NEW DELHI, July 25:
India, despite its deep engagement with Nepal, is facing many challenges—political, strategic and security—in the Himalayan state, but it would deal with the situation with patience and understanding, and would wait for the outcome of the political churning that is taking place in the country.
India is taking even some antagonistic voices from the country in its stride, giving concession to the psyche of a very small nation heavily dependent on it—a psyche that could easily be exploited by vested interests.
The view in the official circles here is that India has a very unique and special relationship with Nepal, a society that is very complex and diverse, and one has to be very careful and very discerning in understanding and interpreting the thought process of a very tiny neighbour.
A nation in such a situation with so much commonality with its big neighbour has a complex psyche, having a great urge to assert its identity and so the political stances it was taking have to be seen in this light, they feel.
The interest of India and Nepal are integrated and the two countries have a multi-layered relationship with social, economic, cultural, religious and linguistic links. The 1950 Treaty of Friendship has institutionalised these links.
The water resources of India have their origins in Nepal; the tiny country has giant China on its northern border; there are 501 Indian companies operating in Nepal having created 30,000 jobs; India is massively engaged in the building of infrastructure like roads and hydropower projects in the country, and the Indian rupee is a legal tender in Nepal. Trade with the country is growing with exports reaching worth Rs 16,350 crore in 2010-11.
Moreover, there are 5 to 6 million Nepalese living in India, and 30,000 in the Indian Army.
India is also giving about Rs 4,000 crore aid annually to Nepal since 2003.
As far as security aspect was concerned, Pakistan had emerged as a new factor in the whole story.
Officials said cooperation with Nepal in security matters had become very important. However, they felt that this cooperation was not up to the desired extent, and there was great scope for improvement.
Injection of fake Indian currency through the open border with Nepal by the ISI is just one concrete example of how Pakistan is using the open border with Nepal to carry out its designs in India, they said. Last year, fake Indian currency worth Rs 5 crore was seized. (UNI)
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