India-Bangladesh River Pact

In News

• Recently, India and Bangladesh signed a water sharing agreement for the first time in 25 years.

About

• River pact:
  • India and Bangladesh signed an interim water sharing agreement for the Kushiyara river, the first such pact between them in over 25 years 
    • The Ganga water treaty was signed in 1996.
  • Significance:
    • The Kushiyara pact will benefit people in southern Assam and Sylhet in Bangladesh.  
    • India has extended the period of sharing flood water related information in real-time which will help Bangladesh counter the annual floods.
• Trade and cooperation:
  • India and Bangladesh have decided to start negotiations on a comprehensive trade pact and strengthen cooperation against terrorism and radicalism.
    • To further accelerate this growth, both countries will soon start discussions on the Bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
  • Two sides signed pacts on railways, space, IT and media.
• Mujib Scholarship:
  • Bangladesh’s PM Sheikh Hasina also announced the Mujib Scholarship recently for the direct descendants of the Indian soldiers killed or grievously injured in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. 
    • The award is named after Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina’s father.
    • As many as 1,984 Indian Army personnel were killed in the war, according to the Bangladeshi government.

India Bangladesh Relations

• India was one of the first countries to recognize Bangladesh and establish diplomatic relations immediately after its independence in December 1971.
• Internationally both the nations share the following platforms: 
  • SAARC, BIMSTEC, Indian Ocean Coastal Regional Cooperation Association, and Commonwealth.
• Trade and investment:  
  • Bangladesh is India’s biggest trade partner in South Asia and India is the largest market in Asia for Bangladesh’s exports. 
  • India’s exports to Bangladesh during 2021 was US$14.09 Billion.
  • Bangladesh may become India’s fourth-largest export destination in FY22, jumping five places in two years.
  • Bangladesh’s growth stems largely from its success as an exporter of garments, which account for around 80 percent of its total exports. 
• Power and energy cooperation:
  • Cooperation in the power sector has become one of the hallmarks of India -Bangladesh relations. 
    • Bangladesh is currently importing 1160 MW of power from India.
  • Bangladesh is the biggest development partner of India. 
    • India has extended 3 Lines of Credits (LOC) to Bangladesh in the last 8 years amounting to US$ 8 billion for the development of infrastructure in various sectors including roads, railways, shipping and ports.
• Capacity Building and Human Resource Development:  
  • Human resource development is a key component of India’s development cooperation efforts in Bangladesh through its several ongoing training programs and Scholarships.
  • The Government of India has been training 1800 Bangladesh Civil Service officials from 2019 at National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG), Mussoorie
  • The Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre (IGCC) in Dhaka plays an important role in the celebration of common cultural links between the two countries.
  • Its training programs including Yoga, Kathak, Manipuri dance, Hindi language, Hindustani classical music and the cultural programs of renowned artists of India and Bangladesh contribute to the promotion of people-to-people contacts.
• Defence Cooperation: 
  • High level exchanges at the level of services chief of Indian Navy, Bangladesh Navy and Indian Air Force, the conduct of second annual defence dialogue and inaugural tri-services staff talks, service specific talks of Navy and Air Force.
  • DG-level talks between the Coast Guards have contributed to significant improvement in bilateral defence cooperation.
  • In the training domain both the countries have continued and enhanced mutual engagements.
  • Various Joint exercises take place between the two countries:
    • Exercise Sampriti (Army) and 
    • Exercise Milan (Navy).
• Multimodal Connectivity: 
  • The passenger trains between India and Bangladesh:
    • Bandhan Express: starting from Kolkata for Khulna – Since 2017
      • It covers the distance via Petrapole and Benapole border route to cater to the demands of the people from both countries.
    • Maitree Express: starting from Dhaka for Kolkata – since 2008
      • The tri-weekly service between Kolkata and Dhaka used to run with 90 percent occupancy. 
      • The train has a capacity to carry 456 passengers, the same as Bandhan Express.
    • Mitali Express: starting from New Jalpaiguri in North Bengal for Dhaka.
  • Bus Service:
    • Both the governments decided to commence: Dhaka-Siliguri-Gangtok-Dhaka and DhakaSiliguri-Darjeeling-Dhaka bus service to enhance people to people contacts between both the countries and the trail run of Dhaka-Siliguri-Gangtok-Dhaka was also held in December 2019.
  • The Government of India has also been providing grant assistance to Bangladesh for various infrastructure projects including the construction of the Akhaura-Agartala rail link, dredging of inland waterways in Bangladesh and construction of the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline.

Source: TH