Modern Nepal

The Modern History of Nepal

Prithvi Narayan Shah's establishment of the Gorkha kingdom in the 18th century marks the beginning of Nepal's modern history. The Gorkha ruler began integrating all the territories, states, and ethnic groups of Nepal starting in 1765. The various lands are now separated into mountainous regions with a preponderance of Hindu and Buddhist people in modern Nepal. His attempt to invade the lands was successful. He incorporated Tibet and Bhutan. His successors later carried out his designs. At the start of the 19th century, the attempts of Prithvi Narayan Shah's successors encounter an obstacle. The British East India Company became concerned and sent the successors in front. The kingdom accepted the degrading terms on the contract table because it was embarrassed by the Anglo-Nepalese War in 1816. The Gadhwal and Kumaon regions were taken by British India. The Shahs' general Jung Bahadur overthrows the government in the same decade. The murderous counter efforts' diligent work paid off. Both sides committed many massacres as time went on. The deadliest of them all, the Kot massacre claimed approximately 30,000 Nepalese lives in a couple of hours. The conflict between the Ranas and the Shahs developed after Jung Bahadur. Near the turn of the 20th century, Rana and Shah began to rule as a married couple and had children. It is also depicted on Nepal's flag. These two dynasties are represented by the two triangular flags that make up a single flag. Nepal participated in the Indian Uprising of 1857 on behalf of Britain and experienced its own royal killings in the 1840s.

The land was a land of mountains in the 1900s and it includes a wide range of inequality from wealthy princes to child laborers with the majority of comfortably off urban servants, and poverty. It also includes a people who are engaged in farming across the foothills and valleys below the Himalayas, as well as Sherpas, as well as many Hindus, Buddhists, and some Muslims, as well as Christians who are divided into many ethnicities. Nepal was granted independence by Britain in 1923, but because it was also an ally, it sent many troops to aid Britain during World War II, which caused the flu to spread back to Nepal. Through the interference of the British, Nepal had to stop its despotic system and put an end to slavery, but the regime kept Nepal in poverty and prevented growth. In tiny rebellions that were intended to establish or just create competing religious groups in the 1930s, the majority of participants perished and the majority were incarcerated. It continued in the 1940s, when the Congress, which had grown powerful, began to support the monarchy of the time. India also assisted the democracy movement in obtaining a new king with less of a concubine lifestyle, and at that point, the kings used their position of authority to attack the democracy movements, sparking a series of small uprisings and riots that resulted in some fatalities. By 1959, the monarchs had destroyed the Nepali Congress, which had a history of influencing governments. They did this because they wanted to be in charge and claimed that the Congress party was corrupt, but the king and his followers' widespread high pay and extensive power made that claim moot. A brief Maoist uprising in the 1970s resulted in many beatings and some fatalities. Due to challenges in Nepal and a decline in life expectancy after India became a democracy, Nepal's GDP per capita is lower than that of India. In 1980, a distinct form of democracy was developed through protests, and riots involving political candidates who were advocating for the state to be a democracy for the people rather than the monarch and his family resulted in deaths.

The Royal authoritarian version of democracy and democracy's development were both goals of the Communist Party and Congress Party in 1989. Nevertheless, the king retained the power. The new system was based on the economic liberalization that occurred in numerous nations. The reality was that economic liberalization was generally bad for the lower classes in most countries, such as South America, where there was welfare and no need for subsidies. Privatization also did not benefit the lower classes in Nepal, where economic liberalization did not result in significant state spending reductions. The Nepal royal people were not seen as being of any use to their rich money grubbing where some wanted good for their people but other just wanted things for themselves. In contrast, IMF specialists were successful in selling South America and their lands which would reduce this welfare cash and investment of the state in social services. Because there was limited privatization, the quality of social services and the standard of living in Nepal improved. But since Nepal still had more serfs, slaves, and child laborers per capita than India did at the time, was poorer and had a lower life expectancy where hundreds of people died in famines, this did not seem like it served any purpose. As a result, democracy was useless because it did not provide for them. Small-scale uprisings were sparked by the Maoists in western countries by ethnic minorities. Although the king interfered and the Congress and Communist coalition included royalists, their shaky administrations prevented them from putting an end to the Maoist uprising. The Maoists' goal was to gain control of the various places, thus they used to attack state police and other institutions at the end of the revolution, which resulted in thousands of deaths. Welfare improved in the 1990s.

However, the Maoist uprising was more successful and began between 1995 and 1996. Until 2001, it controlled the rural areas, creating their own courts, rules, and laws. From 1996 to 2002, 3000 people died as a result. Since early 2005, royalists have used propaganda to suggest that democracy has failed. The royal coup in 2001 was designed to combat the Maoists' argument that politicians had failed, and it restored power for a brief period before being retaken again presumably forever. However, by the end of 2005, the war had not been resolved and more than 11,000 people had died. In addition, the Royal army had also claimed more than a thousand lives. Due to their imprisonment and torture of nearly 3000 people as well as their naming of human rights activists as terrible names, including those who opposed child labor, the Royalists were considered as as as wicked as the Maoists, if not worse. While the democrats had a connection with democratic India that was more closely tied to commerce with Nepal, the royalists were willing to forge a mutual relationship with anyone, including China, India, or Pakistan, in order to maintain power. China intended to build roads, but it was difficult to do so. By doing so, it would be able to support kingly dictatorships, just as it did when it backed Pot and the king of Cambodia during their horrific late 1970s reign.

References

Flippo, Edwin B. Personnel Management. London: Oxford Press, 1980.

Gynwal, Ram Prasad. Know Nepal. Kathmandu: Bhundipuran Prakashan, 2012.

Hamilton, Francis B. An Account of the Kingdom of Nepal. New Delhi: Manjushri Publishing House, 1971.

Heywood, Andrew. Politics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.