Posts tagged ‘Nepal’

06/08/2014

Why Modi’s reference to Buddha’s birthplace was among the highest points of his Nepal visit

Nepal has long been irked by the common misconception that Buddha was from India, even though his accepted birthplace, Lumbini, is across the border.

The Nepalese are so outraged about the Indian appropriation of Buddha, some cable operators blocked Zee TV in the country last year for misidentifying the Enlightened One‘s birthplace.  To correct the record, the country has issued special Rs 100 currency notes proclaiming, “Lumbini: The Birthplace of Lord Buddha.” The controversy has even led a musician named Dhiraj Rai to record an overwrought pop song on the subject.

So for many residents of the mountain-kingdom, the highest point of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s two-day state visit to their country came during his address to parliament on Sunday, when he referred to Nepal as “the birthplace of Lord Buddha”.

Though the Indian prime minister’s speech to lawmakers included the announcement of a $1 billion line of credit to Nepal and suggested how energy cooperation could be enhanced, the country’s Telegraph Weekly reported the address under the headline, “Indian PM Modi admits Lord Buddha was born in Nepal.”

The Khatmandu Post added more details. “Nepali lawmakers gave a thunderous applause when he mentioned that Buddha was born in Nepal – an issue that rouses deep passion in the country when various quarters of India claim that the former was born in India,” it wrote. “He uttered the word Buddha five times.”

Many Nepalese Twitter users expressed their delight at Modi’s statement.

via Scroll.in – News. Politics. Culture..

25/07/2014

India’s human development index in 2013 improved slightly from the previous year

India’s human development index in 2013 improved slightly from the previous year, while it ranked 135 out of 187 countries, according to the 2014 UNDP Human Development Report.

This is only seven positions ahead of Bangladesh, but well behind Sri Lanka, which is at 73. Nepal and Pakistan fall in the low development category, at 145 and 146 respectively.

The human development index is derived from a measurement of life expectancy, education, and income indices and is used to rank countries into four tiers of human development: very high, high, medium and low.

The report, released on Thursday morning, shows that India’s index is 0.586 out of a maximum of 1. India’s index was below the average of 0.614 for countries in the medium human development group.

via Scroll.in – News. Politics. Culture..

24/07/2014

China plans railway to India, Nepal borders by 2020 | Reuters

China plans to extend a railway line linking Tibet with the rest of the country to the borders of India, Nepal and Bhutan by 2020 once an extension to a key site in Tibetan Buddhism opens, a state-run newspaper reported on Thursday.

Tibetan railway bridge

Tibetan railway bridge (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

China opened the railway to Tibet’s capital Lhasa in 2006, which passes spectacular icy peaks on the Tibetan highlands, touching altitudes as high as 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) above sea level, as part of government efforts to boost development.

Critics of the railway, including exiled Tibetans and rights groups, say it has spurred an influx of long-term migrants who threaten Tibetans’ cultural integrity, which rests on Buddhist beliefs and a traditional herding lifestyle.

The Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, said that an extention to Shigatse, the traditional seat of Tibetan Buddhism’s second-highest figure, the Panchen Lama, would formally open next month.

That link is scheduled for its own extension during the 2016-2020 period to two separate points, one on the border of Nepal and the other on the border with India and Bhutan, the newspaper cited Yang Yulin, deputy head of Tibet’s railways, as saying, without providing details.

China has long mooted this plan, but the difficulty and expense of building in such a rugged and remote region has slowed efforts.

Tibet is a highly sensitive region, not just because of continued Tibetan opposition to Chinese control, but because of its strategic position next to India, Nepal and Myanmar.

The Chinese announcement coincides with a drive by India, under its new prime minister Narendra Modi, to consolidate its influence with its smaller neighbors.

via China plans railway to India, Nepal borders by 2020 | Reuters.

04/03/2014

Singh to Neighbors: To Boost Trade, Build More Highways to India – India Real Time – WSJ

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed state leaders from South and South East Asia in Myanmar today to emphasize the need to improve trade ties by building highways connecting India and its neighbors.

Mr. Singh is on a two-day visit to the neighboring country for an economic meeting called the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation [BIMSTEC] Summit.

Addressing an audience including the leaders of Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal and Thailand, Mr. Singh said he would like to “improve physical connectivity” with a highway that will connect India to Myanmar and Thailand and with more maritime links with Myanmar. “And even as we develop physical infrastructure, we should simultaneously start developing the supporting architecture of rules and regulations to facilitate cross-country movements,” he said. He arrived yesterday in Myanmar’s capital, Nay Pyi Taw.

via Singh to Neighbors: To Boost Trade, Build More Highways to India – India Real Time – WSJ.

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26/05/2013

* Chinese dream is dream of whole humanity: Nepal’s former PM

English: Mr. Baburam bhattarai the 35th Prime ...

English: Mr. Baburam bhattarai the 35th Prime Minister of Nepal. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Xinhua: “Nepal‘s former Prime Minister and Vice-Chairman of Unified Communist party of Nepal (Maoist) Baburam Bhattarai said that Chinese dream is a dream of whole humanity as well as of Nepalese people.

 

The former prime minister, who is known as a Communist ideologue in his party, said in a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua, that Chinese dream is a dream of oppressed humanity of the world who has been dominated by foreign power for more than 200 years.

Referring to the significance of Chinese dream, Bhattarai said China has to play a leading role to bring peace, stability and development in the world.

In the interview, he said focus of development is now shifting to east and south Asia and China is going to lead that process through its new dream.

Comparing Chinese dream with American dream, the 59-year-old Maoist leader, said the earlier so-called western dream was the domination of world in the colonial form or neocolonialism form.

“But Chinese dream is ending of that domination and granting freedom to all people of the world and ensuring peace, prosperity and democracy to all. So Chinese dream is fundamentally different from the older day’s dream of the western world,” he opined.

The former Prime Minister Bhattarai who is known as architect of social and economic development said Chinese dream will contribute towards economic prosperity of Nepal and will ensure national independence and sovereignty as well.

Asked about Nepal’s dream, the Maoist leader who is second in command in his party, and also the key strategist during the ten- year-long people’s war, said after gaining political stability our dream of building a prosperous and develop Nepal will be realized.

“If there is political stability here and if there is correct political leadership, and if there is well balanced relations with our neighboring countries China and India, then we can develop and we can realize our dream,” said Bhattarai.

He said that after promulgation of a new constitution, Nepal will invite economic investment from both China and India and then will try to have some joint projects with both India and China.

“In that way gradually this dream of trilateral cooperation and Nepal emerging as a vibrant bridge between India and china will be realized,” he said.

Asked about the India’s unwillingness to strike a trilateral cooperation between Nepal, India and China, who gained his higher education from India said a section of people everywhere gets skeptical.

“I believe even in India, this opinion is slowly gaining momentum and soon there will be massive moments to have good relation between India and China and have a trilateral relation between Nepal. It will take some time but ultimately it will be realized, Bhattarai said.”

via Chinese dream is dream of whole humanity: Nepal’s former PM – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

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14/04/2013

* China Makes Inroads in Nepal, Stemming Tibetan Presence

NY Times: “The wind-scoured desert valley here, just south of Tibet, was once a famed transit point for the Tibetan yak caravans laden with salt that lumbered over the icy ramparts of the Himalayas. In the 1960s, it became a base for Tibetan guerrillas trained by the C.I.A. to attack Chinese troops occupying their homeland.

Prayer wheels at a temple in the Mustang area of Nepal. The Chinese are trying to restrain the flow of disaffected Tibetans fleeing to Nepal and to enlist the help of the Nepalese authorities.

These days, it is the Chinese who are showing up in this far tip of the Buddhist kingdom of Mustang, northwest of Katmandu, Nepal. Chinese officials are seeking to stem the flow of disaffected Tibetans fleeing to Nepal and to enlist the help of the Nepalese authorities in cracking down on the political activities of the 20,000 Tibetans already here.

China is exerting its influence across Nepal in a variety of ways, mostly involving financial incentives. In Mustang, China is providing $50,000 in annual food aid and sending military officials across the border to discuss with local Nepalese what the ceremonial prince of Mustang calls “border security.”

Their efforts across the country have borne fruit. The Nepalese police regularly detain Tibetans during anti-China protests in Katmandu, and they have even curbed celebrations of the birthday of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, according to Tibetans living in Nepal.

via China Makes Inroads in Nepal, Stemming Tibetan Presence – NYTimes.com.

27/01/2013

* India wary of China’s telecom forays in Nepal, Maldives

Times of India: “The growing presence of Chinese telecom companies in Maldives and Nepal has put security agencies on alert over fears that equipment used for infrastructure development there might be bugged and misused for intercepting any communication between India and the two countries.

Huawei

The concerns by the central security agencies which have been conveyed to the telecom department here came against the backdrop of about $5.70 crore loan given by China to Maldives to implement its information technology (IT) infrastructure project, according to official sources.

The Huawei Technologies (Lanka) Co. Ltd, China enterprise business group and the National Centre for Information Technologies, Maldives have already signed an MoU to develop the IT Infrastructure in Maldives under the ‘Smart Maldives Project’, they said.”

via India wary of China’s telecom forays in Nepal, Maldives – The Times of India.

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