What follows is therefore an assessment of Indo-Nepal ties by an ‘honorary ’ Nepali or Gorkha.

India and Nepal share a unique relationship, the closest parallel being US-Canada relations. Like them, we have an ‘open border’ that has no fences. People from either country can come and go freely, settle in each other’s country and even acquire government jobs, with no questions asked. The two countries share cultural, linguistic, historical and matrimonial ties that are extensive. Even now, the definition of Indian citizens includes citizens of Nepal and Bhutan. Some years ago, Prem Bhandari, a Nepali, had reached the rank of Lieutenant General in the Indian Army. He tragically died in helicopter crash.

Accompanied by a high-ranking delegation, Ahmadinejad’s trip transpires at a time of heightened US allegations of Iran’s meddling in Iraq and serves as an antidote to the US policy of isolating Iran and castigating it as a rogue or pariah state.

Too bad for the US, which now places the lion’s share of the blame for its quagmire in Iraq on Iran’s “destructive influence”, two key US allies in the sub-continent, India and Pakistan, are now poised to deepen their economic, political, cultural and even

Harbhajan allegedly slapped Sreesanth after the paceman said something to Harbhajan which offended the off-spinner.

Though Mr. Ahmadinejad will be in New Delhi only for a few hours — he will essentially be stopping on his way back to Tehran after a two-day official visit to Sri Lanka — he will meet President Pratibha Devisingh Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Among the bilateral issues to be discussed are the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, the technical negotiations for which have almost concluded, and India’s desire to execute a contract for the import of LNG (liquefied natural gas) that was struck three years ago but never implemented as the price of oil rose dramatically soon after.

The sheer number of people would make relocation a formidable task. About 400,000 people live in 85,000 huts encroaching on airport land.

This by itself is good. Except that supply hasn’t been able to keep up with the demand. This is owing to a variety of factors, including wheat crop failures in Australia and elsewhere; the US and other grain-producing lands switching to bio-fuels; and last but not least, India’s own abysmally low productivity per hectare, which is half that of China’s.

If we could increase our farm productivity, the demand-supply mismatch would vanish. However, that’s easier said than done. Increasing productivity — by ushering in Green Revolution II, through irrigation projects, revival of the extension schemes which sought to ensure that agro-lab research found its way to the field, etc — involves a lot of application in terms of thought and effort, rare commodities which successive sarkars have thriftily reserved solely for their perpetuation in office and nothing else.

“We share a colonial past and have been partners for a long time,” he said.

“We don’t seek to impose any pattern in Africa. It’s for the African people to decide on their future,” Manmohan Singh replied, when an African journalist asked him to compare India’s approach towards Africa with that of other Western powers and China.