This book aims to describe, understand, and explain the social, political, and geographic consequences of frontier migration, focusing on landlessness, nearlandlessness, and spontaneous settlement among hill migrants in the Tarai of Nepal.
Through the prism of a Nepali remittance village, this book critically examines poverty and livelihood dynamics remade through transnational labour migration and remittances, and their interrelationships with land, rural labour and agriculture. The concept of The Remittance Village emphasises rural people’s transnational mobilities as a key feature of contemporary dynamics in many parts of the Global South, which are reconfiguring rural social, economic and ecological textures. Sunam challenges complacent linear narratives that assume new opportunities such as transnational migration, and remittances provide better pathways for the rural poor to come out of poverty, as well as narratives that understate the importance of land and farming for the rural poor. He demonstrates both that new opportunities are inaccessible for many poor people and that accessing these opportunities often engenders increased precarity and vulnerability. In The Remittance Village, he finds that even those accessing new opportunities are successful only when their household member(s) are simultaneously engaged in in-situ (non-)agricultural activities. This book is a valuable resource for scholars and students from a range of interdisciplinary backgrounds, including human geography, anthropology of development, and sociology. It is also recommended reading for policy makers, international development agencies and I/NGOs working on rural development in the Global South. Chapter 3 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
In Far West Nepal - an area extremely impoverished also by Nepalese standards - labour migration to India has been an integral part of the livelihood strategies of the majority of people for several generations. This research is based on case studies among male and female migrants in Delhi coming from four villages of Far West Nepal. The analysis focuses on selected aspects of the migrants' daily lives, such as working and living conditions, management of loans and savings, and remittance transfer. It was found, that the whole migration process is mainly facilitated by transnational kin and friendship networks. To grasp the geographical and social dimensions of the migrant's lives an integrative approach in joining the sustainable livelihoods approach, Bourdieu's theory of practice, the concept of social capital and the concept of transnational migration was developed. Further results show, that the majority of the migrants are male. The unskilled migrants occupy a distinct niche, in which men have been working as watchmen and car cleaners for generations. The job market is highly organized since jobs are handed over and sold within networks. If wives of migrants are in Delhi for longer periods, they engage in housekeeping. For financial needs migrants established their own informal savings and credit associations. Although migration is firstly seen as an opportunity by the migrants, it can as well perpetuate debt and dependency and entail that they remain migrants for their whole lives.
This is one of the first books to explore Nepali diaspora in a global context, across India and other parts of South Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and Australia. It discusses the social, political and economic status and aspirations of the Nepali community worldwide. The essays in the volume cover a range of themes including belonging and identity politics among Nepalese migrants, representation of Indian Nepalis in literature, diasporic consciousness, forceful eviction and displacement, social movements, and ritual practices among migrant communities. Drawing attention to the lives of Nepali emigrants, the volume presents a sensitive and balanced understanding of their options and constraints, and their ambivalences about who they are. This work will be invaluable to scholars and students of Nepal studies, area studies, diaspora and migration studies, social anthropology, cultural studies and literature.
A history of Nepal from the Medieval/Early Modern period through to the present day with particular attention to contemporary Nepal, and the prospects for democracy.
South Asians comprise over 15 per cent of all international migrating population, among the highest in the world. The countries of the Persian Gulf are perhaps still the largest recipients of migrant workers. A unique economy has developed between these two regions, with all South Asian nations being major beneficiaries and featuring among the top twenty countries receiving maximum remittances globally. The South Asia Migration Report 2017 is the first of its kind, documenting migration profiles, diaspora, recruitment and remittances, both in individual countries as well as the South Asian region as a whole. It also discusses skilled, unskilled and internal migrations. The volume: includes on-the-ground studies from six nations: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Afghanistan; discusses public policy, effects of global recession on the region and its impact on migration; and examines the process of reintegration of returning migrants. This book will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of economics, development studies, migration and diaspora studies, labour studies and sociology. It will also be useful to policymakers and government institutions working in the area.
Social Inclusion of Ethnic Communities in Contemporary Nepal focuses on the dynamics of ethnic identities and movement in South Asian states in a comparative framework. As we witness a series of explosive ethnic revivals across the globe, this study investigates the issues around ethnicity that have come to occupy centre stage in Nepal’s contemporary political and development discourse. Nepal is at the crossroads of state building. The Constituent Assembly is now looking into the modalities of establishing a multi-cultural, multi-social, multi-linguistic, multi-religious and multi-ethnic federal state. In the aftermath of the April 2006 Jana Andolan II and the commitment of the ruling political alliance to restructuring Nepal along federal republican lines, the assessment of Nepal’s ethnic question from multiple perspectives — political, sociological, economic and spatial — has acquired a new urgency. Ethnic identity is only one part of the problem of ethnicity in Nepal. Federalism therefore has to be conceived of as an exercise in addressing the multiplicity of issues that form the agenda of Nepal’s development, so that a politically, socially and economically integrated, dynamic and progressive Nepal emerges from the shadows of the pasThis work includes an intensive analysis of facts, figures and particulars collected from available records and surveys. One of the aims of the study is to assess the defining ethnic identity among the Limbus, centred on a case in an urban area in the Kathmandu Valley. This work is mainly based on qualitative data but quantitative data has also been used to measure various aspects of the community, like the level of educational, economy etc. This volume will be an invaluable guide for the scholars of federalism in Nepal while also educating the lay reader in general.
South Asia Migration Report 2020 documents key themes of exploitation and entrepreneurship of migrants from the region. This volume: • Includes dedicated fieldwork from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal; • Analyses the impact of South-Asia-migrant-established businesses; • Examines legal and legislative recourse against exploitation in destination countries; • Factors in how migration as a phenomenon negotiates with gender, environment and even healthcare. This book will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of economics, development studies, migration and diaspora studies, gender studies, labour studies and sociology. It will also be useful to policymakers, think tanks and government institutions working in the area.
Nepal is a living example of contrasts and contradictions.It is a country that was born in medieval times, grew up in the 16th century, and now finds itself engulfed in the high-tech gadgets and material marvels of the 21st century. Nepal has its share of problem which include inadequate economic development and social infrastructure, poverty and corruption, plus worsening pollution, but now it finally has relative peace and quiet after a hasty Maoist uprising. Indeed, it has passed through several democratic elections, and finally seems to be getting on the right track. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Nepal contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 700 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Nepal.