Inequality and Affirmative Action: Situating Nepal in Global Debates
18-20 July, 2012, Kathmandu
In July 2012, an international group of scholars gathered in Kathmandu, Nepal to discuss the relationship between inequality and policies of affirmative action in South Asia and beyond. These issues are currently the subject of serious debate in academic, policy and popular forums in Nepal, where the state is undergoing rapid political transformation from a unitary Hindu monarchy to a secular democratic federal republic.
The conference marked the conclusion of the three-year research partnership ‘Inequality and Affirmative Action in South Asia: Current Experiences and Future Agendas in India and Nepal’, which brought together scholars from India, Nepal, the UK and US to explore historical and contemporary debates on affirmative action in India and their implications for future policies on affirmative action in Nepal. Yale faculty member Sara Shneiderman (Assistant Professor of Anthropology and South Asian Studies) was one of the original six partners in the project, and a co-convenor of the Kathmandu conference.
The concept, nature, and production of inequality, as well as attempts to address it through various policy measures were the subject of two days of closed sessions, and the focus of twenty-two papers presented by Nepali and international researchers and experts. These scholarly deliberations took place at a crucial moment in Nepali social and political history. Public debate is raging over how to create a more inclusive polity based on the principles of social justice for all citizens. However, specific discussions over the nature of affirmative action and the scope of its benefits and beneficiaries have been overshadowed to a significant extent by highly contentious debates over the role of ethnicity and identity in shaping the boundaries of newly restructured federal units. These issues are indeed closely linked, since affirmative action and state restructuring are both proposed as means of redistributing power and equalizing access to economic, political, and social resources.
The conference sought to move beyond the emotive debate over proposals for ‘preferential rights’ in ethnically delineated states, which strongly influenced earlier perceptions of what affirmative action might look like in Nepal. Instead, the presentations focused on affirmative action on its own terms as a potential policy strategy for fostering equality, which need not necessarily be embedded in the discourse or implementation of identity-based federalism. Drawing upon the shared expertise of presenters working in India, the US, the UK and beyond, during the first two days, participants debated a range of possibilities for implementing affirmative action to generate creative recommendations for Nepal’s future. Keynote presentations were given each evening with comments by Nepali experts on the themes. Keynote speakers included Ashwini Deshpande (Economics, Delhi University), Glenn Loury (Economics, Brown University), Marc Galanter (Law, University of Wisconsin), and Hilary Silver (Sociology, Brown University).
Scholarly discussions were shared with policy-makers and members of the public in special sessions on the third day of the conference, which was open to all. As part of this public session, nine papers were presented on three panels. On the evening of the third day, there was a separate presentation for and discussion with policy-makers and political leaders.
The event drew significant media and policy attention. The conference was opened by Nepal’s then Deputy Prime Minister, Bijay Kumar Gacchedar, who spoke with great emotion about his own trajectory as a member of the marginalized madhesi community in Nepali politics over the last 20 years. His speech, and the policy dialogue sessions, was covered by 14 different Nepali media outlets in print, on radio, and on TV.
The issues raised during the conference continue to constitute a key arena for debate during Nepal’s political transition. Scholars and staff at Tribhuvan University and Social Science Baha, the two organizing partners, are now working to publish summaries of the conference presentations in Nepali in a volume that will be available at bookstores across the country. There will also be a series of community radio broadcasts in the coming months based on these summaries, in a format that will allow callers to express their own opinions about affirmative action. Several of the full length papers will be published in English as an edited volume.
The conference was organised in partnership between the Central Department of Sociology/Anthropology, Tribhuvan University, and Social Science Baha, and was sponsored by the British Academy UK-South Asia Partnership Scheme. It was supported by Goldsmiths, University of London; Yale University; the Social Inclusion Research Fund; and the Open Society Foundations.