A Grade 8 Social Studies textbook has nothing on the one system that has defined and shaped our society and is responsible for, directly or indirectly, many -- if not most or even ALL -- of the social, economic, and political problems our country faces, hindering its progress: the caste system! And the reason? It's a "small" issue!
Why do most of the contestants and winners of Miss Nepal beauty pageant belong to BCN (Bahun Chhetri Newar) trio of ethnicities?
My tentative answer is that they are the most privileged groups in the country, and the pageant is of the BCN, by the BCN, for the BCN!
This section from Unleashing Nepal describes how the Birta and Jagir systems implemented by Prithvi Narayan Shah created cultural practices and values and shaped some of the attitudes of the upper caste males of the Brahmin, Chhettri and some Newar castes, which, still prevalent in one form or another, has been and continues to also be an impediment to social, economic and political progress. (Another consequence of the systems were to impoverish and marginalize the indigenous population of the country.)
Since 1990, little by little, my people from the little village of Tangbe in Mustang District have been reclaiming their identity. Here's one of the ways they are doing that.
I used to really feel uncomfortable introducing myself as "Dorje Gurung" to fellow Nepalis as a young student growing up in Nepal in the eighties.
I still do...but for the exact opposite reason!
I may just have found a way around it thoug!
How people are in some respects -- and also how power dynamics -- work don't change with time. Should you suffer in some way because of that, hardly any of it is about you AND as such you can't do anything about it really. And that's ok!