Prof M.K.Bhat
Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh will usher a positive thought process regarding boundary disputes between India and its neighbors. It can be termed as one more feather in the cap of India’s foreign policy. It reaffirms the resolve of Prime Minister Naremdra Modi to have good relations with neighboring countries. It is well said that friends can be changed but not neighbors. Good relations with them are an asset for any country. The present Government worked in this direction from oath taking ceremony itself when the heads of the neighboring countries were invited for the swearing ceremony.
Kudos in case of LBA shall also go to Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj for tabling the bill in the Parliament in a decent manner by recognizing the role of the UPA Government. This helped the present regime to overcome the lacunae of numbers in Rajya Sabha. It now needs to be passed by state legislatures of Assam, West Bengal, Tripura and Meghalaya with two third majorities. This is more or less a formality now. The Parliament of India by passing this 100th amendment to the constitution has made history and its impact cannot remain confined to these two countries only, but will definitely change the course of thinking in the whole of South Asia. It also testifies that the countries of this region are capable of resolving boundary disputes through dialogue based on trust and belief.
This agreement can also be termed as a landmark step in India’s otherwise poor record of handling border disputes. This can go a long way in developing confidence among other smaller countries in the neighborhood. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has time and again tried to make sure that India means friendship with neighbors without any interference in their internal matters.
India has its boundary touching to seven SAARC countries out of eight . These countries may not be connected to each other but are connected with India. Tension was visible almost with all the neighbors, when Narender Modi took over from the UPA regime .India intends to solve border disputes through dialogue and the positive response from the other side is equally important. India in the past suffered a lot on this account. Wars took place with Pakistan and China, fisherman had to suffer in Sri Lanka, people had to bear on the borders of Bangladesh etc .The acrimony on border issues has lead to terrorism ,insurgency, smuggling etc and deviated the attention of the countries from the real issues of poverty ,hunger, illiteracy etc.
India and Bangladesh have a common boundary of approximately 4096.7 Kms .The land boundary between two countries was determined as per Radcliffe award of 1947.The original deal between the two nations was signed in 1974. A protocol for transfer of territories was signed between former PM Manmohan Singh and his Bangladeshi counterpart Shiekh Hasina in 2011. In Dec 2013 a bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha in this regard. It was then referred to Parliamentary Standing Committee which submitted report on the matter in Dec 2014 .The bill was finally passed in the current session of Parliament.
The boundary swap involves transferring 111enclaves with a total area of 6944 Hectares to Bangladesh and India will get in return 51 enclaves 2877 hectares. These enclaves were located deep inside the boundary of the other country so administering them was a real difficulty. The loss to India in case of enclaves has been compensated through each other’s recognition of right to adverse possessions of land. India will receive 1123 hectares and transfer 917 hectares to Bangladesh. The exchange process once complete will bring a tremendous change to the people inhabiting these enclaves. There are currently 51549 people inhabiting these enclaves and out of which 37334 are reportedly Indians living in Bangladesh.
It will provide India help in streamlining the illegal migrants from Bangladesh by making border straight. These migrants comprise a sizeable chunk in the north eastern states. The mistrust between the two countries may decrease and they can talk of business in a cordial atmosphere. It is expected to contain insurgency in north east and the development of such states will be possible. The cost of maintaining boundaries may decrease and the same can be used in the development work. It may also help India to restrain the growing Chinese influence in the South Asian region. China has invested billions of dollars in the infrastructure area of this region. Its relations with Pakistan and investment in ports in Sri Lanka and Maldives are major causes of concern for India.
India being the biggest power in South Asia, occupies 70 percent of the region , shall recognize its responsibility to take a lead in making the Regional Economic Cooperation a reality in South Asia. It must make smaller neighboring countries comfortable by its presence. There is need of trust which can lead not only economic cooperation among them but may go a long way in tackling their mutual problems of poverty, unemployment , illiteracy, low growth rate and terrorism. It may be mentioned here that the road in this direction is not easy because border disputes provide certain countries with enough space to promote their nefarious designs.
The countries of south Asia bear a common culture, ethnicity and legacy constitute 3% of the world area, house 21% of the global population, can talk of their success only when there is cooperation in trade and other relations at ground level. These countries have failed to register their presence in the economic race of nations because of the mistrust developed by boundary disputes. These countries have in fact got little to show in terms of financial integration, exports within the region, free mobility of labor and capital or sharing of science and technology. The position of the whole region at present is quite low with little positivity and more of negativity among them. Maximum deliberations of SAARC have got eclipsed by the bilateral border conflicts between India and Pakistan.
Leaders of South Asian countries shall try to explore the potential for South Asian renaissance, and unleash collective prosperity for the 1.7 billion people of the region. These countries can think of religious tourism as South Asia is the cradle of four important religions of the world – Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism – and its multiculturalism includes nearly half a billion Muslims who live across countries in the region. Some of Sikhism’s holiest shrines are in Pakistan. Lumbini the birthplace of Lord Buddha is in Nepal, Buddhism’s most important shrines are located in India, and Buddhism links India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan. There can be a good spiritual tourism among these countries. Cooperation in terms of health care, infrastructure development, science and technology can easily be attained at much lower cost.
These countries can cultivate Geographical proximity and can use technological growth of each other for their trade provided they start a positive thinking regarding their boundary disputes.
(The author is Deputy Director (MAIMS) Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University Delhi)
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