India's Ministry of External Affairs has formally invited Nepal's Prime Minister Balendra Shah to New Delhi to ease border tensions between the two neighbours. The invitation signals diplomatic outreach amid strained bilateral ties, including unresolved disputes over the Kalapani-Lipulekh-Limpiyadhura trifunctional region. India and Nepal share an open border under the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship. Nepal's updated 2020 political map, which incorporated disputed territories, remains a core irritant in the relationship.

India-Nepal relations rest on a unique civilizational and treaty-based foundation, but recent years have seen periodic friction. The 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship remains the cornerstone, granting Nepali citizens near-parity rights in India and enabling open border movement. However, Nepal's 2020 constitutional amendment to update its official map — incorporating Kalapani, Lipulekh, and Limpiyadhura — escalated tensions significantly. India rejected that map revision as 'artificial enlargement' of Nepal's territory. The Lipulekh pass is strategically vital: India uses it as a key route to Kailash-Mansarovar in Tibet. China's growing footprint in Nepal through BRI infrastructure investment adds a strategic layer, pushing India to sustain diplomatic engagement to prevent Nepal drifting further into Beijing's orbit. The Eminent Persons Group (EPG) report, tasked with revising the 1950 Treaty, has never been formally received by India — a continuing sore point for Kathmandu. Balendra Shah, a popular rapper-turned-politician, became Kathmandu's Mayor before entering national politics, representing a new political generation. His visit, if it materialises, would be significant for stabilising the 'neighbourhood first' policy. UPSC examiners consistently test the static framework — treaty provisions, border geography, and India's neighbourhood policy — using current events as the entry point, not the question's core.