Rapporteurs Summary Report
By Abhilasha Rai
The Seminar was conducted in five Technical Session followed by Q&A after every Presentation. These are:
Session 1: Security and Counter Terrorism Cooperation, Chair: Brigadier N S. Mukherjee, Lead Speaker: Mr. Shafqat Munir
Session 2: Border Management, Chair: Lt General J R. Mukherjee, Lead Speaker: Major General Arun Roye
Session 3: Water Sharing and Environmental Cooperation, Chair: Prof B. Pramanik, Lead Speaker: Major General Muniruzzaman
Session 4: Trade and Economic Cooperation, Chair: Mr. Anindyo Jyoti Majumdar, Lead Speaker: Dr. Suman K Mukerji
Session 5: Connectivity, Chair: Dr. (PhD) J K. Ray, Lead Speaker: ACM Arup Raha
The Seminar began with an introductory session where each panelist introduced themselves and briefed about their respective designations.
Opening Session
Delivering inaugural address, Major General Arun Roye welcomed Major General Muniruzzaman (President and Chief Executive Officer of Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies BIPSS) and Mr. Shafqat Munir (Head of Bangladesh Centre for Terrorism Research BCTR and Research Fellow at BIPSS)
Session 1
Speaker: Mr. Shafqat Munir
Terrorism has been a significant security challenge for Bangladesh for quite some time but now due to the adroit effort of the Bangladeshi security forces, the threat has been brought down to a far more manageable manner. One of the reasons how Bangladesh managed to bring the threat under control is by initiating number of strategic measures. There has also been a lot of
effort in increasing international cooperation. A large portion of international cooperation at a bilateral level has been with India.
The speaker is strong advocate of Indo Bangladesh counter terrorism cooperation. He sees threat as a threat which affects both the countries.
The speaker stated that they are working with the Indian authorities to see why and how does infiltration of the extremist from the north to south is operating.
There are also non violent extremist group who have not taken part in violence but it has a definite agenda in spreading radicalization and radical thought.
The big challenge that they are currently trying to curb is cyber radicalization.
Cyber radicalization is rapidly moving into the virtual world where they have a complete freedom to espouse their ideas.
Remarks by Chair N S. Mukherjee : Before the Q&A he asked not to club everything under “Terrorist Word” and therefore, he read out the definition of Terrorism which the Indian Government goes by. He stated that the Indian government working definition is par with what United Nations says, but there is no consensus across the world regarding this definition. He read out ‘’Terrorism is an anxiety inspiring method of repeated violent action, employed by semi-clandestine individual, group or state actors, for idiosyncratic, criminal, or political reasons, whereby the direct target of violence are not the main targets. The immediate human victims of violence are generally chosen randomly from a target population, and serve as a message generators. Threat and violence based communication processes terrorist organization, victims and main targets are used to manipulate the main target, turning it into a target of terror, a target of demand, or a target of attention, depending on whether intimidation, coercion or propaganda is primarily sought”.
Session 2
Speaker: Major General Arun Roye
“Border Management has undergone a sea change from what we knew as a young officer in the Army as Border Management”. Basically today, border management is the realm of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The speaker questioned about the future of border management. He stated that the future of border management is all the items of governance, coming together in a particular place to create a Data Bank. There is a need for the data bank which a particular country must share with its neighbouring countries.
We are moving towards Open Borders where a lot of cross border movement takes place, this will increase the problem of border management.
A country should maintain a data bank and surveillance. The speaker stated that there are various small treaties which India and Myanmar shares. If the data is made on the people who crosses 40 km to Myanmar, these kind of surveillance can manage or curb smuggling and trafficking.
Border management is going under a sea change, it will further undergo a sea change as the technology improves, man power will decrease on the border post, patrolling will decrease because various technologies like drones, cameras, infrared will keep a track on people’s movement.
Q&A
Major General Muniruzzaman raised question on the killings in Indo Bangladesh borders. He questioned “Why are there continuous border killing in Indo Bangladesh borders inspite of the assurance from the highest level of the political leadership in your country, assured by Prime Minister several times yet it goes unabated. How can you justify this?
Answer: Firstly there is no justification for such killings however, both the governments should come to an understanding on this issue. If there is a crossing, there must be a reason to this and that kind of purpose should be stated on papers.
Remarks by Chair Lt General J R. Mukherjee: After 1971 we were friendly nations, but friendly nation don’t put up fences. But unfortunately we do have certain elements in our country and we feel strongly on these issues. We have to get something like European Union system or something similar to EU, where we can deal with our fences, cooperate and trust each other.
Session 3
Speaker Major General Muniruzzaman
The speaker pointed out key elements about issues on River and Environment. The relation between India and Bangladesh on this issue is symbiotic. They are linked together and there is no way they can be separated.
Bangladesh shares 54 transboundary rivers with India, and so far Bangladesh has only got one single deal on one single river. On remaining 53 rivers there is no agreement on water sharing and water management. Therefore, Bangladesh often gets raw deal as a lower riparian country.
The Indo Bangladesh Joint River Commission which is functioning since 1972, was established with a purpose to maintain reassured on some of these issues, but off late it is not functioning well.
Bangladesh is also grossly concerned about some of the upper riparian activities like building a dam, which will have severe adverse impact downstream especially on the floor of Surma Kushiyara river, in the Sylhet area and also the impact on the Haor region of Sylhet district.
The Joint River Commission of Bangladesh and India has identified 10 rivers, shared by two countries that they wish to manage together. But this has been lying confined to papers.
The Ganges Treaty is coming up for renegotiations and the speaker opines that it can be highly problematic. He stated that we are in the same basin and the way we should manage rivers and waters, we should go for basic approach. This is the only large river basin that does not have basic mechanism approach on sharing water.
As a lower most riparian country Bangladesh, has also been getting water siltage in their rivers because some of the water management problems are not being addressed.
There is also problem on sharing the data on rivers. The speaker stated that the hydrographic data of India is kept top most secret of the state. Water sharing has to be based on proper statistics and data should be shared between the two countries. There is also a need for some sort of wording mechanism for water flows because Bangladesh is prone to flooding.
Bangladesh has been asking for Teesta River Water Treaty for a long time but till now nothing fruitful has happened.
The speaker spoke about the conservation of Sunderban forest which both the countries share. The Joint Power Plant which is the Rampal Power Plant will completely devastate the forests. There will be severe environmental consequences. As the water level rises millions of people will lose their land and will get displaced. Climate change will result in human displacement, environmental refugees, spillover migration which is trans-boundary in nature. Therefore, these issues should be managed not only on regional basis but also in international basis.
Q&A
Prof J K. Ray stated that there many rivers which does not continuously have water throughout the year. Regarding Teesta water controversy, it is the matter of how much water is there to share.
Chair Prof B. Pramanik highlighted the areas of arsenic contaminated water problems.
Session 4
Speaker Dr. Suman K. Mukerji
Bangladesh jute needs plants, which after the partition was left on the Indian side.
A coaliation should be formed particularly in areas like Tea. Darjeeling tea is globally wanted but it is languishing because of loss whereas the same tea, which is produced in Bangladesh, is giving huge profits to the tea industry of Bangladesh.
The North East India which produces the best quality of fruits, but the processing has not been developed.
Huge collaboration is needed between the two countries, not just on political fronts but there is also a need for different types of industries to latent two things together.
We need to put out initiative acts together, because we are looking at small businesses and this is where the difference between the North and South divide is. Our debate is not what we can get from one another, but how the North has been exploiting the South. Since we are on primary production, the terms of trade has always been against the Southern nations because although we use price as a denominator is not the same anomaly. Here the prices are based on the differences of demand and supply which is nature deviant.
A new architecture is needed so that people can continue to socialize. Joint research, ventures and cooperation is needed.
1) Education especially in Management education wrt Entrepreneurship and startup. 2) Health care and pharmaceutical sector collaboration
3) sustainable development through waste management and creating products with waste as a resource 4) subcontracting through supply chain links enabling global ancillary growth. These need to be recorded too.
Remarks by Chair Mr. Anindyo Jyoti Majumder: The North Eastern parts of India and Bangladesh is inextricable linked, the connection is so powerful it has actually led to the construct of geo political narratives. These geo-political narratives have been used experimentally for different purposes and for different reasons. The geopolitical narratives have some rivalry which has actually hampered the opportunities offered by geo-political economy. Today, we are facing challenges of common concern and therefore, there is a need to realize that kind of challenges that we face.
Session 5
Speaker Mr. ACM Arup Raha
Connectivity has a huge canvas, not only connectivity in terms of road, railways, air, waterways etc. but also connectivity in terms of literature, social norms and so many other aspects of civilization.
Any civilization that has flourished had connectivity with the others in the neighborhood or the distant places.
Connectivity improved when we had the means to connect with the others through roads, railways and waterways which also led to exchange of ideas, information and philosophies.
Between India and Bangladesh, all lines have been restored but the volume of traffic is not good enough due to strict visa regimes. We need to improve the connectivity between the two nations through trade and increase the capacity of roads and railways by building proper infrastructure.
Q&A
Maj Gen Muniruzzaman raised a question, Bangladesh has all sorts of connectivity to India through land, airways and waterways. Prime Minister of Bangladesh has made one request to India which is to provide connectivity to their neighboring countries Bhutan and Nepal to cross small Indian territories to reach their ports, but why has this request been denied?
Chair Professor JK Ray stated that we are in favour of this kind of connectivity but it is the bureaucracy who needs to work it out. There should be some kind of arrangement which should favour both the countries.
Lt. Gen JR Mukherjee opined that Indo-Bhutan relation has always been good therefore, here the connectivity has already been approved but now it is a matter of execution. As far is Nepal is concerned, Nepal has leaned a little too much towards China and unless Nepal decides to change their diplomatic posture and interest noting can be done. The issue is, if we really need to change the connectivity as stated by the lead speaker, we desperately need a Through passages straight from Kolkata via Dhaka and to the North East.
Comment by Mr Anindyo Jyoti Majumder: The thing that has become prominent in the contemporary period is Para diplomacy. The states surrounding Bangladesh can exercise what is known as Para diplomacy. There should be some kind of initiative to understand local problems.
Comment by Mr. Shafqat Munir: The helicopter service would be more convenient. If the visa regimes can be relaxed a bit more, many middle class Bangladeshi tourist and youths can afford to travel to India. The ticket prices are also very high and this should also be looked into.
Lead Speaker ACM Arup Raha: How to improve medical facilities? He stated that we can have big player setup medical facilities next to border, we should have a kind of open border and let the Bangladeshi patients come to the hospital for medical treatment.
Mr. Subir Bhowmick stated that even though big hospitals are setup, there is a lack of doctors who would travel to the bordering towns for their career.
Remarks by the Chair Dr J K Ray: There are things about connectivity in a broader way that India can learn from Bangladesh. For example, Bangladesh has made great advancement in Women education. On rooftops solar power system Bangladesh has set an example and now probably 12-15 million people in rural areas are getting the benefits. Therefore, there are things to learn from each other as a part of connectivity.
Miscellaneous Issues for Open Discussion
- What issues did Bangladesh tackle for maintaining the Surge in GDP of Bangladesh?
These were the important points which were highlighted –
Emergence of the private sector which unleashed the latent potential of the private sector and entrepreneurship.
Empowerment of women
Role played by the NGOs like BRAC, Gramin Bank played a major role in micro crediting system.
Inducting women in agricultural sector as productive manpower.
Micro economic policies has given good dividends, they are extremely sound.
In terms of industrial growth, very robust growth in readymade garment sector. Bangladesh is the second largest exporter of the readymade garments only next to China. In the next five years time, the target for the government is to raise 60 billion worth of readymade garments.
Chinese and Japanese government operating in Bangladesh.
IT Sector doing fairly well in terms of services and sector growth. The export on IT Sector of Bangladesh is 2 billion dollars, the government wants to raise it to 10 billion dollars in the next five years.
Significant investment in the health sector especially at the grassroots level. Belief in healthy worker produces better results.
Food self sufficient country which is commendable with the limited land and high density population of Bangladesh.
Embarked on various South East Asian economic model of export which paid dividends.
Their policies of investments are also friendly, encourages all types of private sector investment by external investments.
A robust performance in SDG achievements which is much ahead than the other countries and has also been recognized by the UN.
Child education, women education at the primary level, concept of healthcare are one of the best examples in South Asia hence, if Bangladesh keeps doing it right, they have a very bright economic future.
The GDP growth of Bangladesh will be the highest in the world which is 8%. They had 6.8% growth percentage in the last six years. The remittances are 1.5 – 2.2 billion dollars a month, they get around 24 billion dollars of remittance every year.
The only concern which the speaker Major General Muniruzzaman states is that the Bangladesh has to manage its politics well.
- How is Bangladesh contemplating to tackle Salinity. West Bengal has much to learn from them?
There is a serious problem of saline infiltration both in the street water and the productive agricultural land, which is perhaps the biggest problem that Bangladesh is facing today. To cope with it, saline resistant versions of crops are produced.
They have also been able to educate coastal belt residents so that they can take benefits of the technologies that can be utilized in sort of minimizing the impact of salinity into the cropland and sweet water.
The Community approach to the management and adaptation in terms of the climate change and its impacts. Some of the adaptation strategies that Bangladesh has developed are the best in the world.
Application of Potassium in saline soil helps to retain plant growth and yields.
They have raised the levels of houses so that they can produce and have agricultural activity even when the general land is getting into saline intrusion.
Experiment with cow dung which helps to conserve soil moisture for the longer period of time which has led to the reduction of soil salinity.
Experiment with flooding pumps which has given positive results particularly in terms of vegetable cultivation.
Discussions with international development partner countries like the Netherlands for the Delta plans particularly to reduce the impacts of salinity.
Basically ,these are the problems which cannot be solved these are the problems with which we have to live therefore, emphasis should be put on adaptation, strategies, technologies and learning the best practices from other countries and empowering the grassroots level.
- The history of Rural Development is a success story. Can India learn something?
India have to learn a lot from Bangladesh in terms of rural development, but one should also realize that Bangladesh has a greater advantage than India. The size of Bangladesh is smaller in comparison to India which makes it easy for governance. India being such a large and diverse nation, there is a lack of consensus on strategies and plannings.
Prof J K Ray stated that we have not only learned from the history of rural development but many of us have adopted the Gramin Bank plan. We might not have a greater degree of success, but we are carrying on for the last twenty years.
Learning is a two way process. Both the countries should learn from each othe