Nepal

Nepal, situated in the Himalayas, is the world's only Hindu kingdom. It is in South Asia, sharing borders with China (Tibet Autonomous Region) and India. India

Kingdom of Nepal
नेपाल अधिराज्य
Nepal Adhirajya

Flag of Nepal	Coat of arms of Nepal
(In Detail)	(Full size)

National motto:
जननी जन्मभूमिष्च स्वर्गादपि गरियसि
"Ja'nani Jan'mabhumis'hcha Swar'gadapi Gariya'si: Mother and the Motherland are Worth More than the Kingdom of Heaven" (translation from Sanskrit)

Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev

Prime Minister

Sher Bahadur Deuba

Area
- Total
- % water

Ranked 94th
147,181 km²
2.8%

Population

- Total (2000)
- Density

Ranked 40th

25,284,463
184/km²

Unification

UTC +5:45

Rastriya Gaan (May Glory Crown You, Courageous Sovereign)

Internet TLD

.np

Calling Code

977

History

Main article: History of Nepal

Nepal has a long history that has extended for millennia. The Kirati are one of the first Nepali groups known to historians, having migrated from the east in the 7th or 8th century BC. Lord Gautam Buddha was born in Lumbini, Nepal circa 500 BC and the Emperor Aśoka ruled over a vast empire including North India and southern Terai region of present day Nepal (though the hilly and mountainous regions were not a part of Aśoka's Empire) in the 1st century BC. By 200 AD, the Buddhist empire was displaced by resurgent Hindu fiefdoms such as the Licchavi dynasty.

Around 900, the Thakuri dynasty succeeded the Licchavi era and was eventually superceded by the Malla dynasty that ruled until the 18th century. In 1768, the Gorkha king, Prithvi Narayan Shah, captured Kathmandu. In 1814, Nepal fought the Anglo-Nepalese War with the British East India Company that ended with the 1816 Sugauli Treaty, in which Nepal gave up Sikkim and the southern Terai and the British retreated. After Nepali Gurkhas aided the British in quashing the Indian Sepoy Mutiny in 1857, most of the Terai territories were returned to Nepal.

The Shah dynasty was cut short in 1846 when Jung Bahadur Rana seized control of the country after assassinating several hundred princes and chieftans in Kathmandu's Kot Massacre. Ranas ruled as hereditary prime ministers until 1948 when the British colony of India achieved independence. India propped up King Tribhuvan as Nepal's new ruler in 1951 and sponsored the Nepali Congress Party. Tribhuvan's son, King Mahendra dissolved the democratic experiment and declared a "partyless" panchayat system would govern Nepal. His son, King Birendra inherited the throne in 1972 and continued the panchayat policy until 1989's "Jana Andolan" (People's Movement or Democracy Movement) forced the monarchy to accept constitutional reforms. In May 1991, Nepal's held its first election in nearly 50 years. The Nepali Congress Party and the Communist Party of Nepal received the most votes. No party has held power for more than two consecutive years since. Critics argue that the governmental reforms did not appreciably improve the political order because the new government was also characterised by extreme corruption bordering on kleptocracy.

In February 1996, after losing several elctions, one of the Maiost parites started their bid to replace the parliamentary system with a communist dictatorship they called the violence People's war. This has since grown to a civil war and resulted in the deaths of 10,000 people.

According to official Nepal government accounts, on June 1, 2001, the Heir Apparent Crown Prince Dipendra went on a killing spree in the royal palace in a violent response to his parents' refusal to accept his choice for a wife. He apparently shot and killed his parents, King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya, as well as his brother, sister, two uncles and three aunts, before turning the gun on himself. His suicide attempt was not immediately successful, however, and although in a comatose state, he was proclaimed the king (in accordance with Nepalese tradition) in his hospital bed. He died a three days later. See Dipendra of Nepal.

Following King Dipendra's death, his uncle (King Birendra's brother) King Gyanendra was proclaimed king on June 4. Shortly afterward, he declared martial law, and dissolved the government. Gyanendra deployed Nepal's military in the grinding civil war, the Nepalese People's War, with the Maoist insurgents.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Nepal

The former king, King Birendra, recognized the popular desire for parliamentary democracy, and restored it after a referendum in 1990. King Birendra was widely respected by the people of Nepal. However, quarrels between various political parties and numerous social problems led to the Maoist rebellion which has been escalating since 1996 (see Nepalese People's War). Since the ascension of King Gyanendra, the government has been attempting to exercise more control over the rebels and to accelerate development activities. The nascent move towards democracy has been suspended by King Gyanendra who quickly moved to dissolve parliament and institute martial law in 2002.

Zones

Main article: Zones of Nepal

Nepal is divided into 14 zones (anchal, singular and plural): Bagmati, Bheri, Dhawalagiri, Gandaki, Janakpur, Karnali, Koshi, Lumbini, Mahakali, Mechi, Narayani, Rapti, Sagarmatha, Seti

Geography

Main article: Geography of Nepal

Nepal is landlocked between China and India; total land area 147,181 km² (56,827 mi²). The terrain is mountainous and hilly, although with physical diversity. Three broad physiographic areas run laterally — lowland Terai Region in the south; central lower mountains and hills constituting the Hill Region; the high Himalayas, with 8,850-metre (29,035-foot) high Mount Everest and other peaks forming Mountain Region in north. Of Nepal's total land area, only 20 percent is cultivatable. Deforestation is a severe problem.

Sagarmatha (also known as Mt. Everest in English and Chomolongma in Tibetan), the highest mountain in the world, straddles the Nepal - China border. The vista and majesty of Sagarmatha and the Himalayan range, including eight of the world's top ten peaks, (the eight-thousanders ((mountains over 8,000 metres), are major tourist attractions and are cited as wonders of the natural world.

Nepal has five climatic zones based on altitude that range from subtropical in the south, to cool summers and severe winters in the north. There is annual rainfall with seasonal variations depending on the monsoon cycle, which provides 60 to 80 percent of the total annual rainfall: 2,500 mm (98.5 in) in eastern part of country; 1,420 mm (56 in) around Kathmandu; 1,000 mm (39 in) in western Nepal.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Nepal

Nepal is among the poorest and least developed countries in the world with nearly half of its population living below the poverty line (with, as of 2001, a per capita income of just over US$240). Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, providing a livelihood for over 80% of the population and accounting for 41% of GDP. Industrial activity mainly involves the processing of agricultural produce including jute, sugarcane, tobacco, and grain. Production of textiles and carpets has expanded recently and accounted for about 80% of foreign exchange earnings in the past three years. Agricultural production is growing by about 5% on average as compared with annual population growth of 2.3%.

Since May 1991, the government has been moving forward with economic reforms, particularly those that encourage trade and foreign investment, e.g., by reducing business licenses and registration requirements in order to simplify investment procedures. The government has also been cutting expenditures by reducing subsidies, privatizing state industries, and laying off civil servants. More recently, however, political instability - five different governments over the past few years — has hampered Kathmandu's ability to forge consensus to implement key economic reforms. Nepal has considerable scope for accelerating economic growth by exploiting its potential in hydropower and tourism, areas of recent foreign investment interest. Prospects for foreign trade or investment in other sectors will remain poor, however, because of the small size of the economy, its technological backwardness, its remoteness, its landlocked geographic location, and its susceptibility to natural disaster. The international community's role of funding more than 60% of Nepal's development budget and more than 28% of total budgetary expenditures will likely continue as a major ingredient of growth.

Demographics and Culture

Main article: Demographics of Nepal

Nepal is a multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-ethnic society. The data below are derived from the 2002 Nepal Population Report. [1]

Languages

Nepal's diverse linguistic heritage evolved from three major language groups: Indo-Aryan, Tibeto-Burman, and indigenous. According to the 2001 national census, 92 different living languages are spoken in Nepal (a 93rd category was "unidentified"). The major languages of Nepal (percent spoken as mother tongue) are Nepali (49%), Maithili (12%), Bhojpuri (8%), Tharu (6%), Tamang (5%), Newari/Nepal Bhasa (4%), Magar (3%), Awadhi (2%), Bantawa (2%), Limbu (1%), and Bajjika (1%). The remaining 81 languages are each spoken as mother tongue by less than one percent of the population.

Nepali, written in Devanagari script, is the official, national language and serves as lingua franca among Nepalis of different ethnolinguistic groups. In the southern Terai Region (5 to 10 mile wide stretch of flat plains in the south which is a northern continuation of Gangetic plains of India), Hindi is also spoken.

Religions

Nepal, constitutionally a Hindu kingdom with long-standing legal provisions prohibiting discrimination against other religions and proselytization, is the only official Hindu country in the world. The 2001 census identified 80.6% of the population as Hindu and Buddhism was practiced by about 11% of the population (although many people labelled Hindu or Buddhist often practice a syncretic blend of Hinduism, Buddhism and/or animist traditions). About 4.2% of the population is Muslim and 3.6% of the population follows the indigenous Kirant religion. Christianity is practiced by less than 0.5% of the population.

Ethnicity

Nepal’s 2001 census enumerated 103 distinct caste/ethnic groups including an "unidentified group". The caste system of Nepal is rooted in the Hindu religion while the ethnic system is rooted in mutually exclusive origin myths, historical mutual seclusion and the occasional state intervention. The major caste/ethnic groups identified by the 2001 census are Chhetri (15.8%) Hill Brahmin (12.7%), Madheshi (33%), Magar (7.1%), Tamang (5.6%), Newar (5.5%), Muslim (4.3%), Kami (3.9%), Rai (3.9), Gurung (2.8%), and &nbspDamai/Dholi (2.4%). The remaining 92 caste/ethnic groups (including the world-famous Sherpa, each constitute less than 2 percent of the population.)

Music

See Music of Nepal

Holidays

Nepal uses three calendars: the Western (Gregorian), the official solar Bikram Sambhat, and the lunar calendar. Dates for many religious Nepalese holidays are set according to the lunar calendar (somewhat like Easter is for Christians), so there are no fixed dates for Nepalese holidays in either the Western or the official calendar. Generally, the two major holidays, Dashain and Tihar, fall in October and November.