No talks have been held at home about the so-called land swap between Nepal and India
While replying to queries raised by lawmakers in the National Assembly meeting on Wednesday, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said he did not propose any 'land swap' for the Limpiyadhura, Lipulek and Kalapani region occupied by India since the Indo-China war in 1960. Relations between Nepal and India have become frosty since the Indian side published a political map incorporating a total of 372 square km of the Kalapani region in 2019. In response to the Indian move, Nepal's Federal Parliament also published its own political map incorporating the region as integral part of the sovereign country based on the Treaty of Sugauli in 1816 and other historical facts. While on a four-day official visit to India last week, PM Dahal told a group of Nepali journalists that the Kalapani region could be swapped between the two countries if India was ready to provide Nepal an access route to Bangladesh. He said this could be one "formula" for resolving the boundary dispute with India. However, he has claimed that he did not talk this issue with the Indian side, and he, as per him, told the Indian side that the Kalapani region belonged to Nepal and that the issue should be resolved as soon as possible. He has received widespread criticism from all walks of life within the country for talking about the land swap without any discussion at home.
PM Dahal himself has admitted that he had held three rounds of one-on-one talks with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, before reaching MoUs on several issues, not on Nepal's priority lists. Nepal especially wanted to see tangible progress on the Pancheshwor Multi-proposed Project, India's nodon allowing an additional air-entry route from Mahendranagar to smoothly operate the newly-built airports at Bhairahawa and Pokhara, and an amicable resolution of the border dispute. But PM Dahal failed to convince the Indian side on the three issues Nepal was expecting to see a breakthrough.
What is true is that no discussion has been held in detail within the country about the possibility of a land swap between Nepal and India over the Kalapani region. PM Dahal said the "Bangladeshi Model" could be an appropriate option to resolve the border dispute between the two countries. Before embarking on the visit to India, he had held a meeting of 'experts", who, he said, had advised him to propose for a land swap. He even claimed that his Indian counterpart was ready to resolve the border dispute on the Bangladeshi model. PM Dahal has made Nepal's position on the Kalapani region weak by coming up with the land swap proposal without any detailed homework and its consequences. It may be recalled that Nepal had exchanged land with India and China in the past, but in different contexts. Before reaching a land swap deal with India, Nepal must be clear whether India is ready to recognise the fact that the Kalapani region belongs to Nepal. India must also be prepared to give Nepal the sovereign right of an access route to Bangladesh through its chicken neck corridor, which connects the north-eastern part of India, if it is really interested to resolve the border dispute in the Kalapani region. PM Dahal made loose utterances while on foreign land, that too, on a very sensitive issue, which is associated with the country's sovereignty and independence.
Noise pollution
It is not that the government does not introduce laws, rules and regulations for the welfare of its people. However, when their implementation is weak, it holds little meaning. Six years ago, the government had set the noise Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) of 90 decibels for all workplaces of Nepal. However, a sampling of industries in the three industrial areas of the Kathmandu Valley has shown that noise pollution in half of them exceeded the PEL. Any sound exceeding 90 decibels is perceived as noise, although an exposure to 115 dB for workers over eight hours is tolerated in the country.
The study has shown that there is little awareness about noise pollution, or PEL, among both the industry owners and their workers. It was also found that almost half of all workers were put to work for more than eight hours, which is against the Labour Act. In a country where employment opportunities are scarce, the chances of exploiting the workers are high. Only regular monitoring by the concerned authorities and penalising those who flout the standards will bring order in the industries. Also, there is a need to raise awareness among both entrepreneurs and workers about noise pollution.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 9, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.