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India-Bangladesh bilateral meet
Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment
- High level interaction: India’s External Affairs Minister visited Bangladesh for a bilateral meet, ahead of Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Bangladesh scheduled in March 2021. Earlier, a 122-member contingent of the Bangladesh Armed Forces has participated in the 72nd Republic Day parade, commemorating 50 years of the 1971 India-Pakistan war that led to the liberation of Bangladesh.
- Points to note:
- Bangladesh’s stand - Problems between neighbouring countries should be resolved through discussions and negotiations. Need to focus on possible ways to materialise commitments and accommodate each other’s priorities in a mutually beneficial manner. Bangladesh acknowledged the collaborative initiative of the two countries in implementing the vaccination programme against the ongoing pandemic. Bangladesh purchased the Covid vaccine from Serum Institute of India. Bangladesh is the largest recipient of 9 million doses of Made in India vaccine. Both countries are committed to expand their relationship in all dimensions, ranging from security, trade, transport and connectivity, culture, people-to-people ties, energy, joint development of our shared resources and defence.
- India’s stand - It congratulated Bangladesh, on its graduation from the Least Developed Country (LDC) status. Bangladesh has been on the United Nations (UN) Least Developed Countries list since 1975. It has now fulfilled all the criteria necessary for its elevation to a developing country in 2018. So the UN has recommended graduation of Bangladesh from the category of Least Developed Country (LDC). Once it receives the final recommendation, Bangladesh will formally graduate to the developing nation bracket in 2026. India-Bangladesh relations transcend strategic partnership, and bonding of both the countries is central to the realisation of a dream of a peaceful, prosperous and progressive South Asia. Despite the Covid pandemic, interactions and consultations continued unabated such as the India and Bangladesh had a Virtual Summit in December 2020, etc. A Joint Consultative Commission between the two Foreign Ministers in September 2020. India and Bangladesh would have a meeting of Water Resources secretaries to discuss the Teesta issue. India is keen to focus on the development of connectivity with Bangladesh and beyond for next 20 years to change the region's geo-economic scenario. Bangladesh was central to India's Neighbourhood First' policy and increasingly relevant to the country's Act East Policy. Bangladesh as a key neighbour and a valued partner not only in South Asia but also in the broader Indo-Pacific region.
- Way forward: A year after the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) issue strained the robust ties between the two countries, quiet diplomacy appears to have worked. India must keep up the partnership that allows for economic growth and improved developmental parameters for both countries. Deepening relationship with Bangladesh has become a necessity in the face of shifting geo-economics. Bangladesh, with its growing economic success provides a vital partnership in the region. The two countries share 54 transboundary rivers, and water management is the key to prosperity. Bangladesh-India relations have reached a stage of maturity. There is scope for India-Bangladesh ties to move to the next level, based on cooperation, coordination and consolidation. It is important to address specific issues like Teesta and to respond to Dhaka’s call for help on the Rohingya issue.
- Knowledge centre:
- Teesta river water issue - Teesta is the fourth largest river among the 54 rivers shared by India and Bangladesh, and flows through three states/ divisions of two countries, namely India’s Sikkim and West Bengal states and Bangladesh’s Rangpur division. . Within India, 6930 km2 or 86% of the basin lies in Sikkim. The flow of the river is highly variable. Teesta is a perennial, rain-and-snow-fed river characterized by extreme variability in her flows throughout the year. Over 90% of her flow occurs in rainy season from June to September while the rest 10% occurs in the remaining eight months. As a lower riparian, Bangladesh is completely dependent on India, the upper riparian, for keeping minimum flows in the Teesta River. India has been constructing a series of dams up north which have reduced the river’s flows to as little as 14 m3/s during times of drought, greatly hurting the livelihoods of thousands of farmers, fishermen and boatmen in Bangladesh. Conversely, during monsoon season, Indian dams on the Teesta release excess water, causing heavy floods and again disrupting thousands of livelihoods in Bangladesh. The intensity of damage is particularly more acute in Bangladesh as the size of population and economy dependent on Teesta in Bangladesh outstrips its counterpart upstream in India. Bangladesh demands a fair share of the Teesta waters in lean season and guaranteed minimum flows throughout the year formalized in a treaty signed and ratified by governments of both countries. Negotiations on the Teesta River have been going on for decades and a draft agreement has been prepared, however, the Teesta deal between New Delhi and Dhaka fell through in 2011, and no concrete progress has been made since.
- Rohingya issue - A report published by UN investigators in August 2018 accused Myanmar's military of carrying out mass killings and rapes with "genocidal intent". The ICJ case, lodged by the small Muslim-majority nation of The Gambia, in West Africa, on behalf of dozens of other Muslim countries, called for emergency measures to be taken against the Myanmar military, known as Tatmadaw, until a fuller investigation could be launched. Aung San Suu Kyi rejected allegations of genocide when she appeared at the court in December 2019.The massive numbers of refugees who fled to Bangladesh in 2017 joined hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who had fled Myanmar in previous years. Rohingyas arriving in Bangladesh said they fled after troops, backed by local Buddhist mobs, responded by burning their villages and attacking and killing civilians. Kutupalong, the largest refugee settlement in the world according to UNHCR, is home to more than 600,000 refugees alone.
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