The Indigenous Nationalities Commission submitted its annual report for fiscal year 2025/26 to President Ramchandra Paudel on 15 October, according to the President’s Secretariat. Commission Chair Ram Bahadur Thapa Magar presented it at a ceremony at Sheetal Niwas, the President’s residence.
The report covers fiscal year 2082/83 in the Nepali calendar, which matches 2025/26. Article 294 of the Constitution requires the annual reports of constitutional commissions to go to the head of state, according to the President’s Secretariat.
The commission also submitted its report for the previous year, 2081/82, to the President on 17 October 2025.
The record on earlier recommendations
In July 2026, Thapa Magar wrote to Prime Minister Balendra Shah asking for the status of the commission’s recommendations. The commission said it had made 84 recommendations across five earlier annual reports and that fewer than 10 per cent had been implemented.
Those earlier recommendations covered Indigenous peoples’ rights and sustainable development, the listing and recognition of Indigenous surnames, and the UN International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022–2032). They also covered concerns about the Kathmandu-Terai/Madhesh Fast Track, the settlement of the Jugi community, and protection of cultural heritage and living museums.
Figures from the commission’s 2025 submission to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues give a baseline. They put Indigenous nationalities at 16.9 per cent of the civil service, 23 per cent of parliamentarians and 36.8 per cent of local-government units.
The commission has earlier highlighted free, prior and informed consent, known as FPIC, in the Upper Arun hydropower project, including consultation with affected communities in Sankhuwasabha. FPIC means communities are asked for agreement before a project affecting their land or livelihoods goes ahead, freely and with full information.
The commission had proposed 25 constitutional amendments, including changes on proportional representation and language rights.
