India – Bangladesh

 

In news:

• Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s recent visit to India. 

 

 

Important points from the news:

• Besides discussions with her Indian counterpart, she also addressed the India Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum.

 

Key takeaways from the joint statement released by Modi and Hasina after the summit:

      Defence: Maritime and border security:

• Both India and Bangladesh agreed to establish a coastal surveillance radar system in Bangladesh as part of which India will install a network of 24 radar systems along the coastline of the neighbouring country.
• This is a crucial development for regional maritime security and will not only "help India detect any seaborne terrorist attack along its eastern coastline, but also to keep watch on its maritime neighbourhood.
• It will go a long way in assuaging India's concerns over the growing influence of China and the presence of Chinese warships in the Bay of Bengal region.
• India is building similar coastal surveillance networks  in other Indian Ocean nations, like Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Seychelles and Maldives.
• Both leaders also agreed to expedite work towards drawing upon a $500 million Defence Line of Credit extended by India to Bangladesh, for which implementation arrangements have been finalised in April 2019.
• Both India and Bangladesh also agreed to work towards strengthening border security, including completing border fencing at all pending sectors at the earliest, while also reiterating commitment to eliminating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

 

       Trade: 

• Bangladesh's exports to India crossed the $1 billion mark this year, a 52 percent year-on-year growth.
• To improve the bilateral trade between the two countries, Modi and Hasina also agreed to expedite commissioning of the joint study on the prospects of entering into a bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and Bangladesh.
• Both leaders directed their officials to expedite the establishment of framework of cooperation in the area of trade remedial measures for cooperation and capacity building in this area, said the joint statement.
• The two countries also agreed to ease movement of people by removing the remaining restrictions on entry/exit from land ports in India for citizens of Bangladesh travelling on valid documents in a phased manner, beginning with checkpoints at Akhaura (Tripura) and Ghojadanga (West Bengal).
• The two countries will also expedite the establishment of twelve Border Haats which have been agreed to by both countries.
• Both the prime ministers inaugurated a project on sourcing of bulk LPG from Bangladesh to Tripura by using Bangladesh trucks and hoped that such energy links will boost cross border energy trade.

 

      River water sharing

• Disputes over sharing of river waters have been major thorns in India-Bangladesh relations.
• Both governments agreed to expeditiously exchange updated data and information and prepare the draft framework of Interim Sharing Agreements for the six rivers, namely, Manu, Muhuri, Khowai, Gumti, Dharla and Dudhkumar and to firm up the draft framework of interim sharing agreement of Feni River.
• In a much-needed relief for the people of Sabroom town in South Tripura, Bangladesh has agreed to let India withdraw 1.82 cusecs of water from Feni river for the residents of the border town.
•  The negotiations, which were dragging on since the early 90s, finally came to fruition on Saturday as Hasina signed an MoU allowing the release of potable water to India.
• As for the Teesta water dispute, which has been a major thorn in India-Bangladesh relations, the India prime minister conveyed that his government is working with all stakeholders in India for conclusion of the agreement at the earliest.
• Though both governments had agreed upon a water sharing formula for Teesta in 2011, it is yet to be signed. After Bangladesh's gesture over Feni River water, an early resolution of the Teesta water dispute is likely to be a priority of the Modi govenrment.

 

      Connectivity

• Increasing connectivity through air, water, rail and road was another major focus areas of the India-Bangladesh summit.
• Both countries signed an MoU to facilitate the use of Chattogram and Mongla ports (in Bangladesh) for movement of goods to and from India, particularly to and from the North East of India. According to the joint statement, the SOPs for use of Chattogram and Mongla ports have been concluded.
• The two countries also underlined the immense potential of movement of cargo using the inland water and coastal shipping trade.
•  The operationalisation of the Dhulian-Gadagari-Rajshahi-Daulatdia-Aricha Route (to and fro), which also include Daudkandi-Sonamura Route (to and fro), under Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade, is a key development in this regard.
• As for road connectivity, India and Bangladesh also agreed on the early operationalisation of the BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement for movement of goods and passengers via the road network between the member countries who are willing and ready; or to work towards a bilateral India-Bangladesh Motor Vehicles Agreement, as appropriate.
• The neighbours have also agreed to commence Dhaka-Siliguri Bus service.
• Railways is another area of major focus are to improve connectivity between the two countries. The frequency of Maitree Express has been increased from 4 to 5 times per week and that of Bandhan Express from 1 to 2 per week.
• India will also expedite the completion of modalities for provision of railway rolling stock supplies by India to Bangladesh, and on the modernisation of the Saidpur workshop in Bangladesh.
• India will also supply a number of broad-gauge and meter-gauge locomotives to Bangladesh, on a grant basis.
• As for air transport, India and Bangladesh will enhance the capacity entitlement in air services from existing 61 services per week to 91 services per week with effect from Summer 2019 schedule, and further to 120 services per week.

 

      NRC, illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingya Muslims

• Hasina also raised her concerns over the roll out of NRC in Assam. 
• Indian side conveyed to Hasina that publication of the NRC was a court-monitored process and the final scenario on the issue is yet to emerge.
• The updation of the NRC in Assam (and India's decision to carry out a similar exercise in other parts of India, including West Bengal) has faced criticism both at home and in Bangladesh, especially since identifying illegal Bangladeshis has been one of the main driving force behind the exercise.
• Already, the exercise in Assam has termed 19 lakh people as foreigners in Assam.
• The issue of Rohingya refugees also figured in the talks and the two prime ministers agreed on the need to expedite safe, speedy and sustainable repatriation of the displaced persons to their homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar

 

       Consolidating Development Cooperation:

• India is undertaking various High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDPs) in Bangladesh as grant-in-aid projects, as a contribution to taking socio-economic development to the grassroots of Bangladesh.
• The two Prime Ministers expressed satisfaction over progress made in the utilization of the three Lines of Credit and directed the officials of both sides to expedite implementation of the projects initiated under these LoCs.
• The two sides expressed satisfaction over the signing of a Framework Agreement concerning implementation of GoI LoCs extended to Bangladesh, to facilitate the work of the Representative Office of the Exim Bank of India in Dhaka.
• The Leaders also inaugurated through video-link three bilateral development partnership projects on October 5, namely:

A) Import of Bulk LPG from Bangladesh

B) Inauguration of Vivekananda Bhaban (students hostel) at Ramakrishna Mission, Dhaka

C) Inauguration of Bangladesh-India Professional Skill Development Institute (BIPSDI) at the Institution of Diploma Engineers Bangladesh (IDEB), Khulna

 

1. Both sides expressed satisfaction over the ongoing bilateral cooperation in capacity building of civil servants of Bangladesh. The Government of India, given the common legacy of jurisprudence, would work toward increasing the number of training programs for Bangladesh judicial officers for the future.

 

      Education and Youth Exchanges

• Both sides emphasized the importance of enhanced cooperation between the youth of both countries as an investment in the future. They mentioned the signing of an MoU on Co-operation in Youth Affairs as a step in this direction. The two leaders recognized that structured training programs suitable for Bangladesh will be even more productive.
• Both leaders directed the concerned authorities of both countries for early conclusion of the MoU on Mutual Recognition of Academic Qualifications.

 

       India –Bangladesh Relations:

• Ties between the two countries have shown remarkable improvement since India’s Parliament ratified the 1974 land boundary pact in 2015 and the two countries signed a fresh agreement.
• Bangladesh has received $8 billion in lines of credit from India in the past seven years, the largest extended to any country by India.
• New Delhi’s energy diplomacy initiatives also include supplying petroleum products and setting up liquefied natural gas terminals.
• India, which has built power projects in Bhutan, Nepal, and Bangladesh, has power grid links with these countries and Myanmar.

 

      Importance of Bangladesh for India

• Bangladesh’s location is a strategic wedge between mainland India and Northeastern seven states of the Indian Union. Each of these states is land-locked and has shorter route to the sea through Bangladesh.
• Currently, Kolkata port is used by these states for both domestic and imported cargo.  Bangladesh is a natural pillar of “Look East Policy”.
• A friendly Bangladesh that ensures no anti-India terror or insurgent activities can be carried out from its soil unlike in the past will substantially assist India in handling security problems in some of its restive north-east States.
• The navigable rivers in India's Northeast that could connect West Bengal or Orissa ports pass through Bangladesh.
• The only entry to and exit from the Northeastern region of India is through the Shiliguri Corridor that is close to the Chinese border and within striking distance of Bangladesh. The Shiliguri Corridor is the most sensitive 'choke point' for the Indian Union.

 

 

     Trouble in India-Bangladesh relations

• Water issues:

• India and Bangladesh share 54 trans-boundary rivers, big and small. In 1996, the sharing of the Ganga waters was successfully agreed upon between the two nations. However, the major area of dispute has been India’s construction and operation of the Farakka Barrage.
•  The aim of construction of the Farakka Barrage was to increase the lean period flow of the Bhagirathi-Hooghly branch of Ganga to increase the water depth at the Kolkota port which was threatened by siltation.
• The other reason for water dispute is Teesta River – which has its source in Sikkim – flows through the northern part of West Bengal in India before entering Bangladesh, where after crosssing through about 45km of irrigable land, merges with the Brahmaputra River (or Jamuna when it enters Bangladesh). 
• Construction of the Tipaimukh Dam is another contentious issue between India and Bangladesh. Tipaimukh Dam is a hydel power project proposed on the river Barak in Manipur. Bangladesh's objection is that it would have adverse ecological effects in its eastern Sylhet district.
• In spite of India's reiteration that no dam would be constructed overlooking Bangladesh's objections, the controversy is far from over.
  • The Ganga Waters Agreement had removed an intractable problem permanently vitiating the relationship. 

 

• Boundary issue:

• India’s land border with Bangladesh as per the Ministry of Defence is 4351 km. running through five states, viz., West Bengal (2217kms), Assam (262 kms), Meghalaya (443kms), Tripura (856 kms) and Mizoram (318 kms), including nearly 781 kms of riverine border. The border traverses through 25 districts.
• The border is used as a route for smuggling livestock, food items, medicines and drugs from India to Bangladesh. Moreover, illegal immigrants from Bangladesh cross the border to India in search of improving their lives.
• The border has also witnessed occasional skirmishes between the Indian Border Security Force and the Border Guards Bangladesh, most notably in 2001.
• The Land and Maritime Boundary Agreements were of mutual benefit
• Bangladesh has comprehensively addressed Indian concerns with regard to support to militant elements in the North-east. 
• During the State visit of the Prime Minister to Bangladesh in September 2011, a "Protocol to the Agreement between the Government of India and the Government of Bangladesh Concerning the Demarcation of the Land Boundary Between India and Bangladesh and Related Matters (LBA)” was signed.
• The Cabinet has, on 13 February 2013, approved the draft of a Constitution (Amendment) Bill for implementing the India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) 1974 and the Protocol to LBA signed in 2011. 

 

• Maritime border

• While  Bangladesh,  having  concave coastlines,  delimits  its  sea  border southward  from  the  edge  of  its  land boundary,  India  stretches  its  claim southeast  wards,  covering  around thousands  of  miles  in  the  Bay  of  Bengal.
• Due  to  competing  claims  of  the  two countries,  delimitation  of  the  sea boundary  and  determining  Bangladesh’s exclusive  economic  zones  have  remained unresolved
• In terms  of determining the continental shelf, the presence of the Andamans and Nicobar Islands puts India, in a  favourable position.

 

• Territorial Waters

• The issue of demarcating territorial waters led to serious differences between the two countries. Questions  of ownership over a new born island known as South Talpatty in Bangladesh and New Moore/ Purbasha in  India  spotted  by  a satellite picture in 1975 in  the estuary of Haribhanga  River  on  the  border  of  the two  countries  has  been  a  source  of contention since its discovery. 
• In order to settle the above dispute  Bangladesh proposed sending a joint IndobBangladesh team to determine the flow of channels of the  river  on  the  basis  of  existing International  Law  of  the  Sea.
• But  the Indian  counterpart  sent  forces  to establish  claims  by  stationing  naval troops on  the island in 1981. After initial resentment  by  Bangladesh,  India  agreed to resolve the issue through negotiations. Till  now  the  sovereignty  over  the  island nation  remains      undecided

 

• Illegal Migration:

• Illegal migration is one of the bones of the contention of these two countries, Since the 1971 war of independence that created the state of Bangladesh, millions of Bangladeshi immigrants (the vast majority of them illegal) have poured into neighbouring India
• Indian government has tried to deport some of these immigrants, the sheer number of them, as well as the porous border between the two countries, has made such an enterprise impossible. 

 

• Security concerns

• Insurgency has been playing the role in straining relations of India with Bangladesh. Northeast India has been facing insurgency since 1956 due to feelings of ethnic separatism among its inhabitants.
•  ISI is operating from Bangladesh, supporting the insurgents in the North east India. National Liberation of Tripura (NLFT), Liberation Front of Assam(ULFA) and National Democratic Front of  Bodoland (NDFM) are major insurgent groups in Northeast India.
•  There are some rumours that ULFA has several lucrative income generating Projects in Bangladesh to sustain its insurgency activities in India.
• Drug Trafficking
• Bangladesh is increasingly being used as a transit point by drug dealers and the drug mafia,  which  dispatches  heroin  and opium  from  Burma,  and  other  countries of  the  golden  triangle,  to  different destinations.  As  a  result,  Bangladesh’s Department  of  Narcotics  Control  has  come  under  the  scanner  several  times  and  invited  criticism. 

• Cattle smuggling is also an issue, which is considered to be one of the losses for India of losing its indigenous variety and trade. Cattle haats along the India-Bangladesh border are becoming a source of cattle for smuggling
• Terrorist Infiltration has been a matter of concern of late. Recently a report sent by the Bangladesh Government to India’s Ministry of Home Affairs noted that approximately 2,000 operatives of the Harkat ul Jihad al Islami – Bangladesh (HUJI-B) and Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) had entered India through the porous India-Bangladesh border.

 

 

Steps necessary to improve relation between India

and Bangladesh:

Agreement on water sharing should be given priority. Early resolution of the Teesta issue is necessary.

• India should give prominence to the ratification of land boundary agreement.
• Security cooperation between the two countries has been good.
• People-to-people contact needs to be encouraged
• Trade relationship has improved significantly between the two countries. India has provided zero duty access of Bangladeshi products thereby addressing the tariff related issue to a great extent. The two countries should now consider an agreement on non-tariff barriers.
• Indian investment should be encouraged in Bangladesh through visits of trade delegations

 

 

Recent Development in Relations

• Land Boundary Agreement – Exchange of certain enclave territories with Bangladesh and conferment of citizenship rights to residents of enclaves’ 100th Amendment Act paves the way for the operationalization of the 1974 India-Bangladesh Land Boundary agreement.
• Power agreement and internet service – India will supply 100 megawatt (MW) of electricity in return for 10 Gigabits per second Internet bandwidth to North East.
• Sundarban Moitry - A joint exercise between Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).

 

India’s effort for better relationship with Bangladesh:

• India has installed smart LED (light-emitting diode) streetlights in the Maldives and Bangladesh as part government’s efforts to create new energy security architecture for neighbouring countries.
• These strategic projects have been undertaken by the state-owned Energy Efficiency Services Ltd, as part of initiatives towards this end by India’s ministry of external affairs (MEA).
• The projects aim to help the Maldives and Bangladesh illuminate their streets, even as they reduce the peak electricity demand of these countries, help in energy savings, and reduce carbon emissions.
• The South Asia-focused neighbourhood-first policy is an initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a cornerstone of his government’s foreign policy.
• India has been trying to draw the strategically situated archipelago deeper into its orbit, away from the embrace of strategic rival China. 
• India has been supplying power to Bangladesh and Nepal, and has also been championing a global electricity grid that may initially aim to link countries such as Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, with the subcontinent.

 

Conclusion:

Since Pakistan is inimical to India, we should have good trade relations with other neighbouring countries. We should have a opening to Thailand through Bangladesh also . In the coming negotiations with Pakistan we should talk about labd routes to Iran and Afganistan.
 

Source)

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/india-bangladesh-relations-shiekh-hasina-narendra-modi-6058161/