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Delivering the 4th RK Mishra Memorial Lecture, Bangladesh's Foreign Minister, Dr Dipu Moni, called for a Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Basin Regime, going beyond the boundaries of Bangladesh and India, to address the common realities of our region.

Rather than rushing to deport people, the new Modi government needs to carefully weigh a solution that will benefit all stakeholders. After all, friendly relations with its neighbors is in India's interests.

Bangladesh have witnessed changes in the last eight years, but they were not enough, according to speakers at a conference on India's relationship with Bangladesh.

Since August, there has been a continuous flow of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh from Myanmar. The number has now crossed half a million.

Bangladesh's journey of democracy did not have a healthy start and it is still struggling with establishing a fully functioning democracy as is seen by the presence of confrontational politics and the dysfunctional parliament, according to former Bangladesh Major General Muniruzzaman.

Bangladesh needs to be commended for its efforts in fighting the rightwing militancy. The anti-militancy drive initiated by the Awami League Government in 2009 was further intensified in 2010

Though the Hasina Government is pursuing an active counter-terrorism programme and has succeeded in controlling the activities of various radical organisations in the real world, it has failed to curb their activities in the virtual world.

The so-called crack-down on religious extremist elements ordered by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh has been selective.

Media in Bangladesh recently reported that China is all set to win the contract of the coveted deep-sea port in Sonadia, a small town of 9 sqkm offshore of Cox's Bazaar in Chittagong division.

On 5 January, parliamentary elections were held in Bangladesh. They were boycotted by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led 18 party alliance, allowing the Awami League to win the election with two thirds majority and with very little opposition.

The settlement of the maritime dispute between India and Bangladesh has ended the energy politics in the Bay of Bengal region. The verdict from The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) has removed obstacle for Bangladesh to exploit the rich hydro-carbon reserves in the Bay of Bengal.

India-Bangladesh relations got a major boost with Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao's three-day visit to Bangladesh in June this year. This has also brightened the prospects of visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmonhan Singh to Bangladesh.

Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pankaj Saran had a narrow escape as his car was attacked in Khulna. Initial investigation showed that the bombs were of low intensity.

Bangladesh witnessed the worst kind of political violence in the past few weeks following a series of protests called by the Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).

The ongoing upazila elections in Bangladesh are a move to deepen democracy at the grassroots. Since the election came just after the parliamentary polls that took place in January and was boycotted by main Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP),

The violent incident on the streets of Dhaka involvingJamaat-e-Islami (JI) activists on September 19 has ignited fear among the people of Bangladesh that the country might again slip into a reign of chaos and unrest.

After a year of comparative stability in 2014, politics of hartal (street agitation) is back in Bangladesh. The country is almost paralysed for almost a month following strings of hartal staged by opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for its campaign to oust Sheikh Hasina led Awami League government.

Last week Bangladesh celebrated the Bengali New Year, the biggest festival of the country with much fanfare. Celebration of Bengali New Year has special significance for the country as it marks the values for which Bangladesh fought for -- its culture and the liberal values.

In a rare move, the Bangladesh government has taken up the task of correcting the history by trying the 'war criminals' of the 1971 Independence War. In the nine-month-long freedom movement, 2.5-3 million people had died.

The political situation in Bangladesh is reverting to the bad old days of hartals and blockades. Major countries which could influence the Sheikh Hasina government, including India, seem reluctant to pressurise her. India has been clearly backing her for the time being, knowing that the alternative could be worse.

The recently-concluded elections to three city corporations of Dhaka North, Dhaka South and Chittagong put forward some interesting trend about the present political situation in the country.

With six months left for parliamentary election in Bangladesh, politics is likely to warm up, charting a new course in the process. Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party's (BNP) landslide victory in five city corporation elections suggest that the party has gained strength after facing a humiliating defeat in the 2008 parliamentary election.

Politics in Bangladesh got a new twist this week following the formation of a new poll time government. The main purpose behind the formation of this government was to ease up the political crisis regarding the nature of government to supervise the general elections.

BRICS is in transition and cannot afford to lose growth momentum. Multilateral institutions such as a BRICS Bank can aid in sustaining directed, equitable and resilient growth.

If Iran becomes a nuclear state down the road, it will be in the first place due to Iran's intransigence; but it will also be the result of over a decade of poor negotiating by the international community.

The battle against naxals cannot be won purely by military means even though this may be the first requirement. It cannot definitely be won by introducing the Armed Forces in place of the para militaries. This would be the most retrograde of all steps and should not even be considered as an option.

Setting up of research taskforces on various climate change and environment risks in the BIMSTEC sub-region can develop a common understanding of the threats, create standards for emergency management and come up with cost-effective solutions.

BBINMVA is an encouraging development that aims at shared growth and prosperity of the region. For success of the BBINMVA, the member countries should remain consistent and resolve the issues on timely basis for fulfilling the vision of prosperity of the region.

The intensity with which India is trying to focus on the aspect of subregional affinity — in the geopolitical and geostrategic realms — finds expression in the BBIN interaction.

The BCIM economic corridor has the potential of transforming a conflict zone into a cooperation zone. This can happen only if adequate measures are taken to check any possible negative impacts of the corridor by involving all of the key stakeholders.

The current Indian government has given clear indicators that it is likely to place regional integration high on its economic diplomacy agenda, be it SAARC, ASEAN or BCIM. The last two are especially important to India's Act East Policy.

Fiscal 2017-18 will end with a real GDP growth of 6.5 per cent, helped by low inflation, versus 7.1 per cent last year.

A second Green Revolution is in the offing given the recent announcements by the central government. The highlight of Finance minister Mr Jaswant Singh¿s January 9 pre-poll sops was the setting up of a Rs. 50,000 crore Agriculture Infrastructure and Credit Fund, to be operational in four weeks and providing end use credit at 200 base points below PLR.

Fifteen nations in 11 months and important visits to China and RoK in May is a tremendous track record. Considering the pace and scale of Modi's engagements and what each visit is expected to produce, one must congratulate the MEA for measuring up to this scorching pace.

Twenty-five uninterrupted years of mostly weak coalition governments at the Centre may have closed political options in Jammu and Kashmir, but now that we have a majority government in New Delhi, decisions may be easier.

If history is to be consulted, re-packaging sells well within the White House and perhaps more importantly, the Pentagon.

In the prevailing era of strategic uncertainty, Special Forces (SF) provide the most reliable means to a government for the application of military force to achieve national security objectives. The SF components of a nation¿s military and other security forces are force multipliers in times of both war and peace.

The Modi government must now attempt to transition India's economic engagements towards a more deliberate, durable and definitional framework. Well-administered LoCs offer a great avenue to do this -- and therefore must be given commensurate strategic priority and attention.

For India, the key implications come in the form of the direction China is headed on nuclear.

The 46th Anniversary of Tibetan Uprising of the Year 1959 is round the corner. On March 10, the Dalai Lama will issue yet another Policy Statement to commemorate the occasion.

The Chinese navy is leading the dramatic shift in the political goals of China's armed forces. Besides territorial defence, the Chinese armed forces now also aim to protect Beijing's expanding interests beyond borders, influence regional security politics and contribute to international peace.