{"id":52771,"date":"2019-10-03T19:00:15","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T13:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?p=52771"},"modified":"2019-10-03T15:40:36","modified_gmt":"2019-10-03T10:10:36","slug":"7-pm-furthering-this-neighbourhood-friendship-3rd-september-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-furthering-this-neighbourhood-friendship-3rd-september-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"7 PM | Furthering this neighbourhood friendship | 3rd September, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Context:\n<\/strong>India\n\u2013 Bangladesh relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>More\nin news: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina\nwill make her first official visit to India from October 3-6, post the general\nelections in Bangladesh (December 2018) and India (May 2019).<\/li><li>She will address the World Economic\nForum\u2019s India Economic Summit followed by the bilateral visit.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>India-Bangladesh\nRelations:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>India was one of the first countries to\nrecognize Bangladesh and established diplomatic relations\nwith&nbsp;Bangladesh&nbsp;immediately after its independence in December 1971. <\/li><li>The relationship between India and\nBangladesh is anchored in history, culture, language, people-to-people ties and\nshared values of secularism, democracy, and countless other commonalities. <\/li><li>It is based on sovereignty, equality,\ntrust, understanding and win-win partnership that go far beyond a strategic\npartnership. <\/li><li>In the last couple of years, the\nrelationship has been further strengthened including through cooperation in new\nand high-technology areas.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Security\n&amp; Border Management:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>India and Bangladesh share 4096.7 km. of\nborder, which is the longest land boundary that India shares with any of its\nneighbours. <\/li><li>The India-Bangladesh Land Boundary\nAgreement (LBA) came into force following the exchange of instruments of\nratification in June 2015.&nbsp;<\/li><li>A number of security related agreements\n(Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters; Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners,\nCombating International Terrorism, organized Crime and Illicit drug\ntrafficking, MoUs on Prevention of Circulation of Fake Currency Notes and\nPrevention of Human Trafficking and Extradition Treaty) have been signed\nbetween both the countries and working groups have been constituted to curb\nillegal activities in the border areas.<\/li><li>The Coordinated Border Management Plan\n(CBMP) signed in 2011 aims to synergize the efforts of both the Border Guarding\nForces for checking cross border illegal activities and crimes as well as for\nmaintenance of peace and tranquility along the India-Bangladesh border.<\/li><li>The settlement of the maritime boundary\narbitration between India and Bangladesh, as per UNCLOS award of July 7, 2014,\nhas paved the way for the economic development of this part of the Bay of\nBengal.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sharing\nof River Waters:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>India and Bangladesh share 54 common\nrivers. A bilateral Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) is working since June 1972 to\nmaintain liaison between the two countries to maximize benefits from common\nriver systems. <\/li><li>The Ganga Waters Treaty signed in 1996 for\nsharing of waters of river Ganga during lean season (January 1-May 31) is\nworking satisfactorily.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bilateral\nTrade and Investment:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The first Trade Agreement between India\nand Bangladesh was signed in 1972.<\/li><li>In the last three years (the period\nbetween FY 2015-16 and FY 2017-18), India\u2019s exports to Bangladesh grew 28.5%\nfrom USD 7 bn to USD 9 bn. <\/li><li>Bilateral trade stood at US$ 9.14 billion\nin 2017-18.<\/li><li>India\u2019s exports to Bangladesh for the\n(Indian) financial year 2017-18 stood at US $ 8.46 billion and imports from Bangladesh\nduring FY 2017-18 stood at US $ 0.68 billion.<\/li><li>India has provided duty free quota free\naccess to Bangladesh on all tariff lines except tobacco and alcohol under South\nAsian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) since 2011. <\/li><li>Four Border Haats, two each in Tripura\n(Srinagar and Kamalasagar) and Meghalaya (Kalaichar and Balat), have been\nestablished for the benefit of bordering communities.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>India\u2019s\nEconomic Assistance to Bangladesh:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>India has extended 3 Lines of Credits to\nBangladesh in the last 7 years amounting to US$ 8 billion. This makes\nBangladesh the biggest development partner of India till date.&nbsp;<\/li><li>In January 2010, India had announced a\nUS$1 billion Line of Credit (LOC) for Bangladesh covering 14 projects in public\ntransportation, roads, railways, bridges and inland waterways etc.<\/li><li>India had extended the second LOC of US$ 2\nbillion in June 2015. This LOC covers 15 projects in areas of Roads, Railways,\nPower, Shipping, SEZs, Health &amp; Medical Care and Technical Education.<\/li><li>In April 2017, India extended a third LOC\nof US$ 4.5 billion to Bangladesh. The new LOC covered projects in areas of Port\nConstruction, Railways, Roads, Airports, Power &amp; Energy,\nTelecommunications, and Shipping etc.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Power\nand Energy Sector Cooperation:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Cooperation in power sector has become one\nof the hallmarks of India Bangladesh relations. Bangladesh is currently\nimporting about 1160 MW of power from India.<\/li><li>The 1320 MW coal-fired Maitree thermal\npower plant, a 50:50 JV between National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) of\nIndia and Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), is being constructed at\nRampal.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Connectivity:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>India-Bangladesh is a good example of\nconnectivity through all modes of transport.<\/li><li>The Protocol on Inland Water Trade and\nTransit (PIWTT) has been operational since 1972. It permits movement of goods\nover barges\/vessels from India through the river systems of Bangladesh on eight\nspecific routes.<\/li><li>Coastal Shipping Agreement signed in June\n2015 has also enabled direct sea movement of containerized\/bulk\/dry cargo\nbetween the two countries.<\/li><li>Land routes are preferred by 85.6% of\nBangladeshis visiting India. <\/li><li>There are two train services-\nDhaka-Kolkata (Maitree Express) and Kolkata-Khulna (Bandhan Express). A third\none on Agartala-Akhaura route, is under construction. <\/li><li>Five additional bus services were\nintroduced in 2018 and the first ever Dhaka-Kolkata cruise ship was launched in\nmarch 2019.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tourism:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Bangladeshi tourists accounted for 21.6%\nof the total percentage of tourists visiting India in 2018 (83.7% tourists and\n10.28% medical patients). <\/li><li>Bangladesh contributes 50% of India\u2019s\nhealth tourism revenue.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Areas\nof Concern in the relation of two countries:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Teesta\nWater Issue: <\/strong>Teesta waters issue remains a big problem due to\ncontinuous protest by the Mamata Banerjee led West Bengal government.<\/li><li><strong>National\nRegister of Citizens (NRC):<\/strong> The NRC has left out 1.9 million Assamese\nfrom the list with a group labelled as \u201cillegal immigrants from Bangladesh\u201d\nliving in Assam post-1971. Bangladesh remains firm in its stance that no\nmigrants travelled to Assam illegally during the 1971 war of independence and\nthat the controversial NRC risks hurting relations.<\/li><li><strong>Cattle\nTrade: <\/strong>Since\nthe ban by India on cattle export, cattle trade has fallen from 23 lakh in 2013\nto 75,000 till the end of May this year<\/li><li><strong>Red Tapism:\n<\/strong>Since\n2010, India has approved three lines of credit to Bangladesh of $7.362 billion\nto finance development projects. Due to bureaucratic red tape, just $442\nmillion has been disbursed till December 2018.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Rohingya\nIssue: <\/strong>The\nRohingya issue and India\u2019s remarks in 2017 on the issue have been upsetting for\nBangladesh which has been facing the challenge of providing shelter to more\nthan a million Rohingya refugees fleeing persecution<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source:\n<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/furthering-this-neighbourhood-friendship\/article29577509.ece\">https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/furthering-this-neighbourhood-friendship\/article29577509.ece<\/a><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context: India \u2013 Bangladesh relations. More in news: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will make her first official visit to India from October 3-6, post the general elections in Bangladesh (December 2018) and India (May 2019). She will address the World Economic Forum\u2019s India Economic Summit followed by the bilateral visit. India-Bangladesh Relations: India was&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-furthering-this-neighbourhood-friendship-3rd-september-2019\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">7 PM | Furthering this neighbourhood friendship | 3rd September, 2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":49370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-7-pm","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/7-PM.png?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704811140},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}