Recently Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal visited India on a 4-day trip and discussed various matters related to energy, trade and connectivity, etc. This is an important topic for the IAS exam International Relations segment.
Nepal Prime Minister Prachanda’s Visit to India:
- Before the PM of Nepal arrived in India, the President of Nepal gave assent to a controversial amendment to citizenship law that Grants citizenship to women foreigners married to Nepalis.
- The Amendment grants instant citizenship and political rights to women foreigners married to Nepalis and will become one of the most liberal citizenship laws in the world.
- But the liberalization of citizenship law might face opposition from China as it is worried that the law may give descendants of Tibetan refugees citizenship and property rights.
- Though the PM of Nepal was considered as a supporter of China earlier, at present PM Prachanda is more cordial and aligns with Indian views on containing the influence of China.
- PM Dahal also joined hands with Nepali Congress to get a $500 million US grant under the Millennium Challenge Corporation ratified by Parliament and opposed his own party’s view that the grant being part of the “Indo-Pacific security plan” will undermine Nepal’s diplomatic non-alignment.
- The approval of the citizenship law by President Poudel on Wednesday is seen as an outreach to India and the US.
- There is also progress in addressing issues around hydropower projects that India is executing in Nepal and Nepal’s PM is also treading a cautious path on projects under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that Nepal agreed to six years ago.
Read more about India- Nepal relations.
Challenges:
- Nepal’s perception of an attempt by India to micromanage is resulting in a significant loss of goodwill.
- The Association of Nepal with Western powers is leading to China take aggressive measures to increase its presence and influence in the region.
- There is a political instability and economic crisis in Nepal which will affect regional stability.
- Rising political instability is evident from an opinion poll conducted by Interdisciplinary Analysts (IDA) where 91% of respondents said the army was the most trustworthy institution.
- There is also a demand for trying Maoists at the court in The Hague by Human rights activists.
Nepal Prime Minister Prachanda’s Visit to India [UPSC Current Affairs]:- Download PDF Here
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