Chapter 1: Introduction

A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social

group sharing the same geographical or social territory, typically subject to the same political

authority and dominant cultural expectations. Whereas, a community is a small or large social

unit (a group of living things) that has something in common, such as norms, religion, values,

or identity. Communities often share a sense of place that is situated in a given geographical area

(e.g. a country, village, town, or neighborhood) or in virtual space through communication

platforms.

Nepal is a country with five development regions which are subdivided into 14 administrative

zones and then 75 districts. Kakani is a Gaunpalika and former village development committee

in Nuwakot District in Province No. 3 of Bagmati zone in central Nepal. At the time of the 1991

Nepal census, the Kakani village development committee administered a population of 7816

living in 1343 individual households. As one of the most accessible settlements from

Kathmandu over 2000 meters, this hill station hosts a British Gurkhas welfare bungalow and a

number of hotels and restaurants. The village is also home to a memorial park to the victims

of Thai Airways International Flight 311.

A notable local industry is strawberry farming. With the assistance of a United Nations

Development Programme project, a local farmers' cooperative now produces close to 250 000 kg

of the fruit per year. A Japanese company Hime berry buys the strawberries from the farmers and

the packaging center is also located in Kakani. There is one government school named Shree

Kakani Ganesh School. The area only has small medical facilities but no proper hospital. There

is also a police station and army base camp on the way to the residence to Kakani.

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Chapter 2: Methodology

The research was intended to capture the socioeconomic details of each household, the

educational and occupational details and other information needed for the selection of the sample

in Kakani . The data collected are on social structure, Village economy, Village organizations,

Village lifestyle, and the issue of development in Kakani. However, researchers were also

expected to capture other relevant information about households in the process of rapport

building.

Qualitative data were collected. The Qualitative data were collected keeping in mind the quality

of their life and living standards which were obtained after the interaction with the villagers.

The required data were collected from Primary sources. The primary data were collected from

direct interaction with villagers during household surveys (through Open ended questionnaire)

and through participative observation. For questionnaire survey systematic random sampling was

done. 8 people were interviewed randomly ; efforts were made to collect different information

regarding social and economical status of the villagers from all caste and economic group.

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Chapter 3: Data Analysis

Questionnaire 1.

Name: Shyam Tamang

Religion: Buddhist/ Hindu

Festivals: Dashain (Mainly), Tihar, Maghe Sangranti

Profession: Agricultural

Income: Not accurate

Expenditure: Not accurate

Education: No

Family Type: Joint Family

Members in the family: 7 (Father, husband, wife, daughter, son, daughter in law,

granddaughter)

Migration: No

Hospital facility: travel to Kathmandu (Teaching hospital) gets hospital facilities

Transportation: Local Vehicles (only one is available)

Earthquake effects: Home damage, government provided money to construct new home.

Life changes: Nothing specific

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Questionnaire 2 .

Name: Bishnu Lama

Religion: Not specified (believes in Lord Buddha)

Festivals: Celebrates all

Profession: Owner/staff of Kakani Tea Spot and Guest house

Income: 50000-60000

Expenditure: 15000 monthly for guest house

Education: SLC

Family Type: Nuclear

Members in the family: 2(Husband and wife)

Migration: No

Hospital facility: Kathmandu ( Teaching Hospital)

Transportation: Bike and local vehicles

Earthquake effects: Damage of old house and government provide around Rs. 300000

Life changes: Because Kakani is able to grow through tourist he is able to expand the business.

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Questionnaire 3

Name: Basanta Tamang

Religion: Buddhist

Festivals: Dashain, Tihar, Sonam and Tamu Loshar

Profession: Labor (currently), previously taxi and tipper driver

Income: Rs. 10000-12000 monthly

Expenditure: Not accurate

Education: 9 (Bhawani school)

Family Type: Joint

Members in the family: 5(Father, Mother, Husband, Wife and Daughter)

Migration: No

Hospital facility: Kathmandu (Teaching, Thapathali)

Transportation: Local Bus

Earthquake effects: Damage of house

Life changes: Not specific

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Questionnaire 4

Name: Sunita Tamang

Religion: Buddhist

Festivals: Loshar, Dashain, Tihar

Profession: student/ work in sahakari

Income: Rs. 15000

Expenditure: Rs. 5000 or less

Education: 12(Ranipuwa college), planning to move to Kathmandu for Bachelors

Family Type: Nuclear

Members in the family: 7(Father, Mother, Two sisters, two brothers and herself)

Migration: One elder sister and both brothers are in Kathmandu to study

Hospital facility: Teaching Hospital (Kathmandu)

Transportation: Bike used by father

Earthquake effects: Damage of old house

Life changes: Have to work more to earn a living for herself as well as family.

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Questionnaire 5

Name: Bim Bhadhur Shrestha

Religion: Hindu

Festivals: All Newari festivals

Profession: Production in charge of Hime berry

Income: Rs 300000 yearly

Expenditure: Not specified

Education: 12 from Nepalgunj

Family Type: Nuclear

Members in the family: 3(Husband, Wife and son)

Migration: Migrated from Nepalgunj, son is in Japan

Hospital facility: Teaching Hospital

Transportation: Local Bus

Earthquake effects: Effects in housing, not much effects in farming

Life changes: Development in strawberry farming has helped local farmers to earn money.

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Questionnaire 6

Name: Mina Lama

Religion: Buddhist

Festivals: Dashain, Tihar, Tamang Loshar

Profession: Agriculture

Income: Enough to eat

Expenditure: Not specified

Education: No education

Family Type: Nuclear

Members in the family: 2 (Mother, son)

Migration: went to work in Lebanon two times and returned as son got older

Hospital facility: Teaching Hospital

Transportation: Local bus, Taxi for emergencies

Earthquake effects: In Lebanon during earthquake

Life changes: After returning to Nepal positive changes in lifestyle.

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Questionnaire 7

Name: Thulmaya Tamang

Religion: Buddhist

Festivals: All

Profession: Strawberry farming

Income: Rs 20000-30000

Expenditure: around Rs 20000 because of health problems

Education: No

Family Type: Nuclear

Members in the family: 6 (Husband, wife, 4 children)

Migration: no

Hospital facility: Teaching, Grande, Bir hospital

Transportation: Bike

Earthquake effects: House Damage, not much in farming

Life changes: Strawberry farming brought employment opportunities in Kakani.

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Questionnaire no. 8

Name: Sushila Tamang

Religion: Christian (Church visit in Banasthali, Kathmandu)

Festivals: Christmas

Profession: Strawberry farming and retail shop

Income: Rs 30000-40000 monthly

Expenditure: Rs 10000 during Medical needs

Education: SLC

Family Type: Nuclear

Members in the family: 3(Mom, herself and brother)

Migration: Brother in Korea

Hospital facility: Manmohan Hospital

Transportation: Local bus

Earthquake effects: Damage in retail store

Life changes: Positive changes after Strawberry farming

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Analysis

While visiting Kakani we aimed to develop areas of interest while conducting the interviews,

picking up different areas of interest and people. The checklists are administered to villagers.

Interviews were taken with men and women of varying ages and varying scale of business and

also village heads, health workers, teachers and farmers. Our analysis identifies key statements in

the data from a diverse range of respondents. Respondents targeted and interviewed include

people of diverse socio-economic status and occupational background.

It was only possible to interview a limited number of key informants during the short duration of

the field visit. We were able to interview 8 people..Altogether it was considered that the sample,

although limited, provided sufficient data to make meaningful analysis. We tried to conduct

interviews on a one-to-one basis. In the course of interviewing we found local residents willing

to be interviewed for the people centred stories. Some of our respondents, who were very

descriptive of their personal experiences, were also happy to share their information.

In Kakani (20th January,2018) interviews were conducted with a total of four men and four

women. They consisted of a village farmers, labourers , restaurant owner, retail owners and

local residents . The population in Kakani is predominantly Tamang with two or three people

who were Newars and Christians. We were able to conclude that Kakani was a society as it

comprised people from different religions who were living together .People mainly followed

Hinduism and Buddhisism. We came to know to that Kakani has developed in these years but no

drastic change can be seen. People in Kakani do not have higher studies and job facilities so they

have migrated to cities. The literacy level in Kakani is gradually increasing with time.Access to

health facilities is an issue here. Farming is the most common occupation in Kakani as it is

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known for its strawberry farming. We saw that there is not much help provided by government

and NGOs to improve the living conditions of Kakani. After the 2015 earthquake in Nepal

people are still struggling to come back to their normal life. Transportation facilities are of not

much help to the people in Kakani as there is only one bus which leaves at morning and returns

at evening.

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Institutions

1. Family: Most of the family at Kakani were joint family where as joint family means

large family where grand-parents, father, mother, uncle, aunty and their children live

united under one roof. Also, we found some of the families were living separately where

half family members were at Kakani and other half were at Kathmandu. Also, we meet

people who are handling their family as a single parent because of divorce. In short

families at Kakani are more towards joint family rather than a nuclear family.

2. Religion: Nepal being multi religious country in the world. So, different ethnic groups

live with their own way of religious practice, lifestyle, language, culture, and tradition.

But at Kakani people were not following specific religion. They celebrate Dashain and

Tihar but they worship lord Buddha. Most of them were Christians. So, in case of Kakani

people were not following any specific religion and living with peace of harmony in the

community.

3. Education: Talking about the education system at Kakani mostly people over there were

educated only up to 8th grade. As there was one government school named Shree Kakani

Ganesh School. The school didn’t take fees it only took Rs15 per day for the lunch of the

children because of which most of the children were studying at Shree Kakani Ganesh

School, but it has grading system from 1 to 8 because of which people over there are not

so much educated and literate.

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4. Migration: Mostly people at Kakani didn’t wanted to migrate because of its peaceful

environment where people live their life without any hassled. But few of the people

wanted to migrate to other places like Kathmandu due to education facilities as there is

no proper education facility at Kakani. So, also due to hospital facility he/she must come

whole way to Kathmandu for the checkup. As there is no hospital nearby. So, people who

wanted more better way of living are trying to migrate.

5. Economic Growth: Economically Kakani has been growing. Since, at Kakani strawberry

farming has been a blessing for farmers also because of which a lot of people are

employed which is being supported by Nations Development Program. Also, the place is

enriched with natural beauty snowy mountains and greeneries of trees. It can be said that

it is ultimately destination for relaxation, adventure, recreation and picnic activities

because of which tourist gets attracted and the economy also grows strong.

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Chapter 4: Conclusion

With all our efforts and hardship, we completed our research in sociology field visit. . The village

study enabled us in studying the various aspects of the village life. We came to know various

things knowing which perhaps not possible studying in village among the rural population were.

Our stay helped us to understand the lives of the villagers, their needs and various dynamics

related to it. Kakani is one of the most popular destinations near Kathmandu, where many

domestic and international tourists visit every year to enjoy its natural beauty (mountain view)

for relaxation, adventure, recreation and picnic activities. Most commonly ethnic group of

Tamang and Lama lives in Kakani who follows Hinduism and Buddhism and celebrates Losar,

Dashain and Tihar. To earn for living they have different sectors like strawberry farming, labor

work mainly in construction etc. People are also modernizing according to the world advancing

their cultures and traditions. We got to know and learn many things about ethnic groups and

community living in Kakani from this trip. This helped to enhance our communication skills.

The first-hand experience is how they sustain their livelihood and other expenses of household.

And we also show different development plans running in the village and impact of it helped us

to sharpen our understanding of these plans and ground realities associated with them.

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Chapter 5: Appendix

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