India funds Nepal school building in Banke district, 8th HICDP there
Synopsis
India has broken ground on its eighth HICDP school project in Nepal's Banke district — part of a nearly 600-project development footprint spanning all 74 districts of Nepal since 2003. A separately funded operation theatre at Rapti Eye Hospital in Dang was also inaugurated, underscoring India's strategy of embedding influence through local infrastructure rather than headline bilateral deals.
Key Takeaways
Construction of a new building for Shree Jana Kalyan Secondary School in Khajura Rural Municipality, Banke district has begun with Indian funding of approximately NPR 32 million .
This is the eighth HICDP undertaken by India in Banke district .
A double-storey operation theatre at Rapti Eye Hospital, Dang district — the seventh HICDP in Dang — was simultaneously inaugurated.
India's HICDP programme, launched in 2003 , has completed nearly 600 projects across all seven provinces and 74 districts of Nepal.
Both projects were implemented through local municipal bodies in Lumbini Province .
Construction of a new school building at Khajura Rural Municipality in the Banke district of Nepal's Lumbini Province has commenced with financial assistance from the Government of India, according to the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu. The project marks the eighth High Impact Community Development Project (HICDP) undertaken by India in Banke district alone.
Foundation Stone Laid Jointly
Gitanjali Brandon, Counsellor at the Embassy of India in Kathmandu, and Dambar Bahadur B K, Chairman of Khajura Rural Municipality, jointly laid the foundation stone for the new building of Shree Jana Kalyan Secondary School. The Government of India will provide approximately NPR 32 million under its HICDP programme for the construction. The project will be implemented directly through the Khajura Rural Municipality.
Local representatives and stakeholders welcomed the support, noting that the new infrastructure would improve the learning environment for students and provide better facilities for teachers.
Operation Theatre Inaugurated in Dang District
Separately, an operation theatre building constructed at Rapti Eye Hospital in Dang district of Lumbini Province — also funded by India under the HICDP — was inaugurated on Thursday. Gitanjali Brandon and Tikaram Khadka, Mayor of Tulsipur Sub-Metropolitan City, jointly inaugurated the double-storey operation theatre building. This project is the seventh HICDP completed in Dang district and is aimed at strengthening eye care services in western Nepal.
About the HICDP Programme
Launched in 2003 — previously known as Small Development Projects — the HICDP initiative supports small-scale infrastructure and community-based projects through local authorities in Nepal. It focuses on priority sectors identified by the Government of Nepal, including health, education, drinking water, sanitation, rural electrification, hydropower, and river training.
Since its inception, nearly 600 HICDP projects have been undertaken by India across all seven provinces and 74 districts of Nepal, according to the Embassy. The programme spans sectors such as health, education, and community infrastructure under India's broader development cooperation framework.
India-Nepal Development Partnership
The Embassy described both projects as part of India's continued development partnership with Nepal, aimed at strengthening infrastructure in priority sectors and supporting Nepal's socio-economic development goals. This comes amid sustained bilateral engagement between the two neighbours, with India consistently channelling grassroots-level funding through local governance bodies — a model that distinguishes HICDP from larger bilateral aid programmes. With nearly six decades of cumulative project activity across all of Nepal's districts, the programme has become one of the more visible threads of India's neighbourhood-first development diplomacy.
Point of View
Building goodwill at the community level where geopolitical friction rarely reaches. With nearly 600 projects across all 74 Nepali districts, the programme's cumulative footprint now rivals larger bilateral aid initiatives in visibility, if not in headline value. The simultaneous inauguration of a hospital operation theatre alongside a school foundation-laying in the same province signals a deliberate clustering strategy — maximising optics from a single official visit. The real question is whether project quality and community maintenance match the pace of new groundbreakings.
NationPress
1 Aug 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the HICDP project at Khajura Rural Municipality in Nepal?
It is the construction of a new school building for Shree Jana Kalyan Secondary School in Banke district, funded by the Government of India with approximately NPR 32 million under its High Impact Community Development Project programme. It is the eighth such project India has undertaken in Banke district.
What is India's HICDP programme in Nepal?
The High Impact Community Development Project (HICDP), launched in 2003 and formerly called Small Development Projects, funds small-scale infrastructure through local Nepali authorities in sectors such as health, education, drinking water, sanitation, and rural electrification. Nearly 600 projects have been completed across all seven provinces and 74 districts of Nepal since the programme began.
What was inaugurated at Rapti Eye Hospital in Dang district?
A double-storey operation theatre building, funded by India under the HICDP and implemented through Tulsipur Sub-Metropolitan City, was inaugurated in Dang district. It is the seventh HICDP completed in Dang and is aimed at strengthening eye care services in western Nepal.
Who represented India at the Banke and Dang HICDP events?
Gitanjali Brandon, Counsellor at the Embassy of India in Kathmandu, represented India at both events — jointly laying the foundation stone in Banke with local chairman Dambar Bahadur B K, and jointly inaugurating the Dang operation theatre with Tulsipur Mayor Tikaram Khadka.
How many HICDP projects has India completed in Nepal so far?
According to the Indian Embassy, nearly 600 HICDP projects have been undertaken across all seven provinces and 74 districts of Nepal since the programme's inception in 2003, spanning health, education, and community infrastructure sectors.
