Fifty years ago, PM Indira Gandhi and PM Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, through signing a 25-year treaty of friendship and cooperation between their two countries, solidified the links that India and Bangladesh had forged in the course of the Bangladesh War of Liberation in 1971. In the last decade, IndiaBangladesh relations have warmed up, entering a new era of cooperation, and moving beyond historical and cultural ties to become more assimilated in the areas of trade, connectivity, energy, and defence.

Remarkable Progress In Last Decade

1. Land Boundary Agreement in 2015: Both the countries have achieved a remarkable feat under this Agreement. India and Bangladesh swapped the disputed islands. This allowed the inhabitants to choose their country of residence. The inhabitants were incorporated as citizens of either India or Bangladesh.
2. India has also accepted an international tribunal verdict in favour of Bangladesh that resolved a 40-year-old maritime dispute and built confidence as well.
3. Trade Relations: Bangladesh today is India’s biggest trading partner in South Asia with exports to Bangladesh in FY 2018-19 at $9.21 billion and imports at $1.04 billion.
4. Development Sector: On the development front, cooperation has deepened, with India extending three lines of credit to Bangladesh in recent years amounting to $8 billion for the construction of roads, railways, bridges, and ports.
5. Consensus on lifting restrictions on entry and exit from land ports in India for Bangladeshi citizens travelling on valid documents.
6. Connectivity: Three passenger and freight railway services are currently in operation between India and Bangladesh. At present, two more routes are also restored by both governments. The recent Chilahati-Haldibari rail link is also a significant step.
7. Energy cooperation: India at present provides a power supply of 600MW from Palatana Power Plant in Tripura. In return, Bangladesh agreed to provide a 10 GBPS internet connection to India’s North Eastern States.
8. Military Cooperation: The Bangladesh government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has uprooted anti-India insurgency elements from its borders, making the India-Bangladesh border one of the region’s most peaceful.

Unresolved Issues

1. Illegal Migration: The problem of Bangladeshi civilians being killed at the border has dented relations. The year 2020 saw the highest number of border shootings by the Border Security Force. These shootings occur as many Bangladeshi people try to illegally migrate into India.
2. The recent Indian policies that include enacting of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and plans to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) has triggered fear over an impending exodus of people from Assam to Bangladesh.
3. The Rohingya issue and India’s remarks in 2017 on the issue have been upsetting for Bangladesh which has been facing the challenge of providing shelter to more than a million Rohingya refugees fleeing persecution
4. The Teesta river water dispute: The Teesta river originates in Sikkim and flows through West Bengal and Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, the river merges with the Jamuna(the Brahmaputra in India). The Teesta water issue remains a big problem due to continuous protest by the West Bengal government.
5. The Issue of Drug Trafficking: A 2007 International Narcotics Control Board mentions Bangladesh as a prime transit point of trafficking heroin from South Asia to Europe. The INCB data also mentions trafficking through India as one of the common methods of drug trafficking.
6. Apart from that, Bangladesh is also opposing India’s proposed Tipaimukh Dam on the Barak River in Manipur and the Interlinking of the rivers project by India.

Way Forward

1. The early resolution of Teesta is the best way to boost India-Bangladesh relations. The government must form a tripartite committee containing members from India, Bangladesh, and the State of West Bengal to determine the amount of water sharing. At present West Bengal does not take part in Joint River Commission meetings.
2. Trade could be more balanced if non-tariff barriers from the Indian side could be removed. New Delhi must keep up the partnership that allows for economic growth and improved developmental parameters for both countries.
3. India’s attempts to equate Bangladesh to fundamentally theocratic Muslim nations such as Pakistan and Afghanistan is something that is unacceptable to Bangladeshis, where religious and racial harmony have always been a priority, unlike in many neighboring countries so we not need to equate it with Pakistan.
4. Bangladesh requires initiating the case to permit India to use Bangladesh to trade its goods from mainland India to NER and exchange raw material and other resources to and from NER to mainland India. This will allow India to improve its overall economic growth and control political stability in those regions while it will allow Bangladesh to increase its revenue and employment.
5. Maritime cooperation projects through BIMSTEC should be implemented for maritime connectivity. This will permit both Bangladesh and India to expand their economic ties transporting goods through sea. More so, maritime trade does not create the same types of political problems that are created by land base trade because it is not visible to the general public.

As Bangladesh celebrates its 50 years of independence, India continues to be one of its most important neighbours and strategic partners. To make the recent gains irreversible, both countries need to continue working on the three Cs — cooperation, collaboration, and consolidation.