First of all, the news needs verification by actual announcement of the agreement.

Nevertheless, if the terms of the agreement are accurately reported, then it means not much change.

First off, the actual division of Madhes is left open-ended for now. Constituent Assembly (CA) will decide on that.

Autonmous Madhes, on the other hand, means a state of Madhes (somewhere in Terai, but the exact territory to be decided by CA ) is envisioned. That’s all.

Autonomy does not mean much, because the terms of autonomy is to be decided by CA and it can be expected that all states (or whatever name would be given to the governing units) will have similar terms.

So, it will be in the CA for various groups to fight for the exact nature of administrative divisions and the extent of their power/autonomy.

So expect major showdowns in CA. This is what this agreement, if true, means.

Nepe