PATNA: On the second day of "Towards a New Era in Nepal' seminar being organised by Embassy of India in Nepal here, the participants discussed Nepal's peace process and the issue of harnessing Nepal's water resources. The seminar, which will conclude on Saturday, is being conducted in closed door sessions, to enable participants to voice their concern in a free and unbiased manner, according to organisers.

The participants held discussion under the topic "Political consensus: A Must for Concluding the Peace Process" and "Harnessing Water Resources-A Cooperative Approach". The first session of the seminar was chaired by Subhash Kashyap, former secretary general, Lok Sabha Secretariat and the second session was chaired by former Indian Ambassador to Nepal Dev Mukherjee. Bihar's Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also addressed the gathering in the evening.

They are also discussing "1950 Peace and Friendship Treaty and Open Border Asset or Liability? ", "Role of Media and Civil Society in Shaping Public Perceptions' and New Constitution" tomorrow.

Twenty participants each from India and Nepal are taking part in the three-day event. Among the key Nepali participants are Hari Sharma, political advisor to the President, Nepali Congress general secretary Bimalendra Nidhi, NC leader Pradeep Giri, CPN-UML leader Pradeep Gyawali, Pradeep Nepal, CA member Gagan Thapa, Anil Kumar Jha, Jitendra Dev, leader MJF-D, former IGP Dhrub Bahadur Pradhan, journalist Chandra Kishore Jha, Prashant Jha and Vijay Kumar Pandey.

Indian participants are India's ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood, MEA North Division Chief Satish Mehata, former ambassador Shiv Shanker Mukherjee, defence scholar Nihar Nayak, former deputy NSA Leela K Ponappa, former secretary Hormis Tharakkan, journalist Nilova Roy Chaudhury and Uttam Sinha of IDSA. Indian Embassy in Kathmandu has been organising such event since last two years to promote track two (people-to-people) diplomacy.