Sociology

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14540/37

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    Prohibition on marijuana cultivation and its role in sparking the maoist conflict in western Nepal: A sociological inquiry
    (2026) Sharma, Narayan Prasad; Mina Devi Uprety
    Nepal outlawed the cultivation, production and trade of marijuana (cannabis) in 1976 largely in response to rising international pressure, emanating particularly from the United States and global anti-narcotics initiatives attributable to the "War on Drugs". This sudden policy switch was enforced with little attention to our local realities, especially in economically delicate regions like Rukum, Rolpa, Myagdi and Baglung as well as other mid-western hill districts. There, marijuana has served not only as a lucrative cash crop but also a key cultural epithet. Cannabis farming constituted one of the few viable sources of dependable income for thousands of rural households in areas marked by limited arable land, poor market access and scant infrastructure. Its ban abruptly ended this crucial livelihood base, plunging the local growers into abject poverty and exacerbating already precarious living conditions. The absence of alternative employment programs, effective development initiatives or state-led compensation aggravated the already existing financial insecurity and reified the perceptions of abandonment by the central government. Hence, this policy departure abruptly sealed off one of the few credible ways that the rural households in highland villages could generate cash in environments where traditional agriculture offered little hope. Countless families - who had conventionally depended on small-scale cannabis sales to buy essential commodities like salt, spices, oil, clothing, foodgrains, medicine or school items - suddenly found themselves without buffer. Instead of rolling out replacement income programs, targeted rural investment or extensive service for new crops, the officials relied on enforcement resources on abolishment, while leaving economic rehabilitation largely unaddressed. The resulting misery broadened an already wide gulf existing between the indigenous hill communities and the administrative centre in the capital. These regions were already burdened by structural adversities, including landlessness, exploitative tenancy arrangements, food insecurity and insufficient access to schools, roads and healthcare facilities. The sudden loss of a steady income stream spurred by marijuana ban further compounded these challenges, eroding household resilience and deepening social distress. As state authority was implemented mainly through punitive measures rather than service delivery or livelihood support, many rural communities began viewing the government as a coercive, distant and indifferent entity, insensitive to their survival concerns. Such conditions proved fertile for anti-state actors like the the belligerent Maoists for mobilizing the public behind their flag. When the Maoist insurgency erupted in 1996, it drew heavily on the popular discontent of underserved rural populaces in western Nepal, i.e. the erstwhile Rapti and Dhaulagiri zones. With a fair degree of success, the rebels portrayed the marijuana bans as emblematic of Kathmandu-centric governance that put international agenda above the local welfare. By tying the ban to broader accounts of political exclusion, class oppression and economic exploitation the Maoist columns were able to resonate with communities that had experienced crippling livelihood losses. As its result, the mid-western regions, especially the likes of Rukum and Rolpa, became the hotbeds of insurgent activity. These districts had been harshly affected by economic inactivity following the ban and were also marked by minimal state presence and hostile terrain, which fostered insurgency operations. This leftist messaging further promised economic justice, recognition of traditional cultural practices and land reforms, thereby enabling the movement to rally itself as a champion of rural interests and cultural autonomy. Internationally driven drug control measures also played an oversized role in shaping these undesirable outcomes. By imposing uniform solutions with no regard for local socioeconomic realities, external anti-drug initiatives yielded unintended consequences that disproportionately hurt the vulnerable communities. This disconnection between global priorities and local livelihoods fomented growing resistance against both the state which was seen as a conduit for external influence. The marijuana ban thus illuminates the risks of top-down policymaking in the marginalized and conflict-prone zones. The failure to fuse enforcement and development strategies and the absence of viable transition pathways for affected populations not only deepened poverty but also fostered popular unrest. Thus, Nepal's 10-year-long civil war proves how long-term economic deprivation, when coupled with political exclusion and ideological mobilization, may build up to an armed insurgency. In sum, while the ban on cannabis farming was not the sole driver of Maoist conflict, it served as a key catalyst that magnified the existing socioeconomic and political tensions in the western part of Nepal. By stripping the underserved communities of a vital source of lifeline without offering credible alternatives, the state inadvertently reinforced public grievances which the Maoists effectively mobilized afterwards. Thus, this episode underscores the significance of context-sensitive policymaking and inclusive development policies in preventing any future conflict and fostering long-term stability.
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    Women and decision making ; A Household level study of Mushar community, Janakpurdham Submetropolita city-1 Dhanusha
    (2024) Jha. Bandana; Manahari Dhakal
    This thesis entitled "Women and Decision Making: A Household Level Study ofMushar Community,Janakpurdham Sub metropolitancity-1,Dhanusha.Although females covermore than half of the country’s population,the patri archalideologyholdsa rigid and discriminated concept about the roles of women in decision making. The women are confined to the secondary role sand are no li beralin terms of the irmo bility and their access to decision making even within their house-holds. So, this topic was selected to analyze the role of wome nin household decision making in the Janakpurdham Sub metropolitancity-1, Dhanusha. The specific objective of the study was to examine the existing socio-economic status of women in the study area and torealize role of women in household decision making .Descriptive research design was used in this study. 87 respondents were selected, all female were chosen by the use of purposive sampling method. The extent of Mushar women’s participation in household decision-making is significantly influenced by a combination of factors including their literacy levels, early marriage, experiences off oodscarcity,malnutrition, and the my riaddomestic responsibility est he yshoulder.The study was basically based on field survey. Method of primary data collection was household survey, observation and key information interview. Simple statistical toolslike percentage were used for quantitative data analysis. It was found in the study that women are not involved in decision making in household and those who participate said that their participation is only moderate. Male have control over all the important matters within and outside the household. Women are only involved in such decisionswhichhavenoeconomicvaluesandassignedastheirrolewithinthehousehold.Onthebasis of the finding of the study, different recommendations have been suggested to government, political parties, NGOs/ INGOs/ CBOs and local people to in crease women’sparticipationinhouse hold decision making process.The educational status of respondents is not good. Property rights for women are limited, especially among the Mushar community. Due to a lack of higher education, Mushar women predominantly engagein agriculture,ye the ypossessless decision-making uthority compared to theirmale counterparts.While Mushar women exhibitsignifi cantdecision-making power incertain activities, men generally hold superior roles in most variables. Household decision-
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    Women's role in household decision making: a case study from Ichangu Narayan VDC of Kathmandu district
    (2012) Shrestha, Kushma; Surendra Mishra
    Not available
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    Farmers' participation in irrigation management ( a case study of tarawali irrigation scheme, ghermu Lamjung)
    (2013) Kaini, Santosh; Mr. Tej Prasad Subedi
    he natural increase in world population is 84 million per year. In the other hand, agricultural land is decreasing due to urbanization, natural disasters, climatic variations as well as other reasons. 80 - 90% of the required increase in food production will have to be realized on existing cultivated land in coming decades. This shows that there is urgent need of irrigation management. Farmers' participation is one the crucial factors for the sustainable irrigation management. This research is focused in the farmers' participation in Tarawali Irrigation Scheme management, located in remote part (Ghermu VDC) of Lamjung district where almost all the farmers are of gurung community. Interview checklist, observation and interview with key informants were used for the primary data collection. As the total number of households in the Tarawali Irrigation Scheme is 72, census survey was done in all 72 households of this irrigation scheme. It was found that most of the households (46%) have land in between 0.25 ha and less than 0.5 ha. Those farmers who have fewer fields to grow crops grow vegetables in others' field that have more land. They should not give money or crops to the land owner but they just need to put manure in that field. 21 households have not participated in any training conducted in the Tarawali Irrigation Scheme. In contrast, more than 58% of the households have taken trainings twice or more times conducted in this scheme.
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    Experience of stigma and discrimination by people living with HIV
    (2024) Shakya, Prabin; Madhusudan Subedi
    HIV stigma denotes to the irrational or negative beliefs, attitudes, behavior and judgment towards people living with HIV (PLHIV) followed by discrimination which is the biased and partial treatment of PLHIV having context specific manifestation and diverse impacts. This study aimed to assess the lived experience of HIV stigma and discrimination, identity issues its impact, factors, support system and coping mechanism. A descriptive and exploratory study design was made with qualitative data collected among 60 PLHIV (49 female and 11 male respondents). The qualitative data were collected by using open ended structured questionnaire. The data gathered were analyzed using a thematic meaning making approach to form the results of the study. It was concluded that the research respondent undergoes the identity crisis after the discovery of HIV due to different contextual factors like physical appearance, lack of knowledge about HIV, self-shaming, absence of social and economic support that lowers their self-esteem, confidence and status. Simultaneously, the respondents rebuild their identity based on their personal resilience, selective and limited disclosure, silent and secrecy, coping mechanisms, outreach and support mechanism through people and organization and access to available resources which is the positive aspects that impact the life of PLHIV. Furthermore, they focused on the health, social and economic aspects of their lives and these enabled them to gradually reconstruct their identity. The thesis pursues to back contributions in the sociology HIV stigma and discrimination. It also seeks to revise the perspectives of symbolic interactionism to better understand the emotive and embodied nature of identity processes in HIV stigma and discrimination.
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    Practices of 'Living together' in Kathmandu Valley
    (2024) Devkota, Narayani; Youba Raj Luitel
    In this dissertation, I am going to focused on living together relationship between urban people, particularly focused on Kathmandu valley. Conceptually, living together is a relationship between two individual living as a couple without socio-cultural and legal recognition, and they haven’t socio-cultural and legal right and responsibility too. They shared everything such as household responsibility, economic condition, sexual desire and pleasure without socio-cultural and legal recognition. There are various words as synonyms of “living together”. In this Thesis time and again these all name will be use as synonyms of living together as a relationship between two individuals who live in same private sphere for more than a six month, share physical, economic and emotional attachment without social, cultural and legal recognition. Methodologically, information of this paper are field based qualitative data through the in-depth interview with 20 respondents who are living in living together relationship and Key Informant interview with those individual who are directly engage on this issue. Respondent and Key Informant were selected through the propulsive sampling specially snowball sampling. This thesis first, covers social factors which encourage individual to practices of living together; such as how the introduced first, development of love between Partner, how they decide for living together, which factor encourage to live together (such as not clear in long time relationship, interest to live without family relationship, gender division of labor, symbolic domination toward women in marital relationship, legal hurdle to get marriage, economic support in living, economic burden on marriage, skip from the child birth and bearing or trust issues). And in second the everyday reality in the process of living together, such as how they introduce their relation with in a society, who work the domestic work, what and who work for earning, their interest to get marriage, challenges in a living together, possibility of extra affair while they are in living relationship with partner’s family member, (such as parents, sibling, children), expectation of children, use of Contraceptive, management of misunderstanding. In preliminary finding there are a huge diversity within living together relationship. They have different experience in various part of the research. Key words: Marriage, Living together, Social realities.
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    Challenges faced by educated women in accessing employment in Thakle village of Lamjung district
    (2024) Ghimire, Sabita; Keshav Raj Silwal
    Not available
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    Social benefits of local government in Tharu community of Kailali
    (2024) Chaudhari, Parbati; Keshav Raj Silwal
    Not available
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    Impact of migration on children education of word no.3 Sankharapur municipality of Sankhu, Kathmandu
    (2024) Manandhar, Nabina; Surendra Mishra
    Not available
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    A study of the resilience of local community and reconstruction of Earthquake damaged buildings Balaju and Gongabun area of Kathmandu
    (2024) Shrestha, Abiral; Keshav Silwal
    The Great Earthquake thathadstruckinthecentral part of Nepal on April 25, 2015 is one ofthe most unforgettable traumatic events in the contemporary history ofNepal. Thisdevastating natural disaster killed almost 9,000 people, injured and maimedanequally greatnumber of people and destroyedthousands of private and public houses, buildings,infrastructures worth billions of rupees. The country has yet to fully recover fromtremendousdamagescaused by the mega-earthquake. Like other places in the central region of Nepal,Kathmandu, the capital city, was also badly jolted by the earthquake causing irreparabledamage to thenumerous heritagebuildings, temples of the great cultural and historicalimportance as well asasignificant loss of life and propertyof common people. Amongplacesin Kathmandu Metropolitan City, the placeswhich was most affected by the Earthquake areBalajuand Gongabunarea. Balaju and Gongabunarelocatedat a distance of only fewkilometersnorth-westernoutskirtareaof Kathmandu city. This present research entitled“AStudy of the Resilienceof Local Community andReconstruction of Earthquake DamagedBuildingsin Balaju and Gongabun Areaof Kathmandu” attempts to conduct a study of thelocal community’s attempts to reconstruct their earthquake-damaged houses and theuniquespirit of resiliency demonstrated bythe communitypeoplein these twoplaces. The study isbased onthe analysis of thesocio-economic, demographic and educational backgrounds aswell as the personalopinion and perception of the local respondentswho were selected forthe survey purpose. Based on the answers of the respondents, an attempt to assess themethods used by the community to develop the spirit ofresilience amongthemselves andthecurrent status ofthe reconstruction of damaged buildings, issues and problems faced by thecommunitypeople in rebuildingprocess hasalso been explored.With anobjectiveof helpingto improve the effectiveness, management and governance aspects related todelivery oftherelief andassistance to the disaster-affected people,andexpediting theprocess ofreconstruction activities, theresearch has also madesome relevantrecommendations todifferent concerned agencies and stakeholders like NRA, government agencies, NGOs,INGOs, private sector, engineers, architects, scholars and researchers etc.
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    Women's foreign labour migration and household gender dynamice in Dupcheshwor Nuwakot
    (2024) Pandey, Dipendra; Gunam Singh Khatri
    The research has explored how women’s foreign labor migration affects gendered division of household labor. In course of research, researcher has selected rural village of Dupcheshwor Rural Municipality as its study site and carried out the in-depth Interviews among the households, in which there was at least one married woman involved in foreign employment. The researcher assesses how women’s foreign labor migration influences the decision making power of women within the household. In addition to, the research explores the impact of women’s foreign labor migration on traditional gender roles in the households of Dupcheshwor Nuwakot, Nepal in connection with the returnees from foreign employment. In course of research, researcher has taken in-depth interviews with the household of migrant women and returnees from foreign employment that has spent at least one year time in foreign employment. To conduct the research, interpretive research paradigm and qualitative methods has been adopted In the course of the research, it has been identified that, Women’s foreign labor migration has significantly affected the gendered division of household labor in the households. Traditionally, women in the household were responsible for the household labor. There was nothing change in the decision making power of women due to foreign labor migration and persistence of traditional gender roles in the households, has been recognized. Key words: Women, foreign labor migration, gender dynamics, Household.
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    Causes and consequences of domestic violence against women in badi community (a case study of Narayan municipality Dailekh)
    (2024) Shrestha, Narayan; Pramod Bhatta
    n this study, I explore how Badi women are suffering from domestic violence and what are the root causes of domestic violence. I specifically explore the causes and consequences of domestic violence against women, especially the Badi women living in Dailekh district of Karnali Province in Nepal. The key question of the study is to explore the major causes and consequences of the domestic violence among Badi women. The Research was conducted in Dailekh in 2019 and the data was further updated through follow-up field visits in 2023/2024. Conceiving the ideas from the relevant literatures, I employed Michel Foucault’s theory of ‘power’, ‘knowledge’ and ‘sexuality’; to understand how social norms have influenced the gendered practice regarding domestic violence against women. I have taken in person interviews with 40 Badi women who furnished the primary data. These primary data have been collected through interview schedule, case studies and key informant interviews. The secondary data and information have been collected through government publications, Rural Municipalities publications and data base information systems, websites, I/NGOs/CBOs reports, and relevant journals. I used interview, virtual conversations, and other field notes to inscribe the stories of the violence survivors. Based on the findings, I argue that there is no single cause of domestic violence against Badi women. In Dailekh and in Nepal, violence against women is related with sociocultural and economics grounds.It is because there is a high degree of social tolerance of violence against women in Nepal. However, with the economic independence, changing attitude towards gender and sexuality, fast paced development, internet, technology and media influenced society in which socio-cultural norms and values are in changing mode, cultural changes are also observed in the mind-set of men and women in Nepal.
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    Urbanization and Women; A study in Tarkeshwor municipality
    (2024) Kumal, Tara Devi; Shambhu Prasad Kattel
    Kathmandu is the mostly urbanized area of Nepal. Tarakeshwor Municipality is one of the municipalities of Kathmandu district. Kathmandu Valley has been rapidly urbanizing since the 1980s. Due to the urbanization pressure, the valley has been facing serious environmental consequences, developmental consequences, and livelihood consequences in recent years. The geographical impact of urbanization in this area, Kathmandu district has lost 9.28 percent of its forests, 9.80 percent of its agricultural land and 77 percent of its water bodies. Urban areas in Kathmandu in the last three decades have expanded by 4.12 times. Urbanization refers to the population shift from rural to urban residency. Urbanization can benefit women by providing access of better services and greater economic, social, and political opportunities. But women are not safe and being comfort from insecurities, inequities and tremendous challenges. In Tarakeshwor, there are various changes in socio-economic status of women. Sophisticated lifestyle, educational performance and economic activities of women are generally higher than that of rural areas. It has been marked as positive impacts that change in family structure, change in domestic relations, increase political participation, increased property rights, decreased caste and class-based discrimination, raised decision making capacity, decreased fertility, improved maternal health in the study area. Likewise, it has been marked as negative impacts that unemployment, job insecurities, burden child care practices, impaired personal feeling, gender inequalities, genderbased violence, loneliness, and various health hazards. The purpose of this study is to describe the urbanization characteristics, factors of urbanization and impacts on women in relation to urbanization. As the characteristics of urbanization, Tarakeshwor municipality has gained 22.42 percent urbanized land whereas Kathmandu has gained 52.47 percent urbanized land. In this municipality about 4.04 family members have been lived in each household. There are 76 percent nuclear family and 24 percent joint family. Nuclear family increased in urbanization. The factors of the urbanization of this area are demographic change, technological change, transportation facilities. And mostly induce policy of the government is the factor that has played a significant role in the urbanization process of this area.
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    Trust and social cohesion in formal associations ; A sociological study in Kaski district
    (2024) Gurung, Anesh; Dinesh Prasain
    The idea of social capital and formal association have enjoyed a remarkable rise to prominence in both the theoretical and applied social science literature over the last decade. The clear rise in sheer numbers of formal social associations in Nepal in the past couple of decades should be evidences enough of their importance as a societal expression. This study will examine empirical work on the purported the link between social capital and formal association. We are witness to see that, in the present context, there has been a groundswell of interest in the application of community development principles to foster social capital at the micro level. This study aims to explore how the members capitalize on their social resources in coming together in an act of social formation within the scope of social capital theoretical paradigm.