• Nepal’s President Bidya Devi Bhandari conferred the title of Honorary General of the Nepali Army to Indian Army chief General Manoj Pande at a special ceremony.

• Gen Pande was also presented a sword and scroll during the ceremony held at the President’s official residence Shital Niwas in Kathmandu.

• The practice follows a seven-decade-old tradition of decorating army chiefs of each other’s country with the honorary title. 

• Commander-in-Chief General K.M. Cariappa was the first Indian Army chief to be decorated with the title in 1950.

• In November last year, Chief of Nepali Army, General Prabhu Ram Sharma was also made the Honorary General of the Indian Army by then President Ram Nath Kovind at a ceremony in New Delhi.

• Gen Pande reached Kathmandu on September 4 on a five-day official visit during which he will hold extensive talks with the country’s top civil and military leadership and bolster defence ties between the two neighbouring countries.

• Gen Pande, who took charge as the 29th Chief of the Army Staff on April 30 after Gen MM Naravane retired from service, will call on Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, apart from meeting with the senior military and civilian leaders of the Himalayan nation.

Defence cooperation between both countries

• The exchange of such high-level visits and continuation of tradition helps in strengthening relations between the two militaries and the two countries.

• The country shares a border of over 1,850 km with five Indian states — Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Land-locked Nepal relies heavily on India for the transportation of goods and services. 

• The India-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1950 forms the bedrock of the special relations that exist between India and Nepal. Nepalese citizens avail facilities and opportunities on par with Indian citizens in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty.

• Nearly 8 million Nepalese citizens live and work in India.

• India and Nepal have wide-ranging cooperation in the defence sector. India has been assisting the Nepal Army (NA) in its modernisation by supplying equipment and providing training. 

• The ‘Indo-Nepal Battalion-level Joint Military Exercise SURYA KIRAN’ is conducted alternately in India and in Nepal. 

• The Gorkha regiments of the Indian Army are raised partly by recruitment from hill districts of Nepal. Currently, about 32,000 Gorkha Soldiers from Nepal are serving in the Indian Army.

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