Beginning on 23 September 2015, segments of Nepal's Madheshi people imposed a blockage on the country's Indian border as a protest against changes to the country's constitution. Many of Nepal's Madheshi people had migrated to the foothills from the Indian plains, and the Nepalese government accused India of provoking the blockade, which the Indian government denied. The blockade lasted until February 2016.
The blockade, which came just months after the April 2015 Nepal earthquake, severely hampered humanitarian efforts in the earthquake's aftermath, including important food and shelter shipments to people impacted by the earthquake. A landlocked country, Nepal had imported "all" of its petroleum supplies via India at the time of the blockade, meaning the blockade had effectively halted imports of petroleum into the country. This fuel shortage resulted in the shuttering of schools, markets, and public transportation within Nepal. Roughly 300 fuel trucks enter from India on a normal day, but this dwindled to a sporadic passage of 5–10 fuel trucks daily during the crisis, though shipments of perishables like fruits and vegetables had generally been allowed to pass. The blockade also had a severe impact on the country's healthcare system, and it was reported that hospitals had run out of medicines and blood bags as a result. UNICEF and Oxfam warned in November 2015 that the blockade risked subjecting Nepal to a major health crisis that could impact millions. The blockade coincided with the beginning of the 2015–2017 Nepal humanitarian crisis.
Nepal accused India of imposing an undeclared blockade, which India denied, stating that the blockade was on the Nepalese side of the border, and that some Indian truck drivers were simply concerned about their safety amid protest-related clashes. Nevertheless, some have highlighted concerns by the Indian government over the revisions of Nepal's constitution, and over China's influence in Nepal. The Nepal Oil Corporation also reported that trucks it had sent into India to retrieve fuel had only partially been supplied by Indian counterparts.
Background
Concerns about Nepal's constitution On 20 September 2015, the long-stalled Constitution of Nepal was passed in Nepal's Constituent Assembly. Two ethnic groups — Madheshi people and Tharu people — had been protesting against the new constitution, alleging that it marginalized them. 66 members of Nepal's 598-strong Constituent Assembly, belonging to these groups, abstained from voting in protest. By 20 September, more than 40 people had been killed in clashes between the protesters and the police. There were also bandhs (strikes) declared in the Terai region, curtailing Terai business but otherwise not affecting the rest of the country.
Indian concerns India had expressed concerns over the violent protests, and had asked Nepal to take Madhesi interests into consideration. The Indian prime minister Narendra Modi called Sushil Koirala on 25 August, and later sent S. Jaishankar as his personal envoy to discuss the concerns. The government of Nepal and the Nepalese media portrayed Madhesi movements as subversively backed by Indian infiltrators, and as an assault on their sovereignty.
On 24 September, the day that the fuel blockade began, Indian Express newspaper reported that India had demanded specific changes to the new Nepali constitution. While the Indian government denied this claim, the Indian Express reporter stood by his or her original report restating, "these amendments/changes were communicated by New Delhi to Kathmandu". According to commentator Amitava Mukherjee, personnel from the Indian Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) "confirmed that at least till the third week of September, they had orders from above to intercept fuel shipments to Nepal".
Indian concerns were also exacerbated by the upcoming elections in Bihar and that violence from across the border could spill over to Bihar. There were also speculations that India's Bharatiya Janata Party was using its support to the Madhesi cause to win votes in Bihar.
Ties and border Due to an open border between Nepal and India, citizens of both countries can move freely, work, and live across borders without passports. Nepalese citizens moving along the border had long been an issue straining Nepal-India relations. Madheshis share strong socio-cultural ties to the neighbouring Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Landlocked Nepal, due to its Himalayan location and extremely basic and fragile infrastructure depends on India for almost all its import needs. In 1989, India had closed 19 of the 21 border crossings, after a dispute over renegotiation of lapsed trade and transit treaties between the two countries. Nepal's increasing cooperation with China, including its purchase of Chinese weaponry, was seen as a major factor behind this blockade.
Effects of blockade The blockade had caused the only international airport to deny foreign carriers fuel, contributing to isolating the landlocked nation from the outside world at a time when the country is still reeling from ongoing landslides blocking border trade with China following the devastating 2015 Nepal earthquake. Meanwhile, none of the $4 billion of internationally donated quake relief funds to the Nepali government have been dispersed to survivors even after many months, causing anger among Nepalis and international agencies alike.
The Nepali government decided to stop providing fuel to private automobiles, including public transport and taxis, for a few days at the beginning so as to distribute the fuel to government and prioritized sector use. As a result, some 2,000 factories were shut down by 1 October. The Nepal Oil Corporation sued Indian Oil Corporation for not allowing the majority of trucks to enter Nepal. The unofficial "Indian Blockade" forced Nepalese to ride bicycles or resort to carpooling, and many also turned to electric vehicles, with demand for electric motorcycles and scooters surging in response to the fuel shortage.
The Nepal oil corporation is the only state-owned company that imports and distributes petroleum in Nepal. It does not have enough facilities to store petroleum for even a few weeks use. The fuel shortage caused the public to be angry due to not getting products like petrol, diesel, cooking gas (LPG), kerosene from the state oil corporation, despite standing in line for days. The government of Nepal had imposed a rule to provide fuel to the public as well as private transportation on the basis of odd and even number plate system. Although this system was imposed, the taxi drivers and private vehicle owners faced huge problems, as they had to wait their vehicles in line for two-three days or more, but still often did not get their required fuel. A black market arose, with individuals bringing fuel from the border points with India and selling it in Kathmandu and other places for threefold prices. For instance, before the Madhesi blockade, a price of a liter of petrol in Kathmandu was 104 rupees, whereas after the blockade, the public was forced to buy petrol from the black marketeers paying 300 to 450 rupees for a liter.
The government of Nepal failed to ease this fuel crisis and could not bring petroleum from China on time, although it signed an agreement to buy one third of Nepal's petroleum requirement from their northern neighbor. This agreement was seen as a cornerstone for Nepal to end the full dependency on only one country for petroleum imports. The common Nepalese were hopeful to get fuel from the northern neighbor. The other Nepal-China border point, Tatopani in Sindhupalchowk district, was not functional after the Nepal earthquake 2015 because of serious damages and obstructions. China had also donated 1.3 million liters of petrol to Nepal after the fuel crisis through the Kerung border point.
The Nepali government spoke of airlifting fuel and essential supplies when the talk with the Indian side was not fruitful. India repeatedly stated the issue lay with the Madheshi people, claiming they were the ones blocking the border points and disrupting supplies. The Indian trucks could not go to Nepal because of the insecurity as the Terai part of Nepal was facing strikes from the period before the Nepal's new constitution was declared. Some reports also came in Nepali media that the Madheshi protesters were sitting on Indian land and throwing stones at Nepal. The government of Nepal was also unable to convey the true message to the International communities about the problem in Nepal at a time when some Nepali scholars were asking the government to Internationalize the issue, as India had moved back from the Nepal India friendship treaty and violated the various International trade, transit and commerce laws. While in Kathmandu, the government had asked for International help to solve the fuel crisis, which was hitting daily Nepalese life very hard. Nepal government started selling firewood in Kathmandu because there were acute shortage of cooking gas (liquified petroleum gas), causing households to resort to buying electrical induction cookers. As Nepal faced big energy problems and power cuts, using induction cookers would not be a permanent alternative to cooking gas.
The Government of India denied imposing a blockade, stating that the truck drivers coming from India were not entering Nepal due to safety concerns resulting from the violent protests. India's Ministry of External Affairs stated that the border obstructions were a result of "unrest, protests, and demonstrations on the Nepalese side, by sections of their population." The Government of Nepal contested India's claim, stating that there were no major security concerns that would prevent the trucks from entering Nepal. Nepal's spokesperson Laxmi Prasad Dhakal argued that the Madheshi protests had been happening since past few months, and Indian trucks had been entering Nepal until 23 September without any problems.
On 1 October, Indian minister Sushma Swaraj officially denied Nepal's accusations. India's spokesperson Vikas Swarup pointed out that India had sent 4,310 trucks to the border, where they had been stranded. He argued that from there onwards, it was Nepal's responsibility to ensure that the trucks entered Nepal safely. On the other hand, it is reported that the vehicles weren't allowed to enter Nepal by the Indian side thus resulting in long queues of Nepalese trucks stranded for days Inside the Indian border. The Indian Oil Corporation reportedly refused to fill the Nepalese trucks following instructions from higher authorities.
On 6 October, the Madheshi-centric Nepal Sadbhawana Party criticized the Nepali media reports blaming the blockade on India. Its President Rajendra Mahato stated that the blockade had been done by the Madheshi people and that India had nothing to do with it. The Indians alleged that the Maoists, who dominate the Nepali politics, were promoting a false propaganda against India. An editorial in the Nepali Times has claimed the Indian blockade is no longer about the Madhes and the constitution, but rather that India also seems to be opposed to KP Oli replacing Sushil Koirala as prime minister, and has a whole host of demands on security and other issues that we haven't even heard about.
Nepal has lobbied the United Nations on the obstruction.
On 28 October, the Nepal Oil Corporation and PetroChina signed an agreement to import fuel from China, the first fuel agreement ever between the two nations. China also pledged to donate of fuel to Nepal. Nepal is planning to import a third of its fuel from China.
Cascading shortages