Tempted by the benefit that comes with securing an ID for the poor, influential people including former ministers, local representatives, school principals have applied for the certificate, claiming they are poor. The story of Poor Household ID, which the government is rolling out in 25 districts, including Bajura and Bajhang in western Nepal.
-Nimendra Shahi : Centre for Investigative Journalism-Nepal
The Poor Household Identification and Identity Card Distribution Program, which aims to raise the living standards of people under the poverty line, is in an initial stage of implementation. Under the program, 18 indices have been developed covering information on the materials used in the houses, type of household fuels used, access to utilities and educational and social status. The pilot phase has been implemented in 25 districts. Bajura and Bajhang, where poverty rate is high, have been included in the project.
The households have been enlisted according to the Poor Household Identification and Identity Card Management and Distribution Regulations 2014 (Third Amendment), which was formulated by Ministry of Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation (Now Ministry of Agriculture Land Management and Cooperatives). According to the database, 64.1 percent of people in Bajura district of Province-7 fall under the poverty line. Their number has increased, according to a 2012 report published by the Poor Household Support Coordination Board Secretariat. Some 71.1 percent of people of Bajura are poor, according to the report. Bajura is the poorest among the 25 districts piloted for the project.
According to the second Living Standard Survey carried out in the fiscal year 2009 by Central Bureau of Statistics, the poverty rate of Bajhang district is 56.79 percent. Three years later, the research from the Poor Household Support Coordination Board Secretariat showed that poverty in the district increased. According to the report, 62.8 percent people are under poverty line in Bajhang.
What is poverty? What does it mean to fall under the poverty line? We spoke to Ramhari Gaihre, Director of Poor Household Support Coordination Board Secretariat. According to him, those households whose annual expense is less than 19600 rupees fall into the category A, which denotes extreme poor. Similarly, households with annual expense less than 31600 rupees fall into the category B. The category C covers those who cannot spend 40,000 rupees a year.
We found many discrepancies on the list prepared by the Poor Household Support Coordination Board Secretariat. Tempted by the benefit, well-to-do people including local leaders, government officials had registered themselves for the program. Even people who earned 20,000-25,000 rupees a month and those with plots of land in cities had enlisted themselves as poor, claiming that their annual expense was less than 19000 rupees. We asked them how they were enlisted at the Poor Household ID. Perhaps wary of an expose, all of them replied: “We don’t know how we ended up in the list.”
But most of the real poor, the target group of the program, haven’t been listed. Even if they are listed, their names appear in Category B or C. The list highlighted the discrepancy in a program that is aimed at raising the living standards of people under the poverty line. This report exposes the wrongdoing.
These too poor!
Janak Raj Giri is a well-known personality in Bajura district and Province-7. A resident of Swamikartik Khapar Rural Municipality-4, Giri is a national personality. In elections held in 2000, he was elected as a lawmaker for the Nepali Congress party. In 2002, when Sher Bahadur Deuba was the prime minister of the country, he was an assistant minister for land reform. His name is listed in the ‘poorest’ category, with 266,240 ID number. Before he entered politics, Giri was a permanent teacher at Swamikartik Secondary School. Giri said he was unaware about his name listed for the ID. “My mother was at home during the data collection, I was away. I do not know anything,” he said.
Fake poor: Janak Raj Giri, a former assistant minister for land reform (right) and Aj Bahadur Malla (left), a former member of district development committee.
Ajay Bahadur Malla’s ID number is 269556. He has already been the District Development Committee member twice from the CPN-UML. He stood for the chairperson of Himali Rural Municipality, but was defeated. Malla runs Dajubhai Grill Industry in the district headquarters of Martadi. He is also associated with Swamikartik Mansarovar Yatayat Private Limited. Malla said he didn’t know about his name being included in the list of poor.
Narabir Kami, the father of Dr. Rupchandra Bishwakarma, head of District Health Office, Bajaura, is a former teacher. His name is listed in Budhinanda Municipality-5 under the B category of the poor (ID Number 216,020). When asked about his father, Dr. Bishwakarma said, “I do not have any information, but if it’s true I will ask (officials) to remove it from the list.”
Khambir Budha, a resident of Swamikartik Khapar Rural Municipality-4, is an accountant. Earlier, he was an employee of District Health Office. His mother Sete Budha has been enlisted at the poorest list of ‘A’ category with ID number 266,718. When asked about this, Khambir said, “We do not know how our name was included. I will have it removed.”
Janakala, the mother of Bhakta Kaila, a health coordinator of the Rural Municipality, is also included in the list of very poor (ID number 266,695). Bhakta’s reply was similar to the one offered by Khambir. He said, “We were not at home. So the list may have been prepared after enquiring the neighbors. We only knew that after announcement of the identity card. We have not yet benefitted from the project.”
Brij Bahadur Bam is the father of Prakash Bahadur Bam, the principal of Radhumata Secondary School in Swamikartik Khapar-2. He is in the list of category B poor (lD number 655,239). Ratna Bahadur Malla, the father of Dev Kumari, principal of Saraswati Secondary School in Himali Rural Municipality4-4, in Bachhya, has been enlisted as a category B poor (ID number 237,583).
Others included in the list of category C poor are Manrup Bohara (ID number 246,721), a teacher at Satya Secondary School in Budhinanda Municipality-8, Deep Chandra Upadhyay (ID No. 2,6 9, 054), a teacher at Mangalmaya Primary School and Rajendra Prasad Timalsena (ID No. 2,6, 054), a teacher recruited via relief quota at Kalika Lower Secondary School in Budhinanda Municipality-3.
Devraj Pandey, another teacher at Mangalmaya Primary School, is also in the list of category B poor (ID number 2,6, 641). Mani Prasad Joshi (ID number 2,66,6 9), a teacher of Swamikartik Secondary School and Man Bahadur Budha (ID number 266,732), a teacher at Kalika Primary School are under the category C poor. Tek Bahadur KC, a teacher at Sharada Secondary School in Barabish has need listed in the category B poor with ID Number 310,321.
Ransur Rawat (ID number 237,804), the father of Purna Lal Rawat, who teaches at Badimalika Secondary School in Himali Rural Municipality -6, and Ajbir Rokaya (ID number 237,766), the father of Padam Rokaya, a teacher at Kholikhand Lower Secondary School, have been listed as category C poor. Karna KC and Kalu KC are brothers who teach at Kailash Primary School and Satyabadi Secondary School respectively. Manmati, their mother, has been listed in category C poor (ID number 257,409).
The government has prepared this list by collecting details of poor people from villages and towns. The government sought to provide ‘social protection as per the resources,’ and to issue an ID card for people living under the poverty line. Though the government has yet to announce the various benefits for the card holders, it has decided to provide up to 50,000 rupees for medical expenses and a 25,000 rupee insurance to poor households who have five members. The government will pay 100% of the insurance fee of the category A poor, 75% of the category B poor and 50% of the category C poor. According to the list prepared by the Secretariat of the Poor Household Identification and Identity Card Distribution Board, health insurance program has been implemented in nine local bodies of Bajura district. Because of these benefits provided under the program, the prosperous and well-to-do people have enlisted themselves as poor.
Officials skim off the program
Janak Rokaya is ward chairman of Swamikartik Khapar Rural Municipality-1. Before being elected to the post, he worked at a non-governmental organization Human Resource Center. He is listed in the category B with ID number 206,733. Birjan Kattel, the ward no-3 chairman, has been listed in the category C (ID number 206,456).
Pushed by poverty: People of Himali Rural Municipality prepare to travel to India for work. Photos : Nimendra Shahi, Bajura
Others included in the list are Jay Bahadur Adhikari, ward-7 chairman of Himali Rural Municipality (Category C, ID number 237,000), Tek Bahadur Rokaya (category B, ID No. 306,177), ward-8 chairman of Budhinanda Rural Municipality and Nanda Bahadur Rokaya (Category B, ID No. 306,651). Similarly, Arjun Bahadur Karki, elected twice as village head and now ward 2 member of Badimalika Municipality, is listed as category C poor (ID No: 275,500).
The family of Jamuna Rokaya, an auxiliary nurse at a health post in Gaumul Rural Municipality-4, has also been listed as the poor. Her husband Kalak Bahadur Singh is a member of the judicial committee of the rural municipality. Her eldest son is a teacher at Kritichaur Secondary School. Her daughter Sumitra Singh works as a social mobilizer at a nonprofit called Gift Bajura. But she is enlisted as a poor with an ID number 219,629.
Bir Bahadur Bohara, a health worker at Pandusain Health Post in Budhinanda Municipality-9 has been listed as category B poor. Chure Bhandari, father of Kuber Bhandari, a health worker at Swamikartik Khapar-2, is also included in the list.
Jayalal Shahi, who has been listed as category C poor (ID no: 266,536), is the coordinator of veterinary services (equivalent of non-gazetted officer) at Swamikartik Khapar Rural Municipality-5. Krishna Budha (also from here), a technician at Sanfe-Martadi Road Division Office, is listed as category B poor (ID No: 266,732). Barup Kathayat, an assistant accountant at Swamikartik Rural Municipality has been listed as category B poor (ID No: 266,321). Muga Giri, the mother of police inspector Chandra Giri of Swamikartik-4, is among the poor (ID No: 267,323).
Deepak Karki, an overseer at the government office, has been listed as category B poor (ID number 257,465). His wife Bindu Badal Karki works as an officer at Women Development Office of Bajura. His elder brother’s wife, Laxmi Karki, works at District Government Attorney’s Office in Achham. A large number of the beneficiaries include helpers and postmen of government office. They receive salary from the government, but are presenting themselves as poor to snatch benefit meant for landless, squatters and haliya, the forced farm laborers.
While former assistant minister Janak Raj Giri was listed as category C poor, Rajit Bika, the man who earned a living by plowing Giri’s farm fields, was not included in the list. Rajit is a member of Haliyas, a community in far western Nepal, who face extreme poverty.
The real poor: Mata Luhar, a 55-year-old from Badimalika Municipality-7, with her granddaughters at her courtyard. After the death of her husband, a shepherd, her two sons now work in Mumbai as security guards. Her name is not included in the list of the poor.
It’s been 10 years since the government banned bonded labor. Though 1500 Haliyas have been identified in Bajura, they have yet to feel emancipated because they haven’t received financial compensation and resettlement. Many still plow the fields of their masters to earn a living. But many Haliyas are not included in the list of the poor. Whereas Khambir Budha, the accountant of Swamikartik Khapar Rural Municipality, is among category C poor, Birkha Bhiyal, who works as a farm laborer in his farm fields, is not included.
Situation of Bajhang, a neighboring district, is not much different. When he heard that his neighbors Dhan Bahadur Sunar, Pyaru Sunar were among the category C poor, Gagan Badi was surprised. He became angry after he found out that his name was under category C poor. That’s because the man who was listed as category A poor was his master. He had been abused for failing to pay loan and its interest from the master.
After seeing the names of Raju Badi and Deepak Badi, who are similarly poor, in the category C poor, Gagan was furious. “How can this happen? They are landowners, but they can identify themselves as poor? And, people like us who are charged 5 percent interest on loan are designated as rich?” he said. “We don’t want an ID from a government that hurts the poor.” Sitting alongside him, Dharam Badi said, “Perhaps his name was among the extreme poor because we had to pay him money. Will a beggar be a rich person?”
All the adults of fifteen households of Badi community in Jayaprithvi Municipality have taken loans from their neighbors belonging to Sunar community. Since they have handed their ID cards to their creditor, they don’t have any ID left with them. What’s more, the creditors often prepare documents in which they inflate the amount of loan. Batu Badi said she was shocked when she saw their name in the list of poor. Four landless Badi families who make a living by begging in the streets were not included in the list.
Suresh Joshi, an administrative officer at Jayaprithvi Municipality, said, “Those who pay the maximum tax according to the municipality’s integrated tax system are enlisted as category C poor. Those who don’t need to pay tax are either not in the list or are included in category B poor.”
This is not only about some villages. It’s found all over the district. Rana Bahadur Kathayat, a resident of Chhabis Pathibhara Rural Municipality, is the head of District Post Office of Bajhang. He owns a four-story house in Chainpur, the district headquarters. He has his own vehicle and other properties. But he is listed as category C poor. “I don’t understand on what basis they collected the data,” said Akkal Dhami, chairman of the rural municipality.”Rich people are listed as poor while the poor are not in the list.”
Wakil Bahadur Singh, the principal of Bannichaur Higher Secondary School, is the richest man in the village. He owns houses in Mahendranagar and Dhangadi. He has plots in Kathmandu, Dhangadi, Kanchanpur and Bajhang. But he has been listed as category A poor. “All the rich people from here have been enlisted as category A poor. But the poor people are left out of it. We feel embarrassed by this. So we haven’t distributed the poor IDs,” said Dhan Bahadur Bista, mayor of Bungal Municipality.
The local bodies of Bajhang haven’t distributed the IDs. In the district, 126,875 people of 16219 households have been listed as poor. Among them, 63435 have been listed as category C poor, 45253 as category B poor and 30,166 as category A poor. Barka Bahadur Rokaya, the chairman of Khaptad Chhanna Rural Municipality, said they will distribute it only after investigation as majority of the beneficiaries included rich people.
According to the Poor Household Support Coordination Board Secretariat, the data for the poor household were collected using indices developed by Poverty and Human Development Initiative at Oxford University and internationally practiced by the United Nations Development Programme. The data collected from the survey was processed under Proxy Means Tests developed by the World Bank. This process has been used in several countries including Latin America, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, The Philippines, Bangladesh.
The Board also posted notices urging people to complain raising questions about the poverty rate of households. Initially, the Board enlisted 12 lakh 24 thousand 417 people in 25 districts, but a subsequent investigation found that only 391,831 were eligible for the program. But even the final list has been marred with controversy.
On June 4, 2017, a meeting of the Board prepared a final list of beneficiaries: 391,831. The list was approved by a cabinet meeting on July 17, 2017. But because of the arbitrary nature of the survey, distribution of the ID cards has been stalled.
‘List prepared in a communal resting platform’
Govinda Bahadur Malla, chairman of Himali Rural Municipality of Bajura district, said the list, prepared in the village’s resting platforms (chautaro), couldn’t be officially approved. “The list has excluded the poor people. It’s dominated by well off people. How can a list such as this be implemented? The list, collected in random manner, must be corrected.”
Deepak Shah, mayor of Budhiganga Municipality, said if the list is approved as it is, well-to-do people were likely to benefit from program meant for the poor. “This must be corrected,” he said. Gauri Kanta Sanjyal, caretaker administrative officer of Himali Rural Municipality, said, “We had posted the list in the villages. I don’t think everyone has seen it. It’s difficult to implement because real poor have been missed in the list.”
Chiranjibi Shahi, the chairman of Swamikartik Rural Municipality, said a meeting of local representatives will have to prepare the list. “If we hand out benefits as per the list, it will not target the poor people, but well-to-do families who already have an upper hand,” he said.
Additional reporting by Basant Pratap Singh in Bajhang.
