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About Nepal Nepal (g]kfn), is a landlocked Himalayan country in South Asia, bordered by the People's Republic of China to the north and India to the south, east and west. For a relatively small country, the Nepali landscape is uncommonly diverse, ranging from the humid Terai in the south to the lofty Himalayas in the north. It is notable that within a very small width the elevation of Nepal increases from the plain
Terai to the tallest Himalays leading to a great vegetation. Nepal boasts eight of the world's ten highest mountains, including Mount Everest on the border with Tibet. Kathmandu is the capital and largest city. The other main cities include Biratnagar, Birgunj, Janakpur, Pokhara, Nepalgunj, Mahendranagar etc. The origin of the name Nepal is uncertain, but the most popular understanding is that it derived from Ne (holy) and pal (cave).
History of Nepal After a
long and rich history, during which the region
splintered and coalesced under a variety of
absolute rulers, Nepal became a
constitutional monarchy in 1990. However, the
monarchy retained many important and ill-defined
powers. This arrangement was marked by increasing
instability, both in the parliament and, since
1996, in large swathes of the country that have
been fought over by
Maoist insurgents. The Maoists, alienated from
mainstream political parties, went underground and
started a guerilla war against both monarchy and
mainstream political parties. They have sought to
overthrow feudal institutions, including the
monarchy, and establish a republic. This has led
to the ongoing
Nepalese Civil War in which more than 13,000
people have died. On the pretext of quashing the
insurgents, who now control about 70% of the
country, the king closed down the parliament and
sacked the elected prime minister in 2002 and
started ruling through prime ministers appointed
by him. He then unilaterally declared a "state
of emergency" early in 2005, and assumed all
executive powers. Following the
Loktantra Andolan, the king agreed to
relinquish the sovereign power back to the people
and reinstated the dissolved House of
Representatives on
April 24,
2006. Using its newly acquired sovereign
authority, in
May 19,
2006, the newly resumed House of
Representatives unanimously passed a motion to
curtail the power of the king and declared Nepal a
Secular state. An eventual and total rewrite
of the realm's
constitution is expected to happen in the near
future. |