fgll.‘ I A v {4.1 5, $1! : .. «' : u.‘ 1'11": '3: . ':Z'F Q n , (.l:‘ I .. . 5.1121... .... J. :1--- . -. .5. 3.5.13. -5... . | .l rilvo‘ttv‘ II. 'J' III-'1’ .¢ qu t .. Alaolh o. .. .I‘tv“ u lunrblvs.1ll1 . I .10vvl‘.l-l Gigi]: .‘OA‘ytVII‘II .‘..‘I. v H 5 n . ._\ ’:'l’ . . . f'. a y .1. .' IV.IIIIDAIOOI|.OIIIOD-Q Ollp| ll?! re 9 . O ‘ 1 ‘1',” I“ l 1;! .. :‘f’ . . v, 5“} 3;. .53.- . H II??? In If. . J 1 , fl } I '1’: 441;, f { ‘r‘i‘ ‘v 4v ..v' . ‘ is .2“? .' (M I if?!" ' 3):,1-3 «J 3m; .4 ' #5 ”£551? 4": . 1 JP: 7“ : . . I," ’ "“i .‘l . a." rh’s-r I H; ’ 1‘4. "161': V "‘l I M.‘ 7! If. 15' v! :fvuvgo. .y I D lol ‘ v u a ' 01411.3 - .3: 90:2? I44!» . . - - ‘AJI 3|.) I . ..... v! I .J .2 u . Cl J; : 1.. . ‘ v. n A i . .u- an“. x‘ l n y - . I . . .-. 2 z ‘ I S . .3 . - . u . o r. ‘ . a . I . . ,1’Hli’luuprl‘ (1... .‘la: I!" 1.85?! .3)": anvil}: s...“ Kilt)... r rfi ;Iv‘¢llllfl' fall" II? lift ‘ v;"‘.5‘.l .141'“ {tithI f ‘glf‘fllfi Ill .llll. to!!! )I l tulvhvlf‘ :1le . 1"}. ‘ 9.01.9}1’1VJ‘ (Ii- nCrE‘lpl' .‘Ivlllolll I’ll} r12! 4 I14 1: nl’é «Iv! 3.11.. .1‘! -u !.Iof )1 r1. II;II 114.....ofoltlltln.liur¢ltllllla I’Iiv‘...il \. ..1 ‘11}-f4- o I can!!! .5!” oil. v a I!!!" 3.! roll. L: -IIAI 1 '10 I) flJoli'llll outficc'f {our . .lfinm . .‘V l! l 7? a 3 1!! It: I . 3 . f .. l A ‘ - . n. . - o- .a . rul HM“ lww, . A i. 613'. ‘ .,.N-. - {‘42: :1! Al . .’ll.i. 3.....3vutunl1 IJH» . ..... £1.33! [.1 t ‘ i v. INN]. I)? . "v .ltl,‘|I p if ’45)“ ’ '4‘ . {If 1" ni|.!t5!?.§ u 33.: O .VOII b I. a \l\llllll\lllll§§lolll\l§l\ l mum ~--— ‘53 l c. ' .7 ' a. h p t — ~ .vx \."._ 9.3.3:. p ‘5 5 -.« Q ’ . . w '31.” ‘ :4: ~ ‘1' ”J F {i- p “1,-.. - N, u. yuagmxl' $19.?"- .1- - At ' This is to certify that the dissertation entitled ETHNICITY AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT} A Sociological Study of Four Tharu Villages in Chitwan, Nepal presented by ‘Kailasthyakuryal has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for Doctor of Philosophydegmin Sociology‘ ‘ ‘34me k. Axial/sweet Major professor Date la AuG“ ST ”81 MS U is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution 0-12771 .—————_—_--_ _ ‘ U :uu‘ . V . . . . A n¢>£h .fioiu'hn'd. bViSSI.) RETURNING MATERIALS: Place in book drop to LIBRARIES remove this checkout from .3.- your record. FINES will — be charged if book is returned after the date stamped below. ii i" i ,’ 515° 2 6 {991 v.) a s t.‘ I .‘ \“\i\ J". a". 'l i“ f? " (-1 ‘y j _ ._ 41 Q“ d V. s, 1;,“ JUL 2 31933 ‘ | b ' V, ‘ ' :1 5 film? ilwrt c“ ,.a,. - ,. ii ’-..i '_l " ’ i . ‘ qnn err! 18 1 \ ' ’ nga P 05." ‘fli- l U 01 l“ .L f 2 7" km. WM 9L {.5 g . l 3 - 3. f " J?( H) . . v4 ETHNICITY AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT: A Sociological Study of Four Tharu Villages in Chitwan, Nepal by Kailash Pyakuryal A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY 1982 ABSTRACT Ethnicity and Rural Development: A Sociological Study of Four Tharu Villages in Chitwan, Nepal by Kailash Pyakuryal The objectives of this study were: 1) to investigate the effects of different contextual situations in rural Nepal on ethnicity, and 2) the relationships between ethnicity and various structural variables relevant to the processes of rural development. It focusses on the Tharu people, an ethnic group indigenous to the Tarai region of south central Nepal. Two matching pairs of Tharu communities were surveyed; one pair in a more centrally-located area (consisting of a predominantly Tharu village and an ethnically diverse village where Tharus are in numeri- cal minority) and a similar matching pair in a more remote area. Data were obtained through a general census of all 260 households in the four villages, and direct interviews of a sample of lOO Tharu house- hold heads (25 from each village) plus 25 non-Tharus from the nearby, diverse village. Supplementary information was obtained from infor- mants, documents, and through observation (i.e., living in the vil- lages while interviewing). Kailash Pyakuryal Ethnicity is viewed as both a structural variable (composition of the village) and a behavioral variable (manifestations of ethnic identity and loyalty). The latter is measured by a seven-point Guttman-Scale. The locational factor (relative centrality or remoteness of vil- lage) emerged as a more important explanation of ethnic behavior than the ethnic composition of the village pg§_§g, No relationship is found between ethnicity and adoption of improved farm practices; it appears that ethnicity and adoption, with regard to these Tharu com- munities, are independent phenomenon. It is concluded that ethnicity, contrary to what is often argued, does not stand in the way of rural development nor does it hinder social integration. Indeed, through the maintenance of group solidar- ity, the motivation of underprivileged minority groups such as the Tharus of Nepal are strengthened and they are better able to partici- pate in the process of nation-building. In memory of: My parents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to my major professor and the chairperson of my guidance committee, Dr. Harry K. Schwarzweller, for his able support throughout the graduate program. His insightful suggestions, ever encouraging remarks and constant inspiration made this research under- taking a reality. Professor J. Allan Beegle kindly provided much aca- demic help and acted as chairperson during the summer and fall of 1980 when Dr. Schwarzweller was away. Professor Beegle, Dr. Denton E. Morrison, and Dr. George H. Axinn, as members of my graduate guidance committee, inspired me constantly and have more than earned my appre- ciation. Thanks are extended also to Mr. Netra Bahadur Basnyat, now Registrar at Tribhuban University in Kathmandu, but formerly the Dean, Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences, Rampur, for arranging this opportunity for me to pursue my graduate training in the United States and thanks also to the Midwest Consortium for International Activities (MUCIA) for financial support and Dr. Darrell F. Fienup, Coordinator of the NEPAL/MUCIA project and Ms. Ardell Ward, Assistant Coordinator, must be accorded special recognition for their great patience and kindness in providing me with the necessary logistical support. Dr. Garland Wood, Party Chief of the MUCIA team in Rampur, was very helpful in arranging the logistical support for my field work. Dr. Paul Kaplan, rural development advisor at IAAS, provided useful advice and colleagueship at Rampur. I would like to thank Shanker Chaudhary of Dorangi Village who helped in doing a census of households. Special appreciation also is iii extended to Narayan Chaudhary of Dorangi, Nand Prasad Shivakoti and Bisram Chaudhary of Dharampur, Ramji Mahato of Baghmara, and Bhairab R. Kharel and Jogia Mahato of Belsi for their various kinds of cooperation during the data gathering phase. Thanks are also due to all respondents in those villages without whose cooperation this research undertaking would never have come to fruition. Heartfelt appreciation and deep regards go to my better-half, Ila, who patiently waited for me to complete this work and wished me all the best during these years. Her continued encouragement reinforced my striving to achieve this academic goal. I would like to express my gratitude to Nancy Axinn for her per- sonal concern about my well-being and also for editing this manuscript. And I would like to extend my regards and thanks to Elizabeth Schwarzweller whose sisterly affection was so vital to a student of foreign origin. Schwarzwellers' home in Okemos was a lovely Nepali home for me. Lastly, I want to sincerely thank Maria Olivia Mejorado for the pains she took in typing the various drafts of this manuscript. East Lansing, Michigan U.S.A. iv Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................ LIST OF TABLES ......................... LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF APPENDICES ....................... CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .................... 1. Overview of the Study ................. 2. Tharus of Nepal .................... 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Origin and Race ............... Exploitation of the Tharus ......... Social Institutions ............. Governance ................. Family Marriage a. b. c. Religion a. b. n d. Arranged Marriage ......... By Elopement: Unmarried Woman . . . Elopement: Someone Else's Wife OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Atrochhi .............. Jitjog ............... Marjog ............... Festivals and Rituals ............ Stages of Life ............... a. Birth ........... . . . . 11 15 15 18 19 19 20 20 22 22 23 23 23 23 24 24 b. Marriage .............. c. Death ............... 3. Foci of Attention ................. CHAPTER 11. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS ............... ,' . . 1. Ethnicity ....................... 1 1 1 1 1 .1 .2 .3 .7 .8 Concept of Ethnicity . . . . ........ Language and Ethnicity ........... Inter-ethnic Relations ........... Assimiliation ................ Amalgamation ................ Cultural Pluralism ............. Assimilation theories and modifications . . . Bicultural Model .............. Social Structural Perspective ........ Ethnic Contacts ............... Effect of Place ............... Summary ......... b .......... 2. Rural Development ................... b/2.1 v/ 2.2 J23 2.4 “- 2.5 Changes and Societal Development ...... Concepts of Development and Rural Development ...... ' ........... Rural Development: Strategies ....... Rural Development-Nepalese Efforts ..... Summary ................... 3. Theoretical Framework ................. vi 25 31 34 45 47 50 52 53 53 56 60 68 69 CHAPTER III. CHAPTER IV. Reformulation of the Problem ............. 72 An Overview of the Variables and Analysis Strategy . . EEO Measurement Techniques and Scaling .......... 95 5.1 Ethnicity: Behavioral Dimensions ...... 95 5.2 Farm Practice Adoption Scale ........ lOl 5.3 Farm Practice Adoption Scale Validation . . . l02 FOUR VILLAGES AND THE STUDY POPULATION ...... 105' Village Setting and Structure ............. 105 vii STUDY SITE AND RESEARCH METHODS . ........ 75 Chitwan: The Region and StudyLocale ......... 75 l.l The Region ................. 75 l.2 The Study Locale .............. 78 Research Design and Study Population ......... 83 2.1 Selection of Villages ............ EEL Some village selection problems ...... 85 , Alternative 1 ............... 86 I Alternative 2 ............... 86 E Field Decision ..... ' .......... 86 i 2.2 Selection of Household Heads ........ 87f/’_fl: Data Collection Procedures .............. 88 3.1 Census of Households ............ 88 3.2 Survey of Selected Households . . . . . . . . 88 3.3 Key-Informant Survey ............ (Egg) 3.4 Official Records and Documents ,,,,,,, 89 3.5 Participant Observation ........... 90 Some Methodological Issues ......... 9O 1.1 Dorangi ................... 105 1.2 Dharampur .................. 107 1.3 Baghmara .................. 109 1.4 Belsi .................... 111 2. The Four Villages Compared .............. 116 2.1 Socio-demographic Characteristics ...... 116 2.2 Economic Characteristics .......... 120 2.3 Summary of Village Comparisons ....... 121 3. Characteristics of Survey Population ......... 123 3.1 Socio-Demographic Variabilities ....... 124 3.2 Economic Variabilities ........... 125 3.3 Tharu Farming System and Work Tasks .‘. . . 129 3.4 Summary of Survey Population ........ 135 4. Perspectives on Changes and the Future ........ 135 4.1 Quality of Food ............... 136 4.2 Quality of Life ............... 137 4.3 Social Awareness .............. 139 4.4 Future Plans for Sons and Daughters ..... 140 5. Summary ........................ 142 CHAPTER v. ETHNICITY AND VILLAGE CONTEXT ........... 146 1. Tharu Religious Orientations and Inter-Ethnic Relations ....................... 147 2. Ethnicity and Conditional Effects ........... 150 3. Summary ........................ 162 viii CHAPTER VI. ETHNICITY AND RECEPTIVITY TO CHANGE ......... 153 1. Conditional Factors .................. 163 1.1 Literacy .................. 164 1.2 Residence History .............. 155 1.3 Cropped Area: Increased or Decreased . . . . 165 2. Attitudinal Factors .................. 166 2.1 Satisfaction with Material Changes ..... 167 2.2 Changes in Quality Of Life ......... 168 2.3 Family Type Preferences ........... 168 2.4 Voting Behavior ............... 169 3. Summary of Correlates of Ethnicity .......... 170 4. Adoption of Improved Farm Practices .......... 173 4.1 Sources of Information ........... 173 4.2 Farming Practices: Changing Patterns . . . . 177 4.3 Adoption Of Improved Farm Practices and the Ethnicity Factor ........ V ...... 180 5. Summary ........................ 184 CHAPTER VII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ............. 186 1. Research Overview ................... 186 2. Some Generalizations and Implications ,,,,,,,,, 188 2.1 General Considerations ,,,,,,,,,,, 188 2.2 Practical Considerations .......... 190 3. Notes on Comparative Perspectives ........... 194 4. Theoretical Contributions ............... 197 5. Limitations Of the Study and Future Research ..... 199 SELECTED REFERENCES ....................... 202 ix 10. LIST OF TABLES Page Ethnic Groups in Chitwan District According to Language Spoken ............................ 77 Correlation Coefficients Showing Relationship Between Six- Item Ethnicity Scale Score‘and Other Indicants Of Ethnicity. . 100 Correclation Coefficients (Kendall's Tau C) showing relation- ship Between Composite Farm Practice Adoption Scale Score and Four Component Items ................... 103 Intercorrelation Matrix of Farm Practice Adoption Items (Kendall's Tau C) .................... . 104 Ethnic Affiliation of all Households in the Four Study Villages (Percent) ...................... 113 Age Of Household Heads in the Four Villages (Percent) . . . . 114 Selected Demographic Characteristics Relevant to Family Size in the Four Villages (Number of Persons) ........... 114 All Households in the Four Villages Classified According to Size of Land Holdings (Percent) ............... 115 Summary of Selected SociO-Demographic Characteristics of all Households in Four Villages Studied (N = 260); Tharus and Non-Tharus Compared (Percent) ................ 118 Number of Literate Persons in Households in Four Villages Studied (N = 260), (Percent) ................. 119 11. 12 , 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20, 21, Summary of Economic Characteristics of all Households in Four Villages Studied (N = 260); Tharus and Non-Tharus Compared (Percent) ..................... Summary Of Selected Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Sampled Households (N = 125) in Four Villages Studied, (Percent) ......................... Last Previous Residence of Household Heads (N = 125), by Village, (Percent) ..................... Summary of Selected Economic Characteristics of Sampled Households (N = 125) in Four Villages Studied, (Percent) . . Comparing Past and Present Quality of Food, Household Heads' Perception, by Village (Percent) .............. Comparing Past and Present Quality of Life, Household Heads' Perception, by Village (Percent) .............. Comparing Relative Awareness by Villagers of Rights and Privileges; Household Head's Perception, by Village (Percent) . . ....................... Future Plans for Sons as Stated by Household Heads, by Village (Percent) ..................... Future Plans for Daughters, as Stated by Household Heads, by Village (Percent) ..................... Religious Orientations of Households by Village (Percent). . Summary of Inter-Ethnic Friendships and Work Relations of Sampled Household Heads (N = 125) in Four Villages Studied (Percent) ......................... .122 -126 127 128 138 139 141 143 143 149 22, 23. 24. 25, 26. 27. 28. 29, 30, 31, Distributions of Tharu Ethnicity Scores and Comparative Medians and Means, by Village (Number Of Households) . . . . Degree Of Ethnicity of Households by Ethnic Diversity of Villages (Percent) ..................... Degree of Ethnicity of Households by Relative Isolation of Villages (Percent) ..................... Degree of Ethnicity of Households by Ethnic Diversity of Villages, Controlling for Relative Isolation of Villages (Percent Distribution) ................... Degree of Ethnicity Of Households by Relative Isolation of Villages, Controlling for Diverstiy of Villages (Percent) ......................... Summary of Three-Way Comparison Between Ethnicity of House- holds, Ethnic Diversity Of Villages, and Relative Isolation of Villages: Showing Chi-Square, Gamma, and Direction of Relationships . .‘ ..................... Level of Literacy of Household Heads and Degree of Ethnicity (Percent) .................... Previous Residence of Household Heads and Degree of Ethnicity (Percent) .................... Difference in Total Cropped Area of Farm Household Over Past Five Years and Degree of Ethnicity (Percent) ..... Degree of Ethnicity and Household Head's Satisfaction With Changes Occurring in Villages (Percent) ........ xii 152 158 158 159 160 161 164 165 166 167 32, 33, 34, 35 . 36 . 37 . 38 . 39. 40. 41, Degree of Ethnicity and Household Heads' Evaluation of Changes in Quality of Life During the Past Five Years (Percent) ......................... Degree of Ethnicity and Household Head's Preference of Family Size and Type (Percent) ............... Degree of Ethnicity and Household Head's Voting Behavior (Percent) ......................... Summary of (Sections 1 and 2) Correlates of Ethnicity Showing Chi-Square and Gamma Values Most Important Sources of Agricultural Information, as Noted by Household Heads, by Village (Percent) ....... Frequency That Household Head Seeks Farming Advice from Best Farmers, by Village (Percent) ............. Percentage Difference in Proportion of Households Growing Improved Varieties of Crops Last Year and Five Years Ago, by Village ......................... Percentage Difference in Proportion of Households Using Improved Farm Practices Last Year and Five Years Ago, by Village ......................... Mean, and Median Farm Practice Adoption Score, of Farm Households, by Village ................... Correlation Between Degree of Ethnicity and Adoption of Improved Farm Practices (Pearsonian r), by village ..... xiii 169 175 176 178 179 181 182 42. 43. Correlation Between Degree of Ethnicity and Adoption of Improved Farm Practices (Pearsonian r), by village Conditional Factors .................... 182 Comparing Median Ethnicity and Median Farm Practice Adoption Scores, by Village ................ 184 xiv LIST OF FIGURES Page Position of the Villages in the Administrative Structure of the Country ....................... 15 Chitwan District by Village Panchayats and Tharu Settlements ........................ 79 The Four Villages in the Region .............. 81 Frequency Distributions of Tharu Ethnicity Scores ..... 154 XV Appendix A. Appendix A. Appendix B. Appendix B. Appendix C. Table Table Table Table Table LIST OF APPENDICES Percentage of Household Doing Various Work Tasks By Land Holding (N = 94). . . . Average Size of Land Holdings in Bigha and Percentage of Landless Households, by Village (N = 100) ........... Percentage of Households Growing Improved Varieties of Crops Last Year and Five Years Ago, by Village. (Number of Households in Parenthesis) ........ Percentage of Households Using Improved Farm Practices Last Year and Five Years Ago, by Village. (Number of Households in Parenthesis) .............. Ethnicity Score and Farm Practice Score of Household Heads (Tharu), by Village .................. xvi Page 214 215 216 217 218 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The main objective of this study is to investigate the effects of different contextual situations in rural Nepal on ethnicity and the relationships between ethnicity and various structural variables relevant to the processes of developmental change. In general, the focus here is on village contexts and how they affect ethnic attitudes among villagers. Our specific concern is the Tharu, an ethnic group indigenous to the Tarai region of South Central Nepal. Ethnicity, especially as it relates to nation building and social, economic, and political assimilation of diverse peoples into the mainstream of developing societies has been an important theoreti- cal issue among sociologists in recent years. However, my interest in =g;=, this issue is more than academic; there are critical policy implica- tions involved, and I am hopeful that the research will have some Y meaningful statements and insights to contribute to a strengthening of <=== the social foundations of rural Nepal. 1. OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY Until 1768, when it emerged as a nation—state, the region that is now Nepal was composed of numerous small principalities often mutually antagonistic. During the Shah dynasty from 1768 to 1847, the young nation was Often engaged in unifying wars and aggresive efforts to extend its territory. The Ranas then ruled Nepal for 104 years, -2- enhancing their own personal wealth and prosperity, while the people remained backward and uneducated. After the overthrow of this auto- cratic regime in 1951, democratic Nepal stepped into the modern world. Nepal's rough terrain divides the country into several isolated regions making intergroup communication very difficult. Historically, people belonging to the same caste and ethnic origin tended to settle near each other in particular areas. A pattern of settlement resulted in terms of particular cultural groups and their locational preferences. But in an attempt to modernize the country, the government launched a variety of developmental programs, focussing on agriculture, irrigation, transportation, communication, health, education, and tourism. Directly or indirectly, these programs have helped in many ways to overcome the geographical barriers to interregional communications, to reduce the cultural isolation of various groups, and to speed up the process of social integration. Planners visualized a grand Nepali society which would accommodate all indigenous cultures and, if achieved, would aug- ment the process of national integration. Clearly, the more divided the people, the weaker they are; and the more united the people, the stronger they are. In a simpler society, where the majority are from the same ethnic group, common beliefs are more easily shared and strong group solidarity is more readily achieved. This type of society, of course, tends to be closed to outsiders and is characterized by strong boundary maintenance. Charismatic leadership may emerge from inside, which can be helpful in bringing about change. When outside cultures intrude upon such simpler -3- societies, and if competition for scarce resources is necessitated by harsh environmental conditions, interaction with them may lead to difficulties of accommodation, intergroup conflicts, and power struggles. On the other hand, the sharing of experiences among diverse groups generally leads to a more Open society which is invariably more recep- tive to Change. In the process, due to diverse contact situations and concomitant strains, conflicts arise and people are often inclined to reinforce their ethnicity. Nepali villages are experiencing such Changes. Besides these two kinds of contact situations, physical distance (remoteness or closeness) is also another factor influencing develop- mental Change. At present, even in remote areas of human settlement along the transHimalayan range in Nepal, there is no way to prevent isolated villagers from coming into contact with members of other cultures. Thus, in an absolute sense, Nepali villages are no longer completely isolated. Furthermore, because they are governed through a variety of district, zonal, regional, and central levels of adminis- tration, villagers have to interact with numerous bureaucratic agents. In the contemporary situation, isolation is a relative matter; some villagers, of course, are more isolated than others. Those villages which are more remote geographically, i.e., farther from the district headquarters and from the main roads and communication links, are invariably more rural and socially more isolated than other villages. It is generally assumed that they tend to be at a lesser stage -4- of development than those which are more strategically located with respect to modern communication networks. Nepal, a late comer to the development front, is trying its best to cope with various existing problems. Planned efforts began during the late 19505. Even after almost three decades of work, no substan- tial improvement in the living standard of a huge segment of the rural population seems to have occurred. Besides obvious regional dispari- ties, substantial socio-economic and political inequalities continue to exist among different ethnic and caste groups. Brahmins, Chhetries and Newars, for instance, as they have for centuries, still tend to be the more privileged classes. This study attempts to address some per- tinent questions regarding disadvantaged peoples in general in Nepal and the Tharu community in particular. In spite of governmental efforts to modernize all of Nepal, some villagers are transforming more rapidly than others. Perhaps all residents and communities of a region are not benefitting equally from resource allocations to that region; and the Tharus are one of the more disadvantaged ethnic groups in Nepal. Some ethnic groups Often gain more from developmental efforts than others and even regional resource allocations can be influenced by ethnic group considerations. Modernity, as has frequently been shown, tends to vary in terms of caste and ethnicity. Among other variables, remoteness and closeness to communication networks, also undoubtedly influence developmental change. Tharu settlements generally are located in the more remote areas of Nepal. -5- Whether or how ethnicity, remoteness (from modern communication networks), or a combination of both influences developmental Change in Nepal is a topic that merits investigation. What kinds of difficulties will be encountered by a national policy of social integration if ethnicity is reinforced by increased competition through greater inter- cultural contacts? What kinds of villages and types of communities are more receptive to change -- those with diverse ethnic groups and the opportunities for much social contact with various peoples or those that are more homogeneous and with less opportunities for inter-ethnic contacts? Pursuing such questions and beginning to comprehend different patterns of rural change in various contextual situations should be especially useful to those persons and agencies responsible for organi- zing developmental activities in rural Nepal and elsewhere. In summary, then, a main concern in the present study is to explore how variabilities in settlement patterns affect the processes of inte- gration and economic modernization of farm people. Specifically, the research focusses on four Tharu villages that represent different loca- tional and compositional situations in the Chitwan district of Nepal;'~—"S 2. THARUS OF NEPAL The Tharus, along with the Darai, Majhis, and Chepangs are indi- genous to the Tarai region of Nepal, and were the main inhabitants Of Chitwan district until the early 1950's. Before then, the Chitwan valley and most of the Tarai region was inhospitable and regarded with dread by the people from the hills and mountains. Malaria posed a threat and wild animals, such as tigers, rhinos, elephants, bears, and leopards -5- roamed freely. During the late 1950's a major rehabilitation program was started; forests were cleared; tractors were introduced; a malaria eradication program was launched, and the government began distributing lands to those who wanted to settle in the area to farm. According to local historians, "Chhetrapur" (a village not far from and north east of Bharatpur) was the first new frontier village. Mr. Bakhan Singh Gurung, presently a member of the National Panchayat (National Assembly), enticed other Gurungs from the Western hill regions to come and settle in Chhetrapur. This was the beginning of an extensive migration of hill people to Chitwan. Today non-Tharus far exceed the Tharu population in this district. 2.1 Origin and Race Tharus are found mostly on the foothills of Chure and Siwalik -- two lower Himalayan ranges. This region used to be a densely forested area stretching from eastern to western Nepal with only scattered patches of cultivated land. The whole region is also known as the Tarai, meaning the plain area. Thus,Tharus are found along the Tarai of Nepal and also in some parts of North India. As mentioned, there has been a conti- nuous stream of migration from Hill to Tarai in recent years. The hill people are in search of new land for cultivation and since they are far more aggressive than the Tharus, who tend to be rather timid and family centered, the Tharus fare less well in the economic compe- tion and are often subject to exploitation. Physically, and especially in facial features, the Tharus look like they stem from Mongoloid stock. They speak an Aryan language. In an- cient times the Tharus may have accepted Budhism but later they were -7- influenced by Hinduism. During the 13th century when Buddhism faded from North India, the Tharus, too, may have gradually converted to Hinduism. There is a dearth of contemporary literature about the Tharus of Nepal. Dron P. Rajaure (1977) has reviewed some of the previous works on Nepali Tharus and the Agricultural Project Services Centre in Kathmandu is currently in the process of doing a study about the Nawa1~ pur Tharus. Although the dispute regarding the exact origin of the Tharus has not yet been solved, several theories have been put forth by various authors (Risley, 1842; Majumdar, 1944; ChenUOng, 1967; Acharya, 1972; HMG, Nepal, 1975; Bista, 1977; Regmi, 1978). Some of the more plausible ones are as follows: 1. The Tharus came from the "Thar" desert of Rajasthan in India and hence the name Tharus, 2. They are people from the Tarai region, and hence, the name Tharus, 3. They fled from "Chittaud“ (a principality of Rajputs) in India to protect themselves from a Muslim invasion. Descendents of these Raj- put women (it was mainly the women who fled to the forested areas for refuge) were called "Chitauni Tharu", and are what we know today as the Tharu people, 4. Some scholars have maintained the Tharus' rela- tion with the Shakya dynasty among the Newars of Nepal, -8- 5. Lineages have also been noted with the Kirats Of Bengal in India. None of these theories remains uncontradicted. Of all the specu- lations, the theory linking Tharu with the Rajputs is perhaps the more convincing. Tharus themselves claim Rajput parentage on their mother's side. The dominance of women in the Tharu community is explained by a tradition that the Tharus are the Off-springs of mixed marriages between Rajput women and their servants, with whom they fled into the jungles to escape the invading Muslim armies who killed the king and his men. Although Tharu women possess a number of privileges which are usually denied to women of other ethnic groups, the suggestion of a Rajput strain through the female line is not easy to prove. Majum- dar's (1942) anthropometric data from the Tharus are extremely signi- ficant as they don't uphold the popular beliefs about their racial composition. There is an absence of any scientific evidence about the Rajput origin of Tharu females. He maintains that the predominant position held by women cannot be due to their superior extraction as is claimed by them. Overwhelming emphasis must now be given to the matriarchal matrix of the Tharu culture which appears to be amply borne out by a similar social status enjoyed by women along the Himala- yan region (op.cit.). With an eagerness to be considered respectable, they often pretend to be descendants from Rajput but their features are unmistakable, and proclaim them to be older than the Rajputs, or their ancestors, the Chhetries in India (Rowney, 1882). -9- Quoting from Nesfield, Rajaure (1977) related the Tharus' slightly Mongoloid features to intermarriages which have taken place over two to three generations. He sees them as strictly Indian and no connection whatsoever with the Nepalese origin. Risley and Knowles (1892) also found the Mongoloid style features predominant among Tharus. Crooke (1973) maintains Tharus of Dravidian race whose alliances with Nepalese and other hill races have acquired some degree of Mongoloid physiognomy. That the Tharus have Mongoloid features is hardly in doubt. Their eyes are more or less oblique, their complexion mostly brown, the hair on the body and face very scanty and straight, their noses thin and of medium size while other features affiliate them more with the Nepalese than Australoid or Pre Dravidian tribe or caste. Thus, the Tharus appear to be a Mongoloid people basically, who have acquired many non- Mongoloid features over the centuries. Many scholars, as has been noted, have tried to determine the origin of the Nepali Tharus and a number of these theories are quite plausible. Hence, there is enormous confusion relating to the issue. However, if one considers the possibility of more than one specific origin Of the Nepali Tharus, the question of origins becomes more com- prehensible. Certainly one should take into account that the Tharus of eastern, central, western, and far western Nepal are quite different and, consequently, may stem from somewhat different circumstances. For example, the Tharu women (Rana Tharu) of Kailali and Kanchanpur districts traditionally cover their head with a piece of black cloth. The explanation given is that this is an expression of the mean thing -10- they (Rajput women) did by getting married with servants while they fled to the jungles during the Muslim invasion. This custom does not exist among the Chitauni Tharus or the Dangora Tharus. Rana Tharu males were not allowed to enter into the kitchen; this tabu was not and is not practiced in Chitwan. Thus the Rana Tharus may be associated with the legend of the flight of Rajput women, but it is a difficult association to make in the case of the Chitwan Tharus. For various socio-religious purposes, Chitwan Tharus have been using Brahmin priests of hill origin in addition to their own priest "Guruwa" and are rarely found using Brahmins of Indian origin. This suggests that the Chitwan Tharus' origin is purely Nepali. Babu Ram Acharya (1972) mentions the origin of the Tharus from around the Himalayan region, not beyond it. Whatever the logic given to us, anyone fleeing from Rajasthan had to cross the fertile Gangetic plain to reach Nepal. Why such migrants would leave a fertile land and struggle for survival in the less fertile and more fearsome dense forests of Nepal is an argument that lacks credibility.- Moreover, if the Tharus,in general,and the Chitwan Tharus, in par- ticular, were related to the Rajputs, they (the Tharus) most probably would have inherited the high value on premarital Chastity, a tradition in the Brahmanic culture; but this does not hold true among the Tharus. The Tharus of the western and far western regions were found to leave their land and house if they believed that there was an evil spirit affecting their life. Thus,they showed lesser sentimental attachment toward their land but among the Tharus in Chitwan, in the study area, -11- families were found who occupied a particular piece of land for ten generations. These are some of the many contrasting characteristics among the Tharus in different parts of Nepal which support the notion that Nepali Tharus might have more than one origin, Nepali and non-Nepali Chitwan Tharus probably fall in the first category. 2.2 Exploitation of the Tharus: Tharus are an innocent, shy and relatively timid people. Some of the earliest settlements of Tharus were deep in the forest isolated from other ethnic groups. They have been exploited by government author- ities in the past and still to a lesser degree are out maneuvered by the surrounding non Tharus. Tharus are not good in business or home econo- mics. They are Often in debt since the grain they produce is frequently used to brew alcoholic drinks. More clever persons from the hills will lend them money to purchase food and then continue to compound the interest. Eventually the hillman acquires the Tharu's land and the Tharu is relegated to landless status. Tharus were "sold and bought" until quite recently. If a Tharu borrowed money from a person (and usually the lender was a non-Tharu), the borrower had to work on the lender's farm until the money was paid back. Not only the man but all his family members were obligated to serve the master. Since the loan could not be paid back, it would continuously increase due to compounded interest. It was customary that if a Tharu borrower wanted to change his master, he had to find someone else who would be willing to pay his debts. After the debt was -12- paid to the first master, the Tharu then belonged to the second. As a Tharu family changed from one master to another, the loan also went on increasing and this invariably led to permanent indebtedness, and, in effect, economic bondage and virtual slavery. Because of general illiteracy, lack of awareness about their rights as citizens, and a feudal system of economic exploitation, Tharus have been subjected to the very lowest status in this society. For example, cattle slaughter is forbidden in Nepal. There are cases during the peak farming season when a bullock might die while plowing due to the exces- sive use and weak health. While I was in one of the Tharu villages in Kailali fifteen years ago, I learned that the then chairman of a village Panchayat (a non-Tharu) threatened one of the Tharu farmers regarding the death of his bullock while plowing. According to the law, punish- ment for man slaughter or cattle slaughter is the same, namely, 20 years imprisonment. The Tharu farmer did not kill the bullock intentionally. It died from excessive work. But the village Panchayat chairman warned him that he might report this "crime" and the farmer might be put in prison for 20 years. To protect himself against the "crime", the Tharu farmer had to give up his last parcel of land. One of the non-Tharu drivers who earlier had worked for a govern- ment agency recalled what happened nearly 20 years ago at one of the villages in the study site. Driving his "offical" jeep to a Tharu village, he proceeded to a mustard field and after locking the steering wheel he made the jeep Circle automatically. He then jumped off the vehicle. Then he told the villagers that an evil spirit was angry so -13- he was spoiling the mustard crop; later the spirit might harm the whole village. So the villagers were advised to Offer birds and goats to make the spirit happy. The Tharus obeyed. The driver collected eight ducks, three hens, and one goat, put them in the jeep and drove back to his office. Similarly, the Tharus were unaware of their rights and opportuni- ties for land ownership. A phased land reform act was promulgated in 1964 which fixed a ceiling on the size of land ownership. Surplus lands were confiscated and distributed to the landless. The intent of this act was to provide land to the tenants, as well as the landless, who, in the Tarai, were frequently Tharu. Those who were more clever got better land and the poor, naive and innocent got the worst. According to the law, tenants had priority. But clever landlords never let that happen. Though ceilings were fixed, clever people managed to Officially transfer the ownership of land to several relatives or friends and thereby es- caped the law. There are still landlords who are profitting from sur- plus lands at the expense of the poor and there are still Tharus who do not have their own land. Most of the time, government run programs, such as irrigation pro- jects, credit facilities, technical services, etc., envisage helping all people in a target area. In an ideal situation, all might benefit equally; but ideal is not always real. Competition is fierce for the limited available resources and in a Tharu locality where there are non- Tharus, the Tharus become the last ones to acquire opportunities. -14- Though the number of Tharu representatives in the National Pan- chayat (National Assembly) is proportional to the total Tharu popula- tion in Nepal, because of their non-aggressive, shy and excessively polite nature, the Tharus have not been able to influence those who hold power and authority. The pace of change has been very slow among the Tharus. There are strong traditions perpetuated in the context of rapid modernization. In diverse villages, it is not surprising to see a witch doctor treating a sick Tharu in a thatched hut and simultaneously a non-Tharu sick person in his fashionable brick house being treated by a well-trained medical doctor. In recent years, the behavior of non-Tharus towards the Tharus, is changing. Nevertheless it is still hard to believe that any non-Tharus have really been able to win the faith and confidence of Tharu people. An average Tharu would probably never believe that a non-Tharu could ever be helpful and good to a Tharu and treat him on equal terms. This is not simply an ethnic expression of Tharu prejudice against the non- Tharus; rather it is the reflection Of bitter experiences in the past. To sum up, Tharus are one of the more illiterate, exploited, and poorest segments of the Nepalese population. They are a minority group. In terms of numbers, they are 4.3 percent of the total population and 1 rank sixth among various ethnic groups. 1 Nepal's total population in 1971 was 11,555,983. Tharu population was 495,881. Source: 1971 Census. -15- 2.3 Social Institutions: Social institutions discussed below include governance, family, marriage, and religion. Governance (Chaudhary, as an institution): In Nepal, the formal organization governing villages is the village Panchayat. A village Panchayat has nine wards. A ward is the smallest political unit. Several village Panchayats make one district. The district has an assembly, and each village Panchayat has its own local assembly. There are seventy-five districts in Nepal. At the central level there is a national assembly known as the National Pancha- yat which is the highest political unit in the hierarchy. The following chart shows the place of a village in the national context. Figure 1. Position of the villages in the administrative structure of the country. Central level National Panchayat Districttl: ii] 5 [£3 $ $ é level 75 District Panchayats VillageéJ $ $ $ 6 fi$ Village Panchayats Pancha- l yat level Ward level $15 315 § Wards 1_ A Village level Villages Villages Villages -15- As the chart indicates, in general, one ward has more than one village but if a village is very big that village might be in more than one ward. There is political representation in each unit beginning from the ward at the grassroot to the national Panchayat at the top. In a village Panchayat, the "Pradhan Panch" is the elected chair- person. Besides the chairperson,a deputy chairperson and nine ward level members are also elected. All have various rights and duties given by the Constitution, enacted laws and by-laws. In short, these are the for- mal political and administrative office bearers who run the village orga- nization. But in rural communities,in general, and in the Tharu communities,in particular, informal social organizations play much more important roles than the formal organizations. One of these informal organizations is the "Chaudhary" system in Tharu villages. A Chaudhary is an informal leader of a particular village. He belongs to the same ethnic group. It is almost impossible to find a non-Tharu Chaudhary for the Tharus. No matter who is elected as the Chairperson of village Panchayat (a Tharu or a non-Tharu) still the role of Chaudhary is very important in a Tharu village. He is the spokesperson for the village and is the most trusted person by the Tharu villagers. Various conflicts and issues which may arise in the villages are mostly settled by the vil- lagers themselves under the leadership of the Chaudhary. Tharus are suspicious that decisions by governmental administration in the long run may not be to their benefit. It is customary then that village matters are decided by the villagers themselves. This includes matters -17- including physical abuse, theft, family feuds and adultery. When persons commit any of these crimes in the village, the issue is settled by the Chaudhary with or without the help Of others and a punishment is ordered based on the village code. Another function of this informal village organization is to rein- force some of the village norms. All the social activities and develop- mental projects such as construction and/or repair of temples, wells, guest house, village roads, etc. require participation by all households. If any household refuses to participate or anyone betrays fellow villagers, or does not comply with a village decision it will be viewed as a punish- able Offense. Such a person risks being cast out of the village and he will not get any kind of support or sympathy from fellow villagers. The Chaudhary traditionally has been a well-tO-do and relatively rich Tharu landlord. He is supposed to provide justice to all the vil- lagers, to be wise and kind and sympathetic to his people. He is the legitimizer in the village. SO, it is necessary first to convince the Chaudhary if any Change is going to be introduced. Following a fully democratic procedure, he arranges a meeting with all the household heads and they discuss the issue and jointly reach a final decision. Once a decision is reached, almost absolute conformity results. Prior to a village meeting, each head of the household discusses the issue with all his family members. There is freedom of expression for both men and women. Thus each head of the household represents the feeling of his family which is then expressed in the meeting. -18- The Tharus basically have a joint-extended type of family, where parents, uncles, aunts, married sons and their children all live together. Because of the population pressure and increasing poverty, bigger families are gradually being split into smaller units. Often the reason for a separation of two brothers is rooted in tension and conflict among non-Tharu families. But generally, among Tharu families, separation of households results from management problems. Smaller land holdings and big families do not fit together very well. The Ghar Mukhia ('Ghar' in Tharu language means house and 'Mukhia' means main person -- thus Ghar Mukhia means main person in the house- hold) is the functional male head of the household who prescribes jobs for all male members of the household. The Ghar Mukhini is the wife of the male head of the household; she prescribes jobs for female members of the household. Usually hard field work such as plowing or going to the forest and cutting firewood, etc., are men's jobs. Animal husbandry and household jobs such as cooking, dish washing, cleaning out the house are women's jobs. Activities such as transplanting, weeding, and harvesting are jointly done by both sexes. Small girls under 12 or 13 tend small animals such as goats and sheep. Boys and men care for the larger ani- mals such as cattle and buffalo. Cooking is done by one of the daughters- in-law; it is shifted to another daughter-in-law after one month. The household head's wife is in charge of the grainery. Second in importance to the head and his spouse are the first son and his wife. They are the persons who eventually will be taking over the roles of 'Ghar Mukhia' and 'Ghar Mukhini (household head and his spouse). -19- Marriage: There are three major types of marriages among the Chitwani Tharus: arranged marriages, the enticement and elopement of an unmarried woman, and the enticement and elopement of somebody's wife. a. Arranged Marriage: The match-maker, known as "Puithahar", obtains the consent of a girl's parents. If they express their desire to have their daughter marry, then the Puithahar goes to the parents of the potential groom and they decide a convenient day to visit the girl's place to see her. On a mutually agreed-upon day the Puithahar, the boy's father and some of the father's friends go to the girl's house. They see the girl and then they are well fed with duck, hen or dove meat and alcoholic drinks. Then they return to their homes. Again the Puithahar goes to the girl's house and asks her parents to decide when they want to see the boy; a day is decided and together with the Puithahar, the girl's parents and a few friends visit the boy's house, see him, eat, and return home. Now if both sides agree they tell this to the Puithahar and a date is fixed for a big feast in the boy's house. At the fixed date many people who are relatives and friends of the girl's parents come in procession and are warmly received by the boy's parents. A good feast with plenty of meat and alcohol is offered to all guests and also a date for marriage is decided. The marriage date could be within months or within years. When the girl's representatives leave the party, gifts for the girl and her mother are sent with them. Three or four days before the marriage, the Puithahar again goes to the girl's house to confirm the program and on that particular day -20- the bridegroom goes to the bride's house and with some ritual she is given to the groom. Both the bride and groom return to the groom's house where most of the rituals are performed and they then become wife and husband. b. By Elopement: Unmarried WOman: When a boy and a girl in the same village or from different villages know each other and fall in love, they decide to run away one day. Secretly they hide themselves in some relative's house for two or three days. A search starts and the parents find out. Usually the mat- ter is taken to the Chaudhary where the heads of households and the girl's parents participate. The girl's parents ask her if the boy had made any kind of promise (such as looking after her parents in the future, giving some land or exchanging his sister for her brother, etc.). If the girl says a commitment was made, the boy and his family must honor that promise and they are married. If the girl says they did not make any promise and they had accepted one another as wife and husband they are still declared to be married. This is the cheapest type of marriage where no cost is involved. c. Elopement: Someone Else's Wife: Women have a special status among the Tharu communities. Histori- cally, they enjoyed full freedom from the early period and they hate to see it being eroded; so they resist. If a wife feels that she is not being given due care and respect by her husband in the hOme or feels that she is not treated well by her mother-in-law, it might be a sufficient cause for her to run away and get settled with someone else who is more reasonable. -21- Sometimes a mis-matched husband (generally a very young and physically immature husband and a more grown-up and mature wife) is a reason for her to leave him. At other times she may be dissatisfied with criti- cisms of her by the villagers. If she finds a person with whom she thinks she will be more happy, then both of them run away. They have to hide for three days. If the previous husband finds her within three days, he apologizes for his misbehavior and brings her back to the vil- lage with full prestige. But if the runaways are able to hide, then on the fourth day the new husband informs the old husband about his previous wife's whereabouts. On the fifth day, he takes with him 60.00 rupees ($5.00) as a compensation according to the Tharu code, and asks the pre- vious husband if she had spoiled precious things or taken away any pre- vious belongings. The previous husband might report, so many bangles, so many blouses, saries, etc., had been used by the wife which cost some amount of money. In any case it does not exceed 250.00 rupees ($20.00). After the new husband pays this much money to the previous husband in a meeting of household heads chaired by the Chaudhary, the woman becomes the present man's spouse and they live like husband and wife. If the previous husband causes any trouble thereafter he is liable to be punished by the villagers. There is a distinct difference between higher caste non-Tharus and Tharu marriage customs. Among non-Tharus, if the woman does not like to live with her husband, she cannot leave him so easily. Socially, she might be looked down on if she did that. There are rules for divorce, but again a divorced woman will be looked down upon. If worse comes to -22- worse, she can return to her parents' house to live; but there she has lost respect also. Among the Tharu, women enjoy more freedom. Men are far more concerned about the happiness of women and women are more con- scious of their freedom. Though multi, mismatched, and/or child mar- riages are illegal in the country they occur quite often among the Tharus. Religion: Like many of the other Tharu institutions, religion tends to rein- force Tharu ethnicity. The Tharus perpetuate their traditions by adhe- rence to their ethnic religious beliefs. Religious affiliation reinforces Tharuism, a feeling of being Tharu and thus different from non-Tharus. Thus their behavior is patterned by their religious belief system and their joint participation in religious norms makes them a more cohesive group. Most of the Tharu people believe in animism and worship spirits. Some, however, don't have any concept of religion and a few are gradually adopting the dominant Hindu system. Traditionally, every family has a family deity known as 'Gan' or 'Kunwarbarti' and every Tharu village has a village deity known as 'Baram- than'. They worship both of these deities. It is believed that the family deity protects a family and Baramthan protects the whole village. Besides these deities, it was noted in the four villages, included in the present study, that the Tharus worship different types of spirits for dif- ferent purposes. The following are the more important: a. Jiuchhi: If a patient is under this spirit's shadow, the patient would be dreaming about killing lots of fish. All the time he will be thinking about -23- fishing. If the spirit is not made happy and satisfied, the patient dies. b. Atrochhi: Under this spirit's influence, the patient experiences constant fear. He sees some big object and is afraid. He cries, weeps, and shivers. c. Jitjog: This spirit is evil for the newly born child. It should be made happy to protect the baby. d. Marjgg; This spirit is also harmful to the newly born child. If affected by this spirit, the baby dies within a few days of birth. Among the Tharus, there are witch doctors known as "Guruwas". Guruwas also function as religious leaders (priests). It is believed that Guruwas have developed the power Of controlling all evil spirits. So if the Guruwa is happy and satisfied, he could control the evil spirit with his spiritual power and cure the patient. Tharu people have a strong faith in his skill and competency. They are also somewhat afraid of the Guruwas because they think that if they do not believe in him and challenge his credibility, the Guruwa will get angry and could make all the evil spirits attack and destroy them. Thus Guruwas also become important persons in Tharu communi- ties. 2.4 Festivals and Rituals: Like religion, ethnic festivals and rituals also tend to help reinforce or reduce the degree of ethnicity. Adherence to ethnic festivals and rituals might increase group participation and we-feeling. Conversely, non-adherence to ethnic festivals and rituals might weaken ethnic bondage. -24- Among several festivals which the Tharus Observe, Fagu, Soharai, Khichara, Dashain, Pitare Aunsi, and Jitia were the most often mentioned festivals. Except for some differences in the ways the Tharus celebrate these festivals all except one have a Hindu festiva] equivalent Pitare Aunsi seemed to be specifically Tharu festival which has a strong religious connotation. This is celebrated in memory of ancestors and family deities. For Fagu, Soharai, Khichara, Dashain, and Jitia, the equivalent Hindu festivals are Fagu, Tehar, Maghe Sankranti, Dashain, and Tij. Fagu is the festival of colors. The Goddess of Wealth is wor- shipped in Soharai. Celebrants bathe in Debghat, a holy place in Chit- wan where two rivers merge togetherINT Khichara. The Goddess of Power is worshipped and animals are sacrificed during Dashain. Women fast a whole day, worship, and bathe in the river on Jitia. This is a reli- gious festival for Tharu women. Women fast for the better health of their husband and children. The most important festival of all for Tharus seems to be the Fagu, whereas for the non-Tharus, it is Dashain. 2.5 Stages of Life: There are three important stages which should be considered in the life cycle of arTharu: birth, marriage, and death. a. .Birth: After a child is born, the placenta is cut and the baby is placed on a 'nanglo' (bamboo tray for Cleaning food grains) above a cloth. Some of the placenta is buried in the room where the mother lives and a fire is built above the pit where placenta was buried. The fire's warmth is supposed to benefit the mother. For eleven days the mother -25- should not touch any Object. On the twelfth day, a naming ceremony takes place. The whole house is purified on that day by spreading cow- dung on the floor. The household head worships the family deity and the mother takes a bath early in the morning and worships the dug well from where she used to draw water. In this way she is purified and becomes free to do anything she likes. b. Marriage2 Among the Tharus, when a boy is seventeen and a girl is fifteen or sixteen years, they are considered to be Of marriageable age. c. Death; After death, the body is put on a bamboo frame, tied with a string and covered with a white cloth. Sons and grandsons carry the body first and then the relatives help. A deep pit is dug in the bank of a river, the body is placed in it and the pit is filled. Rice is spread along the burial route, for it is believed that as birds start picking the grain, the dead person's sin is washed away. After the burial, all members of the funeral party bathe in the river. Some thorns are spread and small ditches are dug on the way back. These are obstacles for the spirit so that it cannot return. Finally, all members of the funeral party purify themselves by sprinkling water on their bodies and then only can they enter their homes. Only the eldest son performs the rituals. If it was the father who died, the eldest son does mourning rituals for twelve days and abstains from eating salt. For the mother, it would be thirteen days of ritual. 2Marriage arrangements were discussed in a previous section. -26- All close relatives, such as Children, daughters-in-law, grandchildren, brothers, etc., are purified only after twelve or thirteen days. On that twelfth or thirteenth day, all the relatives and those who were in the funeral party come to the house. The eldest son, who has been mourn- ing, performs the purification rites. Thereafter, he can eat simple food. On the thirteenth day he is allowed to have salt. This ceremony (salt eating ceremony on the thirteenth day) is known as "Khaur". One form of Khaur is to kill the goat brought by the daughters (known as "Dhukwa"), then cook and serve the meat to all the villagers. A second form is to Offer vegetarian dishes to the villagers. On the thirteenth day, the mourning period is ended. 3. FOCI OF ATTENTION It was noted that the Tharus are indigenous to the Chitwan district of Nepal. Indeed, they are one of the major ethnic groups in the Tarai region and one of the more underdeveloped groups in Nepal. Their history is a story of extreme deprivation, enormous hardship, and blatant class exploitation. Because of physical and social isolation from development activities in the region and from cultural contacts with other people, their superstitutions, backwardness, and timidity were reinforced. As people they are generally illiterate and unschooled. They lack awareness about their rights and privileges. The gap between them and non-Tharus is very wide. This is not to imply that Tharus are the only underprivileged group in Nepal. There are other groups in similar situations that merit atten- tion. However, focussing on this group will certainly help us understand -27- similar problems being experienced by other communities under similar conditions and hopefully it will direct us towards some future line of action that will serve to enhance the well-being of the rural poor in Nepal and other Third World countries. The Tharus are mainly a traditional village people with a minimal exposure to modern culture. They are characterized by very large fami- lies, subsistence agricultural enterprises and a minimal and limited school system. Government land reform and land resettlement programs have brought an influx of non-Tharus into direct and indirect contact with Tharu communities. Although there has been considerable effect of such cross-cultural contacts on the Tharu population in Nepal, the basic social and cultural characteristics described above still dominate in Tharu villages. Tharu communities are already facing inter-ethnic com- petition for scarce resources. They had their own niche for resource use but recently that has diminished due to the influx of the non-Tharu population. Non-Tharu migration to the Tarai region came in waves. They esta- blished their own communities and had no intention of integration with the native Tharu population. Thus the question of inter-ethnic contacts enhancing social integration remains to be answered. Whether intergroup contacts over time is helping to improve the conditions of Tharus or whether they are more threatened and so are forced to maintain their boundaries to protect against inter-ethnic invasion is a very important issue to look at, at present. -23- Another dimension to look at would be the impact of structural changes on their potential to change. In other words, with the ex- ternal Changes occurring such as ethnic composition, infrastructure build-up, and improved transportation and communication networks, it may be possible that they are left behind even more because they can- not compete with the more Clever recent settlers. Or it may be that enhanced communication helps the mutual exchange of ideas and greater understanding which might benefit the Tharus. This study is an attempt to explore these ideas. CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS An extensive review of the literature was done in order to explore various dimensions of the issue and to formulate a theoretical approach to the problem. Ethnicity and rural development were two main foci of concern. With respect to ethnicity the goals were to achieve a degree of ‘\ conceptual clarity, to consider relevant theories of assimilation and various bicultural models, to examine how inter-ethnic group relations are dealt with as a social structural variable, and to contemplate the effect of place on a family's expression of ethnicity. .In a multi-ethnic society like Nepal, an assimilationist approach A _has been the logical aim of the government. Therefore, the inter-ethnic relations of Tharus have never been on equal terms; the Tharus were _—_.~ victims of economic exploitation. As this study attempts to investigate the conditions that make families more or less ethnic and then relate ethnicity with certain aspects of rural development the~relevant topics considered were change M x processes and societal development, the concepts and strategies of rural development, and Nepal's policies of rural development. Tharus have what Spicer (1971) refers to as a "persistent system". The system is open-ended, a cumulative cultural phenomenon that defines a course of action for the people believing in it. Such people are 29 a 3O able to maintain continuity in their experience and their conception of themselves in a wide variety of socio-cultural environments. It is believed that certain kinds of identifiable conditions give rise to this type of cultural system. Spicer maintains it results from an oppositional process involving the interaction of individuals in the environment of a state or a similar large-scale organization. ‘Ihg_ igppositional process frequently produces an intense collective con- sciousness a ' de ree of internal solidarity. This is accompa- nied by the motivation of individuals to continue the kind of experience that is stored in the identitygsystem in symbolic form. If the per- sistent identity system is more stable as a cultural structure than the larger social system, it might be difficult to bring about a break- through and to change the whole group. - An .uuwcumwu :mzuwgu .N mczmmu 80 in and around Ratnanagar Tandi. It is a feeder market in the sense that middle men buy and sell produce at this place. But if farmers could take their produce up to Narayanghat, they would prefer to do so because they would get higher prices there. There is a high school, an intermediate commerce college, one health centre and a few shops in Ratnanagar Tandi. Dorangi, an ethnically homogeneous village of Tharu,and Dharampur, an ethnically diverse village, are across the river Budhi Rapti and quite far from the metalled road and communication networks. They are the relatively "remote villages" in this study. Baghmara, a second ethnically homogeneous village, and Belsi, a second ethnically diverse village, are "nearby villages". They are on the easily accessible side of the river and quite close to the metalled road. Both remote villages are in Sauraha Panchayat and both nearby villages are in Ratnanagar Panchayat. The geographical location of these villages and their relative positions vis a vis each other is illustrated in Figure 3. In all, there are 260 households and a total of 1,919 persons -- residents in the four villages. The average household size is 7.4. Several households have permanent hired laborers known as Kamaiyas, who don't have kinship ties with the master but are totally dependent on him for their livelihood. There are 89 such servant persons and their family members. 0f the remaining 1,836 persons, there are 482 adult males, 495 adult females and 859 children. There were 195 literate males, 39 literate females, and 211 literate children. 81 0008.3 n_ u mrmum ~0- - “O—o ~--—-.-1[ I! ._. ... ., \~ \\ .. . cm _. J.(2° ‘klx<..2~ .-..|\.Lrl. mmpmm .e acmsgmmm .m gaasmsmgo .N . wmcmgoo .— .:owmmm asp cw mommF—w> Lao» use .m mgzmwm V .0..“".:. I. ..’IVV-V“0.O" ,Il--|.o A. "llll'VI‘c‘. I. 'V.l"t-.-¢‘ 82 For the most part, village links with the outside world consist of rutted bullock-cart tracks, generally impassable during the rainy season. The "remote villages" are cut off from access to the main road by a large river without bridges or hard surface roads which brings communication with the outside world almost completelv to a standstill during the rainy season. The numerous smaller streams and rivers that can be forded by foot during the dry season swell dangerously when the heavy rains come and often flood the cultivated areas along their banks cutting off one village from the next. The remote villages are closer to the national park and villagers are not allowed to graze their animals inside the forest territory. Wild animals, especially rhinos and bears, frequently damage the field crops and all too often attack human beings. Since the government perceives it as an offensive act to injure any wild animal from the national park area, even in case of emergency,farmers are reluctant to beat back destructive animals. This is a very important local issue and farmers are generally rather unhappy and dissatisfied with the park authorities. Just as wild animals are a major problem for villagers in the more remote villages (Dorangi and Dharampur), uncontrolled rivers and riverbank erosion are problematic for the nearby villagers of Belsi and Baghmara. Every rainy season the rivers swell and wear away their banks threatening the safety and houses of many families. The local village Panchayats cannot afford to construct control dams which would help to tame these rivers; outside assistance from HMG has not yet been attained. 83 The main occupation and source of livelihood in the area is farming. Paddy (rice), maize and wheat are the main food grains grown and mustard (oil seed) is an important cash crop. More detailed description of these four villages and comparisons between them will be presented in Chapter 4. 2. RESEARCH DESIGN AND STUDY POPULATION Two contextual variables being considered in this research are ethnic diversity or homogeneity, and ecological remoteness or centrality. (a) In a "homogeneous village" the Tharu are in numerical majority and consequently, they would be expected to have less contact or at least less durable contact with other ethnic groups. (b) In a "diverse village" Tharus are not in numerical majority, and, consequently, they would be expected then to have greater contact with other ethnic groups. A "matching pair research design" was followed. A pair of villages, one homogeneous and the other diverse, each having at least 25 Tharu households, was to be selected. These two villages were to be comparable (as far as possible) in all aspects except for the factor of ethnic composition. Besides ethnicity, remoteness/centrality was another conditional variable taken into account, for it, too, could affect developmental change. It has often been observed that the more remote areas in Third World societies don't get as much attention or developmental effort as nearby areas. 84 (c) In a more "remote village", access to transportation and com- munication facilities is more difficult. Remote villages are farther from the metalled road. (d) In a more "centrally located village", there is easier access to transportation and communication facilities. Centrally located vil- lages are closer to the metalled road. In line with the study design, then, two matching pairs of villages were selected. One pair consisted of two villages in remote areas, one homogeneous and one diverse. Another comparable matching pair was more centrally located. This design, then permitted an exploration of as to which of these conditioning factors, ethnic structure or ecological location, affected ethnic attitudes and efforts to modernize. 2.1 Selection of Villages: All villages in Chitwan which had some Tharu households were considered. A listing of such villages was obtained from the Malaria Eradication Scheme at Bharatpur. This agency had six field offices scattered throughout the district and the necessary infbrmation for all villages in Chitwan. The total numbers of Tharu and non-Tharu households in each village were taken into account. It was then necessary to pinpoint the location of these villages in terms of geographical distance from the main transportation and com- munication networks. The villages were thus grouped into two cate- gories: (a) Nearby villages which were closer to metalled road and also closer to the market centres, 85 (b) Remote villages which were farther from the metalled road and also farther from the market centres. It was not difficult to find relatively homogeneous Tharu villages both in the nearby and remote areas. But it was very difficult to locate diverse villages with a sufficient number of Tharu households. In an average size diverse village the maximum possible Tharu households available were 25 to 35; i.e., if they were not to be in the majority. Thus, this situational fact concerning the distribution of Tharu households in these Chitwan district villages, in effect helped to determine the proper sample size. Another important thing considered was that the selected pair of nearby villages should not be very far from the selected pair of remote villages so as to assure comparability. 0n the other hand, they also should not be too close; there had to be some degree of independence in order to assure that the contexts were different. So all four villages from similar geographical and agro-climatic situations were sought out and selected. Some village selection problems: There was no problem in locating homogeneous villages with 25 or more Tharu households. In those villages the Tharus were in the majority. But among the diverse villages, in situations where there were about 25 Tharu households, the village size would have to be very large in order to find the Tharus in a minority group. It was important, of course, that in a truly "diverse" village the Tharus should be essentially in the minority in order to contrast that situation adequately with the homogeneous setting for interviewing. 86 A larger number of households were needed to begin with so that for some cases, such as recent in-migrants who were not familiar with the situa- tion, could be omitted from interviewing. Also, at least 6 to 7 non- Tharu households were expected to be living in such villages and this, added together, would require about 40 to 45 households in such situa- tions to assure an adequate number of interviewable households. In a diverse village of about 30 to 35 Tharu households, where the Tharus are not in the majority (about 40-45%) the remainder (40 to 45 households) would constitute the non-Tharu households. So a homo- geneous village of 40 to 50 households is comparable to a diverse vil- lage of about 70 to 80 households. In the actual field situation, the larger the diverse village the greater the chance of getting Tharu households in desired numbers. It was impossible to locate (or for that matter to imagine) situations where both village types could be of equal size. In short, it was difficult to find diverse villages of average size. In selecting the appropriate diverse villages, therefore, two alternatives were considered: Alternative 1: Two diverse villages of medium size could be selected and the Tharu households could be aggregated to make 25 households. Alternative 2: A larger diverse village could be selected in order to obtain the necessary 25 Tharu households. In this case, of course, the village size would be larger than for the homogeneous villages. Field Decision: Since the response of the aggregated 25 heads 87 of Tharu households cannot be compared with the 25 heads of the Tharu households of a homogeneous village, it was thought appropriate to select Alternative 2 and reject Alternative 1. As this study related to the Tharus in two different contact situations, it is believed that the differential village sizes should not defeat or interfere with the purpose of the study. So in the field situation, the following four villages were selected as the best available matching pairs. 1. Dorangi: Remote and homogeneous Dharampur: Remote and diverse Baghmara: Nearby and homogeneous #wN Belsi: Nearby and diverse Diagrammatically, they can be presented as follows: Ecological Situation U) 8 Remote / Nearby Q) Q) S- C 3 (D +3 01 g g Dorangi Baghmara +4 I (f) \ OJ .3 ‘si’ Dharampur Bel s 1 C Q) .C > 44 "- LIJ D 2.2 Selection of Household Heads: An initial census was made of all 260 households. Twenty- five Tharu households were selected from each of the four villages. In addition, 25 non-Tharu households were selected from Belsi. Thus the design aimed at interviewing 125 household heads in these four 88 villages. The survey plan called for respondents to provide some recall information about the past, i.e., five years ago. So those house- holds not resident in the village for at least five years were ex- cluded prior to drawing the random sample. 3. DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES Information was collected from villagers, key informants, official records and various governmental documents. A variety of methods was used in data collection including a complete census of all households, direct interviewing of selected household heads, focussed interviews of key-informants, documentary search and parti- cipant observation. Each of the procedures is discussed briefly below: 3.1 Census of Households: A census of all the households in the four villages was completed during January 1981 to March 1981. Census data included general characteristics of the households, such as family structure, size and type of family, farm size, length of stay in the village, friendship with other ethnic groups and so on. 3.2 Survey of Selected Households: To get more detailed information about social structure, including ethnic factors and developmental patterns, in-depth inter- views were conducted with 125 heads of households (25 Tharus from each village and 25 non-Tharus from the fourth village -- Belsi). Survey 89 work was done from February to June 1981. In selecting household heads for direct interviewing, relevant factors such as tenure in the village and land ownership were considered. Because household heads were to be asked to recall their situation five years ago and to compare this with last year, they needed to be living in the village for at least the last five years. Any household head not resident in the village for five years was automatically excluded from the sample. Land ownership was the second factor considered. From those house- hold heads who had been resident in the village for five years, a pro- portional sample of landless households was drawn. In order to assess the work patterns of farm families an interview schedule was prepared to inventory major farm and household tasks. This was administered along with the basic survey. 3.3 Key-Informant Survey: The key-informants interviewed were persons occupying communi- ty leadership positions; that is, spokespersons for the village and for the ethnic groups, religious leaders, respected persons, politicians and so on. Nearly 20 persons in the four villages were interviewed. Inter- viewing was unstructured, focussing on relevant topics. 3.4 Official Records and Documents: These records and documents were important as a supplement to survey information. Relevant information was collected from the Trib- huban University library, the Agricultural Project Services Centre library in Kathmandu, and the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science library at Rampur. The main library at MSU was also extensively 90 used, together with the Inter-Library loaning program. 3.5 Participant Observation:i This technique of data collection was important for learning more about the cultural aspects of the Tharu ethnic group. Though there was a danger of subjective loading in interpreting behavioral patterns, careful observation of events as a resident member of a few ethnic households for a period of time was certainly an enriching and sensitiz- ing experience. After selecting the four villages, several visits were made to become familiar with the area and residents. During interviewing, I preferred not to commute but to stay in villages so as to establish good rapport. I was engaged in survey interviewing as well as observ- ing very carefully whatever was happening in a particular household and in the village. This participant observation experience helped me to empathize. I noted the prospects and problems of the villagers and I think it helped me understand much better than I think would have been possible with only a survey. Some Methodological Issues The high costs of field research such as that described, and the risks of researcher bias have been extensively discussed by several authors. I would like to mention a number of problems I encountered while doing the present survey. (a) Not varying the questioning process and probing: Respondents don't all share the same level of understanding. Some need more help than others in trying to comprehend a question. For example, if a 91 question such as foame the five most important ethnic festivals" is asked, some might mention all five, some less than five, and others might mention even more than five. Since our purpose is not to test their memory or knowledge but to explore the relative importance they give to festivals, it is better to mention several festivals and let the respondent choose any five. If a respondent forgets some of the festivals and mentions only three or four, it does not mean that he might not think the missed festivals are important. There is a proba- bility that he might have forgotten the important one. But if he inten- tionally mentions less than five and thinks that these are the only important festivals, then there is nothing wrong in noting only those festivals which are mentioned. Another example could be a question such as "What are the future plans of your sons and/or daughters?" Several reSpondents seemed to lack a sense of "future". If the question was asked in the same way of each respondent, the purpose of the question is lost. So it is better to explain what future means, then only will it be possible to get a relevant response. (b) Cross-cultural and Linguistic Problems: This situation arises when an interview schedule is first formulated in a foreign language and then translated into the native language. Without realizing the fact that a translated version would never give the same meaning in an abso- lute sense, too much emphasis is quite often placed on the use of dif- ferent terms in the original version. It would be better to make an effort to attain conceptual clarity. In the present case, although I ‘ :I ‘.l.-'l1 92 could converse reasonably well in the Tharu language, it was not my native tongue and direct translation of concepts and questions was dif- ficult. (c) Establishing village Boundaries: Knowledgeable people could explain why a particular village had a certain name, i.e., there is an explanation for the name of each village. However, there is great variation in the size of villages in Nepal (some villages with identi- fiable names had only a few houses whereas others had as many as 100 houses). So an attempt was made to find out the basis for establishing village boundaries and the relationship between those boundaries and the village name. How is the area of a village determined? One of the best guesses in this case is that before these settlements existed the area was forested. Groups of persons came, deforested a section, named it and demarcated the village boundary informally. The next settlement beyond the previous one acquired a different name and had a very dif- ferent boundary. The village settlements then expanded outwards. The government has frequently changed Panchayat boundaries, rivers have a tendency to shift, and perhaps families at the edge of a village have shifted identification. (d) Household: A household may be defined as all the members of a family group who live under the same roof and eat in the same kitchen. However, cases were encountered, such as 1) when there was an empty house but the house owner and his family were living outside the village in a different place; 2) a house was rented jointly by two different families so they had different kitchens but shared the same roof; 93 3) members of the same family group lived in two or three different nearby houses due to the scarcity of space in any single house but ate in the same kitchen. These variations call attention to the need for a redefinition of household unit in the Nepali context. For instance, one could consider a household as all persons who eat at the same hearth unless they define themselves (or are defined by knowledgeable informants) as being part of another household (reasons of joint land ownership, sharing of common larder, movement of children for eating between different houses). (e) Household Head: It was assumed that the household head would be the spokesperson of the family. But the census of Tharu households in these villages revealed that in general, there were two kinds of household heads: 1) Ritual household head: This was the senior-most person by age. He/she was the oldest person in the family and he/she might not necessarily be the functional head of the family; 2) Func- tional household head: The other would be the functional head of the family who is more informative and active in day to day affairs. So while interviewing, both types of household heads were involved; gene- rally, of course, the functional household head was more important for this purpose. 4. AN OVERVIEW OF THE VARIABLES AND ANALYSIS STRATEGY ' W Socio-demographic and economic variables are useful for des- f cribing the village context and study population. The variables inclu- ded age, family size, family structure, stage in life cycle, literacy, previous residence, number of generations that had lived in that vil- lage, occupation, off-farm job, size of land holdings, and so on. 94 These variables are discussed in Chapter IV. Degree of ethnicity (behavior) was measured by constructing a Gutt- <__oman Scale. The details of scalogram analysis and the variables consi- J dered will be described in a following section. The village contexts represented two different conditional varia- bles: ethnic structure and ecological location. Villages were either remote from the metalled road and communication network or centrally located. Similarly they were either ethnically diverse or homogeneous. In addition to exploring the context of ethnicity and its behavior- al manifestations, some possible correlates of ethnicity were examined. The following variables were considered: (1) previous residence (is the household head from the same village or had he migrated from an adjoin- ing village, or from another Panchayat, or from another district); (2) satisfaction with changes occurring in the village (what is the household head's degree of satisfaction); (3) voting behavior (is the household head particularistic and prefers to elect someone from his own ethnic group or is he universalistic and prefers someone who has been proven competent for the job); (4) family preference (does the house- hold head prefer a nuclear or extended family form); (5) literacy (is the household head literate); (6) cropped area (is the household's cropped area more, the same, or less than five years ago); (7) farming advice (does the household head regularly seek farming advice from the best farmers); (8) perception regarding quality of life compared with five years ago; (9) adoption of modern farm practices as measured by an adoption scale. 95 5. MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES AND SCALING 5.1 Ethnicity: Behavioral DimensiOns: Ethnicity for purposes of this study, is viewed as both a structural and a psycho-social or behavioral phenomenon. Different ethnic groups living together in any society constitute its structure. But ethnicity is also a set of behaviors and associated with membership in a particular ethnic group. An attempt was made to measure this beha- vioral aspect of ethnicity via a Guttman Scale (G-scale). An appropriate set of items was derived from a battery of indicants in the questionnaire and a valid, internally consistent six-item cumula- tive scale was formulated in the following manner: 1. All items presumed to be indicants of ethnicity were identi- fied. There were 20 such items. 2. Response patterns and cumulative percentages for all responses by the Tharu segment of this survey (N=98) were calculated. Alternative cutting points were considered for each items; each item was treated as a dichotomy. A scalable set of 13 items was tentatively determined. Some items were rejected because they failed to discriminate or because the positive category percentage fell outside the 20% to 80% limit. 3. The set of tentative items was analyzed using a scalogram board and the scaling technique suggested by Louis Guttman. 4. According to generally accepted rules for a G-scale, the items are arbitrarily designated as scalable providing that no more than 10 per cent of all responses to an individual item are errors, and that error in the set of items constituting the scale does not exceed 96 10 per cent of the total responses. In other words, there should be a 90 per cent probability of accurately reproducing from individual score- values the response patterns they represent. This 90 per cent criterion is termed the "coefficient of reproducibility" and is computed as fol- N lows: 1 _ ___. Coefficient of Reproducibility (CR) OER E = Number of errors, 0 = Number of questions, R = Number of respondents 5. After the best possible combination of items was established, and using a "best-fit" method, errors were counted. Both item errors, and total errors, were counted and error types taken into account. The tentative CR was calculated. 0n the basis of these trials, some items were removed because they contributed too much error. After four rounds of reshuffling and elimination of items with high errors, a six-item set was finally found to be internally consistent. In the present case, 42-item errors were made by the 98 respondents The CR is 0.928. For present purposes the scale falls well within the limits of acceptability. The following items (questions asked of Household Heads) were included (responses were dichotomized, and positive response fre- quencies are noted): a. How much would you (Household Head) mind working on the farm of somebody belonging to a different ethnic group? (very much) 19% 97 b. How much would you (Household Head) mind if your children played with children from other castes or ethnic group? (much; somewhat) 25% c. 00 young people in the family adhere to group customs? (yes; some do and some don't) 35% d. How much would you (Household Head) mind if someone belong- ing to a different ethnic group becomes a next door neigh- bor? (very much; somewhat) 45% e. Do you (Household Head) think your children would consider intercaste marriage? (never) 65% f. Would you (Household Head) allow intercaste marriage? (never) 79% 6. The coefficient of reproducibility is only one of the criteria for a good G-scale. Also considered were the face validity of items, validity of cutting points, the discriminating power of each item in terms of the latent attribute, and the eventual distribution pattern of the final scale. Other criteria taken into account were the "minimum marginal reproducibility", the 'percentage improvement,‘ and the coeffi- cient of scalability. The minimum marginal reproducibility, constitutes the minimum co- efficient of reproducibility that could have occurred for the scale, given the cutting points used and the proportion of respondents passing or failing each items. It is calculated by summing the maximum marginals for each item and dividing this sum by the total number of items. Thus, for the 98 six-item scale: MMR = 0-81+ o-75 + 0-65 + 0-55 + 0-65 + 0-79 ___ L; = . 6 0 70 The difference between the coefficient of reproducibility and the mini- mum marginal reproducibility indicates the extent to which the former is due to response patterns rather than the inherent cumulative inter- relation of the variables used. This difference is called the percent- age improvement and is actually the difference between the two percent- ages rather than a ratio itself. In this case it is: Percent Improvement = CR - MMR = -928 - -70 = -228_ The final measure is obtained by dividing the percent improvement by the difference between one and the minimum marginal reproducibility. The denominator represents the largest value that the percent improve- ment may attain, and the resulting ratio is called the coefficient of scalability. The coefficient of scalability also varies from 0 to 1, and should be well above -6 if the scale is truly unidimensional and cumulative. In this case it is: Coefficient of Scalability = $é¥%%-= 9L$§%-= 0°Z§_ 7. There is no agreement among researchers as to the best proce- dure to be used in assigning scale scores to those cases or respondents who do not conform to one of the perfect scale types. However, it is argued that if a group'of items possesses the rather stringent require- ments of the Guttman evaluating procedure, assigning each case a scale score based on the number of items passed is a sound procedure. After all, if a group of items meets the test of unidimensionability and 99 cumulativeness, the number of items passed will be an excellent predic- tor of the pattern of the responses. However some researchers feel that special procedures should be fol- lowed in assigning scores to nonscale types. One of these procedures, the modified latent distance technique, involves a rather complicated method for computing the joint probability of a respondent falling be- tween points on the scale or continuum being constructed. The other simpler method is the minimum error criterion. In this case the modi- fied latent distance technique was followed in assigning scale scores. 8. The G-scale used in the present study had seven classification points. 9. Scale validation: Guttman (1944) proposed a rational scheme, based on matrix algebra, for selecting items for scales to measure any type of psycho-social traits. The chief merit of this method, which is simple in application, is that it leads to the elimination of items which are not on the principal continuum, thus assuring that a single dimension is involved in the retained items. Scalogram analysis established that the six-item scale is "unidi- mensional". However, the question of scale validity still remains. In order to explore the validity of the scale, a number of correlates were taken into account. The ethnicity scale was correlated with items that had been re- moved from the initial battery. Spearman correlation coefficients are * reported in Table 2. fi‘ 100 Table 2. Correlation coefficients showing relationship between six- item ethnicity scale score and other indicants of ethnicity. (N = 98) Indicants of Ethnicity Spearman. . . . Indicants of Ethnicity Correlation Significance CoeffiCient p r 1. Children's attitude towards having next door neighbor from another group (Household Head's opinion) 0.589 >.001 2. Allowing someone from other ethnic group in the kitchen (Household Head's attitude) 0.247 >.007 3. Children's attitude towards allow- ing person from other ethnic group in the kitchen (Household Head's opinion) 0.261 >.005 4. How often do older persons in family wear traditional costumes? .0.058 >.283 5. How often do women in the family wear traditional costumes? 0.146 >-074 6. Tharu religious orientation 0.274 >.003 7. Particularistic voting behavior 0.058 >-282 These correlations were found to be generally weak except for the one referring to children's attitude towards next door neighbor. Three 101 correlations were weak, but in the predicted directions, and the re- maining three were negligible. What is surprising is that the Tharu religious orientation was not more closely associated with ethnicity; it well may be that in this situation, where traditional Tharu and Hindu religious thoughts have been mixed, ethnicity is based more on the maintenance of social group boundaries than upon religious beliefs. 5.2 Farm Practice Adoption Scale: The purpose of constructing an adoption scale was to rank order households in terms of the degree to which they adopted various improved farm practices. It was also essential to explore the relation- ship between degree of ethnicity and adoption of modern farming practices. There were four main agricultural practices which were considered in the scale. They were the use of: improved seeds, chemical fertili- zers, insecticides, and improved agricultural implements. Household heads were asked to recall if they had or had not prac- ticed these improved farming practices five years ago. They also were asked if they had been following those practices during the past year. Responses were dichotomized. Scoring was done in the following way: (1) if the response was 'yes' for both last year and five years ago, the socre was 3; (2) if it was 'yes' last year but 'no' five years ago, the score was 2; (3) if it was 'no' last year and 'yes' five years ago, the score also was 2; (4) if the response was 'no' for both last year and five years ago, the score was 1; (5) if it was not applicable last year (landless) regardless of the answer five years ago, the res- ponse was coded 0, i.e., "not applicable"; (6) if it was not applicable 102 (landless) five years ago, regardless of the answer last year, the res- ponse also was coded 0, i.e., "not applicable". Since there were four practices and each practice score could range from 1 to 3, the maximum possible score an individual could ob- tain in all the practices would be 12 and the minimum 4. These scale values were adjusted to a 9-point scale by reassigning scores from 1 to 9. Computer runs were made to explore the relationship between ethni- city and adoption. In order to determine if any variabilities existed between vil- lages with regards to adoption, an average farm practice score was computed for each village. The average farm practice score is the sum- mation of the total score obtained by all household heads in a village divided by the number of households in that particular village. This can be expressed as follows: Total of adoption score of all Average Farm Practice = household heads Adoption Score Number of households 5.3. Farm Practice Adoption Scale Validation: In order to explore the internal validity of this scale an item analysis as well as a matrix analysis (intercorrelation matrix of items) was done. First the nine-point composite scale was reduced to a trichotomy: high adoptors (scores 6, 7, 8, 9); moderate adoptors (scores 4, 5); and low adoptors (scores 1, 2, 3). The four component item scores, of course, were already in trichotomized form. Kendall's Tau C showed a high and positive relationship of the total farm prac- tice adoption score with individual item scores (Table 3). 103 Table 3. Correlation Coefficients (Kendall's Tau C) showing relation- ship between composite farm practice adoption scale score and four component items. Component Farm Practices (Items) Kendall's Tau C Number of Cases Significance Improved Seeds 0.424 86 >.001 Fertilizers 0.584 86 >.001 Insecticides 0.494 86 >.001 Improved Agricul- tural Implements 0.414 .86 >.001 This positive and strong relationship of all items with the total score demonstrates the internal consistency of the scale. Matrix analysis was also done to further explore the scale's inter- nal structure. Strong interrelationships between the adoption of im- proved seeds, chemical fertilizers and insecticides were found. But the adoption of improved agricultural implements appears to be a somewhat separate factor; its relationship with the other three items is weak or negligible (Table 4). It simply shows that the adoption of farm imple- ments is a practice somewhat different from the other. Comparative average farm practice adoption scores for each of the four villages are reported in Chapter 6. The following chapter des- cribes the four villages and the study population in detail. 104 Table 4. Intercorrelation matrix of farm practice adoption items (Kendall's Tau C).* Seeds Fertilizers Insecticides Implements Seeds X .237 .229 .047 (strong (strong (no rela- relation) relation) tion) Fertilizers X X .318 .202 (strong (weak relation) relation) Insecticides X X X .105 (no rela- tion) *In all cases, N = 86, and the analysis is based on 3x3 tables. CHAPTER IV. FOUR VILLAGES AND THE STUDY POPULATION This chapter begins with a description of the setting and socio- economic structure of each of the four villages. Then the four vil- lages are compared in terms of their main similarities and variabili- ties. Characteristics of the survey population are described in the third section. The villagers' views regarding forces of change and the future have also been considered. This chapter closes with a brief summarization. 1. VILLAGE SETTING AND STRUCTURE.l l.l Dorangi The village of Dorangi is nearly 18 kilometers southeast of Narayanghat bazaar. One has to cross the Budhi Rapti river to reach it. Dorangi becomes more or less isolated during the rainy season (July to September) when the water table rises and the river swells. The setting is very scenic. 0n the east, south, and west sides there is dense and green forest -- a national wildlife refuge. Far to the north, on a clear day, one can see the snow-capped Himalayan range. When the village is approached from the west, at the beginning of the settlement along the main way there is a small cluster of non- Tharus households (except for one Tharu family; the household head had tried to get land near his brothers but acquired land instead 1 Discussions on this section are based on Tables 5, 6, 7 and 8. 105 106 among the non-Tharus and so he had no other choice than settling there). Aside from this small non-Tharu hamlet, Dorangi village is basically a Tharu community. A bit hidden on the east somewhat back from the road is the main group of Tharu households arranged in linear fashion. All the houses are thatched huts some of which have tile roofing. The village has a Tharu tea shop and a small grocery shop managed by a Brahmin family. At the eastern end of the village is Baramthan temple, a shrine to the village deity. Not far away is a primary school. Tharu houses are rectangular in shape having two doors, one at the front and the other at the back. Each house is partitioned within based on the number of married couples living in the household. A kitchen is at one end of the house. The houses are very dark inside. There are small holes, not windows, for ventilation. I felt more comfortable walking around inside the house at night than during the day because at night a kerosene lamp was kept burning. Not having windows was a security measure to protect against thieves. Moreover if it is dark inside, flies and insects don't bother as much (several persons had a kind of eye disease which might be due to the defective ventilation system). There are 40 households in the village, 28 of which are Tharus. The non-Tharus include Brahmins, Chhetries, and other occupational castes. Dorangi has a total p0pulation of 393 persons of which 57 107 are hired laborers and servants and their family members (Kamaiyas and their family members). Among the remaining core family members (336 persons) are 84 adult males, 88 adult females and 164 children. The average family size is 8.4. More than four-fifths of the house- hold heads are within the age bracket of 26 to 60 years of age and with few exceptions are engaged in agriculture. Four-fifths of the households have only four bighas or less land holdings. Eighteen percent are landless. Paddy, maize, mustard and wheat are the major crops grown. Partial irrigation is done using surface run-off water. The soil is silty loam. 1.2 Dharampur Dharampur is about 20 kilometers south-east of Narayanghat bazaar and nearly five kilometers from Dorangi. The village, a scattered type settlement pattern, is surrounded by rivers and is also very close to the forest. As in Dorangi, there are problems of wild animals from the forest preserve. The villagers are also fear— ful of the unreliable rivers which can flood and wash away the whole village. Dharampur is a big village having 85 households of which 37 are Tharu. Besides Tharus, there are Brahmins, Chhetries, Newars, Gurungs, and other occupational groups. The village is "diverse" in the sense that none of the ethnic groups are in the majority. But within the village we find very distinct hamlets, each being a cluster of households from a particular ethnic group. The Brahmins and the 108 Chhetries are settled along the main way which is the approach road to other villages. Bifurcated and somewhat hidden are the Tharu households. A little farther along the track are the Gurungs and still farther are the Biswakarmas (occupational castes). Newars are scattered. A ward committee chairman and two of the ward committee members are from this village and all of them are non-Tharus. The Tharus have their own Chaudhary and Guruwa. Chaudhary is the key leader for the Tharus and all Tharus respect him. As described earlier, Guruwa is the religious leader as well as the witch doctor. These two informal leaders have very important roles to play. During informal talks with some of the Tharu respondents, I asked how they felt about their non-Tharu neighbors. They seemed to view them as the cause of Tharu poverty because, they said, previously there was enough land for the Tharus, but gradually the non-Tharus "swallowed it up". The non-Tharus, were also like "colocasia leaves", they said, which when you boil and eat, causes your throat to itch. The Tharus also complained that when they wanted to repair their village road and put gravel on it, the non-Tharus did not cooperate. So they had to ignore the non-Tharus and only the Tharus went to the riverside, carried the gravel and built that segment of the road which is in the Tharu hamlet. At the time of this survey, a temple to Lord Shiva was being constructed. The land had been donated by a Brahmin. A committee was formed to collect donations and the work started. But the donor 109 who had taken the initiative complained that the Tharus did not sup- port him. The Tharus complaint was against the temple's location. They felt that it should have been built outside the village, near the forest. But the non-Tharus said that since every morning the priest would have to go to the temple and worship God, if it were far away and near to the forest, there would be difficulty in hiring a priest. Also, there would be an inconvenience in getting to the temple by the devotees, and some danger for women and children early in the morning and in the evening. Though these issues looked to be small they re- presented conflicts and tensions existing between Tharus and non- Tharus in this diverse village situation. There are 534 persons in Dharampur of which 10 persons are hired laborers, servants, and their families. Of the 524 core family members, 145 are adult males, 141 adult females, and 238 children. The average family size is 6.2. Three-fifths of the households have one or more literate persons. Nearly two-thirds of the household heads are employed in agriculture. Household heads are generally within the age range of 26 to 60 years. Most of the households have four or less bighas of land. Nearly one-fourth are landless. Paddy, maize, mustard, and wheat are the most important crops grown. Partial irrigation is done from the drain water (Jharan). The soil is silty loam. l.3. Baghmara Baghmara is a nearby, homogeneous and rather large Tharu village (69 households). Nearly three-fourths (73 percent) of the 110 households are Tharus. This village is only two kilometers from the paved road where Tandi bazaar is situated and roughly 14 kilometers south-east of Narayanghat bazaar. Brahmins, Chhetries, Newars and Gurungs are the other ethnic groups living in the village. The ward chairman is from this village and he is a Chhetri. There are two shops in the village. One is'a tea shop and the other a small grocery. Both are managed by non-Tharus. In the whole village, there are only two brick houses -- one belonging to a Chhetri and the other belonging to a Tharu. The adjoining river, which has been washing away parts of the village, is the greatest threat to this area. Quite frequently several houses have been displaced and thus the village has undergone locational changes. However, some villagers insist that their families had been living in this village for ten generations. The settlement pattern is of a linear type. In the middle of the village the Tharus have Baram- than. Non-Tharus form a hamlet on the eastern corner of the village. There are altogether 546 persons in the village of which eight belong to hired laborers and servant families. Of the remaining 538 core family members, 139 are adult males, 134 adult females and 265 children. The average family size is 7.8. Seventy percent of the households have one or more literate family members. Compared with the Tharus in the two remote villages, young adult males in Baghmara are more inclined to wear non-Tharu than their traditional Tharu clothes. One man had learned to weave; he had bought a loom and used it to make bags and blankets but due to the uncertain market, he had to quit. 111 Four-fifths of the households in Baghmara have four or less bighas of land;15 percent are landless. The soil is silty loam and the major crops grown are paddy, maize, mustard and wheat. A primary school is a fifteen to twenty minute walk away. The nearest high school and a college are at Tandi bazaar which is two kilometers away. 1.4 Bol§j_ Belsi is a nearby and diverse village which is near the paved road and 16 kilometers south-east of Narayanghat bazaar. It is only one and half kilometers east of Tandi bazaar. Situated close to the paved road is the non-Tharu settlement in a scattered pattern. At the back of the village area, on the northern side is the Tharu hamlet in a linear pattern of settlement. The Tharu settlement has its own Baramthan. While visiting in the village I noticed a poster pinned on the wall of a Tharu house. It read "Chaudhary Foot Ball Club". This was the only evidence of an ethnic club that I observed. But the poster was removed the next day; my interest had been noticed. In the village is a tea shop managed by a Chhetri. Men from the village come here, gossip, play cards, and entertain themselves. There are a few other shops, managed by Newars and Brahmins where miscellaneous items are sold. Six brick houses are located in this village. One is the primary school building and the other five belong to non-Tharu families. 112 Perhaps because it is centrally located, people in the village seem to be more informative. In the past, the village Panchayat chairman was from this village. He is a Brahmin who still enjoys an excellent reputation. At present two of the Ward members are from the village and both of them are Tharus. However, the key person whom all the Tharus respect is the Chaudhary (who is not the Ward member). Among the non-Tharus, the key person is the ex-officio village Pancha- yat chairman. One of the greatest problems for the villagers is a lack of irrigation water. Until a few years ago they could irrigate their lands with 'Kayar Khola' (river) water. But the river water was diverted to another Panchayat by some influential person as part of a "minor irrigation project". Thus Belsi was deprived of what the villagers had regarded as their right. People in the village became very upset so they took that problem to His Majesty's Government for consideration. Engineers were sent and they conducted surveys for drawing irrigation water from the Rapti river but until now no con- crete solution has been initiated. Of a total of 66 households, 42 percent are Tharu. Other ethnic groups in the village include Brahmins, Chhetries, Newars and others. There are a total of 446 persons of which eight are reported to be the members of hired laborers' and servants' families. It should be noted that the number of laborers and servants are less in the nearby vil- lages compared with the remote villages; there are probably more non- farm job opportunities for landless people in the "nearby" areas. 0f 113 the remaining 438 core family members, 114 are adult males, 132 adult females and 192 children. The average family size is 6.6. Seventy- three percent of the total households have one or more literate family members. Nearly ninety percent of the household heads are within the age range of 26 to 60 years. Nearly ninety percent of the households have only four or less bighas of land and thirty percent are landless. The major crops grown are paddy, maize, mustard and wheat. The soil is silty loam. Tandi bazaar, which is not far (1% kilometers) from Belsi village, has a few shops, a health clinic, a high school and a college. Table 5. Ethnic affiliation of all households in the four study villages (percent). l ETHNIC DESIGNATION (%) Total Villages 2 Tharu Brahmin Chhetri Newar Gurung Others % n Dora 70 18 7 x x 5 100 40 Dhara 43 18 2 8 12 17 100 85 Bagh 73 9 9 7 l 1 100 69 Belsi 42 33 6 8 x 11 100 66 n = 260 1 "Dora", "Dhara", "Bagh", and "Belsi" in this and subsequent tables are used to designate Dorangi, Dharampur, Baghmara and Belsi, respectively. 2 "Others" include a variety of occupational castes and ethnic groups such as Tamangs, Giris, etc. 114 Table 6. Age of household heads in the four villages (percent). . AGE OF HOUSEHOLD HEAD (%) TOTAL Villages 25 years 26-40 41-60 Above 60 or less years years years % n Dora 7 35 48 10 100 40 Dhara 9 41 46 4 100 85 Bagh 10 45 41 4 100 69 Belsi 8 44 44 4 100 66 n = 260 Table 71 Selected demographic characteristics relevant to family size in the four villages (number of persons). DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS Core Fomi y Village Total Total Hired1 laborers, Total Adult Adult Average Households Population servants, their family males females Children family children members size Dora 40 393 57 336 84 88 164 8.4 Dhara 85 534 10 524 145 141 238 6.2 Bagh 69 S46 8 538 139 134 265 7.8 Belsi 66 446 8 438 114 132 192 6.6 Hired laborers and servants among Tharus are called "Kamaiyas". Kamaiyas and their family members are paid in kind, or cash, or both, for their work. They live in the same house with their master but they are not related to the core family nor are they involved in core family decision-making. 115 mm u : mom u : om om we ooF N PF om mm empwm o_ mr mm cop a m_ me mm :mmm om em mm cop o m Fm we mcmgo m mp mm oo_ o NF ma om egos : Faye“ mo x c & e o.op cm>o o.oP-_o.¢ o.eipo.F o.F-_o. Peach mumpr> mobozmmso: mmmgoz<4 fi& oz< Lao» mg“ cw mupogmmzo; PF< .w upon» 116 2. THE FOUR VILLAGES COMPARED The aim here is to note some of the main similarities and differences among the four villages. Dorangi and Baghmara, of course, were selected for study because they are similar in terms of ethnic composition. They have 70 and 73 percent Tharu households, respec- tively. Likewise, Dharampur and Belsi were selected because of their ethnic similarity; they have 43 and 42 percent Tharu households, respectively. 2.1 Socio-demographic Characteristics] Baghmara is the largest village in terms of total population whereas Dorangi is the smallest. But Dharampur has the largest number of households (families are slightly smaller than in Baghmara). It is interesting to note that, except in Baghmara, household heads among the non-Tharus tend to be older than the Tharus. But, the spouses of the non-Tharu household heads tend to be younger than the Tharu spouses. This may be due to a pattern of early marriage practices among the non-Tharus. Tharu families are relatively large and, comparatively, larger than the non-Tharu families in these villages. More children per household were observed in Dorangi, Dharampur, and Baghmara compared with Belsi; this probably is an indication of a lower birth rate in this centrally located and diverse village. 1Discussions in this section are based on Tables 9 and 10. 117 The majority of Tharu family households in these villages are of the extended type; the non-Tharus tend to be of the nuclear type. Most of the household heads are in the younger to middle stage of their life cycle. However, in Dorangi there is a relatively larger proportion of older households than in the other three villages. In simpler communities like the Tharu at least one literate person in the household is needed for simple reading, writing and arithmetic so as to deal with occasional problems created by govern- ment officials and the like. Rarely do any members of the family (except girls after marriage) migrate alone outside the village, so if even one young son completes some schooling and becomes functional- ly literate he becomes a valuable treasurer for the household. 50 the number of households that have at least one literate person is a use- ful measure of literacy in a village situation in this part of Nepal. Dorangi, the more remote Tharu village has the highest percent (82%) of literate households followed by Belsi, Baghmara and Dharampur. But Dorangi also has the highest percent of illiteracy among adult females (and, of course, the highest percent of literate adult males). Belsi, on the other hand, the nearby diverse village, has more house- holds with literate females (24%). While these variations are inter- esting, they are not great in magnitude. Generally speaking, there are only small proportions of households in these villages that do not have at least one literate member (30%). Indeed, it is surprising that the difference in literacy rate is not greater between the more centrally located and the more remote villages. 118 Nm B we S. 3. me aw «m 3 N: 3 mm 3383 9.32:3 mm 9 3 em 3 3 K we 8 mm. 3 3 222.2 .5253 me 3 mm me no S em 5 mm cm 8 mm 96... “En c coco—Eu 3 NM me mm mm me we 3 S 3 N.” we m - p pouch 3 cm an E 3 mm mm B m~ mm om we 9.8. c5 w mcomcmq I 3 S «K am No R 2 m5 3 8 mm s - _ ES mm em mm 3 am 3 em 3 we we mm mm .8953 «N 8 3 _N em 3 cm 3 on me an 9. 22...: $3: we. Sumo «m m: E m m n S 3 NF 2 mm mw Logo -8: 5 093m 2 N 2 o D Np 2 E 3 S «N E 98.: .8 .mc» on em mm mm 2: mm mm mm mu 8 mm 3 «K 33 .5 .3» me 3.383 wm< em mm mm 3 3 Nm 3 me me an 8 on 88... .8 .m; 3 8 we S 3 so we em 3 mm 3 E 2 mm“; .6 2.8: .9; we 323:2: 83 ES: 22: 22: .22: L82 25: ~33 .52 is: _33 -coz ES: ~38. .52 ES: :53 mouz mm": mm": oeuz “Sum :93 $25 5.8 SC2EB§<=U m m w < ._ ._ H > .35“.ng v9.3.8“. 335-5: ecu 2:2: "88 u 5 3:53 $35.? .58 5 33.339. :m we muEmISoEmgu 0232353633 3323 we rue—Sm .m ~53 119 mg mp KN —N cm mm mm m m— : mc_o;om:o: ppm we a mzommma mh > u < a u h _ A .Aucmucmav .Aomm u zv umwvzum mmamppw> eso» cw mupogmmao; cw m:Omgwa mumgmu_p uc Lonaaz .nfi—wpamp 120 2.2 Economic Characteristics Almost all households in these four villages are engaged in farming and most are totally dependent on agriculture, whether as a self-sufficient enterprise or with some outside income from farm wage work for others. In Belsi, however, a considerable proportion (21%) of the heads of non-Tharu households are engaged in some kind of non- agricultural occupation, such as carpentry. Only a very small propor- tion of Tharus are employed in jobs other than farm wage work (Table 11). In both the homogeneous villages of Dorangi and Baghmara, a majority of the heads of Tharu households do not hold off-farm jobs whereas a majority do in the diverse villages of Dharampur and Belsi. But the differences between villages are not great. Generally speak- ing, about half the Tharu households in the region obtain supplemental income from off-farm employment (and basically from farm wage work for others). Most farms in the region are very small, with less than half over two bighas in size. The homogeneous villages of Dorangi and Baghmara appear to be somewhat better off economically in the sense that a larger percentage of Tharu households have more than four bighas of land (see Tablell). Both the diverse villages have greater proportions of landless households than the homogeneous villages (refer to Table 8). A possible reason is that in the homogeneous villages, where the Tharus are in the majority, they may have been able to protect them- selves better against an economic exploitation by the minority non- Tharus; this question merits further attention. The data also reveal 121 (Tablell) that except in Dharampur, where the situations of Tharu and non-Tharu households are very similar with respect to land distribu- tion, more of the larger farms in the other villages are in the hands of Tharu families; the non-Tharus in these villages are generally on smaller farms. . In summary then, almost all households in these four villages are totally dependent on agriculture. Indeed, only small proportions of non—Tharu households, mainly in Belsi (21%) and Dharampur (17%), are engaged in non-agricultural jobs. Generally half of the Tharu house- holds in the region get supplemental income from off-farm employment. Most of the farms are very small. The economic situation in the homo- geneous villages of Dorangi and Baghmara may be better in the sense that a larger proportion of Tharu households there may have more than four bighas of land; these villages also have a lower percentage of landless households compared with the diverse villages of Dharampur and Belsi. 2.3 Summary of Village Comparisons The data indicate that the Tharus generally have rather large families. In the homogeneous situations, however, Tharu families tend to be larger than in the diverse villages. This might be due to the fact that in the homogeneous villages the Tharu settlement is rela- tively older than in the diverse situation. Thus, there may be more joint families, i.e., bigger families. It is also possible that Tharu households in the diverse villages of Dharampur and Belsi, due perhaps to their association with non-Tharus (who have smaller families) may 1222 e «N m_ a mu a. m e m o Nm _~ negate e ems» ago: ea “A em cc. ea .m we we we co. me me meeoem mae.e_e= mmmg go o wen; we mNPm _e am am NM ce an em .8 mm mm we am me» one: t—ozmmao: em me _e we om Ne ee on we Ne em em oz Ce gee etee-cco ,N o ~_ m N m N_ m m_ a p_ c, _eesu ewe: -P:u_cm<-:oz upozwmaoz we as oo. mm me as ea mm ~m Am Po om om _et=e_=u_em< ee_uea=eeo e.e: magmsh magmgp magazh magmgh acoz magogh Face» -coz magazh page» -ccz magmsh Page» icoz manage Peach _msmm =¢ «steep macaw u zv eaeeeam Aucmugmav umgoasou macaghicoc use mmumppw> Lao» :* muposmmaos ppm mo muvum.couuugugu upsocoum go humesam .d Hopes» 123 have gradually been changing their values from larger to smaller families. Farming is the main occupation of almost all Tharu families in these villages; many household heads also work off-farm, usually as farm wage earners. Somewhat fewer Tharu household heads in the homo- geneous villages of Dorangi and Baghmara do not hold off-farm jobs as compared with those in the diverse villages of Dharampur and Belsi, where the majority hold off-farm jobs. But the differences between villages are not great; almost half the households get supplemental income from off-farm work. The diverse villages, however, have rela- tively more landless households than the homogeneous villages. It is also noted (in Table 11)that a greater percentage of Tharus who own land in the diverse villages have less than four bighas; Tharus in the homogeneous villages tend to have larger farms. In the diverse and remote village of Dharampur almost all of the households have less than four bighas of land. This may be due to the long-term inter- ethnic competition which has resulted in a deterioration of the Tharu situation. But one must take into account that families are smaller in Dharampur. 3. CHARACTERISTICS OF SURVEY POPULATION This section deals with socio-demographic and economic varia- bilities of the survey population and, in that respect, supplements information discussed in the previous section. Some data are from the village census, but the main portion is from a survey of 100 Tharu households, 25 from each village. Twenty-five non-Tharu households 124 were also drawn into the study; these are from Belsi, the diverse and nearby village. Information for the survey was obtained from house- hold heads. 3.1 Socio-Demogrophic Variabilities. Age is one of the important factors facilitating change. We generally expect that younger household heads and spouses are an easier target group to bring about change. Heads of households in Dharampur tend to be somewhat older than in the other villages. Generally, however, only one-third of the household heads are over 45 years old of age (Table 12) and relatively few can be classified in the "older" stage of the family life-cycle. Education is another factor often influencing change. The di- verse and nearby village of Belsi has a larger proportion of literate household heads (40%). But most Tharu household heads in these vil- lages are not literate. 0n the other hand, a relatively larger pro- portion (68%) of the non-Tharu households (in Belsi) are literate; the comparison is especially noteworthy. Families are smaller with fewer children in Dharampur than in the other villages. This is also the case among the non-Tharus in Belsi. But generally speaking, Tharu families are rather large and with many children. The extended/joint family structure is the more common family form; in that respect, the villages are very similar (although the non-Tharus in Belsi are more likely to have a nuclear family form.) All the non-Tharu families in Belsi are first generation migrants. Almost all Tharu families in Dharampur also are first 125 generation migrants. Baghmara has some of the oldest families; many have been living in that village for a number of generations (Table 12). It should be noted that the figures on those who were living in their villages for more than one generation (Table 12), and those who always lived in their villages (Table 13), do not matCh. There is a reason for this. If a household head was not born in the village but had come from another place with his parents when he was young, he would claim to have been here (in his village) for one generation (this gene- ration). The same person when asked about his previous residence would say "always here". In this way, the "always here" figure exceeds the "more than one generation" figure. The majority of Tharu household heads in nearby villages of Bagh- mara and Belsi said that they had always been living in the same village but the majority of the household heads in the remote villages of Dorangi and Dharampur said that they migrated from another Panchayat (Table 13). It is assumed that those households that had been esta- blished in their villages for generations would have more affiliation with village norms than those that are new settlers. This is further explored in Chapter 6. 3.2 Economic Variabilities Agriculture is the main occupation of almost all household heads in these four villages (Table 14). But most farms are very small; the majority operate four or less bighas and, considering their large families, this relegates them to a bare subsistence level. Only one farm in Dharampur is larger than four bighas. However, in Baghmara 1126 Table 121 Summary of selected socio-demographic characteristics of sampled households (N = 125) in four villages studied, (percent). V I L L A G E S ( z ) HARA AGH B CHARACTERISTICS DORA D B ELSI Tharus Non-Tharus Age of 45 years or less 72 52 68 72 64 Household 46 years Head or more 28 48 32 28 36 45 years Age °f or less 74 ‘79 87 100 90 Spouse 46 years or more 26 21 13 0 10 Stage in Older 32 16 4 12 20 L'fe'cyc'e Middle 40 44 68 32 28 of House- Hold Head 1Younger 28 40 28 56 52 Literacy Yes , 29 21 24 4O 68 Household l l 1 Head No 71 79 76 l 60 . 32 l - 7 Family persons 44 64 28 44 60 Size 8 or more 56 36 72 56 40 Total 1 - 3 30 64 9 35 52 . 4 or Ch'1dre" more 70 36 91 65 43 Family Nuclear 40 32 28 40 60 Extend- StFUCtU'e ed/Joint 60 68 72 so 40 One gen- Genera- eration tions only 68 96 4O 60 100 . Two gen- L'V'"9 '" erations 24 4 16 20 o V111399 Three or more 8 0 44 20 0 127 Table 13. Last Previous residence of household heads (N = 125), by village, (percent). PREVIOUS RESIDENCE (%) TOTAL2 1 VILLAGES Always here1 Nearby, other Other % n village Panchayat Dora 40 O 60 100 25 Dhara 13 30 57 100 23 Bagh 80 0 20 100 25 Tharus 67 0 33 100 24 Belsi Non- Tharus O O 100 100 25 N = 122 1 'Always here' includes those household heads who were born here and also those who came with their parents when they were still young. 2The total does not add to 125 because of no information. Table 14. Summary of selected economic characteristics of sampled households (N = 125) in four villages studied (percent). V I L L A G E S CHARACTERISTICS DORA DHARA BAGH BELSI Tharus Non- Tharus Main occupation Agricul- of Household tural 92 92 100 100 88 Head Non- agricul- tural 8 8 0 O 12 Off-farm job No 60 48 80 4O 52 of Household Heads Yes 40 52 20 50 48 Landless 16 24 O 16 20 Size of 4 or less Land bighas 56 72 64 64 76 . More than ”0'd'”95 4 bighas 28 4 36 20 4 129 and Dorangi, both homogeneous villages, sizeable proportions of house- holds (36% and 28%) have more than four bighas of land. Thus, we might expect that economic conditions in these two villages are a bit better except for the fact that families, too, tend to be larger there. However, it is clear that households in Baghmara are more self-suffi- cient agriCulturally; there are no landless families in Baghmara and a smaller proportion of household heads are employed off-farm (Table 14). In both the diverse villages of Dharampur and Belsi, most household heads hold some kind of off-farm job, often as a way of supplementing their agricultural enterprises. Off-farm work is also somewhat impor- tant in Dorangi. But, as noted before, farmers in Baghmara are not inclined to work off-farm; land holdings are larger and there are no landless families among the sampled households. In summary then, these data reveal some basic similarities among these four villages: agriculture is the main occupation, and most farms are very small. Some variabilities were found between the homo- geneous and diverse villages: farms tend to be larger in the homo- geneous villages. In both the diverse villages of Dharampur and Belsi more off-farm work was reported. 3.3 Tharu Farming System and Work Tasks With attitudes ranging from a few hundred feet above sea level to over 29,000 feet, with agro-climatic zones ranging from sub- tropical through temperate to artic, and with a great variety of ethnic and cultural human groups, macro-data and national averages in Nepal tend to be misleading. In such diverse situations, village studies be- come especially useful. 130 In traditional agrarian societies like the Tharus, the household is the primary unit of both production and consumption. This unit then consists of a human group and the resources it manages in its environ- ment. Direct production of plant and/or animal products and possibly other products, as well as consumption of those products are involved. Tasks are divided largely on the basis of sex and age. Given a parti- cular system of production and amount of work, a very important problem for the farm family household is to organize and manage the allocation of family members, in terms of age and sex, to the requisite tasks at hand. For example, in Tharu communities, farm activities such as land preparation, irrigation water management, etc., are mostly done by adult men whereas weeding, transplanting, harvesting, storing, etc., are usually done by women. Besides farm jobs, women are involved in child care. But when babies are taken care of by younger children or by elderly grandparents, mother is relieved from this responsibility and is able to contribute more directly to farming. An holistic approach to the understanding of the Tharu farming system would include not only knowledge regarding cropping systems, environmental conditions, and the techno-economic feasibilities, but also an identification of farm and farm related tasks and the work organization within households, i.e., who does what including the roles of women and children. Both crap and livestock farming tasks should be considered. Then only can one keep track of the changing work patterns of farm men, women and children which are so important to agricultural planning and policy making. 131 In this study, an attempt is made to explore the organization of various work tasks among Tharu households. This enables us to see the relative importance attached to various activities and also the role differentiation according to age and sex. First an inventory of major farm and farm related household tasks was made by selectively interviewing several Tharu men and women. There were altogether 48 work tasks identified. Then a survey was conducted in 94* Tharu households (of which 12 were landless) in order to find out how many of those 48 tasks were done by each household and who did what. The list of work tasks is shown in Appendix A, Table 1. These data reveal that a majority (more than 90%) of the households (with land) perform most of the work tasks. A majority of them (80%) have cows and buffalos but very few (29%) milk them. In Tharu communi- ties, cattle and buffalos are mainly raised for breeding draft animals and securing cowdung as manure. Another interesting feature to note is that though farming is mainly of a subsistence nature, yet almost all households reported sell- ing some grain. But for most of the farmers, it is not the marketable surplus that they sell. In these rural villages when farmers need some cash for various purposes such as buying kerosene, clothes, etc., the easiest and customary way to buy those goods is to barter with grain. Grain is a basic medium of exchange. * Out of 100 Tharu sample households, there were six non-response cases. They were not available at the time of interviewing for work tasks. 132 A contrasting feature among the landless households is that nearly half of all the work tasks are not done in their homes. They also don't have enough livestock, i.e., sheep and goats and/or cattle, to tend. The only way for them to survive seems to be wage earning on somebody's farm. Most of the tasks done in landless households are household related. However, tasks such as winnowing, and storing are also done by landless households. Because wages are paid in cash as well as in kind, the landless households obtain grains that they must winow and store. The work tasks listed in Appendix A, Table 1 is not an exhaustic list of all the tasks performed in Tharu households. In general, these are some of the more common work tasks relating to crop and livestock production and to management of the home and family. But details of other work tasks such as child care, maintenance and continuation of interfamily relationships (ceremonial tasks), and so on were not includ- ed; this however, in no way should mean that they are less important. Another dimension explored was how work is organized; that is, the roles of various family members in performing different tasks. Usually, in a Tharu house, the male household head specifies the jobs for all other male members and his spouse specifies the jobs for all women in the house. And the basis of job assignment is sex and age. For example, land preparation (plowing, sowing), digging irrigation channels, and management of irrigation water have always been men's jobs whereas, intercultural farming operations such as, weeding, win— nowing, storing and household jobs such as, cooking food, dish washing, 133 tending small animals and poultry birds, etc., have always been women's jobs. Some other tasks such as transplanting, harvesting, etc., which should be done in a very short period of time and need more manpower are done by both sexes ("mix"). Usually hard physical work such as plowing, puddling, etc., which need bodily strength are men's jobs; light but delicate jobs needing skill and patience such as weeding, winnowing, etc., are women's jobs. Age is another factor among the Tharu which determines work assign- ment. Elderly grandparents look after the younger children and watch the house when adults are in the field. Girls under 14 or 15 years tend sheep and goats and cut grasses. Adult women and men perform the main farming activities. Boys under 15 years tend cattles and graze them. The different crops grown in these Tharu villages are paddy, maize, wheat, and mustard. Livestock raised are cattle and/or buffalos, sheep and/or goats and poultry birds (mainly chickens and ducks). Mostly farming is at the subsistence level and the average size of land holding is 4.56, 1.86, 4.63, and 2.97 bighas (l bigha = 1.67 acres) in Dorangi, Dharampur, Baghmara and Belsi, respectively (see Appendix A, Table 2). Thus a typical farm among the Tharus in Chitwan has some land, grows three to four different crops, has a few cattle and/or buffalos, raises a few sheep and/or goats and a few poultry birds and grows some vege- tables and few fruit trees. Most farms must feed an average family size of eight persons; animals also compete for food grains and make the condition much worse. Livestock in the Tharu villages are not raised for commercial pur- poses. For example, none of the farmers raise sheep and goats to sell 134 or raise cows in order to sell milk. Livestock are raised for consump- tion. In addition, cattle and buffalos are raised for breeding draft animals (usually for home use) and acquiring cowdung manure (for ferti- lizer and fuel). Small ruminants, such as sheep and goats, and poultry birds gene- rally belong to this or that woman in a Tharu household. Known as "Pewa", these livestock are managed as the woman's personal property, not as common family property. In case the woman needs cash, she may sell 'her' goat, sheep or birds and get money for her personal use such as entertaining her personal guests, buying some additional clothes for herself, etc. Thus, in Tharu communities, crop farming is a household activity whereas livestock raising, specifically small animals and poultry birds, is more on the order of a personal enterprise usually monopolized by women and girls. Cows and buffalos, of course, are kept to produce draft animals (bullocks) and manure which are so vital to crop farming. In summary, then, Tharus practice a predominantly subsistence crop farming type of agriculture supplemented by some livestock. Crop farm- ing and livestock raising in this situation are in a delicate ecological balance. A typical Tharu farm household then, consists of some land where three to four different crops are grown. It has a few head of cattle, sheep and goats, and a small flock of poultry. It grows a num- ber of fruit trees and a small kitchen garden. Farm and household tasks are prescribed according to sex and age and, usually living in an exten- ded and/or joint family arrangement, all family members have specific roles to play to help maintain the household and survival of the family. 135 3.4 Summary of Survey Population Thus, the data indicate that Tharu household heads in these villages tend to be on the younger side, below 45 years of age, and con- sequently we would expect them to be rather receptive to change. But they are generally non-literate; only a small proportion (26 to 40%) can read well enough to be called functionally literate. In Belsi, the nearby diverse village, a larger percentage of household heads are literate (40%) than in the other villages; this may reflect somewhat more "cosmopolitan" character of this diverse, more centrally-located village. The Tharus have rather large families. Family size in Dharampur, however, is somewhat smaller, much like the non-Tharus in Belsi. It is possible that the smaller family size among Dharampur households may be due to the fact that this is a newer community, more recently settled. Most Tharu households have an extended-type of family structure. The nuclear-type seems to be more common among the non-Tharus in Belsi. Agriculture is the main occupation of most of the households in all four villages. A large proportion of household heads hold some kind of off-farm work (mainly as farm-wage earners, but also in carpen- try, and so on) in order to supplement their main occupation. Not sur- prisingly, larger proportions of household heads in the diverse vil- lages hold off-farm jobs, probably because landlessness is more common in the diverse situation and they are forced to look for supplementary jobs. U 136 Thus, the observed similarities and variabilities (regarding the socio-demographic and economic characteristics) between villages in different conditions were interestingly comparable. 4. PERSPECTIVES ON CHANGES AND THE FUTURE This section deals with the perception of household heads about changes in the quality of food, quality of life and the general social awareness of Tharu people in the village. How do these house- hold heads compare the situation today with that of five years ago? Future plans for their sons and daughters are also considered in order to explore the household heads' changing attitudes. The degree of satisfaction about quality of food and life is an indication of degree of happiness and sense of economic wellebeing. If food and life are getting better then the general morale and confidence about the future is probably improving. Similarly, future plans for their sons and daughters would tend to reflect the household heads' optimism or pessimism; optimism is reflected in higher aspira- tions and a feeling of having control over the course of events, and pessimism would be reflected in a feeling of fatalism and helplessness. 4.1 Qoolity of Food Some marked differences were observed in these four villages with regard to the perceptions of household heads about changes in the quality of food over the past five years. A large majority of Bagh- mara household heads believe that the quality of food has improved, whereas in all other villages, many household heads feel that the qua- lity of food is getting worse. Also it is interesting to note that 137 Tharus in the remote and diverse village of Dharampur see the food situation as having remained much the same. In the centrally-located diverse village of Belsi, things seem to be getting worse (Table 15). 4.2 Quality of Life As with quality of food, there are some marked differences between villages in the perception of household heads about changes in the quality of life over the past fiVe years. The situation in Bagh- mara is remarkable in the unanimity of feelings of satisfaction. Al— most all the household heads perceived the quality of life as being better now. But these data again reflect a feeling of deterioration in Dorangi and Belsi. The majority of Tharu household heads in Dorangi and Belsi feel that life is worse now. Yet in Belsi, most non-Tharus feel better off now; this may reflect the fact that their previous situation before migration was very bad. The attitudes in Dharampur are somewhat mixed. It is interesting that, in general, a greater proportion of house- hold heads feel that the quality of life has gotten better. In think- ing about quality of life these villages are probably focussing on many of the material changes such as, new roads, new schools, health centres and so on. .Thus, it is understandable that in both centrally-located villages, a greater proportion of household heads believe the quality of life is better now than do those in the remote villages (Table 16); these are the villages that have important locational advantages over the remote villages. 138 Table 15. Comparing past and present quality of food, household heads' perception, by village (percent). QUALITY OF FOOD (%) TOTAL VILLAGES Better Same Worse now . now % n Dora 23 41 36 100 22 Dhara 4 72 24 100 25 Bagh 68 28 4 100 25 Tharus 20 28 52 100 25 Belsi Non- Tharus 21 37 42 100 24 N = 121 139 Table 16. Comparing past and present quality of life, household heads' perception, by village (percent). QUALITY OF LIFE (%) TOTAL VILLAGES 1 Better now Same Worse % n Dora 25 12 63 100 24 Dhara 40 20 40 100 25 Bagh 92 4 4 100 25 Tharus 44 4 52 100 25 Belsi Non- Tharus 64 8 28 100 25 N = 124 L//// 4.3 Social Awareness "Social awareness" refers to the recognition of villagers of their rights and privileges and to their conscious effort to take ad- vantage of these. Such awareness might be a factor contributing to their receptivity to change. Household heads were asked to compare the situation in their villages with other villages and to rate their fellow villagers according to degree of relative social awareness. A majority of household heads in the remote villages of Dorangi and Dharampur perceive the relative awareness of their village to be greater than that in other neighboring villages. There seems to be a strong feeling of community pride here. But most of the Tharu house- hold heads in the nearby villages (and including the non-Tharus of 140 Belsi), see themselves no different with respect to degree of social awareness than villagers elsewhere (Table 17). The nearby villages, as noted before, have a locational advantage over the remote villages. Perhaps these villagers are more realistic about their situation than are villagers in the more remote areas. Nevertheless, the facts remain that village pride is stronger in more isolated situations. 4.4 Future Plans for Sons and Daughters Tharu parents have great hopes and aSpirations for their children. Sons, when they grow up, are expected to support their aging parents; that is the norm. The daughters' allegiance, however, is shifted to her new 'home' with her husband where she is expected to be a successful housewife. Parents also hope that their children, if possible, will take over the unfinished mission of their parents. For example, if the parents are not literate they might want to see their children become literate; if the parents are striving to be economi- cally better off, they might want their children to seek success else- where and become rich; and because farming is the main way of life in these villages, if the children become successful farmers, it could help them all out of poverty. Conventionally, in traditional Tharu society, great value was placed on successful farming and the schooling of children was not considered relevant. But today even the traditional Tharu pe0ple are beginning to recognize the benefits of education. 141 Table 17. Comparing relative awareness by villagers of rights and privileges; household head's perception, by village (percent). DEGREE 0F RELATIVE SOCIAL AWARENESS (%) TOTAL VILLAGES More aware Less aware than other Same than other % n villagers villagers Dora 72 12 16 100 25 Dhara 61 30 9 100 23 Bagh 28 72 O 100 25 Tharu 12 84 4 100 25 Belsi Non- Tharu 16 60 24 100 25 N = 123 Household heads were asked about their future plans for their sons and daughters. Surprisingly most of the household heads could not comprehend the idea of 'future'. This may be normal in tradition- al societies which have to struggle so much in order to survive in the 'present'. A sort of fatalism emerges and many people may feel that they have lost control of their own destinies. The future, they come to believe, depends upon the mercy of God; there does not seem to be much point in planning ahead. 142 However, after discussing this with household heads, it was ob- served that they generally want their sons to get some education; only a small proportion focus all their attention on the aim of having sons become good farmers. The non-Tharu household heads place even greater emphasis on education (Table 18). It is interesting to note that quite a large proportion of household heads in the remote villages had not formulated any plans at all. On the other hand, most of the Tharu households tend to ignore the idea of education for daughters. The important thing is for daughters to get married, and perhaps a little bit of education might help them to marry better (Table 19). In short then, what we observe is that the conventional Tharu norm, namely, of wanting sons to become farmers, is changing; educa- tion is now regarded as useful for sons. But the new pattern of thought does not include daughters; for the most part there still does not appear to be much value placed on education for girls. 5. SUMMARY Dorangi and Dharampur in Sauraha Panchayat are relatively remote villages and Baghmara and Belsi in Ratna Nagar Panchayat are more centrally-located. Both sets of villages are some distance from the main marketing centre of Narayanghat -- the remote villages are 20 kilometers away and the more centrally-located villages are nearly 15 kilometers away. But,the remote villages are often cut off from the larger center and other market towns due to the swelling rivers during the rainy season. The nearby villages are closer to an all-weather 143 Table 18. Future plans for sons as stated by household heads, by village (percent). FUTURE PLANS FOR SONS (%) TOTAL Make Educate Educate No success- a little as much Plan Other % n VILLAGES ful and help as they farmer obtain wish govern- ment job DORA 30 30 22 18 O 100 23 Dhara 14 24 19 24 19 100 21 Bagh 26 26 31 9 9 100 23 Tharu 37 27 27 O 9 100 22 Belsi 1N0n_ Tharu 5 41 36 14 4 100 22 N = 111 Table 19. Future plans for daughters, as stated by household heads, by village (percent). FUTURE PLANS FOR DAUGHTERS (%) TOTAL VILLAGES Raise Educate Educate No and a little as much Plans % n marry and marry as they wish Dora 9O 10 O O 100 21 Dhara 55 28 17 0 100 18 Bagh 55 4O 5 O 100 20 Tharus 95 5 O O 100 21 Belsi Non- Tharus 28 55 ll 6 100 18 98 144 paved road and therefore have no such problems. The Tharus of Dorangi and Baghmara have a linear settlement pat- tern whereas the more diverse villages of Dharampur and Belsi have a more scattered pattern. Dharampur has the largest number of households (85) but Baghmara has the larger total population. Dorangi is the smallest village. Tharus have relatively large families of an extended/joint family type. But, families tend to be somewhat larger in the homogeneous situation than in the diverse situation. 'This may be due to the fact that the homogeneous villages have a longer settlement history; there are many new settlements in the diverse villages. Agriculture is the main occupation of almost all households in the four villages. About half the household heads also had some income from off-farm jobs, mainly as farm wage workers for others. Off-farm jobs were more common in the diverse villages than in the homogeneous villages; in the diverse villages there are more landless families who depend upon off-farm jobs for economic survival. Analysis of the survey sample (N = 125) indicates a close similar- ity with basic characteristics of the general population of the vil- lage, as determined by a preliminary census of households. In effect, it can be said that the sample appears reasonably representative of the village population. To further specify the character of the study population, an attempt was made to explore the household heads' evaluation of changes and plans for their future. A greater degree of satisfaction was 145 observed in Baghmara, the centrally-located homogeneous village, with respect to change in the quality of food and life in general. On the other hand, most of the household heads in the remote and homogeneous village of Dorangi believe that their quality of life is worse now compared with five years ago. The nearby villages, of course, have a locational advantage over the distant villages in that development projects are more likely to be focussed there. The level of literacy among Tharu is very low. The data suggest, however, that the value on education is increasing; many Tharu fami- lies would like to see their sons get some education. But the negative attitude about educating daughters remains relatively unchanged. CHAPTER V. ETHNICITY AND VILLAGE CONTEXT This chapter considers the village context of ethnicity. It begins with an overview of Tharu religious orientations, and how these orientations serve to reinforce ethnic behavior. Inter-ethnic friend- ship and work relations are taken into account. The principle aim here, however, is to explore the behavioral dimensions of ethnicity in relation to the ethnic composition and structure of the village. Ethnic structure was a criterion for selection of the study vil- lages. Two of the villages are ethnically more homogeneous in that Tharus are in the majority; the other two villages are more diverse in that Tharus are not in the majority. It is assumed that the nature of the contact situation between Tharus and other ethnic groups in these sets of villages is affected by the variability in ethnic group- ings. By design, one of each pair of villages is located in a more remote area and the other is in a more central location. These village contexts are presumably associated with variabili- ties in ethnic behavior. When viewed as a behavioral phenomenon, ethnicity refers to the outward manifestations of adherence to group customs and traditions; feelings of group identity, of course, are involved. In the present case, this "we" feeling and the related behavioral set -- the household's disposition with respect to Tharu traditions -- is measured indirectly by an ethnicity scale which was formulated as described in Chapter 3. 146 147 Tharu festivals and rituals were discussed in Chapter 1 and need not be repeated here. Suffice to note that almost all villagers par- ticipate in these ethnic celebrations; non-participation is uncommon. Hence, since the particular behaviors don't have discriminatory power, they were dropped from consideration as potential scale items. It should be pointed out though that the Tharu people take such festivals and rituals very seriously and that community participation unquestion- ably serves to reinforce Tharu ethnicity and individual loyalty to and identification with the group. The following section, continuing from the discussion of Tharu religious practices initiated in Chapter 1, describes the religious orientation of Tharus and their patterns of inter-ethnic friendships and work relationships. 1. THARU RELIGIOUS ORIENTATIONS AND INTER-ETHNIC RELATIONS Tharu traditions and religious beliefs tend to reinforce each other. The Tharu people worship their own deities and spirits and most of them believe in animism. This kind of religious orienta- tion, which is quite different from orthodox Hindu and other non-Tharu religious orientations, encourages Tharuism, a feeling of being Tharu and thus different from non-Tharu. But Hinduism is the state religion in Nepal and in the process of 'Sanskritization' non-Hindu groups such as the Tharu have been gradually adopting Hindu modes of behavior in order to accomodate and raise their status in the Hindu dominated society. 148 One would assume that in the context of a diverse village Tharu families confront a situation of relatively continual and influential exposure to Hinduism and so their patterns of religious orientation are likely to be changing. But in the context of a more homogeneous village where exposure to other religious groups is less regular and persistent, their religious orientations are less likely to be chang- ing. In the latter case, worship of Tharu deities would still take precedence over Hindu Gods and Godesses. Table 20, however, does not support this viewpoint. Household heads in the four villages were asked to indicate their family's religious beliefs and to note whether they worshipped Hindu Gods and Godesses or their own Tharu deities. It was surprising to learn that some worship both Hindu Gods and Tharu deities. Most families, however, either worship only Hindu Gods or only Tharu deities. It is interesting that one-fourth of the household heads in the remote villages of Dorangi and Dharampur either do not indicate any kind of religious affiliation or they do not profess any interest in religion. Most of the household heads in the remote and diverse vil- lage of Dharampur worship either both Tharu and Hindu Gods or Hindu Gods only. Compared to all other villages, families in Dharampur are least likely to worship Tharu deities only. But Table 20 shows that in the diverse and closeby village of Belsi, nearly three-fourths of the household heads worship their own Tharu deities. 149 Thus, it is in the centrally located, diverse village of Belsi that Tharu households show strong adherence to ethnic religious practices and beliefs. lage, ethnic religious beliefs are weaker. But in Dharampur, a remote and diverse vil- Later in the following section, it is noted that Dharampur had the least and Belsi had the second highest median ethnicity score. Table 20. Religious orientations of households by village (percent). RELIGIOUS ORIENTATIONS (%) TOTAL Only Tharu Both Hindu Villages* family and Gods and Hindu village Tharu dei- Gods None % N deities ties wor- only wor- Report- worshipped shipped shipped ed Dora 36 24 12 28 100 25 Dhara 12 4O 24 24 100 25 Bagh 32 36 28 4 100 25 Tharu 72 20 0 8 100 25 Belsi Non- Tharu O O 92 8 100 25 *These data refer to the Tharu sample derived from each village, except of course, for the non-Tharu segment in Belsi. Besides religion, the inter-ethnic friendship patterns of Tharu households and their work relationships with other ethnic groups were explored. The household heads were asked if they cared to consult with 150 persons who belonged to other ethnic groups; i.e., did they have any kind of inter-ethnic friendships? It is assumed that the closer the contact situation the greater the degree of inter-ethnic friendships. Similarly, it is assumed that the greater the degree of inter-ethnic friendship, the lesser will be their ethnic behavior. We wanted to observe if village context influences inter-ethnic friendship. Another factor considered was inter-ethnic work relations. House- hold heads were asked if they cared about working on the farms that belonged to members of other ethnic groups. An attempt was made to explore if village context made any difference in the pattern of inter- ethnic work relationships. The data (Table 21) reveal that, in general, inter-ethnic friend- ships are fewu It is only in the diverse and nearby village of Belsi that some inter-ethnic friendships are observed; in other villages it is negligible. Similarly, almost all of the Tharu household heads said that they have no work relations with members of other ethnic groups. However, this is not the case among the non-Tharus in Belsi; about one-third of them indicated that they have some contact with other ethnic groups in the work situation. The lack of inter-ethnic friend- ships and contact with other ethnic groups at work indicates an inner centeredness of the Tharu communities which seems to strenghen group cohesion and to reinforce ethnicity. 2. ETHNICITY AND CONDITIONAL EFFECTS This section explores the behavioral dimensions of ethnicity in relation to the ethnic composition and structure of the village. The analysis proceeds in two ways: First, the distribution of ethnicity 151 scores in each village is noted in order to compare the four villages in terms of degree of ethnicity; second, an attempt is made to deter- mine the relative importance of the conditional variables (ethnic structure and location of the village) in affecting ethnic behavior. Table 21. Summary of inter-ethnic friendships and work relations of sampled household heads (N = 125) in four villages studied (percent). BELSI CHARACTERISTICS DORA DHARA BAGH THARUS NON- THARUS Inter-ethnic Yes 8 4 4 16 20 friendship of household heads No 92 96 96 84 80 Inter-ethnic Yes 4 12 4 4 32 work relations of household heads No 96 88 96 96 68 A total of 98 Tharu households were ranked according to the ethni- city score they obtained. The scores were based upon the response patterns of household heads to a series of questions relating to the ethnic behavior and disposition of the household. In order to compare the distribution of ethnicity scores in the four villages, medians and means were calculated, as follows: N+ ,ic §ur Where, = lower theoretical limit of the interval in which the median lies Median = 1 hl 152 fc = cumulative frequency upto interval con- taining the median fw = frequency within the interval contain- ing the median n = total number of cases h = height of the interval And for mean, _Enih’ X -£ni Where, n = frequency x = value The distribution of ethnicity scores by village is given in Table 22. These frequencies are plotted in graphic form for each village (Figure 4). The distribution pattern and form of the curve are similar for both the homogeneous and diverse villages within each of the two sets (remote and centrally located). But there are some obvious differences between the centrally located and remote pairs. The centrally located villages exhibit higher median and mean scores than the remote vil- lages and the distribution curves also differ between those pairs. In Dorangi, the more isolated homogeneous village, ethnicity seems to be a normative factor, quite like a constant. There is very little deviation away from the central tendency. That is, conformity to the normative pattern is extremely strong. 153 FN.e u com: Nm.e u cam: o¢.N u cum: om.m u now: ON.e n :mNcmz mN.¢ u cameo: mN.N n cmmumz mN.m u :mNuwz eN u z mN u z mN u z eN u z a N m N m N o N a N N N N N N N N m c m «N m 4N m N a N o N v o e m m N m o m N m m o m m o o N m m N m N o N o N Nocmzcmgu mwcoum Nucmzcmgu mucoum Nucmzcmcu mmcoum Nocmacwcu mmcoom Ammcm>wov Amzomzwmosozv Ammgm>wov Amsomcm oEoIV Hm4mm Iw >mm NNOZNN .Achozmmzo; No cmnazcv mmmNNw> No .mcmms vcm mcmwums m>prLquou use mmcoum Nuwuwccpm acmgN No meowuznwcumwo .NN «_nmN NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS 154 Figure 4. Frequency Distributions of Tharu Ethnicity Scores. Dorangi Village REMOTE VILLAGES (Homogeneous) Median = 3-29 ._ U) X.I = 3-50 3 O I LIJ 16 S 16 O 14 I 14 LL 12 c” 12 z 10 35 10 Z 8 e 8 6 6 4 4 2 2 (3)1234567 (%) DEGREE OF ETHNICITY NEARBY VILLAGES Baghmara Village (Homogeneous) Median = 4:75 _ W x3=4-32 3 0 ES 16 g 16 14 I 14 12 “5 12 10 g 10 8 g 8 6 6 4 4 2 2 (%) (%) 2 3 4 5 6 7 DEGREE OF ETHNICITY Dharampur Village (Diverse) Median = 2-75 x2 - 2-40 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DEGREE OF ETHNICITY Belsi Village (Diverse) Median = 4-70 7; = 4°21 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DEGREE 0F ETHNICITY 155 In Dharampur, the more isolated diverse village, there seems to be even less attention given to ethnic behavior. Ethnicity is cer- tainly not flaunted; indeed, a large proportion of the villagers adhere to only one of the items on the ethnicity scale. Normative pressure to conform seems rather weak. Baghmara, the more centrally located homogeneous village, and Belsi, the more centrally located diverse village, are both far more "ethnic" in terms of the behavior patterns of households, than are the more remote villages. Moreover there is a greater range of behavioral types in these two villages; deviations above and below the norm seem to be tolerated. It is as though ethnicity here is a household matter rather than a village matter, as it appears to be in the more remote villages. In any event, it is clear from these findings that the centrally located villages are more ethnic in character than the remote villages. This relationship was further explored through a three-way analysis. The conditional factors of geographical centrality and ethnic com- position of the village were built into the research design. Both factors are presumed to be simultaneously interacting with the beha- vioral dimension of ethnicity. So in order to be more certain of conclusions drawn from the previous analysis an attempt was made to control on one and then find the interaction of the other with ethni- city. This analysis, however, must be regarded as highly tentative for a number of reasons: (1) We are dealing with four "cases" and the contextual variables of remoteness and ethnic diversity are 156 "variables" only in a particular sense; (2) the distribution of ethnic behavior tends to be somewhat "village specific" and therefore not "normal"; (3) because of the skewness, the use of Gamma statistics must be viewed with caution. Households were classified on the basis of scale scores and this tranking was reduced to a trichotomy: highly ethnic (scores 5,6,7 = 3); moderately ethnic (scores 3,4=2); and less ethnic (scores 1, 2 = l). The village contexts, of course, were classified as more remote/less remote and more diverse/less diverse. Tables 23 and 24 report these data which, of course, are reduced versions of information presented in Table 22 and Figure 4. Results of the three-way classifications, controlling first on diversity and then on remoteness, are shown in Tables 25 and 26. Table 23 shows a weak negative association between ethnicity of households and ethnic diversity of village context. When we intro- duce remoteness as a conditional factor in a three-way analysis (Table~25) we observe no significant effect. In the two "less remote” villages, the distributions of ethnicity appear similar, regardless of the ethnic composition of the villages. In the two "more remote" villages we note some variability; there is a tendency for the more diverse village to manifest less ethnicity. But, as pointed out earlier, the distribution of ethnic behavior tends to be clustered around a central norm in these villages and there is little deviation. Thus, we tentatively conclude that the ethnic composition of a village, i.e., "ethnic structure", is oot_an important explanation of 157 the degree of ethnic behavior manifested by Tharu households. Now let us consider the relative isolation of villages as a factor. Table 24 shows a moderately strong negative relationship between ethnicity of households and relative isolation (remoteness) of the villages. The two "less remote" villages are more inclined to exhibit ethnic behaviors than are the two "more remote" villages. This was also shown clearly in Table 22. When we take into account ethnic diversity of the village as a conditional factor in a three-way analysis (Table 26) we observe that the negative association is main- tained. This relationship, however, appears considerably stronger in the case of the "more diverse" villages than the "less diverse" and, because the relationship is somewhat skewed in the "less diverse" case, the three-way analysis does not completely preclude the possibility that ethnic composition of the village may have some effect upon ethnic behavior. We tentatively conclude, therefore, that the relative isolation of villages is an important factor in determining the degree of ethnic behavior manifested by Tharu households. Tharu households in centrally located villages are more likely to be strongly ethnic than households in the more remote villages. From the available data, too, it appears that relative isolation is a more important factor than ethnic diver- sity. The present data also suggest that village location and ethnic structure may tend to produce a joint effect; at this point in the development of Chitwan district, however, the diversity effect is superceded by the locational effect. '158 Table 23. Degree of ethnicity of households by ethnic diversity of villages (percent). ETHNICITY 0F ETHNIC DIVERSITY OF VILLAGE (%) TOTAL HOUSEHOLDS Less More % N Low 29 7l l00 24 Moderate 58 42 lOO 45 High 55 45 100 29 Chi square = 5.55 with 2df sig >-00l Gamma = -0-29 N = 98 Table 24. Degree of ethnicity of households by relative isolation of villages (percent). ETHNICITY OF REMOTENESS 0F VILLAGE (%) TOTAL HOUSEHOLDS Less More % N Low 58 42 100 24 Moderate 20 80 lOO 45 High 90 lO lOD 29 Chi square = 35.06 with 2df sig >-OOl N = 98 Gamma = -.0-38 159 .Uw—m> #0: 00cm: _ucm thLoyqu Mr MEMO PMCwGLmE 9.5. :w mwmmu 3mm. OCH #0 wmzwuwm .1 *cw—m> won a mEEmw m—nvmwymm: u mesmu 323.3. 8 88233 8. me u z x mvm cup now; Nm.m u wanna“ Pgu me u z mz..cu~ not; mm._ a memsam veg m oo_ o cop not: mm ooh om om sow: om 00F as mm mumcmuoz a COP mm so opacmuoz or ooF om OF ammo 4F COP hm me ammo z a ago: was; mooozmmaox z x «to: awe; moooxmmzoz 4 do no 4<4o4 any mo do no >Hfimgm>fio UHZIPM >kHquzpm >hHmzm>Ha quzpm >Pmuhzzpu whose: mac: MHOZMZ mmwo .Acowgsnwgumvu pcmogmav mommFFw> do :oVHMFomw m>wngmL Lo» mchPogucoo .mmmmPFw> mo zpwmgm>wc owcspm ma mvPosmmao; mo apwuwcgpw mo mmcmmo .mm anm» 160 N¢.Ol W mEEmw Foo. x arm me u z cam now; em.mF u memacm wgu mp oo_ o co? saw: mp ooF em mp mpmcmvoz up cop mm me mum; z a mac: mmog mooozumao: J Lo Lo mmMZMHOZMm >PHquzpm mmmmio mmoz w~.ou u «saga Foo. A mmm me u z cam 25?; em.kp u acm=Um wgo 0_ oo_ or Pm saw: mm cop mm mm mpmgmuoz n oo~ «P am mmmb m z a to: mum; masozwmaoz 4 do do mmmzmpozmm >PHonzhm ‘mmmm>_o mmwm .Aacmogmav mmmmprw> go auwmgm>wu to» mcwprocpcou .mmmm——v> mo comumromw m>wpmpmg Ag murozmmao; mo muwuwcgum we mmgmmo .mN m—nmh 161 Table 27 presents a summary of these three-way comparisons: ethnicity and diversity (zero-order), ethnicity and remoteness (zero- order); ethnicity and diversity in less remote villages (conditional zero-order); ethnicity and diversity in more remote villages (condi- tional zero-order); ethnicity and remoteness in less diverse villages (conditional zero-order); and ethnicity and remoteness in more diverse villages (conditional zero-order). Table 27. Summary of three-way comparison between ethnicity of house- holds, ethnic diversity of villages, and relative isolation of villages: showing chi-square, gamma, and direction of relationships. RELATIONSHIP STATISTICAL CHARACTERISTICS Degree of Signi- OBSERVED N Chi-square Freedom ficance Gamma Remarks Ethnicity and Diversity (zero-order) 98 5-55 2 >O-l -0-29 Weak Ethnicity and remoteness (zero-order) 98 35-06 2 >0 001 -O-38 Moderate Ethnicity and diversity in less remote vil- lages (conditional zero- Negli- No asso- order) 49 1.24 2 NS Qible c1ation Ethnicity and diversity in (col- :5:¥§:_d:33r;;w more remote villages (con- lapsed) (2x2) Not 1 cases in margin ditional zero-order) 49 5-32 1 >-05 valid Ethnicity and remoteness in less diverse villages (con- ditional zero-order 49 17°34 2 >-OOl -O»28 Weak Ethnicity and remoteness in Moderately more diverse villages (con- strong ditional zero-order 49 15-54 2 >~OOl -O-47 162 3. SUMMARY The main aim of this chapter was to explore the behavioral aspect of ethnicity in relation to the ethnic composition and rela- tive isolation of the village. Religion is viewed as one of the contributory factors that re- inforces feelings of group belonging; faith in local deities and adherence to ethnic religious beliefs (such as animism among the Tharus) may enhance ethnic behavior. The Tharu community was found to be rather inner centered with weak and tenuous patterns of inter-ethnic friendship and work relationships with members of other ethnic groups. Tharu norms seem to encourage group cohesiveness; the problem of boundary maintenance appears not to be a major difficulty. It is concluded that the ethnic composition of a village, i.e., "ethnic structure", is ngt_an important explanation of the degree of ethnic behavior manifested by the households; it is the relative isolation of villages which is an important factor. Tharu house- holds in centrally located villages are likely to be more strongly ethnic than households in the more remote villages. The following chapter further explores the ethnicity factors and its relationship to other structural and attitudinal factors asso- ciated with the Tharu community's receptivity to change. CHAPTER VI. ETHNICITY AND RECEPTIVITY TO CHANGE Viewing ethnicity as both a social structural and behavioral phe- nomenon, various conditioning and contextual factors were considered in the preceeding chapter. This chapter, insofar as possible, further explores the behavioral manifestations and correlates of ethnicity. In particular, it focusses on factors associated with the receptivity of villagers to change. Conditional factors, such as level of literacy, residence history and increase in size of land holdings are taken into account, as well as attitudinal factors, such as adoption of improved farm practices, satisfaction with changes occurring, and preferences about family type and size. Each of these factors is believed to have some relevance to the processes of rural development, and each may be affected by (or be associated with) ethnicity and com- munity ethnic structure. 1. CONDITIONAL FACTORS It is usually observed that literacy and education tend to increase the breadth of understanding of people. People who are able to read and to write have acquired certain conceptual skills that make them more empathetic and more adaptable to change. Similarly, Lerner (1958) identified mobility (i.e., migration) as one of the important variables influencing modernity, through mobility a person learns to be flexible, alert to various opportunities, and ready to change. Newcomers to a village may have been more exposed to cultural 163 164 diversity and the "outside” world and consequently more inclined to change than those who have lived all their lives in one village. Similarly, research has shown a relationship between size of land holdings and adoption of improved farm practices (Kivlin, J.E., et_al,, 1971). Since these conditional factors may be assumed to contribute directly or indirectly to change (readiness to change) their association with ethnicity is worth exploring in order to under- stand the role of ethnicity in change processes. 1.1 Literacy Household heads were classified according to level of literacy; those called "more literate" can read simple letters and write their names, while those "less literate" cannot. The relation- ship between level of literacy and the degree of ethnicity was ex— plored. Table 28 does not show any significant association. There is a slight tendency for those who are more literate to be less ethnic in behavior. But essentially it appears that ethnicity is not a function of literacy or lack of literacy in these Tharu villages. Table 28. Level of literacy of household heads and degree of ethnicity (percent). LEVEL OF ETHNICITY TOTAL LITERACY Low Moderate High % n More Literate 33 41 26 100 27 Less Literate 20 48 32 100 69 Chi-square = 1.79 with 2 d.f. sig = NS; Gamma = negligible N = 96 165 1.2 Residence History Household heads were asked about their last place of resi- dence before coming to the present village. They may have moved there from an adjoining village ("closeby") or from another Panchayat or district ("farther away"). Table 29 shows that nearly 60% of all household heads are from areas closeby and 40% from farther away. A moderately high and negative correlation (-O.48) is revealed between previous residence (distance away) and degree of ethnicity. It appears that the long-term residents of these villages are more ethnic than the relative newcomers. Table 29. Previous residence of household heads and degree of ethnicity (percent). PREVIOUS ETHNICITY TOTAL RESIDENCE Low Moderate High % n Closeby (same or nearby village) 18 39 43 100 56 Farther away (Dif- ferent Panchayat or district) 31 56 13 100 39 Chi-square = 8.88 with 2 d.f., Sig>.02; Gamma = - 0.48 N 95 1.3 Cropped Area: Increased or Decreased Household heads were asked to recall how much land was planted to various crops (such as paddy, maize, wheat, mustard, pulses, etc.) five years ago. They were also asked to note how much was 166 planted to various crops last year. The difference was classified as "more", ”same", or "less". The total cropped area might be bigger than the actual farm size because of double cropping per unit area of land. Table 30 shows a moderately low and negative correlation (-O.27) between ethnicity and the degree of increment in cropped land. This suggests that households expanding their‘cropping acreage are less in- clined to observe ethnic behavior and rituals. It may be, of course, that the age factor is involved; households with diminishing lands may be headed by elderly who are more ethnically-oriented. Table 30. Difference in total cropped area of farm household over past five years and degree of ethnicity (percent). INCREMENTS 1” ETHNICITY TOTAL CROPPED AREA . OVER FIVE YEARS L0" “Oderate High % n More 37 37 26 100 30 Same 19 52 29 100 31 Less ' 16 40 44 100 25 Chi-square = 5.2 with 4 d.f. Sig = NS; Ganma = - 0.27 N = 86 2. ATTITUDINAL FACTORS Four attitudinal factors are considered here: satisfaction of the household head with material changes, satisfaction with changes in the quality of life; preferences concerning family type and size; and particularism in voting. 167 Satisfaction with the material changes occurring and a positive perception about changes in the quality of life are important factors associated with morale. Such morale and feelings of optimism about the way things are going is,it is expected, a correlate of the Tharu family's receptivity to change. 2.1 Satisfaction with Material Changes Household heads were asked about their satisfaction with the changes occurring such as the opening of new roads, schools and col- leges, introduction of new technologies and so on. Responses were categorized into two kinds: those who were satisfied and wanted even more changes were classified as "more satisfied" and those who did not care or expressed their dissatisfaction were labelled "less satisfied". Although a low chi-square value suggests that the difference is tenuous, a moderate and negative correlation (O - .34) 15 observed (Table 31). Those Tharus classified as less ethnic tend to be more satisfied with the material changes. Table 31. Degree of ethnicity and household head's satisfaction with changes occurring in villages (percent). ETHNICITY SATISFACTION (%) TOTAL More Less % n Less 79 21 100 24 Moderate 58 42 100 45 High 52 48 100 ‘ 29 Chi-square = 4.56 with 2 d.f. sig> 0.20; Gamma = -O.34 n 98 168 2.2 Changes in Quality of Life The household heads also were asked if they felt life was better at present than it was five years ago. A significant difference was observed but the association between these two variables is rather weak (Table 32). There is a tendency for those who are more ethnic to be somewhat more pleased with the changes in quality of life or, at least, not to consider these changes as being especially bad. Table 32. Degree of ethnicity and household heads' evaluation of changes in quality of life during the past five years (percent). EVALUATION OF CHANGES IN QUALITY OF LIFE TOTAL ETHNICITY Better Same Worse % n Less 54' 21 25 100 24 Moderate1 and 49 6 45 100 73 High Chi-square = 6.46 with 2 d.f., Sig>.05; Gamma = 0.21 N = 97 1 Due to zero number of cases in some cells, high and moderate cate- gories were combined in order to avoid data distortion. 2.3 Family Type Preferences Irrespective of the actual size and type of their family, household heads were asked what type and size of family they preferred most -- an extended/larger or a nuclear/smaller family. Traditional- ly, Tharus have had very large extended families. But Table 33 169 reveals an important trend: nearly two-thirds of the household heads prefer smaller, nuclear families. However, the relationship between this preference and degree of ethnicity is not clear; the moderately ethnic group is stronger on small family preference than those at the extremes. In effect, an association is not revealed by the data. Table 33. Degree of ethnicity and household head's preference for family size and type (percent). FAMILY PREFERENCE (%) TOTAL ETHNICITY I Larger (extended) Nuclear (smaller) % Less 46 54 100 24 Moderate 24 76 100 45 High 45 55 100 29 Chi-square = 2.62 with 2 d.f. Sig = NS; Gamma = negligible N = 98 2.4 Voting Behavior Household heads were asked what they consider when deciding whom to vote for. Do they prefer to vote for someone who belongs to their own group or do they focus their attention on the question of who is most qualified and efficient? Those who prefer to vote for their own ethnic group member are "more particularistic"; those who would opt for efficiency are "less particularistic" (i.e., more uni- versalistic). The focus on universalistic criteria in voting implies broader views and particularistic criteria implies narrower views. 170 Table 34 reports high and low universalistic voting behavior by degree of ethnicity. A little more than three-fourths of the household heads are of the less universalistic type (i.e., more particularistic). However, there is no association revealed between ethnicity and voting behavior. Table 34. Degree of ethnicity and household head's voting behavior (percent). VOTING BEHAVIOR (%) TOTAL ETHNICITY More Universalistic Less Universalistic % n Less 46 54 100 24 Moderate 49 51 100 45 High 38 62 100 29 Chi-square = 0.87 with 2 d.f. Sig = NS; Gamma = negligible N = 98 3. SUMMARY OF CORRELATES 0F ETHNICITY The conditional and attitudinal factors dealt with in Sections 1 and 2 were considered as indicators of receptivity to change. Their relationship with ethnicity also suggests the role of ethnicity in developmental change. Table 35 summarizes the findings. No relationship exists between the degree of ethnicity and family preference (large extended family or small nuclear) and the criteria for voting (particularistic or universalistic). A very weak and negative relationship exists 171 between degree of ethnicity and literacy,and a very weak and positive relationship between the degree of ethnicity and quality of life (life better, same or worse). A weak and negative relationship is noted between the degree of ethnicity and increment in cropped areas (increase, decrease) and a moderately high and negative relationship between the degree of ethnicity and satisfaction with material changes (more, less) and residential changes (nearby, farther—away). In a traditional agricultural society, kinship ties are very strong and families tend to be of the extended type. Many persons are required in the household for various difficult and time-consuming jobs such as_farming, going to the jungle and bringing home firewood, waiting at government offices, guarding the grazing animals, cutting grass for fodder, etc. So the majority of Tharus have extended-type families which are rather large compared with other ethnic groups. Even so, and regardless of degree of ethnicity, a majority of house- hold heads prefer the nuclear family form. Changes may be in process, but as yet a larger family tends still to be an economic asset. Similarly strong group pressure exists which dictates that Tharu members should cast their votes for a member of their own ethnic group. It is this group pressure and group loyalty which probably affects their behavior more than their personal likes and dislikes. In any case, it is also probable that, regardless of degree of ethnicity, what a Tharu head of household will say about the criteria for voting does not necessarily reflect what he will do in a voting situation. Group loyalty is very strong. 172 It is interesting to note that the more ethnic people are more happy with their quality of life. But their dissatisfaction with the changes occuring (material changes) could be indicative of their greater ambitions. It may be that villagers who express greater ethnicity are more receptive to change and hence work harder towards achieving development goals and enhancing their lot of life. Table 35. Summary of (Sections 1 and 2) correlates of ethnicity showing Chi-square and Gamma values. CORRELATES Chi-square Degrees of Significance Gamma Freedom Conditional Factors: Level of literacy Negli- (high, low) 1.79 2 NS gible Previous Residence (distance away) 8.88 2 > .02 -O.48 Change in Cropped Area (increase, decrease) 5.2 4 NS -O.27 Attitudinal Factors: Level of satisfac- tion with material changes 4.56 2 >O.20 -0.34 Quality of life evaluation 6.46 2 > .05 +0.21 Family Preference ' . - - Negli- (STze of family) 2.62 2 NS gible Universalistic Negli- voting behavior 0.87 2 NS gible 173 4. ADOPTION OF IMPROVED FARM PRACTICES In a newly emerging nation like Nepal, which is just beginning to industrialize, the improvement of agriculture and the processes of rural development are interwoven. Many people will be affected by changes in the patterns of farming and,in a very real way, the transfer of modern technology to the level of individual farms is a critical factor in building a strong nation. The adoption of improved prac- tices, therefore, is viewed as a necessary condition for rural develop- ment. The purpose of this section, then, is to explore the relationship between ethnicity and adoption of farm practices in these four vil- lages. At the outset, the analysis pattern switches back to the vil- lage level and a structural approach to the study of ethnicity. In a later phase, however, an attempt is made to bring together both dimen- sions of ethnicity in dealing with these questions. 4.1 Sources of Information Some of the important sources of agricultural information and the mechanisms for its diffusion in Nepal are the agricultural extension services, agricultural research stations, the cooperative societies, and friends and neighbors of farmers in the villages. In the past, farmers learned about improved farm practices mainly from their friends and neighbors and the diffusion of new ideas was very slow. But starting about 20 years ago or so, the creation and dissemination of agricultural information was facilitated by government agencies such as the agricul- tural research and extension services. 174 For exploratory purposes here, it is assumed that the greater the number of sources farmers use to gain such information, and the more they seek out such information from government agents, the more likely they are to become adoptors. In a traditional society like the Tharu, it is also likely that those adopting new practices will turn to advice from the more successful farmers in a village. Both of these aspects were considered in this study. It was found that for the majority of households in all four villages friends and neighbors are the most important source of agri- cultural information (Table 36). Three-fourths or more of all house- hold heads in Dorangi, Dharampur and Baghmara noted friends and neigh- bors as the most important source of agricultural information. But only about half of the household heads in Belsi (both Tharus and non- Tharus) mentioned friends and neighbors as the most important source; a large proportion (nearly half) use Junior Technical Assistants or other sources (such as, cooperative societies, the agricultural research nations, etc.). Belsi, of course, is a diverse, centrally- located villages and the findings suggest that this nearness to trans- portation and communication networks makes it easier for farmers to keep in touch with professional disseminators of agricultural infor- mation. It should be noted that this area has a research "outreach" program run by agricultural experts where farmers can obtain help. 175 Table 36. Most important sources of agricultural information, as noted by household heads, by village (percent). SOURCES OF INFORMATION (%) TOTAL VILLAGES Friends and Junior techni- neighbors cal assistants Others % n Dora 85 O 15 100 20 Dhara 83 ll 6 100 18 Bagh 73 18 9 100 22 Tharus 56 33 11 100 18 Belsi Non- Tharus 55 25 20 100 20 N = 98 Since it was already obvious that friends and neighbors are still the most important sources of information for Tharu farmers, they were asked how often they sought agricultural advice from successful farmers in their villages. It is assumed that the greater the frequency of advice sought the more likely that improved techniques and knowledge about recommended farm practices would be diffused and, consequently, adopted. Table 37 shows that all household heads in Baghmara at least some- times seek advice from the best farmers. It is also interesting to note that over one-third of the Tharu household heads in Belsi seek 176 advice quite often. A large proportion of households in Dorangi (2 %) and Belsi (29%) non-Tharus never seek any advice. But the reasons for this in Belsi and Dorangi may be different. In the remote Tharu village of Dorangi, many villagers probably do not seek any advice from the best farmers because of the traditional nature of farming. It might also be true that those who are not doing well in farming are fatalistic and feel they are destined to be in that situation; hence, they don't see any sense of seeking advice from suc- cessful farmers. In the diverse, nearby village of Belsi, the non- Tharus may go directly to the agricultural experts for technical advice (which is closeby) rather than depend upon successful farmers for help. Table 37. Frequency that household head seeks farming advice from best farmers, by village (percent). FREQUENCY OF SEEKING FARMING ADVICE FROM TOTAL VILLAGES BEST FARMERS (%) Often Sometimes Never % n Dora 24 48 28 100 25 Dhara 16 72 12 100 25 Bagh 17. 83 0 100 24 Tharus 37 47 16 100 19 Belsi Non- Tharus 14 57 29 100 21 N = 114 177 4.2 Farming Practices: Changing Patterns After exploring how agricultural information is obtained by farmers, the main aim here is to compare the four villages in terms of changing patterns of farm practices and rates of adoption. Has the innovativeness of these villages changed over the past five years? Household heads were asked whether they used certain improved varieties of crops or certain recommended practices last year. They were also asked to recall if they had accepted these practices and improved crops five years ago. For each time period, the percentage of households in each village utilizing the particular practice_is determined. The net difference in percentage between these two time periods then, indicates the rate of adoption. Specifically, household heads were asked if they were or had been growing certain improved varieties of wheat, paddy, mustard and maize (Appendix B,Table l).It was found that the adoption of improved wheat and maize had increased considerably during the past five years (Table 38), but no increment is observed in the case of paddy or of mustard. It should be noted though, that paddy is the main staple crop in Nepal and public investment on paddy improvement program is higher than for other crops. Mustard is an important cash crop and Chitwan used to be famous for mustard cultivation. The data reveal no increment in the use of improved varieties of either of these crops which is consistent with the trends in actual acreages planted to these crops in Chitwan for the past seven years (1970-1977), (Agricul- tural Statistics of Nepal, 1977). 178 Table 38. Percentage difference in proportion of households growing improved varieties of crops last year and five years ago, by village. VILLAGES IMPROVED CROPS GROWN (Percentage Difference) Wheat Paddy Mustard Maize Dora +16 0 0 -4 Dhara + 5 0 0 +8 Bagh +12 0 +4 +4 Tharus +20 -8 -8 +8 Belsi Non— Tharus +20 0 +8 +8 Besides asking about the use of improved varieties of crops, other improved farm practices were considered including the use of chemical fertilizers, insecticides, and improved agricultural imple- ments. Farmers were asked whether they had adopted these innovations and made them part of their farming operations; they also were asked if they had used these practices five years ago. "Improved seeds" refers to any of the four crops mentioned above. Our data reveal that the greater increase occurred in the use of improved seeds. But there was a surprisingly high increase in the acceptance of chemical fertilizers, insecticides, and agricultural implements (Table 39). The percentage difference (increase) in almost all the improved practices is highest in Baghmara among the four Villages. This is the 179 nearby Tharu village where household heads tend to be more ethnic. It is also interesting to note that Tharu households in Belsi had a greater percentage increase in improved farm practices than did the non-Tharu households. Maybe this is due to the fact that there are more small land holders among non-Tharus than among the Tharu house— holds. Table 39. Percentage difference in proportion of households using improved farm practices last year and five years ago, by village. IMPROVED FARM PRACTICES (Percentage Difference) Improved Seed Chemical Insecticides Improved VILLAGES Fertilizers Agricul- tural Imple- ments Dora +36 +40 +16 +16 Dhara +40 +16 +32 +24 Bagh +56 +32 +32 +52 Tharu +44 +24 +16 + 8 Belsi Non- Tharu +28 +12 +12 + 4 180 In summary then, it was found that among the Tharu, friends and neighbors are still the more important sources of information and advice on farming practices. The trend, however, especially for centrally-located villages, is to use more institutional services such as junior technical assistants, cooperative societies, etc. Interestingly, in the centrally-located village of Baghmara all of the households seek farm advice from the best farmers. This is the village where the percentage increase in farm practices is greatest. Section 4.3 attempts to explore the relationship between adoption of - improved farm practices and the ethnicity factor. 4.3 Adoption of Improved Farm Practices and the Ethnicity Factor. A farm practice adoption scale was developed as described in Chapter 3. Four recommended improved farm practices were considered and household heads were asked to recall if they had or had not been using these techniques fives years ago. They also were asked if they had been using the techniques during the past year. Responses were dichotomized. (For details of scoring techniques please refer to Chapter 3, Section 5.2). A nine-point farm practice adoption scale was constructed and household heads were ranked accordingly. Mean and median farm practice scores were computed for each vil- lage. Tablei40 reveals that Baghmara and Dorangi, the homogeneous Tharu villages have the highest average scores. The two diverse vil- lages had lower average scores. This adoption score, of course, refers to average households in the Tharu communities. It appears 181 then that rate of adoption may have something to do with the ethnic composition of villages. Table 40. Mean, and median farm practice adoption score, of farm households, by village. MEAN MEDIAN VILLAGE* Farm Practice Farm Practice Adoption Adoption Score Dora (n = 21) 4.0 4.0 Dhara (n = 20) 3.1 3.0 Bagh (n = 24) 4.2 4.1 Belsi (n = 21) 3.0 2.8 *Landless farm households were omitted In order to explore if any relationship exists between ethnic behavior and the adoption of improved practicessPearson's Correlation Coefficients were computed separately for each Villages. Table 41, reveals no relationship between these two variables in any of the villages. These results were further explored. Perhaps a relationship between ethnicity and adoption could be observed when each of the various conditions are taken into account. The villages were grouped into four sets of two: diverse villages, homogeneous vil- lages, nearby villages and remote villages. 182 Table 41. Correlation between degree of ethnicity and adoption of im- proved farm practices (Pearsonian r), by village. (ETHNICITY BY ADOPTION) VILLAGES Correlation Coefficient (r) Dora 0.136 Dhara -0.159 Bagh -0.158 Belsi 0.151 Table 42 again reveals no relationship between degree of ethnicity and level of adoption when each condition is taken into account. Table 42. Correlation between degree of ethnicity and adoption of im- proved farm practices (Pearsonian r), by village conditional factors. VILLAGE CONDITIONAL (ETHNICITY BY ADOPTION) FACTORS Correlation Coefficient (r) Diverse (Dhara and Belsi) 0.056 Homogeneous (Dora and Bagh) 0.006 Nearby (Bagh and Belsi) 0.102 Remote (Dora and Dhara 0.026 The adoption of improved farm practices also depends in part upon the nature of the particular innovation itself. In the process of 183 scale validation (Chapter 3, Section 5.3) it was found that the adop- tion of improved agricultural implements is different from other im- proved practices such as the adoption of improved seeds, fertilizer, and pesticides. It is necessary therefore to explore if the degree of ethnicity is associated with any one of these particular farm practices, i.e., with each of the four component deimensions of the farm practice scale. Correlation coefficients (Kendall Tau C) show no relationships between ethnicity and any of the four farm practice scores. The values of r (Kendall Tau C) were, respectively, .012, .005, -.O93 and -.l64 for seeds, fertilizers, insecticides and agricultural implements, res- pectively. These findings suggest that the degree of ethnicity of Tharu house- holds has little if anything to do with their adoption of improved agri- cultural practices. It can also be said, since no negative relation- ship is observed, that ethnicity does not appear to hinder the accept- ance of modern agricultural technologies and, therefore, does not seem to pose an obstacle to rural development. It is interesting to note, though, that in the centrally-located homogeneous Tharu village of Baghmara, both the average ethnicity score and the average adoption score are highest compared with other villages. But in Dorangi, the remote homogeneous Tharu village, even though the average adoption score too is very high, as in Baghmara, the average ethnicity score is much lower.- Summary Table 43 compares the two sets of median scores by village and, in this way, shows the problem more clearly. It appears that ethnicity and the adoption of improved farm 184 practices, with respect to these Tharu communities, are independent phenomenon. Table 43. Comparing median ethnicity and median farm practice adoption scores, by village. Median Ethnicity Score Median Farm Practice Score Dora 3.29 4.0 Dhara 2.75 3.0 Bagh 4.75 4.1 Belsi 4.70 2.8 5. SUMMARY These data reveal that ethnic behavior is not associated with family type and size nor with the criteria used by household heads in voting. In the more centrally-located villages, those household heads who appear more ethnic also seem to be more satisfied with changes in the quality of life. At the same time they seem to be less satisfied with the material changes occurring. The adoption of improved farm practices was viewed as a condition leading to agricultural development which in turn could affect rural development. The average adoption socre is highest in the centrally- located villages of Baghmara which also has the highest average degree of ethnicity for households. But Dorangi, the remote and homogeneous Village, has a comparably high level of adoption even though the average ethnicity score is lower. 185 No relationship is found between ethnicity and adoption. It appears that ethnicity and the adoption of improved farm practices, with regards to these Tharu communities, are independent phenomenon. CHAPTER VII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 1. RESEARCH OVERVIEW The main aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different Village situations in rural Nepal on ethnicity and the relationship between ethnicity and various structural and attitudinal M variables relevant to the processes of developmental change. This ’— study focused on the Tharu, an ethnic group indigeneous to the south- central part of Nepal. Two conditions considered were the ethnic group composition and degree of remoteness of the rural villages drawn into the study. A pair of villages was selected in a centrally-located (less remote) area. This pair consisted of a homogeneous village (Dorangi) where Tharus are in the majority and an ethnically diverse village (Dharampur) where Tharus are not in the majority. Another matching pair also consisting of a homogeneous and a diverse Village (Baghmara and Belsi, respectively) was selected in a more remote location. All 260 households in the four villages were enumerated through a preliminary census. One-hundred and twenty-five household heads (25 Tharu from each village plus 25 non-Tharu from Belsi) were sampled and interviewed for more detailed information about family structure, farming practices, ethnicity and factors related to rural development. 186 187 For purposes of analysis, the sampled Tharu household heads were ranked according to their differential ethnicity score as determined by a Guttman Scale. Household heads were also ranked according to their farm practice adoption score as determined by a 'farm practice adoption scale' constructed for the purpose. It was observed that village location (centrality) is a more important conditional factor reinforcing the manifestations of ethni- city than is the ethnic composition of the village (homogeneity/ diversity). Households in centrally-located villages (irrespective of their homogeneity/diversity) were found to be more ethnic than those in more isolated areas. It is assumed that in agricultural countries like Nepal, agricul- tural development strengthens the economic foundations and this is essential to maintaining a healthy social structure. Higher rates of adoption of improved farm practices, then, can be viewed as catalysts to agricultural modernization and rural development. Both homogeneous villages, Baghmara and Dorangi, ranked high in average farm practice adoption scores. But no relationship is noted within the villages between degree of ethnicity of households and a household's inclination to adopt new farming practices; ethnicity (in a behavioral sense) and the adoption of agricultural innovations appear to be independent phenomenon. This may be taken as indirect evidence that ethnicity does not hinder agricultural modernization and rural development. Ethnicity then should not be viewed as pathogenic and \ detrimental to social integration; indeed, perhaps it should be / 188 encouraged in order to help underprivileged minority groups like the Tharus face up to inter-ethnic competition more successfully. 2. SOME GENERALIZATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Second in number to the Nepali-speaking people in Chitwan, the Tharus represent a typically underprivileged, rather shy, less aggressive type of people who, due to their submissive behavior, have not been able to compete successfully with the various non-Tharu people who have migrated into the region. Generalizations from this study may be relevant to minority groups elsewhere who face similar conditions and circumstances. 2.1 General Considerations Our data reveal that ethnic behavior is stronger among the NE Tharus in centrally-located villages than in more remote villages. The findings also show that ethnic composition (ethnic diversity) is not a dominating factor affecting degree of ethnicity. Communication networks and linkages with the outside world probably make individuals more aware of their problems and hence more conscious of their rights and privileges. This situation leads them to adhere more strongly to their ethnic group; it reinforces ethnicity. Thus, ethnicity may serve as a protective mechanism -- a safeguard against inter-ethnic exploita- tion. The more conscious people become of their rights and privileges, the more likely they are to manifest ethnic behavior. Villagers who are more ethnic may become competitive which, in turn, encourages entrepreneurial activities and economic development. 189 _Social integration is a political aim in Nepal. After the esta- blishment of nationhood, people started identifying more with the nation. Nepal has several ethnic groups having different languages and cultural heritages. There is no doubt that as Nepal develops its transportation and communication networks, inter-ethnic contacts will be increased. Our findings tend to show that different ethnic groups should be able to co-exist in harmony in rural villages in Nepal. In Nepal, ethnicity is quite often equated with communal feelings and such things are downgraded by the majority group. The communal movement is thought to be detrimental to national integrity. Thus, ethnicity is perceived to be pathogenic. To correct this undesirable tendency, it is frequently argued that all minority groups should be assimilated as soon as possible into the main stream of society (which is dominated by Brahmanic culture). But ethnicity is a very persis- tent social structural variable and is not going to disappear; rather, with improved communication networks, the degree of ethnicity will probably increase. In a country like Nepal, instead of taking ethni- city as an alarming phenomenon, it should be thought of as desirable because it binds ethnic members to a common heritage. It serves to integrate rather than disrupt. There is no doubt that ethnicity pro- vides minority people like the Tharus with some social psychological strength to face the disturbances of change. Movements for ethnic autonomy and separatism have emerged else- where in the world due to the weakness of government policies. Nepal cannot consider itself immune from such strains forever. What Nepal 190 should do then, is to guarantee equal socio-economic and political participation to all ethnic groups in the nation-building endeavor. Only then, with this sort of fair ethnic policy, will all ethnic groups feel secure and satisfied and heartily join in the business of nation-building. No relationship was noted between the degree of ethnicity and the adoption of improved farm practices, in these four Tharu villages. Ethnicity and adoption are probably independent phenomenon in these communities. This implies though, that ethnicity does not hinder agri- culture development nor does it impede rural development. 2.2 Some Practical Considerations In the past, plans were formulated and programs were imple— mented to help people in various regions of Nepal. But what we learn here is that benefits from developmental projects dealing with health, education, and agriculture do not reach down to the grass roots level. Benefits are siphoned off before they reach the helpless and needy. Tharus, compared to non-Tharus, are less inclined to use public facili- ties (such as schools, hospitals, cooperative societies). What is necessitated then are specia1_programs designed to help specific underprivileged groups in specific areas. In this way those who are naive and vulnerable to exploitation can be reached and helped and their morale raised. Tharus have their own rural social organizations and their loyalty to these organizations is unquestionable. They have their own village and community codes and the Chaudhary is the person who serves as a 191 'gate keeper'. Villagers have great faith in the Chaudhary; he is their community leader. Another important person in a Tharu village is the Guruwa, the religious leader. He interprets the effects of evil spirits and most villagers believe that he has acquired some control over those spirits; he also is supposed to have some power to cure various illnesses. The Guruwa, like the Chaudhary, is highly respected in a village. These are the key persons who screen and legitimize any new ideas coming into a village. If they are convinced that a proposed rural development program will be beneficial and if they are involved in all phases of the program planning process, there is no doubt of the pro- gram's implementation and probable success. A majority of Tharu households have extended/joint families, but a trend is seen towards the smaller nuclear family type. The breaking down of norms favoring larger families, as observed from the comments and changing attitudes of villagers, is mainly due to the deteriorating economic conditions of farmers resulting especially from a reduction in farm size (they are selling land to meet ever-increasing costs of living). Many farmers, however, still believe that larger farms need more manpower, and this is best secured from large extended/joint families. Due to the lack of non-farm job opportunities, people are forced to be dependent on agriculture and there is an increasing man/land pressure. Cottage industries, such as weaving fish nets and making bamboo mats and straw baskets ('Dhakki') can be undertaken with some 192 success provided there is a guaranteed market for the product. Such enterprises, if encouraged, could help to lessen the pressure on land resources and could provide alternative opportunities to the landless, who number one-fourth of the villagers in Chitwan district. In effect, a system of cottage industries could provide the rural poor with an alternative for survival. The two remote villages, Dorangi and Dharampur, are very close to the national park and crops grown in'these villages are quite often destroyed by wild animals. There has also been a constant threat to human life from rhinos. Villagers insist that these animals were not this bold and were not allowed to roam freely until a few years ago when the influx of tourists into this wild area increased. Game wardens and tourist guides started putting out food such as salt to attract rhinos and thereby to provide tourists with an opportunity to take exciting photographs. Soon the rhinos became accustomed to humans and started coming closer to the village settlements. The villagers are very frustrated with the national park authorities because they cannot beat back the rhinos (for it is unlawful to harm the wild animals of Chitwan National Park). Numerous incidences have occurred such as when forest guards took away sickles from the farmers because they were cut- ting grass on park lands for their animals, or when some villagers' bullocks were beaten severely and driven back home because they were found grazing inside the jungle territory. This kind of harrassment (or tough enforcement of laws) has made villagers who farm near the national park very discouraged. Unless some areas are alloted to 193 villagers for grazing their animals and unless the free movement of wild animals in village territories is controlled, the reputation of important government programs such as the national game park is going to get hurt; a rebellious attitude among villages will be encouraged. Problems in the more centrally located Villages of Baghmara and Belsi are of a different nature. Belsi has been deprived of its source of irrigation water; this has made the Belsi villagers somewhat anta- gonistic toward other villagers who took away "their" water. They are also frustrated by the government which has not yet helped construct an irrigation channel that villagers are convinced is possible and not beyond the capacity of the government. Baghmara is troubled by the changing course of its adjoining river which has been undercutting the land edges. It is beyond the villagers' capacity to construct a dam and to tame the river. They are also looking for some outside assist- ance. Thus, the control of wild animals and a provision for grazing land assigned to village animals would impress and help the villagers in Dorangi and Dharampur a great deal. Villagers in Belsi would have their faith in government restored if an irrigation system were constructed. Taming the river around Baghmara would help those villagers feel more secure. If these projects were carried out in the four villages, it is certain that any kind of further development program would get tremen- dous local support. These villages, despite their Tharu ethnicity or perhaps encouraged by it, might then become models of rural development and help to solve, in cooperation with the government, the urgent pro- blems which the villagers themselves have identified. v— 194 As mentioned in Chapter I, high regard is accorded to women with the Tharu community. Unlike some other ethnic groups in Nepal, for example, where relations between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law are oppressive and not congenial, in Tharu families even second genera- tion women are held in high esteem. Husbands don't just command wives but are supportive of them. Women exercise their full freedom. The practical implication is that any educational program which aims to reach into the family, must take into account the involvement of women because they are active participants in family decision-making. 3. NOTE ON COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES In the present study of four Tharu villages, in the Chitwan district of Nepal, a comparative perspective influenced the focus, the conceptual approach taken, and the conclusions drawn. My familiarity with the literature and theoretical perspectives on ethnicity has been largely based on knowledge I acquired in the United States. Application of this experience to a traditional rural Tharu community needed a well-grounded comparative approach which, I hope, has been achieved in this study. It certainly has helped open several new avenues for further research. Many sociological propositions found in the literature are stated as if the relationships and generalizations hold true for all societies, social systems, and even social actions. Yet they have rarely been —_— tested outside of American and Western European societies (Marsh, 1967; ‘ Lupri , 1969). \ 195 Sociology tends to be culture-bound; current sociological theories may be severely limited as universal explanatory schemes. There is no doubt that more attention be given to cross-cultural and cross-national research. Rural sociologists, or for that matter all sociologists, need to test hypotheses within comparative paradigms, to consolidate those propositions that hold empirically good, and to show how such propositions might be derived from a still more general set. Though a major advantage of the cross-national approach is its wide range of variations, intra-societal analysis, like the present one, provide analogous opportunities. In some cases, within nation comparisons may prove more applicable and fruitful than between-nation comparisons because quite often between nation differences are exceedingly diffi- cult to control. Of special interest in the present research is the fact that the matching pairs of villages have practically identical farming condi- tions, population structures, extension services, and other support sources; that is to say, they are similar in ways to which variability in development is commonly traced. A laboratory situation, as it were, was contrived and this facilitated a systematic examination of effects of ethnicity on the processes of rural development. Though it seems that, becuase the researcher is a Nepali and the Tharu community is also a Nepali community, the methodological problems of functional and concept equivalence in these intra-societal compari- sons may not be major issues. But, this is not true. The present study posed all those cross-cultural research difficulties because the Tharu 196 ethnic group is being studied by a non-Tharu (the author) who was reared in a completely different language and cultural tradition. Conceptual frameworks Often develop from empirical relationships in one's own society or culture and many social scientists tend to reify such thinking (Bendix, 1963). The point here is that the definition of concepts is of basic importance in cross-cultural research and concepts themselves should as far as possible be universally applicable. For example, when Tharus were asked about future plans for their sons and daughters and also about their religious affiliations, neither of these two concepts ('future' and 'religion') were clear to them. They needed redefinition. Cross-cultural analysis, then, should avoid concepts so tied to single cultures (e.g., American) or groups of cultures (e.g., Western) that no instance of the concepts as defined can be found in other cultures. My research is the outcome of various tennets of comparative sociology. This research dealt with Tharu villages that were both homo- geneous and ethnically diverse, and attempted to hold all other varia- bles as far as possible, similar; location was controlled by design. Methodological problems (mentioned above) were considered and dealt with. The challenge to a comparative researcher is to come up with relevant theories at that level of abstraction where generalizability and specificity are in balance. I have attempted to participate in this endeavor. 197 4. THEORETICAL CONTRIBUTIONS It is my contention that a lack of conceptual clarity exists about ethnicity and ethnic group behavior; also, there are disagree- ments over reasons why ethnic groups and ethnicity emerge, persist and disappear (Spicer, 1971; Isajiw, 1974; Abramson, 1976; Aronson, 1976; Cohen, 1976). Quite often ethnic categories have been labelled as ethnic groups (McKay and Levine, 1978). Interaction, a key element in the concept of group, is ignored when ethnic groups are defined. Similarly, for convenience sake, some authors such as Newman (1973) equate nationality with ethnicity (in uses which distort an essential semantic difference between concepts). Nationality has attribute qua- lities, in that a person usually is either of one nationality or of another, while ethnicity has qualities of a variable (ethnicity was viewed in the present study as a matter of degree). Viewing ethnicity as a variable helps to incorporate the dynamic and processual facets of ethnic phenomenon into theoretical frameworks at both the micro- and macro-levels of research. Most of the studies on ethnicity in the United States and Canada, deal with those ethnic groups that had migrated from other countries. Quite often they have dual identification. But, most of the ethnic groups in Nepal are of indigeneous origin so they have undergone a dif- ferent historical experience. This opens a new theoretical framework to study ethnicity. Two schools of thought prevail in relation to ethnic group rela- tions: 1) the greater the opportunities for contact between ethnic groups the greater the mutual understanding, the less the degree of 198 ethnicity and the greater the openness to change; 2) the greater the opportunities for contact between ethnic groups the more the ethnic groups recognize their differences and thus the greater the ethnic manifestations and the less an openness to change. But the data do not support either one of these propositions directly. Ethnic diversity is not a sufficient factor to increase the degree of ethnicity. The loca- tional factor is a more important variable encouraging ethnic behavior. This finding itself is of theoretical significance. In doing this research, my strategy has been to go beyond the mere description of events/contexts or behavior. The research attempted to seek explanation regarding various processes, such as the interrelated- ness of social institutions and developmental change, ethnicity and its role in rural development, and so on. Theories regarding change, development, ethnicity and social inte- gration are still controversial (Smith, 1965; Shibutani and Kwan, 1965; Bernstein, 1966; Weinstraub, et_gl,, 1966; Eisenstadt, 1968; Weintraub, ‘ 1972; Schwenk, 1972; Smith, 1976; Clark, gt_§l,, 1976; Grove, 1977; Horowitz, 1977; Heisler, 1977; Axinn, 1978; Peterson, 1979). These controversies deal with serious questions, such as whether the nature of change and development is unilinear or cyclical; whether ethnic diversity in a community encourages or hinders social change; whether the breaking down of tradition is a pre-requisite for development or a compromising stand that is useful in introducing social change; whether national integration must depend upon a state controlled oppressive ethnic policy or whether it can be brought about by keeping the identity of various ethnic groups undisturbed (or even by promoting it). 199 Thus, the formulation of such a linkage theory, systematically relating traditional and multi-ethnic culture and the processes of development, is an important focus of this research, and its utiliza- tion may well, even if only to a small degree, make the compatability greater between strategies of change and the ethnic groups to which they are directed. 5. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY AND FUTURE RESEARCH Family households that are not Tharu were classified as "non- Tharus". But these non-Tharus belong to a number of ethnic groups with different socio-cultural backgrounds and traditions. Although they were grouped together to compare with Tharus, there are consider- able variations among them. They are not a homogeneous category. For the purpose at hand, this was a useful procedure. However, future research with larger number of cases should take such variabilities into account. Furthermore other ethnic groups such as the Chepangs, Tamangs, Gurungs, etc., should also be considered to explore the generalizability of these findings. A best possible judgement was exercised in the selection of remote and nearby villages. Still, these pairs were not very far apart geo- graphically. Because of this proximity and the possibility of some social interaction and commerce between them, the "remote" and "nearby" factor is a relative matter. Perhaps elsewhere its conditional effect will be more or less important. There were only 25 Tharu household heads from each village (plus 25 non-Tharus in Belsi) who were interviewed for this research. The 200 small sample size in each village does not permit more conclusive sta- tistical treatments, such as regression analysis. This limitation can be eliminated, of course, by selecting more villages of similar type and surveying a larger sample which would allow the use of more sensi- tive statistical techniques and also would enhance the reliability of research. But a larger sample would be decidedly more expensive and would require the services of a trained crew of competent interviewers and coders. Adoption is a socio-psychological phenomenon whereby a person and his family go through various stages of decision-making before the recommended practice is accepted or rejected. But the farm practice adoption scale employed in this research considers only dichotomized responses regarding four improved farm practices over a period of five years. Thus, it needs considerable improvement to make it more sensi- tive to variabilities within villages. The Guttman Scale for measuring ethnicity should be standardized on a broader spectrum of the Tharu population. After further valida- tion, the scale itself may become an important tool for continued re- search on the Tharu people. A similar scale with items relevant to other ethnic groups should also be developed to measure the degree of ethnicity among members of other ethnic groups. It was noted in Chapter VI that there had been an increment in the rate of adoption of improved varieties of wheat and maize crops but that paddy and mustard showed no increment. Paddy is the main staple food in Nepal and public expenditure on paddy improvement programs is very high. 201 The slow rate of adoption of improved varieties in those four villages must be of concern to anyone involved in the success of this program. Similarly, mustard is an important cash crop and Chitwan is famous for mustard cultivation. The slow increase in adoption of improved strains of mustard should be noted. Wheat and mustard are grown in the same season (winter), so it may be that wheat is competing with mustard. This trend merits further research attention from all concerned. We now have basic sociO-economic and demographic data regarding 260 households in four rather interesting Tharu villages. We also have data regarding their ethnic behavior and their attitude toward modern farming practices. There is no doubt that a longitudinal study, following up on these villages over a period of time, would provide us with very useful data set and insights on the processes of development and the stresses associated with ethnic integration. BIBLIOGRAPHY £02 SELECTED REFERENCES Abramson, H.J. 1973. Ethnic Diversity in Catholic America. New York: Wiley and Sons. Abramson, H.J. 1976. "On the Sociology of Ethnicity and Social Change: A Model S”/' of Rootedness and Rootlessness." Economic and Social Review 8: 43-59. Acharya, B.R. 1972. "Questions and Answers" in P.R. Sharma (ed.). B.R. Acharya and His Works. Kathmandu: Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies, Tribhuban University. Adamic, L. 1940. From Many Lands. New York: Harper and Row. Adamic, L. 1944. A Nation of Natives. New York: Harper and Row. Aronson, D. 1976. "Ethnicity as a Cultural System: An Introductory Essay," in F. Henry (ed.). Ethnicity in the Americas. The Hague: Mouton. Axinn, G.H.; and Thorat, S. 1972. Modernizing World Agriculture: A Comparative Study of Extension Systems. New York: Praeger Publisher, Inc. Axinn, G.H. 1978. New Strategies for Rural Development. Kathmandu: Rural Life Associates. Barth, Fredrik 1969. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. Boston: Little Brown and Company. Bealer, Robert C. 1971. "Rural Development: Another GO Around for Interdiscipli- nary Blunders." Paper prepared for the Training Seminar in Rural Development, Texas: College of Agriculture, A & M University. College Station. June 14-15. Bendex, R. 1963. "Comparative Sociological Studies." American Sociological Review. 28: 532-539. 203 Bertrand, Alvin L. (no date). "Definition and Strategies of Rural Development: A Search for Coherence and Congruity." Bista, 0.8. 1977. Garden of All Castes (in Nepali). Kathmandu: Sajha Prakashan. Blau, Peter M., and Otis Dudley Duncan. 1967. The American Occupation Structure. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Bouraoui, Hedi 1979. "Unity and Diversity in a Transcultural Context," in Bauraoui Hedi (ed.), The Canadian Alternative: Cultural v/’ Pluralism and Canadian Unity. Ontario: ECW Press, Downsview. Burkey, R.M. 1978. Ethnic and Racial Groups: The Dynamics of Dominance. V/ ‘ Cummings PubliShing Company. Butterfield, S.H. 1979. "Rural Development: Why it is Hard for Developing Country Leadership to Get Started," International Development Review, 19 (1): 8-12. Chemjong, P.S. 1967. History and Culture of Kirat People, Part II. Kathmandu: Nepal Printing Press. Chodak, Szymon 1973. Societal Development. New York: Oxford University Press. Clark, M.; Kaufman, 5.; and Pierce, R.C. 1976. "Exploration of Acculturation: Towards a Model of Ethnic L//// Identity." Human Organization. Vol. 35, No. 3: 231-238. Cohen, I. . 1976. "On Hechter's Interpretation of Weber." American Journal of Sociology, 81: 1160-1162. Coombs, Philip H., and Ahmad Manzoor. 1974. Attackinngural Poverty. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University’Press. Cox, 0.C. . 1948. Caste, Class and Race: A Study in Social Dynamics. New York: Garden City, Doubleday. 204 Crooke, W. 1973. Races of Northern India. Delhi: Cosmo Publication, India. Curtis, Richard F., and Elton F. Jackson. 1977. Inequality in American Communities. New York: Academic Press. Darroch, G., and Marston, W.G. 1969. "Ethnic Differentiation: Ecological Aspect of a Multi- Dimensional Concept." International Migration Review IV, 71-95. Dollard, J. 1937. Caste and Class in a Southern Town. New Haven: Yale Uni- versity Press. Duncan, Otis Dudley, and Albert Reiss. 1956. Social Characteristics of Urban and Rural Communities. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Duncan, Otis Dudley, David L. Featherman, and Beverly Duncan. 1972. Socioeconomic Background and Achievement. New York: Seminar Press. Durkheim, Emile 1933. The Division of Labor in Society. Glencoe: Free Press. Driedger, Leo (ed.) 1978. The Canadian Ethnic Mosaic: A Quest for Identity. a// Toronto: McCTElland and Stewart, Canada. Eisenstadt, S.N. 1968. Comparative Perspectives on Social Change. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. Fanon, F. 1961. The Wretched of the Earth (American edition, 1968). New York: Grove Press. Farley, Reynold 1976. "Components of Suburban Population Growth," in B. Schwartz (ed.), The Changing Face of Suburbs. Chicago: The University of ChiEago Press. Frazier, E.F. 1947. "Sociological Theory and Race Relations," American Socio- logical Review 12: 265-271. 205 Frazier, E.F. 1949. The Negro in the United States. New York: McMillan. Frazier, E.F. - 1957. Race and Culture Contacts in Modern World. Boston: Beacon Press. Galeski, Boguslaw (no date) "Conflict and Change as an Aspect of Development." Paper presented during the author's stay in the United States under the United States Department of State Exchange Program. Girth, H., and Mills, C.W. 1958. From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press. Glazer, N., and D.P. Moynihan 1963. Beyond the Melting Pot (revised edition 1970). Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. Glazer, N., and D.P. Moynihan (eds.) 1975. Ethnicity, Theory and Practice. Massachusetts: Harvard UniVersity Press. Glick, Clarence E. 1955. "Social Roles and Types in Race Relations," in Andrew WL (ed.), Race Relations in World Perspective, Honolulu: Uni- versity of Hawaii Press. Goldthorpe, J.E. 1975. The Sociology of Third World: Disparity and Involvement. Cambridge: Lyndics of Cambridge UniVersity‘Press. Gordon, M. ' 1964. Assimilation in American Life. New York: Oxford Univer- sity Press. Greeley, Andrew , g 1971. "Ethnicity as an Influence on Behavior," in Feinstein, .//" Otto (ed.), Ethnic Groups in the City, Grove, 0. John 1977. "A Cross-National Examination of Cross-Cutting and Rein- forcing Cultural Cleavages," International Journal of Comparative Sociology XVIII, 3-4} 206 Gurung, Harka 1973. "The Regional Approach in Nepalese Planning," in Prachand Pradhan (ed.), A New Dimension in Nepal's Development. Centre for Economic Development and Administration. Kathmandu: Tribhuban University. Gurung, Harka 1981. "Ecological Change in Nepal, A Native Interpretation." An unpublished paper. Guttman, L. 1944. "A Basis for Scaling Qualitative Data." American Socio- logical Review, Vol. 9, 139-150. /// Hauser, Robert M.,.and David L. Featherman. 1977. The Process of Stratification Trends and Analysis. New York: Academic Press. Hechter, Michael- - 1974. "The Political Economy of Ethnic Change." American Journal C// of Sociology 79: 1151-78. Heisler, Martin 0. . 1977. "Ethnic Conflicts in the World Today: An Introduction." J,,— The Annals of American Academy of Political and Social Sciences. September 1-5. Herberg, W. 1955. Protestant, Catholic, Jew. New York: Doubleday. Higham, J. 1955. Strangers in the Landi Patterns of American Nativism. New Brunswick: New Jersey: RutgersTUniversity Press. Holloman, Regina E., and Arutiunov Serghei, A. 1978. Perspectives on Ethnicity. Paris: Mouton Publishers. Horowitz, Donald L. ' 1977. "Cultural Movements and Ethnic Change." The Annals of ‘(,/ American Academy of Political and Social Science. September 6-18} Hughes, E.C., et al. (eds.) 1950. Race and Culture, Vol. I., The Collected Papers of Robert Ezra Park. Glencoe: The Free Press. Isajiw, Wsevolodw 1974. "Definitions of Ethnicity." Ethnicity, 1: 111-124. 207 Isajiw, Wsovolodw 1980. "Definitions of Ethnicity," in Goldstein, Jay, and Bienve- nue, Rita M. (eds.), Ethnicity and Ethnic Relations in Canada. Butterworth: Toronto. Jencksi, Christopher, at al. 1972. Inequality. New York: Basic Books. Kallen, H. 1915. "Democracy versus the Melting Pot." The Nations, 100 (February 18-25), 190-194, 217-222. Kallen, H. 1924. Culture and Democracy in the United States. New York: Liveright. Killan, L., and C. Grigg 1964. Race Crisis in America. Englewood Cliff, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Kivlin, J.E., et a1. 1971. Innovation in Rural India. Ohio: Bowling Green State Uni- versity Press. Kramer, J. 1970. The American Community. New York: Appleton Century Crofts."/ Lane, Angela 1968. "Occupational Mobility in Six Cities." American Socio- logical Review 33: 740-9. Leggett, J. 1968. Class, Race, and Labor. New York: Oxford University Press. Lele, Uma 1975. The Design of Rural Development: Lessons from Africa. Baltimore: TheTJohns Hopkins University Press. Lemair, Herve-B. 1965. "Franco-American Efforts on Behalf of the French Language in New England," in Fisherman, et al. (eds.), Language Loyalty in the U.S.: The Maintenance and Perpetuation of Non-English Mother Tongues by American Ethnic and Religious Groups. The—Hague: MOuton and Company. Lerner, Daniel 1958. The Passing of Traditional Society. Glencoe: The Free Press. Leupolt, Manfred 1977. "Integrated Rural Development: Key Elements of an IRD Strategy," Sociologia Ruralis 17, 1-2, 7-28. Liberson, Stanley 1961. "A Societal Theory of Race and Ethnic Relation." American Sociological Review 26: 6. Lipset, Seymour M., and Reinhard Bendix 1959. Social Mobility in Industrial Society. Berkeley: Univer- sity of California Press. Logan, John R. 1976. "Industrialization and the Stratification of Cities in Suburban Region." American Journal of Sociology 82: 333- 48. Logan, John R. 1978. "Growth, Politics and Stratification of Places," American Journal of Sociology. Lohani, Prakash C. 1976. Some Observations on the Economic Growth in Nepal. Kathmandu: Nepal. Lohani, Prakash C. 1978. People's Participation in Develgpment. Kathmandu: Centre // for Economic Development and Administration, Tribhuban University, Nepal. ‘ Lupri, Eugene 1969. "Theoretical and Methodological Problems in Cross-National Research." Sociolggia Ruralis 9 (2): 99-113. men,SM. 1973. The Black American in Sociological Thought. New York: Capricorn Books. Majumdar, D.N. 1944. The Fortunes of Premitive Tribes. Lucknow: The Universal Publishers Ltd. Majumdar, D.N. , 1942. "The Tharus and Their Blood Groups." Journal of Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, Volume 111, No. 1} p. 33. Manig, Winfred 1979. "The Spatial Dimension of Rural Development," Asia Quarterly. Bruxelles: 3: 229-254. Manzardo, Andrew E. 1978. "To Be Kings of the North: Community Adaptation and Impression Management in the Thakali of Western Nepal." Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. Madison: University of Wisconsin. 209 1975. Mechi to Mahakali (in Nepal). Vol. 4, Kathmandu: Depart- ment of Information. His Majesty's Government of Nepal. Marsh, R.M. 1967. Comparative Sociology, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Woer. McKay, J., and Frank Lewins 1978. "Ethnicity and the Ethnic Groups: A Conceptual Analysis and Reformulation." Ethnic and Racial Studies. Vol. 1, No. 4: 413-427. Metzger, Paul L. 1971. "American Sociology and Black Assimilation: Conflicting Perspectives." American Journal of Sociology, Volume 76. November, pp. 627-647. Muller, Charles W. 1974. "City Effects on Socioeconomic Achievements: The Case of Larger Cities." American Sociological Review 39: 652-67. Myrdal, Gunnar 1972. Asian Drama (abridged). London: The Penguin Press. Myrdal, Gunnar, et a1. 1944. An American Dilemma. New York: Harper and Row. Nahviny, Vladimir C., and Joshua A. Fisherman 1965. "American Immigrant Groups: Ethnic Identification and the Problem of Generation," Sociological Review 13, 311-326. Newman, W.H. 1973. American Pluralism. New York: Harper and Row. Newman, William M. 1978. "Theoretical Perspectives for the Analysis of Social Pluralism," in Driedger (ed.), The Canadian Ethnic Mosaic. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart. Novak, M. 1971. The Rise of Unmeltable Ethnics. New York: Macmillan. Obidinski, E. 1978. "Methodological Considerations in the Definition of Ethnicity." Ethnicity 5, 213-228. Parsons, Talcott 1966. "Full Citizenship for the Negro American? A Sociological Problem," in Parsons, T. and Clark, Kenneth B. (eds.), The Negro American. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 210 Petersen, William 1979. "Ethnicity in the World Today," International Journal of Comparative Sociology XX, 1-2. Porter, J. 1965. The Vertical Mossaic. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Price, A. Grenfell 1950. White Settlers and Native People. Melbourne: Georgia House. Pyakuryal, Kailash 1981. "Rural Development in Nepal: Socio-Historical Perspectives and Ethno-Regional Concerns." International Journal of Asian Studies. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company. Pyakuryal, Kiran N. 1980. Strategic Elements of Rural Develgpment in Nepal. Kathmandu: Centre for Economic Development and Administra- tion, Tribhuban University. Rajaure, D.P. 1977. An Anthropological Study of the Tharus of Dang-Deokhuri. An unpfiblished M.A. thesis. Kathmandu: Tribhuban Univer- sity. Raper, Arthur R. 1970. Rural Development in Action. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Regmi, Rishi K. 1978. One Source, Three Steams (in Nepali). Kathmandu: Sajha Prakashan. Reitz, Jeffrey G. 1980. "Language and Ethnic Community Survival," in Goldstein, Jay E., and Rita M. Bienvenue (eds.), Ethnicity and Ethnic Relations in Canada: A Book of Readings. Toronto: Butterwaths. Risby, H.R. 1892. The Tribes and Castes of Bengal. Vol. II, Calcutta: The Bengal Secretarial Press, India. Rossi, Peter = 1972. "Community Social Indicators," in Campbell, A., and P. Con- rezse (eds.), The Human Meaning of Social Change. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 211 Rowney, Horatio B. 1882. The Wild Tribes of India. London: Thos De La Rue and Company. Ruby, Jo Kennedy ' 1944. "Single or Triple Melting Pot? Intermarriage Trends in New Haven, 1870-194O,'I American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 331-339. Sainju, Mohan M. 1973. "Regional Approach: Some Issues," in Prachand, Pradhan (ed.) A New Dimension in ngal's Devleopment. Kathmandu: Centre for Economic Devéiopment and Administration. Sapir, Edward 1933. "Language," Encyclopedia of Social Science, Vol. X, 155- 168. New York: MacMiTian Company. Schermerhorn, R.A. . . 1970. Comparative Ethnic Relations: A Framework for Theory and v/’ Research. New York: Random House. Semynov, Moshe 1978. Community, Ethnicity and Achievement Towards Understanding of Contextual Effects. An unpubiished Ph.D. dissertation. Stoney Brook: State University of New York. / V” Shibutani, T. and K.M. Kwan (eds.) 1965. Ethnic Stratification. New York: MacMillan. Smelsor, N.L., et al. (eds.) 1966. Social Structure and Mobility in Economic Develppment. Chicago: Aldifie PDbTishing Company. Smelser, N.L. 1976. Comparative Methods in Social Sciences. New Jersey: Prentice-HalTiIncorporated, Englewood Cliffs. Smith, Anthony D. 1976. Social Change, New York: Longman Incorporated. Sorokin, Pitirim A. 1927. Social Mobility. New York: Harper. Spicer, E.H. 1971. "Persistent Cultural Systems," Science, Vol. 174. 212 Spilerman, Seymour, and Hack Habib 1976. "Development Towns in Israel: The Role of Community in Creating Ethnic Disparities in Labor Force Characteris- tics." American Journal of Sociology, 81: 781-812. Stiller, S.J. and Ram Yadav. 1979. Planning for People. Kathmandu: Sahayogi Prakasham. Stolzenberg, Ross M., and Ronald J.D'Amico 1977. “City Differences and Non-Differences in the Effect of Race and Sex on Occupational Distribution." American Sociological Review 42: 937-950. Tamang, Kirti M. 1982. "The Status of Tigers and Their Impact on The Principal Prey Population in the Royal Chitawan National Park, Nepal." Ph.D. Dissertation, Michigan State University: East Lansing. Thomas, W.I. 1904. "The Psychology of Race Relations," American Journal of Sociology, 9 (March), 593-611. Thomas, W.I., and F. Zanecki 1918. The Polish Peasant in Europe and the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Valentine, Charles A. 1971(a). "Deficit, Difference and Bicultural Models of Afro- American Behavior." Harvard Educational Review, pp. 137- 157. Valentine, Charles A. l97l(b). "It is Either Brain Damage or no Father: The False Issue of Deficit versus Difference of Afro-American Behavior," in Robert Buckhout (ed.), Towards Social Change: A Manual for Those Who Will. New York: Harper and Row. Valentine, Charles A. 1972. "Models and Muddles Concerning Culture and Inequality. A Reply to Critics." Harvard Educational Review 42, pp. 97-108. Warner, L., and L. Srole 1945. The Social Systems of American Ethnic Groups. New Havens, Connecticut: Yale University Press. / 213 Weinstock, S. Alexander 1969. Acculturation and Occupation: A Study of the 1956 Hunga- rian Refugees in the United States. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. Wilson, W.J. 1973. Power, Racism, and Privilege, New York: The MacMillan Company. Wortman, Sterling, and R.W. Cummings, Jr. 1978. To Feed This World: The Challenges and the Strategies. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Writh, Louis 1945. "The Problems of Minority Group," in Ralph Linton (ed.). The Science of Man in the World Crisis. New York: Colombia UfiiVersity Press. Yuchtman-Yaar, Ephraim, and E. Heller 1977. Absorption Capacity of Development Towns and of Other Urban///// Settlements in Israel, quoted in Semynov, Moshe (1978).’,//’ Yuchtman-Yaar, Ephraim, and E. Heller 1975. Rural Development. Sector Policy Paper, World Bank, February. Znaniecki, F. 1952. Modern Nationalities. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 1977 Agricultural Statistics of Nepal. Kathmanduz" Department of FOod and Agricu1tura1 Marketing Services, Nepal. APPENDICES 214 APPENDIX A. Table 1. Percentage of Households Doing Various Work Tasks by Land Holding (N = 94). PERCENTAGE OF HOUSEHOLDS TASKS With Land Landless N=82 N=12 A. Crop Fajgfino Task; Plan Farming Program 98 Field Preparation 98 Breaking Pods 55 Carrying Compost and Farm Y Manure 82 Spreading Compost and FYM 82 Sowing Seeds 98 Planking 96 Digging Irrigation Channels 95 Transport Seedlings to Field 96 X Transplanting 94 X Weeding 94 Irrigation 94 Making Bunds 94 Buy Insecticides 86 Harvesting 98 Bringing the Harvest to Threshing Flow 96 Threshing 98 Winnowing 100 100 Storing 100 100 B. Livestock Raising Tasks Care of Poultry Birds 94 75 Care Goats and Sheep 47 8 Care Bollocks 9O 17 Care Cows and Buffaloes 80 67 Milk Cows and Buffaloes 29 7 Grazing Large Animals 85 58 Grazing Boats and Sheep 47 x Grass Cutting 85 75 C. Fann Related Household Tasks Buying Agricultural Implements, Bollocks 95 X Buying Farm Lands 95 X Selling Farm Lands 95 x Drying Grains 100 92 Selling Grains 96 17 Milling, Grinding, Crushing 100 92 Growing Vegetables 92 33 D. Family Related Household Tasks Deciding Jobs for Women 84 25 Deciding Jobs for Men 89 33 Clean Cattle Shed 94 75 Pasting Cowdung to Floor 100 92 Cooking Food 100 100 Dish Washing 100 100 Making Mats/Weaving Fish Nets 77 75 Clean Clothes 100 100 Cleaning the House 100 100 Buying Clothes 100 100 Mending and Stitching 96 92 Cutting Firewood in Jungle 100 92 Carrying Firewood for Jungle 1 100 100 Cutting Firewood for Cooking 1 100 100 215 APPENDIX A Table 2. Average Size of Land Holdings in Bigha and Percentage of Landless Households, by Village (N = 100). AVERAGE SIZE OF LAND LANDLESS VILLAGE HOLDINGS (BIGHA)* PER HOUSEHOLD % n Dora (N = 21) 4.56 16 4 Dhara (N = 19) 1.86 24 6 Bagh (N = 25) 4.63 O O Belsi (N = 21) 2.97 16 4 *Excludes those who do not own any land. 216 AAFV Am_v Aepv Aw_v Romy Aomv Amev AONV we mu mm mm om om om ow macmsh icoz wmpmm AAPV Ao_v AONV Aw_v AFNV Am_v Am_v Awpv mm mu om Nu cm mm mm Nu masmcp ANNV Ammv ANNV Ammv Amwv Ammv As V ANFV mm mm mm No No No on we zoom $3 3: 3: 3: 8: 8: 3 V 3: mm on on mu mm mm «N we usage Am_v Ae_v Ae_v Ak_v A_~v APNV AFFV Ampv on mm we me am am so on econ om< om< A om< om< msom> smm> mswm> som> msmm> smm> msmm> smm> m>wu “we; m>wu “we; w>wu “mo; m>wm ammA mw<44H> msmzocm mNToz msmzosm uswumaz mcmzocm aucmm msmzocm paws: m o 4 o I m m 2 o I .Amwmmspzmsmg cw mnpogmmzo; $0 smnszzv .mmmpr> an .omm meow» m>wm use sow» pmo_ maoso mo wwwuwwsm> um>osasw mcwzosm mopogmmao; mo mmopcmugma .F anm» .m xHozmmaq 217 AA V Am V Am V AF_V AmFV Am_V AoFV AAFV mm mm mm as oo NA 04 we detach icoz empom Ao V AN V Am V AA V Am V Am V Ae V AmPV o m we mm ~_ om o_ om mates» Ac V Am_V Am V AMPV Ao V AeFV Am V AONV o mm om mm em om 4N ow Seam AN V Am V A_ V Am V AN V Am V AN V “NPV m mm a om w em w . we aeaeo Am V A~_V A, V Am V he V Ae_V Am V AeFV mm me 4 cm op om om em aeoo om< om< om< om< mcmm> cmw> mgmw> smm> msmm> me> msom> smm> osed “was osmd ewes oseo “was oseo ewes meeoEoFoEV mw Foszppzuwsm< um>oquH mmumuwpuwmcH mLmNTPmucmm quwsmsu mvmmm um>ogaEH mmueeuqma zmomazH .Amwmmcucmsma cw muPOSmmso; mo cmnssz .mmm-w> an .omm meow» m>ww one saw» “mop mmo_uomca Esme um>osasw mcwm: muponwmao; eo wmmucmugma .N mpamh .m x~ozmam< 218 APPENDIX C. Table 1. Ethnicity Score and Fanm Practice Score of Household Heads (Tharu), by village. SURVEY DORA DHARA BAGH BELSI 1.0. Ethnicity Fanm Ethnicity Farm . Ethnicity Farm Ethnicity Farm Score Practice Score Practice Score Practice Score Practice Adoption Adoption Adoption Adoption Score Score Score Score 1 3 5 4 4 1 5 5 4 2 3 3 3 O 3 8 7 3 3 3 5 1 5 6 4 7 l 4 4 9 l 4 1 5 7 5 5 3 O 3 5 6 4 6 O 6 4 2 l 4 3 8 1 6 7 4 7 3 2 7 2 1 2 8 3 l 1 l 7 6 6 2 9 3 1 2 3 6 4 7 2 10 5 3 l 3 l 0 1 1 11 4 6 3 5 3 5 7 6 12 3 3 l 3 6 5 3 5 13 3 3 3 2 6 l 6 2 14 3 5 l 2 6 5 2 O 15 3 0 3 3 7 2 4 3 16 I 0 0 3 3 5 8 2 3 17 3 5 3 2 3 3 5 3 18 4 4 3 0 4 5 2 5 19 2 ' 6 3 0 s 2 4 I 20 3 5 3 0 4 3 S l 21 3 4 1 3 7 3 0 0 22 6 l 3 1 2 4 5 2 23 3 0 3 O l 4 1 0 24 4 4 3 2 7 3 5 3 25 5 2 4 S 1 2 2 3 11"... 1|- ,4. Ila . . . . ,- .. “3.35:? 2.55.1; 7r . 1.17.2.1...- . . ,1 11.2.1.5... .; . x . . I . . s a . Z . . . .: . e...r vs... 9.. o 7.... . I, .i i . 2a.. rig-L: .2 .....:.Z : yeti! "I11111114111111.1714T