72 ko Bismay

2 ideas

1. Nepal's year 2072: quake, charter, blockade

   On 25 April 2015 (Baisakh 2072 BS) a magnitude-7.8 earthquake centred in Gorkha killed roughly 9,000 people and destroyed or damaged over 800,000 houses. Within weeks the major parties signed a 16-point 'fast-track' agreement, and deadly Madhesi and Tharu protests against the draft were already under way in August. The constitution was promulgated on 20 September 2015, followed by a months-long blockade of the India–Nepal border that choked fuel and supplies while survivors were still in temporary shelters.

2. Disaster breaks deadlock but narrows consent

   A catastrophe can give elites the urgency and moral cover to settle a long-stalled political bargain, as Nepal's parties did after seven years of failed constitution drafting. But the speed that makes the deal possible also shrinks the time for consultation. Groups left out of the rushed settlement then turn the breakthrough into a new crisis rather than a resolution.

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