oppn parties India-Nepal Relations: Need To Make Them Unshakeable Again

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
oppn parties
India-Nepal Relations: Need To Make Them Unshakeable Again

By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2022-05-16 15:14:03

Once upon a time, India did have a rock solid relationship with Nepal, or as Prime Minister Modi put it during his day-long visit to the neighbouring country today on the occasion of Buddha Purmina, that the relations between the two countries are "unshakeable, like the Himalayas". But ever since China discovered the valleys through the mountain range which allowed it to enter Nepal, a lot of dissatisfaction has crept in on both sides. It is against this background that Prime Minister Modi's visit to Nepal, a month after Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's India visit, must be viewed.

Two things clearly showed how far behind India had fallen in its relations with Nepal. Prime Minister Modi chose to reach Lumbini (the birth place of Lord Buddha) in a helicopter, landing at a newly-built helipad and clearly avoiding the swank, new Gautam Buddha International Airport that has been built with a soft loan from China and which was inaugurated earlier the same day by Prime Minister Deuba. Then, Modi laid the foundation stone of India International Centre for Buddhist Culture and Heritage years after many frontline nations have already built their centres in Lumbini.

Modi did sign several important MoUs, including one to build a 490MW hydro-electric project in Nepal, but the reset in relations has to get better than this as several past differences, including the one over the new Nepal map showing territories in India as its own, need to be set right by continued negotiations at the appropriate level. India needs to have excellent relations with Nepal for security reasons also as it will help in countering China's expansionist designs. Both nations are very close culturally but the Nepalese have started leaning towards China due mainly its money power. India needs to counter that by extending help in all other areas and making the relations unshakeable again.

Picture courtesy: image tweeted by @MEA