According to ehistorylib, in 2005, Nepal had an estimated population of 28 million people with a population growth rate of 1.4%. The economy in 2005 was largely based on agriculture, with major exports including tea, rice and vegetables. Foreign relations in 2005 were mainly focused on economic cooperation with Nepal having strong ties to India and other countries through trade agreements. The politics of Nepal in 2005 were dominated by King Gyanendra who had been elected to office in 2001 after a referendum which was considered by international observers to be generally free and fair. Gyanendra’s government implemented major economic reforms aimed at improving living standards for all Nepalese citizens as well as encouraging foreign investment. However, the country was facing significant issues related to poverty and inequality that needed to be addressed.
Yearbook 2005
According to countryaah, Kathmandu is the capital and one of the major cities within the country of Nepal. Nepal experienced another year of political crisis. On February 1, King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Deb resigned the government and declared a state of emergency, which came into force for three months. Like in 2002, when he last got rid of his ministry, he blamed the politicians for continuing the Maoist guerrilla uprising. Leading politicians were placed under house arrest and deprived of all contact with the outside world. Many journalists and human rights activists were also arrested and the media subjected to censorship. The coup received harsh criticism from the Western powers, who called home their ambassadors as a mark of their disapproval.
- Also see abbreviationfinder.org for how the acronym NP stands for the country of Nepal and other meanings of this two-letter abbreviation.
King Gyanendra himself took charge of the government work and appointed a number of loyal ministers, many of whom had government posts in the 1980s when there was also almost royal rule. A newly created anti-corruption commission was given a position similar to a court and given great powers to allow the suspects to arrest and confiscate property. One of the first arrested was the recently deposed Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, who was sentenced to two years in prison for corruption. He was accused of forfeiting large sums in connection with road construction contracts.
Although the army’s appropriations were increased by 26% in the budget for 2005/06, there were no signs of an end to the civil war, which required more than 12,000 lives in a decade. The UN Commission on Human Rights and Amnesty International were among those who criticized both the harsh methods of the army and the Maoist guerrillas’ assault on civilians. Both parties were accused of exposing children to great suffering.
In September, the guerrilla declared a unilateral ceasefire and in November entered into a loose alliance with the civil parties to fight the dictatorship. The opposition parties had formed a front against the royal monarchy six months earlier, and the dominant Nepalese congressional party had wiped out their allegiance to the monarchy from the party program.
In the autumn, however, the crisis was so deep that in a report the EU warned of the impending collapse of the Nepalese state power.
Story. – The end of the civil war sanctioned by the 2006 agreement with the Maoist guerrillas seemed to initiate a new political phase destined to accelerate the democratization process. In the first months of 2007 a provisional constitution was approved and a coalition government formed in view of the elections for the Constituent Assembly scheduled for April 2008. The polls gave the victory to the Maoist party, since 2009 Unified communist party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M), which formed a ruling coalition with the Communist party of Nepal (Unified marxist-leninist, CPN-UML) and other smaller formations while the moderate Nepali congress (NC) remained in opposition. Finally, in May, the country ceased to be a monarchy and the Federal Republic was proclaimed. In the following months, work on the new Constitution stalled and the conflicts between the coalition parties actually led to political paralysis. Finally, in 2012 the Constituent Assembly was dissolved and new elections were called in 2013 which sanctioned a reversal in the political composition: the UCPN-M won only 80 seats out of 240, the CPN-UML 91 while the NC 196. In February 2014 Sushil Koirala of the NC was appointed prime minister and in October work resumed for a new Constitution. In April 2015, a very violent earthquake struck the country, causing over 8000 victims and thousands of injured, entire holiday homes were destroyed. In September the new constitutional text was promulgated.
