Nepal history and facts in brief

Asia

Nepal
Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Nepal is a south Asian country amongst the peaks and southern slopes of the Himalayas including Mount Everest, between China, Tibet, Sikkim, India and Kashmir.

Ancient History
Between about 400 and 800AD, Nepal's present capital Kathmandu was ruled by the Licchavi kingdom.
Archaeological evidence for this period mainly consists of stonework inscriptions, reckoned on two separate, consecutive eras.
The former, Åsaka era has an epoch corresponding to 78AD, whereas the latter Amshuvarm or Manadeva era reckons from 576AD.
Whilst most such inscriptions list the dates and commissioners of stonework construction, some communicate royal edicts, religious mantras or historical notes.
It is through the corroboration of local myths with such evidence that a people prior to the Licchavi have been identified, known as the Kirata.
Of these people very little is known.

Modern History
Modern Nepal was created in the latter half of the 18th century when Prithvi Narayan Shah, the ruler of the small principality of Gorkha, formed a unified country from a number of independent hill states.
The country was frequently called the Gorkha Kingdom, the source of the term "Gurkha" used for Nepali soldiers.
After 1800, the heirs of Prithvi Narayan Shah proved unable to maintain firm political control over Nepal.
A period of internal turmoil followed, heightened by Nepal's defeat in a war with the British from 1814 to 1816.
Stability was restored after 1846 when the Rana family gained power, entrenched itself through hereditary prime ministers, and reduced the monarch to a figurehead.
The Rana regime, a tightly centralised autocracy, pursued a policy of isolating Nepal from external influences.
This policy helped Nepal maintain its national independence during the colonial era, but it also impeded the country's economic development.
In 1950, King Tribhuvan, a direct descendant of Prithvi Narayan Shah, fled his "palace prison" to newly independent India, touching off an armed revolt against the Rana administration.
This allowed the return of the Shah family to power and, eventually, the appointment of a non-Rana as prime minister.
A period of quasiconstitutional rule followed, during which the monarch, assisted by the leaders of fledgling political parties, governed the country.
During the 1950s, efforts were made to frame a constitution for Nepal that would establish a representative form of government, based on a British model.
In early 1959, King Mahendra issued a new constitution, and the first democratic elections for a national assembly were held.
The Nepali Congress Party, a moderate socialist group, gained a substantial victory in the election.
Its leader, B.P. Koirala, formed a government and served as prime minister.
Declaring parliamentary democracy a failure 18 months later, King Mahendra dismissed the Koirala government and promulgated a new constitution on December 16, 1962.
The new constitution established a "partyless" system of panchayats (councils) which King Mahendra considered to be a democratic form of government closer to Nepalese traditions.
As a pyramidal structure progressing from village assemblies to a Rastriya Panchayat (National Parliament), the panchayat system enshrined the absolute power of the monarchy and kept the King as head of state with sole authority over all governmental institutions, including the Cabinet (Council of Ministers) and the Parliament.
King Mahendra was succeeded by his 27 year-old son, King Birendra, in 1972.
Amid student demonstrations and anti-regime activities in 1979, King Birendra called for a national referendum to decide on the nature of Nepal's government - either the continuation of the panchayat system with democratic reforms or the establishment of a multiparty system.
The referendum was held in May 1980, and the panchayat system won a narrow victory.
The king carried out the promised reforms, including selection of the prime minister by the Rastriya Panchayat.
People in rural areas had expected that their interests would be better represented after the adoption of parliamentary democracy in 1990.
When promised land reforms failed to appear, people in some districts started to organise to enact their own land reform, and to gain some power over their lives in the face of usurious landlords.
However, this movement was repressed by the Nepali government, in "Operation Romeo" and "Operation Kilo Sera II" which took the lives of many of the leading activists of the struggle.
As a result, many witnesses to this repression became radicalised.
February 12, 1996 saw the launch of the Maoist "People's War" -- an insurgency with the stated goal of overthrowing the existing monarchic/parliamentary state and establishing a communist republic, or a Maoist "people's democracy".
(The term, as with "People's War", is in quotes because the validity of the concept would be challenged by some.)
Led by Dr. Baburam Bhattarai and Pushpa Kamal Dahal (also known as "Prachanda"), the insurgency began in five districts in Nepal: Rolpa, Rukum, Jajarkot, Gorkha, and Sindhuli.
The Maoists have declared the existence of a provisional "people's government" at the district level in several locations.
In June 2001 Crown Prince Dipendra went on a shooting-spree assassinating 11 members of the royal family including King Birendra and Queen Aiswary before shooting himself.
Due to his survival he temporarily became king before dying of his wounds resulting in Prince Gyanendra (Birendra's brother) inheriting the throne.
Meanwhile, the Maoist rebellion escalated, and in October 2002 the king temporarily deposed the government and took complete control of it.
A week later he reappointed another government, but the country is still very unstable because of the civil war with the Maoists, the various political factions, the king's attempts to take more control of the government and worries about the competence of Gyanendra's son and heir, Prince Paras.

Geography
Area: 140,800 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly larger than Arkansas.
Land boundaries: China 1,236 km, India 1,690 km.
Climate: varies from cool summers and severe winters in north to subtropical summers and mild winters in south.
Terrain: Terai or flat river plain of the Ganges in south, central hill region, rugged Himalayas in north.
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Kanchan Kalan 70 m.
highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.), the highest mountain on Earth.
Natural resources: quartz, water, timber, hydropower, scenic beauty, small deposits of lignite, copper, cobalt, iron ore.
Land use: arable land: 17%, permanent crops: 0%, permanent pastures: 15%, forests and woodland: 42%, other: 26% (1993 est.).
Irrigated land: 8,500 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: severe thunderstorms, flooding, landslides, drought, and famine depending on the timing, intensity, and duration of the summer monsoons.
Environment - current issues: deforestation (overuse of wood for fuel and lack of alternatives); contaminated water (with human and animal wastes, agricultural runoff, and industrial effluents); wildlife conservation; vehicular emissions.
Geography - note: landlocked; strategic location between China and India; contains eight of world's 10 highest peaks.

Economy - overview:
Nepal is among the poorest and least developed countries in the world with nearly half of its population living below the poverty line (with, as of 2001, a per capita income of just over $240 U.S.).
Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, providing a livelihood for over 80% of the population and accounting for 41% of GDP.
Industrial activity mainly involves the processing of agricultural produce including jute, sugarcane, tobacco, and grain.
Production of textiles and carpets has expanded recently and accounted for about 80% of foreign exchange earnings in the past three years.
Agricultural production is growing by about 5% on average as compared with annual population growth of 2.3%.
Since May 1991, the government has been moving forward with economic reforms, particularly those that encourage trade and foreign investment, e.g., by reducing business licenses and registration requirements in order to simplify investment procedures.
The government has also been cutting expenditures by reducing subsidies, privatising state industries, and laying off civil servants.
More recently, however, political instability - five different governments over the past few years - has hampered Kathmandu's ability to forge consensus to implement key economic reforms.
Nepal has considerable scope for accelerating economic growth by exploiting its potential in hydropower and tourism, areas of recent foreign investment interest.
Prospects for foreign trade or investment in other sectors will remain poor, however, because of the small size of the economy, its technological backwardness, its remoteness, its landlocked geographic location, and its susceptibility to natural disaster.
The international community's role of funding more than 60% of Nepal's development budget and more than 28% of total budgetary expenditures will likely continue as a major ingredient of growth.
An isolated, agrarian society until the mid-20th century, Nepal entered the modern era in 1951 without schools, hospitals, roads, telecommunications, electric power, industry, or civil service.
The country has, however, made progress toward sustainable economic growth since the 1950s and is committed to a program of economic liberalization.
Nepal will complete its ninth economic development plan in 2002; its currency has been made convertible, and 17 state enterprises have been privatised.
Foreign aid accounts for more than half of the development budget.
Government priorities over the years have been the development of transportation and communication facilities, agriculture, and industry.
Since 1975, improved government administration and rural development efforts have been emphasised.
Agriculture remains Nepal's principal economic activity, employing 80% of the population and providing 37% of GDP.
Only about 20% of the total area is cultivable; another 33% is forested; most of the rest is mountainous.
Rice and wheat are the main food crops.
The lowland Terai region produces an agricultural surplus, part of which supplies the food-deficient hill areas.

Economic development in social services and infrastructure has made progress.
A countrywide primary education system is under development, and Tribhuvan University has several campuses.
Although eradication efforts continue, malaria had been controlled in the fertile but previously uninhabitable Terai region in the south.
Kathmandu is linked to India and nearby hill regions by road and an expanding highway network.
Major towns are connected to the capital by telephone and domestic air services.
The export-oriented carpet and garment industries have grown rapidly in recent years and together now account for approximately 70% of merchandise exports.
Nepal's merchandise trade balance has improved somewhat in recent years with the growth of the carpet and garment industries.
In FY 2000-01 exports posted a greater increase (14%) than imports (4.5%), helping bring the trade deficit down by 4% from the previous year to $749 million.
Trade with India rose rapidly after conclusion of the 1996 bilateral trade treaty between the two countries, and now accounts for 43% of all exports.
Indian efforts to revise the treaty, which comes up for a 5-year review in December 2001, could dampen Nepal's export growth.
The annual monsoon rain, or lack of it, strongly influences economic growth.
From 1996 to 1999, real GDP growth averaged less than 4%.
The growth rate recovered in 1999, rising to 6% before slipping slightly in 2001 to 5.5%.
Strong export performance, including earnings from tourism, and external aid have helped improve the overall balance-of-payments situation and increase international reserves.
Nepal receives substantial amounts of external assistance from India, the People's Republic of China, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries.
Several multilateral organisations, such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the UN Development Program also provide assistance.
In June 1998, Nepal submitted its memorandum on a foreign trade regime to the World Trade Organisation and in May 2000 began direct negotiations on its accession.
Progress has been made in exploiting Nepal's major economic resources - tourism and hydroelectricity.
With eight of the world's 10 highest mountain peaks - including Mount Everest at 8,800 m (29,000 ft)- hiking, mountain climbing, and other tourism is growing.
Swift rivers flowing south through the Himalayas have massive hydroelectricity potential to service domestic needs and the growing demand from India.
The two countries have joint irrigation-hydroelectric projects on the Kosi, Trisuli, and Gandaki Rivers.
Several other hydroelectric projects, at Kulekhani and Marsyangdi, were completed in the mid to late 1980s.
In the early 1990s, one large public sector project and a number of private projects were planned; some have been completed.
The most significant private sector financed hydroelectric projects currently in operation are the Khimti Khola (60 MW) and the Bhote Koshi (36 MW).
The environmental impact of Nepal's hydroelectric projects has been limited by the fact that most are "run-of-river" with only one storage project undertaken to date.
The largest under active consideration is the private sector West Seti (750 MW) storage project which is dedicated to exports.
Negotiations with India for a power purchase agreement have been underway for several years, but agreement on pricing and capital financing remains a problem.
Currently demand for electricity is increasing at 8%-10% a year.
Population pressure on natural resources is increasing.
Overpopulation is already straining the "carrying capacity" of the middle hill areas, particularly the Kathmandu Valley, resulting in the depletion of forest cover for crops, fuel, and fodder and contributing to erosion and flooding.
Although steep mountain terrain makes exploitation difficult, mineral surveys have found small deposits of limestone, magnesite, zinc, copper, iron, mica, lead, and cobalt.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $27.4 billion (1999 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 3.4% (1999 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $1,100 (1999 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 11.8% (FY98/99 est.)
Labor force: 10 million (1996 est.) note: severe lack of skilled labour.
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 81%, services 16%, industry 3%.
Unemployment rate: NA%; substantial underemployment (1999).
Budget: revenues: $536 million. Expenditures: $818 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY96/97 est.)
Industries: tourism, carpet, textile; small rice, jute, sugar, and oilseed mills; cigarette; cement and brick production.
Exports: $485 million (f.o.b., 1998), but does not include unrecorded border trade with India.
Exports - commodities: carpets, clothing, leather goods, jute goods, grain.
Imports: $1.2 billion (f.o.b., 1998).
Imports - commodities: gold, machinery and equipment, petroleum products, fertiliser.
Imports - partners: India 31%, mainland China/Hong Kong 16%, Singapore 14% (FY97/98).
Debt - external: $2.4 billion (1997).
Economic aid - recipient: $411 million (FY97/98).
Currency: 1 Nepalese rupee (NR) = 100 paisa.
Exchange rates: Nepalese rupees (NRs) per US$1 - 68.784 (January 2000).

Nepal is a constitutional monarchy with a democratic, parliamentary form of government that is multiethnic, multilingual, Hindu, and retains the king in the role of head of state.
The former "partyless" panchayat system of government was abolished in April 1990.
The 1994 election defeat of the Nepali Congress Party by the UML made Nepal the world's first communist monarchy, with Man Mohan Adhikary prime minister.
In mid-1994, the Parliament was dissolved due to dissension within the Nepali Congress Party.
The subsequent general election, held November 15, 1994, gave no party a majority and led to several years of unstable coalition governments.
As of the May 1999 general elections, the Nepali Congress Party once again heads a majority government.
There have been three Nepali Congress Party Prime Ministers since the 1999 elections.
In February 1996, the leaders of the Maoist United People's Front began a violent insurgency, waged through killings, torture, bombings, kidnappings, extortion, and intimidation against civilians, police, and public officials in more than 50 of the country's 75 districts.
About 1,800 police, civilians, and insurgents have been killed in the conflict since 1996.
In July 2001 Prime Minister Deuba announced a cease-fire, which the Maoists pledged to observe, as part of a government effort to seek a negotiated solution to the conflict.
Although Maoist-instigated intimidation and extortion continue, the killings have largely subsided since the cease-fire was announced.
The government and Maoists held talks in August and September 2001.
Political parties agreed in 1991 that the monarchy would remain to enhance political stability and provide an important symbol of national identity for the culturally diverse Nepali people.
The King exercises limited powers, including the right to declare a state of emergency in the event of war or armed revolt, with the advice and consent of the Council of Ministers and the Prime Minister.
The King's declaration of a state of emergency must be approved by a two-thirds majority of the lower house of the Parliament.
In general, however, the King is largely disassociated from direct involvement in day-to-day government activities.
On June 1, 2001, Crown Prince Dipendra shot and killed his father, King Birendra; his mother, Queen Aishwarya; his brother; his sister, his father's younger brother, Prince Dhirendra; and several aunts, before turning the gun on himself.
After his death two days later, the late King's surviving brother Gyanendra was proclaimed king.
Nepal's judiciary is legally separate from the executive and legislative branches and has increasingly shown the will to be independent of political influence.
The judiciary has the right of judicial review under the constitution.
The king appoints the chief justice and all other judges to the supreme, appellate, and district courts upon the recommendation of the Judicial Council.
All lower court decisions, including acquittals, are subject to appeal.
The Supreme Court is the court of last appeal.
The king may grant pardons and may suspend, commute, or remit any sentence by any court.
There are hundreds of small privately owned newspapers in addition to one English and one Nepali-language state-owned newspapers.
Views expressed since the 1990 move to democracy are varied and vigorous.
As of September 2001, there were 19
private radio stations, a government radio
station, and a government-owned television station.
The law allows the issuance of private television broadcasting licenses.
Although one such license was issued in 1994, the recipient failed to begin broadcasting within the 6-year window.
There are nearly 200 cable television operators nation-wide, and satellite dishes to receive television broadcasts proliferate.
The law strictly forbids the media to criticise or satirise the king or any member of the royal family.
Administrative divisions: 14 zones.
Independence: 1768 (unified by Prithvi Narayan Shah)
National holiday: Birthday of His Majesty the King, 28 December (1945).
Constitution: 9 November 1990
Legal system: based on Hindu legal concepts and English common law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction.
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal.
Executive branch: chief of state: King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah (succeeded to the throne 4 June 2001 following the death of his nephew, King Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah).
Head of government: Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa (since 4 June 2003) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the prime minister.
Legislative branch: Nepal's Parliament was dissolved on 22 May 2002 and elections are scheduled for 13 November 2002.
Bicameral Parliament consists of the National Council (60 seats; 35 appointed by the House of Representatives, 10 by the king, and 15 elected by an electoral college; one-third of the members elected every two years to serve six-year terms) and the House of Representatives (205 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms).
Perched on the southern slopes of the Himalayan Mountains, the Kingdom of Nepal is as ethnically diverse as its terrain of fertile plains, broad valleys, and the highest mountain peaks in the world.
The Nepalese are descendants of three major migrations from India, Tibet, and Central Asia.
Among the earliest inhabitants were the Newars Kathmandu Valley and aboriginal Tharus in the southern Terai region.
The ancestors of the Brahman and Chetri caste groups came from India, while other ethnic groups trace their origins to Central Asia and Tibet, including the Gurungs and Magars in the west, Rais and Limbus in the east, and Sherpas and Bhotias in the north.
In the Terai, a part of the Ganges Basin with 20% of the land, much of the population is physically and culturally similar to the Indo-Aryan people of northern India.
People of Indo-Aryan and Mongoloid stock live in the hill region.
The mountainous highlands are sparsely populated.
Kathmandu Valley, in the middle hill region, constitutes a small fraction of the nation's area but is the most densely populated, with almost 5% of the population.
Religion is important in Nepal; Kathmandu Valley has more than 2,700 religious shrines alone.
Nepal is about 86% Hindu.
The constitution describes the country as a "Hindu Kingdom," although it does not establish Hinduism as the state religion.
Buddhists account for about 8% of the population.
Buddhist and Hindu shrines and festivals are respected and celebrated by all.
Nepal also has small Muslim and Christian minorities.
Certain animistic practices of old indigenous religions survive.
Nepali is the official language, although dozens of different languages are spoken throughout the country.
Derived from Sanskrit, Nepali is related to the Indian language, Hindi, and is spoken by about 90% of the population as a first or second language.
Many Nepalese in government and business also speak English.

Ethnic groups: Newars, Indians, Tibetans, Gurungs, Magars, Tamangs, Bhotias, Rais, Limbus, Sherpas.
Literacy: total population: 45.2%
People - note: refugee issue over the presence in Nepal of approximately 96,500 Bhutanese refugees, 90% of whom are in seven United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) camps.

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