Social and Economic Status of Squatters of Samintara Settlement of Pokhara

Abstract

The general objective of this study is to trace the socio-economic status of squatters of Samintara settlement of Pokhara. Through a scrutiny of socio-economic status of 50households of squatter settlements of Samintara settlements of Pokhara, this study explore(s) and derive(s) some lessons and challenges related to socio-economic statusand the consequent tribulations and implications. Squatter are those types of people, whohave no land of their own or any other properties with their ownership. Poor peoplegathering from different places and different castes and ethnicity who form a settlementare known as squatter’s settlement. The squatter settlement of Samintara is an unplannedsettlement, having simple houses and low Socio-economic status of the people. This study deduced that there exists a complex anecdote behind living the life of asquatter. Some people migrated here for seeking jobs or work, as they did not get theopportunity to work in their previous villages. More people came here because oflandslide and flooding in their previous habitat. Some people had other causes e.g. easyaccess to roads, city life and good education in city area etc of Pokhara which acted as apull factor for their migration to this region. This study deduce(s) that the main causes ofbecoming squatter and leading the life of a squatter were pull factors(job opportunity,education facility and transportation, communication etc. of the Pokhara valley) andpush factors (landslide and flooding, poverty, etc.) of their place of origin. Social indicators encompassing a wide range of aspects are crucial for generating theirconsequences on development.Measures to indicate social progress, “social indicators,” have been conversed in this study, and the importance of economic indicators consideredundeniable. Empirical measures of cultural states in comparisonalso remain vital. Thisstudy traced how an integrated framework combining social and cultural indicators ofdevelopment may be applied to measure social status of the squatters of Samintara.Embedded with social status, the religious practice of the settlement is simple. Morepeople used to celebrate their festivals in simple forms. They celebrate their festivalsfrom religious perspective. It has been comprehended that there are different religionsand different castes people in the study area. However, they are helpful to each other and VI there has been not much conflict with other but some caste conflict has been seen here.There has been a rise toculture of poverty—influencing all aspects of dalit squatters life . In the context of health, squatter visit health service centers for health check up whenthey get sick. Some people go to regional hospital, some go to private clinic, and someothers go to pharmacy and purchase medicines from the medicine seller without aphysician’s prescription and this tendency is dangerous as it can create dangerous healthconsequences in future. The patient may die of wrong or date expired medicines. Familyplanning has also been practiced in the Samintara squatter’s area among the marriedcouples. It has been deduced thatpermanent family planning was adopted more than thetemporary measures of family planning. Women have been found to participate actively,more than male in family planning practices. This shows the rising consciousness ofwomen despite the prevailing socio-economic and education related disparities in thestudy area. Among the sampled respondents in Samintara adult illiteracy rate is highbecause absence of adult literacy program in that area. However the school attendanceof new generation is higher thanold generation and this shows the progressive attitude ofthe squatters and their optimism for a better future lying ahead of them. This study has construed that women are partners for sustainable development. Thus,they have prominent role to play in development along with males but it is not so inauthenticity as different sorts of gender inequalities curtail their roles in the society.Many women are involved in wage earning labor work along with males but they arebound to do household works also thus they face the dichotomy of dual role–householdchore vs. wage earning labor works. Women also face discriminations in wages even forthe same work. In reality the plight of female and gender equalities in Samintara hasunderwent through tough tribulations related to social, cultural and economic matters.Regarding the economic status, the maximum numbers of squatters are engaged in dailywages works and many people are engaged in Mistri (labor) work. Few people arepursuing businesses in the study area.Many people depend on labor work in Samintarasettlement. The main source of household income is labor wages whose percentage istwenty-nine. The income sources of households are more than one occupation in somehouses but many houses have only one source of income—that is wage labor. VII Comparatively squatter’s income is lower than other people’s but within the settlement,those squatters’ households which have more than one people engaged in some earnings,have definitely better income than others do. Nowadays, many people have gone toforeign countries, as a result some household’s income is raising due to their remittancebut in general, average income in squatters is low in Samintara settlement. Poverty isrampant to such an extent that not all squatters could buy their wearing clothes. Somesquatters buy themselves; some used to get from their relatives, whereas some receivedtheir clothes from others. The majority of households do not have toilet facilitiesavailable in that settlement. They used to go to open land for defecation. This clarifiesthat squatter’s awareness towards sanitation is low and there exists no any organizationsto make them aware. This is owing to poverty that squatters are unable to constructtoilet. This which may create serioushealth and sanitation problem related consequencesin future. Housing opportunities are very closely related to economic status of a family. Betterhousing means sound economic status. In Samintara significant numbers of householdshave only one room available in their houses. It is understandable that many people livein small houses in squatter settlements and this presents the worst economic conditions ofthe squatters in Samintara. Embedded to economic status, the availability ofcommodities, amenities of life and entertainment is vital. In Samintara more families usedto listen to radio for entertainment. In total, 59% households use radio and 33% peoplehave TV and only 8% households have VCD/DVD. Therefore, the people in squattersettlement have acomparatively improving access to the means of entertainment despitetheir grim economic conditions. This shows the jolly and warm-hearted nature of thesquatters despite problems. Of the total 50 households, the landline phone is not available in any household;however, 21% people had cell phone (mobile phone). Most of the households have usedelectricity in their houses and 19% households used gas stove for cooking. However, fewpeople possessed cupboard and sofa. Squatter people had different tribulations, whichthey are facing in present. They are addicted to different types of infatuation. As a whole, VIII squatter people were used to drink Alcohol more commonly. Among 50 householdrespondents, only 11 people did not have any types of addiction. Therefore,addiction------may be alcoholism, smoking, using tobacco, marijuana are the major problems ofsquatters, which is at appalling rate deteriorating their socio-economic status. Based onthe Marxist approach it is summarized at the end that the squatter of Samintara facedmany social and economic problems in the settlement; even the problem ofproletariatisationmay be the possible consequences in future. Since squatters came therefrom different places having different cultures, they have some sort of difficulties tointeract with each other initially and there may be the lack of class-consciousness, classsolidarity and the polarization of these squatters for more rights. Thus, their problemsremain intact. Social, economic and political divergences or conflict are the core of change as ageneral process and essential law of development occurring amidst scarcity. Unequaldistribution of resources, political power and centuries old feudalistic elites exploitationsamidst the rhetoric ofSamabesi (inclusiveness) lead to the rise of crisis and instability,ultimately leading to conflict and violence and when politicized got a political color evenin the form of political violence. People socio-economic and the related tribulations,inclusiveness and all genuine issues ought to be addressed in time. However, it has notbeen so in Samintara owing to the apathy of the government, negligence and lack ofpolitical commitment. Due to this reason, the socio-economic status of the poor squatterhas not been upgraded even after 20 years old history of Samintara settlement. Likewise, the more imbalanced the regional development efforts especially urbanmainland versus squatters settlementand allotment of limited resources; the wider willbe the inconsistency of interest between foremost and secondary segments for receivingthe power on possessions and resources. It is deduced that more the squatters sentimentis ignored, more stress will be created in the society. It is construed that owing to lowsocial and economic status, squatters are generally seen more as "problem creators" inPokhara than as a group of people who are poor with low socio-economic status andhave genuine rights to live a dignified life of human in their restricted area.