ABOUT

The Nepali-speaking Bhutanese, also called Lhotsampas (नेपाली मूलका भुटानी) or “People of the south”, are Bhutanese citizens of Nepali origin. The first report of Nepalese origin in Bhutan was around 1620 when Shamdrung Ngawong Namgyal (a Tibetan lama who unified Bhutan) commissioned a few Newar craftsmen from the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal to make a silver stupa (monument) for his father, Tempa Nima. There are no references to any further movement of people from Nepal to Bhutan until the beginning of the 19th Century. People from Nepal were invited to populate the lowlands of southern Bhutan in the mid- to late- nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  Contact between the Druks (Bhutanese) in the north and the Nepali-speaking Bhutanese (Lhotsampas) in the south was limited.  Despite living in Bhutan for up to five generations or more, the Lhotsampas retained their highly distinctive Nepali language, culture, and religion.  However, they did participate in public life and politics, even attaining positions of significant leadership.

The Lhotsampas (ल्होत्साम्पा) coexisted peacefully with other ethnic groups in Bhutan until the mid 1980s, when Bhutan’s king and the ruling Druk majority became worried that the growing Lhotsampa (नेपाली मूलका भुटानी) population could threaten the majority position and the traditional Buddhist culture of the Druk Bhutanese. In 1985 The government therefore initiated a campaign, known as “One country, one people,” or “Bhutanization” to cement Bhutanese national identity or know as The “Citizenship Act” also required proficiency in the native language, Dzonkha, wearing the national dress in public places and at state ceremonies, measures intended to enforce the culture of Ngalongs (people from north) as national culture. The Lotshampas resented such moves, which were a deliberate attempt at the Bhutanization of the Lotshampas. The policies imposed the Druk dress code, religious practices, and language use on all Bhutanese regardless of prior practices. These changes negatively impacted the Lhotsampa (नेपाली भुटानी) people, because they did not wear the same traditional dress, practice the same religion, or speak the same language as the northern Bhutanese.  The use of the Nepali language was prohibited in schools, many Lhotsampa teachers were dismissed, and textbooks were burned. 

By the late 1980s and early 1990s, a crisis had developed.  Human rights violations, including detention, imprisonment without trial, and torture, were not infrequent.  In addition, stringent and unrealistic requirements for proving citizenship were imposed on the Lhotsampa people, most of whom were denied recognition of their citizenship even when they were able to provide documentation.  By the end of 1993, Around one fifth of total population of country (more than 100,000 Lhotsampas) had fled or been forcefully expelled because of the religions and cultural differences. Because they were members of ethic minority whose mother language is Nepali. Some Lhotsampas are still there. During the 1990s several thousand Lhotshampa settled in the refugee camps that were set up by the UNHCR in Nepal. The UNHCR recognized most of the arrivals between 1990 and 1993 on a prima facie basis. By 1996, the camp populations had exploded to 100,000 and peaked at more than 107,000 persons. The government of Nepal and the UNHCR have managed seven refugee camps since the arrival of the Bhutanese refugees in the 1990s. 

After spending more than 17 years as Bhutanese Refugee ( Nepali Speaking Bhutanese ) in Jhapa Beldangi-I , Beldangi-II, Beldangi-II extension, Goldhap,  Timai, Khujunabari and Morang Pathri. The UNHCR and different partners that formed the "Core Group on Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal" announced in 2007 to resettle the majority of the 108,000 registered Bhutanese refugees. By 2019 January around 112,800 have been resettled abroad.

Now a days Nepali Speaking Bhutanese are living globally, Missing there Motherland ‘BHUTAN’, some countries are NEPAL, BHUTAN, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, United Kingdom, United States and other. 

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