Nepal to send 'updated map' to the UN, international bodies; its acceptance or not is a test of PM Modi's diplomacy

"We will be sending the updated map including Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura to various UN agencies and the international community including India. The process will be completed by the middle of this month," Padma Aryal, Minister for Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation told ANI.

The Ministry has asked the Department of Measurement to print 4,000 copies of the updated version of Nepal's map in English language and send it to the international community.

The Department of Measurement has printed on 25,000 copies of the latest version of the map, which have been distributed around the nation. Provincial and all other public offices will be given copies free of cost while people can buy it at Nepali Rupees 50.

On the other hand, UN does not use either India’s, Pakistan's, or China’s maps, or for that matter, any territory that is claimed but goes by its administration largely. The body will, however, as part of diplomatic protocol, accept it, whenever Kathmandu sends it.

What is interesting is that previous maps submitted by Nepal never included Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh, and Kalapani. In some sense, while Nepal will be sending an updated map, it will be unintentionally conveying formally that it has indulged in cartographic assertion, as New Delhi had said.

The new Nepal map was announced with an executive decision by the KP Sharma Oli-led government. The constitutional amendment to give legal backing to its coat of arms that shows the new map was passed by the Nepal parliament earlier this year.