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While India has been mature in assuaging the concerns of Bangladesh on issues like the shooting of Bangladeshis by the BSF, policymakers should still reach out to other political actors so as to ensure that there's a genuine and sustainable improvement in bilateral relations.

India’s Northeast Region (NER) can serve as a pivotal connecting space between India and its neighbours to the east in South Asia, as well as to East and Southeast Asia and beyond, enhancing the country’s diplomatic, infrastructural, and commercial engagements. This paper makes an assessment of NER’s cross-border land connectivity initiatives with Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, and Bhutan—all members of the Bay of Bengal Initiative f

Is India confident to connect its North-East with the neighbouring countries like China, Myanmar and Bangladesh. This is one of the questions that came up during a workshop on "Increasing Connectivity of the North East with Peripheral Countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar and China" at the Kolkata chapter of Observer Research Foundation.

BNP is likely to fight parliamentary election in Bangladesh without the kin of Ziaur Rahman leading the campaign.

The India-Bangladesh relations got a major boost after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declared to support the land-boundary agreement with the neighbouring nation.

Smugglers and security agencies face-off on the India-Bangladesh borders over illegal cattle trade

Beyond resolving outstanding problems, Modi's visit to Bangladesh has led to the setting up of agreements, MoUs and protocols which will transform our relations in the future. The key issues here are connectivity and economic partnership.

The Maldivian authorities can now breathe easy. Now that the Cricket World Cup, played in venues across Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, is completed without any security problems, the reported Interpol alert against Maldives-based religious terrorists targeting the match venues have receded for good.

Boosting further the relations between India and Bangladesh, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently undertook a three-day visit to Dhaka. The successful visit is expected to create a positive ground for Prime Minister Modi's visit likely later in the year.

Resolution of the maritime dispute between India and Bangladesh has opened up a new horizon for cooperation between the two countries. They can now join together to exploit the natural sources in the Bay. Both countries should try to transform the Bay of Bengal region into a major hub for trade and commerce, bringing prosperity to the region.

Both Modi and Hasina will be in power for the next four years and have the historic opportunity to further strengthen bilateral ties for which the Modi visit has contributed in no small measure. The next generation of Bangladeshis and Indians expect no less.

The issue of NRC, especially in Assam and West Bengal, is inherently linked to the problem of migration.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is popularly known as Bangabandhu or Friend of Bengal. He became the Prime Minister of Bangladesh in 1972. He was a close friend of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Participants of an interaction on Myanmar felt that Myanmar should be allowed to exercise its will regarding its internal political and economic decisions, but there should be an attempt to check the irregularities in these areas so that her neighbours such as India and Bangladesh do not bear the brunt.

Do all states with Muslim majority have to be Islamic? Not necessarily, if you go by the examples of Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh. This points to one simple conclusion: if a country has a democratic polity, it is less likely to be Islamic.

The demand for quick resolution of the Teesta issue is becoming louder in Bangladesh. The visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in September this year lost its sheen as it failed to conclude a deal on sharing of water of the Teesta River.

India¿s neighbourhood is on the boil. Pakistan is struggling to resolve its self-imposed dilemma of balancing politically aroused religious extremism and calls for domestic stability and international civility. Bangladesh seems all set to follow the Pakistani model if the series of bomb blasts all over the country last month were any indication.

Bangladesh needs full closure of the war crimes aspect of her history and a move away from fundamentalism that threatens it today. Bangladesh has to see the fulfillment of its Shahbag moment. The recent hanging of Mollah, is a process in that closure.

The recent 'off-the-record' comment by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against "about 25% Bnagladeshis" has dented the India-Bangladesh relations. There is a need for us to show more sensitivity while dealing with Bangladesh, a country that has gone out of its way to improve its relationship with India.

The entire region from Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Bihar and West Bengal to Arunachal Pradesh will benefit through improved connectivity. India should now look and Act East in Myanmar seriously as the country has a long border with our northeast and sustained friendly relations are important for India.

Bangladesh has to change its energy policy resulting from demand outstripping the current supply. The country believes in energy autarky with focus solely on use of indigenous resources. But frequent changes of regimes and policies by subsequent governments has only helped arrival of more international oil and gas companies in the Bangladesh market.

Dr. Manmohan Singh's visit to Dhaka early September would undoubtedly be a 'game changer' for the India-Bangladesh relations which has been swaying between optimism and scepticism for quite sometime.

South Asia comprises of eight countries-Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Except for India and to an extent, Pakistan given our obsession with it, we know very little about other countries of South Asia.

Integrating their economies will help Bangladesh and India rise up global and regional value chains

US prosecutors indicted Adani Group officials. Several countries are reviewing Adani projects. This impacts India's global image and connectivity goals. India's private sector needs to increase its role in international development. This will support India's foreign policy and strategic ambitions.

As part of this effort, the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) launched a report, Health Equity and Inclusion in Action, which seeks to examine the ways different health initiatives in six countries across Asia and Africa are exploring to address this complex problem. The report, created by the ORF in collaboration with Gilead Sciences who commissioned it, examines case studies from Bangladesh, India, Morocco, Rwanda, South Africa and Vietnam to

The cultural and economic synergies between West Bengal, North East and Bangladesh can usher in a new chapter in the relations between the latter and all of India.

Considering India's economic standing, a $2.9 billion loan for the Padma Multipurpose Bridge of Bangladesh would not have been a difficult proposition. If India finds this option too difficult, there are many other alternatives for India to help Bangladesh.

It would be folly to treat the threat issued to the Indian cricket team by a terrorist organisation based in Bangladesh as posing danger only to the players. The threat issued by Harkat ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI) poses a direct and serious danger to India because, despite denials by the Bangladesh Government, it is clearly an indication that terrorist groups affiliated to the Al Qaeda have made Bangladesh an operational base. The

New Delhi must now accelerate the transformative governance changes it has initiated in the North East

Myanmar and Bangladesh are active partners in India’s Act-east policy, projects envisaging connectivity between the Southeast with South Asia and countering insurgency in north-east

The removal of Prof. Muhammad Yunus from the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh has left a dent on the image of the Awami League Government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, both at home and overseas.

SAARC conjures up an image of jamborees and no results. The South Asian Association of Regional cooperation with its seven members ( India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh) remains one of the most dysfunctional trade blocs and there is hardly any freedom of movement of goods, services and people. The next (13th) SAARC summit is going to be held in Dhaka in the beginning of January 2005.

The absence of scientific data and meaningful analyses only compounds the river issues between India and Bangladesh.

Despite some setbacks, the visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to China and her meetings with top leaders were quite successful and fruitful, underlying the fact that China has become a time tested friend.

India’s relationships with Bangladesh, Myanmar and China hang in the balance.

The visit of External Affairs Minister SM Krishna to Dhaka early July underlines the importance of Bangladesh in India's strategic thinking. The visit was also crucial as it laid out the agenda for the all-important visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Bangladesh later this year.

Like Europe interlinked themselves and how it has benefitted their economy as a whole, Dr. Muhammad Hasan Mahmud, a former Minister in Sheikh Hasina Cabinet, thinks the same kind of integration could be done between India and Bangladesh and the whole of South Asia.

India and Pakistan have much to learn from their once-poorer neighbor Bangladesh.

Chief Election Commissioner of Bangladesh, Dr. ATM Shamsul Huda, on June 30th announced that the national parliamentary election would be held in the third week of December this year.

Former prime minister and chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Begum Khaleda Zia has threatened to launch an agitation if any deal is signed between India and Bangladesh which will be "detrimental" to the country's national interest.

Bangladesh is contemplating allowing the entry of Indian container trains up to Ghazipur, close to the capital Dhaka. This will benefit the traders of both the countries as there will be reduction in the transportation cost.

Blaming the ruling Awami League government for the deteriorating condition of power, water and law and order of the country, Bangladesh's main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) launched a month-long agitation against the government.

The kidnapping of an American University professor and his Australian colleague in Afghanistan resulted in a failed rescue mission.

Weekly roundups from South Asia.

A gun battle in Kabul between forces loyal to Afghan Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum and Tajik demonstrators left at least one person dead.