Nepalese PM Prachanda Arrives on Maiden Visit to India; Bilateral Ties, Agnipath Recruitment on Agenda

Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda arrived in India on Wednesday on a four-day official visit. The visit comes amidst political instability in Nepal and some uneasiness in India-Nepal ties.

It is the first bilateral trip abroad by the 68-year-old Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist) leader after he assumed the office in December last year.

The Nepalese PM’s India visit has been delayed multiple times in past few months owing to the political instability his government faced back home

Prachanda has been facing challenges from the opposition since he took office in December last year. He has made eight cabinet expansions in the past five months in an effort to keep his flocks together.

The border dispute between India and Nepal has also flared up in the recent years. The dispute date back to the 1816 Sugauli Treaty, signed between the British East India Company and Nepal after the Anglo-Nepalese War.

The treaty defined the border between the two countries, however, there have been disputes over the exact location of the border ever since. The border dispute between the two countries has flared up in recent years after his predecessor KP Sharma Oli announced Nepal’s decision to change its map in 2020.

The new map showed Kalapani as part of its territory. India objected to the map and the two countries have been engaged in a diplomatic standoff ever since.

Prachanda’s visit to India is seen as an opportunity to improve ties between the two neighbouring countries. The visit will be Prachanda’s first foreign visit in his latest tenure and his fourth India visit as Nepal’s prime minister.

Nepalese PM’s daughter Ganga Dahal is also accompanying him during his India visit. The entourage will also comprise Ministers, Secretaries and senior officials of the Government of Nepal. India-Nepal will hold delegation level talks on Thursday June 1, which will be followed by a joint press conference of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Prachanda.

The visit is also expected to deliberate on the issue of new recruitment policy in the Indian Army. The Agnipath scheme announced in June 2022 envisages new recruitments for a four-year period. After four years, only 25% of the recruits will be retained in the Army, while the rest will be discharged with a severance package.

The Nepali government has raised concerns about the Agnipath scheme and stopped the recruitment that has been going under a unique arrangement since 1947.

Nearly 40,000 Nepali Gurkhas serve in the Indian Army’s Gorkha Rifles regiment. As per the data by the Indian Embassy in Nepal, nearly 122,000 Indian Army pensioners are currently living in Nepal.

Nepal is expecting India to provide more investments in sectors such as hydroelectricity, hospitality, education, health and manufacturing. Nepal is also looking for alternative ports to get more access to the western markets. Nepal is eying more investments from India to Nepal in sectors such hydroelectricity, hospitality, education, health and manufacturing.

Nepal is a landlocked country and Indian ports in the east coast have been a gateway of Nepalese commodities to the world for long. Kolkata’s Haldia port has been a traditional gateway for its trade with other countries. The port in Visakhapatnam has become an additional point of trade in recent years.

However, Nepal is now also looking for alternative ports to get more access to the western markets. The Nepalese side has expressed eagerness to connect with Mundra port in Gujarat on western coast and Dhamra port in Odisha on the eastern coast to give its trade access with the rest of the world.

The Nepalese PM will address the Nepal-India Business Summit in New Delhi and interact with business leaders of both countries.

He will also interact with the Nepali community in India over a welcome reception being hosted by the Nepalese Embassy in Delhi. Dahal will proceed to visit Ujjain and Indore, after Delhi, before returning to Kathmandu on 3 June 2023.