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09/05/24 07:10 AM IST

History of India and Nepal’s border issue

In News
  • Nepal’s cabinet recently decided to put a map on its Rs 100 currency note showing certain areas administered by India in Uttarakhand as part of its territory, provoking External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to say that such “unilateral measures” by Kathmandu would not change the reality on the ground.
Genesis of the issue
  • The Treaty of Sugauli at the end of the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814-16 resulted in Nepal losing a chunk of territory to the East India Company.
  • Article 5 of the treaty took away the jurisdiction of Nepal’s rulers over the land to the east of the Kali River.
  • Buddhi Narayan Shrestha, an expert on boundaries, said that maps issued by the British Surveyor General of India in 1819, 1821, 1827, and 1856 showed the Kali River as originating in Limpiadhura.
  • The next map, published in 1879, used the name of the river in the local language: “Kuti Yangti”.
  • The map that was published in 1920-21 retained the name Kuti Yangti — but it identified a different “Kali”.
  • This new Kali was shown as a stream originating from a temple site, and joining the main stream about a kilometre downstream.
  • However, the last map issued by the British before they left India in 1947 showed the initial position of the Kali River originating in Limpiadhura.
  • Villages in this area — Gunji, Nabhi, Kuti, and Kalapani, also known as Tulsi Nyurang and Nabhidang — were covered by the Nepal government census until 1962, and the people paid land revenue to the government in Kathmandu.
  • However, the situation changed after the war between India and China that year.
  • Bishwabandhu Thapa, a former Home Minister of Nepal who is now 93, said India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru approached King Mahendra of Nepal asking for permission to use Kalapani, which was strategically located close to the trijunction, as a base for the Indian Army.
  • Dr Bhekh Bahadur Thapa, who served as Nepal’s Foreign Minister in 2005-06 and as Ambassador to India during 1997-2003, said that even though Indian officials claimed in bilateral talks later that King Mahendra gifted the area to India, the issue was never resolved.
2024 different from 2020
  • Unlike 2020, when the new map was adopted by Parliament, there is no visible consensus on putting the map on the currency note.
  • The UML and Prachanda’s CPN (Maoist Centre) are together in the ruling coalition, but the Nepali Congress, the main opposition and largest party in Parliament, is yet to make a statement on this issue.
  • Many others, too, believe the issue should be settled through dialogue without actions that may invite extreme steps by India.
  • However, based on a preliminary assessment, the government appears hopeful that with better road connectivity with China, the hardships of Nepalis in the event of a 2015-like blockade will be far less.
  • Nepal sorted out its boundary issues with China in the early 1960s through bilateral meetings of the boundary commission.
  • Nepal’s former Prime Minister Kirtinidhi Bista had once quoted his Chinese counterpart Chou En-lai as saying that border issues, if left unresolved, turn into problems for the future generations that are difficult to address.
Source- The Hindu

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