The special security relationship between New Delhi and Kathmandu was restored during the meeting between Nepalese Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and Indian Prime Minister V.P. Singh in New Delhi in June 1990, after India ended its 13-month economic blockade against Nepal. During the visit to India of the Prime Minister of Nepal, Girija Prasad Koirala, in December 1991, the two countries signed new separate trade and transit agreements and other economic agreements that are expected to bring additional economic benefits to Nepal. Due to the long kalapani issue, relations between India and Nepal deteriorated from June 2020. Kalapani is a piece of land near the Indo-Nepalese border, near the Lipulekh Pass on the India-China border, which is one of the authorized points for border trade and route for the Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra in Tibet. The subject has been a thorn in the side of Indo-Nepalese relations since independence. According to all reports, many across the border were enthusiastic about the Prime Minister`s promise to befriend his neighbours. Modi did not disappoint. By addressing kathmandu`s parliament and constituent assembly, widely described as “magical” in Nepal, and wading through the crowd in Kathmandu, Modi may have removed much of the poison recently accumulated in an old relationship. By insisting on Kathmandu`s absolute sovereignty and reaffirming that Delhi will not interfere in its internal affairs, Modi has attempted to address one of the main concerns that drive Nepalese elites – the deep fear of India. While Delhi is not uncommon in small countries that live next to a large nation, Delhi has struggled to overcome the deep-seated distrust of India in Kathmandu for all these decades. Modi faced this central problem by proposing to revise the 1950 India-Nepal Friendship Treaty – a symbol of an unequal relationship for many in Kathmandu. Modi welcomed the new political focus on sovereign equality, with a compelling vision of shared economic prosperity through the development of cross-border connectivity, agriculture, tourism and hydropower.
Enemy states were able to find such innovative solutions elsewhere in the world, and at one point, India and Pakistan were on the verge of finding solutions for siachen or making Kashmir`s borders irrelevant. Based on their history of friendly and pragmatic relations, it should not be difficult for India and Nepal to think across borders and find a practical solution. Delhi and Kathmandu could lead the way in liberating the subcontinent from the sovereignist, nationalist and territorial logic, which continues to deteriorate everyone in the region. In 2008, India-Nepal relations received a new impetus with the agreement to resume water talks after a 4-year hiatus. Nepal`s Minister of Water Resources Shanker Prasad Koirala said the Nepal-Indian Joint Water Resources Committee has decided to start rebuilding the Koshi Dam broken after the water level dropped. During the Nepalese Prime Minister`s visit to New Delhi in September, the two Prime Ministers expressed their satisfaction with the centuries-old, cordial and extensive relations between their states and expressed their support and cooperation to continue to consolidate relations. . . .