State of Inclusiveness in Nepalese Army

The issue of inclusion (Samabesikaran) of different castes, ethnic groups, genders and regions has been a frequently heard term in Nepal. Nepal has 103 castes/ethnic groups and more than 93 languages. Unlike the Gurkha Regiments of foreign armies which often have selective ethnic requirement practices, as the national army of Nepal, the Nepalese Army must maintain a national character primarily in terms of inclusion of all castes, ethnic communities, genders, regions and religions.

At the time when the Government of Nepal did not have any policy on inclusion in the state organs, the Nepalese Army was the only institution in Nepal which had a system of reservation for five different ethnic communities- Magar, Gurung, Tamang, Kiranti/Limbu and Madhesi. The total strength of the five battalions reserved for this process is about 3950, which make 4.4 % of current strength. In the rest of the formations, units and subunits all castes / ethnic communities, religions and regions are given equal opportunity based on open competition.

Recruitment is voluntary and competitive. Hence forcing citizens to sign up in the proportion of the demographic breakup of the nation would violate the rights of the people who may not want to join the Army and at the same time be unfair to those qualified and wishing to join. Presented in the following page is a comparative table in which various castes and ethnic communities represented in Nepalese Army are compared with their respective population size.

Among various castes and ethnic communities Chhetris seem to have domination in the military. Magars, Newars, Rais, Gurungs, Damais/Dholis, Ghartis/Bhujels, Thakuris, Sanaysis, Kumals, Hajams/Thakurs, Darais and Jirels are also slightly over represented compared to their respective population ratio. But Brahmins, Tamangs, Kamis, Limbus, Sarkis, and Tharus are slightly under represented. Various Madhesi castes (Serial number 18-25) make 14.25 percent of total population (Excluding 134, 496 Terai- Brahmin population which make 0.59% of total population. Currently in NA statistics, they are seemingly mixed with Brahmins of the Hills ) where as only 6.26 percent are seemingly serving in the army. The cause for this lesser degree of inclusion seems to be the lack of interest on the part of Madhesi communities to join military services.There is, for instance, almost no representation of Madhesis in the British or Indian Gurkhas.

In the decision making level out of 18 posts including two technical, in the rank of Major General and above, the current representations (as of July 2008) are- 8 Chhetri, 2 Limbu, 2 Brahmin, 2 Gurung, 2 Thakuri, 1 Rana, and 1 Newar. These figures differ after every case of retirements / promotions. Even in the times of the unification of Nepal, Jayantha Rana, an ethnic Magar, was one of the most successful commanders of King Prithivi Narayan Shah.

Picture of Aspirants from Various Castes / Ethnic Groups.

For the Post of Sipahi & Followers: The voices have been heard that the discrimination based on ethnicity exists on recruitment in NA. To find a realistic picture let's now compare the statistics of aspirants of various castes and ethnic communities from those who had registered their name to join the NA in January 2008 in Dhading, Patan, Sarlahi, Dang, and Okhaldhunga recruitment centers (Table 3). Out of 15,825 applicants only 1,683 (10.6%) Madhesi and 835 (5.3%) Dalits have shown their interest to join NA. Applicants from Brahmin Chhetri and Janajati groups topped the figure by 53.3% and 30.9% respectively.

For the Post of Officer Cadets (2/Lt): Application for recruitment of S. No. 50 Officer Cadet (to be commissioned as 2/Lt after training) was called by Recruitment Selection Directorate in Army HQ by November 2007/08. Total of 4,993 male youths from all five development regions and 75 districts applied for the post. Status of representation from various castes / ethnic groups and region are shown on Table 3 below:

Out of 4993 aspirants for the post of Officer Cadet (2/Lt) 3,683 (73.76%) applicants belong to Brahmin / Chhetri community, 1,124 (22.51%) belong to Janajati / Indigenous community, 110 (2.7 %) belong to Dalit community, and 76 (1.5 %) belong to Madhesi community. From the perspective of geographical representation, more than 50% applicants come from Central Development Region. From Far Western Development Region about 7% aspirants registered their name. As probability of selection would remain approximately same for all applicants because of competitive exams, inclusion from Madhesi, Dalit, Mid Western Development and Far Western Development Regions are likely to be relatively less. A balanced education policy is needed to increase probability of proportional representation to all ethnic groups and regions. In Nepal different castes and ethnic groups have different motivation for their employment. When asked to Sipahi Deependra Yadav currently working in Supply & Transport Battalion, Kathmandu about relatively less turnout of Madhesis in NA, he said it is primarily due to rugged training Madhesis prefer to join Police and other government sectors rather than in Nepalese Army.

Applicants for Officer cadets undergo various exams before they finally get selected. Generally, it is found that bulk of the applicants normally fail in the written tests. The table above depicts that success ratio of Brahmin and Clhetris community in written tests are relatively highi i.e., 85.47 percent. Whereas success rate of Madhesis, Tharus, Dalits and Janajati communities are quite less with 0.54, 1.36 and 12.60 percent respect ively. Why the latter three communities are relatively weaker in written tests is a matter of research in relation to t heir educational quality and social opportunities t hat fall beyond the responsibilities of the Nepalese Army itself and an area of concern to the state as a whole.