Nepal acts to outlaw caste discrimination

The Nepalese government said yesterday it would outlaw discrimination against lower-caste Hindus and pledged to pass a law ending the centuries-old system that deems certain people "untouchable".

The Prime Minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba, told parliament: "Effective from this day, the practice of untouchability and any discrimination based on it will be considered a crime punishable by a severe sentence."

Discrimination on the basis of caste is expected to be an issue at a UN conference on racism in Durban, South Africa, that opens on 31 August.

Mr Deuba, who came to power last month after the resignation of an unpopular prime minister and the massacre of Nepal's Royal Family, said the decision was part of a package of sweeping reforms. The Himalayan kingdom, one of the poorest countries in the world, remains strongly tied to the Hindu caste system and believes its king is an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu.

The surprise move to ban untouchability was hailed by the opposition as a powerful step to push Nepal further out of its global isolation and choking poverty. Bharat Mohan Adhikari, a member of Nepal's main opposition party, said: "This is a remarkable and daring decision by the government. This would end the feeling of insult these people have been facing through the years."

The 1990 constitution bars discrimination based on sex, religion and race. But laws to enforce these provisions have yet to be implemented, and none bar caste discrimination. Mr Deuba said the government would soon present a bill in parliament to end the caste system in the world's only Hindu kingdom. He also set up a national commission for Dalits, who are the lowest in the caste system and seen as "untouchable".

Mr Deuba said Dalits would now be free to enter any temple, which priests often bar them from. Many Hindus will not eat food touched by them.

Last year, Nepal outlawed the bonded labour under which Dalits had to work on farms owned by upper-caste landowners, trying to pay off the debts incurred by their forebears.