20 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

The face of hunger

Western Nepal has always been food insecure, owing to the historical state neglect of the region. It is also why it is far behind the rest of Nepal in terms of economy, development, healthcare and education. Youths have been migrating as seasonal workers to India for decades but the region is now experiencing longer periods of drought, more intense flash floods and water shortages made worse by the climate crisis.

Back then and now, western Nepal has never been the focus of leaders in Kathmandu. As results of the recently concluded federal and provincial elections trickle in, it would be interesting to see who can change all this.

Excerpt of a report on food insecurity in western Nepal published on Nepali Times this week 20 years ago on issue #120 22-28 November 2002:

Hunger doesn’t make headlines, war does. The deaths of over a hundred policemen and Maoists in the Jumla battle last week was big news for the papers in faraway Kathmandu. But here, in the remote hills of western Nepal and away from the glare of media, hundreds of thousands of Nepalis face an imminent food shortage. If nothing is done now, local officials warn, there will be famine by February across these hills.

There are many reasons: the food blockade by the security forces, the Maoists looting what little the farmers have, the worst drought in 50 years, roads and bridges not maintained regularly.

The effects of malnutrition can already be seen in the children. Able-bodied men have migrated to find work, to escape forced recruitment by the Maoists, and avoid being caught in security dragnets. Only the children, women, and elderly remain, and they are all hungry.

“We are all going to starve to death this year, that’s for sure,” 82-year-old Surya Prasad Giri at Kolti village tells visiting reporters. “Please take this message out, journalist sir.” Officials in charge of the regional administrative offices in Dipayal and Surkhet seem oblivious of the looming calamity.

Locals say this year’s meagre harvest of rice, kodo and karu will last them a few more months. When we ask Giri what will happen after that, he looks up to the sky and shrugs: “We will eat poison plants. There is plenty of that up in the mountains.”

From archive material of Nepali Times of the past 20 years, site search: www.nepalitimes.com