Govt approves proposal to feature new Nepal map that includes Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura on 100 rupee note

KATHMANDU, May 3: The government has decided to introduce a fresh depiction of the country's new map on the 100 rupee banknotes.

Minister for Communication and Information Technology (MoICT) Rekha Sharma, who is also the government’s spokesperson, said the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has been granted authority to replace the current map with the updated version on the notes.

Currently, the 100 rupee banknotes feature an old map that does not include Kalapani, Lipulekh, and Limpiyadhura, even as the parliament endorsed the new political map in May 2020. The new map has added 335 square kilometers of land in Nepal, taking the total area from 147,181 to 147,516.

The only 100 rupee banknote that Nepal is currently using bears the map of Nepal. The new political map of Nepal has not been replaced even four years after its endorsement through the parliament amid differing positions among parties.

Sources said Nepali Congress (NC) and a few Madhesh-based parties are opposed to featuring the new political map on the banknotes in order not to vitiate an environment of negotiation to resolve the outstanding border disputes that exist between Nepal and India, mainly in the Kalapani region. The decision comes barely a few months after ruling CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ditched the NC and forged a leftist alliance with the CPN-UML along with a few other fringe parties in the federal parliament.

Spokesperson at the Ministry of Land Management Ganesh Bhatt said preparations are underway to replace the old map of Nepal with the new one on 100 rupee banknotes. The NRB, which is the central bank of the country, will start printing new notes with the new political map once the cabinet approves the new design.

Nepal had introduced a new political map incorporating Kalapani, Lipulekh, and Limpiyadhura in its western border with India in response to India’s unilateral move to introduce a new political map that incorporated these territories as India’s. Currently, Kalapani, Lipulekh, and Limpiyadhura are controlled by India.

The government led by UML Chairman K P Oli had taken the move to introduce the new political map asserting Nepal’s claim over these territories. The new political map was introduced in line with the Sugauli Treaty that defines Nepal’s border with India.

The treaty mentions that the territories that lie in the eastern part of the Mahakali River are territory belonging to Nepal. The border dispute between Nepal and India has surfaced as the two countries dispute over the origin of the Mahakali River, also known as Kali River, that demarcates the border as per the Treaty.