Mansabdar Khan moved to Sagarhawa as a "development refugee". Today, his village faces many crises, of population, fuelwood, irrigation, unemployment, et cetera.
If one asks whether the village of Sagarhawa has a school, a health post, irrigation canals, a community forest, or an Agriculture Development Bank, the answer is, "Yes." But if the question is whether the villagers are educated, healthy, have clean drinking water, irrigation for the fields, fuelwood or gobar gas for the stoves, and collateral for bank loans, the answer is, "No."
Sagarhawa is a village of 70 households in Rupandehi District of Lumbini Zone. One of the many villages of the Nepali tarai, it is coming face to face with the demographic, economic and environment problems common in the region.
Sagarhawa is Mansabdar Khan's village." Demography" or "environmental crises" are terms that are alien to Mansabdar's ears, but he clearly understands the process that is overtaking his village. He is a Muslim family man who moved to Sagarhawa 12 years ago as a "development refugee", when his old property came under the Lumbini Master Plan Area, a multi-million rupee project designed to develop the environs of the Mayadevi Temple, the Sakyamuni Buddha's birthplace.