Nepal Yearbook 1998

Much water has flowed down the bridge since We came out with the last edition of the Nepal Yearbook (NYB). The year that this edition of the NYB covers saw three governments in the country: those of, to start the year with, Nepali Congress under the premíership of Sher Bahadur Deuba, followed by CPN(UML)-RPP-NSP coalition government headed by RPP’s Lokendra Bahadur Chand and then the NC-RPP-NSP coalition government led by RPP’s Surya Bahadur Thapa. This yearbook not only helps the reader in recalling the
train of events that led to the rise and fall of three successive govermnents during the past one year but also helps to visualize where the country is heading towards. The year was a sad witness to the passing away of a few stalwarts of democracy who had made immense sacrifices for the cause of democracy and helped usher in multi-party political system in the country. The death of the supreme commander of the people’s movement of 1990, Ganesh Man Singh, was mourned befittingly by the whole nation. Former Prime Minister Matrika Prasad Koirala and communist stalwart Tulasi Lal Amatya also died the same year. ln the year, local elections were held, amidst Maoist-led violence though. Coming to the Maoist insurgency, it continued unabated and, in fact, gained in intensity and spread to other more critical parts of the country.