Nepal to apologise to ‘untouchable’ Dalits for first time

As a child, Saraswati Nepali was not allowed to drink from the same water jar as her classmates. When she was thirsty, she had to walk the 20 minutes home and back: the cost of being born a Dalit in a society that deemed her “untouchable”. Now, Nepal’s new government says it is finally ready to acknowledge that injustice. Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s administration announced on Sunday that the state would, for the first time, offer a formal apology to the Dalit community. It also pledged t...

By Bibek Bhandari