Incentivizing Social Change: Nepal's Policy to Promote Inter-Caste Marriage

Paper Tiger: Changing policies to create social change
Incentive for inter-caste marriage in Nepal
Madison Swoy
Academic Director: Daniel Putnam
Advisor: Daniel Putnam
The College of Wooster
Political Science
South Asia, Nepal, Kathmandu, Boudha
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Nepal: Development and Social
Change, SIT Study Abroad
(Fall 2013)

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Abstract
Since the establishment of Nepal’s caste system under the Muluki Ain in 1854, inequality
and the marginalization of certain communities have become entrenched in Nepal’s
social system. Today, marriage serves as an example of how caste, which is no longer an
institutionalized rule, continues to affect social interactions in Nepal today. This research
aims to understand the mechanisms necessary to procure social change in a Nepali
context, and the role that policy creation and implementation may play in this
development.
Today, a government incentive of 100,000NPR for an inter-caste marriage between Dalit
(previously known as untouchable) and non-Dalit (higher-caste) couple has been
instilled. This research aims to understand social change in terms of seeking a more
egalitarian society for Nepal by using this government incentive as the primary case
study.
Key words: Social Change, Social Exclusion, Caste System

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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Daniel Putnam for not only preparing me for this research but also
providing me with support throughout it. I would also like to thank Anil Chitrakar for
inspiring me to research this topic, and encouraging me to proceed with the topic when it
seemed daunting. I am also eternally grateful for each of the organizations that I worked
with and the motivation and encouragement that each of my interviewees provided me
with; including Chiranijivi Timsina (Under Secretary) of the National Dalit Commission,
Sumitra Gurung (academic), Trishna Thapa (South Asian External Affairs and
Communications Associate) of the World Bank, Rachana Rasaily (Social Inclusion
Action Group Coordinator & Workforce Diversity Analyst) at the United Nations, Bhakta
Bishwakarma (President) of Nepal National Dalit Social Welfare Organization, Amrit
Bishwakarma (President) Jana Utthan Pratisthan-Nepal, Tilak Bishwakarma (Researcher)
for the Social Inclusion Research Fund, and Sushila (Secretary) from the Social Inclusion
Research Fund. I would also like to give a special thank you to Suman Poudel (President)
of the Dalit NGO Federation, he was a crucial resource throughout the process and his
enthusiasm for the project was invaluable and extremely appreciated.

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Table of Contents:
1. Introduction & Background 5
I. The marginalization of the Dalit community 5
II. The government’s role 8
2. Methodology 10
3. Why society is the way it is 11
I. General understanding through literature 11
II. Historical understanding 14
III. Modern Perspective 16
4. Details of the incentive 19
I. Issues with the incentive 20
II. Benefits to the incentive 23
5. How societal acceptance of inter-caste couples affects freedom 24
I. Debate: Inter-caste marriage disrupts the social order and inhibits access to
freedom 26
II. Debate: Inter-caste marriage will bridge the caste divide and change the
social order, enhancing freedoms 27
6. Cultural and social limitations to inter-caste marriage with a Dalit person 28
I. Nepal’s culture favoring of collective decision-making 28
II. Caste & community formation 30
III. Examples of Discrimination against Dalits (Violence used to break-up
marriage) 31
7. Discussion: Social change 34
I. How does social change occur? 34
II. Interdisciplinary approach 35
III. Instruments for social change 36
i. Awareness 36
ii. Empowerment 37
iii. Civil society 39
iv. Livelihood and opportunity structure 40
v. Local and national government and NGO collaboration 41
vi. Effective implementation & punishment 42
vii. International pressure 44
viii. Revolution! Resolution 45
8. Conclusion: Examples of social change 46

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Introduction & Background
I. The marginalization of the Dalit community
Nepal’s caste system was formally institutionalized in 1854 under Muluki Ain, and
prevailed until its official abolition in 1963 (Dhungel 2010), but despite “the caste system
[being] legally abandoned, caste is still an evident feature in Nepalese society (Lie 1999).
“The traditional Hindu Mythology is the mother of the caste system in Nepal, which
categorizes all people into four levels of the caste structure. The system is based on
degrees of purity and pollution with the lowest ranks being considered ‘untouchable’ or
Dalit. The caste system is known as one of the oldest surviving social hierarchies in the
world… by birth caste is determined, therefore it is not possible to change one’s caste or
move between caste categories” (Biswakarma 2011, 1) Caste also prescribes one’s work,
which determines livelihood and because one’s caste is preserved throughout their life it
acts as shackle for their economic mobility as well. Society is thus based on the
legitimate rule of the caste system. Economic status, social status, and caste status are all
deeply interconnected with one another and serve as key forces within Nepali society,
both as a crutch for some and a restraint for others. Today, attempts are being made to
replace the hierarchical ideology of caste with a more egalitarian philosophy where “new
occupational and distributional relations are developing” away from the Jajmani system
(where division of labor is related to caste) (Lie 1999), but the symbolic legitimacy of the
hierarchy is still evident, and continues to works against lower-caste Nepali people’s
attainment of equal opportunities.
There are 26 Dalit castes, each of which are described as polluted or untouchable (T.
Bishwakarma 2011, 6); such labels have branded citizens with a particular identity, and

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thus remain an authority on social behavior today. The term Dalit has been adopted in
Nepal from the Indian Dalit movement and is an example of the Dalit community (via
civil society and Dalit organizations) gaining resilience and persuasiveness to fight
against discriminatory language such as ‘untouchable,’ ‘water unacceptable’ and
‘impure.’
Despite the caste system’s legal abolition 50 years ago, Dalits remain excluded from
Nepal’s social, political and economic spheres as a result of being historically barred
from access to the same education, economics, and opportunity that higher-caste (“water
acceptable” persons) had the right and capacity to benefit from. The history of the caste
system has contributed to prejudice and discrimination in modern-day Nepal by having
influenced Nepal’s present social norms and by persisting as an eminent symbolic power.
Today, the Human Development Index (HDI) demonstrates that the Dalit’s situation is
still depressed by virtue of the incredible discrimination and lack of access to resources
that they are still facing. Even in urban areas many of the so-called upper caste people
(who dominate the social, political and economic spheres of Nepal) are found to maintain
a discriminatory mindset, inhibiting the Dalit community’s ability move past the inequity
that they historically faced. As a result many lower caste people are afflicted with an
inferiority complex that has hindered their ability to socially assimilate; both the mindsets
of many higher-caste individuals and those of the Dalit community are deeply ingrained
into their respective psyches and serve as key barriers to lifting the Dalit community from
poverty (Poudel 2013).
Currently, Dalits are in the process of gaining more legal rights and political freedom, but
other structural and social barriers are obstructing their ability to take advantage of such

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policies. For example, Dalit people are oftentimes landless (by virtue of their economic
impotence) and thus have problems attaining citizenship—without citizenship in Nepal
many rights are restricted that should otherwise be accessible. The government often
demands that citizens own land in order to prove their citizenship even though legal
codes do not actually require it; the reality of the political and social spheres often do not
agree (Bennett 2006).
Nepal’s unification was not an inclusive unifying of the state, but an attempt to promote
the culture and power of high caste individuals; low caste-people were thus marginalized,
forgotten, and not represented in Nepal’s Hindustan era. 31% of all Nepalis live under the
poverty line yet half of the Dalit community is also said to live under poverty line
(Bennett 2006). Dalits are documented to have 4 times the poverty level of Brahmins and
because power relations, almost entirely controlled by Brahmins, have not significantly
changed since 1990, neither has the Dalit’s ability to leave poverty (The Clock is Ticking
2013). The 1991 Nepali census reported 96,977 persons having educational attainment of
graduate and above, of these only 3,034 or 3.1% belonged to the Dalit castes yet Dalit
people made up 20% of the population at this time (Bennett 2006). Currently, only 34.8%
of Dalit women are literate and only 59.9% of Dalit men, compared to 68.6% of Brahmin
women and 92.8% of Brahmin men, it is thus not only crucial to consider the Dalit
community as a whole when addressing social change, but also where the excluded
communities intersect, such that Dalit women exemplify (Khadka 2009). Dalits also
score the lowest of all groups on the World Bank’s study of empowerment and inclusion;
Dalit men score even less than so-called mid-caste women (Bennett 2006). Caste is thus a
more powerful predictor of empowerment and inclusion than even gender, although the

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combination of the two leads to greater hardship for Dalit females. It is said that 21% of
Dalit women are vulnerable to rape and they are the second most trafficked group in
Nepal (Bishankha 2011). Dalit people are clearly deprived of human dignity and social
justice and thus left behind in society; they do not have a geographical center or
homeland where they are numerically dominant, so they are often seen as a minority in
communities, even though they make up a large portion of Nepal’s citizenry.
II. The government’s role
The government has begun to recognize this issue and has made a few attempts to reverse
the prejudice. I will examine the policy of providing a cash incentive for marrying a Dalit
as one attempt to create a more egalitarian society. Here, the government is striving to
help Dalit people socially assimilate by means of shifting the hierarchical social structure.
In 1963, the Dalit community was granted both the right to marry outside of their caste
and to pursue social and economic roles that are not traditionally filled by their caste, but
Amartya Sen (1999) would claim that these rights are inaccessible by virtue of their
social position.
There has been no previous research on the link between social exclusion and poverty
and no integrated analysis of the impact of Nepal’s institutional framework and its past
public policy choices on excluded groups (Gurung 2013). However, there is a sense of
openness to “critical re-assessment” because of the current political transformation; the
entire government is now undergoing a crisis, which is creating a space for change to
transpire (Gurung 2013). “The democratic transition dialed to deliver on the promise of
inclusive policy mainly because, like most institutions in Nepal, the political parties
continued to operate on the basis of deeply embedded and mutually reinforcing feudal,

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caste, and patriarchical norms and networks—and thus were unable to represent and
articulate the demands of all Nepalis” (Bennett 2006, 3).
Ethnic groups were once framed by certain institutional rules such as “high caste” and
“untouchable” which appear to remain an authority on social interaction and have led to
an unequal distribution of “griveabilty” and “precarity” amongst different ethnic groups
in Nepal (Butler 2009). Inter-caste marriage is still “socially prohibited” in part because
higher-caste individuals do not want to accept “inter-mixing” or (sometimes) because
they disapprove of the Dalit community’s attempt to socially assimilate (which is
positively correlated to inter-caste marriage) (Poudel 2013).
My effort is to understand how we can procure social change in a Nepali context in order
to begin including Nepal’s marginalized groups (namely the Dalit community) in society
at large. In order to understand what changes need to occur it is imperative to begin by
developing a foundational understanding of what mechanisms have historically produced
the norms that prevail today. Many of Nepal’s prevailing social norms were fashioned
under the Civil Code of 1854 and is considered the source of much of the discrimination
that exists today. It is thus my intention to determine if the new government policy
(instituted in 2009) of 100,000NPR given to a Dalit and non-Dalit married couple is
enough to begin creating social change in Nepal as well as the broader role that policy
implementation plays in inciting social change. I will conclude with a discussion about
the instruments that need to be employed to begin the process of social change in order to
include the Dalit community in the social, economic, and political spheres of Nepal.

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Methodology
In order to gain a nuanced perspective of how Nepal’s historical political system has
affected modern society I interviewed the general public, heads of NGOs,
intergovernmental organizations, national governmental organizations and academics. I
approached the general public through unstructured interviews, casual conversations, and
a written survey. I found that the survey was the least effective way to gain access to
candid emotional responses and honest interactions. I spoke with NGOs that work toward
social inclusion and Dalit human rights including the Dalit NGO Federation (NDF),
National Dalit Social Welfare Organization (NNDSWO), Jana Utthan Pratisthan Nepal
(JUP-Nepal), and the Social Inclusion Research Fund (SIRF) as well as representatives of
intergovernmental organizations including the United Nations and the World Bank. I also
spoke with the National Dalit Commission (NDC) who represented the Nepali
government and the incentive directly, as well as academics in the field of social
inclusion and caste-based discrimination.
Due to pressure from the international community gender discrimination in Nepal has
been increasingly spoken about in the last 20, but there remains resistance to talk about
caste and ethnicity (evident in my interviews with the general public). Such institutions
are both formal (with written rules encoded in law; the state) and informal (values,
behaviors, and norms that are deeply embedded in particular social and historical
contexts; the society) (Gurung 2013). These informal institutions are almost irrevocably
interpreted with a bias by higher-caste lawmakers, NGOs, and myself, which makes it
particularly difficult to understand how these institutions structure relations between
people and with the power brochures, but it is nonetheless extremely important.

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Why society is the way it is:
I. General understanding through literature
By engaging with theoretical and comparative political literature I am identifying how an
individual’s interactions with social regulations are a result of previous government
mandates and thus I am better able to appreciate the relations that inter-caste Dalit and
non-Dalit couples have with the rest of Nepali society. Anderson (2006), Scott (1998),
and Butler (2009), namely, have written in terms of nationhood, but I am re-appropriating
their work to make sense within the culturally diverse Nepali context (seeing Nepal as a
compilation of many nations). This is possible by applying Anderson’s notion of an
“Imagined Community” to the imagined communities of Nepal that have been created by
the caste system; Scott’s notion of simplification to describe why the caste system was
put in place under Muluki Ain as a way of regulating and ruling Nepal’s citizens; and
Butler to discuss how some lives are framed within the caste system as grieveable
(worthy of mourning and feeling grief) while others are not. I see nationalism (or socially
constructed groups) as rationalized by arbitrary connections and understandings of
emblems such as language, administrative borders, and appearance, none of which are
natural structures of separation or community. The Hindu caste system has defined three
major forms of social exclusion in Nepal: gender, caste, and ethnicity. Ideas of purity and
pollution justify the rigid social stratification, which affects the lives and opportunities of
the three excluded groups and has helped create more discrete boundaries for the
included communities.
The literature suggests that nations often create margins within society when exercising
power. The state and other political forces thus authoritatively define which lives should

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be mourned and which should not by deliberating framing all of life and death (Butler
2009). Butler illustrates this point by claiming that lives are perceived with a hierarchy of
precarity (the caste system as a hierarchy) and, importantly, we cannot grieve a life that
was never accepted as a “life” or a member of humanity (the Dalits) (2009). Scott and
Anderson would claim that based on the way a society is mapped (such that it was under
the caste system) some lives are invisible to the governmental powers, and by that merit
were never accepted as a “life” (1998; 2006). Members of the Dalit community, through
being labeled “untouchable” and thus ousted from the public arena, have never been
accepted as grieveable lives and thus suffer greatly. Scott uses the term “simplification”
to describe the way power is often exercised over its constituents (1998). He refers to
simplification as the need for the state to categorize and group its constituents in order to
place rules and regulations on them. He critiques this form of rule by claiming it only
“represents a slice of [society] that interests the official observer” and that this view of
the state is from above, a “privileged vantage point that does not properly represent each
of its constituents” such as the Dalits (79, 1998).
This separation of humanity is constructed by human thought and is no way inherent to
our being. But, because feelings of otherness have been ingrained into our psyche by
authoritative figures since the birth of the nation/ ethnic segregation (or in Nepal’s case,
unification), we have accepted these feelings as natural. This identity creation has led to
profound barriers for inter-caste couples and in many ways is the downfall of the
government’s cash incentive for marrying a Dalit as a means for bridging the caste
divide.

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Bourdieu posits the terms “structuralist constructivism” to describe his theory of patterns
and parameters that both structure people’s lives and structure the structures. He claims
that social space, social groups, and social fields are all presided over by a symbolic
power, such that the caste system still holds today. Symbolic power is the “power to
define the world order, to impose this order (and thereby formation of groups) and define
values” (Lie 1999). The Nepali government was able to exercise its power with existing
views of social space, and by using concepts such as high/ low; pure/ polluted; male/
female (Lie 1999). Therefore, if the government was the catalyst for the existing social
order, it may be possible for it to catalyze the new social order as well. However, I will
demonstrate that if that is the case, a mere financial incentive for inter-caste marriage will
not catalyze an entirely new social structure on its own. Bourdieu demonstrates that the
social world may be divided along lines of religion, ethnicity, economic position, national
principals, etc. and the symbolic struggles that coincide with these divisions may be felt
both collectively or individually (Lie 1999). The caste system is an example of a social
structure that has been “internalized and [now] tends to be seen as ‘natural’” (Lie 1999).
Not only has the state (which has contributed to the prophecy of ethnic identity)
marginalized individuals, but it has also created arbitrary boundaries throughout society
in order to draw clearer lines for the power holders to view and dictate society from
above. However the repercussions of this simplifying process are great and have led to
the destitution of the Dalit community. By analyzing each of these theoretical standpoints
with reference to Nepal, it becomes clearer why the social system has evolved to its
current condition, and how the current condition affects the government’s cash incentive
policy for marrying Dalits.

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“Twelve years of democracy and the past eight years of Maoist insurgency have forced
social inequalities out in the open” (Gurung 2013) and have helped illustrate the
perversion of caste relationships that were previously (and in many cases, still) accepted
as innate. In order to further the Dalit community’s access to opportunities, as Sen posits,
social exclusion must be addressed by means of “remov[ing] institutional barriers and
enhanc[ing] incentives to increase the access of diverse individuals and groups to
development opportunities” (1999) in addressing these institutional barriers it is
imperative to seek out the structural reasoning for why the poor and excluded continue to
be excluded and what role their exclusion plays in society’s efficiency.
II. Historical understanding
The Civil Code of 1854 came from India under the influence of orthodox Hindus and
outlined each caste’s the role (and the penalties for breaking those roles). This document
was provided in an attempt simplify society, without concern for Nepal’s many cultural
nuances and the utility of those nuances for certain groups. The Muluki Ain positioned
Nepal’s diverse “castes” under a single legal system, affording more rights and privileges
to certain communities. The caste system and patriarchical gender system were thus
reinforced by the state, promoting the exclusion of lower-castes, indigenous peoples, and
women in the effort to create a unified Nepal. The timing of Nepal’s caste-system
implementation is grounds for its successful execution, “It was an era of consolidation of
power and entrenchment of social inequity that can occur in the absence of competing
world views” (Bennett 2006) but today, due to feeling of disillusionment for government
and lack of respect for rule of law, dramatic shifts in policy and government procedures
will not carry the same weight.

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In 1950, almost 100 years after the Civil Code was put forth, a new constitution was
produced; this document aimed to eliminate discrimination in Nepali society, but
provided no legal provision to punish discriminatory practices (B. Bishwakarma 2013).
The people’s movement of 1990 then terminated Nepal’s dictatorship and replaced the
1950 constitution with a new, more equitable document that promoted a multiethnic,
multicultural, multilingual Nepal. This constitution outlines one’s right to promote their
own mother tongue, their own religion, and their own culture to their children (which was
previously not accepted in an effort to simplify Nepal’s diverse society). However, at this
time, Nepal remained a Hindu state with “traditional Hindu practices” protected, allowing
the caste system and gender inequality to continue (Bennett 2006). The interim
constitution later claimed Nepal as a secular state and allowed civil society organizations
to be established. It also attempted to dismantle the “single Nepali culture” that was
based on the motivations of the upper-castes, but in practice the “unitary, centralized,
non-inclusive state structure was unchallenged” and the Constitutional Assembly was
dissolved before this constitution was accepted as a rule for society (Bennett 2006;
Gurung 2013). Today, due to the lack of effective implementation of law and justice the
practice of untouchability will likely not be punished, even though it is illegal.
A concerted effort to eliminate untouchability from society was made by the Maoists (led
by Brahmins) during the insurgency from 1996 to 2006. They challenged discriminatory
vocabulary that dominates certain communities and captured the anxiety that was built up
from the state’s discrimination, but they did not continue to affect change once
dominating the Constitutional Assembly and did not address issues that they had
previously advocated for. The Maoists did, however, acknowledge issues regarding the

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socially excluded communities that were previously not named or spoken about and gave
rise to a path toward empowerment for the excluded. The Maoists also supported inter-
caste marriage during the insurgency, but have since claimed that they are against such
practices, because it hindered their societal support; “the concept of saving, keeping, and
maintaining face is integral to Nepal’s collectivist social structure” (Basnyat 2003).
In 2012 there was a comprehensive law enacted to disallow caste-based discrimination.
The enactment of this law has led to three important dimensions for Nepali society (1)
safeguarding legislation (which in fact has created more instances of reported
discrimination because of higher-caste individual’s opposition to the provision), (2) more
cases of caste-based discrimination have reached the surface through the media and by
word-of-mouth, (3) and it has impelled a more equitable justice system (which is still
largely unfair and often results negotiation (not justice), usually in disfavor of the Dalit
because the police often stand for the social norms they prescribe to not the rule of law)
(B. Bishwakarma 2013).
III. Modern perspective
Today, as previously stated, the higher-caste community dominates the social, political,
and economic world and thus it is difficult to gain access to such spheres for the Dalit
community. “In the conflict theory, ‘exclusion arises from the inter-play of class, status,
and political power and serves the interests of the included” (Bishankha 2011), based on
this theory the higher-caste communities in power aim to protect that power by barring
the interference of the Dalit community. The high-caste communities that dominate the
government only comprise 29% of the population, but reap 90% of the country’s benefits
and are thus reluctant to compromise that clout (A. Bishwakarma 2013). It the high-

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castes that who control most of society’s inter-workings and therefore the power holders
themselves must be willing to accept change in order for change to ensue. But, Dalits are
necessarily laborers for higher-caste people to be able to maintain their power over the
economy and over politics, and are thus encouraged by the powerful to maintain their
low-class status. Lower-caste people are often hesitant to report discrimination and abuse
because of their dependency on the upper-caste people for their livelihood. In the region
of Doti (far western Nepal) there is a high rate of lower caste individuals working in the
homes of police and other governmental officials, the Dalit community here cannot
complain to the police (the very people they work for) because their complaints would
run the risk of negatively affecting their livelihood opportunities, especially because the
discrimination and abuse often comes from their workplace. However, it appears that
those who are not dependant on higher caste individuals for food and welfare are able to
file complaints and speak out against the abuse, whether or not their complaints are
properly dealt with is still up for debate (Rasaily 2013).
It has remained difficult to further the power holder’s mindsets to be more inclusive of
Dalit people because they sometimes claim that it is their “right to practice untouchability
on Dalits” seeing as each of them is said to be reborn into their respective caste by virtue
of their past lives; they deserve the position that they have been given in society, high or
low (B. Bishwakarma 2013). Dalit people, likewise, internalize this Hindu philosophy
and have a “ke garne” outlook on their position in society, claiming that they must
deserve their positionality by virtue of their past lives. These two mindsets reinforce
superior and inferior complexes in each caste.

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The World Bank has created a Gender Social Exclusion Assessment (GSEA) that
examines “How despite democratic governance institutions, the mutually reinforcing
caste and gender institutions of the dominant group continue to structure one’s access to
assets, capabilities, and voice in ways that favor high-caste males” (Gurung 2013). The
caste system has thus shaped the opportunity structure for women and Dalits and has not
only maintained symbolic power such that Bourdieu suggests, but has also affected one’s
freedom to take advantage of their political rights such that Sen suggests (see Appendix
A). Therefore, high caste males are making decisions not only on behalf of lower castes
and excluded groups but are also helping shape society’s very structure in a way that
disfavors these groups. Affirmative action is recommended by the World Bank as a way
to impede this cycle.
Low-caste people are also at a structural disadvantage because in-migrating Hindus and
Caucasoid spoke an Indo-Aryan language on which modern Nepali is based, which gave
high-caste people a comparative advantage once Nepali became the official language of
Nepal; used almost exclusively in government offices, mandated in schools, and
necessary for most legal paperwork (Nepali is often not the native tongue of Dalit people)
(Bennett 2006). With better access to education language would be less of an
impediment, but because Dalits are often economically and educationally disadvantaged
language serves as a significant obstacle to their social and economic success. Inter-caste
marriage is seen as a productive way to socially assimilate the Dalit community and
improve their access to economics, politics, and education and has thus has been
encouraged by the government as of 2009.

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Details of the incentive
The Nepali government has acknowledged the importance of changing the social sphere
from its hierarchical structure (that it once encouraged) to a horizontal social system
where rights are imparted equally and has thus created a cash incentive of 100,000NPR
for inter-caste marriage with a Dalit. However the process of applying for the incentive
sometimes excludes the very community it aims to include because of its bureaucratic
injunctions. Couples applying for the incentive must go through three-levels of authority
in order to gain the incentive, they must first address the local Village Development
Committee (VDC), after which the local police, and then the central Nepali government
in order to be considered. After addressing all three levels of authority and gaining
acceptance on the grounds of a series of questions that determine the legitimacy of the
marriage, the couple then receives 50,000NPR into a joint bank account, and 10,000NPR
every month thereafter until they have amassed the full 100,000NPR. After three months
of marriage, the government is said to investigate again to make sure that the couple has
not falsified any of the information they provided. Many of the hurdles are implemented
to hamper dishonest use of the money, and should ultimately be a protection for the Dalit
female of the couple, as she is the most vulnerable party and is the most likely to be taken
advantage of in the process. However, the process is extremely tedious and inaccessible
to couples who have little access to the various levels of authority that are necessary, may
not be literate in Nepali, have trouble proving citizenship, etc. and it is the couples
without access to such resources that are oftentimes in the most dire need of the money.
The money itself is provided by donor support (including foreign aid) and government
money (collected through taxes).

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There are two conditions of inter-caste marriage. The first is with a Dalit male and a non-
Dalit female, in which case the marriage is more likely to be socially accepted because in
this partiarchical society the woman always joins the man’s community and the Dalit
community is tends to be very accepting of the higher-caste individual (Poudel 2013).
However, the wife must also take the husband’s name, which is the most distinguishing
feature of one’s caste and thus will often face grave discrimination outside of the Dalit
community. The second is with a non-Dalit male and a Dalit female, in which case the
woman is usually not accepted into the higher-caste community often resulting in
violence and abuse. Women in Nepali society are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation
and thus are more susceptible to maltreatment, especially when assimilating into the new
community.
Many couples that are banished from their home communities go to urban areas, namely
Kathmandu. Oftentimes assimilating to a new community, especially an urban center
where there is greater diversity of people, is easier than remaining in one’s home
community. In urban centers the couple is more likely to find work and thus gain
economic mobility, which as I found is a key factor to social inclusion. This acceptance
in urban centers also explains why some of my respondents in the Kathmandu claim that
caste and inter-caste marriage is becoming a nonissue. In Kathmandu, couples can also
create a new community based on a different identity; oftentimes they will change their
surname in order to rent a house or get work.
I. Issues with the incentive
Based on her interviews with inter-caste couples, Anita (SIRF) found that receivers of the
incentive primarily used the money “for their survival”; to rent a new home outside of

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their community and for food, but in most cases the incentive was not enough. The
money is crucial for couples and is a step in the right direction but it is certainly not a
permanent solution, and other measures need to be taken as well.
Backlash from the community against the incentive has been reported because some feel
that marriage should not be encouraged on the basis of money and policy, “Until we feel
from the core of our heart that skin does not matter in marital relationships, legislation
can do nothing. Inter-caste marriage is legalized in Nepal… there is no question
encouraging or discouraging inter-caste marriage. We cannot be happy going against our
families” Dipen Bhattarai (Society Still Not Mature Enough 2013). Dipen still sees
marriage as a communal decision that will affect multiple parties and the decision should
thus be left in the hands of those affected, not in the hands of policy makers. Others have
asked, “Is it meaningful to make people marry for money? It may encourage people to do
so, but it will not create respect between different communities” (Sabin A Maharjan
Society Still Not Mature Enough 2013). According to Chiranjivi Timsina on behalf of the
National Dalit Commission (NDC), in some cases, the policy is effective but the issue of
inter-caste marriage is not going away, there is an overwhelming consensus that the
policy alone is not enough.
The process of registering for the money is the downfall of the incentive according to
Chiranjivi (NDC). Tilak Bishwakarma (SIRF) interviewed over 100 couples and could
not find a single couple that married for money despite his concerted search for exactly
that, but NDC claims that such does happen, some people take advantage of the incentive
for the financial benefit and either immediately divorce or the woman is left (usually if
the wife is the Dalit). The law protects inter-caste marriage, but according to Suman

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Poudel (DNF) it is rarely taken advantage of because the Dalit’s are not in a position of
political power and thus have trouble advocating for themselves and encouraging higher-
caste individual’s to effectively implement the policy. The high caste people do not want
the Dalit people to join “their community” and thus make it extremely difficult for the
couple to gain access to their right to the money. In fact, 10% of the couples that Tilak
(SIRF) interviewed were completely unaware of the cash-incentive all together.
Furthermore, if the couple is under 18 at the time of the marriage, they are not eligible to
receive the incentive. The woman’s documents, including her citizenship certificate, are
kept with her parents and thus if the family is not in support of the marriage she will not
be able to acquire the appropriate documents and consequently the couple will not be able
to register for the incentive. In this case, not only will the marriage clearly be
unsupported by the family (evident from their unwillingness to provide her with the
necessary documents) but the couple will also be barred from the economic opportunities
that are supported by the incentive. The policy needs to be addressed with an
intersectional approach, one that reaches beyond simply providing money; the couples
should have a designated office to guide them in their effort to receive the money,
especially if they are illiterate in Nepali. There is also no specific program to support the
needs of the couple once they receive the incentive (T. Bishwakarma 2013). Social
exclusion is a structural problem, “solving it requires the state to move beyond welfare
handouts to define and assure citizen’s rights to all” (Society Still Not Mature Enough
2013)

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II. Benefits to the incentive
The NDC says that the money is a “motivational amount,” and is crucial when the couple
is forced to start a life on their own after being boycotted by their family. Suman (DNF)
claims that it is too early to see if the policy has changed the actual caste culture, or if it
has the potential to do so, but thus far it has had positive implications for society and is a
constructive way to show the government’s support for inter-caste relations. Tilak (SIRF)
began his research against the policy and was skeptical of having money as a motivator
for marriage because it is unnatural, and thus could only lead to a temporary acceptance
of inter-caste relations. However, after speaking to over 130 couples throughout all of
Nepal, he found that inter-caste marriage is a legitimate means to reduce untouchability
from society for the future. However, he claims that the incentive is only positive if the
marriage is successful and serves as an example of cordial inter-caste relations, which is
extremely difficult to achieve when there are excessive barriers inhibiting the success of
the marriage. If the government incentive is enough to sustain the couple’s livelihood
than it is also more likely to sustain a happy marriage; a high economic status is
positively correlated to a successful marriage (T. Bishwakarma 2013). There is also a
consensus that inter-caste marriage is positive because it makes the couple equal in the
social hierarchy, even though that equality strips the higher-caste individual of their
previous prestige.
“If the demographics of new Nepali couples these days are any indication, Nepal is well
on its way to becoming a more integrated society. King Prithbi Narayan Shah described
the kingdom he unified as a garden of many flowers. Well those flowers are getting
cross-pollinated like never before… looking around Kathmandu it is not all that easy to
fit people into neat categories of caste and ethnic orientation based on facial features and
accents anymore” (Basnyat 2003).

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It is thus positive to encourage inter-caste marriage, but the policy’s practice needs to be
strengthened, the couple should be protected from violence and abuse.
How societal acceptance of inter-caste couples affects freedom
Amartya Sen claims that development “is expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy”
and “freedom is central to the process of development for two distinct reasons (1999, 1).
First is the evaluative reason, which claims that an assessment of progress has to be done
primarily in terms of whether the freedoms that people have are enhanced. And second is
the effectiveness reason which demonstrates that achievement of development is
thoroughly dependent on the free agency of the people” (Sen 1999, 4). By providing the
cash incentive the Nepali government has come closer to granting Dalit people the
freedom to exercise their right to inter-caste marriage, which is deemed a basic human
right, but obstacles beyond the financial issue prevail (and in fact, as I have demonstrated
the financial issue is not completely eradicated with this lump sum). Further investigation
would also need to be done to determine if higher caste person’s freedoms are
undermined and/or inhibited by this process, both socially and economically. The
effectiveness reason, as posited by Sen begs the question of how the two group’s (the
Dalit and the higher caste person’s) agency is being affected. The lower caste people may
be able to enact more of their freedoms when they are granted access to the higher-caste
social sphere, but in most of the cases that I explored the lower-caste person remains
excluded from the higher-caste community and in some cases the consequences of having
a low-caste status are actually amplified post-marriage.
Sen claims that, “The freedom to participate in economic interchange has a basic role in
social living” (1999, 7) and that “economic unfreedom, in the form of extreme poverty,

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can make a person a helpless prey in the violation of other kinds of freedom” (1999, 8).
However, 100,000NPR will not provide a lifetime of financial freedom, and the social
ostracizing that accompanies inter-caste marriage may inhibit future freedom to
participate in economic interchange for these inter-caste couples. Economic unfreedom
can foster social unfreedom and social unfreedom can breed economic unfreedom. Sen
asserts that the “exercise of freedom is mediated by values, but the values in turn are
influenced by… social interactions” (1999, 5) and when Dalit’s social interactions push
them into the margins of society, their ability to exercise their rights is inhibited. Sen
describes social freedom as one of the five distinct types of freedoms necessary to
“advance the general capability of a person,” examples of such freedoms are education
and health facilities (1999). The Dalit community was considered impure and did not
have access to the same facilities as higher caste individuals were thus unfree to achieve
the same livelihood as those born into higher castes.
“Development requires the removal of major sources of unfreedom: poverty as well as
tyranny, poor economic opportunities as well as systematic social deprivation, neglect of
public facilities as well as intolerance of over activity of repressive states” (Sen 1999, 8).
The government policy fails to remove the systematic social deprivation that was instilled
in 1854 with the caste system. Sen claims that social values and prevailing mores can
influence the freedoms that people enjoy and have reason to treasure. Shared norms can
influence social features such as gender equity, the nature of childcare, family planning…
and many other arrangements and outcomes” (Sen 1999, 9). These shared norms have
contributed to what Bourdieu claims to be symbolic power.

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I. Debate: Inter-caste marriage disrupts the social order and inhibits access to freedom
Many people believe that society is not ready to accept inter-caste couples and that the
benefits of the union do not outweigh the chaos and unrest that often proceed. “Dumont
would have argued that inter-caste marriage between Dalit and non-Dalit would disrupt
the balance in the family and society since couples are moving away from the
functionality of the hierarchy” (Bishwakarma 2011, 7). The hierarchy has been
internalized on many levels, reluctance to leave it comes from the power holders
unwillingness to compromise their power, social normalcy that has been deeply
embedded into the psyches of Nepali people, fear of change, and superiority and
inferiority complexes by the higher and lower castes, respectively. Tilak (SIRF) found
that in extremely orthodox Hindu families, no amount of love for one’s child was enough
to surmount the strong social forces that deem a Dalit untouchable and their child’s
marriage radical and therefore completely unacceptable. Niraju Chaudhary said, “Our
society is conservative and narrow-minded. Family members and society think inter-caste
marriage destroys culture, religion and status but they don’t think about their sons’ and
daughters’ interests, feelings, love and pleasure. We have a right to choose our own life
partner at an appropriate age” (Society Still Not Mature Enough 2013). The younger
generations are often more inclined to accept the notion of a common humanity,
undesignated by the caste hierarchy but are sometimes reprimanded by the older
generations for such views.
“I don’t think inter-caste marriage between so-called Dalit and non-Dalit communities is
good because such marriages do not bring harmony and prosperity to our society, rather
creates anarchy and chaos. Dalits are dominated because many of them are still
uneducated and economically backward in comparison to non-Dalits. Poverty is the main
curse of our society. Most Daltis still have to depend on their traditional professions for
livelihood, which is considered low. Caste-based discrimination will not end by marrying

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a Dalit boy to a so-called higher caste girl, or vise versa. The government’s policy to
encourage inter-caste marriage by providing cash incentives is ridiculous” according to
Shiva Sharma Bhusal (Society Still Not Mature Enough 2013).
However, the very backwardness that Shiva speaks of is reinstituted by caste-
discrimination; the Dalit community will not be able to see past their current economic
instability and depression if caste-based discrimination remains a key social force.
However, if we address this issue with an intersectional understanding of Dalit people’s
societal positionality it becomes clear that we must help Dalits in their plight away from
poverty and their misrepresentation in society by also helping them to build their
economic potential. “Inter-caste marriage is legal in Nepal but not in our society”
(Society Still Not Mature Enough 2013). Again, the law and social realities of Nepal
often do not match; we need to increase Nepali people’s respect for the rule of law before
policy will begin to have an impact on social change.
II. Debate: Inter-caste marriage will bridge the caste divide and change the social order,
enhancing freedoms
My interviewees that belong to the Dalit community all agreed that their culture and the
culture of the Brahmin and Chetri castes is remarkably similar (B. Bishwakarma 2013, T.
Bishwakarma 2013, Poudel 2013, Rasaily 2013). However, there is a movement by the
higher-caste people to claim otherwise in an attempt to justify the separation between the
two communities. The Dalit community is clearly not socially assimilated in Nepali
society as a whole and therefore they remain on the margins of politics and economics.
Inter-caste marriage will spur the process of social assimilation for the Dalit community.
Bhakta (NNDSWO) and Tilak (SIRF) both claim that in this process of social
assimilation it is not a problem of separate cultural identities between higher and lower-
caste individuals, but rather they share a common culture. In fact, Bhakta (NNDSWO)

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said implicitly that the Dalit community does not want to be separate from the higher-
caste community, even if they were to score equally on the Human Development Index
(HDI), the Dalit people would prefer to blur caste lines all together, and mutually claim a
shared Nepali culture. “In order to eradicate the caste system and race discrimination it is
very important to encourage inter-caste and inter-religion marriages on a broader scale.
Marriage is regarded as the most important social custom and the best means to remove
the barrier of the prevailing caste system” (Bishankha 2011) which is exemplified by the
fact that when a high-caste individual marries a Dalit they lose their high-caste prestige.
In Tuckuchhe (rural Nepal) a non-Dalit wife was completely disowned from her family
and demoted to the status of Dalit within the community. Since her marriage to a Dalit
man, she is often denied access to the kitchen (even of her parent’s house), the water tap,
and temples. She and her husband have been forced to start a life of their own, and are
deemed “untouchable” in the village (anonymous).
However, Tilak (SIRF) found that in 70% of the 130 cases that he investigated, the
higher-caste families secretly accepted the marriage. The secret acceptance from the
family will eventually break down barriers between castes. Rabin Subedi says, “Inter-
caste marriage can change the tradition of discrimination between upper-lower castes and
so-called Dalit or non-Dalit people…Inter-caste marriage can bridge the gap in our
society” (Society Still Not Mature Enough 2013).
Cultural and social limitations to inter-caste marriage with a Dalit person
I. Nepal’s culture favoring of collective decision-making
Nepal’s social hierarchy curbs individualism, the individual’s identity is comprised of
their caste and community traits. Anita Chaulagain claims that, “marriage is a social

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contract between not only two people but also two families that unites their lives, legally,
economically, and emotionally” (Society Still Not Mature Enough 2013). Marital
relations are therefore the product of a group-based decision, with all affected parties
privy to the decision-making process. However, the decision for a higher-caste person to
marry a Dalit or vise versa is always made on an individual basis by means of a love
marriage, they are never arranged by the family or community.
“Marriages in Nepal are controlled by property, religion, social customs and traditions.
So they are feudalistic in nature and individual decisions and independent marriages are
not tolerated” (Bishankha 2011). From the Durkheim perspective inter-caste marriage
between a Dalit and non-Dalit would result in the rupture of social bond between
individual and society through breaking certain social norms. “Social order, conceived as
external, moral and normative, that ties the individual to the larger society is broken and
as a result society punishes the individual couples for breaking social norms that prohibit
inter-caste marriage” (Bishankha 2011). So although the government no longer prohibits
inter-caste marriage, the symbolic power of the caste system, that renders certain social
laws, disallows such exchanges between castes. This social stigma greatly affects
individual’s ability to enact their freedoms and take advantage of their rights. The right to
marry is a basic human right, “it is the lives of the individuals and they [legally] have the
sole authority to decide on it”, but socially the couple clearly does not remain the sole
authority (Society Still Not Mature Enough 2013). Social laws have a heavy effect on the
process and in the case that such marriages do occur grave actions are often taken to
break up the marriage.

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Nepal thus has yet to recognize marriage as an individual decision, “marriage is a part of
society, so society wants to be a part of the decision;” love marriages in all regards are
said to be less successful despite the role that caste plays because it is the result of
individual’s decisions, however this type of decision making is gradually being
implemented more and more (B. Bishwakarma 2013). Marriage is still considered a
relationship that is “acknowledged by the state and by religious authority of both society
and state” and each of those actors are still part of the decision-making process
(Bishankha 2011).
II. Caste & community formation
According to Bourdieu, symbolic capital is thus the sum of economic, cultural, and social
capital; “the concept of capital can be used to describe how power and status is
constructed within and across social fields” such that the caste system exemplifies (Lie
1999). Within these social fields all are given a sense of their own place and a sense of
other’s place, breeding this separation between castes and serving as the basis for all
forms of cooperation, such as marriage. Under this symbolic power, Bourdieu also
discusses the use of markers for identifying and distancing, creating sympathies and
antipathies, which can be used to create communities but also marginalize communities.
This distancing is clearly used in the caste system, and supersedes the government’s
effort to simply provide an economic incentive for breaching these communities.
Symbolic power holds great weight in Nepal’s contemporary society, and tradition plays
a pivotal role in the exchanges between both individual’s and entire groups’ interactions.
Marriage is a communal decision in Nepal and Nepal’s community formation today is
uniquely founded on the basis of the historical social hierarchy and on its distinctive

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geography. Communities have formed in Nepal because of lack of movement due to the
mountainous train and inaccessible mobility, they were defined by the country’s natural
landscape; inter-caste marriage per-say did not exist before development began gaining
momentum because there was little access to varying communities and thus varying
castes. Today community is mostly formed around Dalits and non-Dalits, pure and
impure, no matter the inherent cultural similarities between the two groups. During the
simplifying process of Nepal’s diverse cultures and the inauguration of the caste system
under the Civil Code of 1854 the primary distinctions that were made between high and
low-castes were on the premise of water-sharing ability and it is this distinction that
serves as Nepal’s primary divide between communities.
I found that surprisingly little hostility felt by the Dalit community towards the higher-
castes. Tilak (SIRF) says there are very few cases where the Dalit community is against
inter-caste marriage, in fact he claims that “usually the Dalit person is proud that they are
gaining access to higher-caste communities,” when access is granted. He also alleged that
the Dalit community might not feel, or at least exhibit, tension toward the higher-caste
community because their livelihoods depend on such individuals and they “can’t revolt
their master” (T. Bishwakarma 2013).
III. Examples of Discrimination against Dalits (Violence used to break-up marriage)
There are countless examples of discrimination that can be drawn upon to demonstrate
the deep and profound distinctions that have been constructed in the minds of both higher
and lower-caste people and the importance of bridging the community divides. Aside
from creating equal social, political, and economic opportunities for the Dalit community,
we must also protect their basic human rights against torture and abuse.

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“The case of a father, who was attacked in Dalieka on 30 August 2011 following his
son’s marriage with a non-Dalit bride and consequently dying, is a strong reminder of the
existence of this egregious human right’s violation in Nepal. The promulgation of the
[Anti-discrimination] Act [of 2012] by itself is not enough. It also needs to be effectively
implemented, and the victims as well as their family members must invoke the rule of
law in order to access justice” (Man Banepal 2011).
Dalit people are often still “…Not allowed to enter into the temples, homes, restaurants,
join/participate in the public festivities, lack access to public wells and water sources and
are denied with marriage with other communities” (Bishankha 2011). Dalit people are
also still not allowed to produce dairy products because of the necessary adding of water
to the products in the production process; in the Terai, in particular, there have been
numerous occurrences of Dalit people being fed feces (Gurung 2013); and suicide is
reportedly often attempted when social pressures become too extreme against the
acceptance of inter-caste couples.
“The problems [post-marriage] can be clashes in families, physical and psychological
harassment and other kinds of violence” (Society Still Not Mature Enough 2013). For
example, a young couple, in an inter-caste marriage, was kidnapped January 27, 2004 by
the girl’s relatives in Saptari District. The Dalit male and his community were attacked
three days after the kidnapping by more than 200 upper-caste people; the Dalit families
were then forced to leave the village.
Another example, “On November 16, 2011, in western Nepal, it was reported that the
house of a Dalit was attacked and burnt by the family of the so-called higher caste girl to
which his brother had married. In other cases, people have been threatened, attacked,
killed and displaced from society” (Bishankha 2011).
In the Western region of Nepal, there was recently a story of an inter-caste couple in
which both parties committed suicide, seemingly as a result of incredible social pressure
and lack of acceptance from their kinship group (Poudel 2013). Examples exist even in

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urban centers like Kathmandu, recently a marriage between a Dalit boy and a non-Dalit
girl was broken up when the girl was kidnapped by her own family and taken back to her
village, under her parents control she was supposedly blackmailed and “brain washed”
into terminating the marriage. When the police found her and interrogated her, she
claimed that she changed her mind and now wished to stay with her family, away from
her husband (Poudel 2013). High-caste families are able to use their power and prestige
to break up their children’s marriages when they do not agree with them.
Tilak (SIRF) referenced many cases where the Dalit person was accepted as a member of
the community and addressed with kinship terms (while maintaining restrictions to
entering certain public and private spaces), but after marriage with a higher-caste
individual the couple (both the Dalit and non-Dalit) were seen as an enemy and
boycotted.
Although inter-caste marriage is legally accepted, Nepal’s social laws often outweigh the
strength of the legal provisions, especially when political power holders make decisions
based on personal feelings and do not have respect for the rule of law. For example, the
state minister for ministry Dan Bahadur Chaudhary ordered the administration in
Kapilacastu to separate a couple ages 25 and 28, the woman was consequently removed
from her in-laws and sent to parental home because her Brahmin family rejected the
marriage. The couple had eloped in India, it is said that “many couples have been forcibly
separated in recent weeks, and a number of so-called honor killings have taken place in
India” by those who have disobeyed or brought shame to their families like the described
Brahmin girl (Nepal Minister Breaks Up Intercaste Marriage 2010). Suman (DNF) claims
that as the issue of caste-based discrimination is coming to the forefront of politics,

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discrimination cases appear to be increasing because Dalit people are gaining a voice in
the public sphere and speaking out against discrimination. However, this media attention
also further ingrains a sense of fear in the Dalit community. Their inferiority complex is
further instilled when stories of abuse and torture are presented (Poudel 2013).
Discussion: Social change
I. How does social change occur?
Social change will take place through the interaction of social movements, social justice,
and social entrepreneurship.
Social movements are, “collective actions in which the population is alerted, educated,
and mobilized, over years and decades, to challenge the power holders and the whole
society to redress social problems or grievances and restore critical social values. By
involving the populace directly in the political process, social movements also foster the
concept of government of, by, and for the people. The power of movements is directly
proportional to the forcefulness with which the grassroots exert their discontents and
demand change. The central issue of social movements, therefore, is the struggle between
the movement and the power holders to win the hearts (sympathies), minds (public
opinion), and active support of the great majority of the populace. Which ultimately holds
the power to either preserve the status quo or create change” (Moyer 1987)
Inter-caste marriage is thus an attempt to show the power holders (which in Nepal are not
necessarily the majority, but are more crucial to social change than the actual majority
groups) that their understanding of low-caste people is misconstrued. Through promoting
inter-caste marriage the grassroots level and civil society are attempting to help the Dalit
community gain admission up the social hierarchy. The incentive itself is an attempt to
give the Dalit community special rights in an effort to “catch-up” to the rest of the social,
political, and economic world before they can begin to take advantage of their lawfully
given rights.

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II. Interdisciplinary approach
An interdisciplinary approach on the level of stakeholders (government officials and
power holders) and with regard to those affected (the Dalit community, and the
intersection of marginalized groups in Nepal ie. Dalit women) needs to be taken in order
for change to ensue. In 2007, the UN developed an intersectionality approach to address
excluded populations; they began to look at where gender, caste, power, sexuality, etc.
collide and how citizens who are faced with many different intersections of exclusion are
affected. JUP-Nepal finds success working across many disciplines in an effort to help
the Dalit community through, promoting human rights, working against caste-based
discrimination, supporting the network of various Dalit activist groups, doing research
and providing publications on social exclusion and social inequality, promoting
livelihood and socioeconomic development, and working towards building the capacity
of local organizations’ (A. Bishwakarma 2013).
Attaining inclusion will require shifts in the structure of the governance, increasing
access to economic opportunity and changes in the underlying hierarchical norms, values,
and behaviors that govern social interaction (Bennett 2006). The UN created a campaign
to address caste-based discrimination that was said to be successful on the basis that it
was carried out with “all organs of society” for “national ownership” because not only
should the Dalit people themselves be involved, but the decision-makers must also have a
stake in the campaign’s success. Nepal’s Tenth Plan (2002-2007) recognized that lack of
voice, political representation, and empowerment are as important to poverty as
economic and human development dimensions, and “proposed affirmative action to level
the playing field”, but this attempt to promote Dalits in the political arena failed as there

36

were other steps that also needed to be taken to address both the superior and inferior
complexes that exist within the high and low castes (Bennett 2006, xx).
“Thus prohibition of inter-caste marriage between Dalit and non-Dalit cannot simply be
explained as part of rituals of purity and pollution; it has several social and economic
implications. ‘The evolution of the caste system cannot be delinked from the emergence
of patriarchy, class divisions and state…to ignore the class role of caste and to interpret it
mainly as a matter of endogamy and ritual ranking often amounts to its deference and
idealization” (quoted by Jaiswal 1998 in Bishankha 2011).
It is then important to understand how the rural Dalit community varies from the urban
Dalit community, how men and women vary within those communities, how the
economic standings of the couples vary pre and post-incentive, etc. Empowerment should
be addressed with an integrated approach; coming from the local organizations where
Dalits will be able to increase their right-claiming abilities, and from a national, policy-
level where new policies may lead to changing social norms (A. Bishwakarma 2013).
II. Instruments for social change:
i. Awareness:
One key issue that has led to the government’s failed attempts to take the Dalit
community out of poverty is their unwillingness to promote society’s awareness of the
problem. Rabin Subedi says, “The government should have more awareness programs to
solve this problem…” (Society Still Not Mature Enough 2013). Sabin added, “The
government should focus on awareness of [inter-caste] marriage. Providing cash rewards
will not make the marriage easy in society” (Society Still Not Mature Enough 2013).
Nepal also lacks security for inter-caste couples, “In addition to cash incentives, the
government should take favorable steps to make the family environment and society
secure enough to encourage it (Society Still Not Mature Enough 2013). Bhakta
(NNDSWO) claims that the affected community needs to band together and create a

37

network that will help raise awareness among themselves of both their rights and their
ability to combat discrimination through community organizing.
The term Dalit is currently related to words like inferior, discriminated, lowest-caste,
untouchable, and exploited. In order to promote the Dalit community in a positive light,
we must sequester the term to have a positive meaning. Some people prefer not to be
referred to as Dalit, but the lowest caste has made huge progress under that term. Bhakta
(NNDSWO) thinks that efforts to change the term again are not contributing to progress.
In fact, in India Ghandi began calling the lowest-caste community Harijan, meaning
God’s people, in an attempt to change the way people viewed the lowest-caste, but
Harijan now holds a negative connotation as well. The title is clearly not the problem;
instead we must apply positive implications to the term Dalit as we ultimately work
toward eliminating the caste-system all together. The Dalit community suffers from
feeling “psychologically inferior” and lacks access to information and government
facilities; it is the responsibility of local organizations that have access to these
communities to promote an awareness of their legal rights. Rachana (UN Social Inclusion
Action Group) claims that training and creating awareness is a start, but it is not enough.
The Dalit people need a market to engage in and shelter to protect them in the case of
abuse, which currently does not exist (Rasaily 2013).
ii. Empowerment:
The World Bank’s Gender Social Exclusion Assessment (GSEA) claims that better
livelihoods, assets, and services as well as voice, influence and agency all fall under an
empowerment scheme (Bennett 2006). Dalits often internalize an understanding of
themselves as necessarily untouchable, and are thus becoming victims of the social world

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rather than activists for their own freedoms. Because of their inferiority complex they
often prefer to leave the higher-caste community after marriage for fear of discrimination.
The vulnerable and excluded communities need to achieve a higher level of self-respect
and dignity before they can improve their livelihood opportunities. The UN Social
Inclusion Action Group is working with faith leaders as a means to interact with the very
people who “dominate marginalized groups;” a key component to making sustainable
social change is to engage with and collaborate with leaders of the dominant groups.
Suman (DNF) claims that opposition to such discrimination is growing, that people are
no longer unanimously silently accepting the discrimination that they face, and that this is
resulting in a positive outcome for the Dalit community. We must also pay particular
attention to empowering the younger generations, the children of these couples are less
bound to the caste-system and have an opportunity to stand up for themselves. According
to JUP-Nepal, in order to break the cycle of high-caste people ruling the government, we
also need to dis-empower the high-caste individuals who think that they are superior by
virtue of birth. It appears that society is not ready to accept Dalit leaders in political
positions, JUP-Nepal has therefore made it their mission to integrate Dalit people into
society in order to “build harmonious relations” between the Dalit people and high-caste
people in order to reveal the similarities between Brahmin and Dalit culture and to
improve public opinion of the Dalit community. Dalit people must also increase their
“right-claiming” ability to fight for themselves against the human rights abuses
committed to harm them (A. Bishwakarma 2013).

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iii. Civil society:
Nepal’s civil society has the power to make an impact on the political sphere as
exemplified by the government incentive for inter-caste marriage, itself. The government
incentive came about from a combination of efforts from civil society and the Dalit
community that amassed to a final effort from the National Dalit Commission, and
eventually to the provision. However, “transformation from subject to citizen remains
incomplete in Nepal” the Panchayat period (1962-1990) began this transition, but it is
still ongoing. The 1990 constitution claimed Nepal to be “multiethnic, multilingual, and
democratic” and all citizens to be equal despite their diversity. But, Nepal remained a
Hindu Kingdom, protecting “traditional practices,” untouchability as an example of these
traditional practices.
The World Bank found that membership in local organizations positively correlates to
increased empowerment and inclusion—turning subjects into citizens (Bennett 2006).
JUP-Nepal claims to have found success in mobilizing civil society in an effort to create
a Dalit committee in the Constitutional Assembly. They organized all Dalit politicians to
create a common consensus document that addressed issues of compensation for Dalits.
In this document, they addressed the history of the state’s discrimination against the Dalit
community and made a case for giving the Dalit community special rights, as a means to
catch up to the high-castes. It also outlined the need for proportional representation in the
government, as well as other special rights for the Dalit community in particular.
Bhakta (NNDSWO) says that the civil society and human rights organizations (including
government bodies such as the National Dalit Commission) need to be equally active in
naming and claiming caste-based discrimination as a human rights violation, this will

40

lead to more effective constitutional and legal provisions that are protective over the
affected communities. Partnerships must also form across non-Dalit and Dalit
organizations including within the private sector (which will help combat discrimination
in the workplace), human rights organizations, other ethnic organizations, sister
organizations for political parties, etc. in order to jointly fight and create a movement
from the top-down as well as the bottom-up, to also implement punishments for caste-
based discrimination crimes.
iv. Livelihood and opportunity structure
In order to fully expand the freedoms of the Dalit community we must also improve their
access to opportunities and their overall livelihoods. GSEA claims that in order for social
inclusion to take place, we must produce a more equitable opportunity structure in daily
life and in political influence, which are inextricably linked (Bennett 2006). Bhakta
(NNDSWO) says that the state should provide job opportunities for Dalit people and free
education for Dalit children; with access to jobs and education the families will no longer
require the 100,000NPR for survival and they will be contributing to the greater Nepali
society through positive means. The lump sum alone is not enough to contribute to the
couple’s ability to gain economic freedom, “They should be provided with a good job as
well…” (Society Still Not Mature Enough 2013). Dalit people’s economic positions hold
them back from accessing politics because Nepali politics are incredibly corrupt and run
almost entirely by money and negotiation today. The Dalit NGO Federation is attempting
to improve the Dalit community’s livelihoods by providing support, protection (and
shelter from discrimination), as well as legal advice through their affiliation with many

41

other Dalit organizations. Anita (SIRF) says that these couples need to be given social
security and livelihood opportunities.
v. Local and national government and NGO collaboration
Local governments best represent Nepal’s marginalized communities, but the local
government has limited power. The NDC thus works to bridge the divide between the
local and the national governments by bringing the needs of the Dalit people to national
attention. Dalits who are feeling discriminated against, can legally go to the VDC
secretary or police to file their case, but these positions are often filled by higher caste
individuals and thus may not give the Dalits’ pleas high priority. If the government does
not accept a Dalit’s claim of discrimination, NDC will provide a lawyer and additional
pressure to the government or police to proceed with an effective punishment (Timsina
2013). However, it is clear that we need to reassess policy and the institutional
framework of Nepal in order to specifically support the excluded groups so that they can
take advantage of their rights.
“The quiet revolution underway in Nepal is the expansion of the impetus for group-based
collective action from the village level to district, national (and sometimes international)
arenas through the formation of federations and associations of grassroots groups…” and
requires “government support—not restrictions” (Bennett 2006).
NNDSWO suggests that the national administration needs to be actively promoting
human rights and justice for the Dalit community while individuals are working toward
the same goal. The state, society and community must work in concert so society is
accepting of the laws and state missionaries are promoting the legal system. We must
move toward a unified Dalit movement, one with a federal governmental structure that
respects all human’s rights and promotes equality “not based on ethnicity, community, or

42

caste,” while the local administration (who is more apt for supporting the needs of the
local community) is accessible and encouraging of the provisions written on the national
level and protected by the constitution. The local authority will thus become the
provisional authority, seeking justice, representing the people, and acting in an accessible
manner (B. Bishwakarma 2013). GSEA suggests that we move toward an identity-based
federal system. Brahmin and Chetri people make up 29% of the population, and thus
should only represent 29% of the ruling political power (Gurung 2013). However,
because they currently hold all the power, it is difficult to introduce such a system that
would strip them of their dictatorship. The international development partner group
(INDP) in Nepal is chaired by the World Bank and has representatives form all
development groups in Nepal, together they work toward a more inclusive rule of law,
improving the livelihood of the socially excluded and in promoting human rights. They
find that it is “most effective to work with many different partners” (Rasaily 2013).
However, even the majority of the development sector is made up of high caste
individuals who are unable to properly represent the needs of the Dalit community. We
need to promote the Dalit community in the decision-making level of the government and
other pivotal organizations, especially Dalit females to help address the intersectional
issues that they, and many other excluded groups face, by virtue of exclusion on multiple
levels.
vi. Effective implementation & punishment:
Nepal’s citizens are known to have a lack of respect for the rule of law and therefore “a
culture of accountability must replace the present culture of impunity” (Man Banepali
2011). The NDC claims that since the inauguration of the Anti-Discrimination Act of

43

2012, perpetrators of caste-based discrimination will be legally punished, but the
implementation of this punishment has proven to be almost entirely ineffective according
to many of the organizations I spoke to. “Lack of laws is not the main issue in Nepal”
(Bennett 2006).
According to Suman (DNF), laws against caste-based discrimination are in place, but
there is deeply embedded caste favoritism, he says, “even if they don’t know each other
they feel empathy” towards one another, such that Butler describes in Frames of War. We
need to reestablish the this sense of community to be more inclusionary of all Nepali
people as well as bring forth more Dalit people into law enforcement positions.
Currently, law enforcement officials are almost entirely comprised of higher-caste
individuals and sometimes choose not to enforce laws that will promote the power of the
Dalit community (Gurung 2013). The political system, including law enforcement, has a
symbiotic relationship with the economic system; one’s economic standing completely
determines their access to political processes and the political processes greatly affect
one’s economic mobility. The Dalit community is forced into poverty and without
economic support; they lack access to the very process that continues to hinder their
economic growth. It is thus difficult to begin the process of encouraging effective
implementation of laws that are giving power to the powerful and continue to suffocate
the already excluded.
“The effective implementation of an individual’s rights needs to be addressed before
measures are taken to address inter-caste marriages” according to Amrit (JUP-Nepal).
But, Tilak (SIRF) also claims that “Laws and Acts are useless when perspectives aren’t
changing” and that inter-caste marriage may be a means to begin affecting people’s

44

perspectives. Another tactic in order to accomplish this is worsening the punishment for
those who participate in such discrimination, only then will we begin to create a more
equitable society (Poudel 2013). The policy will illustrate what the state supports in
theory, but there is rarely punishment for unequal treatment. Once people start to
acknowledge that their actions are punishable, they may change their actions, thus
eventually changing their mindsets.
vii. International pressure
According to the World Bank, international pressure successfully sparked the
conversation in Nepal about gender discrimination, which can be used as an example for
the international community’s ability to affect change for all excluded groups. NNDSWO
claims that their most effective means for creating social change and encouraging the
social inclusion of the Dalit community has been to “build a friendship throughout the
globe” of varying organizations and activists. Nepal is ruled from the outside, from its
powerful neighbors, China and India (especially) and from other powerful political actors
that have established NGOs and large development organizations in the country, we must
connect with the international community in order to promote the human rights of the
excluded communities (A. Bishwakarma 2013). In 2004, JUP-Nepal raised the Dalit
voice to an international level. They participated in the Human Rights Conference in
Geneva and brought forth the issues of Dalit marginalization. This conference claimed
that “one of the most degrading forms of human rights violations” is caste based
discrimination, and lacking the right to marry whom you prefer (Man Banepali 2011).
Nepal now participates in a Universal Periodic Review in Geneva to end caste-based
discrimination and untouchability and to help promote access to justice for victims of

45

such (Man Banepali 2011; A. Bishwakarma 2013). “However, despite existing strong
national legal standards and international obligations, the crimes of caste-based
discrimination and untouchability are still prevalent in Nepal” (Man Banepali 2011).
viii. Revolution!Resolution
There is a perception that inter-caste marriage will “create disorder in the system and
spread conflict in the society. If we need change there should be conflict” according to
Anita (SIRF). “The ultimate social leap or break is revolution. For what is revolution but
a period when gradual accumulation of mass bitterness and anger of the exploited and
oppressed coalesces and bursts forth into a mass movement to overturn the existing social
relations and replace them with new ones?” (D’Amato 2003) Perhaps through spreading
awareness and empowering the Dalit community feelings of bitterness that have been
building will eventually burst in a revolutionary movement. The Maoists forced certain
situations to transpire that amplified Dalit people’s voices; they encouraged Dalit people
to challenge their role as untouchables by going to water taps and into kitchens (Gurung
2013). This confrontation brought about tension and gave rise to issues of discrimination.
The Maoists were able to effectively bring about unspoken topics to the forefront of
Nepal’s political system (Gurung 2013) “Violence, punishment and fear” have proven to
be productive means for maintaining Dalit’s social exclusion (Poudel 2013), which begs
the question of whether the same tactics would be productive for inciting the Dalit
community’s social inclusion? There was great coercion, fear, violence, and intimidation
used both during Nepal’s unification and in the inauguration of the caste system.
Today, barring Dalit’s access to temples is one of the most common exploits of caste-
based. At a famous temple in Doti district in 2006, there was a huge clash between a

46

group of Dalits and non-Dalits that resulted in the injury of 4-dozen Dalits, and “serious”
harm to at least 15 Dalits. In response, the Nepali Congress urged that the government to
bring the “immoral people” to justice. This conflict even began the conversation of
bringing more Dalit people into mainstream politics. The quarrel arose because “Dalits
had entered the temple following an agreement the week [prior]…allowing Dalits to enter
the temple under the supervision of the district police office. The district administration
had reached an agreement with the temple's priest as well” (MPs Draw Govt Attention to
Shaileshwori Temple Incident 2006). The Dalit NGO Federation also spoke out against
the incident and demanded action be taken against the perpetrators of the crimes. The
incident opened the floor for the Dalit NGO Federation to publically condemn other cases
of violence and abuse against the Dalit community. Such conflict certainly bred
revolution and began opening the forum for activists to speak out against acts of
discrimination, and even led to bringing justice to the excluded community.
Conclusion: Examples of social change
Despite the current state of Nepal’s social hierarchy, the country is in transition to a
potentially democratic governance, one that is better equip to represent its citizens, as
right claiming constituents. Inter-caste marriage may be a positive force to blur caste
lines and minimize the social, political, and economic disparity between the so-called
higher and lower-castes. Tilak (SIRF) says that it tends to be gradual recovery, but
reconciliation does often take place for inter-caste couples and their communities. He
found that it often takes 8-10 years (it has only been 3 years since the incentive was
enacted), or the birth of a child for the families to begin reaccepting their son or daughter
into the family after they have married a Dalit. He urges that it is therefore important to

47

promote these marriages because eventual acceptance will likely ensue.
Sarmila, from the UN Social Inclusion Action Group, shared a story about her work in a
village for the field component of her job. She, a Dalit female, is culturally barred from
entering many higher-caste individual’s kitchens. However, as part of her outreach work
she was constructing and installing healthier stoves in villagers’ homes. Throughout her
time there, she had formed a relationship with one of the community members that she
was working with, without the acknowledgement of caste from either party. Eventually, it
was spread that there was a Dalit woman working in the group, Sarmila’s friend from the
village asked her to inform the so-called Dalit that she not allowed in her kitchen. When
Sarmila professed that she was in fact the Dalit, tension and confusion immediately
followed. The next day, the higher-caste woman’s mindset shifted and she apologized for
her actions. Not only did she end up welcoming Sarmila into her home, but also thanked
her for her help in the village. This interaction led the villager to advocate to her
community that caste-based discrimination is unjust and unreasonable. A higher-caste
woman standing up for the rights of a Dalit was a productive means for achieving social
change in the village, and it started with simply building a relationship on the basis of a
common humanity untainted by caste ranks. In this case, it took drawing on the upper-
caste woman’s sympathies and beginning to redefine or re-illustrate the picture of a Dalit
that she had previously conceived of. It is imperative for the success of Nepal, as the
country enters into an era of political transformation for marginalized groups to no longer
be socially, politically, and economically excluded.

48

Appendix A
Caste/Ethnicity Index of Participation in Governance, 1999 (Gurung 2013).
(Gurung 2013).

49

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List of Interviews
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Bishwakarma, Amrit. 2013. Interview with President of Jana Utthan Pratisthan-Nepal.
Kathmandu, November, 26, 2013.

52

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