GUTHI BILL

Guthis:

• Guthis are socio-economic institutions (trusts), both public and private, that fund their obligations from incomes from cultivated or leased land assets.
  
  
• Depending on their obligations, Guthis fulfil religious, public service or social roles and could either involve members from a common lineage, or several.
  
  

Guthi Bill:

• The Government of Nepal had tabled the Guthi Bill in National Assembly, the Upper House of Parliament in April to amend Guthi Act and nationalise both public and private Guthis or trusts and regulate all religious sites under a powerful commission.
  
  
• The ethnic Newar community members claim that the bill had provisions in favour of land mafias and could be a threat to the centuries-old culture and traditions of Nepal.
  
  
• Though the Guthi Bill was withdrawn by the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation recently, but protesters are demanding that it should be completely scrapped.