English - Support to Participatory Constitution Building in Nepal ...

administrative area to avoid dual
rule in one particular area.
5. Need for a clear provision
concerning what extra rights
an Autonomous or Special or
Protected Area enjoys over other
local government units.
III. New Dimension of Nepali
Nationalism: Rights of
Minorities
III. 1.
In a country like Nepal, with
caste/ethnic, linguistic and regional
diversity, federalism serves nation
building in the following ways:
III. 2.
• Recognition of identity
• Provincial autonomy
• Political management of diversity
• Rights of minorities
• Learning to live together
The CA Constitutional Committee defines
the Nepali nation as a multiethnic,
multilingual, multicultural society
in which people are bound together
with common aspirations and respect
for the national interest, independence
and integrity. Nepal is an independent
sovereign state characterized
as a republic, secular, inclusive,
multi-ethnic and oriented towards
socialism.
Aspirations of the indigenous
nationalities and other social groups
from a federal structure:
• Identity and autonomy based on
caste/ethnicity, language, culture
and region.
• Constitutional provision for social
justice and positive discrimination
to end all kinds of discrimination
III. 3.
against ethnic groups, women,
Dalits, Madheshis and other
marginalized groups.
• Reservation for excluded groups
in proportion to the size of their
own populations.
• Inclusive and proportional
representation of all caste/ethnic
groups.
• Right to self determination as a
fundamental right.
• Political prime rights.
• Prime rights for indigenous
nationalities over land, water and
forests.
• Constitutional provision ensuring
rights as provided by ILO 169, UN
Declaration and international law.
• Mother tongue as medium of
education and also for right to
information.
minority groups
Provisions on the rights of
The CA refers to minorities as those groups
that have been discriminated against and
marginalized by the state. It also includes
those deprived and marginalized groups
that are numerically lower in terms of
caste/ethnicity, language and religion.
• Positive discrimination: though
providing equal rights to citizens
in the application of law and
distribution of opportunities, the
state can legally make specific
provisions for those who are
backward socially, culturally and
economically. The groups that
are identified as being entitled
to receive benefits from positive
discrimination are broad and
vague as they include all groups
except adult urban citizens.
6 Federalism Dialogues Series 5