Kathmandu. Four fundamental mass organizations affiliated to the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) have demanded the immediate dismissal of the Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation, Balaram Adhikari, from the cabinet, and stop anti-people policies like the Land Bank, and immediately distribute land for the landless Dalits and squatters. Today, the four influential mass organisations made a joint press release and made their demands public.
The joint press release, signed by the Chairpersons of all four mass organizations, All Nepal Peasants’ Federation (Revolutionary Centre), All Nepal Trade Union Federation (ANTUF), Nepal Dalit Liberation Front, and All Nepal Squatters’ Association states that they are issuing this joint press release in serious concern over the widespread disorder, corruption, injustice, oppression, legal violations, caste-based discrimination, and biased behavior in the country caused by the Oli-led government, which is hostile to farmers, laborers, Dalits, and squatters.
Full text of the Joint Press Release:
We, the four mass organizations affiliated with the CPN (Maoist Centre)—All Nepal Peasants Federation (Revolutionary Centre), All Nepal Trade Union Federation (ANTUF), Nepal Dalit Liberation Front, and All Nepal Squatters’ Association – have been gravely concerned by the widespread disorder, corruption, injustice, oppression, violations of the law, caste-based discrimination, and biased behavior prevailing in the country due to the Oli government’s actions. The government’s anti-peasant (anti-farmer), anti-worker, anti-Dalit, and anti-squatter conduct has compelled us to issue this joint press release. We would like to make it clear through this release that if our demands are not addressed immediately, we will have no option but to launch a nationwide struggle.
1. The dissolved National Land Commission had received over 1.4 million applications, entered data for more than 1,058,000 of them, and conducted land surveys on over 250,000 plots. The Prachanda-led government had mobilized additional resources and initiated the process to distribute land ownership certificates (Lalpurja) to 500,000 families within the last fiscal year. However, the Oli-led government has so far made no significant effort toward this. Reports have surfaced repeatedly about bribes being solicited for commission appointments and land ownership documents. Instead of solving land issues faced by people cultivating and inhabiting lands labeled in government documents as forest, shrubland, pasture, market squares, mills, water fronts, ponds, cliffs, wastelands, drylands, riverbanks, trails, and others including those in buffer zones, conservation areas, and biological corridors, even though these lands have been tilled, inhabited, and utilized by the people for generations—the government has shown no interest in resolving such issues. Instead of ensuring the people of their rightful ownership of the land they have inhabited and cultivated, the government has gone further by conspiring to bring the lands of the forest (in paper only) and buffer zones under state ownership and denying the actual users their rights, the government has tried to deprive them of their rights and evict settlements with bulldozers. The government has not attempted to resolve the squatter problems in the Kathmandu Valley. Instead, it has incorporated in its policies a so-called land bank scheme aimed at seizing land from farmers who already have legal land titles. The government has made no effort to resolve the squatters’ problem in the Kathmandu Valley. It has even included the Government’s Policy and Program to seize lands of farmers who already possess land titles and hand them over to a “Land Bank.” Amendments to the 1964 Land Reform Act are being made to reverse the previous Land Reform of 1964 by allowing excess land to be returned, sold, or swapped, all of which benefit landlords. We strongly condemn and denounce these anti-people and disgraceful actions of the Oli government.
2. Provisions that favor land mafias—such as allowing the return, sale, or exchange of lands exceeding the land ceiling including Giri Bandhu Tea Estate and hundreds of such cases across the country, treating ceiling-surplus land as equivalent to normal land for collateral and auction purposes in banks, and the anti-people concept of a Land Bank—must be completely scrapped. Instead, land should be distributed with priority to landless Dalits and squatters, and unmanaged settlers should be resettled in a just and equitable manner. A fair tax structure should be introduced where poor, rural, and agricultural lands are taxed less, while wealthy, urban, and residential (housing plot) lands are taxed more. The Land Act of 2021 (B.S.) should be amended and presented in Parliament to resolve the issues of lands under the categories of Swabasi, Benissa, and Birta, and to address the problems faced by freed Kamaiyas, Haliyas, Harwa-Charwas, Kamlaris, and landless farmers affected by Guthi systems.
3. Repeated evidence has been made public showing that Oli government’s Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation, Balram Adhikari, along with his family members, were involved in the Pokhara Lichibari land scandal, the red-blue bag cash scandal, bribery in employee transfers, and the appointment of officials to the Land Issue Resolving Commission. While the resignation of a Madhesi minister involved in the same scandal was immediately demanded, no action has been taken against Minister Adhikari, the main accused. This clearly exposes that the Oli-led government and the UML–Congress parties are influenced by discriminatory, Brahminical, and hill-centric arrogance against the Madhesi community. At the same time, it raises serious suspicions about the direct involvement of the Prime Minister himself in these scandals. We strongly demand the immediate dismissal of Minister Balram Adhikari, and a thorough investigation and strict action against all ministers, secretaries, officials, and middlemen involved in these scandals.
4. The Prachanda-led government had planned to complete the registration and classification of all farmers across the country within the last fiscal year and distribute Peasant Identity Cards to all Nepali farmers in the current fiscal year. However, the Oli-led government has made no progress on farmer registration at all. We strongly demand the immediate registration and classification of farmers across the country and the distribution of Peasant Identity Cards. Based on these identity cards, support should be provided simply and transparently, not to corrupt and fake farmers, but to real farmers. This includes subsidies, agricultural loans, services, facilities, training, and a farmer pension scheme. The discriminatory behavior and corruption in the distribution of subsidies to farmers must be ended. Foreign nationals, brokers, and middlemen who are not physically present in Kalimati market shops and have rented out the stalls must be punished, and their permits should not be renewed through bribery. The 50% cut made by the Oli government in the subsidy to sugarcane farmers should be reinstated. Sugar mills must immediately pay billions of rupees owed to sugarcane farmers, and DDCs and private dairies must pay the dues to dairy farmers. Alternative irrigation arrangements should be made immediately in the Terai-Madhes, and the nationwide shortage of chemical fertilizers must be resolved. Agroecology (environmentally friendly agriculture) should be promoted. A farmer-centric National Agriculture Policy and Agriculture Act should be introduced. Programs should be announced that bring prosperity and happiness to the lives of farmers.
5. The Prachanda-led government had declared to establish a powerful Dalit Development Authority through the Government Policy and Program of the last fiscal year; however, the Oli-led government has halted it till now, clearly showing that this government is anti-Dalit. We strongly demand the formulation and enactment of an integrated Dalit (Rights) Act, the immediate formation of an all-party empowered Dalit Development Authority, and the guarantee of the constitutional rights, interests, and entitlements of Dalits while ending caste-based discrimination, injustice, and oppression.
6. As the country prepares – at least in rhetoric – for graduation from a Least Developed Country (LDC) to a Developing Nation, it is imperative that workers be ensured a decent and dignified standard of living through adequate minimum wages. We call for the declaration of a minimum monthly salary of NPR 30,000 (Thirty Thousand Rupees) or more for all workers, in line with the unified proposal jointly submitted by trade unions under the leadership of the All Nepal Trade Union Federation (ANTUF). We also demand reinstatement of service benefits previously available to hotel and restaurant workers. Immediate steps should be taken to ensure that all employers are mandatorily registered in the Social Security Fund, and strict penalties must be enacted for those employers who fail to comply.
7. We demand the immediate waiver of interest and penalties on microfinance loans taken by poor women, farmers, laborers, Dalits, and squatters since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Adequate time must be provided for the repayment of the principal amount through loan rescheduling and restructuring. Strict, impartial action must be taken against cooperative fraudsters, and the savings of cooperative victims must be returned and safeguarded without delay. Likewise, we demand stringent action against illegal moneylenders and loan sharks engaged in exploitative lending practices. For borrowers who have already repaid amounts equal to or exceeding their original loan (principal), all promissory notes (tamasuk) must be unconditionally annulled. Individuals who issued loans while coercing borrowers to sign tamasuk or transfer ownership of homes and land—often with inflated loan amounts – must be immediately arrested and prosecuted. All properties and assets seized through such fraudulent and coercive means must be returned to the victims. Furthermore, all forms of harassment, intimidation, humiliation, and forced eviction of victims must be stopped immediately.
With revolutionary greetings,
Chitra Bahadur Shrestha, Chairperson, All Nepal Peasants’ Federation (Revolutionary Centre)
Jagat Bahadur Simkhada, Chairperson, All Nepal Trade Union Federation (ANTUF)
Daljit Shripali, Chairperson, Nepal Dalit Liberation Front
Amar Pariyar, Chairperson, All Nepal Squatters’ Association
Date: 22nd Shrawan, 2082 B.S.
(August 6, 2025 A.D.)
