Nepal SC asks govt to furnish country’s historical map relating to Kalapani border issue - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Nepal SC asks govt to furnish country’s historical map relating to Kalapani border issue.

Nepal has raised objections after India released its new political map in November last year following the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir. Nepal claimed that Limpiyadhura, Lipulek, and Kalapani areas were shown under India's territory.

Nepal’s Supreme Court has sought within 15 days the country’s original map exchanged with India during the signing of the Sugauli Treaty in 1816 after a petition seeking the apex court’s intervention to secure the Nepali territory. A single bench of Justice Hari Prasad Phuyal demanded the map from the Nepal government in response to the public interest litigation filed by a senior advocate who appealed to the Supreme Court to order the government to start political and diplomatic efforts to protect Nepali territories.

Nepal has raised objections after India released its new political map in November last year following the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir. Nepal claimed that Limpiyadhura, Lipulek, and Kalapani areas were shown under India’s territory even though they lie within the Nepalese territory. India has said the new map accurately depicts its sovereign territory and it has in no manner revised its boundary with Nepal.
Nepalese territories including Darjeeling were handed to the British East India Company as concessions under the Sugauli treaty which was signed in 1816 on the conclusion of the Anglo-Nepalese War.
Under the treaty, the Nepalese-controlled territory that was ceded included all areas that the king of Nepal had won in earlier wars such as the kingdom of Sikkim in the east and Kumaon and Garhwal in the west.
Although the Supreme court order was issued on Monday, the text of the order was issued only on Wednesday. The Supreme Court bench asked the government to furnish a written response along with a copy of the Sugauli Treaty-era map of Nepal within 15 days.
The apex court has also asked the authorities to furnish other official maps either exchanged with various countries or with international organizations including the United Nations while applying for obtaining their membership.
The government has also been directed to submit the original map exchanged while signing a Boundary Treaty with the Indian government in 1960, the map published by the East-India Company on February 1, 1827, and a separate map published by the British Government in 1847.
The court has also asked the government to submit details of efforts made, if any, for amending the map of Nepal. The bench stated that the hearings on the PIL will be conducted in tandem with another similar petition filed by another advocate.
Meanwhile, the Kathmandu Post reported that Nepal has proposed foreign secretary-level talks with India in mid-January on the boundary issue.


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Nepal SC asks govt to furnish country’s historical map relating to Kalapani border issue

Bangladesh, Nepal ahead of India as growth in South Asia slows down: World Bank report - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Bangladesh, Nepal ahead of India as growth in South Asia slows down: World Bank report.

• Growth in South Asia is projected to fall to 5.9 % in 2019, down 1.1 percentage points from April 2019 estimates
• Imports have declined severely across South Asia
Bangladesh and Nepal are estimated to grow faster than India in 2019, according to the World Bank, which said that overall growth in South Asia is projected to slow down this fiscal in line with a global downward trend.
Pakistan's growth rate is projected to deteriorate further to a mere 2.4 % this fiscal year, as monetary policy remains tight, and the planned fiscal consolidation will compress domestic demand, it said.

Growth in South Asia is projected to fall to 5.9 % in 2019, down 1.1 percentage points from April 2019 estimates, casting uncertainty about a rebound in the short term, the World Bank said in its latest report.
The latest edition of the South Asia Economic Focus, Making (De)centralization Work, finds that strong domestic demand, which propped high growth in the past, has weakened, driving a slowdown across the region.
Imports have declined severely across South Asia, contracting between 15 and 20 % in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
In India, domestic demand has slipped, with private consumption growing 3.1 % in the last quarter from 7.3 % a year ago, while manufacturing growth plummeted to below 1 % in the second quarter of 2019 compared to over 10 % a year ago.
"Declining industrial production and imports, as well as tensions in the financial markets reveal a sharp economic slowdown in South Asia," said Hartwig Schafer, World Bank Vice President for the South Asia Region.
"As global and domestic uncertainties cloud the region's economic outlook, South Asian countries should pursue stimulating economic policies to boost private consumption and beef up investments," he said.
The report noted that South Asia's current economic slowdown echoes the decelerating growth and trade slumps of 2008 and 2012.
With that context in mind, the report remains cautiously optimistic that a slight rebound in investment and private consumption could jumpstart South Asia’s growth up to 6.3 % in 2020, slightly above East Asia and the Pacific and 6.7 % in 2021.
In a focus section, the report highlights how, as their economies become more sophisticated, South Asian countries have made decentralisation a priority to improve the delivery of public services.
"Decentralisation in South Asia has yet to deliver on its promises and, if not properly managed, can degenerate into fragmentation," said Hans Timmer, World Bank Chief Economist for the South Asia Region.
"To make decentralisation work for their citizens, we encourage South Asian central governments to allocate their resources judiciously, create incentives to help local communities compete in integrated markets, and provide equal opportunities to their people," Timmer said.
In India, growth is projected to fall to 6.0 this fiscal year. Growth is then expected to gradually recover to 6.9 % in fiscal year 2021 and to 7.2 % in the following year.
In Bangladesh, the real GDP growth is estimated at 8.1 % in 2019, up from 7.9 % in 2018, the report said, adding that the country's growth is projected at 7.2 % in 2020 and 7.3 % in 2021.
The garment industry of Bangladesh has benefitted immensely from the ongoing trade tensions between the US and China, Timmer said.
"In general, what we see in high frequency data is that Bangladesh is doing better than the rest of the region, especially than India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. We see that in industrial production, we see that in exports," he said.
"So that confirms the story that has been told now many times that the garment industry in Bangladesh is doing very well and very likely that industry has benefited from the trade tensions between the US and China. Interestingly, it's not just to the US or China, but also to other countries that they have very strong export performance," Timmer said.
In Nepal, GDP growth is projected to average 6.5 % over this and next fiscal year, backed by strong services and construction activity due to rising tourist arrivals and higher public spending.
In Afghanistan, with improved farming conditions and assuming political stability after the elections, growth is expected to recover and reach 3 % in 2020 and 3.5 % in 2021. In Bhutan, GDP growth is expected to jump to 7.4 % this fiscal year. In Maldives, growth is expected to reach 5.2 % in 2019.
In Sri Lanka, growth is expected to soften to 2.7 % in 2019. However, supported by recovering investment and exports, as the security challenges and political uncertainty of last year dissipate, it is projected to reach 3.3 % in 2020 and 3.7 % in 2021.
"Pakistan's economy is slowing as the country passes through yet another macroeconomic crisis with high twin deficits and low international reserves. With an IMF Extended Fund Facility supported stabilization program in place, growth is expected to remain low in the near-term," the report said.
"Obviously, the tensions are problematic for the whole region, but as we set off a year ago, the lack of integration into international markets is not just because of a lack of regional integration. Like India, Pakistan is underperforming in all markets and in the world," Timmer said.


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Bangladesh, Nepal ahead of India as growth in South Asia slows down: World Bank report.

India, Nepal, Bhutan plan joint task force to protect wildlife - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

India, Nepal, Bhutan plan joint task force to protect wildlife.

Kanchenjunga Landscape, spread across the countries, to be monitored.

The governments of India, Nepal and Bhutan are actively considering having a joint task force for allowing free movement of wildlife across political boundaries and checking smuggling of wildlife across the Kanchenjunga Landscape, a trans-boundary region spread across Nepal, India and Bhutan.

The developments comes up after forest officials and representatives of non-government organisation of the three countries visited parts of the landscape and later held a meeting at Siliguri in north Bengal earlier this month.
Participants from India and Bhutan who attended the meeting told The Hinduthat setting up of a joint task force was a key requirement in the road map on achieving the objectives of free movement of wildlife and checking smuggling of wildlife.
The landscape stretches along the southern side of Mount Kanchenjunga covers an area of 25,080 sq km spread across parts of eastern Nepal (21%), Sikkim and West Bengal (56%) and western and south-western parts of Bhutan (23%).
From India, Ravinkanta Sinha, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, West Bengal participated in the meeting, whereas Nepal was represented by G.P. Bhattarai, Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation of that country. The Bhutanese delegation was led by Tashi Tobgyel, Department of Forest and Park Services, Bhutan. Representatives of South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network, an inter-governmental wildlife law enforcement agency, which held its first ever meeting in India in May 2018, were also present during the meeting.
Severe loss
According to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development ( ICIMOD), a regional knowledge development and learning centre, 1,118 sq km of riverine grassland and tree cover were lost in the landscape between 2000 and 2010. 74 % of the area was converted into rangeland and 26% to agricultural land.
Other than seven million people, the Kanchenjunga Landscape is also home to 169 species of mammals and 713 species of birds.
Studies by the ICIMOD suggest that between 1986 and 2015, as many as 425 people were killed by elephants (an average of 14 human deaths every year) and 144 elephants were killed between 1958 and 2013 (an average of three elephants every year).
S.P. Pandey of SPOAR, a north Bengal-based wildlife organisation, who also participated in the discussion, said that every few months there were cases of elephants, rhino and gaurs and other mammals crossing over political boundaries, triggering panic among locals across the border and also posing danger to the wildlife.


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India, Nepal, Bhutan plan joint task force to protect wildlife.

Nepal is set to become the first country to double its wild tiger population - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Nepal is set to become the first country to double its wild tiger population.

On the occasion of National Conservation Day today, Nepal announced that there are now an estimated 235 wild tigers in the country, nearly doubling the baseline of around 121 tigers in 2009. If these trends continue, Nepal could become the first country to double its national tiger population since the ambitious TX2 goal – to double the world’s wild tiger population by 2022 – was set at the St Petersburg Tiger Summit in 2010.

“Our commitment to the Global Tiger Recovery Programme gains new ground with Nepal’s growing tiger numbers and a successful implementation of Nepal’s Tiger Conservation Action Plan,” stated Bishwa Nath Oli, Secretary of the Ministry of Forests and Environment. “Protecting tigers is a top priority of the government, and we are thankful for the able support of our partners, enforcement agencies, local communities and the international community for a common purpose.”
Nepal conducted its national tiger survey between November 2017 and April 2018 in the transboundary Terai Arc Landscape (TAL), a vast area of diverse ecosystems shared with India. Camera traps and occupancy surveys were used to estimate tiger occupancy and abundance, while line transect surveys were used to derive prey density. The last tiger survey in 2013 had estimated the tiger population at 198.
“This significant increase in Nepal’s tiger population is proof that when we work together, we can save the planet’s wildlife – even species facing extinction,” said Leonardo DiCaprio, WWF-US board member and chairman of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, which has funded tiger conservation in Nepal’s Bardia National Park and elsewhere since 2010.
“Nepal has been a leader in efforts to double tigers within its own borders and serves as a model for conservation for all of Asia and the world. I am proud of my foundation’s partnership with WWF to support Nepal and local communities in doubling the population of wild tigers.”
The success in Nepal has been largely attributed to the country's political commitment and the adoption of innovative tools and approaches towards tiger conservation. Nepal was the first country to achieve global standards in managing tiger conservation areas, an accreditation scheme governed by the Conservation Assured Tiger Standards (CA|TS). With four more years to go, the TX2 goal of doubling tiger numbers globally can only be achieved if all the tiger range countries step up and commit to a similar level of excellence.
Have you read?
• There could be a new 'Asian Tiger'. Here's why
• These 'human interceptors' in Nepal are catching traffickers. Here's how
• What’s next for Nepal’s economy?
In May this year, Nepal celebrated a new benchmark with the achievement of 365 days of zero poaching of rhinos on five occasions between 2011 and 2018. This is another excellent example of real conservation change that can be achieved when a country unites and coordinates the efforts of the government, enforcement agencies, conservation partners and local communities.
“Every tiger counts, for Nepal and for the world,” stated Dr. Ghana S Gurung, Country Representative, WWF-Nepal. “While Nepal is but a few tigers away from our goal to double tiger numbers by 2022, it also underscores the continued need to ensure protection, and improved and contiguous habitats for the long-term survival of the species.”
The tiger and prey-base survey was led by the Government of Nepal’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation and Department of Forests, in partnership with WWF-Nepal, National Trust for Nature Conservation and Zoological Society of London (ZSL) Nepal. It was funded by WWF, ZSL Nepal, National Trust for Nature Conservation, USAID’s Hariyo Ban Program II, KfW/IUCN, Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, Panthera and WildCats Conservation Alliance.


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Nepal is set to become the first country to double its wild tiger population.

Nepal refuses to participate in first BIMSTEC joint military exercise - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Nepal refuses to participate in first BIMSTEC joint military exercise.

The field training exercise will be conducted between September 10 and 16 at the Foreign Training Node at Aundh in Pune.

Nepal will not participate in the week-long joint military exercise of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) countries beginning Tuesday in Pune.

The withdrawal of the Nepal Army from the event — a first-of-its-kind in BIMSTEC history which is yet to be announced officially — comes in the wake of stringent criticism from the ruling and opposition parties in the country, warning Nepal Prime Minister K P Oli that the move would go against the country’s history of following a policy of keeping equal distance from its neighbours, without ever being part of a regional bloc militarily.
A senior official in the Nepal Army, who did not want to be identified, said the last minute decision of the army to “cancel” its participation came after an oral instruction from Oli, barely a day before a group of five officials and 30 junior personnel from the country were set to leave for Pune. The contingent was to leave Friday night.
The issue had dominated the discourse in Nepal parliament and media, after PM Narendra Modi at the recent BIMSTEC summit held in Kathmandu had requested the member states to join the joint military exercise.
The field training exercise will be conducted between September 10 and 16 at the Foreign Training Node at Aundh in Pune. Armies of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand and Nepal were to participate in it.


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Nepal refuses to participate in first BIMSTEC joint military exercise.

Nepal first country in south-east Asia to eliminate trachoma: WHO - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis

Nepal first country in south-east Asia to eliminate trachoma: WHO.

Nepal has become the first country in south-east Asia to eliminate trachoma, world's leading cause of preventable blindness of infectious origin, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a statement today.

Nepal's achievement is commendable and results from a strong political commitment, intense community engagement and impressive leadership demonstrated by civil society," said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia Region.
Trachoma was the second leading cause of preventable blindness in the Himalayan nation in the 1980s.
It is a big step towards the health of everyone and comes at a time when Nepal accelerates its fight against other neglected tropical diseases as well," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said.
A letter acknowledging the validation was presented to Nepal's Minister of State for Health and Population, Padma Kumari Aryal yesterday by Singh and Ghebreyesus at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, where the World Health Assembly is in session.
In 2002, the Government of Nepal had stepped up the efforts to eliminate trachoma with the establishment of a national trachoma programme. The prevalence of active (inflammatory) trachoma in the country fell by 40 per cent following the implementation of sustained control activities from 2002 to 2005, the WHO statement said.
The Nepal government, through the ministry of water supply and sanitation, provided incentives to local communities and districts to build and maintain latrines, measures that were crucial to improve sanitation and reduce the disease carrying flies.
The national trachoma programme in that country also collaborated with the ministry of education to include a module on trachoma in the school curriculum, the statement said.
In 1998, the World Health Assembly had resolved to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem.
Trachoma is a chlamydial infection which happens due to lack of hygiene, unclean water supply and can spread by contact with eye, nose, or throat secretions of a person suffering from the disease or indirectly via flies. The infection is particularly common among children.
The disease puts more than 190 million people in 41 countries at the risk of blindness. It is responsible for the blindness or visual impairment of around 1.9 million people worldwide. (Source: The Business Standard)

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Nepal first country in south-east Asia to eliminate trachoma: WHO.