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Geography |
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Capital |
Kathmandu (3 districts) (pop. 2.2 million est.). |
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Area |
147,181 sq. km. (56,136 sq. mi.), about the size and shape of
Tennessee, bordering China and India. |
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Terrain |
Flat and fertile in the southern Terai region; terraced
cultivation and swiftly flowing mountain rivers in the central
hills; and the high Himalayas in the north. Eight of the world's ten
highest peaks are in Nepal, including Mount Everest. Kathmandu, the
capital, is in a broad valley at 1,310 meters (4,300 ft.) elevation. |
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Climate |
Subtropical in the south to cool summers and severe winters in the
northern mountains. The monsoon season is from June through
September, during which showers occur almost every day, bringing 75
to 150 centimeters (30-60 in.) of rain. |
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People |
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Nationality |
Noun--Nepali (sing.) or Nepalese (plural). Adjective--Nepalese or
Nepali. |
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Population |
(2007 estimate): 29 million. |
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Groups |
(caste and ethnicity are often used interchangeably): Brahman, Chetri, Newar, Gurung, Magar, Tamang, Rai, Limbu, Sherpa,
Tharu, and others. |
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Religions |
Hinduism (81%), Buddhism (11%), Islam (4%), and others (4%). |
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Languages |
Nepali and more than 12 others. |
Perched on the southern slopes of the Himalayan Mountains, Nepal is
as ethnically diverse as its terrain. The Nepalese are descendants
of three major migrations from India, Tibet, and central Asia.
Among the earliest inhabitants were the Newars of the Kathmandu
Valley and aboriginal Tharus in the southern Terai region. The
ancestors of the Brahman and Chetri caste groups came from India,
while other ethnic groups trace their origins to central Asia and
Tibet, including the Gurungs and Magars in the west, Rais and Limbus
in the east, and Sherpas and Bhotias in the north.
The Terai, a part of the Ganges Basin with 20% of Nepal's land, is
the country's breadbasket. Much of the population is physically and
culturally similar to the Indo-Aryan people of northern India.
People of Indo-Aryan and Mongoloid origin live in the hill regions.
The mountainous highlands are sparsely populated. The Kathmandu
Valley, in the middle hill region, constitutes a small fraction of
the nation's area but is the most densely populated, with over 7% of
the population.
Religion is important in Nepal; the Kathmandu Valley alone has more
than 2,700 religious shrines. According to the 2001 census, Nepal is
roughly 81% Hindu. Buddhists account for about 11% of the
population. The interim constitution, promulgated on January 15,
2007, declared the country a "secular state." Buddhist and Hindu
shrines and festivals are respected and celebrated by many. The
government celebrates most Hindu and some Buddhist holidays. Nepal
also has small Muslim and Christian minorities. Certain animistic
practices of old indigenous religions also survive.
Nepali is the official language, although over 100 regional and
indigenous languages are spoken throughout the country. Derived from
Sanskrit, Nepali is similar to Hindi and is spoken by about 90% of
the population (although often as a second or third language). Many
Nepalese in government and business also speak Hindi and English. |
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Government &
History |
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Official Name |
Nepal |
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Government |
Interim. An interim Parliament was formed on January 15,
2007 after a comprehensive peace agreement between the
ruling Seven-Party Alliance and the Maoist rebels. Prime
Minister and Council of Ministers chosen through
political consensus among the eight ruling parties on
April 1, 2007; role of monarchy suspended, with future
status to be decided by upcoming Constituent Assembly. |
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Independence |
Constitution: Interim constitution promulgated on January 15, 2007. |
Modern Nepal was created in the latter half of the 18th century when
Prithvi Narayan Shah, the ruler of the small principality of Gorkha,
formed a unified country from a number of independent hill states.
The country was frequently called the Gorkha Kingdom, the source of
the term "Gurkha" used for Nepali soldiers.
After 1800, the heirs of Prithvi Narayan Shah proved unable to
maintain firm political control over Nepal. A period of internal
turmoil followed, heightened by Nepal's defeat by the British in a
war from 1814 to 1816. Stability was restored after 1846 when the
Rana family gained power, entrenched itself through hereditary prime
ministers, and reduced the monarch to a figurehead. The Rana regime,
a highly centralized autocracy, pursued a policy of isolating Nepal
from external influences. This policy helped Nepal maintain its
national independence during the colonial era, but also impeded the
country's economic development.
In 1950, King Tribhuvan, a direct descendant of Prithvi Narayan
Shah, fled his "palace prison" to newly independent India, touching
off an armed revolt against the Rana administration. This allowed
the return of the Shah family to power and, eventually, the
appointment of a non-Rana prime minister. A period of
quasi-constitutional rule followed, during which the monarch,
assisted by the leaders of fledgling political parties, governed the
country. During the 1950s, efforts were made to frame a constitution
for Nepal that would establish a representative form of government,
based on the British model.
Democracy Develops
In early 1959, King Mahendra, who had succeeded his father Tribhuvan
in 1955, issued a new constitution and the first democratic
elections for a national assembly were held. The Nepali Congress
Party, a moderate socialist group, gained a substantial victory in
the election. Its leader, B.P. Koirala, formed a government and
served as Prime Minister.
Declaring parliamentary democracy a failure eighteen months later,
King Mahendra dismissed the Koirala government and promulgated a new
constitution on December 16, 1962. The new constitution established
a "partyless" system of panchayats (councils), which King Mahendra
claimed was a democratic form of government closer to Nepalese
traditions. As a hierarchical structure progressing from village
assemblies to a Rastriya Panchayat (National Parliament), the
Panchayat system enshrined the absolute power of the monarchy and
kept the King as head of state with sole authority over all
governmental institutions, including the Cabinet (Council of
Ministers) and the Parliament.
King Mahendra was succeeded by his 27-year-old son, King Birendra,
in 1972. Amid student demonstrations and anti-regime activities in
1979, King Birendra called for a national referendum to decide the
nature of Nepal's government--either the continuation of the
Panchayat system with democratic reforms or the establishment of a
multiparty system. The referendum was held in May 1980, and the
Panchayat system won a narrow victory. The King carried out the
promised reforms, including selection of the prime minister by the
Rastriya Panchayat.
Movement to Restore Democracy
In 1990, the political parties again pressed the King and the
government for change. Leftist parties united under a common banner
of the United Left Front and joined forces with the Nepali Congress
Party to launch strikes and demonstrations in the major cities of
Nepal. This "Movement to Restore Democracy" was initially dealt with
severely, with more than 50 persons killed by police gunfire and
hundreds arrested. In April, the King capitulated. Consequently, he
dissolved the Panchayat system, lifted the ban on political parties,
and released all political prisoners.
An interim government was sworn in on April 19, 1990, headed by
Krishna Prasad Bhattarai as Prime Minister presiding over a cabinet
made up of members of the Nepali Congress Party, the communist
parties of Nepal, royal appointees, and independents. The new
government drafted and promulgated a new constitution in November
1990, which enshrined fundamental human rights and established Nepal
as a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarch.
International observers characterized the May 1991 elections as free
and fair, in which the Nepali Congress Party won 110 out of 205
seats to form the government.
In mid-1994, the Parliament was dissolved due to dissension within
the Nepali Congress Party. The subsequent general election held
November 15, 1994, gave no party a majority. The 1994 elections
resulted in a Nepali Congress Party defeat and a hung Parliament,
with a minority government led by the Communist Party of
Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML); this made Nepal the world's
first communist monarchy, with Man Mohan Adhikary as Prime Minister.
The next five years saw five successive unstable coalition
governments and the beginning of a Maoist insurgency.
Following the May 1999 general elections, the Nepali Congress Party
once again headed a majority government after winning 113 out of 205
seats. But the pattern of short-lived governments persisted. There
were three Nepali Congress Party Prime Ministers after the 1999
elections: K.P. Bhattarai (5/31/99-3/17/00); G. P. Koirala
(3/20/00-7/19/01); and Sher Bahadur Deuba (7/23/01-10/04/02).
On June 1, 2001, Crown Prince Dipendra reportedly shot and killed
his father King Birendra, his mother Queen Aishwarya, his brother,
his sister, his father's younger brother Prince Dhirendra, and
several aunts before turning the gun on himself. After his death two
days later, the late King's surviving brother Gyanendra was
proclaimed King.
Maoist Insurgency
In February 1996, the leaders of the Maoist United People's Front
began a violent insurgency, waged through killings, torture,
bombings, kidnappings, extortion, and intimidation against
civilians, police, and public officials in more than 50 of the
country's 75 districts. Over 13,000 police, civilians, and
insurgents were killed in the conflict. The government and Maoists
held peace talks in August, September, and November of 2001, but
they were unsuccessful, and the Maoists resumed their violent
insurgency. Shortly after the 2001 peace talks failed, King
Gyanendra declared a state of emergency, which the Parliament
approved by a two-thirds vote. On the recommendation of Prime
Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, the King dissolved the House on May 22,
2002.
Struggle for Democracy Continues
In a sudden turn of events on October 4, 2002, King Gyanendra
removed Prime Minister Deuba and assumed executive power. The entire
Council of Ministers was also dissolved, and the November 13, 2002
elections to the dissolved House of Representatives were called off.
After a week-long consultation with the leaders of various political
parties, on October 11, 2002, the King appointed Lokendra Bahadur
Chand as Prime Minister with a five-point directive that included
creating an environment of peace and security as well as holding
elections to the local bodies and the House of Representatives.
Under Chand's premiership, the government and Maoists declared a
cease-fire on January 29, 2003. This marked the second cease-fire
with the Maoists; the first, in 2001, had been broken by the
Maoists. The 2003 cease-fire included an agreement to undertake
initiatives to resolve the Maoist problem through dialogue and bring
the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) back into mainstream politics.
After the announcement of the 2003 cease-fire, the Chand government
held two rounds of peace talks with the Maoists, in April and May.
But in its effort to end political instability, it failed to secure
the support of the leading political parties. In the face of growing
pressure from political parties and their mass movement, Chand
resigned from his post on May 30, 2003, after only seven months in
power.
The King appointed Surya Bahadur Thapa as the new Prime Minister on
June 4, 2003, amidst opposition from the major political parties.
Another round of peace talks was held in mid-August 2003, but on
August 27, 2003 the Maoists broke the second cease-fire. Thapa
resigned in May 2004 as a result of political pressure. In June
2004, the King reinstated formerly dismissed Sher Bahadur Deuba as
Prime Minister.
King's Direct Rule
Citing a steady deterioration of conditions in the country, King
Gyanendra dismissed the Cabinet and constituted a Council of
Ministers under his own chairmanship on February 1, 2005. He stated
that the Council of Ministers (i.e., Cabinet) would try to
reactivate multi-party democracy within three years. The King
subsequently declared a state of emergency and suspended almost all
fundamental rights for nearly three months. His new government was
sworn in on February 2, 2005. The Council of Ministers under the
King's chairmanship was reshuffled twice during the King's 15 months
of direct rule.
People's Movement
In April 2006, the major political parties, in cooperation with the
Maoists, organized massive countrywide demonstrations for the
restoration of democracy, forcing the King to relinquish power. On
April 24, 2006, King Gyanendra reinstated the 1999 Parliament.
Former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala of the Nepali Congress
Party was selected by the Seven-Party Alliance (SPA) of political
parties to again lead the government. The Maoists declared a
unilateral cease-fire on April 26, and the new Koirala government
announced its own unilateral cease-fire and plans for peace talks
with the Maoist insurgents on May 3, 2006. The SPA and the Maoists
have since signed a number of agreements, including, in November
2006, a comprehensive peace agreement to end the decade-long
insurgency. Both sides also agreed to an arms management process and
elections for a Constituent Assembly. On January 15, 2007 a
328-member interim Parliament, including 83 Maoist representatives
and other party representatives, was constituted. The first sitting
of the Parliament unanimously endorsed an interim constitution,
which replaced the constitution of 1990. On April 1, 2007, the
ruling eight-party government formed an interim Council of Ministers
through political consensus, including five Maoist ministers.
The Constituent Assembly Election
Nepal held its historic Constituent Assembly (CA) election on April
10, 2008. Primarily mandated to draft a new constitution of Nepal,
the CA also serves as a Parliament. The Communist Party of Nepal
(Maoist), now known as the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist),
emerged as the largest party securing 229 seats, followed by the
Nepali Congress Party with 115 seats, and the Communist Party of
Nepal-United Marxist Leninist with 108 seats. The Terai-based
Madhesi People's Rights Forum, securing 54 seats emerged as a new
political force in Nepalese politics. Twenty-one smaller parties,
including 2 independent candidates, received 95 seats. |
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