Submit your Article

Over the past few months, Nepal and India have stepped up engagement on multiple fronts, including long-overdue meetings of bilateral mechanisms. While the exact date of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s visit to New Delhi is yet to be finalized, Indian officials confirm that preparations are underway, and the visit is likely to take place before Dashain. India has also been engaging with a wide cross-section of Nepali society in the lead-up.

Nepal-India relations faced significant turbulence, especially after 2015, which strained bilateral ties. However, in recent months, both sides appear to be moving toward a reset. Kathmandu and New Delhi have now prioritized economic and development partnerships over longstanding contentious issues.

Two key unresolved matters, the map row and the report prepared by the Eminent Persons’ Group (EPG), remain sensitive. While political parties such as the Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Centre), and various Madhes-based parties have largely shelved the EPG issue, some CPN-UML leaders continue to raise it, albeit with less intensity.

India’s renewed outreach to Kathmandu comes amid a shifting regional context: Donald Trump’s inauguration and subsequent US aid cuts to Nepal, political developments in Bangladesh, and a brief but deadly India-Pakistan conflict. In late July, New Delhi hosted an all-party delegation of Nepali members of parliament. According to the Indian readout, the discussions centered on expanding the multifaceted bilateral partnership.

On July 28 and 29, the seventh meeting of the India-Nepal Boundary Working Group (BWG) was held in New Delhi. The BWG had been inactive since 2019 due to the map dispute. Although this meeting did not address contentious territorial issues, both sides adopted updated modalities for inspecting, repairing, and maintaining boundary pillars, and agreed to expedite work in these areas. They also finalized a three-year work plan and committed to using advanced technologies for boundary-related tasks.

In the third week of July, the home secretary-level meeting between the two countries covered the full spectrum of bilateral security cooperation and border management. The two sides finalized the text of an agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters. They also agreed to work toward the early conclusion of a revised extradition treaty, another longstanding and sensitive issue.

India also launched a collaborative initiative in partnership with the UN World Food Programme to support rice fortification and supply chain management in Nepal. The project aims to address gaps in Nepal’s fortified rice supply chain, particularly in procurement, data collection, and human resource capacity, through knowledge exchange with India’s successful public distribution system. It offers Nepali stakeholders the chance to learn from India’s experience in applying digital technologies to food logistics.

Speaking at a public event this week, foreign affairs expert Mohan Lohani, as quoted by the Press Trust of India, said that India is advancing rapidly in economic growth, development, and technological innovation. “Nepal should try to benefit from the progress made by our southern neighbor,” he said.

Another foreign policy expert, Nischal Nath Pandey, advised Prime Minister Oli to travel overland for his New Delhi visit, arguing that it would allow him to observe India’s significant progress in infrastructure, especially road transport.” During the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has made remarkable progress in development and road connectivity, and Nepal should learn from the experiences gained by India,” Pandey said.

As preparations for Prime Minister Oli’s India visit continue, both sides are working to finalize a major project or agreement to be announced during his meeting with Prime Minister Modi. Government officials suggest that resolving issues related to the long-pending Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project could be one such announcement. According to sources, the Indian side has conveyed that when the two prime ministers meet, a substantial breakthrough should be unveiled.

The CPN-Maoist Center has decided to merge with the Communist Party of Nepal led by Netra Bikram Chand 'Biplab’.

A Standing Committee meeting of the Maoist Center held at the party office in Parisdanda on Monday decided to unite with the Chand-led party.

Bagmati Province Chief Minister Bahadur Singh Lama has resigned from the post today.

Chief Minister Lama through his chief personal secretary, Chhatra Bahadur Lama, submitted his resignation to the Office of the Province Chief.  

Spokesperson at the Office of the Province Chief, Devendra Sapkota, shared that the personal secretary of Chief Minister Lama reached the Office of the Province Chief, Hetauda, and submitted the CM Lama's resignation letter.

With this, a process for the selection of a new chief minister will begin soon, he said. 

“Probably, Province Chief Deepak Prasad Devkota would initiate the process for the selection of the new chief minister today itself", added Sapkota. 

The Ministry of Finance held a discussion with the Ministry of Health and Population regarding the implementation of the budget for the current fiscal year, 2025/26.

During the meeting, the Ministry of Health and Population proposed the recruitment of an additional 2,100 healthcare professionals including doctors and nurses at the federal level to support the expansion of specialized services to the province levels and the upgrading of federal hospitals, according to the Secretariat of Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Bishnu Prasad Paudel.

Minister for Health and Population, Pradip Paudel, voiced the critical need for increasing the healthcare workforce to extend services to the province levels and to enhance the overall efficiency and quality of healthcare delivery.

The meeting also discussed various issues, including the national health insurance scheme, social security measures, the provision of free medicines for children, the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the proposed Bir Hospital facility in Duwakot of Bhaktapur, and challenges related to burn treatment services.