Some countries are not directly connected to sea (called landlocked country) while some countries are totally surrounded by sea like Japan or Sri-Lanka (called island country). Nepal is one of the landlocked countries out of the 48 countries in the world. In South Asia, Nepal, Bhutan and Afghanistan are three landlocked countries. Nepal is surrounded by India in three sides while northern side is by Tibetan part of China.
Being landlocked country is very impending to the development as this situation hinders the international trade and access to marine resources. Moreover, in the modern times of globalization the free flow of goods and people are the basic tenets. The international trade these days is essentially free flow of the stuffs. For example Nepal is using cars far from Japan, medicine from Germany and so on. Similarly, Japan is consuming the banana from Ecuador, coffee from Brazil or medicine from Switzerland. In this context, the United Nations has made Convention on law of sea (ratified in 1982 ) which gives a landlocked country a right of access to and from the sea without taxation of traffic through transit countries. 166 countries including Nepal, India and China have ratified the convention.
Nepal though mountainous country has plain areas in the southern parts adjoining India where there are major export import border points including Birgunj, Biratnagar and Bhairahawa. Unhappy with the constitution promulgation by constituent assembly in Nepal through the 7 years of hard efforts, India has been continuously using its border for the obstruction of the free transport of stuffs most importantly the petroleum products. This has resulted in the severe shortage of the petroleum products. This is severe blow to the Nepal's path to the prosperity after the 10 years of the bloody civil war and recent severe earthquake in April, 2015 which have caused severe loss of lives and property.
Nepal has ushered in the modern world after the autocratic Rana regime fall in 1950s. In the last 50 years duration, India has used blockade to neighboring Nepal to grip in her hands to fulfill India's interests- 1969 during the Indira Gandhi regime, 1988 during Rajiv Gandhi and now in the time of Narendra Modi in 2015. Narendra Modi of Bharitiya Janata Party (BJP) was thought to be pronepali because of the Hindu majority country, holy land of Pashupatinath and Gautam Buddha. Modi was received very well in Nepal during his official visit to Nepal and the anti-Indian sentiments were the lowest in the recent times due to his highly friendly behavior and oratory skills. He said that India will always be with Nepal and help Nepal prosper with the emerging India side by side. After the blockade, it seems that his words were just cheap propaganda. Actually, India is party of Convention of sea and it is moral duty to follow the international law if she also wants be treated equally by other countries internationally.
Except Bhutan, which is pseudo independent small country, India has no good relations with her immediate neighbors. It has fought 3 wars with arch rival Pakistan after both countries' birth in 1947. Bangladesh, which was helped by India during the independence war, has severe reservations with India mostly in the water sharing issues including the Farraka Barrage along with the Bengali migration problems. India has fought war with China and still there are problems with borders. Moreover, relations with Myanmar, Srilanka, Maldives are not well. The neighbor first strategy of the Modi was seeming working in the first year of his office but with the economic blockade to Nepal it is failing. The goodwill of Nepali people towards India has again waned because it is painful. India needs to understand that the country can be small but not sovereignty.
Being big in the regional context does not allow impunity to India in bullying its neighboring country including Nepal. India should be grateful to Nepal which has allowed its citizen to work in India security forces as per the agreement between Nepal, Britain and nascent India in 1940s. Nepalese people in Indian security forces are working hard and risking their precious lives to maintain the calm situation not only in the cold Jammu and Kashmir but also in scorching sun of Rajasthan and very unfriendly environment of Northeast fighting different revolutionary and militant groups. If the situation persists as before Nepal will be forced to take another direction that will be very bad for the not only Indian security but also Indian economy and the international image. India has to come forward and apologize for the ongoing bullying behavior to Nepal and start the friendly behavior not in words but in action. World is watching this time.
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