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Nepal entrusts China to print Rs 100 notes with map laying claim over Indian territory

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(TibetanReview.net, Oct29’24) –Nepal under Prime Minister KPS Oli appears to be making common cause with China on its territorial dispute with India by awarding the contract for the printing of its controversial new Rs 100 note to a Chinese company. Oli is seen as the most pro-China Nepali leader and has in the past taken potshots at India as if to make that point.

Nepal has been laying claim over three Indian territories in the Indian state of Uttarakhand in the recent past – Limpiyadhura-Kalapani-Lipulekh. And its claim over the Limpiyadhura Pass area arises from its claim over Kalapani. The disputed area, a 370-square-kilometre stretch situated to the northwestern corner of Nepal, has been administered by India for hundreds of years.

The area is currently administration as part of Pithoragarh district in the Kumaon Division of the Uttarakhand state. However, Nepal has been claiming it since 1997, saying it lies within its Darchula district, Sudurpashchim Province.

Nepal added these regions to its map via a constitutional amendment in 2020, though they have been under Indian control for over 200 years, noted zeenews.india.com Oct 29. Nepal shares a border of over 1,800 km with five Indian states – Sikkim, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

Oli’s cabinet recently approved the inclusion of its new map with these three Indian territories on its new currency note of Nepali Rs 100. The printing of the notes will test Kathmandu’s relations with India, the report noted.

The contract for printing the new currency notes has been awarded to China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation. Nepal’s central bank – Nepal Rashtra Bank – has issued its letter of intent to the Chinese firm on Oct 27, the report said.

Amid this development, Oli is planning to pay an official visit to China between mid-November and mid-December, though China is yet to extend an official invitation to him, the report said.

In Nepal’s frequently changing alignment of parties in constant jostling for power, Oli assumed his fourth tenure as Prime Minister of Nepal in mid-July.

Oli held a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York last month. During the meeting, he extended an invitation to Modi to visit Nepal, the report said.

Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal (UML) is a coalition partner with Nepali Congress, which is seen as pro-India.

China lays claim to territories across much of India’s northern borders with Tibet which the former annexed in 1951 through armed aggression.

Nepal’s claim is based on the Sugauli Treaty signed with British East India Company in 1815. Under it, the India-western Nepal border is marked by the course of the Kali River, called the Mahakali downstream. But there was no map attached to it.

The Mahakali has two tributaries—one starting at Lipulekh and the other at Limpiyadhura further west. The treaty did not specify which of these two tributaries would be considered the Kali for the purpose of delineating the boundary. India says the Kali starts at Lipulekh, while Nepal says Limpiyadhura is the river’s source, noted a Kathmandupost.com report Jun 4, 2020.

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