, People are well aware of the
impacts of hygiene and sanitation in day-to-day life. There are two pits, one for
biodegradable substances and the other for non-biodegradable substances. Once the pits get
filled up, the Aama Samuha finds a worker who would bury the waste in the riverbank near
the pits. ( Rai, 2014)
Educational institution
This report analyzes education pattern in the Lwang village. According to research, there is
government school which provides education up to class 8. The tuition is free but not the

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expenses of education materials. There are about 18 teachers and about 150 students. The
school has a small library built with the help from the NGO Room to Read. Almost 80
percent of the students are from the Dalit community. For the further study they have to go
all the way to Pokhara. There is an Early Childhood Development (ECD) Center in Lwang
Ward no.3, opened with the effort from the Aama Samuha. The ECD is very helpful for
working women. They charge Nepalese Rs.100 per child per month. Women have received
adult education before. They complain about the timings of the program; they say it needs to
be organized when they are not busy with regular work. Illiterate women have realized the
need of educational program so that they can learn English also. Trainings in tea planting,
knitting/sewing, home-stay and handicrafts have been given to women but none of the Dalit
women have utilized the training. Dalits are found busy working for other's fields as laborers.
(Shrestha, 2014)
User Group
User groups involve community forest, tea garden. Actually, Dalit people of Lwang village
get different resources from community forest like medicine, fruits, firewood etc. They even
prepare organic tea through tea leaf which can be obtain from Tea garden and is called
Annapurna organic tea.
These reports have highlighted representation of Dalit in different groups. Thus, it would be
fruitful to try to perform further studies in this topic.

2.2Conceptual Review
This part of the study involves review of the entire concept of the report/study. This part
mainly involves a figure showing the theme of the study by providing various sub- topics
with their explanation. Therefore, this section includes major points of the report on the basis
of information gathered in the field of study.
Figure 2.1: Conceptual Review
Home-stay Program

Role
Decision
Provision

Community Group

Role
Decision
Provision
Dalit representation in
development
programs and user
groups

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EducationalInstitution

Dalit Representation in
Development Programs
and User Groups

Level
Primary
Secondary
higher
Decision
Provision

Government
Role
Decision
Provision

User group
Role
Decision
Provision

(Source: Field study, 2014)

Home-stay
This section involves role decision, and provision of Dalit people in Home-stay
program which shows the percentage of Dalit people in home-stay program is very
less. It indicates that very few Dalit people are involved in Home-stay program.
Actually, only those Dalit people who can play musical instrument of their culture or
tradition to give folk music are involved in home-stay program. Beside that they are
not allow to participate and make decision in any other work related to home-stay
program.

User group
This section involves role, decision, and provision of Dalit people in User Group. In
the Lwang so involved in areas like community forest, tea garden .There is no
particular membership of Dalit people in the user group. They are only caretaker of
such group on the basis of payment. So, they are not fully involved in decision
making process.

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Educational institution
This section involves level, decision, and provision of Dalit people in education
institution. Although Dalit people are discriminated in every single work but
discrimination was not found in schools so, children of Dalit and Gurungs go to the
same school and get same level of education. Actually, there are many clubs like lions
club, green hill club which help Dalit children to get education without having any
financial problem .Maybe due these reasons all children of Dalit people go to school
and that shows involvement of Dalit people in educational institution.
Community group
This section involves role, decision, and provision of Dalit people in community
group. Community group involves different clubs like Lions Club, Green Hill Club,
Aama Samuha, etc. These clubs have helped Dalit people in many different ways.
They have helped them by providing scholarship to their children so that their
children can get good education. Similarly, these clubs has helped Dalit people in
construction of roads, temples etc of the village. So, Dalit people are fully involved in
these kinds of clubs. With the help of these clubs Dalit people can go to school,
participate in road construction, water tap construction etc. so Dalit people support
such clubs and even help such clubs in all possible way.

Government
This section involves role, decision, and provision of Dalit people in Government.
Generally, Dalit people of Lwang are not engaged in any Governmental activities. So,
they dont take any governmental decisions but they are getting several reservation
and provisions from the government.

2.3Research framework
For the purpose of guiding, monitoring and evaluating a clear research framework is
essential. Actually, a framework increases understanding of the researchs goals and
objectives, defines the relationships between factors key to implementation, and articulates
the internal and external elements that could affect the researchs success. It illustrates the
direct relationships between the intermediate results of activities all the way to the overall
objectives and goals. They show the causal relationship between research objectives and

13

outline how each of the intermediate results/ outputs and outcomes relates to and facilitate
the achievement of each objective, and how objectives relate to each other and the ultimate
goal. This part of the study involves framework of the research that had been made to
complete this report with full efficiency and effectiveness.

Figure 2.2: Research Framework

What do we want?

How?
Goal

Input

Participation of
Dalit people in
different
developmental
work

Output

Process

Pie-chart

Involvement of
Dalit people in
User Group

Why?

Interview
Questionnaire
Previous report
websites

Participation of Dalit
people in different
developmental work
Involvement of
Dalit people in
User Group

In the Figure 2.2, framework of this research is represented. The main goal of this
research was to determine the representation of Dalit people in developmental programs

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and user groups in the Lwang village. To achieve this goal, the objectives were set. The
involvement of Dalit people in home stay program, community groups, government,
educational institution, etc was to be recognized in order to achieve the goal of the study.
The whole study is divided into 3 parts (on the basis of queries like how to accomplish
the objectives, what we want to achieve and why do we want to achieve it):
Goal
The main goals of the study are given below:
To know the role, participation and membership of Dalit people in different

developmental work and user groups like:

Participation in home-stay program
Participation in community group
Participation in user group.
Participation in educational institution.
Involvement of Dalit people in decision making program related to home-stay
program, community group, user group and educational institution.

Input

It involves different questionnaire that was prepared to understand view point of people
related to the topic. Along with questionnaire this part even consists of interview that was
held in lwang village among Dalit people of lwang village. Besides these, previous reports
and websites also helped a lot in completing this study.
Process
This involves pi-charts that are used in this report.
Output
This involves fulfillment of the target that we had made to effectively and efficiently
complete this report and the goals are:

To know the role, participation and membership of Dalit people in different

developmental work and user groups like:
Participation in home-stay program
Participation in community group
Participation in user group.
Participation in educational institution.

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Involvement of Dalit people in decision making program related to home-stay

program, community group, user group and educational institution.

2.4 Research Gap

It is very essential to know how the study is built and what the study is based on, offering
both a logical and a social justification. Many researchers have made their research in
different rural villages of Nepal like Ghale Gaun, Shirubari, etc having the home-stay
service. They have discussed about the situation of Dalit people in Lwang village and mainly
they have focus on participation of Dalit people in Home-stay program so they have
mentioned that Dalits dont have proper homes for running home-stay. However, the Dalits
should also be encouraged to stake part because in Ghalegaun, Tanahun (another pioneer in
home-stay programme). The Dalits are first to welcome the tourists in the village with their
music, and receive some of the benefits. In comparison to the earlier studies made by the
seniors on the representation of Dalit people of Ghale gaun in different developmental work
and user group, domination of Dalit people are noticed in both villages. But many changes
has been found in the situation of Dalit people when compared to the past reports of the
seniors. But, with the growth of home-stay programmes, women of Lwang village are getting
more involved in the developmental and social activities. Especially Janajati women are
being rapidly influenced by the changes brought by home-stay programmes. All the homestays are now owned and operated by the women of the village in Lwang. These programmes
used to be launched by males but now, women participated more from welcoming us to
honoring us with the cultural programme.
This research made it easy to learn about the changes taking place in the village in regards to
representation of Dalit people in developmental work and user group. It is true that the
discrimination between Dalit and janajati still exist in the Lwang village but it is slowly
decreasing in comparison to the old studies (Field visit, 2014).

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CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research simply means to search again and again. It is systematic activity to achieve truth or
finding solution to a problem. It consists of collecting data, analyzing data and finding the
conclusion, which helps in decision making process. The overall approach to the research
process concerned to this study is presented in this chapter.
This study is an analytical study. Both primary and secondary information sources were used for
the fulfillment of the objectives of the study. A primary source provides first hand document or
direct evidences regarding the topics under investigation.
The study was basically based on the descriptive work where secondary sources of information
are used from relevant literature, previous studies and different sources.

3.1 The Research Design

Research Design is a plan or strategy of conducting research. In this research two types of
research design are used. They are quantitative and descriptive research design.
Descriptive Research Design
It describes the phenomenon occurring at present. This research can be taken as the
descriptive research design as it describes the phenomenon of our research field.

3.2The Data Gathering Procedure

Data are collected using descriptive research design. The techniques that are used in collecting
the data are described as follows:
Interview Schedule
The interviews were semi-structured, that is, a list of questions and issues to be discussed
was prepared prior to the interview. Semi-structured interviewing gave room for probing
for clarification and further discussion of important and relevant issues that arose during

17

the interviews. Where necessary, questions were elaborated to suit a particular

participant. Face-to-face interview enabled the researcher to read the non-verbal
communication and reactions, which proved to be helpful in the analysis of data.

Survey
Survey type research studies usually have larger samples where an investigator with the
help of different printed questions asks people to report their behavior or opinions. In this
research a survey was conducted among the Dalit people of lwang village to know their
representation in developmental work and user groups. We have used sampling method
for the survey.

Secondary data
Secondary data collection is basically collecting data from documents, records and report
of other. Secondary data analysis save times that would otherwise spend collecting data
and particularly in the case of quantitative data provides larger and higher quality data
base that would be unfeasible for any researched to collect on their own. To know more
about research work secondary data collection was used by the help of different websites,
cause, magazines, etc.

3.3 The Processing and Analysis Procedure

Research is presented in descriptive and tabular form for as per requirement and
clear interpretation on it. To make report simple and easily understandable chart
and diagram have been used. Summary, conclusion and recommendation are
presented after the satisfying result were achieved.
The steps used in developing this study are included in the following procedures:

Collection of data: First of all, the data related to the study were collected through
various sources like interview, direct observation, articles, old reports, etc. The collection

of data related to the topic was the main purpose of field visit to Lwang village.
Organization of data: The collected data were in unorganized form. So, they were
organized properly on the basis of categories like primary sources and secondary sources
to save a time and prevent mistakes.

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Allocation of data: The organized data were allocated among the group members for the
profound study. It was allocated according to the categories in interview schedule.

Identification of important data: The most important data which gave the answers to
the research problems were then identified. These are main focused data of the report.
Those data which were not important was used in the background and summary of the
report.

Checking of data for accuracy: The selected data were checked for accuracy. Incorrect
information should be completely avoided. So the data identified, were thoroughly
compared to the original data.

Tabulation and graphical representation of data: The appropriate data were converted
into tabular and graphical form with the help of MS Excel. Pie-charts were designed on
the basis of data. Finally data were presented for the further study.

CHAPTER IV
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
4.1 Data Analysis
The purpose of this chapter is to provide the data analysis and describe the results. This
chapter basically, involves primary data, secondary data and major findings.

4.1.1 Primary Data Analysis

Basically, this part involves data that were collected on the field of study. Considering
the topic, many questions were asked to Dalit people of lwang village and with their

19

positive response, co-operation and support many useful data and information were
collected which are presented below with related sub-topics in a pie-chart.
Figure 4.1: Representation of Dalit people

10
35

20
35

home-stay 10%
user group 20%
educational
institution 35%
community group
35%

(Source: Field study, 2014)

1. Development Activities:
Development activities mainly involve activities for the development and improvement. Dalit
people with the help of different clubs like Lions Club, Green Hill Club, Aama Samuha get
involve in developmental work like construction of road in Lwang village. But their
representation in such work is very minimum. Other people are giving very minimum priority to
engage in such activities. Basically men of Dalit are engage in such work but the female
members are much unknown of it. Similarly through the research it is also found that a
development activity towards their local area comes only through the voice of so called higher
caste people. But it is not being implemented in real action in a proper manner as their in high
influence of caste discrimination. For the development work of local area they used to launch
different program by the joint effort on Dalit member themselves by the financial support of

20

Amma Samuha of Dalit, Lions Club,and even some collected tips amount given by the tourists of
the home-stay program.
I.

Home stay
In the figure percentage of home-stay is very less it indicates that very few Dalit people
are involved in Home-stay program. Actually, only those Dalit people who can play
musical instrument of their culture or tradition to give folk music are involved in homestay program. Beside that they are not allow to participate and make decision in any other
work related to home-stay program. Informants say that Dalits dont have proper homes
for running home-stay. Therefore, Dalit people dont participate in home stay program.
However, the Dalits should also be encouraged to take part because in Ghalegaun,
Tanahun (another pioneer in home-stay programme) the Dalits are first to welcome the
tourists in the village with their music, and receive some of the benefits.

Role
According to the research, very few Dalit people are involved in Home-stay
program. Actually, only those Dalit people who can play musical instrument of
their culture or tradition to give folk music are involved in home-stay
program.Beside that they are not allow to participate in any other work related to

home-stay program.
Decision
Dalit people in lwang village are still discriminated and are not allowed to live
like other people in lwang village which mainly are gurung people. So, in this
situation where they are still not free to participate in any work or programs held
in the village it is obvious that their suggestions and opinion are neglected and
they are not allowed to participate in decision making.

Provision
In this home-stay program, there is no involvement of government/NGO/INGO.
Actually, government/NGO/INGO has not provided any provision/reservation for
this program. They also have not provided any kind of help and provision to Dalit
people who are willing to participate in home-stay program.

II.

Community group:

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Community group involves different clubs like lions club, green hill club, aama samuha,
etc. These clubs have helped Dalit people in many different ways. They have helped them
by providing scholarship to their children so that their children can get good education.
Similarly, these clubs has helped Dalit people in construction of roads, temples etc of the
village. So, Dalit people are fully involved in these kinds of clubs. With the help of these
clubs Dalit people can go to school, participate in road construction, water tap
construction etc. so Dalit people support such clubs and even help such clubs in all
possible way.
Role
Talking about role of Dalit people in community group, Dalit people are fully
involved in these kinds of clubs. With the help of these clubs Dalit people can go
to school, participate in road construction, water tap construction etc. so Dalit
people support such clubs and even help such clubs in all possible way.

Decision
Dalit people are included in decision making programs held by these different
clubs, suggestion opinions of Dalit people are given importance in such clubs.
These different clubs listen to views, opinions of Dalit people and even implement
their suggestions.

Provision
These kinds of clubs get help from government in many different ways to conduct
different programs in village like lwang village. So, these clubs help Dalit people
by providing various facilities like, scholarship in education to Dalit children.

III.

Educational institution
Although Dalit people are discriminated in every single work but discrimination was not
found in schools so, children of Dalit and gurungs go to the same school and get same
level of education. Actually, there are many clubs like lions club, green hill club which
help Dalit children to get education without having any financial problem .Maybe due
these reasons all children of Dalit people go to school and that shows involvement of
Dalit people in educational institution.

Levels

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There are few schools in lwang village and in all schools there are only two
levels (i.e. primary level and secondary level) available to educate children of
lwang village. Primary level consists of grade up to 5th grade and secondary level
involves upto 8th grade and after that they have to go to pokhara for the further
study. Although Dalit people are discriminated in every single work but
discrimination was not found in schools so, children of Dalit and Gurungs go to
the same school and get same level of education.

Decision
In schools children are free to put their view, opinion and suggestion. Sometime
their suggestions are implemented but most of the time their suggestions are just

listened but not implemented.

Provision
Government has provided allowances for children below the age of five years
which is called Bal Bhatta that help them in their studies and some NGO/INGO
like ASAL CHIMEKI ,LIONS CLUB provides educational expenses and
many other facilities

to Dalit children. Generally, ASAL CHIMEKI is

providing the educational expenses to the Dalit children. At least one child of the
low income Dalit family is getting this special economic grant for the education.
Likewise, LIONS CLUB is helping the Dalit people by providing different
facilities like health campaign, environment sanitation and also they are providing
service of computer in some houses of Dalit people.

2. User group
In the Lwang Village, membership of Dalit people in user group is very less it is because
Dalit people are not so involved in areas like community forest, tea garden as compare to
community group and educational institution. Mostly Gurung people are involve in work
related to tea garden, community forest where they make one of the famous tea i.e.
Annapurna organic tea. There is no particular membership of Dalit people in the user group.
They are only helpers of such group on the basis of payment.

Role
The role of Dalit People in User Group is to collect tea leaves as a daily payment
basis as they dont have particular high level membership in the groups.

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Decision
Being helper Dalit people are not allowed to make high level decisions but they
get involve in decision making process being a local people of the village. They
can put their opinion and suggestions. However, such decisions are not being
implemented most of the time.

3. Government

Role
Dalit people dont have major specific role in the governmental sector. They are
playing only the general role of it in a name of Nepalese citizen. As there are
several reservation quotas for the job opportunity in government sector they are
not being able to be employed in governmental job. The specific role in
Government sector is very minimal.
Decision
As they dont have specific role they dont have any decision making power in
governmental sector.
Provision
There are different provisions and reservations given by the government to Dalit
people as other people like for the senior citizen there is old age allowances called
Bridda Bhatta. Likewise, for the widow there is provision of widow allowance
called Akal Mahila Bhatta. Furthermore, for the children below the age of five
years, government is providing Bal Bhatta.Beside these, special allowance
given only for the Dalit are Rs. 1,00,000 for the intercaste marriage but in Lwang
research intercaste marriage by the Dalit is not found as there is high caste
dominance.

4.1.2 Secondary Data Analysis

Economic Dimensions of Dalits

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In general, all other Gurung households have at least 6 ropanies of agriculture land. They
have invested in tea garden, and have some shares in Tea Factory. They have an average
of two buffaloes and some other livestock. But very few of the Dalits have their own
land. Most of them work as agricultural labor for the Gurung under a system known as
Adhiya, where they can get 50 % of the harvest. Daily wages are respectively provided as
per the basis of gender. The main source of income of Dalit people in Lwang is foreign
employment. Most of the respondents have remittance coming in. They have at least one
of their family members working outside of Nepal. For the Dalits working in Saudi-Arabs
is a common choice. Dalits are mostly uneducated and untrained, and work as laborers in
low paying jobs even in abroad. The average income of Dalits from foreign employment
is very low i.e. around NRs 1.6 lakhs.Gurung could go abroad without burden of loans,
for their being more economically well off. Many of the Dalits, on the contrary, take
loans to go abroad for employment.

Income
Agriculture; 6% homestay; 4%

Remmitance; 35%

Labor; 55%

Figure 4.2: Yearly Household Income Pattern of Dalits

(Source: Field study, 2014)
From the data, it is found that Dalit women are not taking any part in home-stay program.
Only men are engage in the program as an instrument player for welcoming guests and
for the sanitation purpose. The income from home-stay has been contributing about 4%

25

of the total income for the average Gurung household. However, if the same amount of
money had gone to Dalit homes, it would have contributed 4% to the Dalits total income.
Key informants say Dalits dont have proper homes for running home-stay. Likewise, as
many of the Dalit people are involve in foreign employment majority of their income is
based in remittances afterwards it goes toward the labor work as a adhiya or usually they
work as a daily wages payment for Gurungs .And finally selling the agricultural product
is also the source of income but as they lacks more land the income percentage through
the agricultural product is low. Hence the source of income of Dalit is agricultural
product, home stay, remittances, and laborer work.

4.2 Major Findings

Discrimination still prevails in lwang village and Dalit people of lwang village are
discriminated in the name of caste. Due to such caste discrimination they are not allowed
to participate in different programs held in the village like Home-stay program.

Few male members of Dalit community who are musicians and give folk music with the
help of musical instruments of their culture are found to be participating in home-stay
program. But other than those few musicians no one is allowed to participate in homestay program which also shows women discrimination.

Informants say Dalit people dont have proper homes for running home-stay. However
Dalit people should be encouraged to take part in home-stay program.

Mostly Dalit people are found to be involved in Community group that includes different
clubs like lions club, green hill club, Aama samuha, etc. With the help of these clubs Dalit
people can go to school, participate in different work for the improvement of village like
road construction, water tap construction etc.

Dalit people are included in decision making programs held by these different clubs i.e.
lions club, Green hill club etc. Suggestion, opinions of Dalit people are given importance
in such clubs. These different clubs listen to views, opinions of Dalit people and even
implement their suggestions.

26

Although Dalit people are discriminated in every single work but discrimination was not
found in schools so, children of Dalit and gurungs go to the same school and get same
level of education.

Government has provided allowances for children below the age of five years which is
called Bal Bhatta that help them in their studies and some NGO/INGO like ASAL
CHIMEKI provides educational expenses and many other facilities to Dalit children.

Dalit people are not so involved in areas like community forest, tea garden as compare to
community group and educational institution. Mostly gurung people are involve in work
related to tea garden, community forest where they make one of the famous tea i.e.
Annapurna organic tea.

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CHAPTER V
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION

This chapter represents the summary or the research work undertaken, the conclusions drawn and
the recommendations made as an outgrowth of this study.

5.1 Summary
The overriding purpose of this study was to find out the life style and present condition of
Dalit people in Lwang village, To know the role, participation and membership of Dalit
people in different developmental work and user groups like (Participation in home-stay
program, economic activities, different community groups, decision making), To find out if
Dalit people are getting any provision or reservation from the governmental and nongovernment organization etc. To accomplish that goal, we were taken to Lwang village to
observe and study about it. Once the objectives were achieved, this research was able to go
forward.
Lwang village, situated at the central area of the Kaski district is mostly known for homestay program and Annapurna organic tea. Mostly Gurungs are found living in Lwang village.
So, population of Dalits is very low. Dalit people are still facing the problem of caste
discrimination in the village. However, different clubs like green hill club, lions club, aama
samuha are helping Dalits in various ways. Main occupation of Dalits is found to be
agriculture. Though they are still not treated equally and nicely but they are found to be
engaged in almost every work being done in Lwang village. They participate in different
discussion held in community groups like (Aama Samuha, Green Hill Club, Lions Club )and
even put their opinion though their opinion and suggestions are sometime recognized but
most of the time their suggestions are not recognized.
Though Dalit are not rich and suffers a lot financially but they have got huge heart. The way
they welcome their guest by playing musical instrument is truly amazing to watch or
experience. They without any second thought help their guest in any possible way. They even

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help researcher by providing suitable answers to the questions they ask and providing all the
necessary information that the researcher is demanding.

5.2 Conclusions
Dalit refers to a group of people who are religiously, culturally, socially, economically and
historically oppressed, excluded and treated as untouchables and they belong to different
geographical region, language, culture and castes. Visit to lwang village provides real
environment where Dalits live their daily life. Considering the topic Dalit representation in
development and user group many information has been gathered that shows following
information:
The role, participation and membership of Dalit people in different developmental

work and user groups like:

Participation in home-stay program
Participation in community group
Participation in user group.
Participation in educational institution.
Involvement of Dalit people in decision making program related to home-stay
program, community group, user group and educational institution.

Besides these, much other information about Dalits has been collected like, different clubs
(Green Hill Club, Lions Club, Aama Samuha) are helping Dalits in various ways. Main
occupation of Dalits is found to be agriculture. Though they are still not treated equally and
nicely but they are found to be engaged in almost every work being done in lwang village. They
participate in different discussion held in community groups and even put their opinion though
their opinion and suggestions are sometime recognized but most of the time their suggestions
are not recognized.

5.3 Recommendation

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The following recommendations are offered as possible ways to improve this study
1. Dalit people should be allowed to participate fully in home-stay program and they also
should be allowed to keep guest in their own houses.
2. Government should provide different training program to Dalit people so that they can
get idea to work properly and different works that are conducted in village like homestay program, construction work, tailoring, farming, etc.
3. By establishing different industries considering the resources of Lwang Village
government can help local people including Dalit to improve their life style and make
their village better and advance.
4. Caste discrimination should be avoided totally and everyone in the village should be
treated equally
5. Suggestions and opinions of Dalit people should be considered and implemented.
6. School should be established up to 10th grade so that people of Lwang Village do not have
to go all the way to Pokhara to study after 8th grade.
7. Roads of the village should be maintained properly.

References

Rao, C.N Shankar (2006). (Principles of sociology with an introduction to social thought)
S. Chand

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Regmi, R (2008). (The essentials of sociology)

Kathmandu. Buddha Academic Publishers and Distributors
Pant P.R(). (Social Science)
Kathmandu, Buddha Academic Publishers and Distributors
D.A.V College of Management (2012). (Ghale Gaun Home-stay evaluation)
Kathmandu (Unpublished Project Report)

Websites
Thapaliya, M; Rai, G.S; Shrestha, A; Parajuli, B; Pande, O (2012). (Home-stay:
Assessment in Lwang Ghalel) Kathmandu University, Kathmandu
Lama, M (2013). (community homestay programmes as a form of sustainable tourism
development in nepal) Central University of Applied Sciences, Kathmandu
Wikipedia (2014). (Lwangghale) Wikimedia Foundation
Wikipedia (2014). (Talcott parsons theory on gender roles) Wikimedia Foundation