{"id":35414,"date":"2018-10-31T17:18:37","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T11:48:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=35414"},"modified":"2018-10-31T17:18:37","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T11:48:37","slug":"that-old-spark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/that-old-spark\/","title":{"rendered":"That old spark:\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/todays-paper\/tp-opinion\/that-old-spark\/article19572505.ece\">That old spark<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><b>Context<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Nepal\u2019s Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba visit to India was his first foreign visit as Prime Minister, and it confirmed Kathmandu\u2019s abiding interest in strong ties with India.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Rebuilding relations<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The recovery of bilateral warmth has taken some doing on both sides.<\/li>\n<li>India had mounted strong obstruction to the Constitution with demands that it be made more inclusive, especially vis-\u00e0-vis the Madhesis in the Terai area, sending ties with Kathmandu\u2019s ruling establishment on a downward spiral.<\/li>\n<li>Even as Nepal fought to cope with rehabilitation work after the massive earthquake of 2015, many in Kathmandu held India responsible for the three-month-long \u201cgreat blockade\u201d of goods and fuel supplies that followed sustained protests by Madhesi groups.<\/li>\n<li>To that end, Mr. Deuba\u2019s visit was another opportunity, as were the visits of his predecessors K.P. Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal \u2018Prachanda\u2019, to repair the India-Nepal relationship.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>The upcoming projects<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The joint statement at the end of his visit refers to the \u201cdeep, comprehensive and multi-faceted\u201d ties between the neighbours as it listed projects being developed in Nepal under lines of credit provided by India.<\/li>\n<li>These include $200 million for irrigation projects, $330 million for road development and $250 million for power infrastructure in Nepal.<\/li>\n<li>India made the requisite appeal to Kathmandu \u201cto take all sections of society on board\u201d while implementing its Constitution, but the tenor was notably softer this time.<\/li>\n<li>No mention was made of a key amendment to the Constitution to accommodate Madhesi demands that had been defeated just last Monday.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Not an easy path to rekindle friendship<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The memories of the blockade still rankle in Nepal.<\/li>\n<li>While the South Block and Singha Durbar have been keen to move ahead with trade linkages and complete the integrated check-posts at Raxaul-Birgunj and Jogbani-Biratnagar, the land-locked country has actively sought to break its dependence on India for fuel and connectivity.<\/li>\n<li>Since 2015, Nepal and China have cooperated on infrastructure plans, including a big hydroelectric project and a rail link to Tibet.<\/li>\n<li>Nepal is also part of China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative.<\/li>\n<li>India is struggling to influence the historical closeness with Nepal, the open border the two share and the special status Nepalis working in India have appreciated.<\/li>\n<li>The India-China stand-off in Doklam will add to the awkwardness in the trilateral relationship. Mr. Deuba\u2019s visit will need a sustained follow-up.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>That old spark: Context Nepal\u2019s Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba visit to India was his first foreign visit as Prime Minister, and it confirmed Kathmandu\u2019s abiding interest in strong ties with India. Rebuilding relations The recovery of bilateral warmth has taken some doing on both sides. India had mounted strong obstruction to the Constitution with&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/that-old-spark\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">That old spark:\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704734198},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35414\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}