The Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2063 (2007) - Digital Himalaya

THE INTERIM CONSTITUTION OF NEPAL, 2063 (2007)AS AMENDED BY THE FIRST TO SIXTH AMENDMENTSSOME COMMENTS ON THE TRANSLATIONOccasionally we have decided to put in square brackets the original Nepali word intransliterated form. One of these words is Janajati, which means a member of an ethnicgroup. It is used in Nepal to mean a person who is not a Bahun (Brahmin) or Chhetri,a Dalit or a member of the Madhesi community. Even the last is perhaps disputedbecause sometimes Madhesis class the Tharu community as being "Madhesi" but theTharus themselves may insist that they are to be identified as Janajati. Usually theword Janajati appears linked to the word Adivasi. That word means "indigenousethnic group". It is not for us to interpret the Interim Constitution, as opposed totranslating it. So we have put in brackets after an attempted translation whatever wordor words is/are in the original - usually Adivasi Janajati.Similarly we have indicated in brackets the use of the word kamaiyas or haliyas. Theseare both types of bonded labourers. The words are often used in English and simply totranslate them as "bonded labourers" or as "tillers" would not convey the full nature ofthe Nepali text. Again we have indicated in brackets the use of the phrase "HaruwaCharuwa". This is described on the website of Community Self Reliance Centre thus:"Haruwa is a system of hiring people for agriculture work with exploitative wages andCharuwa is a system of hiring people for grazing cattle of the landlords with exploitativewages."*We encountered something of a problem with the Comprehensive Peace Agreementand the Agreement on Arms Monitoring which are appended to the Constitution.The English text of the latter is the authentic text, so we should not change it. But onceor twice the English is quite frankly nonsense. In that case we have put what webelieve to be a more rational word in square brackets. You will find this in the Preamble("progressive political outlet [solution]") and in clause 4.1.2 ("Unsuitable [Unstable]devices").The Constitution is intended to implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.However we have not systematically compared the English text of the Constitutionwith the official translation of the CAP. Thus sometimes the two documents may slightlydiffer. We have made a few minor changes to the CPA translation - errors of usage oreven perhaps typographical errors in the original. Here again we have in a few instancessuggested a preferred word in square brackets. In Nepali it is unnecessary to set out"his or her" etc – possessives are neutral in terms of gender. In this translation we havechosen to use the clumsy "his/her" etc, or the ungrammatical "their", to avoid genderspecific language.Finally, non-readers of Nepali are requested to bear in mind that (apart from the ArmsAgreement) the only legally binding version is the Nepali, and no phrases that mightbe familiar from other systems of law should be assumed to bear the same legal meaningor have the same legal effect as they would in an English language statute.36* See http://www.csrcnepal.org/issues.htm. "Kamaiya" and "Haliya" are also briefly explained.