INDIA BANGLADESH RELATIONS – INTERNATIONAL
News: India-Bangladesh
shares deep ties, no one can break them, says Shah
What's in the news?
● Union
Home Minister Amit Shah said that India and Bangladesh share deep ties and no one can undermine the good bilateral relations
between the two countries.
Key takeaways:
● Shah
said this during his visit to the India-Bangladesh border at Petrapole in West
Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone
of several projects of the Land Ports Authority of India and the Border
Security Force (BSF).
Geo-political Significance of Bangladesh for India:
1. Connecting North East India:
● Each
of seven north eastern states is land-locked
and has a shorter route to the sea through Bangladesh.
● Transit
agreement with Bangladesh will spur the socio-economic development of
North-East India.
2. Bridge to South-east Asia:
● Bangladesh
is a natural pillar of Act East policy.
● It
can act as a ‘bridge’ to economic and political linkages with South East Asia
and beyond.
● Dhaka’s
support in BIMSTEC and BBIN initiatives
complement Delhi’s Southeast Asia outreach.
3. Strengthening South Asia as a regional power:
● By
leveraging organizations such as the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) for promoting
cooperation among its member nations to economic growth and securing strategic
interests.
4. Securing Sea lanes of communication:
● Bangladesh
is a major country in the Indian ocean rim and strategically placed nearby
important sea lanes.
● As
the South East Indian Ocean is becoming a hotbed of piracy, Bangladesh can play a significant role in containing the
same.
5. Fighting terrorism and deradicalization:
● Both
the countries are very vulnerable to the propaganda of religion based radical outfits thus they could cooperate in
deradicalization efforts, sharing intelligence, and other counter-terrorism
efforts.
6. To contain insurgency in North-East:
● A
friendly Bangladesh can ensure that no anti-India terror or insurgent
activities can be carried out from its soil.
7. Balancing China:
● A
neutral Bangladesh would ensure containment of an assertive China in this
region, and help in countering its string
of pearls policy.
8.
Bilateral trade:
● Currently,
the volume of bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh is about $9 billion
while the trade potential is at least four times the present level.
9. Investment opportunities:
● There
are huge opportunities for investment in defense, such as in military hardware,
space technology; infrastructural development, and other areas.
10. Cooperation in the blue economy:
● Indian
and Bangladesh have maintained cooperation such as exploration of hydrocarbons,
deep-sea fishing, preservation of marine ecology and disaster management.
Challenges in India Bangladesh relations:
1. Teesta River disputes:
● Of
the 57 transboundary rivers, Bangladesh shares 54 of them with India.
● Teesta
is the 4th largest river in Bangladesh (after Ganga, Brahmaputra and Meghna).
Bangladesh has been consistently demanding 50% share of the water.
2. Chinese initiatives in Bangladesh:
● China
is financing 25 energy projects in Bangladesh including 1320-Megawatt power
plants.
● China
has extended its support to build Bangladesh
Second Nuclear power plant.
● Highway
and rail network connecting Bangladesh through Myanmar to Yunnan province.
● Bangabandhu-1 First
communication satellite of Bangladesh was
negotiated and financed through help from the Chinese government.
3. Rise of radicalization in Bangladesh:
● The
vulnerability of Bangladesh as a center of terror is not new.
● Since
9/11, the vulnerability of Bangladesh to terror attacks has increased manifold.
● There
is a growing Al-Qaeda and ISIS presence
in Bangladesh. The implications of all this are very severe for India.
4. Illegal immigrants:
● 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
India.
● This
is changing the demography of northeastern states which is causing unrest.
5. Rohingya crisis:
● There
are almost 11 lakh Rohingyas refugees living in Bangladesh.
● While
India has supplied humanitarian aid to Bangladesh under ‘Operation Insaniyat’ for the Rohingya crisis, Bangladesh expects
India to put pressure on Myanmar for repatriation of over a million Rohingyas.
6. Border Management:
● The
Indo-Bangladesh border is of porous nature which provides a pathway for smuggling, trafficking in arms, drugs and
people.
Way forward:
● India
should implement the Neighbourhood First
policy of prioritizing support to its smaller neighbors to gain their
confidence especially given China’s presence.
● India
should leverage the shared
culture-history and economic complementarities and build people to people
relationships to build strong relationships between two nations.
● It
should also proactively resolve outstanding issues like the Teesta water treaty.
India
needs to look at more ways to deepen its ties with Bangladesh, especially
keeping in mind the shifting nature of
geopolitics and geoeconomics in South Asia.