NEPAL, October 24, 2015 (by Christopher Sharma, Asia News): HPI note: We came across this little reported story in the course of trying to find out why the October Hinduism Today issue hadn’t arrived in Kathmandu. It is apparently stuck in a huge backlog of trucks at the border between India and Nepal. The reason for this backlog is debated, with the Nepalese blaming India and the Indians blaming unrest in Nepal. In any case, it is real, and attracting little media attention considering the possible consequences this article in Asia News predicts. It reads, in part:
The detention of the goods that pass through the border between Nepal and India is causing severe shortages in the supply of food, gas and fuel. Pashupati Murarka, president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers and Commerce Industries, which represents the Industry sector, told AsiaNews: “The public is on the verge of bankruptcy. If the government fails to fund our losses by removing taxes, we will have to reconsider the investment in the country.”
Since Nepal passed the first constitution in its modern history, India has been implementing an undeclared embargo on goods in direct transit to the country. The flow of trade has fallen from about 90% of goods exported to less than 5% of the delivery of the goods. The population is at its lowest, also forced to replace gas cookers with firewood. Even industries are suffering a lack of access to raw materials and transport is blocked.