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Nepal and India have intensified their diplomatic engagements over the past few months. The surge in high-level ministerial visits and agreements underscores a pragmatic approach taken by the two countries to boost economic, environmental and security partnerships while navigating existing challenges.

Within this short span, two senior Indian ministers visited Nepal, while three Nepali ministers traveled to India for talks. Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba’s discussions with India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi focused on political and economic collaboration, while Minister for Forest Ain Bahadur Shahi Thakuri’s meeting with his Indian counterpart focused on transboundary environmental conservation. During Minister for Water Supplies Pradeep Yadav’s visit to New Delhi, the two countries signed an agreement expanding cooperation in water resources management, sanitation and hygiene. The two countries have expressed commitment to address water scarcity and improve public health through joint infrastructure projects and knowledge-sharing.

Meanwhile, India’s Minister for Power Manohar Lal Khattar’s visit focused on cross-border electricity trade and hydropower development. Officials of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and Power Grid Corporation of India signed an MoU to advance two critical trans-border transmission lines in the presence of Khattar and Energy Minister Deepak Khadka. Complementing this, a recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in agricultural science and technology, signed by Agriculture Minister Ramnath Adhikari and India’s Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Kathmandu aims to enhance food security and sustainable farming through joint research and innovation. Security and trade ties have also seen progress. The Nepal-India Joint Working Group and director general-level talks addressed border management, cross-border crime and trade facilitation which are crucial for Nepal’s reliance on Indian ports. India recently renewed Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certifications for over 100 industries, which will help resume long-stalled export of products like cement, steel and agro products to India. 

There are some concerning issues as well. Nepal harbors resentment with India over delayed Eminent Persons’ Group (EPG) Report and handling of border issues. Recent allegations of India’s support for Nepal’s pro-monarchy movement, though swiftly denied by India, highlight the delicate nature of Nepal’s domestic politics. India’s wariness of Nepal’s engagement with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) adds another layer of complexity. Despite these tensions, both nations have prioritized economic and developmental partnerships. Such partnerships are crucial for Nepal given withdrawal of the USAID support and impending graduation from Least Developed Country (LDC) status, which could impact international development support to Nepal.  

The one-on-one meeting between Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC meeting earlier this month and Wednesday’s telephone conversation between the two leaders following the terrorist attack in Pahalgam of Kashmir signal a commitment to strengthening ties. While Oli’s potential visit to New Delhi remains uncertain, this pragmatic approach—emphasizing mutual benefits while gradually addressing contentious issues—is paving a promising path for Nepal-India relations.

For the past two weeks, community school teachers and staff have been staging protests in Kathmandu, demanding the immediate enactment of the School Education Bill 2080. Their prolonged strike has affected the government's school enrolment campaign as well as the evaluation of answer sheets of the Secondary Education Examination (SEE). The national examination of Grade 12 also looks uncertain with the Nepal Teachers’ Federation instructing teachers to boycott  examination duties.

While the teachers have every right to demand professional growth and better service conditions, the prolonged standoff between the government and educators is harming the very foundation of Nepal’s education system. Teachers are on a stir because of the delay in passing the School Education Bill, which has been languishing in the Education, Health and Information Technology Committee of the House of Representatives. Although a sub-committee has been formed to consolidate suggestions from various stakeholders, the progress in the Bill has been far from satisfactory. The teachers appear in no mood to budge this time, citing repeated betrayals from the government in the past.

Had the government acted with urgency, the bill could have been passed during the winter session. The protesting teachers argue that the lack of decisive action has forced them to take the extreme measure of boycotting examinations—a move that could jeopardize the academic future of over 550,000 students. The consequences of this impasse are severe. With schools shut and admissions for the new academic session stalled, parents could turn to private institutions, which will further weaken the already struggling public education system. If public schools continue to fail due to systemic neglect and political indifference, the gap between privileged and underprivileged students will only widen.

The Bill, rooted in the six-point agreement reached in 2023, promises to align education with Nepal’s federal constitution, decentralize management and ensure equitable distribution of teachers. However, provisions of granting local governments control over teachers’ appointment and transfers have sparked fears of political interference and job insecurity. A solution to these concerns should be found at the earliest to facilitate the early passage of the Bill. The teachers’ body has proposed three solutions—a special parliamentary session, an ordinance or immediate convening of the budget session. The government has called the budget session of federal parliament for April 25, apparently a fortnight earlier this year, per officials, to facilitate the passage of the Bill.

Political leaders and major parties have shown little seriousness toward the demand of teachers, with some exploiting the protests for political gains. It is high time the political leadership realized that education reform is not just about teachers’ demands; it is about the future of hundreds of thousands of kids.

Nepal’s economy is showing signs of steady recovery and resilience, according to latest reports from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). While the outlook is positive, these institutions say the country still faces some serious hurdles that need to be addressed to maintain this momentum.

The World Bank’s Nepal Development Update (April 2025) has forecast economic growth of 4.5 percent for the current fiscal year, up from 3.9 percent last year. It expects average growth of 5.4 percent over the next two years. The World Bank has attributed this rise to improvements in the services sector, boosted by stronger domestic trade, rising imports and solid performance in hydropower and construction. The ADB’s Asian Development Outlook (April 2025) offers a similar but slightly lower estimate of 4.4 percent growth. It highlights increased hydropower production and better agricultural output—especially in paddy farming—as key drivers of the growth. Both institutions have said that Nepal has managed to bounce back well, despite challenges like natural disasters and travel disruptions caused by the upgrade of Tribhuvan International Airport.

The NRB’s latest report supports this optimistic view. Inflation has eased to 3.85 percent in mid-March of 2025, down from 4.82 percent a year before—well below the central bank’s target. Foreign exchange reserves are healthy, enough to cover more than 17 months of merchandise imports and 14 months of merchandise and services imports, while exports are up by 57.2 percent. These indicators suggest that the country’s economic fundamentals are becoming more stable.

The growth prospects, however, are not without risks. The World Bank has warned that global issues, such as political conflicts, rising prices, and heavy dependence on remittances and tourism, could affect Nepal’s growth. It also said the FATF greylisting has hampered Nepal’s efforts to access international capital markets after having a BB- country rating. The ADB added that ongoing tariff rises may cause a global economic downturn, affecting Nepal’s tourism receipts and remittances, and lower foreign aid could negatively impact growth as Nepal relies on foreign aid to finance development needs. 

The government must prioritize reforms and enhance its spending efficiency to maintain this momentum. Promoting private sector growth through clearer laws and regulations, bolstering the financial system, harnessing hydropower potential, and upgrading tourism infrastructure could generate employment opportunities and lessen dependence on remittances. Similarly, the government should act swiftly to implement the Financial Action Task Force’s recommendations to secure Nepal’s removal from the ‘gray list.’ Failure to address this could lead to severe repercussions.

Oftentimes, it appears that Nepal’s prolonged peace process is getting nowhere, that it has forgotten the victims of a decade-long war that left behind a trail of deaths, destruction and disappearances. After the cessation of hostilities between the then Maoist rebels and the government and signing of a comprehensive peace accord on 21 Nov 2006, much water has flown down the perennial rivers of Nepal. The period since then has witnessed developments like the entry of the Maoists into the mainstream politics, the declaration of the country as a federal secular democratic republic (28 May 2008), completion of the disarmament process of the Maoist army (2012) and the promulgation of a constitution through a Constituent Assembly (2015) in its second term.

These developments notwithstanding, transitional justice remains as a sticking point.

Why would it not? After all, according to estimates, more than 17,000 Nepalis died in the decade-long war, many sustained injuries, hundreds became victims of enforced disappearances and infrastructure worth billions of rupees vaporized, literally, pushing Nepal decades back in terms of development.

In the hearts of the victims and their relatives sits a fear. The victims fear that the leaders of the three major political parties—the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and the CPN(Maoist Center)—won’t bother to address their concerns, that the top brass will make a compromise to serve their petty interests and save their heads instead.

It is a given that no amount of ‘justice’ can bring a life back, no amount of ‘justice’ can heal the wounds of a war.

That fact aside, the victims have been demanding that there should be no amnesty in cases of heinous crimes like murder, rape and indiscriminate killings.

Against this backdrop, CPN (Maoist Center) Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, addressing an interaction on transitional justice in Kathmandu on Thursday, said there never was and will never be a disagreement among the three major parties on taking the remaining tasks of the peace process to a logical conclusion.

He stressed the need to give topmost priority when it comes to delivering justice to the victims, pointing out at the passage of the Truth and Reconciliation Bill and the formation of a recommendation committee for giving shape to a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

 Past assurances of justice for the victims have proved hollow, stressing a crying need to walk the talk, which may be easier said than done. The top political leadership would do well to not ignore the victims’ concerns.