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Landless farmers make pressure group
The
Ukhada victims from Kapilvastu have formed a committee to continue
their fight for land rights initiated by Kalika Self-reliant
Social Centre (KSSC). In mid-September a group of 11 people will
go to Kathmandu and talk face to face with representatives from
the Ministry of Land.
 Hakim Darji from Phulika VDC is president of the newly elected
committee of Ukhada victims in Kapilvastu. To Hakim Darji the
purpose of making a pressure group is obvious;” We have so many
different problems and at district level they are not able to help
us. Now we want the responsible people in the government to know
about our situation”
Difficulties and reckless land lords
The Ukhada victims are mostly landless labourers from the three
Terai districts Kapilvastu, Nawalparasi and Rupandehi. In a
reopening of the ‘Ukhada’ cases the farmers are entitled to own
the land they are working on under certain conditions. They have
to show evidence that their fathers cultivated and paid taxes for
the land. The tax receipts prove their legally right to the land
which was never actually given to them, because the land lords
ignored to fill up their responsibilities after the Ukhada court
was established in 2021 B.S.(1965).
In order to obtain land a Nepali citizenship is required which
many of the Ukhada victims do not have. According to Hakim Darji
the problem of citizenship is important but other obstacles are
equally hard for them to overcome; “Many land lords have cheated
people and changed the documents. Spelling mistakes on old pieces
of paper are also a problem. We have to prove exactly that these
are our fathers’ names and that the land we now work on is exactly
the same our fathers cultivated and paid taxes for”.
Listen to our problems and change policy!
 Many of the 11 people from Kapilvastu will go to Kathmandu for the
first time. The overall aim of the delegation is to make the
government take the Ukhada cases seriously. Each case is
individual and it is vital that the governmental bodies who handle
the cases give time for the victims to come up with the necessary
documents and to apply for citizenship as well. The government has
given a period of 8 months at maximum to finish the cases. This is
impossible for many of the Ukhada victims – especially because
they got to know about the possibility very late and only through
the direct intervention by KSSC.
Hakim Darji is thankful that KSSC contacted him and his 104 fellow
Ukhada victims and established a special office to help their
application process. He hopes that the lobbying in Kathmandu will
make the government change policy and make some decisions to help
them all.” If some Ukhada victims’ problems are not solved they
have no other chance than to go to India” says the president,
indicating that chances of finding work are much better south of
the border.
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