The Nabin Subba directed movie triggers in the author the reflections about how careless development can jeopardize indigenous ways of life.

By Hisila YamiPublished – 7 August, 2024 12:28 pm

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The movie Gaun Ayeko Bato brought back a flurry of past memories in me. I remembered the song “gaun gaun bata utha, basti basti bata utha…” a revolutionary song sung by Jhapalis during the 1970s when they were fighting against the monarchy. Today we have done away with monarchy but our gaun (village) is getting empty with no one to sing the song “gaun gaun bata utha….”

The movie also reminded me of ‘Shahid Marg (91 km)’ which was built by the Maoist during the People’s War when I was working there. When I became a Minister of Physical Planning (2007) after the war I had allotted a budget to that road. In the movie, I saw how building a motorable road had affected the Rai culture and economy adversely. I worried if the present metalled Shahid Marg had adversely affected the Magars’ way of life.

Being a Janjati architect, I am aware how careless development can jeopardize indigenous ways of life. I am not against development, I am in favor of inclusive development. 

During the People’s War, some efforts to integrate development with indigenous ways of life were practiced in Thawang village. Magars in Rolpa eat pork heavily, salad was introduced to digest and prevent constipation. Similarly, within their home they reared pigs feeding feces directly. They made them separate pig breeding from their home. Earlier they were selling the hemp, Maoist helped them make rucksacks much in demand during PW.

In the movie one could see how the local brewery was being replaced by coca cola culture. How the indigenous roof top was being replaced by synthetic building material. And how indigenous underwear was being replaced by flashy synthetic lingerie.

I saw how the Karnali region was left out of development during the monarchy era. On the positive side, I am also aware how that region is now flourishing as a separate province, getting basic amenities such as hospitals, university, road networks, after the country became republic and federal. It is also welcoming signs to see marshi rice, kodo (millet), honey, sishnu, from Karnali finding market in Kathmandu malls. Seeing how fast indigenous ‘gaans, bas kapas’ (food, shelter and clothes) was being replaced by consumerism I started worrying about the fate of Karnali province if the government did not protect their products.

Coincidentally, a few days after watching the movie, I got to watch a photo exhibition launched by Rashtriya Samachar Samiti (RSS) on the occasion of Republic day displaying major infrastructure development works throughout the country. The first thing that struck me was the economic viability of these projects, secondly the participation and ownership of the projects by the local people and thirdly, whether they will benefit the local people. If that was not taken into consideration then I was afraid Indian goods will flood the villages, with which we share almost two thirds of our open border and have nearly 80 times bigger market than of Nepal.

The photo exhibition reminded me of my 30 days trip (Jan 29-Feb27, 2019) from Chiwa Bhanjyang, Ilam district adjoining Sikkim, India to Jhulaghat, Baitadi district bordering Uttaranchal, India covering 28 districts in Pushpalal Marg, a mid hill highway. The salient feature of this road is that it covers all the Janjati and Khas communities of the country. 

The road is so strategic that, had the government given it first priority before the construction of Mahendra Rajmarg, migration from hills to Tarai could have been prevented. After seeing the movie, I became acutely curious during my recent 10 day trip (June 27- July 7, 2024) from Ilam to Kanchanpur covering 18 districts.

While traveling, I saw almost no economic activities throughout the highway except seeing children waiting for their school buses to reach private schools in the mornings and evenings. Suddenly it reminded me how remittance money has accelerated the flow of population from villages to small towns and cities near the highways. It reminded me how the private English boarding schools have flourished in these cities. 

In the movie, the son calls his father ‘Papa’ and the father feels proud to hear his son calling him using the English word.

I was lucky to come back safely in Kathmandu after 10 days of harrowing trip. I saw trails of destruction of roads, houses and paddy fields due to flooding and landslides killing people, animals and destroying goods while returning back. At one point we became stuck in the middle of the road when we found a huge landslide blocking the road ahead and flooding the road behind us. 

Once again I was reminded how in Thawang reforestation was taken up and check dams were built to save Thawang village from surrounding rivers during the war.

Unfortunately the same Maoist force which has been in the government continuously for the last nine years has hardly been effective in implementing sustainable development works. They are busy running after power. 

Hisila Yami is a politician and architect.