Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
- The Prime Minister of Nepal visited India and held a summit meeting with the Indian Prime Minister.
- Earlier, the Union Cabinet had cleared a plan to build a new bridge connecting India and Nepal over the Mahakaliriver and link Dharchula in Uttarakhand with Nepal’s Dharchula.
Highlights:
- Launched the 35-km cross-border railway line linking Jaynagar in Bihar to Kurtha in Nepal.
- This is the first broad-gauge passenger rail link between the two sides and it will be extended to Bardibas in Nepal under a project supported by an Indian grant of Rs 548 crore.
- The Indian side handed over the Solu Corridor, a 90-km, 132 kV power transmission line built for Rs 200 crore under an Indian line of credit.
- The line will help bring electricity to several remote districts in northeastern Nepal by connecting them to the country’s national grid.
- Launched India’s RuPay card in Nepal.
- The domestic variant of the RuPay card will now work at 1,400 point-of-sale machines in Nepal, and the move is expected to facilitate bilateral tourist flows.
- Nepal is the fourth country, after Bhutan, Singapore and the UAE, where RuPay is live.
- Nepal signed a framework agreement to join the India-led International Solar Alliance (becoming the 105th member country).
- Signed three more pacts – a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on enhancing technical cooperation in the railways sector, and two agreements between Indian Oil Corporation and Nepal Oil Corporation for the supply of petroleum products for five years and for sharing of technical expertise.
Border Issue:
- Nepalese Prime Minister urged his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to take steps to resolve a boundary dispute.
- The Indian side made it clear both countries need to address the boundary issue through dialogue and to avoid the politicisation of such issues.
- India had earlier rejected Nepal’s unilateral move in 2020 to amend its constitution to show the Kalapani region as part of Nepal for the first time.
Issues & Challenges:
- As a landlocked nation, Nepal depended for many years on Indian imports, and India played an active role in Nepal’s affairs.
- However, in recent years, Nepal has drifted away from India’s influence, and China has gradually filled the space with investments, aid and loans.
- China considers Nepal a key partner in its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and wants to invest in Nepal’s infrastructure as part of its grand plans to boost global trade.
- Rising Nepal and China cooperation can undermine Nepal’s distinction of buffer state between India and China.
- China on the other hand wants to avoid the formation of any Anti-China stance by the Tibetans living in Nepal.
- The issue erupted in November 2019when Nepal had released a new political map that claims Kalapani, Limpiyadhura and Lipulekh of Uttarakhand as part of Nepal’s territory. The area of Susta (West Champaran district, Bihar) can also be noted in the new map.
Way Forward
- India should negotiate diplomatically to resolve the boundary dispute with Nepal under the aegis of International law on Trans-boundary Water Disputes. In this case, boundary dispute resolution between India and Bangladesh should serve as a model.
- India should engage more proactively with Nepal in terms of people to people engagement, bureaucratic engagement as well as political interactions.
- Mere differences shall not turn into disputes and both the countries should resolve the issues peacefully.
SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT
