Amendment to Constitution underway to enable land exchange with Bangladesh

External Affairs Minister, Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna, on Thursday (May 17) said that the government is drafting amendment to the Constitution to facilitate the exchange of enclaves between India and Bangladesh. There are 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and 51 Bangladeshi enclaves in India.

In a letter to CPI leader Prabodh Panda, Krishna said, "The government is committed to the earliest implementation of the Protocol and Land Boundary Agreement that would result in exchange of enclaves."

The Protocol and the Agreement, signed between our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on September 6 last year require ratification by both governments.

Krishna held that the ratification necessitates an amendment of the constitution and preparatory steps to place a draft amendment bill before Parliament are underway.

His letter was in response to Senior CPI leader Prabodh Panda’s demand in Loksabha on May 3 for an answer from the government about the steps being taken to resolve Indo Bangla Enclaves issue.

Panda said that the number of Indians living in enclaves in Bangladesh was 37,100 and Bangladeshis living here was 14,200, as per the latest census carried out jointly by both countries.

Indian enclaves in Bangladesh occupy 17,149 acres of land while Bangla enclaves in India take up 7,110 acres of land, he said in the Lok Sabha during Zero Hour.

Panda expressed his concern by saying, "These large numbers of people of both countries are deprived of political rights and they do not enjoy social facilities that are necessary for development of individuals in a free society."

"BJP not to back amendment unless satisfied with merits of Land Swap Deal"

New Delhi: Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader S S Ahluwalia said that his party would not support the Constitutional Amendment Bill in connection with the Land Swap Deal between India and Bangladesh unless satisfied with the merits of the same.

“After the Winter Session of the Parliament, National Security Advisor (NSA) Shiv Shankar Menon met Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively. Sushma Swaraj asked Menon to provide a detailed presentation on the Land Swap Deal in order to convince the party that the deal was in the national interest. Our contention was to ensure that India did not become a loser as a result of the deal. However, Menon never came back to us after that," Ahluwalia told the The Yomiuri Shimbun.

“We are still waiting for the government to respond to our request to discuss the merits and demerits of the deal. We are not against the Deal per se but at the same time, we would not support it unless convinced and satisfied with its substance," he stated.

On September 9 last year, the BJP formed a group headed by S S Ahluwalia to study the contents and repercussions of the Land Swap Agreement signed between India and Bangladesh three days before on September 6.

Ahluwalia revealed to the The Yomiuri Shimbun that he found people living in these enclaves in a state of extreme misery.

"These people are not clear about their future. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government at the Centre is not making any infrastructural development in these areas because it would in any case be exchanged with Bangladeshi enclaves. There is scarcity of everything in these enclaves, needless to say that water and power supply are a major issue," the BJP leader said.

Ahluwalia, who failed to save his seat in Rajya Sabha polls in Jharkhand last week, said that the agreement pertaining to exchange of enclaves between the two countries requires alteration of territory.

"According to the Indian Constitution, any alteration of territory or boundary requires statutory amendment. The BJP is opposed to this deal as till date we are not sure of what we stand to gain out of the same. We want to ascertain the exact mass of barren and fertile land held by Indian and Bangladeshi enclaves on both sides of the border which would form the subject matter of exchange," Ahluwalia averred.

“The UPA government signed the deal with Bangladesh without taking into confidence the elected representatives of the people. Before signing the deal, they should have at least spoken to the members of the legislative assemblies of the states concerned viz., West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram as also the members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. But our government at the Centre led by Congress did not deem it proper to seek their opinion on such a crucial matter," he added.

The veteran BJP leader also deplored the failure on the part of the UPA government to prepare the draft of the Constitutional Amendment required to effect the Deal.

"We are certainly not expecting it to be prepared and tabled even in the Monsoon Session due to upcoming Presidential elections," he lamented.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (CPI) has asked the government to urgently take up the issue of exchange of enclaves with Bangladesh. The party feels that such a move would provide relief to people living in these areas.

Observing that the problem of exchange of these enclaves was persisting since Independence due to lack of political will, CPI Member Prabodh Panda told the The Yomiuri Shimbun that "these large number of people of both countries are deprived of political rights and they do not enjoy social facilities that are necessary for development of individuals in a free society."

"I strongly urge the central government to take up the issue urgently with the government of Bangladesh and provide relief to the citizens of both the countries living in these enclaves", he said.

India reacts to China, Philippines stand off, withdraws from South China Sea

New Delhi, May 10: India Thursday expressed concern over territorial stand-off between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea and asked both countries to exercise restraint and resolve the issue diplomatically as per international law.

"We have been following with concern recent developments involving China and the Philippines in the South China Sea. Maintenance of peace and security in the region is of vital interest to the international community. India urges both countries to exercise restraint and resolve the issue diplomatically according to principles of international law," Syed Akbaruddin, official spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs said.

The face-off between two countries started on April 8 when Philippine naval ship spotted eight Chinese fishing vessels at the Shoal.

A number of Chinese and Philippine fishery and coastguard ships remain stationed at the shoal, with both sides refusing to withdraw.

Both sides accuse each other of intruding into territorial waters.

The Philippines insist its claim to the Shoal is backed by international law, as the area is well within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. Taiwan, Brunei, Vietnam and Malaysia also claim parts of the sea.

But China claims almost the entire region, which is believed to contain large oil and natural gas deposits.

In past China raised objections to Indian exploration projects in Vietnamese oil blocks in South China Sea. India always upheld that its projects were commercial in nature and the territorial disputes should be resolved as per the international laws.

India has finally decided to withdraw its exploration projects in Vietnamese oil blocks claiming that that block 128 had low prospects of producing hydrocarbons; Vietnam doubted if this was due to pressure from China. Three years ago ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) returned block 127, adjacent to 128, to Vietnam with the same claim of low hydrocarbons production potential.

Vietnamese diplomats expressed disappointment taking into account that Hanoi always stood up to Beijing whenever it objected to the contract given to India for oil exploration in the Phu Khanh Basin.

Iran oil import: India not to come under pressure

New Delhi, May 9: External Affairs Minister SM Krishna Tuesday met US secretary of State Hillary Clinton in order to boost bilateral relationship and expressed satisfaction over the progress in economic relationship and hoped for it to grow faster.

The discussion covered range of issues such as security and economic development of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Asia Pacific, Indian Ocean region (IOR), China, Bangladesh, and commercial cooperation in civil nuclear energy,.

Krishna raised the issue of difficulties faced by professional, especially IT companies on mobility and protectionist sentiments in the U.S. with regard to global supply chain in services industry.

Both Krishna and Clinton urged Pakistan to make greater efforts to combat violent extremism.

Clinton underlined that Pakistan needs to ensure that its territory is not used as launching pads for terrorist attacks anywhere.

“Recent attacks in Kabul highlight once again the need for elimination of terrorist sanctuaries in the neighborhood and the need for stronger action from Pakistan on terrorism, including on bringing to justice the perpetrators of Mumbai terrorist attack,” Krishna averred.

Clinton expressed contentment in the progress in trade and investment between India and the U.S. “We have come a long way. When I first visited India in 1995, trade stood at nine billion dollars, and this year we expect to surpass 100 billion dollars,” she said.

Clinton lauded the India’s progress in reducing its purchases of oil from Iran, and expected further cut in oil imports to build pressure on Iran in order to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons but Krishna made it clear that Iran is a key country for India’s energy needs and it is an important source of oil for India and the decline in oil import is nothing but the result of decision by refineries on the basis of commercial, financial and technical considerations.

Krishna held that Iran had rights as a member of NPT, but it must also abide by its obligations as a non-nuclear weapons state under the NPT.

He reiterated that India’s position on the nuclear issue has been clear and consistent and that it pledges to implement the UN Security Council Resolutions.

Yesterday’s meeting was a preparatory step for strategic dialogue in June in Washington DC.

Future of India Bangladesh enclaves

Image from Deccanherald

     Enclaves, also known as Chhit Mahals, are outlying and detached tracks of land situated inside Cooch Behar district. There are 51 such Bangladesh enclaves located in Indian Territory covering 7110.02 acres of land with population 14215.  Similarly there are 111 Indian enclaves in Rangpur district of Bangladesh covering 17158.13 acres of land having population 37,334. People inside these enclaves are treated as foreigners. They are deprived of human rights being enjoyed by people in their respective countries They do not have access to facilities such as health, basic education, electricity, clean drinking water and decent livelihood. They live in abject poverty. The estimation of their average income is less than Rs 17 per day. They are not included in census and have no proof of their Indian citizenship.

 There is a state of lawlessness. They have no access to administration of the respective countries. If there is any crime, residents of these enclaves cannot complain in local police station nor can they move to respective country police station.

None of the enclaves in India has access to Bangladesh except for Dahagram-Angaporta Enclaves which have access to its motherland through Tinbigha corridor. Tinbigha corridor is a strip of land situated 10 km south east of Mekhliganj sub divisional town measuring about 178 metres x 85 metres in dimension. It is located between the Bangladesh enclaves of Dahagram and Angorpota on the west and Panbari Mouza of Bangladesh on the east.

Image from Coochbehar.nic.in

  Tinbigha corridor was inaugurated on June 26, 1992 as a result of agreement between Governments of two countries. 

So far three agreements have been signed between India and Bangladesh Government for exchange of enclaves, First being Indira-Mujib Agreement in 1974 and second Indira-Ershad Agreement in 1982 and the latest on September 06, 2011. None of these agreements has been implemented.

“The agreement remains on paper. Practical implementation doesn’t happen. Only reason is lack of political will”, says Diptiman Sengupta, coordinator of Bharat Bangladesh enclave exchange coordination committee (BBEECC).

“In 1947, India got independence, afterwards it acquired Cooch Behar, Portugal, Sikkim but for all these, agreements were not signed; they were just acquired and taken control of, then why in India-Bangladesh enclave case agreements are being signed. It only reflects lack of political will. Thirty eight years have passed since first agreement was signed. No implementation took place. There is no scope of implementation even now”, said Diptiman.

    The India Bangladesh land swap agreement which entails exchange of enclaves requires constitutional amendment for it requires demarcation of boundary. Two-third of support is required in both houses to pass the bill. Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and UPA ally Trinamool Congress seem to be upset with the move and do not want to support.

 To get the backing of opposition National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon approached Sushma Swaraj, opposition leader in Loksabha and Arun Jaitley, opposition leader in Rajya Sabha but his effort failed to fructify.

BJP party led committee headed by S.S. Ahluwalia visited these enclaves to check the ground reality. There is anger among residents, they are not happy with this agreement. Any agreement signed should consider national interest and people concerned, said S.S. Ahluwalia.

Well, as long as Government doesn’t get backing of opposition and its own ally to make it reach two-third of majority in parliament, it can’t pass constitutional amendment bill and consequently the agreement will remain on papers.

Hillary to hardsell FDI to Mamata

Hillary Clinton is on her tour to China, Bangladesh and China from May 3 to May 8. She is already in China for the fourth joint meeting of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED). She will spend two days here then move to Bangladesh and finally to India on the evening of 6th May.
 
     Top priority of Hillary Clinton’s visit here is meeting with Mamata Banerjee. Before she meets SM Krishna in New Delhi, she wants to meet Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on 7th May. Of course, aim of this visit is to review progress in the strategic partnership as a preparatory step for the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue to be held in Washington, D.C. on June 13, to be co-chaired by Secretary Clinton and Indian Minister of External Affairs S.M. Krishna but why is it that she is doing this important work on the second day of her visit.
 
     Very clearly, her visit aims at changing the attitude of Ms Mamata Banerjee towards Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) who has been reason for withdrawal of Government decision to bring FDI in multibrand retail which would have paved the way for opening of global retail stores like walmart, Carrefour and Tesco in major Indian cities. This decision would have opened the sector to foreign investment resulting in great economic reform but Mamata Banerjee being pro-poor believed it to be against farmers and did not allow it to happen and said more discussion was required on this issue.

    Mamata’s Trinamool Congress is the second largest party in coalition Government having 19 members in Loksabha and 9 members in Rajya Sabha which can anytime do arm twisting to get its decisions accepted by Government, latest one being resignation by Dinesh Trivedi, Railway Minister for passenger fare unacceptable to Didi ji. United Progressive Alliance (UPA) cannot afford to anger Mamata Banerjee or it would fall flat on ground. Let’s see if Hillary can please our “difficult to please” Didi.

India: Country of no systematization

India grows at a rate which developed countries can only dream about. Country which plays pivotal role in world economy has no system. People in ministries and its departments know nothing about other departments of the same ministry. They try to pass the burden on other person. To get information is like andhere mein teer chalana. You have to contact at least ten people to reach the right person and there is no surety that information would be provided even at the end. Most of the time, right person is not available. Every time you call you will be asked to call at a new time. All they want all the time is time. They don’t have time. Your deadline for story would come to an end but their time demand would not end. If you are lucky enough to speak to the right person, don’t ask too many question or he would kill you on phone. This is the level of their frustration. They project to be so busy as if they are signing some big deals all the time.

If you want to interview some senior official be it from some ministry or public sector undertaking (PSU), you will die calling but you would not get positive response. The time would come when they would even stop taking your calls. There is no courtesy or consideration. If you want information, file an RTI application and wait for 30 days. Government knows slow pace of its people, that’s why prescribed 30 days for a query to be responded. Till that time news would be stale and you would be working on some other news story. There is no resolution to this problem because our country is moving at snail pace in terms of improving system and bringing relevant bills. Years pass on but bills which concern common people remain with parliament for consideration, courtesy bad dramatic politics. If you have patience, wait, else change your line. There is  no better option.

Rahul - a winner or a loser in UP?

Uttar Pradesh is a state where votes are  based on Caste and community. BSP was in power but people were fed up of corruption by BSP leader & CM Mayawati. The other alternative UP people had was SP and so they voted in favor of SP and that’s the reason of SP's leading results. SP and BSP are the only two major parties of UP.

Rahul Gandhi took leading role in UP elections. His campaigns started in the month of November at the time when no other political party was campaigning. He held roughly 200 rallies in UP. Rahul Gandhi's main or internal aim was to have good number of seats and not the formation of Government in UP which he would never speak.  Congress party is very weak in UP and Rahul campaign was to strengthen the party position in UP which he seems to be achieving as congress is likely to get better number of seats this time. Rahul Gandhi's focus was and still is on general elections scheduled for 2014. He always thinks long term.

Rahul Gandhi never projected himself as CM in UP and so people probably took him as an outsider who only came for campaigning in UP and would go after elections. Congress is trailing because it has not been able to woo large population of UP which is divided on the basis of Caste, religion and community. Moreover Congress is not doing well at centre which everyone is seeing in UP. All MPs of Congress in UP are non-performing. In such a scenario, how can one expect congress to form Government in UP. Congress is still a winner. It’s going to pocket good number of seats this time as compared to last time in 2007.

India confused between Iran and Israel

Attack on Israel diplomat’s wife on Feb 13 in New Delhi has brought India into a dilemma over deciding whom to support - Iran or Israel. This confusion was created after Israel accused Iran of its involvement in the terror attack. Similar attacks were witnessed in Bangkok and Georgia on Israelis. The only country involved in these attacks is Iran as Israel believes. India is abstaining from giving any statement against Iran because of its long and cordial relations with Iran. Iran is oil rick and India is oil poor. India, in no condition, want it relations with Iran to be strained. Iran is the second largest oil supplier to India after Saudi Arabia. Recently Iran had threatened India of stopping oil supply on account of non payment of $5 billion for oil. At this instance, India decided to diversify its oil imports from other countries. However problem didn’t worsen as India paid all the dues. In January this year, India became the world’s largest Iranian crude oil. India imported an estimated 2.2 million metric tonnes in January as compared to roughly 1.4 million metric tonnes every month in previous year. India can’t afford to anger Iran for one of its important needs is met by Iran. On the other shore is Israel which is the second largest weapon supplier to India after Russia. Weapons are among basic needs of India. However good India tries to be with China or Pakistan, they continue to remain India’s enemies. As long as India continues to take initiatives to improve relations with these two countries, they won’t attack India. Firing is not uncommon on Indo-Pak border of Kashmir. Recently Chinese troop had entered Indian Territory and destroyed some old Army bunkers and tents in Chumar division of Nyoma sector, about 300 kilometres from Leh which China clearly denied. China has been continuously making efforts to surround India as part of its strategy – String of pearls. In such a situation a country can’t survive without sufficient weapons to counter such attacks. India believes in defensive strategy rather than offensive which is actually the strategy followed by Pakistan and China. Relationship of India with Israel is as important as with Iran. If India stands with Israel at this point, it’s ok but if India stands with Iran, it’s not ok with Israel. India is working hard to balance its relationship with both countries. India did join diplomatic initiative by the US and Israel in UN security council to issue statement condemning terror attack on Israeli diplomat but at the same time ensured no statement would be issued against Iran by saying investigation is still in progress.

Nasheed’s resignation - Result of coup

Mohamed Nasheed, President of Maldives says he is victim of coup which Mohamed Waheed Hassan and military deny. Nasheed said he was forced to resign with guns all around him and he was told that if he didn’t resign, military would not hesitate to use arms so, in order to avoid violence he had to step down. “I was forced to resign with guns all around me. They told me if I don’t resign, they wont hesitate to use arms”, said Nasheed.

He also said that Mohamed Waheed Hassan was involved in coup attempt as he wanted to take over the presidency and demanded immediate resignation from him.

The military denied it forced Nasheed to resign. There was no one in military who could point gun towards Nasheed, said Brigadier General Ibrahim Didi.

Though Nasheed stepped down, but he has not accepted his defeat. He said, "We will come to power again. We will never step back. I will not accept this coup and will bring justice to the Maldivian."

Arrest warrant has been issued for Nasheed on account of his claim of being ousted by a coup and violence spread in Male as thousands of his supporter swept into the streets of Male and clashed with security forces. His house is surrounded by his supporters. His family has already left Maldives for Sri Lanka.

Countries are closely watching the development in Maldives.  A UN special envoy Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco is arriving Male on Friday for talks with the new administration in the Maldives. A top Indian Foreign Office official is also flying to Male on Friday as the situation in Maldives is volatile and has not stabilized. US envoy Blake has planned his visit on Saturday.

Nasheed resigned on 7th Feb amid weeks of opposition led protests in Maldives and handed over presidency to Waheed Hassan. This was the news that first came in. His resignation followed police getting hold of State TV broadcasting facilities and broadcasting opposition calls for President Mohamed Nasheed to resign.

Crisis peaked when hundreds of policemen demonstrated in capital Male on the official order of withdrawal of protection to government and opposition supporters protesting close to each other. Protection withdrawal resulted in clash between two parties injuring three, forcing troops to fire rubber bullets at police. This was followed by clash between police and military. On Tuesday, 18 police and army men took control of military headquarters and demanded Nasheed’s resignation.

Protests began in January after Nasheed ordered military to arrest top criminal court judge who is considered to be Ex President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s loyal on charge of corruption and political biasness involving his order to release Government critic under Gayoom’s influence. Judge was detained by military despite Supreme Court and prosecutor order of his release. Then Vice president Hassan criticized the arrest of Judge and ordered the release of detained critic. “When it comes to the judiciary, its head is the chief justice and the rulings of the chief justice should be obeyed by all parties,” Hassan said. But he also acknowledged that he and Nasheed could still work together.

Gayoom ruled Maldives for 30 years under one party system until 2008 when Nasheed won multi party elections. Nahseed was arrested 27 times under Gayoom reign and was jailed for almost six years in all on being a political activist. Mr Nasheed is best known globally as an environmental campaigner passionate about human rights to a stable climate. He hit the global headlines three years ago when he held a cabinet meeting under water to highlight global warming and the threat to his nation.