New Delhi: Nepal Prime Minister Balendra “Barun” Shah has accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to visit India even as he launched a comprehensive and aggressive 100-point governance agenda at home targeting VIP culture, political clout in campuses and bureaucracies, delays in public services, free healthcare for the poor, safer public transport for women and stress-free education for young children. Foreign Minister Shishir Khanal said, “The Nepali government has accepted the invitation and the foreign ministries of both countries are preparing for the visit.” He said the trip to New Delhi would be the Shah’s first major diplomatic event since taking office. The last official visit to India by the Prime Minister of Nepal was by Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” in June 2023. Meanwhile, the new government in Kathmandu has proposed a series of changes, proposing to cut the number of federal ministries, ban political affiliations in various departments of state institutions and replace party-affiliated student groups with non-partisan platforms. The immediate aim of the reform program was to exert political influence in education and the civil service. Under the new regulations, party-affiliated student organizations in schools and universities will be dissolved within 90 days and replaced by non-partisan student unions or “student voice” platforms. Announcing the move, Shah said, “Schools and colleges will no longer serve as arenas for political activities but will serve only as centers of learning.“
