ROLE OF SOCIAL INCLUSION ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY REDUCTION IN NEPAL

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1 Title of the paper: ROLE OF SOCIAL INCLUSION ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY REDUCTION IN NEPAL Ram Chandra Dhakal, PhD, Executive Director and Professor of Economics, Centre for Economic Development and Administration (CEDA), Tribhuvan University, Nepal Abstract This paper is an attempt to outline the current status of social inclusion from various caste/ethnic groups in social, economic and political decision levels. Social inclusion is a multidimensional feature affected by the various subjective and objective factors in terms of dimensional indicators obtained by various surveys. In each indicator number of affected factors has been explained. It also highlights on poverty trends and HDI of Nepal since mid-1990s. The data show that human poverty is decreasing significantly however the per capita income has not increased sufficiently; it is very low, compared to other Asian countries. On the basis of one decade information on agriculture, industry and service sectors the economic growth rate and its trend has been explained. Social inclusion activities are affected by various subjective and objective factors which can be explained by qualitative and quantitative analysis. The social dimension indices are influences by various variables; they are income, education, health, political etc. Political participation and decision making index of Gender Dimension between main caste/ethnic groups show that it was highly variation among the variables of this index. The Gini Coefficient of the distribution of Social Inclusion Indices in between main caste/ethnic groups was computed i. e., percent, is a very small and showing a less inequality status in Nepal. The social inclusive in various activities of government level should be promoted by developing such implementation policies that must help to reduce level of poverty, not adversely effect on production, improve in employment opportunity, improve in equity distribution and social justice and its ultimate goal should be directed by sustainable economic development of the country. Key Words: Social Inclusion, Caste/Ethnic, Economic Growth, Poverty, Gini Coefficient, JEL Code: D63, H75, I32 1. Introduction: Social inclusion in economic activities of a country has been defined by various ways in different countries and in different institutions. However, it has been defined on the basis of two categories i.e., one growth prospective and other equity distribution prospective. One extremist view in Nepal has been explained on Social inclusion is that it is one of the most vibrant issues raised strongly by indigenous peoples, women, Madhesi, Dalits and other marginalized communities. At present, this issue has been a political agenda among political leaders, a subject of academic discourse among intellectuals and a field of development priority among development practitioners. Given the fact that the present state is tried to inclusionary, participatory and representative for marginalized communities on the basis of caste, ethnicity, language, religion, sex, class and geographical territory, these marginalized peoples and communities are demanding for an inclusive state through its restructuring along the line of federalism on the basis of national regional autonomy. However, since the last decade the marginalized people are introducing to development process in Nepal. For this purpose the

2 election of constituent assembly has served as a legitimate and democratic process in present days of Nepal. This paper is tried to explain the relation of social inclusion in policy level of government and its role on economic development with poverty reduction. Sustainable growth is intimately linked to the concept of sustainable development overall. The latter is well defined as being development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The current scale of threats to sustainable development from climate change and other forms of environmental degradation means that economic growth now needs to be both socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable to achieve long-term human development benefits. In particular, economic policy makers must consider how to integrate social and environmental objectives and promote co-benefits. According to development perspective ethical considerations of equity and fairness, growth must be shared and should be inclusive across different segments of populations and regions. Economic and other shocks hurt the poor and the vulnerable most, and growth that results in high disparity is unacceptable. Growth with persisting inequalities within a country may endanger social peace, force poor and unemployed people into criminal activities make women more vulnerable to prostitution, force children into undesirable labor, and further weaken other disadvantaged and vulnerable sections of population resulting in a waste of vast human capital that could otherwise be used productively in creating economic outputs for sustainable growth. Continued inequalities in outcomes and access to opportunities in a country may result in civil unrest and violent backlash from people who are continually deprived, derailing a sustainable growth process. This may create political unrest and disrupt the social fabric and national integration, undermining the potential for long-term, sustained growth. On the basis of above background participation of social inclusion should help on creating sustainable and friendly environment for economic development in Nepal. The overall economic growth depends upon the inclusive status and government policy of the country like Nepal. The data had been showed that as the social inclusion has been increased poverty has been decreasing sharply. Research questions of the study are as following: Is it possible to reduce poverty by social exclusion in economic development process? What are the main guided factors for social inclusion in various government policy levels? On the basis of research questions, the general objective of the paper is to examine the role of social inclusion on economic development and poverty reduction. The specific objectives of the study are as follows: To examine the distribution of social inclusion index and other social dimension indices between major caste/ethnic groups in Nepal. To evaluate the relative measures of poverty in major caste/ethnic groups during the last two-decade periods. To estimate the economic growth of Nepal in last decade. To suggest the government policy formulation and implementation of social inclusion and sustainable economic development in Nepal. Diagram: 1. Inclusive Growth and Development Benchmarking Framework 2

3 Education and Skill Employment and Labour compensation Asset building and business investment Corruption And rents Fiscal transfer Basic services & Infrastructure Access Employment Entrepren eurship Business & political Ethnics Tax code Basic infrastructure Quality Wage and Nonwage compensation Financing Real economy Investment Concentration of rents Social protection Health related services & infrastructure Equity Home ownership forthcoming Richard Samans and others in their world Economic Forum Discussion paper entitled Benchmarking Inclusive Growth and Development explains through a frame work in Diagram depicts that many determinants are thought to influence growth outcomes and the way in which they are distributed. While all of these factors are likely to be important for ensuring inclusive outcomes from growth, they are not mutually exclusive two or more of them can be significant at the same time, as shown in the economic literature. Although we have grouped the six pillars separately, it is important to keep in mind that they are not independent they tend to reinforce each other, and a weakness in one area often has a negative impact in others. Actually, the benchmark framework mentioned in the diagram is very important and a guideline to make policies for any country for their sustainable economic development and growth (Richard Samans and others, 2015). Inclusive growth is very important for various reasons some of these are: a) Ethical considerations of equity and fairness, growth must be shared and should be inclusive across different segments of populations and regions. Economic and other shocks hurt the poor and the vulnerable most, and growth that results in high disparity is unacceptable. b) Similarly, growth with persisting inequalities within a country may endanger social peace, force poor and unemployed people into criminal activities, make women more vulnerable to prostitution, force children into undesirable labor, and further weaken other disadvantaged and vulnerable sections of population resulting in a waste of vast human capital that could otherwise be used productively in creating economic outputs for sustainable growth. c) Furthermore, continued inequalities in outcomes and access to opportunities in a country may result in civil unrest and violent backlash from people who are continually deprived, derailing a sustainable growth 3

4 process. This may create political unrest and disrupt the social fabric and national integration, undermining the potential for long-term, sustained growth (ADB, 2011:1). The paper is organized in the following manner. Section Two is devoted to describing the methodology. Section Three provides social status of the empirical results and discussion. Section Four has explained about the poverty status within two-decade in Nepal. For the empirical study in these section Three and Four, the researcher has mostly used the secondary data from Nepal Living Standard Surveys (1996, 2004, and 2011) CBS, (HMG and Government of Nepal), Nepal Multidimensional Social Inclusion, CDAS, Tribhuvan University. Section Five, explains on social inclusion: A Way Forward. Section Six discusses on concluding remarks, and. Finally, Section Seven includes policy recommendations. 2. Methodology: The objective of the paper is to examine the economic development indicators of social inclusion in Nepal of last two decades. The study is going to analyze the various social inclusion indices those are based on social, economic, political, cultural etc. It is assume that higher the value of indices reflects more inclusive in economic development process. From the available various indices from secondary data we are going to interpret the information about the distribution between caste/ethnic groups. How far these distributions affect the economic development depend upon their size of indices and its distribution among the caste/ethnic groups. High value and less variation in indices show greater inclusion and play positive effect in economic development, sustainability, poverty reduction, equity and prosperity. However, this study is based on quantitative and qualitative data analysis. In computation of indices, the nature of variables seems quality and quantitative types. For example, income, employment, average landholding, etc., are related to quantitative analysis while languages, recognition of religions, social status etc., related to qualitative types of analysis. The situation of poverty, inequality, disparity- between locations, caste/ethnic groups in last two decades in Nepal is explained. The methodology of the study was based on simple statistical tools and techniques such as: average, coefficient of variation, Gini coefficient, comparison of means, correlation, t-test etc. The latest version of SPSS was used in such computation. 3. Social inclusion: Social dimension aspect is a multivariable nature. It is affected by various social values and norms. The index of each dimension is computed on the basis of their indicators of respective variables. Here, in most of the cases the index is computed for main caste/ethnic groups in Nepal. 4

5 Broad cultural groups Table: 1. Ethnic/Caste groups of Nepal based on broad cultural categories, Census-2011 Number of ethnic/ caste groups Percentage of total population (census-2011) Hill groups Hill Janajati Hill Dalit Madeshi group: Socio-economic level Madeshi group: Socio-economic level Madeshi Janajati Madeshi group Dalit: Socioeconomic level Other cultural groups (Foreigner) Musalman (Muslim) Unidentified 1.04 Source: Population Census-2011, Nepal. According to latest census (2011) more than 126 caste and ethnic groups, 102 different spoken languages, including some foreigner are living in Nepal. For the sustainable economic development there should be harmony, cooperative and respect each other and this will be possible when their participation in governing level from grass root to high government policy level more or less proportionate. Table: 2. Social Dimension Indices by Broader Social Groups Caste/ethnicity Educational Health Social Dimension Hill Brahman Hill Chhetri Tarai Brahman/Chhetri Hill Dalit Tarai Dalit Hill Janajati Tarai Janajati Muslim Nepal Coefficient of variation Source: Nepal Multidimensional Social Inclusive -2014, CDSA, Tribhuvan University. Educational domain includes adult literacy rate, net enrolment, basic schooling completion rate; while health domain corporates health service affordability, child survival, household access to safe drinking water and household access to modern toilet facilities. Thus, Social Dimension (SDI) is a composite of two domain indices: education and health/sanitation. The SDI measures human capability in terms of the two factors that impact on the overall quality of life- health and education. Educational index was found variation than health index between caste/ethnic groups. 5

6 The national average of SDI is that indicating moderately score in health and education. The data obtained for different cast/ethnic groups shows that the caste Brahman and Chhetri whether Hill and Tarai, get high score while Tarai Dalit and Muslim showing poor status in social dimension. Table: 3. Distribution of Economic Dimension by Broad Social Groups Caste/ethnicity Economic Access Nonpoverty index Standard of living index Economic dimension index Hill Brahman Hill Chhetri Tarai Brahman/Chhetri Hill Dalit Tarai Dalit Hill Janajati Tarai Janajati Muslim Nepal Coefficient of variation Source: Nepal Multidimensional Social Inclusive -2014, CDSA, Tribhuvan University. Economic Dimension (EDI) as other index is made by a number of variables. It comprises the access to economic opportunity, non-poverty and standard of living. Economic inclusion implies that people have access to resources of production and are able to fully participate in the labour market. Economic access includes the average land holding and nonagriculture employment. The poverty level has been assessed using three indicators: food expenditure, food sufficiency status, and employment in an elementary occupation, all of these are proxies of poverty while the sub-domain of standard of living in assessed of four indicators: type of house, use of cooking flue, access to living condition in terms of number of bed rooms in the family home. Thus, the Economic Dimension (EDI) be a composite index incorporating result from the economic access index, the non-economic index and the standard of living index. Economic access index was found high variation in between caste/ethnic groups compare to others. The social inclusion survey report shows that EDI of Brahman (both Hill and Tarai) was found highest ( & ) and it was lowest in Tarai Dalit by among the mentioned caste/ethnic groups showing as high variation gap. It shows that there is large gap in the distribution of economic resources prospective among the caste/ethnic groups 6

7 Table: 4. Political Dimension Indices in Broad Social Groups Caste/ethnicity Political Representation Voice and Agency Political Dimension Hill Brahman Hill Chhetri Tarai Brahman/Chhetri Hill Dalit Tarai Dalit Hill Janajati Tarai Janajati Muslim Nepal Coefficient variation Source: Nepal Multidimensional Social Inclusive -2014, CDSA, Tribhuvan University. Representation on policy (decision) making bodies and in decision making processes is highly contested issue in multicultural and multiethnic countries like Nepal. Freedom, equality, justice and inclusion are pre-conditions for the strengthening of political democracy that reflects the existence of a generally fair representative and the accounting system. Electoral participation is crucial for popularizing the representative system and its sustainability. Under political dimension we include representative of voice and agency of civil society and political representative of the parties. Thus, the Political Dimension (PDI) shows the political status in society on the basis of broader social cast/ethnicity. The overall political dimension shows that Brahmin/Chhetri in Hill & Terai enjoy much higher levels of political inclusion than other groups and Dalits are at the bottom of the. Caste/ethnicity Table: 5. Cultural Dimensional by boarder social group Language Recognition of religion index Customary governance index Cultural Dimension Hill Brahman Hill Chhetri Tarai Brahman/Chhetri Hill Dalit Tarai Dalit Hill Janajati Tarai Janajati Muslim Nepal coefficient of variation Source: Nepal Multidimensional Social Inclusive -2014, CDSA, Tribhuvan University. Culture is define as a framework for incorporating the world that marks a distinctive way of life, characterized in subjective We feelings among group members and expressed through specific behaviors, including customs and rituals, that connect people across time and space. Culture is directly related to human dignity and human rights. Language provides individuals with structural set of social conditions for living, manifested in the form of arts and artifacts, and the 7

8 forms of expression, accumulated knowledge, social organization, and commonly held ideas, beliefs and values. The cultural dimension index was computed as the average of three domains: language index, recognition of religion index and customary governance index of caste/ethnic groups who lived in Nepal. From survey report we can conclude that Hill Brahmans and Hill Chettris have highest rank on the cultural dimension index while Janajatis are lagged behind. In other side, Muslims score is close to the national average while the remaining groups have their experiences lower levels in cultural inclusion. In cultural dimension language is a more fluctuated variable. Caste/ethnicity Table: 6. Gender Dimension by Broader Social Group Gender nonviolence Access to social services 8 Economy autonomy Political participati on And decision making index Gender Dimensio n Hill Brahman Hill Chhetri Tarai Brahman/Chhetri Hill Dalit Tarai Dalit Hill Janajati Tarai Janajati Muslim Nepal Coefficient of Variation Source: Nepal Multidimensional Social Inclusive -2014, CDSA, Tribhuvan University. Gender Non- violence includes Non-violence against women, control over the decision to marry and control over reproductive decision. Non-violence index is a composite of the non-violence against women index, the control over the decision to marry index, and the control over reproductive decision. Actual Nepalese women face the threat of violence in the household, the community, and in aspects of public life. The form of exclusion from the dignified life is known as violence against women, control over the decision to marry is also an indicator of women s right. Likewise, the reproductive rights of women include the decision to conceive, decision about delivery, number of children to have, interval between births and the use of contraceptives. How far the women use their right on mentioned activities belong to reproductive decision index. Non- discrimination in social services is a composite indicator of gender parity in enrolment and private schooling. Nepal education policy ensures equal opportunities for boys and girls and it has influenced in social values with their parents agreeing that both sons and daughters should have equal access to education up to secondary level. In some cases boys are sent to private board school while the girls are sent to government school. So, this indicator reveals the disparity of opportunity for private schooling between boys and girls. Economic autonomy is another indicator of disparity between women and men in society where land ownership and economic control are the two composite factors of it. Women

9 involvement in technical or professional jobs, political participation of women and representation in the national bureaucracy is the composite indicators of political participation and decision making index. Thus, gender dimension index is a composite index on the basis of gender non-violence, access to social services index, economic autonomic index and political participation index and decision making index. It reflects gender inclusion for women for various activities from Nepal s caste/ethnic groups. Indices show that among the broader groups, Hill janajatis, Hill Brahmin/Chhetris enjoy highest levels of inclusion and have gender index scores. Tarai Dalits have the lowest index score among these groups. Here, we can conclude that a number of elements/factors related to the empowerment of women and it is currently one of the most burning issues of social inclusion in national debate. There is still the inclusion rates for women in economic development activities are relatively slow. The index shows that none of the caste/ethnic groups score highly across all gender inclusion indicator suggested that none of the groups is totally gender inclusive. Caste/ethnicity Table: 7. Dimensional and composite social inclusive index by broader social group Social Dimension Economic Dimension Political Dimension Cultural Dimension Gender Dimension Social Inclusion Above National Average Hill Brahman Hill Chhetri Tarai Brahman/Chhetri Below National Average Hill Dalit Tarai Dalit Hill Janajati Tarai Janajati Muslim Nepal Coefficient of variation Source: Nepal Multidimensional Social Inclusive -2014, CDSA, Tribhuvan University. Social Inclusion is a composite index obtained by different dimension index viz economic, political, cultural and gender-wise. Each dimension is affected by number of subjective and objective factors. Thus, social inclusion index be a outcomes of multidimensional social variables as we have already explained previously. However, the computed value of index is quantitative comparison but each index are affected by numbers of qualitative variables. The Gini Coefficient of the distribution of social inclusion indices is i. e., percent, is very small and showing less inequality status in between main caste/ethnic groups in Nepal. According to social dimension (SDI), Hill Brahman, Terai Brahman/Chhetri and Hill Chhetri are at the top and above the national average showing highest levels of inclusion in most of the indicators while Dalits (Hill and Terai) feature at the bottom. Janajatis and Dalits are far 9

10 from political inclusion. It means they are lacking in policy decision at national level. The rate of inclusion should be increased for smooth economic development in Nepal. Levels of inclusion vary from indicator to indicator and from one social group to another. Political dimension is high variation variable among caste/ethnic groups. Dimensions and indicators of social inclusion may change over time. However, it provides a benchmark and baseline for formulation and monitoring of inclusive policies and programs at national level. 4. Poverty and Economic Growth: Employment, equity and growth are main burning issues for any country in the world. More than last Three decades the level of poverty is continuously decreasing in Asia and Nepal but the economic growth rate of Nepal has not been increasing significantly in these days. Here in this paper it will be discussed on the basis of impact of social inclusion on poverty and economic development perspective. Table: 8. Economic Growth rate at last Decade (percent) Fiscal Economic Growth Agriculture Non-Agriculture Industry Service year 2004/ / / / / / / / / / / Average CV Source: Economic Survey-2015, Ministry of Finance, Nepal. Analysis of sector-wise economic growth for the last decade reveals that though the growth rate of the services sector remained satisfactory, industry sector s growth rate did not record as such. Except for three fiscal years, services sector recorded a growth of over 5.0 percent in the other fiscal years. During this period, the growth rate of agriculture sector was much more influenced mainly by the climate factor and supply of seeds and fertilizers, while the industry sector under the non-agriculture sector was greatly influenced by the investment environment, labor problems, energy crisis, and prolonged political transition among others. The expected growth rate for 2014/15 was badly affected due to earthquake in Nepal. Non-agriculture sector has constantly increased during this period; however, its growth rate is not satisfactory. Youth and Small Entrepreneur Self-Employment Fund was established in fiscal year 2008/09 for rapid development of the country by making the maximum use of productive labor through the development of entrepreneurship while bringing changes in the traditional production system. For this, the Fund aimed at availing collateral-free period concessional loans to educate and uneducated unemployed youths through banks and financial institutions, and cooperatives for creating self-employment opportunities and vocational training for them. The primary 10

11 objectives of the youth self-employment program is to avail wholesale credit to banks and cooperatives to provide collateral-free period loan of up to NRs. 200,000 per person in an easy manner so that economically deprived group, women, Dalits, Janajatis and conflict affected people, unemployed youths, and people with traditional skills will have opportunity to get engaged in agricultural, vocational and service oriented activities thereby making their lifestyle much easier through increased income. These programs include activities like agriculture and farming, rickshaw and cart service operations, traditional and ethnicity/class skill oriented program, one village one production program, skill oriented programs to create self-employment opportunities to unemployed, maintain coordination with government and international non-governmental organizations and banks and financial institutions. Programs on labor dispute resolution, collective bargaining, risk mitigation at industrial academies, factories inspection and documentation management, publicity on labor exchange, trade union education, program operation on child rescue and data collection on non-resident Nepalese, monitoring, studies and researches have been carried out so as to enhance industrial productivity by maintaining effective labor relation through the creation of secured and dignified working environment for the laborers thereby making country s available labor force market friendly using newer technologies. These programs have helped develop cordial relationship among the government, employers and trade unions and among the trade unions themselves, bring effectiveness in the performance of employment information center and manage documentation of non-resident Nepalese labor employers by providing them with labor permits. Policy has been implemented to involve the state targeted people s class, area and conflict victims, Dalits, Janajatis, indigenous people, injured persons in peoples movement and martyrs families, women and Madhesis, in vocational and skill development training by putting them in priority. Human Resource Development works are being carried out at vocational and skill oriented training centers to help reduce poverty through the promotion of self-employment and employment by imparting vocational knowledge to the productive labor force. Table: 9. Nepal Living Standard Survey (NLSS) s: Poverty in Nepal (Percent) Locatio Poverty Head Count Poverty Gap Squared Poverty Gap n 1995/ / / / / / / / /1 0 Rural Urban Nepal Source: NLSS-1996, NLSS-2004, CBS, HMG of Nepal and NLSS-2010, CBS, GoV of Nepal. During poverty analysis, Poverty Headcount refers to the proportion of population, to the total population, who are living below the poverty line. Poverty Gap refers to the measurement of gap between poverty line and the average number of people living below the poverty line. Likewise, squared poverty Gap refers to disparity status among the poor. NLSS reports show that poverty is decreasing but the disparity rate is relatively higher in rural areas in Nepal. 11

12 Table: 10. Change in Human Development from 1995/96 to 2003/04 by main caste/ethnic group 1995/ /04 Main Caste/ethnic groups Education index Income index Life expectancy Hill B/C Janajati Dalit Tarai Middle caste Muslim Nepal Source: NLSS-1996, NLSS-2004, CBS, HMG of Nepal. Human Development (HDI) in between two surveys periods show that all are better position compare to previous survey but they are below moderate position except Hill Brahman Chhetri. Life expectancy index seems better than others indicators in both surveys. The HDI value of Nepal shows that we were back still in the beginning of first decade of 21 st century. We can conclude that working capacity of Nepalese people is improving in general but there should be enhancement up those case/ethnic groups who were back in the process of economic development policy. It meant inclusiveness should be in policy level. Main Caste/ethnic groups HDI Table: 11. Income situation in 1995/96 and 2003/04 in main caste/ethnic group 1995/96 (2003 prices) 2003/04 Per capita income (ppp US $) Income index Per capita income (ppp US $) Income index Hill B/C Janajati Dalit Tarai Middle caste Muslim Nepal Source: NLSS-1996, NLSS-2004, CBS, HMG of Nepal and CMI report The indicator of income in terms of per capita income by income index there is slightly improvement in income earning capacity in Nepal and parallel increase gap among the caste/ethnic groups. There should be made such policy that it will be helped to reduce the gap and increase in per capita income in general. Education index Income index Life expectancy HDI 12

13 Table: 12. Status of Human Poverty in 1995/96 and 2003/04 in main caste/ethnic groups Main Caste/Ethnic 1995/ /04 groups Adult Literacy (%) % of persons not expected to survive age % of the hh no access to safe water Malnourished children <5 Eco-provision % HPI (%)I Adult Literacy (%) % of persons not expected to survive age % of the hh no access to safe water Malnourished children <5 Eco-provision % HPI (%) Hill B/C Janajati Dalit Tarai Middle caste Muslim Nepal Source: NLSS-1996, NLSS-2004, CBS, HMG of Nepal and CMI report The indicators of Human Poverty show that poverty is reducing continuously and showing improving toward the economic development. However, the large share of development goes toward the Hill Brahman/Chhetri. Majority population demanded that it should be equally distributed by introducing new policy at national Nepal for all caste/ethnic groups. Table: 13. Comparison of Mean of HPI in between 1995/96 and 2003/04 Fiscal (%) Standard pair differences Correlation, t-test and year Deviation Mean S.D.( ) Std. error level of significance HPI in 1995/ r=0.98, p=0.003 t-test=10.06 p=0.001 HPI in 2003/ Source: Self calculation Human poverty index (HPI) was reduced from 53 percent to 44 percent point from 1995/96 to 2003/04 period. The difference between the two means was found significantly different, it meant, poverty is significantly reduced in caste/ ethnic groups in Nepal. However, the disparity of poverty was found increased (showing the values standard deviation). 13

14 Human Development Indicators Life Expectancy (yrs) Table: 14. Human Development by Caste and Ethnicity, 1996 Nepal Brahman Chhetri Hill Janajati Madhese Hill Dalit Muslim Others Adult Literacy (%) Mean yrs Schooling Per Capita Income (NR) HDI indices Life Expectancy Educational Attainment income Human Dev Ratio of National HDI Source: "A Strategy to Empower Nepal's Disadvantaged Groups", Document 1, Page 7 (based on data of the Nepal Human Development Report, NESAC, In most of the indicators of HDI show that Brahman and Chhetri whether they were Hill or Tarai were found better compare to other caste and ethnic groups in middle nineties of Nepal. It can be inferred that there was lacking in social inclusiveness. HDI, adult literacy rate, educational attainment index, and income index show that there was high variation between caste/ethnic groups. 5. Social Inclusion: A Way Forward It is to note that the economic opportunities are equally accessible to all members of caste/ethnic group in the society. The Nepalese women face the threat of violence in the household, the community, and in aspects of public life. The form of exclusion from the dignified life is known as violence against women, control over the decision to marry, control on the reproductive rights of women are indicators of women s right. Likewise, include the decision to conceive, decision about delivery, number of children to have, interval between births and the use of contraceptives are also related to women s right. Indices show that there is lacking to fulfill the women s right in these direction in most of the caste/ethnic groups. In some cases boys are sent to private board school while the girls are sent to government school. So, this indicator reveals the disparity of opportunity for private schooling between boys and girls. Economic autonomy is another indicator of disparity between women and men in society where land ownership and economic control are the two composite factors of it. Thus, gender dimension index is a composite index on the basis of gender non-violence, access to social services index, economic autonomic index and political participation index and decision making index. It reflects gender inclusion for women for various activities from Nepal s caste/ethnic groups. Indices show that among the broader groups, Hill janajatis, Hill Brahmin/Chhetris enjoy relatively highest levels of inclusion and have gender index scores. But still there is the inclusion 14

15 rates for women in economic development activities are relatively slow. Thus, the indices show that none of the caste/ethnic groups score highly across all gender inclusion indicator suggested that none of the groups is totally gender inclusive. The equal opportunities for all men and women be limited mostly in slogan, it should be implemented in practices. The poverty be the public inputs and processes in building human capital and health equally accessible to all and geared to enhance human capacities, particularly the poor, rural populace, and women. However, the poverty within two decades is decreasing significantly, there is no such gap between caste/ethnic social groups but the level of per capita income is very low compared to neighboring countries. The policy should be guided by up grading level of earning. The various social inclusion indices will help evaluate the effectiveness of policies aimed at promoting inclusive growth. The purpose of social inclusion activities in various sectors of government should be based on to promote productivity, to reduce poverty, and increasing opportunities of employment. 6. Concluding Remarks: It has been clear from aforementioned facts and figure that there has not been proportionate use of caste/ethnic members in various economic, social and political activities in various agencies of government of Nepal. In one side, Nepal is one of the poorest countries in Asia although it has sufficient natural resources availability and the other multicultural landlocked country. In the past two decades, the poverty level is continuously decreasing but the economic growth rate has not increased sufficiently. Due to political instability since last two decades the economic development became backward unemployment is increasing. More than 1500 persons per day go aboard in searching jobs and employment. Remittance has become one of the significance sources of income in present days of Nepal. On the other, the income obtained by remittance has not use in productive propose. This study concluded that the national average of social dimension index is moderately scored in health and education. Among the caste/ethnic groups, there is high variation in education than health and showing highest score in Brahman/chhetries and lowest in Tarai Dalits. On the other side, among the indicators of economic dimension index, economic access index was found high variation in between caste/ethnic groups where highest value of the index was for Tarai Brahman/Chhetri and the lowest was for Tarai Dalit showing lowest status. Political representative index shows that the highest representative was from Brahman/Chhetri and lowest from Dalit in every political activity in Nepal. Similarly, in cultural dimension language is a more fluctuated variable. According to gender inclusive perspective, there is lacking gender inclusion in every activity in Nepal. None of caste/ethnic groups is fully gender inclusive. In most of the women s right are dominated by men and society. Social dimension index is a composite index affected by a number of quantitative and qualitative indicators. On the basis of this indicator, Brahmans and Chhetries are at the top of the list and above the national average and showing highest level of inclusion in most of the indicators while Dalits are at the bottom. Janajatis and dalits are far from political inclusion. The average economic growth rate of last decade is only 4.0 percentage where service sector is some satisfactory and more fluctuation in agriculture. On the contrary y, non-agriculture sector was greatly influenced by investment environment. These rates show that the upgrading for developed country by 2022 is seemed unrealistic. The poverty report from the Nepal living standard surveys show that it is decreasing continuously but the disparity rate is increasing in rural location in Nepal. On the perspective of Caste/ Ethnic group criteria, the poverty is 15

16 decreasing in each group but disparity was found increasing significantly. We can further infer that there was high variation in political dimension index and language index and relatively high variation was found in economic access index and education index between caste/ethnic groups. 7. Policy Recommendations: From the above mentioned information we can develop some policy recommendations for local and national level they are as followings; i. The various laws, rules and regulations are made but found lacking in implementation in most of the developing countries like Nepal. Exactly same way the social inclusion policies in various government agencies have been made in various plans and programs but lacking in their implementation. The inclusion does not mean that it creates adverse effect on production and development. We should make the policies of involvement of social inclusion in the various activities of economic development in appropriate way. ii. Gender dimension index as we explained above show that in most of the indicators gender inclusion was found low and there is none of the caste/ethnic groups is totally inclusive. So, to make more inclusive, the empowerment programs for women should be made effectively. iii. Among the caste/ethnic groups in most of the indicators Dalits, Muslim, in some indicators Janajaties show low status, so, to make more inclusive them the relevant programs should be launched effectively. iv. From the two-decade information, it has been shown that the poverty is decreasing continuously but economic growth rate cannot increase sufficiently, in this context further research is necessary to boost up growth rate such that it will meet for upgrading by 2022 Nepal as a developed country. 16

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