Visual Stories
Tenant farmers protest demanding land ownership
Demand legal provisions for transfer of land from Swargadwari Ashram Trust.
Post Report
Tenant farmers tilling land owned by the Swargadwari Ashram Trust in Dang have begun an indefinite sit-in starting Sunday at Maitighar Mandala in Kathmandu. They are calling for the enactment of laws that would benefit tenant farmers.
Carrying agricultural tools, the farmers are demonstrating on the streets to demand legal provisions for land ownership. The Swargadwari Trust Tenant Farmers Struggle Committee has urged the government to issue the Guthi Act to transfer ownership of the land they have cultivated for generations.
Bharat Giri, secretary of the struggle committee, said the farmers are pressing for legal provisions that would grant them land ownership as per the tenant certificates issued to them by the trust.
The farmers stated they were compelled to come to Kathmandu after the government failed to address their demands.
The Swargadwari Ashram, a revered shrine in Pyuthan district established in 1941, owns 1,034 bigha and 17 kattha (over 700 hectares) of land in Dang. Tenant farmers have been tilling 753 bigha (510 hectares) of the trust’s land for generations. Initially, 289 tenant families worked the land, but the number has since risen to 3,500 households, with over 15,000 individuals dependent on tenant farming.
Due to legal complications, the land of the Swargadwari Ashram has dual ownership. In 2006, the Supreme Court issued a mandamus order, stating that the land of Swargadwari Ashram could not be fragmented, as it is a private trust with specific characteristics. However, hundreds of tenant farmers have been demanding ownership of the land they have been cultivating for years. The protest continues as the farmers push for a resolution to this ongoing issue.
Here are some photos of the protest, taken by The Post’s photojournalist Angad Dhakal.





