Strengthening friendship and sharing values
In the first meeting of Bangladesh’s Sheikh Hasina and India’s Narendra Modi in their renewed tenures as Prime Ministers, and in the numerous other preceding meetings at Presidential and Prime Ministerial levels among others, India and Bangladesh have manifested desirably developing levels of partnership which are said to be “all-encompassing” and which go “far beyond strategic partnership”. In what is expected to be a fresh impetus in the growing bilateral relations, Bangladesh’s longest-serving PM’S presence for India Economic Summit in New Delhi only reinforces the steady friendship between the South Asian neighbours. Sharing the longest border, PM Modi has emphasised that relation between India and Bangladesh has arrived at a “golden chapter” and is emerging as a role model for “Neighbourhood Diplomacy” for other countries to emulate. The beginning of bilateral cooperation between the two neighbours was marked in the battlefields of 1971, the War of Liberation of Bangladesh for which India played the most crucial and decisive role. At present, the association between these two countries has evolved to include a wide range of matters including security with a special focus on efforts to curb terrorism, energy cooperation, bilateral and sub-regional connectivity, issues pertaining to sharing water, matters concerning trade and investment, line of credit, defence engagements with a view to deepen military ties, and, most crucial—people-to-people contact. The often steady, friendly relations are only occasionally disturbed with border disputes. Following the historic land boundary agreement signed on June 6, 2015, a new era in the relations was ushered and stopped all irritants in ties. At present, India and Bangladesh share a common space as members of SAARC, BIMSTEC, IORA, as well as the Commonwealth. The neighbouring nations are also brought closer by cultural ties, particularly with respect to the Bengali language common with its erstwhile Western part, West Bengal. India intervened in the December of 1971 on behalf of East Pakistan when the Bangladesh Liberation War broke out and helped secure East Pakistan’s independence from Pakistan as the country which is now making its mark globally as Bangladesh. Talking of peopleto people contact, a 2014 survey reveals that 70 per cent Bangladeshis have a favourable opinion and perception of India. Since the previous Prime Ministerial visits by Narendra Modi and Sheikh Hasina, notable developments have taken places that pertain to resolution of long-pending land and maritime boundaries asserting the issue of enclaves, conclusion of over ninety instruments comprising in the hi-tech areas, that is, electronics, cyber-security, space, information technology, and civil nuclear energy and observed increase in bilateral trade from US$9 billion to US$10.46 billion in the Fiscal Year (FY) 201819, followed by US$7 billion to US$9 billion in FY 2017-18, marking an increase of 28.5 per cent.
Bangladesh’s remarkable economic growth is definitely one to be acknowledged for a number of reasons. Given that the structure of Bangladesh’s economy is distinct from India’s where the services sector contributes most significantly and industry’s contribution is far lower than desired, Bangladesh thrives on a booming industrial sector. This very reason contributes to Bangladesh’s phenomenal economic growth. The Asian Development Bank’s latest economic outlook update holds Bangladesh in the stand out economy with respect to growth momentum in South Asia. Bangladesh experiences high and consistently rising economic growth rate while maintaining a stable level of inflation. Bangladesh’s growth momentum is such that since 2016, it has been growing at over 7 per cent and this financial year will see it cross the 8 per cent threshold as well—a mark it is expected to hit again next financial year, as per the estimates of Asian Development Bank. The other big economies of the South Asian region are marked by either modest or fluctuating growth rates, as in the cases of Sri Lanka and Pakistan. With Bangladesh’s booming industrial sector, its economy is adept in creating jobs. In stark contrast to that in India, a very significant chunk of the population remains engaged in the agriculture sector which, as a matter of fact, contributes the least to the GDP. The industrial sector has the maximum potential to absorb surplus labour from agriculture, but it is struggled to grow fast enough and create employment in India. To the credit of Bangladesh’s domestic industry, notwithstanding the trade war between the US and China intensifying in the recent past, Bangladesh’s exports have grown from 6.7 per cent in 2018 to 10.1 per cent in 2019. In particular, the growth in garment exports rose from 8.8 per cent to 11.5 per cent reflects a strong demand from the US and newer markets like Australia, Canada, India, Japan, China, and the Republic of Korea for Bangladesh. This remarkable performance in exports stands out especially because garments account for 84.2 per cent of Bangladesh’s exports. India has a dim performance in comparison whereby exports have grown by just about 1.5 per cent per annum on an average since the financial year 2012-2013. Given India’s otherwise sluggish economic health, teaming up with such an economic power as Bangladesh—which is also a steady friend of decades—is in the better interest of India in ways beyond economic. With cordial relations scaling greater heights and newer aspects of partnership developing, exchanges between the two nations will facilitate not only strengthening of ties but also open up avenues for greater scope of progress in the respective nations. An example is education: the exchange of students for the purpose of education begins with mutually developed bilateral agreements but eventually, it is the respective countries which stand to gain from the enriched learning their students acquire. This is definitely a possibility with the prevalence of peaceful situations and cordial relations.
Knowing that a thriving economy is but a result of efforts made with a view to making the society at large better and progressive, there is something that India must learn from its neighbour, especially in the immediate context of PM Modi’s declaration of an open defecation free rural India: sanitation. Bangladesh leads by example in making toilet use a community-driven engagement. Notwithstanding the unprecedented nation-wide toilet-building exercise in India since October 2, 2014, Bangladesh has already achieved this milestone and made it possible for 99 per cent of its population to have access to toilet facilities by 2016 by means of a concerted campaign from 2003 when nearly 43 per cent of its population defecated in the open. This initiative of Bangladesh chose to progressively expand funding over the years and it continued under multiple governments and involved a range of players and even empowered sanitation entrepreneurs. These crosscutting initiatives described as Community Led Total Sanitation are about the effort to not just to provide toilets, but also to ensure their usage and value for local communities. A very significant aspect of this consistent effort of years together is that this initiative has resulted in the empowerment of women as the agents of change. In most South Asian cultures, the matters pertaining to water (viz. cooking and cleaning) are traditionally consigned to women and yet they are among the most vulnerable when it comes to using toilet. Roping in women specifically in this initiative, encouraging their participation and leadership proved to be critical in sustaining the success with regard to both sanitation as well as bringing about social equality to a considerable degree. India and Bangladesh are close neighbours and closer friends which harbour common values of equality among citizens, economic development, and sustainability.