point in a history of marginalization and discrimination against indigenous peoples in Nepal.  It may also begin to meet the commitments made by Nepal last year as the first country in Asia to ratify the 1989 Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention of the United Nation’s International Labour Organization.  ILO 169 established international standards for recognition of the human rights of indigenous peoples which include respect for “the integrity of their values, practices, and institutions of these peoples,” their “ownership and possession” of their lands, and their rights to participate in the “use, management, and conservation” of the natural resources of their lands.  These and other rights to equality, self-governance, and self-determination based on culture and customary territory have been strengthened by the 2007 UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

A federal map which includes not only a Madesh state but regional political administration that takes into account the aspirations of the Limbuwan, Khambuwan, Tamangsaling, Tharuhat, Tamu, and Magar would be a significant step towards meeting these goals and standards.

What will the map of federal Nepal look like?  Many of the maps that have been produced thus far by proponents of federalism include autonomous regions or states for indigenous peoples.  But all of the ones that I have seen thus far need to be redrawn. 

Consider, for example, the twelve maps which express different visions of a federal