Understanding the Long-Standing India-Nepal Border Dispute

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Nepal Prime Minister Balen Shah created a big political storm at home by stating that Nepal has also encroached on Indian territory.
This statement challenges the traditional political story that Kathmandu has repeated for many years.

The India-Nepal border dispute is an old territorial disagreement focusing on three main strategic areas along their 1,850 km shared open border.
The core friction points are the Kalapani-Limpiyadhura-Lipulekh tri-junction in the west and Susta in the eastern river zone.

The open international boundary touches five Indian states, making exact marking very important for regional security.
Uttarakhand shares the heavily contested western Kalapani sector.
Uttar Pradesh shares a part of the long international boundary.
Bihar shares the riverine Susta sector where land keeps changing sides.
West Bengal and Sikkim also share borders with Nepal.

The modern border layout and its problems come directly from agreements made during the colonial British era.
The Treaty of Sugauli was signed in 1816 between the East India Company and the King of Nepal after Nepal lost the Anglo-Nepalese War.
Article 5 of this treaty states that Nepal gives up all claims to lands lying west of the River Kali.
However, the treaty did not include an official map or show where the river actually starts.
Early Survey of India maps from 1850 and 1856 showed the Kali River starting from the Lipulekh Pass, which put the Kalapani region inside Nepal.
A later topographic survey map published in 1879 moved the boundary line to the southern ridge, putting Kalapani on the Indian side.
Surveys done between 1924 and 1927 under Nepali supervisors confirmed the 1879 line in maps made in 1928/29, which Nepal accepted at the time.
Relations became very tense in 2020 when the Nepalese Parliament passed the Second Constitutional Amendment to add Kalapani, Limpiyadhura, and Lipulekh to their official map.
India rejected this move as a one-sided and artificial expansion of territory.

The Kalapani-Lipulekh-Limpiyadhura western area covers 35 sq km and is a very important high point overlooking the border with China.
India has kept an Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) post at Kalapani since 1955.
India considers this area part of the Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand, while Nepal claims it under the Darchula district.
The border also runs through shifting river areas where international rules use the Fixed Boundary Principle.
Rivers like the Mahakali and Gandak change their paths over the decades, causing large plots of land to move physically from one side to the other.
The Susta Knot in Bihar involves over 14,000 hectares of land that shifted because the Gandak River changed its course over time.

These recent remarks challenged the old idea that only India was responsible for border encroachment, causing political trouble in Nepal.
The clarification highlighted local farming and housing overlaps caused by shifting rivers and missing boundary pillars on both sides.