Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world; most people have never used a telephone, never mind a computer, the regular food staple for most of the actual is ‘dhal batt’ - rice and/or lentils with maybe some veg - every day, for lifestyle. The terrain is a mix of three altitude zones; the Himalayan mountains - the so called ‘roof of the world’, their foothills and valleys, and the southern plains with some rainforest. The Kathmandu valley is the centre of administration, commerce and what industry is undoubtedly. The country is a mix of 70% Hindu and 20% Buddhist religions (Buddha was given birth in Lumbini in the south), 4% Muslims in which clustered around the border with India, plus more obscure sects. In the Kathmandu valley a synthesis of Hinduism and Buddhism is practiced by the Newars, while in the eastern and western hills, the oldest religious form, Shamanism, still survives. 80% of the population are employed in agriculture, an estimated 40% live in extreme poverty. Gross national income per head stands at US $240, according anywhere int he planet Bank. Illiteracy is very high, though diminishing gradually; 35% of men, 70% of women.(1) The industrial working class is clustered around the Kathmandu valley and a few other urban areas; the unions claim several hundred thousand members but the figures are questionable; membership fluctuates considerably due to casualised employment and changing political loyalties. Many workers are non-unionised(2). There is a rigid caste system, but religion doesn’t appear turn out to be significant in party politics, apart from the class/caste aspect. Slavery was officially abolished in the early 1900’s, though an involving neo-slavery continued well into the 1990’s in some more remote rural areas; family debts were inherited through the children and could never realistically be worked off as more debt was added, so were offered in turn to the next generation as a form of indentured servitude. This grow to be outlawed, but indentured villagers are still occasionally discovered and rescued from such slavery. Yet these local archaic feudal remnants co-exist alongside a tourist industry that provides internet cafes with global satellite friends.
Post a Comment