Showing posts with label Nepal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nepal. Show all posts

🚩 Reality of Indo-China tensions🚩@ ✒GBG⚔

1.  Indo-China scuffles in Doklam  and Galwan can not be looked at in isolation, but as a collection of  many  events in the past.  Media or political Jingoism alone won't suffice as response to these unfortunate incidents..

2. The fact is that India is at a  greatly disadvantageous position on its borders today, courtesy political and diplomatic mishandling of ground realities,  and this singular reality can not be ignored.

3.    Western Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan, Northern and Eastern Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China and BD is disputed, or unsettled, at not one but many places. India is surrounded on all sides with nations, with which  it has had, full scale wars, aswellas countless border skirmishes.

4.  Pakistan and China are in any case swords drawn with India, perpetually, but now BD and SL aswell are under heavy Chinese influence, and not friends with India the way it was expected.

5.  Nepal was the only saving grace, but now they too are daggers drawn with India. Some things that we can not ignore are-

  a). Nepal has recast it's map with India, where they have claimed Kalapani area as their's,  along with some other areas. The new Nepali map has been aproved by Nepal's parliament. Let's not forget that India and Nepal share almost an 1800 kms long border, and a hugely increased Chinese influence  in Nepal, directly means,  'No more open border ' with Nepal.

b). Nepal is under, an absolute debt trap of China. China has the power to buy every Nepali politician, ten times over without even missing a wink. Post Madhesi   political messup, where India unecessarielly  tried playing the uncalled for big brother,  Nepal, under Chinese  patronage, has decided to punch India, where it hurts.

c).  Be surprised, but this is true. Nepal has made , studying Mandarin, or Chinese language, mandatory/compulsory in all its schools, for all its students. The teachers teaching Chinese in Nepal will be  paid by Chinese government. In other words,  like it or not, now onwards Nepal will have a Chinese employee, in all its educational institutes, teaching Chinese aswellas monitoring the schools.

d).   No one can ignore the fact that Nepal has a communist government, and Mr. Sharma O-Lee, of Nepal, is happy riding the Chinese Toy train of happy hallucinations. So expecting any favours from Nepal is stupidity.

e).  The Chinese road initiatives in Nepal, Pakistan and BD, are in full swing, and China has invested in all new major development projects in Nepal.

f).  Gurkha's from Nepal and India are a huge part of Indian army, huge enough to unbalance all equations in any war scenario, if their 'son of soil' spirit  is awakened against India, in favour of Nepal.

6.  In India, anti government sentiment is very high, post-inflation, post-slowdown, post-increased unemployment and post-Covid. So any one guessing that  post-Covid, China needs to humor it's people, is only amusing himself, knowing fully well that China is a single party system with no elections in sight, where as India is going in to elections in Bengal and Bihar both.

7.  Pakistan,  is at its belligerent worst,  post-India having abrogated Article 370 in Kashmir. As a result  Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK), is saturated with anti-India operatives.

8.  Thus overall, India needs to  pick it's cards more carefully, as it has not dealt its own self with aces, but jokers, who are relying too much on an American Trump Card, which today looks more bogus then ever before.

9.  Let's also look at the armed forces of China and India. China has over 20 lakh troops  in active military service compared to 13 lakh on the Indian side. Its defence budget is $ 225 billion as compared to India's $ 55 billion. China has 13,000 tanks compared to India’s 4,100 plus, and has 40,000 armoured fighting vehicles compared to India's  2800.  China has 2050 rocket projectors against India’s 266. It has  76 submarines against  16 owned by India, and has 33 destroyer ships  compared to 11 owned by us. China has a much larger number of a wide ranged ballistic missiles, ranging from short-range to Inter-continental (ICBMs). It also has hundreds of tactical nuclear warheads. China  also has  highly developed chemical and biological weapons, like viruses, gases and laser cannons. It has 3,000 plus  aircrafts against over 2,000 in the Indian fleet. What is noteworthy is that China has double the number of fighters and interceptors. China is also way ahead in number of 'Attack Hepters', and the noteworthy fact is that China manufacturers its own military hardware, where as India's dependency on others is very high.

10.  In the above stated circumstances, What choices India has, is quite evidently clear. There is only  one way forward, and that is beating China at it's own game, by striking it hard, decisively, and deep within.

11.  Do our politicans have the strategic acumen to do so, and do our generals have the courage. As per the men and field officers of armed forces  are concerned, they will not let India down, as proven by the Brave Colonel and his Men in Galwan. So what say you, Mr. Political Leader, as far as we are concerned, we are more than ready to face the enemy.
🚩 Jai Hind🚩
✒Guru Balwant Gurunay.⚔

🚩River Mahakali and other Indo Nepal territorial disputes🚩 © @✒GBG⚔


1.  River Sharda is in news. Some folks are suggesting that the plan to link it with Yamuna has been mooted by the present government.   Linking River Sharda  in Nepal  with Yamuna, was infact originally formulated by the Water Resource Ministry in the year 1980 for inter-basin transfer of water. So nothing new here.

2. When talking of river Sharda, we have to also remember  to go into some more details on this river, aswellas some outstanding indo-Nepal disputes.

3.  River Sharda is  known as river Mahakali in the upper Indo-Nepal regions. It marks the western boundary of Nepal with India and is disputed at places.   Its a 350 km long river, starting from a pond close to a Mahakali temple, in KalaPani region,  and ends as it merges in Ghagra river in U.P.

4.  The river has a great hydroelectric potential as  in its 350km run, the river  in the Kalapani region,  descends from 3,600 metres (11,800 ft) where it begins to 200 metres (660 ft), as it enters the Terai plains, to finally merge in to river Ghagra.

5.  Sharda  is a part of Gangetic  river system. Sharda or Mahakali has a  basin size of 18,140 square kilometers. Its main left ributaries falling in from Nepal are  Chameliya and Ramgun, whereas its right  tributaries falling in from Indian Uttarakhand are Kuti, Dhauli, Gori, Sarju, Ladhiya. Going by this India has  a strong claim to the river's waters.

6.  All though, agreeing to water management sharing, Nepal puts a spoke in the process every time after initially agreeing to linking the river's waters with Yamuna. If done, not only will the Yamuna flow clean, but even the Ghagra floods would be subdued, but India being the main beneficiary of it, Nepal seems less interested, as it even disputes the river, as an international boundary at places

7.   There are in general 3 major disputed areas  betwen Nepal and India, as per Nepal. These are....
     (i). Parts of KalaPani region on Indo Nepal border.  Although Nepal  claims it as a part of their Darchula District, the region  is controlled by India's Indo-Tibetan border security force.  Nepal claims that the river to the west of Kalapani is main MahaKali river,  hence it belongs to Nepal. But India claims that ridgeline to the east of Kalapani, which marks the catchment area of the river,  is the border, hence  Kalapani area belongs to India. Kalapani region contains parts of Nepal's Mahakali  region and parts of the Indian state of Uttarakhand.
     (ii).  Susta Region:-  Susta region has an area totaling over 14,000 hectars / 140 Sq Kms and is administered by  Indian Army.  It lies between Tribeni-Susta area of  Nepal and Nichaul areas of Uttar Pradesh, India.
     (¡¡¡). LipuLekh Pass, a Himalayan  pass at a height of  5,200m/17,060ft on the borders of Uttarakhand and Tibet, is also strangely disputed by Nepal. This Himalayan Pass near the tripoint town of Taklakot (Purang) has been used since ancient times by traders, mendicants and pilgrims transiting between India and Tibet, and even by some  Manasarovar pilgrims. China controls the northern slopes of this pass where as India controls the southern side of the pass.

8. Thus  to see Nepal as a no-nuisance buffer state betwen India and China could be a big mistake. With increasing Chinese influence, Nepal can any day start acting as the 'Dragon's Claw'.

9.   Although, some folks are celebrating the Indian initiative of providing Nepal, a better Road and Water Way access to Nepal till Calcutta, and even help set a Rail link till Dhaka, reference the Indo-Nepal summit,  we can  not ignore that, 100% goods coming for Nepal to calcutta port, come from China. China is the manufacturer aswellas the seller. Nepal is the buyer and consumer. Thus by doing what we are doing, we are only  facilitating the Chinese goods to reach Nepalese markets.

10.  In light of the above,  it should be very clear, that Nepal is a direct gainer in this complete deal, and China is the the main beneficiary, from this deal.

11.  Although if in return for all this, we can get rolling the projects on linking Sharda with Yamuna Through Shivaliks, it would be an extremly fortunate step for India, but I dont see it coming forth so soon, as Nepal seems to be playing the Monkey betwen Indian and Chinese cats.
🚩तत्त सत्त अकाल🚩
© ✒ Guru Balwant Gurunay. ⚔

CRISIS IN NEPAL

Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal , the youngest democracy on our earth, is a landlocked country, bordered to the north by the China, and bordered by India on its east south and west. With an area of 147,181 square kilometers and a population of approximately 30 million, in terms of land mass it is the 93rd largest countryin the world. Kathmandu is its capital and the country's largest metropolitan.
Nepal is a country of highly diverse and rich geography, culture, and religions. The mountainous north of Nepal contains eight of the world's ten highest mountains, including the highest,
Mount Everest. Hinduism and Buddhism are the main religions, Christianity has also spread its wings here. There are more then 300 churches in Nepal. Its recent past may be summed up from the days of Prithvi Narayan Shah, a Shah Dynasty king, who unified the many small kingdoms in 1768 and had formed a monarchy. In may 2008 the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) , the Congress Party of Nepal, The Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Marxist Leninist- (CPN-UML) and all other political parties of Nepal jointly overthrew the last king of Nepal Gyanendra Shah and established Nepal as a federal democratic republic. Dr. Ram Baran Yadav was sworn in as the first President of Nepal on 23 July, 2008 and Mr Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known as Prachanda was sworn in as the Prime Minister.
The back ground of the present crisis in Nepal, goes back to a decade of Maoist insurgency, with the army playing a pivotal role in trying to suppress it. The crisis began over the integration of, over 19,000 former Maoist rebel fighters now confined to UN-supervised barracks, into Nepal's regular army. Another issue between the Maoists defence minister and the army was that the defence minister had put eight generals in for retirement despite requests from the army headquarters to extend their term by another three years. The generals challenged the government decision in the court, which ordered that they be reinstated. Prachanda who led the Maoist moment from the forefront also wanted to place some of his leading guerilla Maoist colleagues in higher positions in Nepal army. This was opposed by the chief of the Nepali army Gen. Rupmangat Katuwal, as it would have jeopardized the disciplined hierarchy of the army as well as threatened its secular fiber. It was also seen by the Chief of Nepal's army, and many of his senior colleagues, as a move by the Maoists to tactically infiltrate in to the higher command structure of army, and than totally Maoise the army. This could easily have become the ground for some later coup by the pro China Maoist guerillas taking complete control of Nepal army and Nepal per se, there by destroying the youngest democracy before even it could have found its feet.


The dispute got ablaze when the Maoist Prime Minister, Prachanda and his defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa got cheesed off with General Rupmangat Katuwal , the army chief, for not complying to their demads of including the Maoist guerillas in the fresh 3000 plus men recruited in to the Nepal army. Over this issue a show cause notice was issued to the general, and on the grounds of the reply of the general not being satisfactory, the Prime minister summarily fired him from the top post of the Nepal Army.
The real twist in the tail came when Nepal's President, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav, a member of the main opposition party, told the general not to quit and wait till the prime ministers diktat gets the approval of the house, thus setting a good tradition for the young democracy. Prachanda knowing well that the house is not with him on this issue decided to resign, both as a democratic move, as well as a face saving move. Even the deputy Prime Minister Bam Dev Gautam, who leads the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist party (CPN-UML), stated that Prachanda’s move was against his advice. He had Said, "We had sought consensus on the issue but the Maoists have gone ahead and decided to take matters into their own hands, our position is very clear, the action on the army chief must be in accordance with the consensus of all parties in the parliament."
He even threatened that his party which has 110 members in the house will quit the Government if the army chief was sacked. AS a result the army chief is back in his seat, and hopefully the demcratic ethos shall prevail in Nepal.
Now Nepal is once more facing a crisis but it is not as big as the insurgency. If handled well it is a great opportunity for the pro-democratic forces in Nepal to join hands in safeguarding the true interests of Nepal, and save the country from being hijacked by pro China forces and save it from becoming another Tibet.
All along this crisis, Gen, Rup mangat Katuwal , the Nepal army chief has proved that he is a true Gurkha, and a true soldier who faced this crisis boldly, and gracefully, thus upholding the great traditions of chivalry, and soldiering. Bravo General !!!!!!!!! Nepal and all its true well wishers are proud of you. Well done Mr. President, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav and Mr. Bam Dev Gautam for upholding the values of true democracy.


Hoping and wishing that the people of Nepal get to enjoy the democracy they have got.
CIAO

by........ Balwant Gurunay, Mba, PgPr.