New Delhi, August 04:
On his first visit to Nepal as Prime Minister in 2014, Narendra Modi told Nepal Parliament that there was no war India had fought in which Nepali blood had not been sacrificed. Praising the contribution and bravery of Gorkha soldiers in Indian Army, Modi said, “I salute the bravehearts who laid their lives for India.”
Seven years later, as the Army prepares to unroll the Agnipath recruitment scheme, there are questions about its social and economic impact on Nepal, from where India has so far recruited approximately 1,400 soldiers into the Gorkha regiment annually (pre-Covid), and how it might affect India’s relations with the government and people of Nepal, where its strategic interests are pitted against China.
