As the King of Nepal, His Majesty King Birendra and his government were dedicated to the development of the country. He restructured many governmental organizations for the purpose of achieving developmental goals. He stressed roadbuilding, sanitation and scientific as well as technical training. A part of this effort was addressing the country’s 85 per cent illiteracy rate with the introduction of the Education System Plan and the establishment of a National Development Service which required all post-graduate students to work for 10 months in the villages as a prerequisite for their degrees.

He also divided the country into five development regions: Eastern Development Region, Central Development Region, Western Development Region, Mid-Western Development Region, and Far-Western Development Region. The main reason and logic being decentralization. Each region covered all three ecological zones of the country: pahaad (the hills), himal (the mountains) and terai (the plains).

During his time, Nepal’s policy for road development flourished with more than a dozen airports built in rural Nepal. Industrial growth in Nepal during the time has to be credited to his initiation of establishing seven industrial areas throughout the country, one each in Nepalgunj, Pokhara Industrial Area, Butwal, Bhaktapur, Dhankuta, Birendranagar and Gajendranarayan. Gorakhkali Tires Industries, Udayapur Cement Industries, Nepal Metal Company and Nepal Pharmaceuticals were all established during his time.

In April 1979, Nepal Oriental Magnesite factory was established with a joint investment of the then His Majesty’s Government and Orissa Industries at Lakuri Danda in Dolakha District with the objective of producing dead burnt magnesite and talc powder. All together 2,054 industrial establishments were formed during his reign, providing employment to about 125 thousand workers across the nation.

The government, during King Birendra’s reign, focused highly on agriculture promotion too. As a result, almost 90% of the population was directly or indirectly involved in agriculture by 1990. Increase in agricultural lands and agricultural workforce provided increased supplies of food, resulting in better nutrition. Corn production was increased to over 1 million tons in 1991 from 500,000 tons in 1961. Lumbini Sugar Mills at Sunwal, Nawalparasi was built with the technical assistance from China in 1982. The establishment of Gorakhkali rubber Industries led to the cultivation of rubber for the first time in Jhapa, Illam and many other places of eastern Nepal, subsequently leading to the establishment of Gorakhkali Tires Industries. Similarly, establishment of agriculture based industries such as Bhrikuti Pulp and Paper in 1985 with support from the People’s Republic of China, Hetauda Textile, and a large number of carpet and garment industries were established to convert raw agricultural produce which contributed greatly to the economy.

Other developmental efforts included an increase in health care access. Nardevi Ayurvedic Hospital was established in 1974 and TU Teaching Hospital was established in 1982 with the economic support from Japan International Cooperation Agency. His Majesty also established Nepal Police Hospital in 1984 (2040 BS) with the intention to provide free health services to in-service policemen and their families.

He is also credited for establishing the first television channel of Nepal, Nepal Television in 1984 which started its first channel in 1985 with French aid. King Birendra on the advice and consent of Rastriya Panchayat in 1986 also established Mahendra Sanskrit University, now Nepal Sanskrit University in Dang to promote Sanskrit education in Nepal which at the time of its commencement was the second university of the country.

His Majesty King Birendra understood very well the sensitive position Nepal held as a small country located between two giant countries, India and China. Hence he utilized his position as King to maintain Nepal’s independence and individuality, and increase strong allies around the globe.

His first trips abroad as king were to India in October 1973 and China two months later. He prevented the breaking up of Mustang from Nepal and Tibet from China during the Mustang revolution. The disarmament of Khampas rebellions in 1974 who worked against China brought Nepal-China relations to a new height.

His compatriots remember him for his extensive campaign and contribution for the establishment of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and South Asian food reserve. Addressing the 26th Colombo Plan Consultative Committee Meeting in Kathmandu in 1977, then King Birendra had proposed a regional body to utilize Nepal’s untapped hydropower potential, which eventually became SAARC. During his reign, he was also able to set up the SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu. He also established diplomatic relations with additional 46 countries taking the total number of countries for diplomatic relations from 49 to 96.

He further strengthened Nepal’s policy of neutrality by promoting Nepal as a Peace Zone in the UN. This proposal was supported by 116 countries in the UN Office. He later established a “Peacekeeping Training Camp” in 1986, now called Birendra Peace Operations Training Centre. This was later restructured into a training institute in 2001 for training peacekeeping forces through which Nepal started sending trained, peace-keeping forces in cooperation with the UN and became an active member of it.

In 1983 he was able to establish a Nepal-Pakistan Joint Economic Commission bringing in significant foreign investments in the country.

By 1980, the early flames of multi-party democracy were surging throughout the nation. The restraints that had been imposed on political organizations were eased, and liberal student-led groups started to demand constitutional change in Nepal. Because of the growing pro-democracy movement, His Majesty announced that a referendum to decide between a party-less or a multi-party system would be held. The referendum provided the options for a multi-party system or a Panchayati system. The referendum held in May 1980 resulted in the party-less system winning by a margin of 55% to 45%.

In 1990, a series of strikes and pro-democracy riots broke out in Nepal demanding the restoration of democracy. As a result, in April of that year, King Birendra put his people and their wishes first by lifting the ban on political parties and subsequently proclaiming that the people should rally round the new Government. He appointed an independent Constitution Recommendation Commission to represent the main opposition factions and to prepare a new constitution to accommodate their demands for political reform. The commission presented him with the draft of the proposed constitution on 10 September 1990.

The new constitution would make His Majesty head of state of a constitutional monarchy with a system of multiparty democracy. The draft constitution was approved by the Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and his cabinet and so, on 9 November 1990, Birendra promulgated the new constitution transforming Nepal into a constitutional monarchy.

As a constitutional monarch, King Birendra was a much loved and respected king, attributing to his democratic views and actions. Prime Minister Krishnaraj Bhatarai, spoke of Birendra in a discussion on BBC radio, remembering his “impeccable personal manners and courtesy and his equally impeccable role as a constitutional monarch.” He never interfered with the elected governments. But he did come to the rescue of the system when fractious and fast-changing governments looked like precipitating a breakdown in democracy. True to Walter Bagehot’s words, King Birendra saw it as his duty to “encourage, warn and advise” the elected representatives of the people.

His Majesty King Birendra was a champion conservationist and environmentalist, and led Nepal’s conservation and environment efforts. In early 1985, King Birendra traveled to the Annapurna region, Nepal’s most popular trekking destination, to declare the need to protect the area’s environment. His declaration would result a year later in the establishment of the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) which was later managed by the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation, now NTNC. The KMTNC was a memorial to his father and another effort towards conservation, founded and chaired by then HRH Prince Gyanendra. It was established in 1990.

During his reign, the government issued the Protection of Environment Act 2053 B.S. (1997) which opened doors for numerous projects to safeguard the pristine natural heritages of Nepal. Several protected areas were established, including Chitwan National Park, Royal Bardia Wildlife Reserve, Langtang National Park, Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Sagarmatha National Park, Khaptad National Park, Parsa Wildlife Reserve, Shey Phoksundo National Park. To fulfill his father, King Mahendra’s dream of creating a nature reserve with a reserved area of 106 km2 in the Mugu and Jumla districts, Rara National Park was established which includes the now famous Rara Lake.

In order to preserve the royal tradition of hunting as a hobby, but also to prevent the depleting wildlife he established Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve in 1987.

Moreover, with his efforts, Nepal was able to enlist Sagarmatha National Park in 1979 and Chitwan National Park in 1984 into the UNESCO World heritage sites. Similarly, monument zones such as the three Durbar Squares—Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur, and religious sites such as Swayambhunath, Boudhanath, Pashupatinath Temple and Changu Narayan were also enlisted in 1979.

Focusing on sustainability and environmental conservation, on 28 December 1975, the trolley bus system was introduced in Nepal supported by the aid of People’s Republic of China.