Madheshi people
Total population | |
---|---|
13,318,705 | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Predominantly southeastern Nepal | |
Languages | |
Urdu | |
Religion | |
Hinduism · Islam · Christian |
Madheshi people (
Etymology
The word madhesh is thought to be derived from the
: 2The term Madheshi people has been used for people of
: 68 Madhesh has also been defined as the cultural and linguistic space existing as a basis for identity among the people of the Terai.[14]History of Indian immigration to the Nepal Terai
Indian migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar settled foremost in the eastern Nepal Terai since the late 18th century, when the Shah rulers of Nepal encouraged deforestation and agricultural development of this region.[15]
Since the late 18th century, the
In 1952, a Nepal Citizenship Act was passed that entitled all those immigrants to obtain Nepali citizenship who had stayed in the country for at least five years. The Citizenship Act of 1963 entitled immigrants to receive Nepali citizenship if they were able to read and write Nepali and engaged in business.[15] In 1981, the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimated that about 3.2 million people of Indian origin lived in Nepal, of which about 2.4 million had received Nepali citizenship.[20] In 2006, the Nepal Citizenship Act was amended to the effect that people born before 1990 and residing permanently in the country obtained the right to Nepali citizenship.[21] About 2.3 million people received citizenship certificates.[22]: 4 The
- foreign women who are married to a Nepali man.
- children of a Nepali woman and a foreign man.
Demographics of the Nepal Terai
With 33,998.8 km2 (13,127.0 sq mi), the Nepal Terai constitutes 23.1% of Nepal's land area. As of 2001, about 48.5% of Nepal's population lived in the Terai, which had a population density of 330.78/km2 (856.7/sq mi), the highest in the country.[24] As of June 2011, the Nepal Terai's human population totaled 13,318,705 people comprising more than 120 different ethnic groups and castes.[25]
The Madheshi people constituted 32% of Nepal's population by the 1991 census. Of these, 16% belonged to various Hindu castes, 9% belonged to other ethnic groups, including 6.5% Tharu people.[5]
Politics
Since the late 1940s, the term 'Madhes' was used by politicians in the Nepal Terai to differentiate between the interests of the people of the Terai and of the hills.[26] At the time, Indian and Madheshi people needed a passport to travel to Kathmandu, a requirement in place until 1958.[13] In the 1950s, the regional political party Nepal Terai Congress advocated more autonomy for the Terai, recognition of Hindi as a national language and increasing employment opportunities for Madheshi people.[27] During 1961 to 1990, the Panchayat government enforced a policy of assimilating diverse cultural groups into a pan-Nepali identity. Legal directives made it an offense to address inequality and discrimination of ethnic groups.[26] The complexities of ethnopolitical conflicts between immigrants, caste groups and indigenous groups living in the Terai were not addressed.[28]
After the Panchayat regime was abolished following the
The
The Tharu people were initially comfortable with the Madheshi identity in the eastern part of the Terai as of 2007, but in the central part, they claim a distinct Tharu identity.[1]: 2 In 2009, they disassociated themselves from being identified as Madheshi and demanded their own province.[38][39]
Armed groups like Terai Army, Madhesi National Liberation Front, Terai Cobras and Madhesh Mukti Tigers pursued this aim of autonomy using violent means.[40] Some members of these organisations were responsible for acts of terrorism including bombings and murders.[41] The Alliance for Independent Madhesh also demands independence of the Terai.[42][43]
In 2013, more than 24 Madheshi political parties were registered for the
Indian influence in Nepal Terai
After the
Culture
The culture of Madeshi people is complex and diverse. The Muslim and indigenous peoples speak their own languages and have distinct cultural traditions that differ from the Hindu
: 9Muslim people in the Terai constitute about 96% of all Muslims in the country. Their cultural traditions are interlinked with those of Muslim people in northern India; popular destinations for their ziyarat pilgrimage are the shrines of Ajmer Sharif Dargah and Ghazi Saiyyad Salar Masud in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, respectively.[48] They are influenced by the hierarchy of the Hindu caste system, with the difference that it is not based on the principle of pollution and purity, but on occupation.[49]
Both Muslim and Hindu Madheshi parents place more emphasis on the education of boys than of girls.[7]: 144 Despite an increase of schools and primary education being compulsory and free of cost, more boys than girls are enrolled. Girls are expected to look after younger siblings and do household chores. Many rural Madheshi girls are married at an age of 14 to 16 years.[50]
Languages
Madheshi people speak
The National Population and Housing Census of 2011 knows of 123 languages spoken in all of Nepal and lists:[25]- 3,092,530 Maithili speaking people (11.7% of Nepal's total population), of which 3,004,245 lived in the Terai;
- 1,584,958 Bhojpuri speaking people (5.98%), of which 1,542,333 lived in the Terai;
- 1,529,875 Tharu speaking people (5.77%), including 1,479,129 in the Terai;
- 793,418 Bajjika speaking people (2.99%), including 791,737 in the Terai;
- 691,546 Urdu-speaking people (2.61%), including 671,851 in the Terai.
Muslim Madheshis speak Urdu primarily, but also Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Bajjika and Maithili, depending on whether they live in the western, central or eastern Terai.[51][52]
Religions
The following religions are practised in the Terai according to the National Population and Housing Census of 2011:[25]
- Hinduism with 11,308,620 followers
- Islam with 1,105,533 followers
- Buddhism with 472,469 followers
- Kiratwith 190,458 followers
- Christianity with 137,723 followers
- Prakritiwith 63,747 followers
- Jainism with 2,169 followers
- Bon with 1,379 followers, less than 900 followers of the Baháʼí Faith and less than 500 Sikhs.
The religious practices of the majority of Madheshi people are a mixture of orthodox Hinduism and animism.[53]
Muslim Madheshis practise the traditional nikah marriage, which is recognised by law.[19] The largest and oldest madrasa is located in Krishnanagar.[52] Mawlawis teaching Quran and Hadith at madrasas in the Terai are either from India, or were trained in India and Saudi Arabia.[54] Many Muslim Madheshis practise endogamy.[55]
Cuisine
In 1989, a study on food consumption patterns was conducted with 108 people in a village in
See also
References
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- ^ ISBN 9789057020896.
- ^ JSTOR 4419601.
- ^ ISBN 9788132100164.
- ^ Kabir 2013, p. 10.
- ^ Dixit, K. M. (2017). "Who is the Madhesi subaltern?". Nepali Times. Kathmandu.
- ^ Hachhethu 2007, p. 4.
- ^ Kabir 2013, p. 11.
- ^ Apte, V. S. (1957–1959). "मध्य madhya". Revised and enlarged edition of Prin. V. S. Apte's The practical Sanskrit-English dictionary. Poona: Prasad Prakashan.[permanent dead link]
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- ^ a b c d e Dahal, D. R. (1983). "Economic development through indigenous means: A case of Indian migration in the Nepal Terai" (PDF). Contribution to Nepalese Studies. 11 (1): 1–20.
- ^ Gaige, F. H. (1975). "Migration into the Tarai". Regionalism and National Unity in Nepal (Second ed.). Delhi: Vikas Publishing House. pp. 58–86.
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- ^ Kabir 2012, p. 14.
- ^ Pathak, B. & Uprety, D. (2009). Tarai-Madhes searching for identity based security (PDF). Kathmandu: Conflict Study Center.
- ^ Shrestha, S. & Mulmi, S. (2016). Legal Analysis of Citizenship Law of Nepal. A Comparative Study of the Nepal Citizenship Act, 2006 with the Constitution, Precedents, International Human Rights Obligation and Best Practices. Publication No. 190 (PDF). Kathmandu: Forum for Women, Law & Development.
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- ^ a b c Central Bureau of Statistics (2012). National Population and Housing Census 2011 (PDF). Kathmandu: Government of Nepal.
- ^ a b c Miklian 2009, p. 3.
- ^ Kabir 2012, p. 7.
- ISBN 9780415780971.
- ISBN 9788187358084.
- ^ Kabir 2013, pp. 13–14.
- ^ Hachhethu 2007, pp. 9–10; Kabir 2013, p. 19
- ^ Yadav, R. (2010). "On Being Madhesi". Himalaya, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies. 29 (1): 65–68.
- ISBN 978-981-10-2926-4.
- ^ Kabir 2012, p. 8.
- ISBN 9781932728620.
- S2CID 154365607.
- ^ Kabir 2012, p. 12; Miklian 2009, p. 5
- ^ Kabir 2012, p. 20.
- ^ a b Pandey, K. (2017). "Politicising ethnicity: Tharu contestation of Madheshi identity in Nepal's Tarai". The South Asianist. 5 (1): 304–322.
- ^ Hachhethu 2007, p. 5; Miklian 2009, p. 15
- ^ "Nepal Timeline Year 2004". South Asia Terrorism Portal. 2004. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
- ^ Press Trust of India (2016). "Nepal: Madhesis protest outside British embassy against 1816 treaty". Indian Express. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
- ^ "Alliance for Independent Madhesh (AIM)". Alliance for Independent Madhesh. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
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- ^ Ojha, H. (2015). "The India-Nepal Crisis". The Diplomat.
- ^ Mahato, R. (2016). "The endless transition". Nepali Times. Kathmandu.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-80470-7.
- ISBN 9781136701344.
- ^ Thapa, S. (1995). "Caste Hierarchy: The inter-Ethnic Stratification in the Muslim society of Nepal". Tribhuvan University Journal. XVII: 78–87.
- ^ Gupta, A. K. (2019). "Significance of Girl Education: Parents' Perception from Rural Madhesh of Nepal". Journal of Management and Development Studies. 29: 61–68.
- ISBN 978-81-241-1271-7.
- ^ .
- ^ Khalid, S. (2016). "Nepal's ethnic Madhesis fight for dignity and equality". Aljazeera.
- ^ Thapa, S. (2000). "Ethnic Variation of Nepal's Muslim Minority" (PDF). ISIM Newsletter. 6: 18.
- ^ Sijapati, M. A. (2012). "Mawdudi's Islamic Revivalist Ideology and the Islami Sangh Nepal". Studies in Nepali History and Society. 17 (1): 41–61.
- ^ Ohno, Y.; Hirai, K.; Sato, N.; Ito, M.; Yamamoto, T.; Tamura, T. & Shrestha, M. P. (1997). "Food consumption patterns and nutrient intake among Nepalese living in the southern rural Terai region". Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition (6): 251–255.
- ^ Sharma, K. C. (2001). "Crop diversification in Nepal" (PDF). In Papademetriou, M. K.; Dent, F. J. (eds.). Crop Diversification in the Asia-Pacific Region. RAP publication 81. Bangkok: FAO. pp. 81–94.
Bibliography
- Miklian, J. (2009). Nepal's Terai: Constructing an Ethnic Conflict. South Asia Briefing Paper #1 (PDF). Oslo: International Peace Research Institute. ISBN 978-82-7288-309-5.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: ignored ISBN errors (link - Hachhethu, K. (2007). "Madheshi nationalism and restructuring the Nepali state". International Seminar on Constitutionalism and Diversity in Nepal. Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu: Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies. pp. 1–12. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.694.9316.
- Kabir, H. (2013). Education, Nationalism, and Conflict in Plural Society in Nepal: Terai Region in the Post-Maoist Context. Discussion Paper Series. Vol. 19. Hiroshima: Hiroshima University Partnership Project for Peace Building and Capacity Development.
- Kabir, H. (2012). The rise of new regional political force in Madhes and its consequence in post-conflict Nepal. Discussion Paper Series. Vol. 15. Hiroshima: Hiroshima University Partnership Project for Peace Building and Capacity Development.
External links
- "Madhesh: Positive progress for Madesh in Nepal". Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. 2019.
- "UN: Nepal blockade puts millions of children at risk". BBC News. 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.