Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan & Myanmar- The road to North East?

Under PM Modi India has started a slew of initiatives meant to bolster India’s ties with its neighbors.  However the dialog with Bangladesh has opened up a Pandora ’s Box. BJP has raised the issue of illegal immigrants time and again and also have raised the issue as how the illegal immigrant population from Bangladesh is being used to alter the demographics of north eastern states and have been used dangerously by other political parties to create a favorable vote bank out of these immigrants. It is this issue of illegal immigrant which has not gone down well with many a well-wishers of BJP as this new approach of reconciliation and talks have not spelt out what will be the status of these illegal immigrants. It is therefore important to discuss and debate what all options New Delhi has when dealing with Dhaka and what all benefits does it get out of resolving all by standing issues with Bangladesh.

Good relations with neighbors have a dominos effect where in relation with one country can be used to show the benefit of being in good terms with India to other neighbors. It is in this context that the relationship with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar and Srilanka becomes extremely significant where peace with them can sometime be used to convince other hostile neighbors like Pakistan to have a more practical relation with India. However relationship with Pakistan is not the only benefit that India gain out of this good relationship with other countries.

North East as India’s Electronic Manufacturing hub?

PM Modi in his election rallies talked about 9 percent growth rates however even after removing the current policy deadlock and bringing in more reforms clocking 9 percent of growth could be a tough task at hand. Modi will have to search new avenues of growth, he will have to lookout for new regions which can contribute to overall higher growth rates. It is here where India’s North East becomes extremely critical. Just like Nepal is a landlocked country, India’s northeast are landlocked states. The north east of India is connected with the rest of the country by the vulnerable siliguri corridor also called as Chicken’s Neck - a very narrow strip of land linking mainland India to its north-eastern states. The Siliguri Corridor is at one point less than 14 miles and has therefore limitation using it to connect to the rest of North east. One of the far most and the biggest benefits that India can achieve by having a good relationship with Bangladesh , Nepal ,Bhutan and Myanmar is India will have the opportunity to unleash the potential of India’s north eastern states.

Modi did gave an insight into this when he talked about his vision to develop Kolkata as an important port city and claiming the status of regional growth engine. However he understands that developing Kolkata will not be enough as well as possible without a good having a good relationship with Bangladesh. India will have to look at developing at least couple of megacities in North east. With plenty of fresh water and good availability of cheap hydro power can North East be developed as the electronic manufacture hub for India as well as for India’s neighbors? Can Bangladesh here provide the critical land route to connect north east to rest of India as well as provide alternate sea routes to export the goods to other parts of the world?

Pakistan-Terrorism & China

While India’s borders on the western front are marred with terrorism and unstable regimes, the borders on eastern front are far more stable and much more favorable to Indian interests. It is this opportunity India needs to tap. The significance of having Bangladesh, Nepal, and Myanmar not being used for anti-Indian activities is well known. However Bangladesh holds lot more promises .It is trying to avoid going the fundamentalist route Pakistan has gone. It is showing the will to fight the fundamentalist elements and therefore a secular moderate Bangladesh will always be beneficial for Indian interests.

The relationship with these countries are also significant from the Chinese point of view. As soon as Modi govt came to power they did a significant policy reversal in terms of China-North East issue. As per the new policy India will now be looking to encourage population settlements in border areas of the region. Again supporting such activities require a thriving economy in the region. A thriving northeast will bring many positives to Indian economy, India’s defense as well as reducing the isolation of north eastern people towards mainland India.

Illegal Immigrant problem

While Bangladesh has the capacity to unlock the north east out of its current isolation it is also true that some of the worst ethnic riots going on in Assam are a result of this immigrant population. A change in demographics not just undermines national security in the long run it can threaten India’s unity and integrity.

However India’s attempt to send back illegal immigrants have had little success in the past. Illegal Migrant Determination Tribunal (IMDT) which was designed especially for Assam State, became the biggest hurdle and was the main impediment or barrier in the identification and deportation of illegal migrants before being stuck down by Supreme Court.

Even deportation under the Foreigners Act also remained problematic. In 2003, the then Home Minister L. K. Advani ordered all states to deport illegal immigrants. A few weeks’ later 265 people were sent to the border, but authorities in Bangladesh declined to accept them. In fact India’s Border Security Forces (BSF), and its counterpart the Bangladesh Border Guards (then called the Bangladesh Rifles), came to the point of violence over the issue. There is no database of the actual Bangladeshis who have sneaked in Indian Territory. Any high handling of the issue in absence of such a list may only worsen the situation.

Reluctant Bangladesh

There is another aspect of this discussion. In the past Bangladesh has been extremely reluctant to give any transit to India via its territory. Well this is not new. With all neighbors India find extremely hostile responses most of the time. Sometimes it is due to timid responses to any issue, sometimes due to unclear policy begetting such responses. And the root cause of such weak responses are again back to economical reason.

Solution - An incremental approach with multiple options?

The biggest hurdle holding India-Bangladesh relationship is the illegal immigrant problem. And the real reason for this immigration are economic factors. The question therefore is that can India afford to think itself in isolation anymore? Being one of the top economies of the world India cannot ask to be integrated with the world economy and isolated from its neighbors at the same time. Then what are the solutions to India? Could an incremental approach with multiple options towards this problem may have a better chance of working out. While these countries can unlock north east potential, holding the growth of north east on only these factors can be detrimental

The approach therefore should be to work simultaneously to develop multiple options. Increased focus on north east development via development of new industrial corridors should be the focus of new govt whether India has a transit via Bangladesh or not. It was important to notice the 5000 crore allotment in rail budget given for development of railways in North-East. Is the Modi govt thinking on same lines where it is opening up talks with Bangladesh but at the same time not limiting itself to it?

Identify Illegal Immigrants and convey the enormity of the issue

As part of incremental approach the first step should be on getting identified all the illegal immigrants. This is easier said than done. There have been conflicting reports on the number of people coming from Bangladesh and till the time we India does not complete the exercise of identifying these people it will be impossible to move to any solution. The Assam accord which lays out the rules to identify foreign citizens should be used to arrive at such a list at the earliest. Only when India has a comprehensive list ready handling over of such a list to Bangladesh can be done. While immediate deportation of so many may not be possible immediately once New Delhi brings the enormity of the issue on the tables of discussion it can always help India in bargain at other places. The enormity of the situation could also be used to explain Bangladesh the urgency to push for a land and river transit through the region which may help bring prosperity on both sides of the border containing any further migration. Shying away from such discussions have not helped India in the past and any future discussions should always be done in the core interest of India.

Simplified Visa Regime

The second step to the incremental approach may lie in having a simplified visa regime and allow limited number of Bangladeshi nationals to earn their livelihood in India. Should the existing illegal immigrants who have been identified be provided temporary work permits identifying their foreign origin till the time proper arrangements are not made to send them back?

Making this movement legal will have the benefit that it will not alter the demographics of the north eastern states of the country which is the root cause of unrest in Assam and other parts of north east. Can this approach therefore fulfill the BJP’s pledge of safeguarding the interest of communities living in north east as well as give govt the capability to regulate this movement. However with labor still cheap and surplus in India allowing even limited number of people on the other side of border to earn livelihood may not be an easy idea to sell.

However sending back people when the govt across border is not cooperating is easy said than done. Bangladesh has in the past refused to take back immigrants accusing India of pushing back its own people inside Bangladesh. It was this reason which forced the Vajpayee govt to think of granting temporary work permit to all illegal immigrants till both the countries arrive at a solution. Will Modi govt take a leaf from Vajpayee’s govt? It is important to understand that only when there are enough opportunities in Bangladesh such a movement can be curtailed.

Increased Investment in Bangladesh

The third step of this incremental approach addresses the problem of opportunities in Bangladesh. The solution lies in India increasing its investment in Bangladesh manifolds. As India plan to spend trillions on its own infrastructure it can also look towards increasing its investment in infrastructure projects in Bangladesh something which may increase opportunities within Bangladesh as well as that investment can be looked as a part of the overall investment in north east development. Any moving back of illegal immigrants back to Bangladesh may have to deal with their rehabilitation. Could the investment in infrastructure be used to rehabilitate those moved back, could the labor used on those projects be the immigrants who are moved back?

The above approaches may help in reducing bad blood between both governments and the same time convey Bangladesh the enormity of the situation India faces. Well does that all sound extremely radical, it may indeed be like but only a favorable solution to all parties will have a chance to succeed. 

Build capacities in Urban Planning – Interesting times ahead?

As the car hit the roads of Chicago and its beautiful skyline mesmerized me, the old question which has occupied my mind every time I have travelled a city in Europe, US or any other developed country, came back to haunt me. I started wondering when in India, will we build such beautiful cities?. Not just Chicago each and every big or small city in US or elsewhere gives you a sense of discipline and planning.

Back home when I discussed that with few friends, some blamed it on corruption and others said we just can’t afford that kind of cities at this point of time. In fact for years I have also thought that such cities were a luxury that India cannot afford and even if we could have done it we are having a system far too corrupt to let that happen. However this time was different , even these thoughts didn’t gave me any comfort and I decided to dig deep into how these cities were originally planned and built in US , Europe or any developed country in Asia.

History of Urban Planning

“The lower town’s streets formed a well-planned and carefully maintained grid; their widths, starting from the narrowest, were 1.8m, 3.6m, 5.4m and 7.2m, in a perfect geometric progression of 1:2:3:4. … The only structures permitted on the streets were small brick platforms jutting out near house entrances, where people evidently sat together in the evening to chat and exchange the day’s news;”

“Covered drains took the waste water out of the houses “to a collective sewer; this in turn was connected to a network of drains made of carefully aligned baked bricks, with cesspits or soak jars provided at regular intervals to collect sullage.”

These excerpts are on the urban planning as being done in Harappa. Yes almost 5000-7000 years back almost million square kilometers of land that formed the Indus Saraswati Civilization saw the development of the most advanced urban planning in the ancient world, a social order that was more egalitarian than has ever existed anywhere since. A shame that after 5000 years instead of improving on what we improvised in those ages we have reduced our cities to piles of garbage and utter chaos.

Around the World – The Chicago Plan Not too far back, most of the cities across US suffered the same issues which we are facing now in India. Constant expansion and growth without planning had left cities in total chaos. Popularly known as the “Burnham Plan”,  in a rather ambitious move, a group of prominent businessmen sat around and hired an architect “Daniel H. Burnham” to turnaround Chicago. Burnham in turn recommended an integrated series of projects including new and widened streets, parks, new railroad and harbor facilities, and civic buildings. His recommendation had 6 major points mainly

Improvement of the lakefront - The plan recommended expanding the parks along the Lake Michigan shoreline with landfill. Of the city’s 47 km of lakefront, all but six kms are today public parkland. Today Chicago Lakefront Trail is a foreshoreway for walking and cycling, running 29 km along the coast of Lake Michigan

New outer parks - The plan included proposals and also called for the expansion of the city’s park and boulevard system. Go anywhere across the world and you have plenty of parks where a common man can go with his family for distressing stroll.

Systematic arrangement of streets - New wider arterials were prescribed to relieve traffic congestion and beautify the fast-growing city, including a network of new diagonal streets. Any planned city in the world will likely to go for a grid pattern or radial pattern roads running throughout the city, such a design makes the navigation easy, makes addresses far more intuitive, it may also help to plan the routes of public transport based on which routes are more busier than others, help to plan the location of important government buildings secretariats, courts, cultural centers, libraries and transport hubs to be built in future. Each avenue has its arterial road that connects the specific avenue to the main street. Moreover, the interior roads are planned in a way that each of them meets at a common point usually a Central Park.

Just open google map and pick any Indian city apart from a few like Delhi and Chandigarh which have some sense of planning applied you will be just stunned at the maps of some of our most prestigious cities. Even a city like Bangalore looks like to have been built on a pile of heap without any sense of direction or planning, the lesser said the better it is. That is how we end up with the most bizarre house addresses in the world.

Civic and cultural centers - Burnham also gave proposals on reserving space for civic and cultural centers. It’s a beauty when we go around any downtown in US we find libraries, museums and some important govt building, at the center of the city. This is a pattern across most of the planned cities around the world. Compare this to our cities where we never pay enough thoughts on building world class public library and museum in each and every city of the country.

Improvement of railway terminals & a regional highway system – The plan also looked at for competing railroads and highways to pool usage of tracks for greater efficiency in freight handling.

Though some of things did changed with changing times more or less a plan laid out around 100 years back helped shape today’s Chicago. There were architectural concepts applied even on the placement of one building in context to another. Architecture is not just about how we build a single building, it is also about thinking holistically about the usage of space, air and sunlight, movement of people around the buildings. And it is all these concepts applied together that even having a similar population in any of the metros across the world the movement of goods and people does not make us give a feeling of chaos , in fact the movements are planned in such a way that it looks scenic.

Build capacities in Urban Planning

So where does all that leave us? It is true that we don’t have funds even today to build grand Museums and libraries in every city but definitely do the systematic layouts of roads and buildings cost anything extra? We do have roads in India, only if we had applied ourselves even a little bit finding out that a grid/radial layout of the roads across the city will help in many a future problem is not such a rocket science and further expansion in future on that well thought plan would have been much easier.

The Nehruvian era had huge focus on building IIT’s and IIM’s which have proven their worth beyond doubt but there was no focus on building proper cities and towns in India. A country with 1.2 billion people does not even have a dozen of world class urban planning institutes where problems faced by our cities can be identified and planners can work to find a solution for them. The problem is not just the corruption the problem is that after independence we have treated urban planning as a luxury that we cannot afford. While urban planning has many other dimensions and we do work on solving a lot of problems there is no holistic view on which our cities are planned and I therefore think that we need to start with building capacities in urban planning on an urgent level so that our cities can be planned properly, when for the first time when I discussed the concept of urban planning with some of the best minds in my group none had a clue what exactly does that mean and this lack of awareness is at the core of the problem.

However there is also a pleasant surprise, PM Modi who has worked in Gujarat does have a vision on the reasons we are lagging behind in this. He has talked about building capacities in urban planning and his vision of 100 world class cities does promise a lot of hope. What more is needed is that the basic concepts of urban planning need to be started being applied in all future villages, towns and urban centers and not just 100 new cities being built. We are moving in interesting time and let’s hope that we can stop treating urban planning as a luxury and start building well laid neat and clean cities. Indians deserve something better.

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