Yamphu Kirat

Yamphu Kirat

Yamphu are one group of Kirat community, an indigenous group of Nepal, is one among many marginalized groups. They are liked to called themselves Yakkhaba and their language Yakkhaba Khap. Yamphu people reside in upper Arun valley of Sangkhuwa-Sava district. The land is rural and remote area. The original inhabitants of the valley and the ancestors of the Yamphu were the Kiranti, As long as the Kirnati paid honor to the king, they would be allowed to be kings in their own lands. They could settle their own disputes and claim the land north of the Sankhuwa (name of river) River. These rights embedded in the land tenure system of kipat and sealed in a royal decree (Lamohar) (Bergen, 1999). However, Yamhpus are residing in six different districts of Nepal and in foreign lands like India, Bhutan and Hong Kong. Total population of this community has been assumed to range from fifty thousand to one lakh. This community has its own language, culture, tradition, belief system and history.

The question of what type of unit the Rai represent is already problematic. They are generally understood as being a "tribe" or, an ethnic group. One must immediately point out, however, that the term "Rai" is not by origin an ethnonym but a title conferred by Hindu rulers upon one segment of the tribal chieftains of East Nepal in recognition of their semi-autonomous status, but also with the idea f incorporating them into the state administrative system. It was only during the course of the past century that this title became an ethnonmy for the corresponding groups.
After the restoration of multi-party Democracy in Nepal, the then government of Nepal passed “National Academy for the uplift of Indigenous Nationalities” Act, 2058 for the mainstreaming of indigenous communities in the developmental process and as per the Act, an academy of indigenous nationalities has already been established. With enactment of this Act, supports have been provided for the conservation and search for the identity, culture and languages of indigenous people. According to the definition of indigenous nationalities provided by ILO convention 169, draft UN Declaration on the rights of indigenous nationalities and National Academy for the Uplift of Indigenous Nationalities Act, 2058, Yamphu community fulfills most criteria to be listed on the list of Indigenous. Yet, this community has not been listed for some reason because of which they still struggle for the search of their identity and are still excluded from mainstream development processes.
Since then many Rai have played a new awareness of their ethnic background and begun voice ethnic demands in the altered public areana. Various cultural organizations were founded in order to strengthen Rai cultures, languages, and ethnicity and in order to represent ethnic interests on the national level. Due to the great variety of Kiranti languages subsumed under the Rai languages and cultures it has been particularly difficult to achieve unity in the form of a distinct Rai ethnicity. When provision was made that radio news were to be broadcasted in all ethnic languages, one language had to be chosen (namely it was Bantawa). As many of the Rai languages (Kirati languages) are distinct and spoken by small groups, there was little chance to take up the opportunity, provided by the Constitution-1990, to offer primary education in the mother tongue, to broadcast radio news in other ethnic languages such as Yamphu, Lohorung, Mewahang, Kulung, Chamling, and many others. As far as the Yamphu, they are always deprived of from such opportunities. Participation of the Yamphu community even in the lowest of the administrative offices of all three organs of the state is nil. Being the residents of the very remote and rural area of the country and lacking access and control over productive resources as well as in decision-making processes, the Yamphu community is also weak economically. In addition to that, their access to politics is almost nil due to backwardness and illiteracy.
By Hom Yamphu and Moti Lal Yamphu

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