India to import 10,000 MW of electricity from Nepal.

Will settle boundary issue, take our ties to Himalayan heights: PM meets Prachanda

Q. Context/Why is it in news:

·       The Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ was on a four-day visit to India.

·       This is Prachanda’s first bilateral visit abroad since assuming office in December 2022 – his third premiership.

Q.  Important Highlights of the visit:

·        Export of Nepal’s hydropower to Bangladesh through Indian territory.

·        Fast-track projects related to the Ramayana circuit.

·      India will take forward the 2022 India-Nepal vision document for cooperation in the power sector that sets an ambitious goal in India-Nepal power trade and transmission.

·    Power Trade Agreement:A long-term Power Trade Agreement has been signed between India and Nepal . Under this Agreement, there is a target of importing 10,000 MW of electricity from Nepal in the coming years . Focusing on energy cooperation, Mr. Modi mentioned that a “new pipeline will be constructed from Siliguri to Jhapa in eastern Nepal.”

·    The two sides signed a number of agreements including anMoU between NHPC and VUCL (VidyutUtpadan Company Ltd), Nepal, for the development of PhukotKarnali Hydroelectric Project and a Project Development Agreement for Lower Arun Hydroelectric Project between SJVN (India) and Investment Board of Nepal.Two PMs agreed to “achieve tangible and time-bound progress on the Pancheshwar multipurpose project”.

·        India will cooperate with Kathmandu to set up a fertilizer plant in Nepal.

·      The two Prime Ministers participated through a video link in the groundbreaking ceremony of the Gorakhpur-Bhutwal Transmission Line — on the Indian side. MrKwatra announced that the two countries signed the revised Treaty of Transit under which Nepal will get access to India’s inland waterways. He described it as a “once in a generation” pact and added, “This will contribute very significantly to the development of trade and investments between India and Nepal.”

·     The two Prime Ministers jointly inaugurated the Indian Railway cargo train from Bathnaha in India to Nepal Customs Yard. The rail link was built with an Indian grant. They also inaugurated Integrated Checkposts (ICPs) at Nepalgunj in Nepal and Rupaidiha on the Indian side. They participated in the groundbreaking ceremony of ICPs at Bhairahawa and Sonauli as well as Phase II facilities as part of the Motihari-Amlekhgunj Petroleum Pipeline.

·    The two sides signed six other MoUs/agreements pertaining to cooperation in sectors like petroleum, hydro power, cross-border digital payments and others

Important Point for Mains:

·    Prachanda was earlier perceived as being pro-China, with a view of the US and India as “imperialistic and hegemonic forces”. However, the Prime Minister is now widely expected to assure India that he is amenable to aligning with it to contain the influence of China. He has been keen on the visit, and has said he wants to do something significant in the bilateral relationship.

·     Last February, Dahal had made political U-turn by joining hands with the Nepali Congress to have the $500 million US grant under the Millennium Challenge Corporation Nepal Compact ratified by Parliament, abandoning his party’s view that it was part of the “Indo-Pacific security plan” that would undermine Nepal’s diplomatic non-alignment.

·       He also appears keen to be seen as respecting the sentiments of Nepali Hindus by including Indore and Ujjain — cities with important Shiva temples — in his itinerary.

·      There has been progress on resolving the points of friction around hydropower projects that India is executing  in Nepal. And the Prime Minister, like his ally and predecessor SherBahadurDeuba, has gone slow on projects under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that Nepal agreed to six years ago.

·   Hours before the PM took off from Kathmandu, President Ram Chandra Poudel gave his assent to a controversial amendment to Nepal’s citizenship law that grants almost instant citizenship — along with guaranteed political rights — to women foreigners married to Nepalis.The amendment, to which former President Bidya Devi Bhandari had declined to assent even after Parliament sent it back to her a second time, makes Nepal’s citizenship law among the world’s most liberal. The action by President Poudel is likely to upset China, which has been warning that the law may give descendants of Tibetan refugees citizenship and property rights.