India-Bangladesh Bilateral Relations

India and Bangladesh are separated by a long border, and connected through shared cultural, social, economic, and civilizational ties. Bangla national anthem, written by none other than Nobel Laurette “Rabindranath Tagore”, who also wrote the Indian National Anthem. which signifies a truly composite nature of the relations between both people. Bangladesh shares 4094 kilometres of land border with India. It is almost surrounded on three sides by Eastern part of India and a small border with Myanmar. India played a crucial role in the Bangladeshi freedom struggle by launching “Operation Jackpot”, and also sheltered approximately 10 million refugees, who fled East-Pakistan in 1971. As both countries completed 50 years of relations, the focus of the relations has shifted from shared concerns about Pakistan to fledging economic ties.

Located strategically at the North of the Bay of Bengal, major powers such as China, Japan and the United States court Dhaka as a maritime hub. Owing to the vulnerable Chicken’s neck corridor, India has a quintessential requirement to keep solid ties with Bangladesh to open-up multiple access-points to the North-Eastern part of the country as well as build trans-national corridors spanning South-East Asia. Hence, Bangladesh has remained a major recipient of India's "Neighborhood First Policy" and "Act East policy".

In 2023, the Bangladesh government led by Sheikh Hasina allowed access to four transit routes to India, namely Port-Akhaura-Agartala, Chittagong-Bibirbazar-Srimantapur, Mongla Port-Akhaura-Agartala and Mongla Port-Bibirbazar-Srimantapur for transporting goods and services. There are major four rail links between India – Bangladesh namely, Bangladesh- Petrapole – Benapole, Gede – Darshana, Singhabad -Rohanpur, and Radhikapur – Birol. The Agartala-Akhaura railway project was inaugurated by Indian PM Narendra Modi and his counterpart Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina in 2023. There is large consensus on most policies among both countries which includes increasing the connectivity via land and maritime routes.

People-to-people relations remains the special character of both Bangla-speaking lands. Since, the division of Bengal happened only a century ago by the British, there is a deep inter-connectedness among people on both side of the Eastern boundary of India. Bangladesh is the fifth largest destination of foreign remittances in India. Almost $4 billion Indian nationals are working in Bangladesh. Indian tourism statistics highlight that, the Bangladesh ranks second

in foreign tourist arrival in India with 20% of percentage share. According to Union Tourism Ministry, “It sent the biggest number of medical tourists in India, with 54.3% of percentage share in 2019".

According to the "India Brand Equity Foundation," the total trade among India-Bangladesh in FY 2023 touched US$ 14.22 billion. India's total exports to Bangladesh crossed US$ 12.00 billion. India exports various products to Bangladesh such as cotton yarn, petroleum products, cereals, cotton fabrics and electricity. In FY 2023 India also imported various products from Bangladesh such as RGM Cotton, Cotton Fabrics, RMC manmade fibers, jute and spices worth almost US$ 2.02 billion. Various Indian public sector companies such as Indian Oil Corporation, unmilitary Refinery Limited, and Perronet LNG are working in collaboration with Bangladesh. Thus, both countries remain one of the top bilateral trade partners of each other.

Just like Nepal and Bhutan, Energy cooperation is a hallmark of the India- Bangladesh relationship with the former sourcing its substantial power needs from India. In 2023, at “Two-day India-Bangladesh Strategic Dialogue” in New Delhi, Bangladeshi High Commissioner to India MD Mustafizur Rahman said, “his country is importing nearly 2,000 MW of electricity from India”. According to the Business Standard in 2023 "India- Bangladesh- Nepal" has finalized a draft of the tripartite trade agreement for power sharing among nations. Since 2015, under a coastal- shipping agreement, Indian merchant vessels could use Chittagong and Mongla ports instead of using the Singapore route which cuts costs. In addition, India – Bangladesh also signed an MOU on maritime cooperation and blue economy to promote green tourism apart from extensive interactions regarding disaster mitigation. Both countries face multiple devastating seasonal and recurring cyclones in the Bay of Bengal.

In 2013, India- Bangladesh signed an extradition treaty to counter the threat of radical Islamic fundamentalism linked to AL-Qaeda and Pakistan's intelligence operations. They exchanged political prisoners also under this agreement. In 2015, Bangladesh transferred separatist group ULFA’s founder Anup Chetia to India, who was in Bangladeshi jail from 1997. India also handed over Narayanganj seven-murder accused “Nur Hossain” to Bangladesh in 2015. Shared security concerns over radicalism remains a key metric of jointness for both countries’ agencies. India has previously engaged Bangladeshi agencies in multiple security-related concerns and this engagement has also built momentum. This can be ascertained by the reduction in violent incidents between the border police of both countries. Annual defense

exercises such as SAMPRITI continues to enhance interoperability between security forces of both countries.

The impending agreement for sharing Teesta waters is an important issue plaguing relation, but historical examples of successful cooperation make it achievable. In 1996, Ganges Water Treaty was signed by India - Bangladesh to share drinking water for 30 years, which is near to expire in 2026. Various other challenges between both nations do exist and needs quick resolution, namely illegal trade carried out through porous borders, such as bootleg smuggling; Farakka Barrage and Teesta River dispute; human trafficking; radicalism; arms smuggling; etc. The issue of poor treatment of minority Hindu citizens of Bangladesh, including communal tensions have remained a major irritant in the political ties among both countries.

However, Bilateral relations between India and Bangladesh reflect strong cultural, historical and economic ties. A recent example can be the US objection to the status of democracy in Bangladesh. Despite the American objections to Dhaka’s current democratic process, Status of non-wavering ally among India and Bangladesh haven’t changed. The frequent in-person talks between PM Narendra Modi and Sheikh Hasina suggests that both countries continue to share deep insights regarding the shared future of the strong bilateral relations.