Yearbook 2009
Nepal. Collaboration between the Maoist-led government and government institutions cracked down. The Maoists protested that the army was recruiting soldiers without first enrolling former guerrillas, as stipulated in the peace treaty that set the stage for the 10-year civil war. By way of countermeasures, the Maoists announced that they would themselves invest in extensive new recruitment. The government’s decision to retire eight senior generals was overturned by the Supreme Court, and when the government dismissed the commander-in-chief for refusing to obey guerrilla soldiers in the army, the president intervened and declared the dismissal unconstitutional. That allowed the government, under former guerrilla leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal – better known as Prachanda – to resign. See ABBREVIATIONFINDER for abbreviation NP which stands for the nation of Nepal.
| Land area | 147,181 km² |
| Total population | 30,327,877 |
| Residents per km² | 206.1 |
| Capital | Kathmandu |
| Official language | Nepali |
| Income per capita | 2,700 USD |
| Currency | Nepalese rupee |
| ISO 3166 code | NP |
| Internet TLD | .np |
| License plate | NEP |
| Telephone code | +977 |
| Time zone UTC | +05: 45 |
| Geographic coordinates | 28 00 N, 84 00 O |
According to countryaah, the Maoist Party’s dominance in Parliament made it difficult to form a new government, but after a few weeks of negotiations, 22 of the Parliament’s 24 parties supported a new minister led by the Nepal Congress and the Nepal Communist Party/United Marxist Leninists. New Prime Minister became Communist Party Madhav Kumar Nepal. However, the Maoists continued to protest against the president’s actions in support of the commander, and conducted a series of demonstrations during the year. The former guerrilla also blocked Parliament’s budget work so that the government in October claimed that it did not have the money to even pay its ministers. However, there was no greater risk of a return to war.
Up to 3,000 guerrillas under the age of 18, who had been interned in camps since the end of the war, awaiting their future, began to be released during the year to be re-incorporated into civil society. Parliament also agreed to solve the problem of at least 16,000 former rebels and appointed a commission to submit concrete proposals by March 2010. A government inquiry showed that the 1996-2006 war claimed more than 16,000 lives, which was about 3,000 more than previously estimated.
General information about Nepal
For Nepal, the last few years have been tough. The state of one of the world’s poorest Himalayas was allowed to witness massacres inside the royal palace in 2001 but also in the valley of the devastating earthquake in the Kathmandu Valley in 2015. However, an enchantingly beautiful country with a unique culture is recovering from the blows of fate.
The Himalayas are at their highest in the region of northern Nepal: its eight peaks reach more than 8,000 meters. The world’s highest mountain Mount Everest (8848 m) is located on the border of China and Nepal. Between the mountains remain the lush and fabulously beautiful valleys where the citizens live. The plain of Terai on the Indian border is a tropical area of influence of the Ganges River. There are several ethnic groups in Nepal. The most well-known to the outside world are sherpa, legendary mountain guides, and Newaris, who are valued for their woodworking skills. Gurkhat, on the other hand, is remembered as good fighters who still form their own elite division in the British Army. In Nepal, 36 different languages are spoken and the majority of the citizens are Hindus. The beautiful old towns of the Kathmandu Valley – Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur – are an old pilgrimage area, for the ages are believed to have been inhabited by gods and goddesses in the valleys of Nepal along the caravan road connecting Tibet and India. Nepal opened to tourists early on and the old central squares of the cities and their beautifully decorated temples and palaces have attracted a lot of tourism to the country, which is the most important industry alongside agriculture. The smoke of the tombs hovers on the banks of the holy Bagmatijoki River. The holy places of Hinduism and Buddhism are located side by side in the old towns of the Kathmandu Valley.
Nepal is also a very popular hiking and climbing destination. For example, the Pokhara Valley has become familiar to many Finnish hikers.