It snows every time it rains in Rasuwa. This year too, Langtang's snow has been touched by cold winters. However, there is always a feeling of sadness in the hearts of Rasuwa residents. Bhuminanda Neupane (68) of Kalika-3, Katunje village says, 'My mind was never at peace.'

Even though his name was Bhuminanda, he could never have land in his name, he always plowed someone else's land. Neither did Babubaja's own land, nor his . Plowing the land in life, but the pain of not owning it has made Bhuminanda's heart sad. There is only one reason for the mind to be restless as long as it lives - Birta . 

Bhuminanda is a representative character of farmers dependent on Birta's land. His father-grandfather kept paying money to the alleged landowner from generation to generation. 3 muri of paddy had to be submitted every year . There was no arrangement of irrigation, the farmers were exposed to natural disasters of drought, heavy rains, floods, hailstorms and they were even victims of starvation . However, he had to pay the fixed amount to the landlord. Thus the exploitation of farmers was a social thorn for ages. That thorn continues in some form to this day . 

Bhuminanda said, "Our master will also have another master." The owner of this place was Jagat Prakash Upadhyay Poudel. In a field that grows 10 ears of rice, there were usually five ears of corn growing, and the dwara used to come and pick up three of them in the fields.

He was always sad when he had to plow the fields and bring in 2 mauri of rice and 10 farmers went home empty-handed, despite the rain and winter. After him, his son also experienced the same story. They say, "There was always a knot in the heart, and the throbbing was going on". I also thought that we should not work in this field, but it was not possible to eat two days without working in the field.' 

Around the year 2025/026, Birtawala told him, "Pay 1,000 rupees, the farm will be sold in your name". There was a time when it was difficult to see the face of money. We farmers had no source of income, he says.

When Bhuminanda was 8 years old, his father passed away. From the age of 10, he plowed and started farming. The field he plowed was 5 muri mud . He was always Jotaha . Birtawal lived near the city. Even to plow the land, one had to go to the gate and beg. To please the dwara, he had to give 4 dams, 1 theki and one mana of ghee . He had the right to allow/not allow farmers to plow the land of Birtawal. In the same way, his father and grandfather plowed 32 plantations. Baje used to deliver paddy in the form of a dog, while Bhuminanda delivered money later. 

'Our owner will have another owner . The owner of this place was Jagat Prakash Upadhyay Poudel. In a field that grows 10 ears of rice, usually five ears of corn grow, and even three ears of corn would come and pick them up in the fields.'

                                           - Bhuminanda Neupane, Kalika-3, Katunje, Rasuwa

Ramraj Regmi has written in the book 'History of Nepal : A Marxist Approach', 'Birtawals used to give a fixed amount to contractors through the chiefs to consume resources such as mines and forest produce in their possession  . The contractors used to transfer the contract to another contractor for some commission . Like Jung Bahadur's brother, Dhir Shamsher, gave a contract to Ranmehar Adhikari, the captain of the copper mine in Birta region, for a company of Rs.

Bhuminanda's experience is that those contractors who were owners of dwaras and dwaras i.e. "owners of owners" used to exploit the farmers. 

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vs. By 2007, one-third of Nepal's arable land had been converted into land, three-fourths of which was in the name of the Rana family. Here is a view of how Birta was distributed in Nepal.

Ramraj Regmi has written, "After Veerashamsher became the Prime Minister, in 1895, he got 1.2 lakh bigha of land from the king in the name of his wife Rajyalakshmi". According to the data when Birta was abolished, 3 lakh 63 thousand 369 bighas of land in Terai alone with him and his five brothers and sons were recorded as Birta.' 

Finance Minister Suvarna Shamser of the government led by BP Koirala presented a bill in the House of Representatives on October 8, 2016 for the purpose of abolishing land tax and contracting land tax. The Bill was sealed on November 25, 2016 and published in the Gazette on December 1. According to Grisham Bahadur Devkota's book "Nepal's Political Mirror - Second Part: General Elections and After" at that time, the leaders of Nepali Congress assumed that the government would get more than 80 lakhs in annual income as the Birta system would be abolished. 

3 (1) of the Birta Abolition Act, 2016 states, 'Birta custom in Nepal... has been abolished from the date of commencement of this Act and all Birta lands up to the date of commencement of this Act have been abolished&nbsp ;.' Birta was abolished in Nepal 65 years ago. But, has the law been implemented in practice as it is written? No, instead, hundreds of farmers are living in tears every day. 

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'Birta' means 'Briti' means 'Jeevika' means the land that the state gives to a person to support his life . The definition of Birta land written in Section 2 (a) of Birta Elimination, 2016 is as follows - Birta land means all kinds of land that has been acquired or is being entitled to by paying less than the government property or similar land in that place.

In Nuwakot, Rasuwa, Dhading, Sindhupalchok, Lalitpur, there are still unclaimed lands, many farmers are dependent on unclaimed lands. Geologist Jagat Deuja says, "The fact that there are still farmers earning birta land means that birta, which was abolished in 2016, is still in practice . Although some sections of Birta law are conflicting and can be used ambiguously, the main purpose of the law is to register the Birta land in the name of the cultivator himself . And, the state will collect the tiro of the said land.' 

To say that there are still farmers earning birta land means that birta, which was abolished in 2016, is still in practice. Although some sections of Birta law are conflicting and can be used ambiguously, the main purpose of the law is to register the Birta land in the name of the cultivator himself . And, the state will collect the land tax.'

                                                                       - Jagat Deuja, geologist

Until the abolition of birta, 36 percent of the total usable land in the name of members of the royal family, palace priests, kings, and soldiers was under the birta system. Let's take a look at the history of space, where there is an inescapable magnificent web of unequal land distribution. 

As the Shahs conquered, the land that the farmer was cultivating was brought under the state and he enjoyed the land according to his will. Jhalak Subedi has written in the book 'Bhoomi, Kisan ar Rajya', 'Birta established in the land system by the Shahs and later the Ranas is the product of this . In the Birta system, the ruler or the king used to give the land to the members of the royal family, generals or soldiers, employees or scholars, priests and Brahmins who were happy to donate to their power. There were two types of such land, one that had to be paid and one that had to be paid. Birta once given would not be taken away as long as the ruler remained or his successors were happy. Jhalak's analysis is, "Birta Zamin created a new class that sat between the farmers and the state and exploited the farmers". It also led to rapid colonization, especially in Dang, where the Tharus lived.' 

And above, the 'dwara' experienced by Bhuminanda and his ancestors is a new class that exploits the same farmers . In the book 'Land and Agrarian Questions: Essays on Land Tenure, Agrarian Relations and Peasant Movement in Nepal', Dr. Suresh Dhakal's analysis is, "The zamindari system that developed with widely distributed land in the form of birta displaced the egalitarian social relations and social structures in the Tharus and pushed them into exploitative hierarchical feudal power relations." 

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Maheshchandra Regmi's book 'Land Tenor and Taxation in Nepal' is written-'According to the report of the National Seminar on Land Reform of October 24-27, 1970, 700,080 hectares of land in Nepal were under land tenure . That is 36.3 percent of Nepal's total land.'

Maheshchandra Regmi's book  "Land Tenor and Taxation in Nepal" 

_{How and under which title did the state distribute Birta? Looking at its type helps in studying the society of that time . As in Birta Abolition Act, 2016 section 2 (1) (c) some nature of Birta distribution is written:}

a) Pota Suna Birta: Birta land that can be sold and given as Birta for a few rupees and has to pay Birta .

b) Kush Birta: Donated land that does not have to be paid for by holding Kush .

c) Sarvang mafi birta: land etc. without having to pay anything .

d) Fiqdar Birta: land given by spitting .

e) Tiruwa Birta: The land given to eat so tiri .

f) Maroute Birta: The land given to the children of those who died in the battle.

) Pardon Seal Birta: The land is sealed and given without having to pay anything.

h) Nankar Birta: This land is given to be worked and eaten.

J) Bech Birta: The land given to the children of the family to eat from child to child.

j) Tulful Birta: The land given with love .

k) Mana Chamal Birta: The land given to feed one person.

) Housing Birta: Land given to the homeless to live.

d) Khuwa Sank Birta: Khanal Brahmin who owns a piece of land and who belongs to that caste or who does not have to pay tiro until he eats it.

D) Farmaisi Birta: The land that Mohi has to submit to the royal court.

) Pewa Birta: The land given by Pewa.

t) Meow Birta: Loved land .

Th) Seva Birta: Land given for service.

The) Dowry Birta: The land given as dowry .

D) Khuwa Birta: In Rana's rule, the hands of the rolewalas of different positions were assigned land according to their position so that they could get alimony for expenses. 

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History says - Prithvi Narayan Shah won Nuwakot in 1801 when the state was being unified. After the victory, he distributed the land of that area under Birta . As written in Baburam Acharya's book 'Brief Biography of Shri 5 Bahamajadhiraj Prithvi Narayan Shah', Puthvinarayan planned to divide the Birta land into four parts, namely Abbal, Doyam, Sim and Chahar. Baburam writes under the title of 'Systems for increasing Guthigana and reducing Birta', 'Birtawars were not only in the Kathmandu Valley . The east side was also . There were more Brahmins in those Birtawars. They gave money to the Senrajas of Chaudandi when they were in economic crisis and became rich by taking the earnings of Birta Batuli Mohi . During the war with the British in Sindhuli, the treasurer Birbhadra Upadhyay had to take a deal with many Birtawars to manage the expenses of the military camp. One of those Birtawars was Udayanarayan Ghimire of Manthali and Virbhadra Upadhyay took one hundred and twenty rupees from him. When the status of the Birtawars to recruit Sapti after the war was over, these Birtawars looked rich and Udayanarayan's Rs. 120/- to enroll he paid Rs. 300/- Birta Mato Muri 30 was killed by Prithvi Narayan Shah and the seven rupees were stolen.' 

Birta custom was in vogue even before Prithvi Narayan's rule. The ruler of Lichchawi also distributed Birta land . It was a type of Birta - Agrahara . Brahmins or sannyasis who run gurukuls, ashrams or sanctuaries used to get Agrahar . It was distributed for his livelihood and the Agrahar was not taxed. Historian Maheshraj Pant says, "The practice of Agrahar was all over India". Birta custom was also maintained in the religious practice . The word Birta is also found in many places in the records of the Malla period . At that time, job was the farm . At that time when money was not in circulation, government employees were given birta, i.e. farm, as a job salary.

Gorkha's fourth Shah dynasty king Ram Shah (reigned 1663-1693) also kept the Birta practice as the ninth stage of state management . During the Rana period, Birta-abhyas took special root . V.No. In 1996, Pot Birta Adda has a history. 

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Looking at Nepal after the Birta Abolition Act-2016, the law here says 'there is no Birta land', but the behavior of the state does not say so . There was a big gap in the life of the landlord and the farmer. "It has been 280 years since the ownership of farmers was taken away, so the state should register the land free of charge to give justice to the suffering and harassment of many generations of farmers," says land activist Biswas Nepali. If you want to take it, it would be very good if you go ahead and make the land ownership certificate in the name of the farmer.' 

The ancestors of farmers with low economic status made the land cultivable. He should have got the legal ownership of that land. However, during the feudal regime, farmers were not in a position to speak. Forced to deliver certain produce of his land or agreed goods or cash to Birtawal . After the abolition of birta, those lands should have been automatically registered in the name of the plowing farmers, but it was not. On the contrary, Birtawal got the land registered by breaking the law. Plowing is one thing, it is another thing to walk around with the land ownership certificate. The current government's delay in correcting such injustice means that we have not been able to absorb the changes. What stopped the land cultivators from making a law that can be measured and registered on the basis of land use?,' says Jagat Deuja.