India and Nepal began the 19th edition of Exercise Suryakiran from 25 November to 8 December 2025 at Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand. It is a bilateral, annual, battalion-level military exercise between the armies of India and Nepal, conducted alternately in the two countries. In this edition, the Indian side was represented mainly by 334 personnel from the Assam Regiment, while the Nepal side was represented mainly by 334 personnel from the Devi Datta Regiment.

The exercise aims to strengthen defence cooperation, coordination, and military preparedness. Its scope covered counter-terrorism operations in mountainous terrain, jungle warfare, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, medical response, environmental conservation, and integration of ground and aviation operations. Such joint training improves interoperability between the two armies and prepares them to reduce risks to life and property in operations linked to the United Nations peacekeeping agenda.

For exam preparation, Exercise Suryakiran should be revised with India-Nepal relations, defence cooperation, and India's major bilateral military exercises. For RAS/UPSC prelims, the likely factual recall points are the exercise name, partner country, location, duration, and focus areas. For mains, it can be used as an example of security cooperation with a neighbouring country, military preparedness in mountainous border terrain, and humanitarian assistance-disaster relief capacity. As a static-GK link, aspirants should revise India-Nepal relations, military operations in mountainous terrain, and the list of major joint military exercises.