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Kathmandu is changing its tune. Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal just wrapped up a three-day official visit to New Delhi. His meetings with Dr. S. Jaishankar reveal a shift in how Kathmandu deals with New Delhi.

For many years, these bilateral talks followed a predictable, tense script. Nepal would routinely bring up the 1950 Peace and Friendship Treaty. They would demand answers on border disputes like Kalapani and Lipulekh. They would push for the implementation of the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) report.

Not this time. Khanal chose a completely different path. He essentially left the old baggage at the door. The official statements completely omitted these disputed issues. Instead, the focus shifted entirely to economic growth, infrastructure, and development partnership. This clear turnaround in approach signals that Nepal's new leadership prefers enhanced economic and development partnership with rising India over the long-standing disputed issues.

This new approach makes perfect sense when you look at who is actually in charge. The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) is remarkably young party. It was formed only in 2022. When Nepal's Parliament unanimously adopted a new map in 2020, this party did not even exist. When the EPG report was submitted in 2018, the party was still years away from conception.

Since even RSP leaders and cadres lack deep insight into these issues, the party leadership is unlikely to face the typical pressures experienced by traditional political parties.

Both the RSP and Balendra Shah, however, used border-related issues to bolster their domestic political standing. They regularly urged the governments of the time to take up these matters with both New Delhi and Beijing, bringing them into the forefront of domestic political discourse.

As far as the EPG report is concerned, except for the CPN-UML, almost all political parties have already abandoned the issue. Madhes-based parties never took ownership of the EPG, stating they were not represented in it.

The language used by senior RSP leaders indicates they believe traditional political parties raised these issues purely for domestic political benefit, meaning they are no longer a priority for either country. While the new government may still address border disputes with a dim voice—largely because they are now part of the constitution—the fate of other legacy issues remains highly uncertain.

To sidestep these friction points, the RSP and Khanal have intentionally chosen fresh framing. They emphasize that they "came without past baggage," that "relations are based on facts and evidence, not emotions," and that they "detest the ultra-nationalistic rhetoric used by traditional politicians."

Prime Minister Balen Shah's government is powered by Gen-Z voters. These young people are tired of business-as-usual politics. They care about jobs, digital connectivity, transparency, and a better economy. They do not care about the decades-old issues that traditional politicians love to exploit. Khanal himself comes from a professional background rather than a traditional political career.

He wants to talk about numbers, execution, and tangible results.
Nepal has largely stagnated for three decades while India’s economy has surged ahead. The new government in Kathmandu realizes that weaponizing bilateral issues for domestic votes has cost the country precious time. They want a slice of India's growth. To fulfill the high expectations of their voters, they need increased Indian investment and assistance.

So, what does this new development diplomacy look like? It rests on clear, tangible goals. Energy is a massive part of the plan. The Nepal-India energy partnership is already underway, and Nepal wants to strengthen it, with plans to export more electricity to Bangladesh. Connectivity is another major focus. Khanal wants to connect Janakpur to Ayodhya by rail, alongside better roads and air routes through Nepal's newly built airports.

Digital cooperation is also moving fast. The two countries just launched a linkage between India’s UPI and Nepal’s NPI, making cross-border remittances incredibly simple for ordinary citizens. They even signed a deal to co-create a voice-first language translation platform using artificial intelligence. Khanal explicitly stated his desire to shift the entire vocabulary of Nepal-India relations away from geopolitical friction and place it firmly on development diplomacy.

"Our core agenda is to transform diplomatic missions into engines of investment, trade, and economic partnership. We desire a relationship that delivers measurable results down to the daily lives of the ordinary citizens of both nations," he said.

You cannot just erase history, though. The official silence on the border issue is striking, standing in stark contrast to the tensions that preceded the visit. Just recently, Kathmandu objected to India using the Lipulekh route for the 2026 Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.

Prime Minister Balen Shah even floated the idea of British mediation to resolve the boundary dispute. India immediately shot that down, insisting the issue must be addressed bilaterally. Nepal’s Foreign Minister later clarified that Nepal is not seeking third-party involvement; instead, it is seeking historical evidence from the UK archives.

Khanal had to walk a very fine line during his trip. To the public and the media, he insisted that border issues were discussed behind closed doors, knowing that opposition parties are watching his every move back home. But by keeping the official press statements clean of these disputes, he gave New Delhi exactly what it wanted.

India welcomed this new vision with open arms. Jaishankar spoke about strong complementarities between the two governments. He noted that both countries have a unique opportunity to decisively shift their trajectory.

Can you truly build a lasting friendship by sweeping core issues under the rug? The RSP argues that these disputes can be resolved later, based on historical facts and mutual understanding. They want dialogue backed by evidence, not emotional election speeches.

A stable, prosperous Nepal is a natural guardrail for India's northern border. Conversely, a politically fractured Nepal makes New Delhi nervous about instability in the neighborhood. Economic development is a strategic necessity for both sides. Right now, a unique window of opportunity has opened.

The rivers continue to flow, and Kathmandu seems determined to build a bridge over old differences. Time will tell if this corporate-style pragmatism can survive the intense scrutiny of domestic politics back home.

Too many stars light up the Himalayan sky. The temptation to compare PM Balen Shah and Party Chairman Rabi Lamichhane with the pole star is great. But maybe it is early yet, though they are two sides of the same coin.

 The Balen "craze" that created the Ballot-box Revolution in March this year has transformed into "aura-farming," despite disruption of parliamentary norms and traditions, though his Gen Z followers consider them as mere "deviations."

Balen has become bigger than his name, but he is his own man—but who knows, Rabi is the boss. Breaking his prolonged silence in parliament last Sunday (31 May), Balen stunned lawmakers by answering questions from them without a stitch of a note, stumbling only on the question of border dispute with India with the shocking revelation that "Nepal too has occupied Indian lands." He had stirred the hornet’s nest. Later, the Foreign Ministry jumped in for damage limitation, saying "it was in no-man’s land where rivers keep changing course." India’s Foreign Ministry chimed in, protesting Shah’s inclusion of UK in the dispute, saying it was bilateral issue.

In his first 100 days, Balen had pledged 100 goals—most are populist—with the 74th completed last week. An ambitious budget has elevated salaries of government employees and provided tax concessions. After only the 1960 and 1991 elections, the non-ideological Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) rules two seats short of a two-thirds majority, though it has no representation in the Upper House and the seven provinces. Further, the first year of Balen government is dedicated to "Good Governance, Accountability and Development"—Development-Diplomacy in short hand—precisely what the people have been demanding for the last three decades.

The urban and political elite and political opposition are not pleased with his style: not meeting people nor speaking to the media; changing through ordinance, composition and powers of constitutional councils; supersession of acting Chief Justice Sapna Pradhan Malla and other measures to depoliticize institutions, though the Supreme Court intervened to block the dissolution of trade unions and student organizations in universities. Balen has regulated diplomatic protocol smothered by the likes of former Chinese Ambassador Hou Yanqi, who used to invade Sheetal Niwas (President’s residence) and Baluwatar (PM’s residence). Lest we forget, behind the scenes is a third leader: the learned and articulate Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle.

In an interview to a newspaper, Balen’s political confidant, Bhupdev Shah, General Secretary of RSP, had said that PM Balen Shah would not undertake any visits to foreign countries in his first year, thereby preempting Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s visit to Kathmandu scheduled for 11–12 May, when he was carrying an invitation from PM Narendra Modi for PM Balen Shah to visit India. Speculation was rife that Balen would not meet Misri, like he declined to meet President Trump’s Special Envoy to South and Central Asia and Ambassador to India, the Almighty Sergio Gor. Apparently, the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu verified the contents of the Bhupendra Shah interview before closing the issue.

Earlier, it was being said that Balen might attend United Nations General Assembly, New York, in September, and a visit to Delhi could be planned before or after that. Grapevine also suggested that India would be his first foreign port of call. Ending uncertainty, the Modi government discovered the perfect alternative to PM Shah: Party Chairman Rabi Lamichhane. It was godsent!

Here are reasons why Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suddenly invited Rabi even as the Misri episode had not died down. Delhi did not want Beijing to spring a surprise. For the first time, the party chair of the establishment in Kathmandu visited Delhi before its Prime Minister—the traditional norm. It was also the first time PM Modi went to his Party office to meet a foreign dignitary, Lamichhane. This has set a precedent; Indian political parties, mainly the Congress, have dealt with Nepali Congress or the Communists.

While RSP under Rabi made its political debut in 2021 with just 21 seats in Parliament, four years later, it rocketed to 182 seats, spurred by GenZ and Nepalese plagued with misgovernance: corruption. The arrival and rise of the non-baggage-carrying and non-ideological RSP is an accident of history, much to the relief of aspirational Nepal. It is this leadership that the BJP-led government is courting. One other crucial factor that prompted the invitation to Rabi is that, once he is cleared of court cases, he is the natural successor to Balen, who realizes that majority of the parliamentary party is with Rabi.

Much before Balen hit the spotlight as rapper and outspoken Mayor of Kathmandu, Rabi was a household name running the popular TV show, Sidha Kura Janta Sang. He raised RSP and became Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister. In short, for now, Balen is the lead engine and Rabi the double engine on the uphill track. The ownership of the mandate is Balen’s; keeping party unity and cohesion are with Rabi.

That’s how India’s Neighborhood First policy selected Rabi as the BJP’s First Leader from Nepal, and much was made of him in the two days he was in Delhi with band-baaja, et al., and meetings with Modi, Amit Shah, Ajit Doval, S. Jaishankar, and notably, Vikram Misri. Rabi’s arrival was synchronized with his signed Hindustan Times article that encapsulated aspirational Nepal’s wish-list, playing up Modi’s benchmark Nepal visit in 2014 and listing Kathmandu’s history of grievances. Former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattari and journalist Binod Dhakal responded differently to the article—Bhattarai noting India’s fixation with security of Himalayan frontiers and Dhakal emphasizing institutionalizing high-level diplomacy rather than relying on personal chemistry.

Modi’s statement on X was short and sharp, focused on elevating India’s "special and multifaceted relations to greater heights." Now the post-election diplomatic vacuum has been bridged. Party-to-party contact is done; G-to-G started with Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal arriving after Rabi left. And Rabi is one-up on Balen!

In 2014, Modi praised, in Nepal’s Parliament, its soldiers who spilled blood in India’s wars. Before his India’s visit, Rabi had met Indian Army Nepali veterans who urged him to help restore Gorkha recruitment—a strategic bonding stopped under the Agniveer scheme by previous governments. Interestingly, RSS was kept out of conversations given that its mouthpiece, Organiser, was skeptical about GenZ and critical of alleged US support for RSP. The Royalist Rashtriya Prajatantra Party, demolished during the electoral avalanche, has split yet again. Former King Gyanendra has prophetically noted that monarchy is the last option if even the 182-seat government fails.

Notwithstanding stable governments and popular leaders in asymmetric Nepal and India, history has proven relationships are never constant but subject to snakes and ladders. Development diplomacy will likely clash with security and sovereignty concerns.

(Ashok K Mehta is a General officer [Retd] from Indian Army Gorkha Regiment who has known Nepal since 1959.)

The day often begins with simple routines. We drink tea in a plastic cup on the way to work, throw food waste into the small bin as plastics, accept another shopping bag from the market, or leave lights and tap running without much thought. These actions feel ordinary. Too small to matter. But what if these “small” habits, repeated by millions every single day, are slowly shaping a future we may no longer recognize?

A plastic bottle tossed beside a road today may eventually clog a drainage system during monsoon rains. The smoke rising from burning waste in one neighborhood may become the polluted air inhaled by children nearby. The plastic wrapper thrown carelessly into a river may travel for years, harming ecosystems far beyond where it was discarded. Environmental destruction rarely happens all at once. It grows quietly through the everyday choices people make and ignore.

As Nepal and the rest of the world observe World Environment Day on June 5, the message is becoming clearer than ever: protecting the environment is no longer someone else’s responsibility. It is not only the job of governments, environmental activists, or international organizations. It begins with each of us in our homes, schools, streets, offices, and communities.

Nepal is blessed with extraordinary natural beauty. Snow-covered mountains, flowing rivers, dense forests, fertile plains, and diverse wildlife make the country environmentally rich and globally unique. Nature is not only a part of Nepal’s identity; it is also the foundation of people’s livelihood and survival. Farmers depend on healthy soil and rainfall. Families rely on forest and water sources. Tourism depends on clean landscape and biodiversity. Entire communities survive because nature continues to provide.

Yet across the country, the signs of environmental damage are becoming impossible to ignore. Rivers that once flowed clean are increasingly polluted with plastic and sewage. Streets in urban areas overflow with unmanaged waste.  Open spaces are turning into dumping sites. During the monsoon, blocked drains and poorly managed garbage contribute to flooding in cities and towns. In many places, the smell of burning plastic has become a normal part of daily life.

Plastic pollution has emerged as one of Nepal’s most visible environmental challenges. Single-use plastics such as shopping bags. Snack wrappers, disposable bottles, straw, cups, and a packaging material are now deeply embedded in modern lifestyle. Convenient for a few minutes, they remain in the environment for hundreds of years.

Walk through marketplaces, riverbanks, bus parks, or even rural trails, and plastic waste can be seen almost everywhere. Cows search through piles of garbage for food, often consuming harmful plastics. Rivers carry waste downstream, polluting ecosystems and affecting aquatic life. Agricultural land is increasingly contaminated by non-biodegradable waste that damages soil quality and productivity.

What is even more alarming is how normalized this situation has become. Many people no longer react to seeing garbage scattered on roadside or smoke rising from burning waste. Pollution has quietly become part of everyday life. But the environmental crisis is not limited to waste alone.

Climate change is intensifying challenges across Nepal. Flood, landslides, droughts, forest fires and heatwaves are becoming more frequent and severe. Farmers struggle with unpredictable rain and declining agricultural productivity. Water shortages are increasing in several communities. Mountain regions are witnessing the effect of melting glaciers and changing ecosystems. Vulnerable communities continue to bear the greatest burden despite contributing the least to global environmental damage.

The impacts are deeply personal.

Children breathe polluted air on their way to school. Elderly people suffer from respirator illnesses worsened by smoke and dust. Waste workers sort through dangerous garbage without adequate protection. Families lose homes and crops to floods and landslides. These are no longer distant environmental stories. They are realities affecting lives across Nepal every day.

Yet amid these challenges, there is still hope.

Across the country, young people, community groups, schools, and local organizations are beginning to lead change. Youth-led clean-up campaigns are transforming public spaces. Schools are teaching children about waste- segregation and sustainable practices. Communities are experimenting with composting, recycling and reducing plastic use. Small businesses are introducing eco-friendly alternatives. These efforts may appear modest, but they demonstrate something powerful: change is possible when people take responsibility.

The truth is that environmental protection doesn’t always require massive budgets, advanced technology, or large international projects. Sometimes it begins with very ordinary actions.

Carrying a reusable bag instead of accepting plastic. Separating bio-degradable and non-biodegradable waste at home. Composting kitchen waste. Refusing unnecessary packaging. Conserving water and electricity. Planting trees. Supporting local recycling efforts. Teaching children to value nature. Speaking up when public spaces are polluted.

These actions may seem small individually, but collectively they create transformation.

The growing global discussion around the circular economy also reminds people that waste itself is not always useless. Materials can be reused, repaired, recycled, and repurposed rather than immediately discarded. Moving away from a “use and throw” culture is essential if societies want to reduce environmental damage and protect natural resources for future generations. 

Most importantly, environmental responsibility must become a shared culture rather than an occasional campaign. Too often, environmental awareness is discussed only during special events, clean-up drives, or international observances. But protecting the environment cannot be limited to one day of speeches and social media posts. It must become part of everyday behavior.

The future of Nepal’s environment will not be determined only in policies written in offices or discussions held in conferences. It will be shaped by what ordinary people choose to do every single day.

Will we continue treating rivers like dumping sites? Will we normalize polluted air and unmanaged waste? Or will we recognize that protecting the environment means protecting ourselves, our health, our livelihood, and the future of generations yet to come?

The answer lies not in distant promises but in our daily choices.

A cleaner river begins when one person chooses not to litter. A healthier community begins when families manage responsibly. A sustainable future begins when people understand that environmental protection is not a burden, it is an investment in life itself.

The environment we ignore today will ultimately define the world we leave behind tomorrow. And perhaps the most important realization is this: meaningful change does not begin with extraordinary actions. It begins with ordinary people deciding that small actions matter.

Dear Balen,

There is something genuinely rare about your rise to power. A young, educated, and energetic leader commanding nearly a two-thirds majority in parliament is not something Nepal sees often. The country’s battered democratic imagination had grown weary of recycled faces and predictable betrayals. So when you arrived, many people, not just your hardcore supporters, quietly hoped that this time might be different.

Two months in, the picture is more complicated than hope allows. The demolition drives, the arrests of high profile figures without what many consider adequate legal grounding, the controversy surrounding the appointment of the Chief Justice, the apparent sidelining of your parliamentary engagement, the silence on runaway price hikes, the mass removal of appointees through ordinances without any immediate plan to replace them, these have left universities and public institutions in a state of drift. Add to this a foreign policy posture that has made Nepal’s neighbors and other friendly countries uneasy, and you begin to understand why voices beyond the usual opposition, civil society, academics, and ordinary citizens have grown concerned.

Your supporters call it disruption. Your critics call it destruction without direction. Both are partly right, and that is precisely the problem.

This is not a piece written to join a chorus of condemnation. It is written out of genuine belief that you can still govern differently, peacefully, and in a healthy manner. Here is how.

Unite, rather than sort people into camps

The framing of Nepal as a battle between “reformists” and “forces favoring status quo” is politically convenient but socially corrosive. It gives supporters a simple story to tell, but it also licenses the government to treat every critic as an enemy of change. A nation with a fractured history does not need a new axis of polarization. It needs a leader willing to speak to people across the divide, not to win them over rhetorically, but to actually listen. The willingness to build consensus, even with those you disagree with, is not weakness. It is what separates a statesman from a politician.

Deal with the past, lead with the future

Accountability for past wrongs matters enormously. Nobody is asking you to forget or forgive what came before. But accountability delivered through spectacle, arrests that feel punitive before they are proven, demolitions that hit the vulnerable alongside the powerful, risks substituting theatre for justice. A futuristic leader holds the past accountable through institutions, not impulse. The goal should be a Nepal where the rule of law is rebuilt so methodically that it outlives any single government. That takes patience and discipline, not a hammer.

Put the people at the bottom at the centre

It is easy for any government, including a self-styled reformist one, to get caught up in the optics of action. Demolitions photograph well. Arrests make headlines. But the people living a vulnerable life for decades will not benefit from these actions both in the short run and long run unless government action produces tangible results. Thus, your government’s policies and programs should start from their reality, not from a preset vision imposed on it.

Lead with compassion, not just conviction

Conviction is essential in a leader. But conviction without compassion produces a government that is right in its own eyes while being indifferent to the human cost of its decisions. The use of security forces should be an exceptional response to exceptional circumstances, not a routine tool of governance. When the state deploys force as its first language, it communicates something about who it thinks the real threat is. In most cases in Nepal, it is not the urban poor whose homes are being torn down.

Stop relying heavily on info that comes your way

Every prime minister’s biggest vulnerability is the distance between themselves and the actual lives of citizens. Advisors filter. Officials manage impressions. Briefing notes flatten complexity. You, who built your original credibility on the ground in Kathmandu as a mayor, should know this better than most. The answer is not to stop listening to experts. It is to make sure those experts are not the only voices in the room. Regular, unmediated interaction with ordinary people, not in staged events, but in genuine conversation, produces the kind of understanding that no report can replicate.

Be dynamic, not just decisive

There is a difference between having a vision and having a playlist. A playlist assumes you already know the right order of things. A vision is willing to update itself when reality pushes back. Nepal is a country of extraordinary internal complexity, geographic, ethnic, economic, and political. A government that follows a predetermined script, however well intentioned, will eventually find that the script does not fit the scene it is trying to play out in. Real leadership reads the room constantly.

Make decisions on evidence, not ideology

This one is simple but it matters more than anything else on this list. The reforms Nepal needs most are not ideologically controversial. Better service delivery, functional public institutions, transparent procurement, a judiciary that works, these are not left wing or right wing ambitions. They are just competent in governance. Decisions grounded in evidence and implemented with accountability build the kind of legitimacy that survives beyond a single electoral cycle. Decisions made on instinct or preconceived conviction, however popular in the short run, tend to unravel.

The majority is an opportunity, not a permission slip

You have something almost no Nepali leader before you has had in the same measure, a genuine democratic mandate and the parliamentary numbers to act on it. That is a gift that comes with a profound responsibility. It means you do not need to govern through fear, force, or polarisation. You can afford to be generous, inclusive, and patient. You can afford to be the leader who restores some trust in the idea that the government can actually work for people rather than against them.

Nepal did not just elect a builder. It elected someone it believed could repair the broken faith in leadership itself. That faith is still alive, just barely, and it is yours to either honour or squander. History will not remember you for the walls you tore down. It will remember you for what you chose to build in their place, and whether the most forgotten Nepali people felt it in their own life. The country is watching you, Balen. More importantly, it is still hoping.