Social Changes in Musahar Community: A Case Study of Dhanusa District of Nepal

Abstract

Musahars are the Terai Dalit community living in plain areas; basically Southern part of Nepal. Majority are living in government land and worked as a wage labor to sustain their life. The study aims to identify the social changes of Musahar community living in the different location of Dhanusa district of Nepal. The district is located in the southern part of Nepal. The study was conducted among the 400 households of Musahar community. The respondent was selected by using the simple random sampling techniques. The researcher visited the study areas and pre-informed the selected respondent through the community leaders. The structured survey was done for data collection. The study found that educational status of Musahar community was very poor because still 93.8% people could not read and write. From the social perspective, there was no significant changes in sources of drinking water and energy used for cooking. The significant changes was measured in the use of energy source of light in comparison of 15 years back and now. There was improvement in use of toilet by 47.3% (before 15 years 85.8% had no toilet but now 38.5% had no toilet) though still 38.5% households are doing open defecation which should be strictly restricted because it is hazardous for the health and environment. So, local government should support the poor people to build the toilet to stop open defecation.