Before returning to Kathmandu, we travel to the eastern town of Lahan. This is where Dalit refused to remove dead cows in 1990, prompting a major backlash from the local population. I am told that such acts of gross discrimination are a thing of the past. But Lahan still has a bad reputation for “atrocities” against Dalit, and Suvash Darnal has made seven visits here to support the work of local Dalit advocates.

One of the most energetic groups is the Dalit Peoples’ Welfare Youth Club. Like so many local advocacy groups, its members are strongly motivated by their own experience. Binod Bisunk, the coordinator, remembers what it was like to be an Untouchable at school. His teacher used a stone instead of a cane to discipline Dalit students, to avoid having to touch them.

Binod also tells us that until just five years ago, there were two separate water taps in the nearby public square – one for use by Dalit and the other for the three other castes. Non-Dalit could bathe and fish in the public pond – but not Dalit. Dalit were forbidden from using many local restaurants.

As Binod tells it, this out-and-out segregation has been replaced by more subtle variations of discrimination. The water taps can now be used by all castes, but Dalit are expected to draw water last and cannot use the taps at the same time as non-Dalit. Dalit can now bathe, but not fish, in the public pond. Local restaurants serve Dalit, but on large leaves or plastic plates instead of the steel plates provided to non-Dalit.

Denied citizenship: Dukni Saday at the Lahan meeting

Dalit students may not be disciplined by stones by their teachers, but in some schools they are made to sit in the back rows where they are less likely to catch the attention of the teacher. The government gives a monthly scholarship of 250 rupees ($3.50) to Dalit children, but Binod’s group has received reports that in two schools, Vadaiya and Rajajai Baba, teachers have been holding back 50 rupees for the school. Some scholarships have been reserved for non-Dalit children.

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One participant at this meeting, Dukni Saday, tells us that she does not have citizenship, even though she was born in Nepal. According to the activists, 70% of the Dalit in the Terai – as many as 100,000 people – are denied this basic right. Dukni Saday wants citizenship because she thinks it will force the government to give her land. She also understands that there is a basic issue of fairness here: if others have citizenship, why not her? And of course she is right.

We do not have time to pursue this, but Binod and his colleagues say that the denial of citizenship plays a huge role in preventing Dalit from escaping poverty and exclusion. Without proof of citizenship, they will be unable to vote, move to another village or supplement their earnings by working as a laborer in nearby India. They are also more likely to be picked up by the military as suspected Maoists if they are stopped at a roadblock.

It also appears that families without citizenship cannot register for school. Dukni’s own children were registered by a local politician who was trying to pack the voting lists, but Binod says this is the exception. The lack of citizenship helps to perpetuate illiteracy.

Marriage is another social practice that reinforces caste. According to the tradition, any Non-Dalit who marries a Dalit forfeits membership of his caste and becomes a Dalit. One woman at this meeting, who married a non-Dalit, says that she has experienced some pressures from relatives, but nothing serious from her neighbors.

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Rural trade: weaving baskets for winnowing rice

Some of these practices are easier to confront than others. Denying a government scholarship to a Dalit student is plainly illegal, and can be exposed through traditional advocacy. The Youth Club plans to collect the information from schools, call a public meeting, invite government officials and lay it all out. They will also send the information to the JMC, to be more widely publicized, and contact the local media.

Parallel to this, the Club has also launched its own education initiative. Its members have been contributing 5 rupees a week for five years and they also levy a fee of 5 rupees from trucks that collect stones from the riverbed. This pays for six informal education centers where Dalit children can receive a basic education, making it easier for them to enter the government school system. Government teachers are serving as advisors.

But the question remains. What invisible force is stopping Dalit from drawing their water at the same well? We are about to find out.

Tomorrow: breaching the temple taboo