Nepal woman, 105, gets citizenship
2012-12-05 11:38
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Nepal
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Kathmandu - A pensioner has been granted
Nepalese citizenship more than a century after she was born in a remote village
of the Himalayan nation, an official said on Wednesday.
Krishna Kumari Gharti, a 105-year-old widow
who lives in Pakhapani village in the mountainous district of Parbat, one day's
walk from the nearest road, was among a group of residents to be given identity
cards for the first time.
"Our officials travelled to the village
after hearing complaints that many were deprived of citizenship," Tek
Bahadur KC, district administrative officer told AFP.
"Her name was registered in our list of
elderly who were receiving the monthly allowance. So we granted her the citizenship
card. She was very happy," he said.
"Most of these people living in the
villages generally don't venture out of the place. They are also hardly
involved in any businesses. That's why they spend their lives without
citizenship."
When Gharti was born, Nepal was largely
closed to the outside world and maintained a subsistence economy under the
autocratic Rana dynasty of hereditary prime ministers.
Although it modernised over the 20th century,
Nepal's rugged topography and lack of roads mean it is still difficult for
villagers in isolated districts to visit local government offices to obtain
citizenship cards.
According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, 800
000 people in Nepal are "stateless persons" without the rights and
benefits of Nepalese citizens, although the government disputes this figure.
