The current border dispute between India and Nepal began in 1816. Then the king of Nepal lost many areas at the hands of British rulers. This was followed by the Treaty of Sugauli in which they had to give Sikkim, Nainital, Darjeeling, Lipulekh, Kalapani to India. However, the British later returned some part. Not only this, the area of ​​the Terai was also taken away by the British from Nepal, but in the year 1857 of India, the king of Nepal supported the British in the freedom struggle. The British rewarded him and gave the entire Terai area to Nepal.

People of Indian origin used to live in the Terai region, but the British gave the whole area to Nepal, unlike the population. A senior official overseeing Nepal affairs said that the defeat in the war of 1816 remains in the Gorkha community of Nepal even today. The political parties are taking advantage of this. He said that there is a problem in this ongoing dispute between the two countries that Nepal is saying that the documents of the Treaty of Sugauli have disappeared.

In 2015, the relationship between India and Nepal became more bitter as Nepal's constitution was changed. There was an undeclared blockade from India and due to this there was a huge shortage of many essential goods in Nepal. Since then, the old trust in relations between the two countries has not returned. India was not satisfied with the new constitution of Nepal. There were allegations that Nepal discriminated against Madhesis in the new constitution. Madhesi in Nepal are people of Indian origin and have their roots in Bihar and UP.

The Madhesis and the people of India have the support of the roti-beti. Even after the blockade of India, Nepal did not make any changes in its constitution and the blockade had to end without any success. The Indian official said that there is considerable truth in the allegation of discrimination against Madhesis in Nepal. The mountain community occupies government jobs in Nepal. The people of Madhesi are seen by the hill people with hatred. Madhesis in Nepal are chanted as 'dhotis'. The hill people understand that the Madhesi people do not have Nepal, but their faith in India.

Actually, Nepal is a land-bound country and it felt that the blockade of India could be broken by going in the lap of China. China has allowed the use of the port of Tianjin, Shenzen, Lianyugang and Xinjiang. Alam is that now Nepal has also joined the ambitious BRI program of China. China is laying a railway line to Nepal. China is investing largely in Nepal. China is also being accused behind the latest controversy

The Maoist parties are in control of Nepal's politics these days. There the old party has gone into the Nepali Congress background and the left parties are engaged in propagating against India among the hill people.

India and Nepal have been sharing a friendly relationship ever since India declared national sovereignty in the year of 1950. During the very same year, the Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship was signed by both countries in their best interests.

According to the treaty, both countries have agreed to a peaceful trade, and are allowed to cross each other‘s territories without restrictions. The Indian government and the Rana rulers of Nepal stated that “neither government shall tolerate any threat to the security of the other by a foreign aggressor.” The treaty also granted Nepalese educational opportunities for India. In return, Nepal has provided business opportunities to Indians.

According to the treaty, the Nepalese and Indians can move freely across the border without passports or visas, and may live and/or work in either country. All of these deals and agreements have created a strong friendly relationship between the two countries. However, due to political issues and border disputes, this relationship has come to an end.

 The main dispute is Kalapani land, which lies on the easternmost corner of Uttarakhand‘s Pithoragarh district, between Nepal and India was revived in November 2019 when India published a revised political map indicating the recently created Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Both India and Nepal lay claim to Kalapani. The map showed Kalapani as a part of Pithoragarh district. Nepal objected immediately and drew attention to the lingering issue. On 8 of May, India inaugurated the Darchula-Lipulekh pass link road, cutting across the disputed Kalapani area which is used by Indian pilgrims to Kailash Mansarovar. Nepal hit back by summoning the Indian Ambassador to Nepal, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, to convey a proper protest.

Kalapani is a region located in the easternmost corner of Uttarakhand‘s Pithoragarh district. It shares a broder on the north with the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and Nepal in the east and south. The province take after a slice of cake wedged in between Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani. The area is in India’s control but Nepal claims the region due to historical and cartographic reasons. The area is that the largest territorial dispute between Nepal and India consisting of a minimum of 37,000 hectares of land within the High Himalayas.

The Kalapani land derives it's name from the river Kali. Nepal‘s claims to the region is predicated on this river because it became the marker of the boundary of the dominion of Nepal following the Treaty of Sugauli signed between the Gurkha rulers of Kathmandu and therefore the East India Company after the Gurkha War/Anglo-Nepal War (1814-16). The treaty was ratified in 1816. According to the treaty, Nepal lost the regions of Kumaon-Garhwal within the west and Sikkim within the east. According to Article 5, the King of Nepal gave up his claims over the region west of the river Kali which originates within the High Himalayas and flows into the great plains of the Indian subcontinent. According to the treaty, British rulers recognised Nepal’s right to the region that fell to the east of the river Kali. Here lies the historic origin of the dispute. According to Nepal‘s experts, the east of the Kali river should begin at the source of the river. The source consistent with them is within the mountains near Limpiyadhura, which is higher in altitude than the remainder of the river’s flow. Nepal claims that a land mass, high within the mountains that falls to the east of the whole stretch ranging from Limpiyadhura downwards, is theirs. India on the opposite hand says the border begins at Kalapani which India says is where the river begins. The dispute is especially due to the varying interpretation of the origin of the river and its various tributaries that slice into the mountains. Even though Nepal‘s claim of the territory east of Kali is predicated on the Limpiyadhura origin, India says the river actually takes the name Kali near Kalapani.

The region juts into the Himalayas and is connected to the other side of the mountain range through the Lipulekh pass, which has been used for centuries by Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims and tourists on their way to Kailash Mansarovar. The nearby markets are used by various mountain communities. The Himalayas have several passes that connect the Gangetic region with the Tibetan plateau but Lipulekh is strategically located because it is nearest to the heart of the Indian state or the capital Region and may be of particular concern just in case of an armed conflict with China.

The importance of Himalayan passes with the Tibetan plateau was amply highlighted in the 1962 war. During that war, Chinese forces used the pass of Se La in Tawang and reached the Brahmaputra plains in the east. The military defeat in the east clearly demonstrated that weakly guarded passes were a major vulnerability of Indian military preparedness against China. As compared to Se La which was somewhat fortified, Lipulekh was vulnerable.

Nepali analysts say that King Mahendra was concerned that India would take military steps to forcefully take the region of Kalapani to secure the pass . He come to an agreement with Delhi and handed over the land for security purposes to India. According to another interpretation subscribed to by Kanak Mani Dixit, India, worried over an aggressive China in the 1950s, got the King of Nepal to agree to a proposal to station 18 military outposts along Nepal‘s northern frontier. In the year 1969, under bilateral negotiations all the posts were removed barring Kalapani.

Former Indian Ambassador to Nepal Jayant Prasad says the region was always a part of India and India‘s claims to the area are based on British Indian maps dating back to the 19th century. When pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar paused with the takeover of Tibet by Chinese forces in the mid-1950s, India deployed troops at the Lipulekh pass in 1959, according to Mr. Prasad, who was part of the Eminent Persons Group formed in February 2016 to ensure frank conversation between India and Nepal on controversial issues.

India and China were in clear violation of Nepal‘s concerns during the 2015 Lipulekh agreement between India and China which renewed India’s Mansarovar pilgrimage connection. Neither side consulted Nepal or sought its opinion before that agreement that boosted pilgrimage and trade to Tibet. Nepal‘s then Prime Minister, the late Sushil Koirala, reportedly cancelled a visit to Delhi following this agreement. Diplomats also maintain that India should have resolved the issue with Nepal when the late Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala raised it with India during the 2006 India visit when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh received him at the airport in Delhi. Indian officials suggested that it could be resolved later. Analysts now say South Block should have acted promptly on Koirala’s suggestion. Though Nepal has been steadfast in citing the Sugauli treaty as the foundation of its territorial claims, on occasion, some of the new generation leaders have spoken against the treaty. According to Uddhab Pyakurel of Kathmandu University, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” for example had indicated frustration with the Treaty of Sugauli after his Prime Ministerial stint in 2009 saying that the treaty had become irrelevant and championed the cause of a Greater Nepal going into the region west of the Kali. This shows that the Nepali claim based on the Sugauli treaty is not consistent either.

Nepal has published a revised official map incorporating the territory from the Limpiyadhura source of the Kali to Kalapani and Lipulekh pass in the northeast of the triangular region as its territory. On May 22, the Cabinet led by Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli registered a constitution amendment motion to grant constitutional status to the map. Indian observers say this move makes any future solution on the Kalapani issue nearly impossible as a constitutional guarantee will make Kathmandu‘s position inflexible.