Yearbook 2016
Nepal. After the government made a legislative change to
the country's new constitution, in February protesters
lifted roadblocks at a border crossing to India. As a
result, Nepal regained access to fuel and other supplies
that the country suffered from a severe shortage since the
blockade was introduced in September last year.
According to
countryaah, the protesters mainly belonged to the Madheshi minority
group from the plain along southern Nepal's border with
India. They were concerned that in connection with the new
constitution, which came into force in the fall of 2015,
they would be split up and not get sufficient representation
in government and parliament. Nearly 60 people died in the
protests.
In the same month, Nepal's former Prime Minister Sushil
Koirala, who is also the leader of Parliament's largest
party, passed the Nepalese Congress, 78 years old. When
Koirala was elected head of government in 2014, he became
the country's seventh in order since 2008.
On the anniversary of the April 2015 earthquake disaster,
when nearly 9,000 people lost their lives and around 22,000
were injured, mourners gathered to honor the memory of their
loved ones. In the capital of Kathmandu, Prime Minister
Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli led a day in the sign of sorrow and
laid a wreath at the site of the famous stone tower
Dharahara, which was one of the historical monuments
destroyed in the masses.
At the same time, around a hundred people gathered
outside the Prime Minister's office in Kathmandu to
demonstrate that the reconstruction was going too slowly. In
the earthquake, over 600,000 buildings were totally
destroyed and nearly 300,000 were damaged. Last year, $ 4.1
billion was pledged from various donors such as India,
China, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to help
the affected areas. Due to political turmoil in the wake of
the new constitution, only $ 500 was paid to 800 people in
January, despite $ 2,000 being promised to every family that
lost their home. In April, 4 million people still lived in
temporary and substandard housing, according to the Red
Cross, which, in association with several other humanitarian
organizations, demanded that the government increase the
rate.
Since the Nepali tax authority demanded Swedish telecom
company TeliaSonera capital gains tax on the sale of its
former subsidiary Ncell to Malaysian Axiata, Ncell paid SEK
750 million to the authority in May, after TeliaSonera
rejected the tax claim. Actually, it is the seller who will
pay the capital gains tax, but since Ncell lost big revenue
as a result of a customer campaign in the form of the
hashtag #notaxnoncell on Twitter, Ncell chose to deposit the
money. According to the media, TeliaSonera had not only
refused to pay the tax but also wanted to prohibit Axiata
from doing so. At the same time, Axiata discussed the mood
of TeliaSonera. Ncell has been working in Nepal since 2004
and is the country's first private mobile operator.
In July, Prime Minister KP Oli filed a resignation
application just minutes before a vote of no confidence in
Parliament. The vote was preceded by the Maoist party
leaving the government coalition a few weeks earlier, which
meant that Oli's government lost a majority in parliament.
Oli came from the Communist Party of United Marxist
Leninists and sat in power for nine months.
In August, Parliament appointed former guerrilla leader
Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known as "Prachanda", as new prime
minister. Dahal is the leader of the Maoist Party,
Parliament's third largest party, and won the post of Prime
Minister with the support of the Communist Party of Nepal
Congress and several smaller parties. Dahal was prime
minister even in 2008 after a major election victory for the
Maoists, but resigned after nine months.
In the summer, Nepal was already severely affected by
floods and landslides caused by heavy rains. At least 72
people lost their lives.
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