I am an assembly/a listener/a wow/and, an applauseI am Netaji's one song/one speech/and, one rantI am a march/a leap/a slogan/and, a flagJust Me Only/One Revolution/One Democracy/One Election/And, I'm a vote...– ('I'/Bhupi Sherchan)

The landless farmers of Rasuwa and Nuwakot, who are doomed to sweat on Birta-Bhoomi for centuries! It seems that the poet Bhupi Sherchan wrote this poem after looking at his life-graph. As Bhupi wrote earlier, the farmers of Rasuwa-Nuwakot became 'one assembly' many times, 'one audience', 'one wow' to 'get rights over the land'! 'Procession', 'jumping', 'slogan' how many! In fact, those farmers were always elected and 'one vote' for the leaders. 

'Vote-Bank' Landless and oppressed farmers get assurances and 'greetings' from leaders during elections. And when the leader won the election, what happened next? In the processions of the farmers' movement, in the gatherings and in the ministry of Singh Darbar, the same 'vote-bank' farmers got the 'contempt' of the leaders. 

Ghanendra Basnet Commission's report on government land reform says - 450,000 families are landless in Nepal. Out of the 3.8 million farmers-families (70 percent of the total families) of Nepal who depend on agriculture, 1,558 families of Nuwakot and 718 families of Rasuwa who are cultivating the land are living completely or partially landless because of feudal land ownership. And, they are always wrapped in the chain of 'assurance' and 'rejection' of the leaders.

Those 3.8 million farmer-families cultivate 2.5 million hectares of land. However, those farmers are forced to live below the poverty line. And, 60 percent of the farmers lack food even if they plow the land daily. 

The distribution of land ownership in Nepal remains terribly unfair. And a large part of the land came under the possession of the landlords. During the dark days of Rana rule, the Ranas created Virtawals by allotting Akut lands to their close relatives and Chakdiwals. When Shah-Rana distributed the land unevenly, it became a practice i.e. 'Birta'. And that custom continued to rule the poor farmers. 

When Nepal entered the light of democracy in 2007, the share of Virtawals was 36.3 percent, i.e. 7 lakh, 80 hectares of land. And the oppressed were still sweating in the land of Birtawal, they are still in the same struggle-world.

The bright sun of democracy did not shine on the bodies of the farmers plowing the fields. Neither 'Mato Suhaundo Panchayat', re-entered democracy and this republic brought sunshine to his life. Always snow, frost, storm and flood became his 'own', 'warmth and sun' became alien. And the yoke of Birta, which was woven into his life from generation to generation, was always worn. The style of exploitation may have changed, but it remained unbroken in the peasant's life. If the wall of development is built of stone, then these oppressed are only the stone of building society. 

In 2016, Birta Sahar-Nakai's Rasuwa-Nuwakot was still stuck, it was an old wound. Neither the law was implemented, nor did the land come into the ownership of the farmers who were cultivating the land. According to the popular commentary, the black and dark color of sorrow became the color of life of those farmers. However, the hope of happiness did not disappear from his life.

That's why he has not stopped voting for the "ruthless" leader, nor has he stopped suffering when he meets him in the street. And, in fact, farmers who have lost happiness in life are always becoming a 'vote bank'. Sadness, anxiety and bad dreams are always growing in the life of the afflicted farmer. 

In the year 2016, the then Prime Minister BP Koirala made an official-legal announcement that 'Birta should be abolished forever and the land under Birta should be paid like a rake', but the land-dispute between the farmers who plow the land and the Birtawals who have never taken land or seen 'their' land is still fresh. Even the sun of law did not shine in the life of farmers. 

In the old days of the sad movement in the capital city, their slogan was - 'We shed blood and sweat, what did we get in return?' All the aggrieved farmers met in Rasuwa-Nuwakot have a serious question - we shed blood and sweat, what did we get in return? And, in the midst of unstable politics, the question of the aggrieved farmers is being raised. Hope is alive in the lives of farmers. 

The land of Nuwakot-Rasuwa, irrigated by the sweat of farmers, is always under Birtawal? Minister of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation Balram Adhikari had expressed a commitment to 'Kantipur', 'Now the government is with the farmers, they will get the red portion based on the tillage.' However, according to the commitment, the law has not been amended. The minister has a question - has the work of farmers getting red parts on the basis of tillage has progressed? Where did the commitment to give Lalpurja to farmers? The thing is, those farmers should not be limited to commenting on 'only one vote' like Bhupi's poem!

It has been 65 years since the abolition of birta was declared by law and the fact that farmers are not able to register birta-land in their names is an ironic and sad picture of the Nepali land movement. Is the government happy with the tears and pain of the people? If not, why are the farmers crying with immense pain since history? And, the government is quenching his thirst with his tears? 

The government is thinking of Birta superficially, but this issue is so deep that those farmer families are becoming landless from generation to generation. The government should not think why someone is forced to be born landless? Why is someone condemned to take his last breath because the soil that he has made with sweat all his life is not his own and because of the dream of being 'own' - here the grandfather is suffering, the father is suffering, the son is suffering! Now the grandson too?

There is land, farming is also done, but the Chirkto of Lalpurja, which is legally recognized by the state, is not with the farmers. The farmers of Rasuwa-Nuwakot are living in another horror. What is that, the agents of Birtawala are running from Kathmandu with bags full of Lalpurja to see if the land plowed by farmers can be cleared. 

The dream of an old farmer is to see Lalpurja while he is alive. Many decades have passed since the local people's representatives, even the leaders who won the elections, promised the farmers to 'bring the parts of the land to their homes'. Was that promise washed away by the Tadi river flowing towards Nuwakot? 

Birtawal and his children and recently born agents have a greater role in the Birta problem. Farmers have lost sleep because of some people's representatives who help and instigate them and land brokers who try to earn by brokering. State power has access to those agents.

2016, the fact that the farmers at the time did not have the real information about the remaining birta that was abolished in 2016, or that information was not delivered to them, and the activity of the birtawalas who wanted to keep the birta land in their own name by making many frauds is suspicious. It was measured in Rasuwa-Nuwakot around 035/036. At the time he was a surveyor, he was the ruler of the Panchayat. The ward-representatives measured the land in the name of Birtawal, so some farmers even went to the palace of 'Jotaha'. 

After winning the Nuwakot state in 1801, Prithvi Narayan Shah, when starting the state work, distributed the land to the then allies as birta. At present, the Birta-problem is in Uttar Gaya, Kalika and Naukunda Rural Municipality, while in Nuwakot it is more in Tarkeshwar Rural Municipality, Vidur Municipality, Panchkanya Rural Municipality. Until the Panchayat system was in existence, crops were collected through village households, through Jimmwals and in some villages Birtawals themselves or their agents went and collected crops. The 'Site Study Report of Birta Problem in Nuwakot and Rasuwa' by Jagat Deuja, Krishnaraj Khanal and Gopal Giri says - the Birtawals of that area live in Kathmandu, they are not local. Those Birtawalas were the priests of the then King, Rana Khalak and people close to the state power. 

The farmers of the village say that after the multi-party system of 046, almost all the farmers stopped paying kut. Now they are demanding the return of land from the state - they sit on dharnas, hold rallies, meet ministers and prime ministers. So? The result is only zero! So farmers are not just one vote! 

After the struggle of the Bhoomi Adhikar Mancha, the then government heard the farmers' pain and opened the law for 1 year to allow the registration of land of "B" nature. The farmer submitted the application in 2066. In 2067, 168 families in Rasuwa also received Lalpurja. Why are the rest of the farmers still unable to get Lalpurja? 

3 (1) of Birta Abolition Act, 2016 is written, "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." When will they be freed from the clutches of the environment? 

In a society where land is a power-resource and property-symbol, those who have land and those who do not are different. There is also a distinction between the landless and the landlords in the grants given by the state. The houses of most of the victims are also within Birta-Jagga. 

The state has not got the revenue it should get from Birta-Jagga. Farmers are ready to pay tax to the state, but there is no basis to pay. Birtawal has Purja, but he does not know where the land of Purja is, who cannot distinguish between the boundaries. Therefore, it will be justified for the state to listen to the demands of the farmers and distribute the red portion of their housing and agricultural land.  A new law is necessary to solve the

problem. Legally, the landowners are the farmers. Farmers themselves do not get full ownership of the tilled land without abolishing the share of Birtawal. Therefore, a strong law is necessary, which will bring justice to the farmers who have been cheated for years. And, the farmers should not be found again in the ministry of agitation, processions, gatherings and lion palaces, they should be found in the fields.