Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
5
Government
and Politics
In 1960, after a decade of political unrest, King Mahendra seized
control of the government. King Mahendra banned political parﾭ
ties and allowed autocratic rule through a group of councils, or
panchayats
. Although the people did not have a say in their own govﾭ
ernment, the social reforms adopted by the king and the panchayats
did help alleviate some caste discrimination.
THE MONARCHY
The notion of absolute monarchy is actually a young concept.
The Nepalese monarchy as we know it is only about 250 years old;
whereas, the United Kingdom traces its history of a ruling monarchy
to the ninth century. There were rulers of separate areas, called Malla
kings; in A.D. 1200, however, after almost 600 years they were not
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