In the past two months, Nepal’s political space had been marred by upheavals and doubts over the future of the ruling alliance between the Nepali Congress, Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Center)/Maoist Party, and Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist) [CPN-US], over ratification of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) which is USD 500 million grant offered by the United States (US) to Nepal for a period of five years. The MCC agreement had been awaiting its ratification by the Parliament of Nepal since 2017. Finally, it was ratified on February 27, 2022.

The edited “India Bangladesh Bonhomie at 50: 1971 and the Present” by Sreeradha Datta was launched in the presence of Mr. Shariar Alam Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh, Amb. Kazi Imtiaz Hossain, Chairman Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS), Bangladesh, Major Shamsul Arefin, Chairman, Bangladesh Foundation for Strategic Studies, Bangladesh, Dr Arvind Gupta, Director , Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF), Lt Gen Ravi K Sawhney, Centre Head and Senior Fellow, Vivekananda International Foundation at BIISS, Dhaka.

On the 23rd of March, the Vivekananda International Foundation organized a virtual book discussion on “India’s Economic Miracle and Nepal”. The session began with a series of introductory remarks by Mr. Prakash Man Singh, Member of Parliament and Senior Leader of Nepali Congress, and Professor Hari Bansh Jha, author and executive director Center for Economic and Technical Studies, Nepal. These remarks were then followed by comments on the nature of India-Nepal relations by Ambassador Deep Kumar Upadhyay, Ambassador Ranji Rae, Mr. Atul K Thakur and Mr. Ganesh Kumar Mandal.

For Bangladesh and India, the past year has been about celebrating 50 years of Bangladesh and commemorating the iconic event, the Liberation War of Bangladesh, one that irreversibly changed the political landscape of South Asia.