Nepal : News and Updates

Reopening Nepal-India border​

It was after much lobbying and pressure that on 21 September, the Nepalese government decided to re-open the Nepal-India border that was sealed from March 2020 to control the spread of COVID-19. Accordingly, the local authorities at the Raxaul-Birgunj border point re-opened the border on 1st October by unlocking the gates and allowing the Indian citizens, apart from the tourists, to enter into the Nepalese territory along with the vehicles with Indian number plates, at a time when the borders were closed, only those cargo trucks with Indian number plates were allowed to enter Nepal which carried essential items.

Reciprocating the decision of the Nepalese government on the issue of re-opening the Nepal-India border, the Indian government that had also closed the border in March 2020 on the same ground as that of Nepal also re-opened the border. But some Indian customs/border authorities are yet to receive the circular from the government regarding the reopening of the border because of which the movement of people and private vehicles through the customs points have not yet resumed.

To ensure the safety of the people from the COVID-19, the local border authorities have made a provision whereby both the Nepalese and Indian citizens would have to produce a COVID-19 negative report (RT-PCR, Gene Expert, True NAAT or WHO accredited test) within 72 hours while entering into Nepal through the land border.
Reciprocating the decision of the Nepalese government on the issue of re-opening the Nepal-India border, the Indian government that had also closed the border in March 2020 on the same ground as that of Nepal also re-opened the border.

Repercussions of sealed borders

Because of the closing of the Nepal-India border, the Nepalese and Indian people in general and the border inhabitants of the two countries particularly suffered a lot as they experienced immense difficulties in crossing the border. Before this, never had the 1753-kilometre long border between the two countries been closed.

Nepal and India have been maintaining an open border system since time immemorial. Citizens of one country could easily cross over the land border and reach the other side without producing legal documents like a visa, passport, or even an identity card. This is so because the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the two countries accord national treatment to the citizens of one country in the territories of the other.

Hence, each day hundreds of thousands of people from each of these countries cross over the border for religious, social, cultural, educational,
health, economic, trade, and commercial purposes.

It was, therefore, natural for the people of Nepal and India to be thrilled over the reopening of the Indo-Nepal border. Reports indicate that the border inhabitants of the two countries rejoiced so much over the news that they exchanged sweets with each other.

The first batch of the Indian tourists was accorded a warm welcome by the Nepalese tourism entrepreneurs while they crossed over the border at the Raxaul-Birgung point on 1 October. Expectations are high that there would be a massive surge in the inflow of Indian tourists to Nepal.

Hari Panta, the President of the Hotel and Tourism Entrepreneurs Association in Birgunj categorically mentioned the tremendous contributions of the Indian tourists in the development of the tourism industries of Nepal. In 2019, out of the total number of foreign tourists visiting Nepal (1.17 million) through air and land routes, the Indian tourists alone numbered 209,611. It is, however, assumed that the number of Indian tourists visiting Nepal is much more than the official figure as many of their cases go unreported.

The tourism sector contributes as much as 8 percent to Nepal’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), apart from generating direct and indirect employment opportunities for over 1.05 million people. So, the entire Nepalese economy was affected when the Indo-Nepal border was closed. Moreover, the local market centred along the border areas were also severely as it heavily relied on the cross-border movement of people. .

Since millions of Nepalese, especially from the hilly regions, are employed in India, they suffered most during the coronavirus period. Many of those people were held up in India and vice-versa after the border closure. In the chaos, there were cases of deaths after they were denied to cross the border.

To add to the misery, some chauvinists in Nepal fenced three kilometres of the border unilaterally between pillar 435/1 to 439/4 with a barbed wire closer to the “No Man’s Land” in Parsa district of Nepal with the sole intention of creating a rift in the traditional relations between the people of the two countries. Because of construction, the border inhabitants of Nepal and India who often needed to cross over the border for social, cultural, and economic reasons faced insurmountable problems.
Many people in Nepal and India chose to cross the border through the non-conventional routes which added more risks of the spread of coronavirus from one country to the other.
But now there is a growing realisation amongst the Nepalese and Indian people that the decision made by governments to seal the border was not only unrealistic but also self-defeating. Though it did contain the growth of coronavirus cases, it also aggravated the miseries of the people who often needed to cross the border for employment opportunities and also for their medical and other needs.

In distress, many people in Nepal and India chose to cross the border through the non-conventional routes which added more risks of the spread of coronavirus from one country to the other. Besides, the unauthorised trade along the Nepal-India border also surged, which ultimately resulted in the loss of government revenue. So, considering the futility of placing restrictions on the movement of people and vehicles at the Nepal-India border, it would have been appropriate if the governments of the two countries could have established joint health desks at the main border points to ascertain the cases of coronavirus, including in Raxaul-Birgung, allowing only those citizens to cross the border who tested negative.

To enhance the growing bonds of socio-economic and cultural relations between Nepal and India, it is essential to review the arrangement of the cross-border movement of private vehicles between the two countries. The Nepalese authorities at the customs points allow the Indian private vehicles to enter into Nepal for which they have to pay certain charges on a per diem basis at the border points. On the other hand, the Nepalese people are required to get prior permission from the Indian embassy in Kathmandu or its Consulate General Office in Birgunj if they have to enter India with vehicles bearing Nepali number plates. No such permission is required for the Indian people to take prior permission from the Nepalese embassy in New Delhi if they have to enter Nepal with Indian number plates. Such an anomaly in the cross-border movement of vehicles is in fact against the letter and spirit of the 1950 Peace and Friendship Treaty between Nepal and India. To maximise the gains from the reopening of the border and to strengthen the traditional bonds of friendship amongst the people, what is needed most is to allow unrestricted cross-border movement of vehicles, apart from the people, between Nepal and India.
Delhi opens door for Nepal to sell power in India’s energy exchange market
 

China-US arm-wrestling in Nepal, played out over $500 million grant​

On Sunday night, Nepal’s House of Representatives passed by voice vote the Millennium Challenge Corporation Nepal Compact, a $500 million grant from the US to build power and road infrastructure projects. The biggest American financial pledge to Nepal so far, it was signed more than four years ago, but ratification was delayed by criticism that it undermined Nepal’s sovereignty.
 

China-US arm-wrestling in Nepal, played out over $500 million grant​

On Sunday night, Nepal’s House of Representatives passed by voice vote the Millennium Challenge Corporation Nepal Compact, a $500 million grant from the US to build power and road infrastructure projects. The biggest American financial pledge to Nepal so far, it was signed more than four years ago, but ratification was delayed by criticism that it undermined Nepal’s sovereignty.

Where is Vishwaguru now?
 

At Lumbini, PM Modi showcases India-Nepal shared Buddhist heritage​

It was during PM Modi’s first term itself that the then Joint Secretary, PMO and now Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra was tasked to locate all the relics of Buddha in India and create an inventory so that India could showcase more than 2566 years of Buddhist heritage.

Seven months after he put Kushinagar, the place where Gautam Buddha attained Nirvana, on the international airport map, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Prince Siddhartha's birthplace Lumbini in Nepal to showcase the shared Buddhist heritage of the Indian sub-continent. PM Modi inaugurated the Kushinagar airport on Abhidhamma Day (when Lord returned to earth from heaven after three months) and will be in Lumbini on thrice auspicious Buddha Purnima Day.

Despite Buddhism being a religion practised by more than seven per cent of the global population and spread all over South, East and North Asia including Japan, China and Korea, India before PM Modi has not been able to leverage the true inheritor legacy of Lord Buddha. Prince Siddhartha became Buddha after enlightenment in Bodh Gaya in Bihar, he gave his first sermon in Sarnath near Varanasi, attained nirvana in Kushinagar and was buried in Piprahwa in Uttar Pradesh. The Nalanda University to propagate Buddhism is in Bihar.

PM Modi visits Lord Buddha's birthplace in Nepal; Offers prayers at Mahadevi Temple with Sher Deuba

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday offered prayers at the sacred Mayadevi temple in Nepal on the occasion of Buddha Purnima. Prime Minister Modi visited the Mayadevi Temple as the first stop of his one-day visit to Lumbini. He was accompanied by his Nepalese counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba during his visit to the historic temple, the birth place of...
PM Modi visits Lord Buddha's birthplace in Nepal; Offers prayers at Mahadevi Temple with Sher Deuba

Fact is that 91 per cent of Tibet under China is Buddhist with all the four major Tibetan schools represented by mirror monasteries in India after the Communist PLA occupied Tibet in 1950. The 14th Dalai Lama, head of the Gelukpa School, has a seat in Dharamshala and one of the chief claimants to the throne of 17th Karmapa or Kagyu School was in India till 2017 and is now a citizen of Dominica. The oldest Nyingma and Sakya schools also have their major monasteries on the Himalayan belt in India, yet India has always been shy on playing its true role in the Buddhist world lest it aggravates border tensions with China.

I feel blessed to have prayed at the Maya Devi Temple on Buddha Purnima. May Lord Buddha bless us all and make our planet peaceful and prosperous. pic.twitter.com/hLJhZlHNL1
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 16, 2022

Not so long ago at a meeting of the informal yet high power China Study Group, one of the participants argued for India using the Tibet-Dalai Lama card against China to counter Beijing’s using the Kashmir card against India. A China expert at the meeting bluntly countered the argument by saying that there was no point in flogging a dead horse, indicating that Tibet or Dalai Lama or Tibetan Buddhism by extrapolation, as a card had no utility. The fear of not earning the wrath of China by show-casing Buddhism, particularly that practised in Tibet, still runs in South Block despite PM Modi all for claiming Buddhist heritage.

It was during PM Modi’s first term itself that the then Joint Secretary, PMO and now Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra was tasked to locate all the relics of Buddha in India and create an inventory so that India could showcase more than 2566 years of Buddhist heritage.

It was not only the fear of Communist China but also the secular nature of Indian polity and the gross infrastructure neglect of eastern UP and Bihar in the past decades that kept India’s Buddhist legacy out of focus. Even today, Bodh Gaya gets hordes of international tourists for Mahabodhi temple, but the city is just not catered to handle high-end tourists due to congested roads and limited air connectivity. Sarnath has developed into major tourist destination and is now followed by Kushinagar.

When PM Modi prays at the Maya Devi temple in Lumbini this afternoon along with PM Deuba, he will not only be showcasing Lumbini but also the Buddha power of India and Nepal with global followers of Buddha watching the event.
 

Nepal starts exporting additional 144 MW electricity to India​

Nepal has started exporting an additional 144 MW of electricity generated by its Kaligandaki hydropower plant to India through its power exchange market.

Buoyed by continuous rainfall this year, the Himalayan nation is exporting surplus electricity to India through its power exchange market for the second consecutive year, according to the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), the state-owned power utility body.

The average rate of selling electricity was around Rs 7, according to Pradeep Thike, Deputy Chief of the Nepal Electricity Authority.

The NEA started exporting the additional electricity generated by its Kaligandaki hydropower plant to India from Saturday midnight.


The electricity is being exported to India under the Nepal-India power exchange agreement, Thike said.

The NEA earlier started selling 37.7 MW electricity generated by its 24 MW Trishuli and 15 MW Devighat power plants from Wednesday midnight after the Himalayan nation’s power plants started generating surplus energy.

“After the addition of electricity generated from 144 MW Kaligandaki Hydropower Project, Nepal will be selling a total of 178 MW electricity to India through India Energy Exchange Limited (IEX),” said Thike.

On April 6, India allowed the NEA to sell additional 325 MW of electricity generated from four hydel projects — Kali Gandaki (144MW), Middle Marsyangdi (70MW), and Marsyangdi (69MW) — all developed by the NEA, and Likhu 4 Hydropower Project with 52.4MW capacity, developed by the private sector.

This is the second year in a row that the Himalayan nation is selling electricity to India through its exchange market.

With the onset of monsoons, hydropower plants in Nepal have been producing excess electricity from the elevated water levels in the Himalayan rivers.

Last month, it had invited bids from Indian companies to sell its 200 MW surplus energy in the upcoming monsoon season under a long-term power purchase agreement.

During the recent visit of Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to India, Nepal had received approval from the Indian side to export up to 364 MW of electricity to the Indian energy market.

The IEX under India’s Power Ministry had granted the NEA permission to supply additional 326 MW to be traded in the Indian power-exchange market.

Nepal will be able to export electricity to India till mid-November, and based on the existing arrangements, it can earn up to 14 billion Nepali Rupees from the Indian market over the next five-and-half month period, according to the NEA officials.

Nepal became energy surplus ever since the 456 MW Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project came into full operation in August last year, the Himalayan Times report said in November last year.