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A journey of the dynamism in the Indo-Bangla ties under Harsh Shringla

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India’s outgoing High Commissioner to Bangladesh Harsh Shringla who will now leave as India’s Envoy to the US leaves behind a rich legacy of deepening the ties with India’s Eastern neighbour and transforming the relationship.

Here is a quick Journey of the dynamism in the Indo-Bangla ties under Shringla:

Shringla arrived in Bangladesh in January 2016. In these years has been on all round development of bilateral ties, and remarkable progress has been made in the areas of development partnership, connectivity, trade and investment, defense cooperation and people-to-people contacts between the two countries. His tenure also saw beginning of cooperation in uncharted territory of high technology including nuclear, space and electronics and IT.

Shringla has also worked on reducing the India factor in Bangladesh’s politics, particularly during elections. The absence of strong anti-India sentiments can be attributed to support in the public domain in Bangladesh for stronger ties with India.

Most significant achievement in his tenure has been the great boost given to people-to-people contact. This has been made possible by a number of initiatives launched by him to make cross-border movement of people easier and faster. In the last three years, some of the notable measures taken in this regard include liberalizing the visa regime to issue five years multiple entry visas to Bangladesh freedom fighters (Muktijoddhas) and senior citizens; multiple entry tourist and business visas of maximum permissible duration; organization of special visa camps on the occasion of Eid (May-June 2016) and for students (October 2016) and Armed Forces personnel (February 2017); move towards a completely appointment-less system under which applicants can deposit applications on a walk-in basis (securing online appointments for submitting Indian visa applications was a major issue for many Bangladesh nationals); special counters for senior citizens and freedom fighters; special consideration for women applicants; cashless transactions to reduce turnaround time; assistance through various channels including social media and hotline service; etc. To further streamline and facilitate the visa application process, the largest Indian Visa Application Center in the world was inaugurated during the visit of the Hon’ble Home Minister of India to Bangladesh in July 2018.

Some of the main achievements in the bilateral relationship in the last 3 years are as follows:

High-level interactions:

• Visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bangladesh in June 2015 followed by visits of the Indian Ministers of Defence (first ever visit of an Indian Defence Minister to Bangladesh); Finance; External Affairs; Home; Petroleum; Commerce and Civil Aviation; etc.
• 10 meetings between Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina; 6 video conferences; and 5 telephone calls
• 19 development projects inaugurated jointly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

• Settlement of India-Bangladesh land and maritime boundaries, pending since 1947
• Signing of over 90 bilateral agreements in new areas such as space, IT, electronics, cyber security, civil nuclear energy, shipping, etc.

Development assistance:

• India’s development assistance to Bangladesh expanded from US$ 3 billion in 2015 to US$ 8 billion
• Projects fully funded by the Government of India worth Taka 1500 crores under implementation

Trade & Investment:

• Trade between the two countries increased by 31.5 % from US$ 7 billion to US $ 9.3 billion

• Bangladesh’s exports to India growing at a rapid pace (106.4% in 2017-18)
• Indian exports to Bangladesh grew by 26.3% in 2017-18
• Indian investments in the pipeline in Bangladesh increased from US$ 3 billion to US$ 10 billion
• Bangladesh has emerged as India’s largest trade partner in South Asia

Connectivity:

• Four of the pre-1965 rail links between India and Bangladesh made operational; remaining two by 2019
• 3 new railway links between India and Bangladesh under implementation / consideration
• Launching of end-to-end customs and immigration services for Kolkata – Dhaka Maitri Express

• Launching of train – Kolkata-Khulna; new bus services between Kolkata – Khulna; Dhaka – Shillong / Guwahati
• Commencement of coastal shipping services between Kolkata and Pangaon and other ports of Bangladesh
• 24×7 movement of cargo services at Petrapole-Benapole

Energy cooperation:

• Construction of India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline for diesel supply from India (Siliguri) to Bangladesh (Parbatipur)
• Supply of almost 1200 MW of electricity from India to Bangladesh (around 10% of power generation in Bangladesh)
• Construction of 1320 MW Rampal power plant

• Feasibility study to integrate LNG grids of India and Bangladesh

Training and capacity building:

• 4,000 Bangladesh civil service officers trained in India
• Training of 1,500 judicial services officers underway
• 6 batches of 100-member youth delegation
• 9,000 student visas to Bangladesh students

Muktijoddhas:

• 100 Muktijoddha patients per year being treated in Indian Armed Forces hospitals from free of cost from 2018
• Five year multiple entry visas to around 2000 Muktijoddhas from 2017 to date
• More than Taka 10 crore disbursed under Muktijoddha scholarship and about 3,500 students benefited from this scheme since 2015. (Over Taka 23 crore disbursed and more than 13,000 students benefited from the scheme since its inception in 2006)
• ‘Nutan Bharat- Bangladesh Maitree Muktijoddha Santan Scholarship’ scheme announced in 2017
• More than 21,000 Bangladeshi students stand to benefit from the disbursal of Taka 52 crore through these schemes by FY 2021-22

Cultural Cooperation:

• Establishment of ICCR Chairs for Hindi and Urdu languages at Dhaka University

• More than 300 cultural events and seminars by Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre (IGCC)
• More than 6000 Bangladeshi students were enrolled in various courses of IGCC

Civil Nuclear Cooperation:

• Tripartite cooperation among India, Bangladesh and Russia for the Rooppur nuclear plant in Bangladesh

Visa services:

• Problems faced by Bangladesh nationals in accessing Indian visa fully resolved
• Three fold increase in visas issued from 5 lakhs in 2015 to 14.5 lakhs in 2018
• In September 2018, a record number of 134,960 visas for Bangladesh nationals issued
• Largest (18,500 square feet) visa application centre in the world opened by Home Ministers of India and Bangladesh at Jamuna Future Park in July 2018
• Restrictions against Bangladesh nationals visiting Sikkim, Laddakh, Arunachal and other protected areas removed.

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