Nepal and Bhutan News and discussion

[A_Gupta]

Kathmandu-based space startup:
Mach24 Orbitals has successfully tested and validated its hybrid engine

https://kathmandupost.com/columns/2026/ ... teaches-us

https://mach24orbitals.space/

[uddu]

Nepal Sidelines India in US-China Power Game! Delhi Hits Back Quietly- Fuel & Trade Pressure! Kinjal

[chetak]

A lesson for Bharatiyas again why papooze must never become PM!

Nepal's sasta zelensky started charging customs duty even on (nepali) ₹100 grocery items from Bharat, which works out to INR 63/=

Now Modi Sarkar has blocked petrol access for Nepali vehicles (many were reselling subsidised Indian fuel back home).

Now Nepal is screwed. Inflation shoots up, cost of living rises. Heading to Fresh Ri0ts.

Mature Leadership Matters!

a comedian in ukraine and a rapper in nepal, whatever will they think of next

[Hriday]

What explains Nepal PM Balendra Shah's anti India moves? Most probably influenced by anti India foreign countries. One basic threat is to blackmail with the release of evidence of ***** material watching. IIRC it is said that Saudi King did something similar to a major Western personality by hacking his iPhone in revenge for the criticism of his rule. Other simple inducement is offer of a better life in Western countries with threat of another engineered protests against Nepal govt. Remember, most Pakistani senior army officials spend their retirement or businesses in Western countries.

[A_Gupta]

Balendra Shah came up via student protests and now he wants to ban student political activity. His excuse for the duty on goods above Nepali Rs 100 is the urgent need for additional revenue. He should have made it a larger number, above the value of the average household’s grocery shopping basket. For someone who came up because Gen Z allegedly was upset on curbs on social media he is remarkably tone-deaf.

https://kathmandupost.com/politics/2026 ... ntal-right

Student leaders have voiced strong objections after the government unveiled a plan on March 28 to remove party-affiliated student organisations from schools and universities.

The government’s 100-point work plan was approved by the Cabinet on Friday, shortly after Rastriya Swatantra Party senior leader Balendra Shah assumed office as prime minister, and released on Saturday.

Under the plan, all structures of political student organisations in educational institutions are to be dismantled within 60 days. The government argues that the move is necessary to address declining academic standards, excessive political interference in education, and the failure of existing student groups to represent students’ concerns.



https://kathmandupost.com/politics/2026 ... ntal-right

[ricky_v]

What explains Nepal PM Balendra Shah's anti India moves? Most probably influenced by anti India foreign countries. One basic threat is to blackmail with the release of evidence of ***** material watching. IIRC it is said that Saudi King did something similar to a major Western personality by hacking his iPhone in revenge for the criticism of his rule. Other simple inducement is offer of a better life in Western countries with threat of another engineered protests against Nepal govt. Remember, most Pakistani senior army officials spend their retirement or businesses in Western countries.

Why do we go through all these mental hoops again and again and with every country possible.
Nepal? Blackmailed by Pakis
Bd? Blackmailed by america

Repeatedly. Never ever has in the entire history of the subcontinent has one country cast aspirations on anothers wealth and been jealous of a "peer". It has never been conceivable, and has been disproven by logic, science and circumstances throughout history. Movement inside south asia without the involvement of external powers has never and in the future ever be achieved. Nepalis and bds though being raging cunts have no actual autonomy on their thoughts and actions and are merely transmitting what their handlers are telling them. It is simply not their fault.

You ask why is balen shah anti indian? The answer is that he is a contemporary nepali, that is it. No reason to play mental pretzels on finding another why. It could have been salen bhah, nalen rah, chalen gah at the helm and the result would have been the same. The nepali society and establishment take every advantage that India offers but it shames them and so they justify themselves with possessing superior values and morals and a right to appropriate indian resources.

the solution? Make it so that being in India is an aspiration and not their birthright and they will start being respectful speedily enough.

As an aside gor did meet their fm recently, and the mcc is linked to Victoria nuland and her students.

[bala]

The only solution to Nepal and ergo Sri Lanka is that India offers them a chance to join the Union of India and become another state. They can benefit from the Indian economic growth and become a contributing factor. Initially India has to absorb some losses due to these nations becoming a state. All the rest in relationships is contrived and of no use for India.

India for BD in 1971 without them joining India as a state, should have insisted on no military for them and taken some land like around chicken neck and chittagong. Real global political consideration is a must in dealing with such small nations surrounding you.

[Manish_P]

...
The nepali society and establishment take every advantage that India offers but it shames them and so they justify themselves with possessing superior values and morals and a right to appropriate indian resources.
...

Well put.

[sanjayc]

Easy entry of Nepalese into India without visas is a major reason why Nepalis hold India in contempt. Anything available easily is not valued. Look at Pakistan -- any Paki who gets Indian visa is treated as a celebrity. Let Nepalis queue at Indian embassy for a visa, and see how they start talking about India with respect.

[ricky_v]

what this also does is provide an incorrect diagnosis to the problem and consequently the wrong solution. Case in point, bd, now collectively, we were outraged by actions against hindus in bd and of the increased population of bd mohemmedans in the north east. The conceit of indians is that all relations are viewed through the lens of global plays. It is not enough or acceptable even that small neighbouring countries are making bold claims on our resources, they must necessarily be backed by one global player or another, be it us, the chinese, the uk, nords, when history tells us that we have been treated with contempt by our neighbouring countries for a long time without any necessary reach of a global power. For everything else we collectively decided that the us was upto shenanigans in the north east, that the bd only some leaders like yunus, and other student leaders who were propagating the idea of the north east lebensraum and by removing them from power everything would be back to coke and bjs.

If you have ever spoken to a beedi, i have sadly when one was more than enough to last several lifetimes, you would know what their attitudes are towards the entirety of the east of indians, they consider them all to be servants, uncultured and mimicking beedi culture in their own simplistic peasant minded ways. Bd then is the locus of all the culture and civilisation in the east, much like china is the center of the sino world and bd should be accorded the same respect and status, is the ground feeling on current bd society. The diagnosis should have been that the entirety of the bd society is complicit in even thinking of a lebensraum, and the solution should have been devised based on this assessment. Our short sightedness let off the bd society by making totem scapegoats of their leaders when in reality every and by that i mean every bd would lay claim on the east of india in a heartbeat.

So off we go chasing dragons like the us, the chinese and token corrupt bd leaders, all the while the bd society simmers on a steady boil of hatred, contempt and imagined lost glories. if the bd was 100% hindu and had aspersions to the entirety of the east of india would that have gone down easily with us? The answer should have been the same in any case, do not cast your roving eyes on our property on the pain of losing that eye forever and taking measures to ensure that this message penetrated the lowliest slum dweller in dhaka. As this communication has not been transmitted, we have merely pushed the can down the road and the bd will keep on coming for their lebensraum, all because our diagnosis has been faulty.

It will happen the same for nepal, it is the cia, no the isi, no the mi6, the mossad, It may be, but we are letting the nepali society of the hook or at best treating it as an add-on with such insight when that should be the center pole around which any counter measure be devised.

[A_Gupta]

The Kathmandu Post
Nepal’s Foreign Policy: principles, practice and priorities - the author - Gopal Bahadur Thapa s former chief of protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nepal.



https://kathmandupost.com/columns/2026/ ... priorities

Many experts have felt uneasy about the concept of a buffer state. However, academic constructs such as ‘buffer state’ or ‘vibrant bridge’ have limited utility beyond seminar rooms. Realpolitik tells a different story. Whether Nepal accepts it or not, post-independence India regards Nepal less as a buffer and more as a strategic backyard. New Delhi rejects the buffer state paradigm as a colonial relic and opposes doctrines of equidistance or proximity. It insists the relationship is ‘special’ and ‘unique’, citing an open border and deep cultural-religious ties—a formulation Nepal has never formally embraced.

https://kathmandupost.com/columns/2026/ ... priorities

[A_Gupta]

Practical stuff:
Quote:

Ahead of the monsoon season, Nepal and India have taken a series of measures to resolve various outstanding operational issues concerning flood forecast and management, among others, in the Koshi and Ganadak river systems.

The decisions were taken during the 11th meeting of the Joint Committee on Koshi and Gandak Projects held over two days in Kathmandu, starting Friday.

“We decided to remove encroachment along a 35km stretch of the Western Koshi Main Canal on the Nepal side, mainly by shopkeepers,” Mitra Baral, director general of the Department of Water Resources and Irrigation, who led the Nepali delegation, told the Post.

As per the Koshi agreement, the two sides discussed various operational and cross-border issues being reported along with the Koshi and Gandak canals, Baral said. “We discussed local issues. There are issues on the western canal of Koshi on our side, which has no flowing water. This also figured in the meeting.”

Under Koshi projects, issues related to the security of the project area, maintenance of infrastructure, local taxes on construction materials, erosion of embankments on both sides of the Koshi Barrage, operation of gates of the main western canal, maintenance of service roads on the Nepali side, removal of encroachments, safety of project personnel, and issues related to the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve were discussed, according to Baral.



https://kathmandupost.com/national/2026 ... k-projects

[uddu]

Agint Balen working hard
https://x.com/i/status/2051003122840154144
@MeghUpdates
Indian MEA responds:

India clarifies again that the Lipulekh Pass route for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra has been in use since 1954 and is not a new development.

It firmly rejects Nepal's border claims as unjustified and unsupported by historical evidence, describing unilateral territorial enlargement as untenable.

India continues to support constructive dialogue and diplomacy with Nepal to address all bilateral matters, including outstanding boundary issues.

https://x.com/MeghUpdates/status/2050996130025291825
@MeghUpdates
BREAKING: Nepal PM Balen Shah reignites a border dispute with India, claiming Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh & Kalapani as Nepali territory in support of “Greater Nepal”

Also amid local tensions, the new Nepal govt tells India & China to avoid the Kailash Mansarovar route via Lipulekh.

[chetak]

[A_Gupta]

I was doing a deep dive into this boundary dispute, and it appears international conventions on how to interpret a boundary defined by a river (e.g., by a treaty clause that says something like “all territory north of river X”) favors Nepal from a treaty in 1816, and the facts on the ground since the 1860s favor India.

[S_Madhukar]

Easy entry of Nepalese into India without visas is a major reason why Nepalis hold India in contempt. Anything available easily is not valued. Look at Pakistan -- any Paki who gets Indian visa is treated as a celebrity. Let Nepalis queue at Indian embassy for a visa, and see how they start talking about India with respect.

Also because we are not as rich as say West… lots of Nepalis are now in US, freebies from NGOs etc … our waters have been contaminated with such people last 1000 years