India-Bangladesh Relations: A New Direction

India-Bangladesh Relations: A New Direction

GS-II: International Relations

(UPSC/ State PSCs)

Important for Prelims

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Awami League Party, Bangladesh Nationalist Party, 'Land Boundary' Agreement, Neighborhood First Policy.

Important for Mains

Relations between India and Bangladesh, Significance of Bangladesh for India, challenges, way forward.

Jan. 15, 2024

Why in the news:

Recently, the Awami League party led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has registered victory for the fourth consecutive time in the recently concluded general elections in Bangladesh amid the boycott of opposition parties.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina:

  • She is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was the first President of Bangladesh and President of the Awami League.
  • He served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from April 17, 1971 until his assassination on August 15, 1975.

Awami League (AL):

  • The Awami League-AL party led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been ruling Bangladesh since 2009.

Main opposition party:

  • The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, boycotted the elections.
  • Bangladesh Nationalist Party ruled Bangladesh between 2001 and 2006.
  • In the year 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met BNP leader Khaleda Zia during his visit to Bangladesh.
  • Khaleda Zia visited India in the year 2012.
  • During his visit to India, he had said that this discussion with the then Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid was “the beginning of a new era”.

Electoral Political Issues:

  • International pressure for free and fair elections: External international powers like America, Britain, Japan and Australia have put pressure on Bangladesh to conduct free, fair and transparent elections, so that the opposition party also gets a fair opportunity to compete.
  • Suppression of Dissent: The current government of Bangladesh is suppressing dissent by allowing the arrest of opposition members and also disrupting their campaigns by intimidating and violently attacking opposition supporters.
  • Concerns like corruption and inflation are also being linked with protests and boycotts.

Significance of this victory for India:

  • The recent elections in Bangladesh are of great importance for India as India supports the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Hasina has supported the friendly and mutually beneficial relations between the two countries over the years.
  • India's Act East Policy will get a boost.
  • Sheikh Hasina government will boost land and sea connectivity between India's North-East and the country.
  • Bangladesh can play an important role in India's economic connectivity with South Asia and East Asian countries.

India-Bangladesh relations:

  • India and Bangladesh are neighboring countries in South Asia.
  • India first recognized Bangladesh (East Pakistan) as an independent country in the year 1971. Since then, formal diplomatic relations have been maintained between these two countries.
  • Bangladesh has an important place in India's Neighborhood First Policy.
  • Despite all the disputes, both India and Bangladesh are linked to each other socially, economically and culturally.
  • Relations between India and Bangladesh are unified by common history, social heritage, cultural linguistics and affinity for music, art and literature.
  • The signing of the 'Land Boundary' Agreement in 2015, which resolved the border dispute, further strengthened the friendship.
  • According to the Union Home Ministry's annual report for 2022-23, fencing and road construction work on the 4,000 km long India-Bangladesh border is likely to be completed by March 2024.
  • India had sent Covid-19 vaccines and other medical equipment to Bangladesh to show reconciliation and progress in bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh.

Trade relations:

  • Currently Bangladesh is India's sixth largest trading partner.
  • Bilateral trade between the two countries has increased during the last few years.
  • This trade has increased to US $ 18.2 billion in the year 2021-22 as compared to US $ 10.8 billion in the year 2020-21.
  • Bangladesh has emerged as a big market for India. Bangladesh becomes India's fifth largest export market in the year 2022-23.
  • After America, United Arab Emirates, Netherlands and China, India's largest exports were to Bangladesh.
  • Bangladesh's export market share in India's exports of $12.2 billion increased to 2.7 percent.

Importance of Bangladesh to India:

  • Bangladesh is very important for India from 'geopolitical' point of view.
  • Bangladesh's land border with India is the longest, extending for approximately 4,096 kilometers. This border line connects India with Bangladesh on three sides.
  • Bangladesh shares borders with the Indian states of Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura and West Bengal.
  • Bangladesh serves as a gateway to the north-eastern states of India. India is working on many projects in Bangladesh.
  • These projects will help in the socio-economic development of the north-eastern region of India.
  • The geographical location of Bangladesh is very important from strategic point of view for India in the Indian Ocean region. India can use Bangladesh's maritime domain to counter China's growing dominance and strengthen its naval strategic activities.
  • India can control piracy and other threats to maritime trade with the cooperation of Bangladesh.

Challenges in India and Bangladesh relations:

  • Cross-border drug smuggling, trafficking of children and women and poaching of various animal and bird species have been serious challenges in India.

China Factor:

  • China is working on more than 25 energy projects in Bangladesh, including a nuclear power plant and the Bangabandhu communication satellite. It is funding several port development projects.
  • China's One Belt One Road initiative has affected relations between Bangladesh and India. This initiative has raised India's security concerns.
  • Bilateral trade between Bangladesh and China to exceed $25 billion in 2022.

Problem of Rohingya infiltration and migration:

  • Rohingya Muslims have infiltrated into India from Bangladesh. The movement of illegal migrants, including both refugees and economic migrants, from Bangladesh to India continues unabated.

Smuggling of goods:

  • According to an estimate, illegal exports from India to Bangladesh in 2014 were about $4 billion, which is almost equal to the volume of formal trade.
  • Large scale smuggling of gold and Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) is taking place on the India-Bangladesh border.
  • In the year 2022, South Bengal Frontier seized about 114 kg of gold and smuggling of fake currency increased from Rs 3.33 lakh in the year 2022 to Rs 15.86 lakh in November 2023.
  • Drug trafficking: Bangladesh is being used as a transit point for drug smugglers and drug mafias, who transport heroin and opium from Burma and other countries of the Golden Triangle to various destinations.
  • Cattle smuggling: Due to the porous India-Bangladesh border, more than 20 lakh Indian cattle are smuggled into Bangladesh every year.

River Water Dispute:

  • Teesta river water dispute is an unresolved issue between the two countries. Teesta river, a tributary of Ganga, originates from Sikkim and enters Bangladesh via West Bengal. This river is the fourth largest transboundary river of Bangladesh. The maximum accumulation area of this river's water, about 83 percent, is in India.
  • The maximum number of hydropower projects built on this river is in the state of Sikkim.
  • Bangladesh has been demanding more water than the already stipulated quantity. Due to which there is a dispute between the two countries.

Terrorism:

  • The issue of terrorism is important between the two countries. Many organizations like Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh have been trying to spread their network in India.

Way forward:

  • India should make efforts towards securing bipartisan support from any party that officially takes power in Bangladesh.
  • Measures should be taken to resolve the issue of illegal migration and ensure that illegal immigrants do not obtain voting rights and Indian nationality.
  • There is a need to institutionalize security cooperation so that it is not limited to the tenure of a particular government in any country.
  • A new beginning can be made by signing a bilateral extradition treaty and water sharing agreement. Besides, quick resolution of  Teesta issue is also necessary.
  • There is a need to encourage people-to-people contacts. For this a liberal visa system should be implemented.

Conclusion:

  • There is a great need to improve bilateral relations between India and Bangladesh. Peace is most important for the socio-economic progress of any country. Therefore, both the countries should show cooperation and understanding and resolve important issues like terrorism, migrant problem, river water disputes etc. India has implemented the NRC provision to address the migrant problem in the northeastern states, especially Assam.

Source: The Hindu

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Mains Question:

Discuss the future impacts of Sheikh Hasina government of Bangladesh on the social, political and trade dimensions of India-Bangladesh relations.