Landlessness And Migration In Nepal by Nanda R. Shrestha

Author:Nanda R. Shrestha [Shrestha, Nanda R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Anthropology, General
ISBN: 9780813376776
Google: 0BTrAAAAIAAJ
Publisher: Avalon Publishing
Published: 1990-11-19T03:46:44+00:00

Thè preceding chapters have laid a theoretical foundation to analyze migration, provided an historical account of Nepal's underdevelopment and external migration, and investigated the issue of landlessness and nearlandlessness in the context of the Nepalese agrarian economy by focusing on the ecodemographic relations of production. In order to set the stage for the next chapter which focuses on frontier migration and hill migrants' adaptation and achievements in the Tarai, this chapter outlines a broad view of the social and economic origins of land colonization policy in the contemporary context. This broad view shows that the patrimonial state plays a crucial role in the origin of land colonization policy assuming that a land frontier exists. It is relevant to Nepal's frontier settlement policy and its effects on hill migrants who have relocated to the Tarai region.

In response to growing agrarian problems characterized by three interrelated phenomena of socially skewed land distribution, rapid population growth, and food deficit, many underdeveloped nations have launched a policy of planned frontier settlement, also known as land colonization (Oberai 1988; Population Reports 1983; Shrestha 1987). This policy has been quite popular. Its popularity is, however, related to more than the availability of virgin lands and the state's plan to bring such land under cultivation. While there is no doubt that land settlement schemes have both economic and demographic goals, it also entails an underlying sociopolitical motivation in that it is politically more desirable and safer to execute than aggressive land reform measures. It is a great mediator between the vested interest of large landowners who are opposed to radical land reforms and the survival needs of land hungry peasants who see an opportunity to acquire land in newly developed settlement areas at the frontier.

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