 |
|
| Introduction | Nepal, south Asian country, bounded on north by Tibetan Autonomous Region and the south by India. It's area is 140,797 sq km (54,362 sq mi). The capital and largest city of my country is Kathmandu. |
| Land and Resource | Mountains dominate Nepal's landscape.Of the eight highest mountains in the world, seven-including the highest mountains in the world, Mount Everest (8848 m/ 29,028 ft) - are locatedentirely or partly within Nepal's borders. The Tarai region in the south and the Valley of Kathmandu in the central region are the only sizeable flat areas. In the mountains, temperature remain cold throughout the year. In the Terai and the Valley of Kathmandu, summers are hot and rainy, and winters are cool. |
| Population | Nepal's population (1990 estimate, 18,916,000) is mainly concentrated in the Kathmandu and Tarai regions. It consists of two major groups, the Indo-nepalese and the Tibeto-Nepalese. Nepali is the official language of about half of the inhahitants, but at least 30 other languages are spoken. |
| Government | Nepal's government is based on a multiparty system, with the king as chief of state. The king appoints the majority party leader to head the government as prime minister. The legislative power is vested in a two-house assembly, the Pratinidi Sabha, with 205 elected legislators serving five-year terms, and the Rastriya, with 60 members-some apponted and some elected holding six-year terms. |
| Economy | One of the least developed countries, Nepal has about 90 percent of it's labor force employed in agriculture. Crops include rice, corn, wheat, potatoes, sugarcane, millet, cotton, jute, and tobbacco. The unit of currency is the Nepalese rupee (66.37 Nepalese rupee equal U.S. $ 1, 1998). |
| History | Rajput military forces overran Nepal in 1324 and ruled until 1768,
when Gurkhas invaded the country. The Rana family made the office
of prime minister hereditary and dominated Nepal for many years. In the
mid-20th century increasing criticism of the Rana regime by dissidents
and King Bir Bikram Tribhuvana of Nepal led to government reform along
democratic lines. Prime Minister Rana was eventually removed from power
and a Congress Party-Independent cabinet, headed by Congress Party leader
Matrika Prasad Koirala, was formed in 1951.
Opposition to the democratic trend prompted political unrest, which continued during the remainder of the 1950s with several changes of government and intervals in which the king resumed direct rule. When King Tribhuvana died in 1955, his son Mahendra Bir Bikram became king and later promulgated Nepal's first democratic constitution. A new government with a bicameral parliament was formed by the Congress Party but was dismissed by the king in 1960 as corrupt and inefficient. The king proclaimed a new constitution, minus the parliament, in 1962.King Mahendra died in 1972 and was succeeded by his son Birendra Bir Bikram, who initially exercised strong control, although he relaxed somewhat as antimonarchist sentiments grew and serious riots challenged his authority. Following prodemocracy protests in early 1990, the king ended the ban on political parties, a multiparty coalition government took office, and a new constitution was adopted. The government remained relatively stable in the 1990s. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress Party took office in 1995. |
