Nepal Blockade Leads to Student Protests
Parents, student unions, teachers’ organizations, and private and boarding schools’ umbrella organizations participated in a massive protest earlier last week in opposition to the unofficial blockade by India. The two month long blockade was triggered by the ratification of Nepal’s new constitution, which has led to protests by the Madhesi ethnic minority in Nepal who believe the constitution discriminates against them. Since early August, the Madhesis have blocked border checkpoints, preventing the movement of fuel, cooking gas, medicine and other crucial supplies. The Indian government denies any sort of intervention; nonetheless, recent events have caused anti-Indian sentiments to grow.
Nepal relies heavily on India for supplies. For example, Nepal imports approximately 60 percent of its medicine from India, and the two month blockade of the Indian border has thwarted recovery efforts for the April earthquake that devastated Nepal. Without necessary supplies, many schools in the area are unable to reopen. According to the Himalayan Times, over “7.1 million children are directly or indirectly affected by the current situation in Nepal.”
The protests have yielded both support and criticism. Lachhe Bahadur KC, president of the Private and Boarding Schools’ Organization Nepal, comments that “students have been deprived of their right to education.” By using students in human chains, protesters hope to draw attention to situation and engender positive changes. Officials from the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare and Central Children Welfare Board, however, have expressed concern over the use of children as a human chain. National Human Rights Commission spokesperson Mohana Ansari states that “Using children in programs like bandhs and strikes is against the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 and the Children’s Act, 1992.”
The blockade continues to affect the Nepalese community with no end in sight. Khadga Bahadur Bishwokarma, a spokesman for the Communist Party of Nepal, has asked, "How long will people of Nepal suffer? India must back down." As it continues, important humanitarian aid will be denied to Nepalese citizens, stagnating the country’s recovery efforts.