Nepal
Preshma Dhakal
April 27th, 2018
Saul Nije
GEOG 150
Nepal, which is also known for the country of Himalayas and Mountain is located at Southeast Asia. Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country located mainly in the Himalayas but also includes plains. It covers the total area of 143,351 sq. km and its boundary are 2,9500 km long in total and is bordered by China on north 1,236 km and India on south east-west 1,690 km.
Nepal can be divided broadly into three ecological zones: the lowland, the midland and the highland. The altitude of the Himalayan Region (the highland) ranges between 4877 m – 8848 m, It includes 8 of the highest 14 summits in the world, which exceed altitude of 8000 meters including Mount Everest.
The weather and climate differ from warm summers to chilly winters. Nepal has the different range of lands as it has weather and people. The land starts from 70m from sea level from Kanchan in plain and passes through a hilly region to the world's highest point Mount Everest at 8,848 m.
Nepal is known for its natural beauty and it has its own peculiar cultures. It has more than 72 ethnic groups and more than 58 different languages are spoken in different parts of Nepal. Nepali is the national language of Nepal. Nepali is the national language of Nepal. Educated people understand and speak English as well. There are hundreds of local dialects spoken by people from various ethnic groups. People practice several religions as it is a secular country. Till now Hinduism and Buddhism have the largest population.
The Hindu Temples and Buddhist Shrines are scattered all over the Kingdom. Nepal is the birthplace of Lord Buddha, Herald of Peace, the Light of Asia. Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians live together in harmony. And other nature believers, exist there as well.
Kathmandu is the capital, and Nepal has an average of 30 million people. The Kathmandu Valley, the political and cultural hub of the nation, is drained by the Baghmati River, flowing southward, which washes the steps of the sacred temple of Paśupatinātha (Pashupatinath) and rushes out of the valley through the deeply cut Chhobar gorge. The average temperature of Kathmandu valley ranges from 50° F (10° C) in January to 78° F (26° C) in July, and the lowest and highest temperatures recorded have been 27° and 99° F (-3° and 37° C).
As Nepal is a landlocked country it is situated between two giants, India and China, Nepal needs to keep a balance between the two countries in its foreign policy—and thus to remain independent in its own. A factor that contributes immensely to the geopolitical importance of the country is the fact that a strong Nepal can deny China access to the rich Gangetic Plain; Nepal thus marks the southern boundary of the Chinese sphere north of the Himalayas in Asia. As a result of its years of geographic and self-imposed isolation, Nepal is one of the least developed nations of the world. In recent years many countries, including India, China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Denmark, Germany, Canada, and Switzerland, have provided economic assistance to Nepal.
The extent of foreign aid to Nepal has been influenced to a considerable degree by the strategic position of the country between India and China. Nepal is also the first country in Asia to protect gay rights which was adopted in September 2015.
The currency of Nepal is Nepalese rupees. The inflation rate if 9.93% in 2016.
Nepal has faced the disadvantages of being a landlocked country which makes trade expensive and inadequate means of transportation as resulting in one of the least developed countries in the world. The Nepal economy is majorly relying on agriculture and tourism industry.
Agriculture is the primary means of GDP it employs about 65% of the population and contributes on 35% of GDP of Nepal. Another major source of GDP is remittance contributing 29.1%.
Although Nepal has not made a dramatical change in terms of development Nepal has a huge capacity for hydroelectricity. Accordingly, a large number of foreign companies are in line, but political instability has stopped the process at the same time as it's growing on its own. Nepal has its export business on the carpet, beverages, textile, tea, and plastic. It has major business deals with India, Bangladesh, and Germany. The GDP of Nepal is 21.14 billion in 2016. Whereas the GDP per capita is 729.53 USD according to the world bank.
As the political stability is not good resulting in the complicated pace of development. Until 1950 Nepal did not have any infrastructures, means of communication, schools, and hospital, but after 1950 it has made a sustainable progress and has established to become a developing country from the most undeveloped list. Strong export performance, including earnings from tourism, and external aid have helped improve the overall balance of payments and increase international reserves.
Nepal receives substantial amounts of external assistance from the United Kingdom, [10][11][12]the United States, Japan, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries.
School enrollment has increased significantly, and the maternal mortality rate has declined drastically. Yet significant challenges remain and threaten this young, fragile democracy’s stability, including stagnant economic growth, high malnutrition among children, acute food shortages, high vulnerability to natural disasters and natural resource degradation made worse by climate change.
Currently, Nepal has the Multi-Party system. The major political parties are Democratic, Republican, Federation. Although the political reformation started to being in 1950's as a step to move kingdom for a democratic political system. As result, it was banned to have political parties however only in 1990 it was legal to open a political party. As king remains the head, but other major power was given to ministers of the country. But on June 1, 2001 series of unfortunate happened and gunned does almost everyone in the royal family. As a result, and struggle kingdom was thrown out and democracy was introduced. In ten years almost nine political parties were on the government and changed.
A Maoist insurgency also began in between which killed thousands of people. The Maoist and the government at present were on the clash. Later peace was made, and the party led three governments in between. It is currently a joint partner in a coalition government led by CPN(UML).
Bidhya Devi Bhandari was elected as Nepal's first woman president in a parliamentary vote in October 2015. She was deputy leader of the Maoist Communist Party of Nepal Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML) and a former defense minister. Nepalese citizen who is 18 years or older can cast their votes to their favorites party.
All the political parties are recognized by symbols on the election. However, Still, there is political instability in the country.
US is sixty-six times bigger than the size of Nepal in comparison. Nepal is just as big as Iowa state is. The life expectancy rate is 68 years in men and 71 in women's. Nepal is renowned for its natural beauty and inhabitants. Tourism plays vital role in Nepal's economy. Annually 753002 visit Nepal according to the Nepal Tourism Statistic 2016. Many travelers come to Nepal for trekking, rafting, hiking and visiting Buddhist pilgrims.
Generally, Nepal has been through a lot although in terms of 10 years conflict in between or the recent massive earthquake despite, it is standing as a developing nation and moving forward to progress. The world bank states that in 2017 it saw a broad-based recovery in terms of moderate inflation, rebounded economic activity, monetary spending and increase in remittance receiving which is 31.3% according to World bank (2016).
Work citied.
1.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepal
2. https://www.britannica.com/place/Nepal
3. http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/nepal
4. http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/nepal