TESTING TIMES

India, Bangladesh ties
“India and Bangladesh do share
a special bond which has been emphasised
by the Prime Ministers of
both countries. It is practically not
possible for India to flourish and
develop if Bangladesh or for that
matter other neighbouring countries
are lagging behind. There has to be
a holistic development of the region
and all countries must be able to
reap benefits,” Shakti Sinha, former
bureaucrat and director at Atal Bihari
Vajpayee Institute of Policy Research
and International said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
who visited Dhaka in March to participate
in the celebrations commemorating
50 years of independence of
the South Asian nation described
Bangladesh as a “sohojatri” or a cotraveller
in the development of the
region.
India and Bangladesh share a
4,096-km long border-- the fifthlongest
land border in the world.
46 July 2021
Several states including West Bengal,
Assam Meghalaya, Tripura and
Mizoram have international borders
with Bangladesh.
Opinion Express
Hasina’s focus on the right
things
Hasina, undoubtedly, has focused
on the right things - taming
terror and extremist outfits on one
hand and on the other focusing on
economic growth.
“Propelled by a robust manufacturing
sector and an enormous
boom in infrastructure, Bangladesh
has set a target of becoming a developed
nation by 2041 to coincide with
the platinum jubilee of its independence.
Many commentators have
called the goal ambitious, but even
the government’s staunchest critics
would think twice before questioning
its plausibility. There has been a sea
change in attitude from 2006 when
our surpassing of Pakistan’s growth
rate was dismissed as a fluke,” Salman
Fazlur Rahman, Private industry
and investment adviser, Prime
Minister of Bangladesh’s office in
an article published in 2019 by the
India Economic Summit and later
World Economic Forum said.
Pakistan based Dawn noted that
Bangladesh invested in human development
and economic growth.
“Goal posts are set at increasing
exports, reducing unemployment,
improving health, reducing dependence
upon loans and aid, and further
extending micro credit,” it said
while for Pakistan, human development
comes a distant second.
“The bulk of national energies
remain focused upon check-mating
India. Relations with Afghanistan
and Iran are therefore troubled;
Pakistan accuses both of being excessively
close to India. But the most
expensive consequence of the security
state mindset was the nurturing
of extra state actors in the 1990s,”
the Dawn article said.