Nepal Profile

Situated in the lap of the Himalayas, Nepal is located between the latitude 26*22' to 30*27' North and longitude 80*4' E to 88*12' East, and elevation ranges from 90 to 8848 meters. The average length being 885 km east to west and the average breadth is 193 km from north to south. The country is bordering between the two most populous countries in the world, India in the East, South, and West, and China in the North.

Nepal is a land locked country and home place of natural beauty with traces of artifacts. The Northern range (Himalayas) is covered with snow over the year where the highest peak of the world, the Mount Everest, stands. The middle range (Hill) is captured by gorgeous mountains, high peaks, hills, valleys and lakes. Southern range (Terai) is the gangaitic plain of alluvial soil and consist of dense forest area, national parks, wildlife reserves and conservation areas. The temperature and rainfall differ from place to place. In the geographic diversity and varied climatic conditions 23.2 million people of more than 60 caste/ethnic groups are accommodated in the country.

Nepal presents an example of being united in diversity over the history and has maintained it's pride as being an independent sovereign state. There is constitutional monarchy where people exercise right of adult franchise. The executive, legislative and judiciary bodies function and exercise their rights independently. There is two tier system of legislation, the upper house, called the Rastriya Sabha, consists of 60 members and the Lower House, called the Pratinidhi Sabha is the house of Representatives for which members are elected from 205 electoral constituency distributed in 75 districts of the country. The elected Prime Minister heads the government.

Geographically, the country is divided in three regions; Mountain, Hill and Terai accommodating 7.44 and 49 % of the population respectively. Based on area of districts these regions constitute 35, 42 and 23% of the total land area. There are 5 development regions and 75 administrative districts. Districts are further divided into smaller units, called Village Development committee (VDC) and Municipality. Currently, there are 3914 VDCs and 58 Municipalities in the country. Each VDC is composed of 9 wards, Municipality ward ranges from 9 to 35. Kathmandu is the capital city.

There are number of peaks, rivers and lakes in the country. Nepal is the member of the United Nations and has established diplomatic relation with 113 (Jun 2001) countries of the world. Major export commodities are paste, Pulses, oil Cake, Catechu, Jute good Sacking, Twins, Carpets (Hand knitted wollen), Readymade garments, handicrafts, ginger.

Economic growth of the country has not improved markedly over time to over take population growth. As the country estimated population growth is 2.3 per annum, the gain achieved by developmental activities has been concealed by growing population. Little over half (57%)of the population of working age reported economically active in 1991 and among them 81% were engaged in agricultural activities. Contribution of non-agricultural activities are gradually increasing in the GDP. Per capita GDP is estimated in the order of US $ 240 (preliminary estimate) for 2000/01. The currency is Nepalese Rupee.

History of Nepali language

Perhaps 500 years ago, the Khas peoples migrated eastward, bypassing the inhospitable Kham highlands to settle in the lower valleys of the Gandaki basin suited to rice cultivation. One notable extended family settled in Gorkha, a petty principality about halfway between Pokhara and Kathmandu. Then in the late 1700s a scion named Prithvi Narayan Shah raised an army of Gurungs, Magars and possibly other hill tribesmen and set out to conquer and consolidate dozens of petty principalities in the Himalayan foothills. Since Gorkha had replaced the original Khas homeland as the center of political and military initiative, Khaskura was redubbed Gorkhali, i.e. language of the Gorkhas.


Prithvi Narayan's especially notable military achievement was conquest of the urbanized Kathmandu Valley, on the eastern rim of the Gandaki basin. This region was also called Nepal at the time. Kathmandu became Prithvi Narayan's new capital, then he and his heirs extended their domain east into the Koshi basin, north to the Tibetan Plateau, south into the plains of northern India, and west of the Karnali/Bheri basin.


Expansion, particularly to the north, west, and south brought the growing state into conflict with British and Chinese territorial ambitions. This led to wars that trimmed it back to roughly Nepal's present borders or less, however both great powers understood the value of a buffer state and did not attempt to reduce the new country further. Since the Kathmandu Valley or Nepal had become the new center of political initiative, this word gradually came to refer to the entire realm and not just the Kathmandu Valley. And so Gorkhali, language of Gorkha, was again redubbed Nepali.


Nepali is the easternmost of the Pahari languages, a group of related languages spoken across the lower elevations of the Himalaya range, from eastern Nepal through the Indian states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. The influence of the Nepali language can also be seen in Bhutan and some parts of Myanmar. Nepali developed in proximity to a number of Tibeto-Burman languages, most notably Nepal Bhasa, and shows Tibeto-Burman influences.
Nepali is closely related to Hindi but is more conservative, borrowing fewer words from Persian and English and using more Sanskritic derivations. Today, Nepali is commonly written in the Devanagari script. There is some record of using Takri script in the history of Nepali especially in western Nepal, Utarakhand, and Himanchal. Bhujimol is an older script native to Nepal. Nepali is mutually intelligible with Hindi and Urdu speakers.


Nepali developed a great literature within a short period of hundred years in the nineteenth century, fueled by Adhyatma Ramayana, Sundarananda Bara (1833), Birsikka, an anonymous collection of folk-tales, and a Ramayana by Bhanubhakta. The contribution of trio-lauretes Poudyal, Devkota and Sama took Nepali to the level of other world languages. The contribution of laureates outside Nepal, especially from Darjeeling and Varanasi, is also worth noting.
The sole use of Nepali in the courts and government of Nepal is being challenged. The issue of recognition of for other ethnic language in Nepal was one of talking points raised by the Maoist insurgency. A Cabinet Minister, Matrika Yadav recently took ministerial oath in the Maithili language, rather than Nepali.


Scholars Kamal Malla and Tej. Kansakar comment of the Sanskrit derivation of Nepali:
"Janaka, Yajnavalkya, Valmiki, Kapila and Gautama Buddha have greatly contributed to the Sanskrit and Prakrita from which the Nepali language seeks its origins."

Nepali language

Nepalese is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Nepal, Bhutan, and some parts of India and Myanmar (Burma). The word 'Nepalese' is also written as 'Nepali' by a few Nepalese people.


It is the official language of Nepal and also one of 23 Official languages of India incorporated in 8th annex of the Indian constitution. It is a lingua-franca of the state of Sikkim and has official language status in West Bengal's Darjeeling district. Similarly it is spoken in State of Uttaranchal as well as in the state of Assam. Roughly half of the population of Nepal speaks Nepalese as a mother tongue but it is spoken as a second language by most of the Nepalese.


Nepalese goes by various names. It was also called Gorkhali or Gurkhali, "the language of the Gurkhas, "and Parbatiya, "the language of the mountains." Khaskura is the oldest term, literally speech of the Khas who were peasants in the Karnali-Bheri basin of far western Nepal since prehistoric or early historic times. Khaskura exists in opposition to Khamkura, a group of Tibeto-Burman dialects spoken by Kham peoples in highlands separating the Karnali-Bheri basin from the Gandaki basin in central Nepal.

Geography of Nepal

Geography of Nepal is uncommonly diverse. Nepal is of roughly trapezoidal shape, 800 kilometres (500 mi) long and 200 kilometres (125 mi) wide, with an area of 147,181 square kilometres (56,827 sq mi). See List of territories by size for the comparative size of Nepal.
Nepal is commonly divided into four physiographic areas: the Mountain, Hill, Siwalik region and Terai Regions. These ecological belts run east-west and are vertically intersected by Nepal's major, north to south flowing river systems.


The southern lowland Plains bordering India are part of the northern rim of the Indo-Gangetic plains. They were formed and are fed by three major rivers: the Kosi, the Narayani (India's Gandak River), and the Karnali. This region has a hot, humid climate.


The Hill Region (Pahad) abuts the mountains and varies from 1,000 to 4,000 metres (3,300–13,125 ft) in altitude. Two low mountain ranges, the Mahabharat Lekh and Shiwalik Range (also called the Churia Range) dominate the region. The hilly belt includes the Kathmandu Valley, the country's most fertile and urbanised area. Unlike the valleys called Inner Tarai (Bhitri Tarai Uptyaka), elevations above 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) are sparsely populated.


The Mountain Region, situated in the Great Himalayan Range, makes the northern part of Nepal. It contains the regions of highest altitude in the world; the world's highest mountain, 8,848 metres (29,028 ft) height Mount Everest (Sagarmatha in Nepali) is located here on the border with Tibet. The Annapurna mountain range also lies in Nepal. In fact, seven more of the world's ten highest mountains are located in Nepal: Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Kanchenjunga, Dhaulagiri, Annapurna and Manaslu.


The arid and barren Himalayan landscape.Nepal has five climatic zones, broadly corresponding to the altitudes. The tropical and subtropical zones lie below 1,200 metres (3,940 ft), the temperate zone 1,200 to 2,400 metres (3,900–7,875 ft), the cold zone 2,400 to 3,600 metres (7,875–11,800 ft), the subarctic zone 3,600 to 4,400 metres (11,800–14,400 ft), and the Arctic zone above 4,400 metres (14,400 ft).


Nepal experiences five seasons: summer, monsoon, autumn, winter and spring. The Himalaya blocks cold winds from Central Asia in winter, and forms the northern limit of the monsoon wind patterns. Once thickly forested, deforestation is a major problem in all regions, with resulting erosion and degradation of ecosystems.


Nepal is a hotspot of mountaineering, containing some of the highest and most challenging mountains in the world, including Mount Everest. Technically, the south-east ridge on the Nepali side of the mountain is easier to climb; so, most climbers prefer to trek to Everest through Nepal.


Until the Sugauli Sandhi (treaty) was signed, the territory of Nepal also included Darjeeling, and Tista to the east, Nainital to the south-west and Kalapani, Susta, Garhwal to the west. However, as of today these areas remain annexed by India. As a result, Nepal shares no boundary with Bangladesh now and the two countries are separated by a narrow strip of land about 21 kilometre (13 mi) wide, called the Chicken's Neck. Efforts are underway to make this area a free-trade zone.

The border dispute between India and Nepal has often been a cause of tension between the two countries. These days, there is a call for a revolution in the ethnic Nepalese dominated area of Darjeeling for a different state to be known as Gorkha Land or in other words "Greater Nepal".