News

India-Nepal ties are back on track

Published

5 years ago

2020/11/12

Sahan Weerasooriya

Foreign Secretary to visit Kathmandu on Nov 26

BY S VENKAT NARAYAN

Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, November 10:

Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla will visit Nepal this month-end for the delayed formal dialogue between the two countries, according to informed sources.

Analysts see this as a sign that New Delhi is willing to go an extra mile to improve bilateral ties that had nosedived earlier this year.

The decision to send the foreign secretary comes days after Indian Army Chief General M.M Naravane’s visit to Kathmandu, during which he was conferred the honorary rank of general of Nepali Army.

When Gen Naravane met Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, the latter had underscored that the two countries could resolve all problems between them through dialogue since India and Nepal have a long-standing special relationship.

Oli had faced resistance within his cabinet to Gen Naravane’s visit but had dealt with it, by taking over the defence portfolio from deputy prime minister Ishwar Pokhrel.

Gen Naravane’s visit was crucial, because he was the first one within the Indian government to react to protests by Nepal’s government over a border road India built in Uttarakhand. In May, he had said it was very possible that Nepal had raised the issue at someone else’s behest. The remark was interpreted to imply that Beijing could have prodded Nepal to create a new boundary dispute with India.

People familiar with the discussions said Prime Minister Oli did make a pointed reference to the fallout of the row over Nepal’s political map, describing it as a “misunderstanding”. At the same time, he did underline that Nepal takes its sovereignty very seriously, a remark that is being seen in New Delhi to explain his decision to issue a fresh political map.

During his two-day visit on November 26 and 27, Shringla hold meetings with his counterpart Bharat Raj Paudyal (who took charge just last month) and Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali. He will call on President Bidhya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister Oli.

Shringla’s conversations in Nepal are also expected to lead both sides to finalise the schedule for the meeting of the Joint Technical Level Boundary Committee.

“This is not a single-agenda visit,” a senior diplomat said. The visit could see India committing to help Nepal with coronavirus vaccines once its production starts. The two sides will also discuss the revival of the Pancheshwar multi-purpose project on river Mahakali as well as other hydro-electric projects.

India had been holding off on Harsh Shringla’s visit for most of this year to convey New Delhi’s displeasure over the communist government’s move to issue a new political map that included the Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani areas from India’s Uttarakhand state. New Delhi had rejected the map, brushing away what it had said was Nepal’s effort at a cartographic expansion.

Nepal had been working at mollifying New Delhi for some time, and withdrew school textbooks that contained the new political map. Last month, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) Chief Samant Kumar Goel had done the groundwork for restoring ties during his visit to the Himalayan nation.

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News

Cabinet approves construction of new 300 bed Base Hospital in Deniyaya

Published

1 hour ago

2026/02/18

Priyan

The Cabinet of Ministers approved the resolution forwarded by the Minister of Health and Mass Media to relocate the Deniyaya Base Hospital after constructing a new hospital with a capacity of 300 beds at an estimated cost of Rupees 6,000 million.

The Southern Provincial Department of Health has acquired a plot of land in Handford estate which is approximately 03 kilometres away from the town for this purpose.

News

Cabinet nod to legally empower methodology for implementing the ‘Praja Shakthi’ poverty alleviation national movement

Published

2 hours ago

2026/02/18

Priyan

The Cabinet of Ministers granted approval for the resolution furnished by the Minister of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment to instruct the Legal Draftsman to draft a bill to legally empower the implementation of ‘Praja Shakthi’ (Strength of the Community) poverty alleviation national movement

News

NPP not under Indian pressure to hold PC polls – JVP

Published

2 hours ago

2026/02/18

Sahan Weerasooriya

Tilvin Silva

…preliminary work started on new Constitution

JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva yesterday (17) maintained that the NPP government was not under Indian pressure to hold the long delayed Provincial Council elections.

The top JVP official said so appearing on Sirasa Pathikada, anchored by Asoka Dias. Tilvin Silva said that neither the devolution nor terrorism issues had been discussed during his meeting with External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and Deputy National Security Advisor Pavan Kapoor, in New Delhi. This was Tilvin Silva’s first visit to India.

Declaring that politics hadn’t been on the agenda, the JVPer said that the Indian focus was entirely on economic development and technology.

The JVP General Secretary visited India under the Indian Council for Cultural Relations’ (ICCR) Distinguished Visitors Programme from 5-12 February 2026. General Secretary Silva was accompanied by Kitnan Selvaraj, MP, Ilankumaran Karunanathan, MP, JVP Central Committee Member Janaka Adhikari, JVP’s Media Unit Head Hemathilaka Gamage and Member of JVP’s International Relations Department Kalpana Madhubhashini. The delegation visited New Delhi, Ahmedabad and Thiruvananthapuram.

Responding to another query, Tilvin Silva said that Dr. S. Jaishankar had reiterated that India would always remain a true and trusted partner for Sri Lanka, in accordance with its ‘Neighbourhood First Policy’ and Vision ‘MAHASAGAR.’

Referring to the second JVP insurrection in the late 1980s, the JVPer claimed that they had not been against India but responded to the actions of the then Indian government.

Sri Lanka enacted the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in the wake of the Indo-Lanka peace accord of July 1987 to pave the way for Provincial Councils.

Tilvin Silva said that since they came to power, Indo-Sri Lanka relations had changed. “India has realised we could work together,” he said.

The JVP official said that preliminary work was underway, regarding the formulation of a new Constitution. The abolition of executive presidency and creation of an Office of President sans executive powers, too, would be addressed, he said, adding that the strengthening of the legislature was the other issue at hand.

Pointing out that the NPP had 2/3 majority in Parliament and could introduce a new Constitution on their own, Tilvin Silva said that they intended to obtain views of all and study the past processes in a bid to secure consensus. The JVP, as the party that campaigned against the introduction of executive presidency, way back in 1978, would lead the current effort to do away with the existing Constitution, he said.

Tilvin promised that they would implement what was in their manifesto.

The interviewer also raised the issue of abolishing the pensions for ex-Presidents. Tilvin Silva said that the Supreme Court, too, had approved the move to abolish pensions to ex-MPs. Therefore there was no issue with that, however, the ex-Presidents pensions couldn’t be done away with as they were made through the Constitution. That would be addressed when the government introduced a new Constitution in consultation with other stakeholders.

By Shamindra Ferdinando