Rise of Bangladesh: Implications for India’s North-East | Panel Discussion | #DiplomacyDialogue | IMPRI #WebPolicyTalk #IMPRI Center for International Relations and Strategic Studies (CIRSS), IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, invites you to an IMPRI #WebPolicyTalk event, as a part of…
It was a dream of former Prime Minister (PM) Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who first envisaged opening an alternate sea route through Myanmar for the northeastern part of India in 2003. Bangladesh at that time was very non-committal on transit to India. The Ministry of external affairs (MEA) appointed the public sector consultancy company RITES to do a study in 2003. The operationalisation of Sittwe Port's new terminal was the beginning of the journey.
The crises in Sri Lanka and Pakistan are raising questions about the relevance and the costs of their reliance on the alternative financial system provided by China’s Belt and Road Initiative
On March 6, China became the last major bilateral creditor to provide financing and restructuring assurances to Sri Lanka. Following this, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to make a final decision on Colombo’s $2.9 billion bailout package. Sri Lanka’s consistent back-and-forth negotiations with the IMF and China indicate a broader development in South Asia. In 2022, two other South Asian nations and participants of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — Pakistan and Bangladesh — had sought financial assistance from the IMF. These developments in the subcontinent indicate that developing countries are furthering their economic interests and stability by approaching the IMF and the West, even as they try not to antagonise China.
INDIA’S per capita income, representing the average income of an Indian citizen, has risen from INR 79,000 in 2013–14 to INR 1,71,000 in 2022–23 — an increase of 116 percent. Therefore, some claim that incomes have more than doubled in India since the present ruling dispensation took office. The catch is that: a) this includes the price increase during the period and hence does not represent the real increase in incomes, and b) the data for 2022–23 and two earlier years is provisional and subject to revision.
By directing the Election Commission to be appointed by a non-partisan panel, the Supreme Court strengthens democracy. But more needs to be done for institutional independence. EC, as well as all other regulatory bodies made autonomous of the executive, should be made answerable to designated committees of Parliament. This is essential to ensure the democratic accountability of all institutions to the ultimate sovereign, the people.
For cities to develop it is essential that decision-making power is given to the local administration — holistic and sustainable city-specific development cannot happen in a top-down approach where the Centre or state decides.
A prerequisite for development is uniformity in the governance structures from top to bottom. This is what Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while inaugurating a metro project in Mumbai on January 19. He called upon the people of Mumbai to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the municipal corporation elections, which are long overdue. He exhorted that the ‘triple engine’ governance model — the Centre, the state, and the Mumbai corporation — should be run directly or in partnership with the BJP for the development in the metro city.
The Chinese approach gels rather well with the Arab World’s ‘Act East Policy’.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major challenge for China, with unprecedented lockdowns and occasional horror stories of the origins and spread of COVID-19 and how it has been dealt with, leading to nationwide protests which have been partially successful in achieving the winding down of excessive COVID-19 restrictions. President Xi Jinping, emboldened after being crowned the third time by the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC), did have the taste of people’s ire and his limitations as the Chinese economy was also being hurt and a downward trend was being noticed.