willingness to promote efforts towards peace in Nepal. Indian External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee promised the Nepali Prime Minister Prachanda that he would "extend all possible help for peace and development." In 2014, the Indian embassy in Kathmandu started an open house service which would hear grievances faced by the Indian nationals living in Nepal. However, in recent years, the increasing dominance of Maoism in Nepal's domestic politics, along with the strengthening economic and political influence of the People's Republic of China has caused the Nepalese government to gradually distance its ties with India, though Nepal still does support India at the UN. Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi visited Nepal in August 2014, marking the first official visit by an Indian prime minister in 17 years. During his visit, the Indian government agreed to provide Nepal with US$1 billion as concessional line of credit for various development purposes and a HIT formula, but he insisted that Indian immigrants in Nepal do not pose a threat to Nepal's sovereignty and therefore open border between Nepal and India should be a bridge and not a barrier. Nepal and India signed an agreement on 25 November 2014 as per which India will build a 900 MW hydropower plant at a cost of another US$1 billion. An amount of has been granted to Nepal as a part of the agreements signed on 22 February 2016 for post-earthquake reconstruction. A perpetual issue for many people of Nepali origin, the birthplace of Gautama Buddha has long been a cultural and social issue devoid from the political landscape of both Nepal and India. However, since the souring of relations between the two countries, the issue has been used to undermine relations between the two countries both politically and socially. The two-day-long International Buddhist conference in Kathmandu which ran from 19 to 20 May 2016 marked Vesak and the 2,560th birthday of the Buddha was also used to promote the Buddha's birthplace which lies in modern-day Nepal. The decision of the Nepal Culture Ministry to change the theme, "Preservation and Development of Buddhist Heritage of Nepal" with the sub-theme "Lumbini – Birthplace of Buddha" under the name "Lumbini – Fountainhead of Buddhism" was met with criticism from India which subsequently boycotted the conference due to this and on the back of China's supposed monetary involvement in the conference. Nepali Prime Minister, K.P. Oli told the media that