THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 18 September 2018 (Himalayan divide: on the drift in India-Nepal ties)

 Himalayan divide: on the drift in India-Nepal ties 

Mains Paper: 2 | International Relations.
Prelims level: BIMSTEC
Mains level:  India must fix its lines of communication with Nepal and arrest the drift in ties 

Introduction

• Despite several attempts at a reset, ties between India and Nepal continue to be a cause for concern. 
• The disconnect between the two governments was most visible at the seven-nation Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation military exercises.
• After confirming its participation in the exercises in June, the Nepalese Army was made to withdraw its contingent due to a “political decision”; it sent only an observer mission at the last hour. 
• Officials in Prime Minister K.P. Oli’s office said that they were upset with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “unilateral” announcement of the multilateral exercises during the BIMSTEC summit on August 30-31.

Chinese ports open up to Nepal 

• The larger geopolitical context of the discord over the military exercises must not be ignored.
• In his current term as Nepal’s Prime Minister, since February, Mr. Oli has said he will not be guided by India on several matters. 
• Despite New Delhi signalling its discomfiture with the volume of Chinese investment in hydropower and infrastructure and transport projects.
• It’s an ambitious connectivity proposal that will eventually link Kathmandu to Shigatse by rail.
• This will give Nepali goods access to Chinese sea-ports at Tianjin, Shenzhen, Lianyungang and Zhanjiang, and land ports in Lanzhou, Lhasa and Shigatse.

From India’s angle 

• India is still blamed for the 2015 economic blockade against Nepal. 
• It is also held responsible for attempts to destabilise Mr. Oli’s previous tenure as Prime Minister during 2015-2016. 
• New Delhi cannot turn a blind eye to the rebuffs, and must address them. 
• At such a time, the Army chief, General Bipin Rawat’s statement on BIMSTEC, that “geography” will ensure that countries like Bhutan and Nepal “cannot delink themselves” from India, could have been avoided; such comments unnerve India’s smaller neighbours and are misleading.
• Modern technology and connectivity projects could well take away geography’s role as a guarantor of good relations.

Way forward 

• India’s explanation that it had broached the issue with BIMSTEC members directly did not cut much ice with Kathmandu; even the contingent from Thailand did not join the counter-terror exercises because of lack of adequate notice. 
• Nepal’s decision to join China for a 12-day Mt Everest Friendship Exercise in Sichuan province, also focussed on anti-terrorism drills, drives the wedge in further.
• New Delhi and Kathmandu must put an end to the unseemly controversy by renewing diplomatic efforts over the issue. 
• India and Nepal don’t just share an open border; they have shared the deepest military links, with both countries traditionally awarding each other’s Army chiefs the honorary rank of General. 
• Such unique ties must not be undermined due to lack of communication.

UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1)  "Crime Free Zone" recently seen in news has been established along a stretch of International boundary between India and
(a) Nepal
(b) Myanmar
(c) Bangladesh
(d) Pakistan

Ans: C

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1)  India must fix its lines of communication with Nepal and arrest the drift in ties.

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