Miss Nepal to raise blockade issue during Miss World contest

Miss Nepal 2015 today said she would raise the issue of economic blockade on the country's southern border with India during her participation in the Miss World 2015 to take place in China next month.
"I will voice the sufferings of Nepalese people due to the April's earthquake and the shortage of essentials due to the blockade by India," Ivana Manandhar said talking to reporters here.
The 23-year-old beauty queen of Nepal is leaving for China on Saturday to take part in the Miss World pageant in Sanya, in which beauty queens from 130 countries around the world including from India will take part.

She said she would also like to inform the world community regarding Nepal's tourism and political situation and added that she was not concerned about winning the crown.
"My main aim is to make our country familiar to the world community and to inform them about the current situation facing the Nepalese people after the devastating earthquake that killed some 9,000 people," said Ivana, a marketing graduate from a US university.
Nepal is recovering from two massive earthquakes over six months ago in which over 9,000 people lost their lives.

The country has also been hit by a major political crisis over the new Constitution opposed by Indian-origin Madhesis who have led an agitation and blockaded key border trade points of Nepal with India, leading to a shortage of essential goods including fuel and cooking gas.

Madhesis, Indian-origin inhabitants of Nepal's Terai region, are protesting division of their ancestral homeland in the new Constitution.
Over 40 people have died in the violent agitation that has also overwhelmed Indo-Nepal ties as transit of goods and fuel to the Himalayan nation from India via the major border trading points has been badly affected.
The agitation by Madhesi groups has paralysed normal life across Nepal while the dearth of medicines has put lives of patients at stake.