India Nepal Relations

India has a huge, open and accessible border with Nepal which has helped in easy movement of goods and people. However, the same has also added to stress between the nations recently.

Both nations share cultural and traditional interests which has always given the ties a boost.

In July 1950, India Nepal signed a Treaty of Peace and Friendship which had the following components:

• Addressing security concerns
• Socio-Cultural and economic interaction
• Open border and movement of people

India has been a regular supplier of defence equipment to Nepal and contributed towards modernisation of the Nepalese military.

Both nations have mutually agreed on equality to respective nationals with respect to residence, property and trade and commerce.

In 1960 the relations between India Nepal had turned bitter for a while as China was continuously making attempts to bring Nepal closer to itself. However, normalcy was restored in 1965 when India provided support to Nepal in training and modernisation.

India Nepal also signed the Treaty of Trade and Transit in 1977 to ease transit and encourage trade through exemptions and relief of duties.

Other areas which have increased cooperation between both the nations have been SAARC, open border regime and integrated development of river projects.

Recent assistance and support provided by India for relief and rehabilitation after the Nepal Earthquake.

 Constitutional Crisis and issues with India

Nepal, after seven years of struggle, drafted a constitution in 2015. Nepal’s new constitution defines the majority Hindu nation as a secular republic divided into seven federal provinces. The Madhesis have had concerns regarding the new constitution and feel that the process was completed in a hurry.

The issues in the constitution led to unrest and agitations in the Terai region. The violence in this region has been India’s concern as Terai region lies along the border of India and Nepal.

India also raised concern about Madhesi interests not being addressed in the new constitution. The Oli government hardly made efforts to engage in a dialogue with the Madhesis and blamed India for imposing an economic blockade to pressurise the government to accept Madhesi demands.

As a result, an anti-Indian sentiment had been created and Prime Minister Oli’s government also collapsed.

Damage Control 

Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda has now taken over the government for a period of nine months after which the Maoists and National Congress (NC) will form a coalition government.

Bilateral visits are being used as a tool to restore the relations. Mr. Prachanda made a successful bilateral visit in September and Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari is expected to visit India in coming times.

President Pranab Mukherjee has highlighted that Nepal needs to complete the political transition and to ensure efficient working of a multiparty democracy all sections need to be brought together for the new constitution to succeed.

India and Nepal are cultural partners with historic, spiritual and civilisational links between the people.

Due to cultural links as well sharing open and accessible borders both nations have a vital stake in each other’s well-being and security.

The Gurkhas have been a very important part of the India Army and their importance in the Army and this relationship can never be undermined.

India has numerous welfare schemes covering solar electrification and drinking water supply to ex-servicemen’s villages, medical care and provision of ambulances to their associations, and education and scholarships for their children.

The Nepali citizens can easily find employment in India due to the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship between both nations.

India has also addressed the long standing requests of Nepal for renovating the ghats along the Bagmati River and construction of two dharamsalas adjoining the Janaki Mandir in Janakpur.

Nepali students will now be eligible to sit for the entrance examinations for the IITs and the additional scholarships for postgraduate studies in water resources management and hydel power at IIT, Roorkee.

Domestic Challenges for Prachanda 

The interim government under Mr. Prachanda faces a lot of challenges on various contentious issues and there is a need to ensure a high degree of political consensus. NC and the Maoists do not have complete agreement between themselves.  Even the Madhesi groups do not have a unified negotiating position.

The government has only six months to ensure that the dialogue with the Madhesi groups makes some progress.

In absence of any progress in dialogue with the Madhesis, it will be very difficult for the government to have the local body elections.

Madhesis are yet to agree on the issue pertaining to the number of parliamentary seats from the Terai where ‘population’ will be the main criteria in delimiting electoral constituencies

Issues pertaining to provincial demarcation, restrictions on appointment to high-level constitutional positions for naturalised citizens, status of Hindi and other languages and composition of the upper house are still pending.

Oli is not willing to compromise and this is a major difficulty to get the two-thirds majority necessary for a constitutional amendment.

Balanced View

The bilateral visits by both the nations are proving to be very helpful in restoring the ties to normal. Mr. Prachanda made two consecutive visits in the recent past which included a visit to Goa for the BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach summit. This has helped stabilise India-Nepal relations.

Mr. Prachanda needs to use this political space and relationship to build up on this stability between the nations. Domestically, he has to use his negotiating skills to make progress on the pending constitutional issues during the remaining part of his short tenure. However, one thing has to be kept in mind that time is definitely not on the Prime Minister’s side.

Both the nations need to work hard to remove the trust deficit that has created a gap in the relationship. Nepal has to ensure that the anti-India sentiment within the country does not grow further. India has an important role to play during this period of transition for Nepal, not as superior counterpart, but as an ally that stands with the spirit of this new republic