Money may be an incentive but there is a stronger incentive that drives thousands of Madhesis and Tharus to the streets and that is: to demand equal rights in the constitution and demarcation of federal states that abide prior agreements. This is a key fact that is missed in most of the media reports. The reports are rife about protests, strikes, ‘jhadaps’, ‘lathi charge’ and so on but fail to clearly dictate what do Madhesis want and why they are protesting. Since several years, Madhesis and Tharus have been advocating for a separate state for themselves. This is sometimes seen by people of hilly origin as a divisive act.
They fear that Madhesis and Tharus would then subsequently want to separate from Nepal and perhaps annex to India. This fear is unfounded. Because India would have no interest in these regions. Regions in state 2 and 5 have among the lowest Human Development Index (HDI). Similarly, among the 20 districts with the highest per capita income, only two fall in state 2 and only one in state 5 (see our analysis). These states also lack any major hydroelectric power generation plant. In short, these two states are poor in human development, economic development and energy resources. Agriculture is the only strength of these regions. A common question is: “We have seven states now, instead of six so, why are Madhesis and Tharus still protesting? What do they want?” See the federal map below that shows proposed seven federal states. Madhesis are populous in state 2 (brown color) and Tharus in State 5 (light blue).
