Senior citizens of the Chepang community in remote areas of Makwanpur have been excluded from social security allowances provided by the state due to a lack of citizenship.
Phoolmaya Chepang, 71, from Kailash Rural Municipality–7, represents this issue. Even as a mother of seven children and grandmother to 23 grandchildren, she has not obtained citizenship. Despite repeatedly visiting the ward office to apply for citizenship, she has been unable to get the necessary recommendation due to the lack of required documents, Phoolmaya said.
The victim’s husband, Somlal, passed away four years ago. With no relatives on her maternal side, she said it has been even more difficult to gather the documents needed for citizenship. “If I had citizenship, I could have received the old-age allowance,” Phoolmaya told the INSEC representative, expressing her distress.
Local representatives say that about 30 percent of the Chepang community in the remote settlements of Kailash and Raksirang Rural Municipalities in Makwanpur district are still without citizenship. This problem is particularly prevalent among citizens over the age of 50.
Without citizenship, they are excluded not only from social security allowances but also from other government services and benefits. This situation has become an even greater challenge for the economically disadvantaged Chepang community.
Local authorities are requesting the district administration to run mobile camps to make citizenship distribution easier. It has also been reported that the Chepang community faces serious problems such as illiteracy, poverty, and lack of land ownership certificates.
According to the 2021 census, over 84,000 Chepang people live across the country, with a large proportion concentrated in Makwanpur and Chitwan districts. Unless the issue of lack of citizenship is resolved, challenges to improving their standard of living are likely to remain.