Since the change of power in Nepal, two big countries of the world have their eyes on the rare mineral wealth there. India is also trying hard to improve its relations with the new government.
Digvijay Singh, Kanpur
Since the change of power in Nepal, two big countries of the world have their eyes on the rare mineral wealth there. India is also trying hard to improve its relations with the new government. Indian strategists also want an opportunity to explore the minerals there, especially uranium. America and China are also leaving no opportunity to grow closer to Prime Minister Balen Shah. Both these superpowers are also working on reducing India’s influence there. After coming to power, Prime Minister Balen Shah has taken some decisions which reflect the steps taken by him against India, although America is working to reduce the influence of India as well as China there.
Copper, iron, arca, magnesium, gold, uranium are abundant in Nepal. At present, efforts are being made to mine magnesium and uranium. US President Donald Trump recently sent his special envoy Sergio Gore to Nepal, although he could not meet the Prime Minister. Sergio Gore met ministers and officials to convey Donald Trump’s message and also made many offers. His aim was to reduce the influence of China and India, although he has not achieved much success in this.
The relationship between India and Nepal is one of bread and daughter. In such a situation, whatever decision the Nepal government takes, it has to take into account public sentiments, but some decisions have been taken which were not in the interest of both the countries. Before this, KP Oli’s government has been taking anti-India steps. China’s influence had increased there then. China’s influence was clearly visible in the decisions of the KP Oli government, although Oli had to suffer the consequences of this in the elections.
After the formation of the new government, it seemed that the relations between India and Nepal would be back on track, but recently the new government took some steps which are not suitable for our interests. This not only became painful for the people of Nepal, but also troubled the people of India. Prime Minister Balen Shah’s government gave a big blow by imposing mandatory custom duty on goods worth more than 100 Nepalese rupees coming from India, whereas till now the India-Nepal border has been one of the most open international borders in the world, where people from both the countries have been coming and going without any hindrance.
Along with this, under the agreement between India and China, the journey is to start from Lipulekh Pass in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand and Nathula Pass in Sikkim. Nepal repeatedly says that Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani to the east of the Mahakali river are part of Nepal since the Sugauli Treaty of 1816. Nepal is angry with India due to this India-China agreement. America also wants to take advantage of this and invest in mining of minerals there, hence it is equally against India and China. The Mustang region of Nepal has huge reserves of uranium as well as rare earth minerals. America wants it to get the contract to extract this mineral, so that it can start establishing its influence, while China wants it to somehow get the contract to extract uranium and other minerals.
The Mustang region is located on the Nepal-Tibet border. China exports rare minerals to the whole world on a large scale. It also does this many times as a weapon to bend other countries to its interests, hence it seems to be eager to get the contract there under any circumstances, whereas India is trying diplomatically to get the contract there and to enrich its relations with Nepal. Along with the people sitting in the ruling establishment of Nepal, other political parties there are also troubled by the pressure being created by the superpowers regarding mineral contracts.
To ensure strong penetration there, the Chinese think tank has announced to give 11 billion Nepalese rupees as a grant for the expansion of the Kathmandu Ring Road, while the US has proposed to give six combat helicopters to the Nepalese Army, although the Nepalese Army has not taken any decision on this proposal. China’s increasing influence in Nepal is not a good sign for India, and America’s interference in Nepal is also not a good sign for India, therefore, the Indian government is trying to tell Nepal that India has always been helping Nepal in every crisis like a good neighbor, hence the government has to ensure that its land is not used against India. Apart from this, India has also alerted about the increasing debt trap of China on Nepal.
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