Nepal-India Relations: Dependency Consequences And Strategies

Abstract

Nepal is positioned between two large nations- India and China but it is more close to India due to its' accessible geography, shared historical, economic, religious, socio- cultural and people to people ties from the ancient time. Although Nepal constructed Kathmandu-Khasa highway in 1960s, geographical constraints like land locked situation and poor connectivity facilities with China has been obstructing Nepal to diversify its relations. As a result of geographical constraints coupled with structural scarcity, Nepal has been asymmetrically depending over India for its access to sea, trade and commerce and in large, this economic dependency is also disaffecting Nepal's security and foreign policies. India has been supporting in political transitions in Nepal whenever its interests synchronize with anti-regime groups. Taking advantage of Nepal's economic and political dependency, India's interferences in Nepal's internal affairs are observed time and again. Whenever Nepal's tries to diversify her foreign policy engaging with northern neighbor in economic, military, foreign or political affairs; India expresses its dissatisfaction using its unofficial hard economic power. India imposed economic blockades in 1969, 1989 and 2015. Realizing asymmetrical dependency over single country increasing vulnerabilities and threats to any nation, Nepal has been using different strategies in different periods to skip from India's dominance. In this context, this research first discussed Nepal-India relations and explored political, economic and military dependency of Nepal. Then, it explained about the consequences that Nepal is facing due to its asymmetric dependency over one country. Finally, the paper critically examined the different policies used by Nepal in the past and also suggested other possible strategies by comparing them with the successful strategies of small European state- Switzerland.