Introduction

Women

Dalits

Madheshi

Religious minorities

Linguistic minorities

Introduction

Nepal has experienced a series of remarkable changes over the past few years as it has evolved from being a Hindu Kingdom with a Maoist insurgency to a secular Republic with a Maoist-led government.

The people’s movement of April 2006, the November 2006 Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end the armed conflict, and the April 2008 Constituent Assembly election all marked critical steps towards the establishment of a peaceful and democratic Nepal. Yet, significant challenges remain ahead including addressing the exclusion of Minority and Indigenous Peoples (MIP).

The country is a mosaic of communities: there are 22 Dalits groups, more than 59 Madheshi groups, around 60 Indigenous nationalities, 102 caste and ethnic groups, 11 religious groups and more than 92 linguistic groups in Nepal. Exclusion, marginalization and exploitation of many of these communities had initially fuelled the 10 years armed conflict that affected the country.

Nepal, after the “triumph of people’s power” in April 2006, the country is poised to draft a new, more
representative constitution. How will it address the challenge of transforming the system of institutionalized exclusion that has produced a disproportionate dominance by 16 percent of Nepal’s
upper caste Hindu hill elite (Bhattachan1999 and Lawoti 2005)? Will it provide for sharing power with the excluded Janjatis (indigenous peoples), Dalits, Madheshi1 and women through a policy
of reservations? Will it make changes in the electoral law, making for community (identity)-based parties? How many of the 61 indigenous nationalities (janjatis), 59 Madheshi groups, 11 religious groups and 125 languages spoken in Nepal will be recognized?

Nepal is undoubtedly one of the world’s most diverse yet unequal societies. Social inequalities revolve
around the axes of class, caste, ethnicity, status, religion, language, geographical location and gender.
Inter-group disparities are sharply marked, with major contrasts of social conditions and chances of
sharing in society’s material, cultural and natural resources,- that is income, employment, education,
health and so on. These inequalities are rooted in the caste system, property, income, wealth and
employment relations. Brahman (hill), Chhetri, Thakuri and Newar (BCTN) are the most advantaged
and dominant groups in Nepal and rest of the caste and ethnic groups can be divided into the most
disadvantaged and disadvantaged groups. Dalits are exploited for centuries and have suffered from
worst forms of discrimination. Madheshis are excluded from all government sectors and have treated as ‘outsider’ and ‘second class’ citizen in own country. Women, although more than half of the population, have always been discriminated and exploited from patriarchic society.

‘One nation, one language’ policy of the state led to extinction of some of the languages in Nepal. Non-Hindus were seldom faced religious tension; however, Hindunization of country could not secure equal status for non-Hindus in Nepal. Indigenous nationalities have always sacrificed to the aspirations of the kings and leaders but are forced to live in severe marginalization.

There are genuine issues of indigenous nationalities, sexual minorities such as lesbian gay bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) in Nepal. SUPPORT's work, however, has attempted to focus on five minority groups which, somehow, touch the issues of all minority and indigenous people in Nepal. SUPPORT Nepal mainly works with Madheshi, Dalits, women, religious and linguistic minorities.

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1. Women

Nepal is a multiethnic and multicultural country with more than 50 spoken languages and cultural
traditions. For analytical purposes they have often been classified into two broad groups, the Tibeto-
Burman, populating mostly the mid-hills and mountains, and the Indo-Aryan, living in the Terai Genetic plains and the midhills. Women from the Tibeto-Burman communities are socially less constrained than their Indo-Aryan sisters in terms of mobility, marriage/remarriage options, and, most importantly, income earning opportunities. In the Indo-Aryan groups, traditionally, women have fewer social and economic options. Social discrimination against women is felt to be more severe in the Terai communities and in the Mid- and Far-Western Development regions in general.

Nevertheless, in both these groups land and property inheritance has been patrilineal, the residence
pattern patrifocal, and early marriage the rule rather than an exception. Culturally, marriage is seen as
the best socially acceptable option for women for gaining access to property and land. Therefore, once
women are out of marriage, such as divorce or widowhood, they become more vulnerable to poverty.
However, once women marry, legal provisions deny them inheritance rights to parental property. Women in both cultural groups lag far behind men in access to property, credit, and modern avenues of education, skills development, technology, and knowledge.

Discrimination against women by way of religious principles was historically supported through provisions in the law of the country. The 1854 Civil Code did not provide any protection for women concerning their property rights. Furthermore, it required purity of their body and endorsed a lower ritual status for the upper-caste widows, if they remarried. Prior to the Rana regime being overthrown in 1950, no other laws were formulated to amend those provisions. However, the government of post-Rana period replaced the 1864 Civil Code with a new one in place, in 1963.

Then the constitutions formulated during that period accepted the right to equality in the application of laws to all categories of citizens. Nepal also ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1991. In 1990 and in 2007, both constitutions have
emphasized at equal rights to women, there are still many provisions that discriminate against women.
Studies carried out on the legal provisions of the country regarding women have shown that the laws of the country discriminate against women in numerous ways. The main areas in which women are
discriminated against by these provisions include their rights in relation to nationality and citizenship,
property, trafficking and sexual abuse, education, employment, health including reproductive rights,
marriage and family and legal and court proceedings.

The patriarchal values established by the prevailing ideologies of society have received legal support
through the above mentioned discriminatory provisions. As a result, the legal system of Nepal has
relegated women to such a position that they are unable to fight for their rightful claim of equality to
rights. The impact of these forms of discrimination resonates in all spheres of their social, political, and economic life, including access to resources such as ownership of land, educational attainment,
employment status, and participation in decision making activities in both public and domestic sectors
of their life.

Though women comprise 50.05% (CBS 2001) percent of the total population, gender discrimination
prevails in the society from the family to the national level. Status of women in Nepal with regards to
their access to knowledge, economic resources, political power, and personal autonomy in decision
making is generally desolate. Owing to gender based discriminations that have restricted their access to the state’s resources (such as markets, productive services, education facilities and health care) and
decision making structures, they face multiple discrimination and human rights violations.

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2. Dalits

Caste-based discrimination derives its legitimacy from the ancient scriptures of the Hindu religion. These scriptures believed that the God produced people from four separate parts of its body and attributed them with different types of character assigning four different roles and responsibilities. The four different social groups were identified as Brahmans, Chhetris, Vaishyas and Sudras respectively, otherwise known as ‘Four Varnas’ in Hindu social structure. These legendary ideas about differences in the origin, differences in roles and responsibilities of people are the basis for institutionalization of Varna, a model of social organization as well as caste-based division and discrimination in the society. In the last 14th century, caste-based discrimination was a direct consequence of the prevailing traditions.

The formation of Muslim hegemony in Mogul India and the expansion of Christian faith in this region,
after it came to be a part of the British Empire, motivated the then Hindu rulers of Nepal to provide
state level protection for this religion and the practices based on the religious definition. During that
process, Jayasthiti Malla (1382-1395) divided the Newars of Kathmandu valley into 64 castes. Later, Ram Shah of Gorkha implemented some strict regulations, prescribing different qualities of garments for different castes, prohibiting low caste people from living in Pakka (concrete) houses, and requiring them to settle in areas close to riverbanks or in rural areas. During the Malla period and, consequently the Sen rulers of Palpa provided their support to the caste-based organization of the society. The Nepali state attempted to universalize these regulations for all categories of people living in all parts of the nation through the introduction of the Muluki Ain (Civil Code) in 1954.

The Civil Code redefined the Varna model in order to comply with Nepal’s social environment. It
classified the caste groups into ‘pure’ and ‘impure’. The fourth and fifth categories were considered as
containing ‘impure’ population. People were divided into two groups; touchable and untouchable. The
Civil Code also approved some differences in the privileges provided by the law to people belonging to these different caste categories. The code governed the pattern of social relation until its provisions
were amended and replaced by the New Civil Code (Naya Muluki Ain) in 1963.

A political movement launched in 1950 replaced the prevailing system of oligarchic rule with a multiparty system of government. Accordingly, constitutional procedures were introduced into the system of rule of the country. These constitutions, including the constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990, guaranteed the right to equality. Practice of untouchability was declared illegal in Nepal. The Civil Rights Act 1995 and the Defamation Act 1963 also supported the principle of non-discrimination and elimination of untouchability. In 1971, Nepal ratified the provision in Article 6 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and Untouchability (ICERD).

However, the practice of untouchability still occurs despite the laws declaring it illegal. Bhattachan et al (2003) investigated the existing practice of caste-based untouchability and identified 205 areas in which Dalits are discriminate against by non-Dalits.

National Dalit Commission (NDC) defines Dalit community and cast based untouchability as “community who have been left behind in social, economic, educational, political and religious
sphere and deprived of human dignity and social justice due to the cast based discrimination and untouchability.” “Cast based untouchability’ refers to those community, who have been discriminated against as water polluting or touching whom requires purification, untouchables or any community that was identified as untouchable before the promulgation of the new Civic Code, 1963.” Based on these definitions, NDC tentatively identified 22 Dalit castes, including 5 from the Hill and 17 from the Terai.

Dalit communities have scattered all over Nepal. However, the Central and the Western Development Regions, which comprise 27% and 24% of the total Dalit population, have more Dalit
population than other development regions. Likewise, Dalit population is denser in the Terai region than the hill and mountain regions. The population density of Brahmin and Chhetri, who are spread in the mountain and hill regions in all the development regions, is more pronounced in the mid and far western development regions. They comprise more than 27.8 percent and 39.2% of the population in Mid Western and Far Western Development regions respectively.

Dalit communities have scattered all over Nepal. However, the Central and the Western Development Regions, which comprise 27% and 24% of the total Dalit population, have more Dalit population than other development regions. Likewise, Dalit population is denser in the Terai region than the hill and mountain regions. The population density of Brahmin and Chhetri, who are spread in the mountain and hill regions in all the development regions, is more pronounced in the mid and far western development regions. They comprise more than 27.8 percent and 39.2% of the population in Mid Western and Far Western Development regions respectively.

In 31 districts, the Dalits population is higher than 12 percent. But in eight districts in the west (Baglung, Jajarkot, Dailekh, Surkhet, Kalikot, Achham, Bajura and Doti) Dalits’ presence is in the range between 21 to 30 percent. 11 Terai district from Jhapa to Parsa, Dalits together comprise a larger proportion of the district population than Yadavs in eight districts. The VDC wise distribution of caste/ethnic population show that there only 12 VDCs in Nepal with an absolute majority of the Dalit population.

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3. Madheshi

There are two geographical definitions in Nepal; one that extends to a trans-national region, the other specifically limited to Nepal. The first and more general definition includes the long and narrow strip of plains abutting the Himalayan foothills at the way from Uttar Pradesh through Nepal. The second definition includes only the plains region adjacent to the foothills within Nepal’s national boundaries. This foothill is called the Siwalik or sometimes Churia range.

Terai (also known as Tarai) stands for ‘a strip of undulating former marshland that stretches from the
Yamuna River in west to the Brahmaputra River in the east. It is used to refer to the region of marshy grasslands, savannas, and forests at the base of the Himalayan range, in India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. Etymologically, the word Terai is presumed to be derived from Persian language, meaning “damp”, and various Hindu and Urdu dictionaries also define it as land at the foothills of mountains, often damp and swampy. From Tharu language point of view, as claimed by some authors, it is assumed to be derived from “Tar” meaning “low” thus rendering the meaning of “Terai” as “low-lands”, though the transnational, trans-ethnic and trans-lingual usage of Terai may put this etymology into question. But all the existing etymologies of Terai, defines it in terms of terrain features and has geographical connotation.

In 1963, the government established 75 districts in the country and the previously 17 districts in Terai
were restructured into 20 districts which also included part of Siwalik/ Churia range and hills. All the
Terai districts have varying proportion of Siwalik and mid-mountain areas, the highest being 77.5% in
Nawalparasi district, 51.5% in Chitwan district, 50.8% in Banke district and 41% in Kailali district to the lowest 8.9% in Sunsari district and about 7% in Jhapa district; the average being 32.4% for the 20 Terai districts.

The total land area in the 20 Terai districts is 34,109 sq km which accounts for 23.1% of the country’s total land area. In 2001, 48.4% of the country’s total population of 23.2 million lived in Terai districts with a density of 329 persons/sq km. Madhesh refers to the Terai region specific to Nepal, approximately 25 to 35 kilometers wide broad belt of alluvial and fertile land stretching from Mahakali River in the west to Mechi River in the east between Indian boarder in the south and Siwalik/Churia range in the north. Etymologically, Madhesh has been claimed to be derived from the word “Madhyadesh” (mid-country), or “Matsyadesh” (fish country) whose capital is said to be in Biratnagar. With the evolution along time, along with its historic values and usages, the word Madhesh has acquired cultural aspects into it that today it represents a way of life and different aspects of life-styles of people living specifically in the region.

Its historical significance, historical usages, cultural and better representative connotation, representation of specific national locality, and freedom from colonized connotation are some of the factors that enrich the word Madhesh. The word Terai refers to terrain features rather then cultural space and does not represent any aspects of people living there. Terai refer to region and was popularized by the state’s policy of what some claim as “internal colonization” and thus carries derogatory colonial connotation.

Madheshi experts claim that the word Terai has been a symbol of colonial mindset of some dominant
groups in Nepal resulting from what Dr. Fredrick Gaige referred as a process of “Nepalization” of
Madhesh. From the time of formation of New Nepal there have been literally uncountable usages of word “Madhesh”, both authoritative and general. Prithvi Narayan Shah’s letter to Bhagavanta Nath mentioned, “..boundaries have been extended to the Kankai river in the Madhesh and..” or the administrative establishments such as “Madhesh Bandebast Adda” or “Madhesh Report Niksari” or “Kumarichok Madhesh Pahila Phant”, or “Bhot, Parbat and Madhesh” in Birta Confiscation Act. In pre-1950 era, word Madhesh was always preferred in authoritative and legal documents.

The Madheshis are the indigenous “non-hill origin” inhabitants of the Tarai. Madheshi includes indigenous ethnic nationalities as the Tharus, Rajbanshis, Meches, Koches, Dhimals and other tribes as well as peoples of different Hindu caste groups whose religious traditions, languages, social lifestyle and customs, food and clothes are similar to those of the people living in the Indo-Gangetic plains of India. Madheshis are residents of Madhesh sharing the correlated regional, cultural and lingual space of Madhesh.

The Madheshi community is composed of the traditional Hindu caste hierarchy such as Brahmin,
Kshatriya, Baisya and Dalits, and indigenous Janjati ethnic groups, other native tribes and Muslims.
Gaige (1975) used the terms ‘hill people’ and ‘plains people’ living in Tarai districts, and defined a)
“plains people are those who speak plains languages as their mother tongues or first language, whether
they were born or live in the plains or hills”; the plains languages being Maithili, Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Urdu, Hindi and Bengali, and dialects of these languages used by Janjati groups, and b) “hill people whose mother tongue or first language is one that predominates in the hill region of Nepal such as Nepali, Newari, Magar, Gurung, Rai and others.

The Madheshi community is composed of the traditional Hindu caste hierarchy such as Brahmin, Kshatriya, Baisya and Dalits, indigenous Janjati ethnic groups, and other native tribes and Muslims. According to the National Census of 2001, 59 castes and ethnic groups are identified in Madhesh. Baisya, Yadav and other Hindu caste group share 44.3% of the total Madheshi population followed by Indigenous (27.5%), Muslims (13.2%) and Dalits (11.9%).

Tharus, living in Madhesh and sharing the correlated regional, cultural and lingual space, are Madheshis. Neither all Madheshis are Tharus nor all Tharus are Madheshis. Tharus have significant settlements in Naini Tal and Champaran area of India as well. Madheshis constitute dozens of other groups (ethnic/ caste/aborigine/religious groups) in addition to Tharus. However, Tharu community is one of the aborigine Madheshi communities, said to be inhabited in the region for centuries. Among the total Madheshi population, only 59 caste/ethnic groups have been identified.

Madheshi people tend to be less migratory in nature compared to hill people and they prefer to remain closely in their traditional settlements. About 95.4% of the Madheshi people live in Madhesh region while the remaining 4.6% live in hills and mountain regions. The population dynamics significantly change in 1981 increasing the percentage of hill people from about 6% in 1952 to 43% in 1981. The population of
Madheshi people increased over two fold from 2.5 million to 5.3 million over the last fifty years whereas population of hill people increased many fold merely 142,000 to 4.1 million in 2001.

There are six Terai districts where the hill/mountain caste/ethnic population forms the majority. These are Jhapa (69%), Morang (51%), Chitwan (83.7%), Nawalparasi (57.2%), Dang (62%) and Kanchanpur
(61.5%). In contrast, Madheshi caste/ethnic population constitutes over 5 percent of the population of only four hill districts. These are Udaypur (11.4%), Baitadi (6.6%), Surkhet (6.6%) and Kathmandu (5.5%).

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4. Religious minorities

Nepal is a country cradled in the southern slopes of the Himalayas with an enchanting variety of topographical features which are responsible for its unique culture and religious environments.

The Terai region of Nepal is a strip which merges into the plains of the India. The Terai is bounded on the north by the gentle ridges of the Siwaliks or Churia ranges followed by the higher Mahabharat hills.

All along the north side of the Kathmandu valley the vast panorama of snow-covered Himalayan ranges stands in full view. Nepal is thus nestled in the lap of the Himalayas between India on the south and China on the north. This geographical and geo-physical environment resulted in turning Nepal into a variety of reservoir of cultural currents that flowing from both groups of people who migrated from India and China. Nepal, however, assimilated the cultural crosscurrents and transformed them into something original which getting blended with its own cultural tradition and heritage became distinctly indigenous to Nepal. Thus, a cultural synthesis took place which is evident in all spheres of Nepalese life including religion.

Religion occupies an integral position in Nepalese life and society. In the early 1990s, Nepal was the only constitutionally declared Hindu state in the world; there was, however, a great deal of intermingling of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs. Many of the people regarded as Hindus in the 1981 census could, with as much justification, be called Buddhists. The fact that Hindus worshipped at Buddhist temples and Buddhists worshipped at Hindu temples has been one of the principal reasons
adherents of the two dominant groups in Nepal have never engaged in any overt religious conflicts.

Because of such dual faith practices (or mutual respect), the differences between Hindus and Buddhists have been in general very subtle and academic in nature. However, in 2001, approximately 80.62 percent of the Nepalese people identified themselves as Hindus. Buddhists and Muslims comprised only 10.74 and 4.20 percent, respectively.

The remainder followed other religions, including Christianity that comprises of 0.45 percent of the
total population. In Nepal, as a result of immigration of Aryan tribes from India and of Mongoloid tribes from Tibet, a new settlement group resulted with the intermixing of the two. Though, these tribes were rigid in early stages later their consummation came under each other’s influence. Thus, a fusion of Aryan and Mongoloid cultures occurred. At the same time, the natural barriers of resistance that the communities never cared to put up paved the way for synthesis. Consequently, a new and strong spirit of national solidarity developed out of the inter-influences of Animism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Tantricism, etc. A Hindu becomes a devotee of Buddha and a Buddhist worships Hindu Gods in temples with equal reverence.

As most parts of Nepal are no easily accessible to each other, the compulsive localization made the
people live together in harmony though in isolation from other cultural groups. These different
communities, however, follow their own distinctive cultures but they are yet appreciative of each other. They were not overshadowed by the strong influences of either India or Tibet. This strange genius for the eclectic nature has greatly fostered and nurtured the culture of Nepal which combines norms and rules for social adjustments with pursuits of spiritual enlightenment.

The geographical distribution of religious groups revealed a preponderance of Hindus, accounting for
at least 87 percent of the population in every region. The largest concentrations of Buddhists were
found in the eastern hills, the Kathmandu Valley, and the central Tarai; in each area about 10 percent of the people were Buddhist. Buddhism was relatively more common among the Newar and Tibeto-Nepalese groups.

Among the Tibeto-Nepalese, those most influenced by Hinduism were the Magar, Sunwar, and Rai peoples. Hindu influence was less prominent among the Gurung, Limbu, Bhote, and Thakali groups, who continued to employ Buddhist monks for their religious ceremonies.

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5. Linguistic minorities

Nepal is home to four language families (Indo-Aryan, Tibeto-Burman, Austro-Asiatic and Dravidian), although the latter two families are spoken by numerically insignificant populations. It is a popular and widespread misconception that a one-to-one parity between ethnicity and  language exists. Reliable nation-wide linguistic data does not exist, but published surveys focusing on specific regions give scholars reason to trust the higher estimates.

The National Census of 2001 reports 92 known languages and a handful unidentified ones, while the experts offers a total figure of 120 languages in Nepal. Aside from Nepali, the ‘language of the nation’ and the only ‘official language’, which is reportedly spoken as a mother tongue by 48.61% of the total population (CBS 2001), and Maithili (another Indo-Aryan language) spoken as a mother tongue by 12.3% of Nepal’s citizens, Nepal’s ‘national languages’ all have speakers numbering under 10% of the total population. The most numerous mother tongue languages spoken by indigenous peoples are Tamang (5.19%), Newar (3.63%) and Magar (3.39%), as reported in the 2001 census.

According to census data collected in 2001, Nepal’s 92 languages belong to four language families; Indo-European, Sino-Tibetan, Austro-Asiatic and Dravidian. Kusunda is a language isolate and its
genetic affiliation is yet to be determined. The Indo-Aryan group of the Indo-European language family is the largest group in terms of speaker numbers in Nepal, at around 80%. The genetic affiliation of some Indo-Aryan languages such as Tharu, Bote, Majhi, Kumal, Darai, and Danuwar are yet to be identified. The Tibeto-Burman group within the Sino-Tibetan family of languages is represented by more than 57 languages in Nepal, the largest number of distinct mother tongues of any linguistic grouping, but with noticeably less speakers than the Indo-Aryan group. Two other language families are also found in Nepal: the Austric branch of the Austro-Asiatic family and the Dravidian family, each represented by a small number of languages in the southern belt of the country. The Austric languages comprise Santhali of the northern Munda group and Khariya of the southern Munda group.

In connection to multilingualism, the relationship between indigenous peoples and the languages which they speak are highly varied and naturally diverse. These relationships can be divided into three categories:

(1) A one-to-one correspondence exists between an indigenous community and their language, as
among the Magar, Tamang, Gurung, Limbu, Sherpa, Rajbhanshi, Sunuwar, Kumal, Majhi,
Danuwar, Chepang, Thami, Thakali, Bhote, Dhimal, Lepcha, Byansi, Raute and Raji.

(2) A single indigenous people speak several languages, for example the Rai-Kiranti are considered
to constitute a single ethnic group, but they speak a range of at least 15 mutually unintelligible
languages such as Bantawa, Puma, Chamling, Chulung, Thulung, Kulung, Sampang, Dumi and
Athphare.

(3) Several indigenous peoples speak what is seen to be a single language, such as Newar.

The one-to-one correlation facilitates the development and preparation of textbooks which include
information and examples relevant to the indigenous ethnic culture.

Situations (2) and (3), as described above however, are more complex when conceiving of culturally-appropriate pedagogical materials. All but eight of the many languages spoken in Nepal as mother tongues by indigenous peoples have no literate tradition. The lexicalization of a language and the development or resurrection of a suitable script or set of orthographical conventions are prerequisites for introducing a language into education as the medium of instruction.

Of the languages possessing literate traditions, only Maithili, Newar and Tibetan (the latter largely for
refugees resident in Nepal) have been in vogue as a subject of study at various educational levels. These three languages also have rich literary traditions, poetry and written folk tales.

Geographical distributions of languages can be divided into three parts as spoken in the same geographical locations of a particular language and those most adjacent to particular languages:

I. Mountain region: Nepali is the primary language in 9 districts of mountain region in Nepal.
Byansi, Tamang, Rai, Gurung, Thakali, and Sherpa are other major languages of the region.

II. Hill region: Nepali is the primary language as it is spoken in 39 hill districts of the hill region. Tamang is the second major language in the region followed by Magar and Newari. Rai, Limbu, Gurung are the major languages in the eastern development region. Tharu is spoken widely in Surkhet and Chepang in Dhading district. Sunuwar in Ramechap, Okhaldhunga and Sindhuli, Kumal in Arghakhanchi and Gulmi, Majhi and Danuwar in the east-south regions of Kathmandu and Sindhupalchowk, Thami in Ramechap, Dolakha and Sindhuli are other major languages spoken in the hill region.

III. Terai region: Maithili is the major language in the Terai region, based on the number of speakers (2,797,582). Tharu is spoken from Jhapa to Kanchanpur whereas Awadhi, Urdu, and Rajbanshi are other major languages of Terai region. Tamang, Limbu, Magar, Satar are also spoken in few Terai
districts. Out of 79 languages, 48% languages are spoken in the hills, 28% in the Terai, 11% in both Terai and hill regions, 9% in both hill and mountain regions and 4% in the mountain region. Jhapa has 34 linguistic groups whereas Kalikot has got 4 linguistic groups only. Similarly, 16 out of 92 languages are spoken by 97% of the total population whereas more than 75 languages are spoken by about 3%, of which half of the languages are spoken by populations under 1000 and another half by less than 1000.