Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India in January 2010 and the Joint Communiqué issued jointly by both the countries infused a renewed vigour in the bilateral relationship which, till then, was floundering. A year after the visit, however, there are mixed feelings, particularly in Bangladesh, about the pace of the progress in implementing some of the promises made by Sheikh Hasina and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Although such feelings can largely be attributed to misplaced perceptions, India must on its part reiterate its commitment to reinventing the Indo-Bangla relations.
There is no doubt that the Joint Communiqué is a document with far-reaching consequences for the bilateral relationship. It addresses critical concerns of both the countries. The document includes India's concerns on security, transit to transport goods to the north eastern states via Bangladesh, port access for north eastern states etc. The issues that are of interest to Bangladesh are: sharing of river waters, un-demarcated land and maritime boundaries, cross border firing between the border guards; economic issues like the large trade gap and non-tariff barriers etc. The Joint Communiqué has also created a framework for cooperation focusing not only security but also on the economic aspects of the bilateral relationship.
There has been considerable progress in achieving some of the proposed objectives in the past one year. An overview of the decisions taken by both the countries clearly underlines the seriousness with which the goals of a robust bilateral relationship are being pursued.
Water: - In conformity to the joint communiqué, the 37th meeting of the India-Bangladesh Joint River Commission was held at New Delhi in March 2010. The meeting was held after a gap of five years and detailed discussions took place on issues including sharing of the water of common rivers, management of embankments, dredging of rivers and sharing of flood data. The significant outcome of the meeting was India agreeing to Bangladesh's demand of considering involving Nepal not in the JRC but separately to discuss the issue of augmenting the Ganges water. In an important development India agreed to provide flood data of the Sahidganj site, 78 kilometers upstream of the Farakka barrage on a continuous basis during the flood season. Despite the highest priority attaching to the issue of sharing of Teesta water, the meeting ended without any agreement on this. However, the negotiations on the issue of Teesta water continued which helped the two countries to agree on a framework of a 15 year treaty at the meeting of Secretaries of Water Resources in January 2011. The two sides still have work together to fine-tune the framework, hence no exact date has been declared for signing the treaty.
Power Cooperation: - India and Bangladesh signed a 35 year power transmission agreement for the shipping of 250 megawatt electricity to Bangladesh from India by 2012 was signed in July 2010. Power Grid Corporation of India Limited and Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) will be main agencies responsible for carrying out this project.
In August 2010, the National Thermal Power Corporation of India (NTPC) and BPDB signed another agreement to start a joint venture to set up a 1320 MW power project in Bangladesh. According to the agreement, the governments of India and Bangladesh will facilitate joint cooperation between BPDB and NTPC for power generation, transmission, energy efficiency and development of various types of renewable energy. As per the agreement, an eight member Board of Directors will manage the joint venture with a Bangladeshi as the chairman and an NTPC representative as the managing director for a period of three years. Both countries will have equal number of nominees- four each in the board. Two plants are to be set up at a cost of $2.78 billion with 50:50 equity.
Soft Loan: - In August 2010, India and Bangladesh signed an agreement to facilitate US $ 1 billion credit line offered by India to Bangladesh. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee flew to Dhaka to witness the signing ceremony. The money will be utilized for implementation of 14 projects mostly related to development of railway infrastructure in Bangladesh, upgrading of Ashuganj river port, construction of roads and bridges to facilitate transit of Indian goods to northeastern states through Bangladesh, purchase of double-decker buses from India and setting up of power gridline between India and Bangladesh. The main features of the credit line agreement are:- rate of interest 1.75 percent per annum fixed; commitment fee 0.5 percent per annum on unutilized credit after 12 months from the date of contract approval, repayment period of 20 years including a grace period of 5 years.
Boundary Issues: - Keeping in mind the joint communiqué, the India-Bangladesh Joint Boundary Working Group (JBWG) met in Delhi on November 10-11, 2010. The significant outcome of the meeting was the decision to exchange enclaves. There are 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh's territory while there are 51 Bangladeshi enclaves within India. With the handing over of enclaves a long standing issue will be resolved.
On the issue of adverse possession, both sides agreed that there was a need to find pragmatic solution to the issue keeping in mind the spirit of the Land Boundary Agreement and also in the light of ground realities. In this regard, both sides agreed to jointly assess the areas on the lines of the joint exercise undertaken in 1996-97. As per of the understanding, both sides agreed to take up the APLs in the Mehgalaya sides on a priority basis.
Connectivity: - In November 2010, India and Bangladesh for the first time signed a multi model transit agreement to facilitate transportation of equipments to construct a power plant in Tripura. The agreement will remain effective till June 2012.
According to the MoU, Indian cargo will start from West Bengal's Raimongal and enter Bangaldesh at Angtihara under Shaymnagar of Sathkira and will go upto Ashuganj port by inland waterways. The cargoes will than be transported to Akhaura by road the last point in Bangladesh before it enters Tripura. India will pay Taka 25.05 crore to Bangladesh to develop the Ashuganj Port. With signing of this MoU one of the clauses of 50 –point Joint Communique issued during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India in January has been implemented.
Trade and Economic Relations: - With a view to implementing the joint communiqué India and Bangladesh signed an agreement to open three border haats in October 2010. These border haats would provide common market place for the traders across the border and is expected to increase local trade across the border areas. Addressing popular Bangladeshi demand of reducing the trade gap India unilaterally declared to provide afresh duty free access of 8 million pieces of Bangladeshi readymade garments. Further, to encourage imports from Bangladesh India declared pruning of the negative list and to remove 61 items (mostly textile items) from the list.
Meanwhile, steps were also taken to encourage private investment in Bangladesh. Leading Indian trade bodies like Confederation of India Industries took business delegation to Bangladesh which provided opportunities for the business communities of both the countries to discuss about various business prospects. These visits resulted in floating of partnerships in the private sectors. For instance:- Bangladeshi firm Nitol Niloy singed an agreement with the Tata group to set up bicycle and shoe industry in Bangladesh which is likely to bring in $18million of investment in Bangladesh. Textile giant Arvind Mills declared to invest US$90. Ravi Motors signed a memorandum of understanding with Bangladeshi firm GMG to set up a satellite township in Dhaka.
Future course
India occupies a prominent place in the internal politics of Bangladesh. The main opposition parties, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami, are known to be strongly critical of the country's relationship with India. They have persistently criticized the ruling Awami League of being India-friendly. Any delay in implementing the Joint Communiqué is bound to increase the anti-India rhetoric in Bangladesh.
So far, the opposition's propaganda has failed to make much impact, mainly due to factionalism within BNP. But this should not be a reason for complacency. The ruling Awami League, in its third year in government, will be increasingly under pressure to show tangible results from its cooperation with India.
India must therefore give priority to address a few of Bangladesh's most pressing concerns like the issue of sharing of the Teesta water and free access to Dahagram and Angarpota. India must also sympathetically consider the demand for reducing the rate of interest on credit and the possibility of converting the loan into a grant.
Efforts are required to bridge the enormous trade gap. In 2009, India's exports to Bangladesh were approximately $3 billion, against Bangladesh's exports of $280 million. A better media management has become a necessity both in India and in Bangladesh. To begin with, India can allow Bangla channels to be viewed in in West Bengal and New Delhi. Frequent exchanges of visits at the Summit and Ministerial level should become regular feature of the relationship.
Joyeeta Bhattacharjee is Associate Fellow, ORF
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