Army Chief General M M Naravane will be conferred the honorary rank of ‘General of the Nepal Army’ by Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari. Nepal and India have since 1950 followed the tradition of decorating the chiefs of each other’s armies with the highest Army rank. Naravane is supposed to hold extensive talks with the top military brass of Nepal including his Nepalese counterpart General Purna Chandra Thapa and Defence Minister Ishwar Pokhrel. This will be the first high-level visit to Nepal from India after Kathmandu issued a new Nepal map that showed Indian territories as Nepali territories. The decision for the new Nepal map was announced through an executive decision by 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. The Army chief’s visit to Nepal was supposed to take place on 3 February this year, but it was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The visit comes amid the strained ties between the two countries. The Army Chief’s visit to Nepal is the first high profile visit since the times the relations between the two took a hit earlier this year. The ritual is reportedly a continuation of an age-old tradition that first started in 1950, reflecting the strong ties between the two militaries.
