The border and migration report of 1983 prepared by the taskforce led by Dr Harka Gurung made a big hue and cry in the Tarai region of Nepal. The report had recommended regulation of India-Nepal border and the provision of compulsory work permits for Indians. In reality the  report was an indication from the Nepali ruling authorities that the government was not happy with the unequal, vague and stiff provisions of the 1950 treaty signed between Nepal and India. In Nepal, there has always been a demand to review this treaty as a majority of people believe it to be unequal, and an encroachment on the national interests and development of Nepal.

Neither the 1950 treaty nor any other treaty between the two countries has stated any measures for the regulation of the Nepal-India border. The trade agreement has identified fixed routes for mutual trade. But there is no agreement on routes for the movement of people. Thus, citizens of both the countries have been moving freely into each other’s territory from any point of the 1,751km open border.

Open border worries

Nowhere in the world does such an open border exist between two countries. Nepal is concerned about the open border due to periodical border blockades, difficulties in trade and transit, problems of law and order in border areas and border encroachments.

According to the 1991 census of Nepal, the hill population has declined to 53.3 percent from 64.8 percent, while—as a result of increased immigration—the Tarai population has increased to 46.7 percent from 35.2 percent from 1952 to 1991. And during 1981-91, due to communal disturbances in India, Muslim population increased by 38 percent in Nepal. Currently, the population of the Tarai and the hills is almost equal, which suggests that after a couple of decades the population of the Tarai will certainly surpass that of the hills’.

On the one hand, if the historical, cultural and traditional relationships between border communities of Nepal and India have been eased by the open border, on the other hand, both the countries also complain about the problems arising from the unregulated open border.

India has always asserted that due to the open border, Nepal has become a safe haven for anti-Indian elements and a new transit point for smuggling fake Indian currency notes into the Indian territory. The Nepali side argues that being a small nation, Nepal cannot accommodate an excessive number of Indian immigrants, who easily acquire Nepali citizenship certificates due to the administrative loopholes in the Nepali bureaucracy.

Moreover, Indians working in Nepal are residing in certain localities of the Tarai and big cities where economic opportunities are good in an organised manner. But Nepalis that migrate to India for work are scattered in small groups all over the country working low-paying jobs. Even hundreds of thousands of Bhutanese refugees were forced to enter Nepal via India. Nepal is also suffering from trafficking of girls to India. Rampant smuggling in the border areas has adversely affected the Nepali economy.

Eminent persons group

Amidst the aforementioned worries, there is room for corrections now with the recently formed  Eminent Persons Group (EPG). The EPG has been created to look into Nepal-India ties and to review all bilateral treaties between the two countries. It was envisioned during the third Nepal-India Joint Commission meeting held in July 2014 in Kathmandu. At least now, discussion and deliberation would start formally on every facet of the 1950 treaty and other pertinent issues.

The EPG formed in Nepal will give inputs to the government to improve bilateral relations with India before Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s forthcoming visit to India.

Furthermore, it will get two years to come up with a comprehensive report on provisions that need to be amended in all bilateral treaties. This is a golden

opportunity for both the countries to sort out their differences, including the contentious open border issues. The Nepal government should make the most of it and make sure that the EPG prepares its report seriously. Nepal has time and again complained with India that the treaties between the two countries have been biased, so now it has an opportunity to change that. However, only time can tell how the relationship between these two nations will prosper once it is based on equality.

Shrestha is a former Government of Nepal employee