India-Nepal Relations

In the existing situation, any effort to do away with the pegging arrangement would further invite capital flight from Nepal and thus affect business, trade and other economic activities.

• Hari Bansh Jha
• July 21, 2011
• IDSA Comments

Nepal used to be a safe zone for India. China was least interested in Nepal till 1950s. But strategic design changed once China forcefully occupied Tibet. Nehru tried to strengthen the Indian positioning in Himalayan sphere vis-àvis China. Things became more complicated once China started intruding in Nepal. This article tries to see the emerging Chinese threats from Nepal. Since 1,751 km India-Nepal border runs through 20 districts of five Indian states. The India-Nepal border is open. China has tried through its long strategy to erase Nepalese dependency on India.

• Satish Kumar
• April 2011
• Journal of Defence Studies

S.M. Krishna should reassure the people of Nepal that India has always acted in the interests of the Nepalese people and that it has no intention to interfere in the internal politics of the country.

• Ashok K. Behuria , Nihar R. Nayak
• April 19, 2011
• IDSA Comments

The win-win situation for India and China lies in respecting the ‘buffer-status of Nepal’ which will also ensure political stability in Nepal.

• Pramod Jaiswal
• September 16, 2010
• IDSA Comments

India needs to chalk out a new paradigm of engagement with the emerging Nepal in which economic and border management issues are prioritised over political issues.

• Arvind Gupta
• August 18, 2010
• IDSA Comments

The Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed between India and Nepal in 1950 has been a subject of debate within Nepal. The issue has been regularly featured in left parties' election manifestos in Nepal and become an agenda item in bilateral talks. India has agreed to review, adjust and update the treaty while giving due recognition to the special features of the bilateral relationship. Nepal's reservations to the treaty are based on the argument that the treaty compromises Nepal's ability to pursue an independent defence and foreign policy.

• Nihar R. Nayak
• July 2010
• Strategic Analysis

India should clarify through actions and words that it has no intention of interfering in Nepal, that it respects Nepal’s sovereignty and that it is ready to work with any dispensation in Nepal for furthering mutual security and economic concerns.

• Nihar R. Nayak
• January 13, 2010
• IDSA Comments

Though tensions between India and Nepal over a few disputed pockets along the border have persisted for more than three decades, the first half of 2009 witnessed an increase in the frequency of border disputes. An obvious fallout of the disputes was the drumming up of anti-India feelings in Nepal and tension in bilateral relations.

• Pushpita Das
• August 31, 2009
• IDSA Comments

No other recent visit to India has been so eagerly awaited as that of Pushpa Kumar Dahal, alias Prachanda, the Maoist revolutionary turned democrat and Prime Minister of ‘New Nepal’. His party received a thumping mandate from the electorate in the last elections and but for the fact that 50 per cent of the seats were to be filled up by proportional representation, it could have easily crossed the half way mark in the constituent assembly. Thus, under the existing electoral procedure, the Maoists were forced to bank on other political parties to form a government.

• Alok Bansal
• October 08, 2008
• IDSA Comments

The year 2008 has witnessed yet another disastrous flood in North Bihar. Floods in Bihar have been almost an annual phenomenon. Though the capacity of the river flow was well below the danger line this time around, the situation was in fact aggravated by a breach in the Eastern embankment. Estimates indicate that around thirty lakh people have been displaced and their livelihoods devastated in sixteen districts of north-eastern Bihar. At the same time, around 50,000 people have been affected in Sunsari district of Nepal.

• Medha Bisht
• September 22, 2008
• IDSA Comments