Ram Bahadur Raji was 14 when he became a fisherman to help his father provide food for their extended household. He is now 57, but his family still suffers the same hardship as it did four decades ago.
“There is no government to take care of us. So many politicians came and promised to help but they always disappeared after that,” said Raji in the remote Chinchu village of Surkhet District, about 600km northwest of Kathmandu.
According to the latest population censuses, the Raji community numbered 3,274 in 1991, dwindling to 2,399 in 2001.
Thousands of Raji families depend on traditional means of survival - fishing and hunting in the forest - according to the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN), a national body of indigenous groups at the forefront of the country’s ethnic-identity movement.
NEFIN representatives say the Raji community is one of the most backward and economically deprived indigenous groups. Many have left for India or are scattered across the country in an attempt to earn a living. Experts say the lack of research on this community has led to a failure to address their concerns.
Most Raji families live in the mid-western region of the country - in the hills or the southern fertile plains. They have settled in Surkhet, Kailali and Accham districts in the hills, and Dang and Bardiya in the lowland Terai region.
According to NEFIN, some 90 percent of Rajis have been displaced from their ancestral lands and live in extreme poverty. Raji families owned huge tracts of land several decades ago, but this land was seized or confiscated by politically influential groups over the decades, it said. Some 82 percent are illiterate.
Local high caste and educated families living close to Raji families in Surkhet told IRIN Rajis often suffered from food insecurity, lack of education and social backwardness.
 Photo: Rudra Khadka/IRIN  |
| Ethnic Rajis suffer from extreme poverty and need aid |
According to the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) office in Nepalgunj, 500km southwest of Kathmandu, the Raji community needs immediate attention and help.
“I work more than 14 hours a day looking for fish and I still can’t find enough food for my wife and children,” said Indrabahadur Raji. He said he was planning to send his children to India in search of jobs. "I don't want them ever to return here, even after I die," said Raji.
Most families could not afford to send their children to school. “Even if they attend school, most of them have to quit before reaching grade five as they have to help in the household,” said Raji.
About 150 Rajis live in the remote village of Ghatgaun in Surkhet District, but only one had been able to finish school. Many do not have any citizenship or birth certificates, Raji said.
“Most Rajis don’t know their age or date of birth,” said a local government official, who requested anonymity. He said that although the local government office wanted to help Raji families, it was unable to do so for lack of funds.
“There is a need for media coverage of their plight so that international aid agencies could help,” the official said.
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions