Nepal updates (August 27, 2011)

1) Prashant Jha writes this: Linky

A day after he presented his credentials, the new Indian ambassador to Nepal, Jayant Prasad, faces his first major challenge of formulating and implementing a unified Indian position with regard to the government formation process underway in Nepal. The decision will bring to the fore all of New Delhi’s dilemmas regarding domestic Nepali politics.

Efforts at forging a consensus government have failed. The Nepali Congress asked the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) to give in their weapons immediately and make ‘irreversible progress’ on the peace process, primarily the integration and rehabilitation of combatants, first before they could be supported to lead a government. The Maoists asked for government leadership first, and promised to move on the peace process subsequently. There will now be elections through a majority vote in parliament. The Maoists have now projected vice chairman Dr. Baburam Bhattarai as their candidate, while the Nepali Congress has put forward its parliamentary party leader Ram Chandra Poudel to be PM.

For the Maoists to win, they need the support of the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF), which consists of five Madhesi parties, or the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist). For Mr. Poudel to win, he will need the support of both the UDMF and the UML. Neither UML nor the Madhesi parties have made their positions clear yet, but the overwhelming mood among Madhesi MPs is to support the Maoists. Madhesi parties feel that the radical left is a natural ally in terms of issues of ‘state restructuring and federalism’, and calculate they can extract a better power sharing deal by supporting the Maoists. Senior leaders of the UML, such as former PM Madhav Kumar Nepal, K.P. Oli, and general secretary Ishwor Pokharel, are understood to be veering towards NC though the younger MPs in the party want to give time-bound support to the Maoists making it conditional on progress in the peace process.

Some comments are in order at this stage:
a) The Madhesi feeling of support for Dr. Bhattarai's candidacy is not a unilateral move that has not been blessed by the South Block.
b) The feeling of disenchantment in the UML cadre is understandable given the factionalism that has ridden the UML, its Khanal vs. Nepal vs. Oli. The fact that Oli and Nepal are on one side does not mean that they are friends and comrades, except in grandiose posturing. Both are out to get their pound of flesh vis-a-vis Khanal.

NC leaders have told India that the CA will get dissolved without a new statute, and in that scenario, it is in Delhi’s interest to have an NC PM leading the government. If the Maoists are allowed to return to power, ‘democracy would be in danger’. For their part, the Maoists have argued that progress in the peace and constitutional process is possible only under their leadership. ‘Isolating and encircling’ them, as was tried when Madhav Kumar Nepal led an anti Maoist coalition between 2009 and 10, was doomed to fail, both Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ and Dr. Bhattarai have assured Delhi that they will implement past commitments if voted to power.

The whole problem with the Maoists is that they do not understand a single thing about upholding the honor of committing to a task. So what exactly do they mean by "implementing past commitments?" Write that in red ink (if need be) on the running Sarda river. Whatever that is, Jha is a bit too optimistic to opine that:

If India still wants to see the framework succeed, it should not try to block the Maoists from forming a government by influencing the Madhesi parties against them. The Maoists have said they would move forward on the regrouping of combatants immediately and hand over the weapons as soon as their government is formed. They can be held accountable for these commitments, and the threat of allies withdrawing support would generate additional pressure on them.
...
The dishonesty and overwhelming ambition of the Maoists collides with the fear and insecurity of the status quoist older parties. The internal rifts within each party make inter-party compromises even more difficult.

How does the latter square with the former? Let me read this: Maoists are ambitious, their ambition is in capturing the State with power or without, as the need may be. The other parties are a bumbling mass of idiocy. The Maoists have not adhered to their past commitments. Yet, India should let it go and not be suspicious because Dr. Bhattarai is now the contender. Thank you, sir.
2) Meanwhile, Jayant Prasad meets Sushil Koirala and Ram Chandra Poudel and any number of meanings can be attached to these meetings. That said,

At present Prasad is secretary at the public diplomacy section of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, serving for the last 1 1/2 years. He is a career diplomat who started in career in 1976. Prior to his current role in the EAM, he has served as the Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan and Algeria. Moreover, he has also served in different sectors of the strategic departments of Geneva, Paris and Brussels. Prasad is the son of former Indian ambassador to Nepal Bimal Prasad (1991-1995) who was appointed by then prime minister Chandrashekhar. He replaces Rakesh Sood in the Ambassadorial role.

Meanwhile,

Departing Ambassador Rakesh Sood will now be posted in Paris as the Indian ambassador there. The delay by the French government in forwarding its agreemo, thanks to public holidays in France, contributed to his delayed departure and Prasad’s delayed arrival.

3) Elsewhere in Darjeeling: Linky

Social and religious issues so long overshadowed by the larger cause of statehood has starting resurfacing in the hills, now that a political settlement has been reached on Darjeeling with the signing of the agreement to set up the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration. Hundreds of Buddhists today took to the streets in Darjeeling to revive some of their longstanding demands, one of them being a paid holiday on the birthday of Lord Buddha. The Lepchas, an indigenous community, also brought out a rally to demand a development council. The Buddhists made the demands under the banner of the All Buddhist Minority Welfare Association, which consists of various Gorkha communities like the Tamangs, Gurungs and non-Nepali tribes like the Sherpas, Bhutias and Yolmos.
...
Religious minorities, which includes Buddhists, Christians, Muslims and Jains, make up about 40 per cent of the hill population. “The state government has come up with a policy to declare a particular district Minority Concentrated District (MCD) if the minorities form 25-30 per cent of the population. But the same status has not been extended to Darjeeling district despite its higher concentration of minorities,” said Bomzon. The association claimed that 12 districts in Bengal have been accorded this status. “The government has accorded this status where the concentration of Muslim population is high. They have conveniently forgotten us,” said Bomzon. “An MCD status would entail benefits for construction of houses and stipends for education to minority members, among others.” North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad and Cooch Behar are among the 12 MCDs in north Bengal.

4) On the Indo-Nepal border and a reviving circus: Linky

The SSB official said people from Nepal could trade only through Pashupatinagar and Panitanki. “The customs offices are situated in these two places and if people from Nepal want to trade, they can do so from these two points, but not from Manebhanjan.” Gohian admitted that even cattle were being stopped by his personnel. “That is because most of the cattle are brought in from the other side of the border. The bribe allegation is totally false,” he said. The India-Nepal border is porous and one can step into Nepal from any place undetected.

5) More on the Gorkhaland agitation with no need to go over it beyond a certain point: Linky 1 and Linky 2

India-BD bhai bhai, season for unilateral concessions?

1. Teesta agreement:

The 60-year-old Teesta dispute between India and Bangladesh could become a thing of the past with Delhi likely to agree to a 50-50 water-sharing deal, an official source in Dhaka has said.
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The two sides have agreed to a 50-50 water-sharing deal that has been a longstanding demand of Bangladesh, the source said, but there could a rider in the pact favouring India. Delhi may want to draw more water at certain times of the year, he hinted. Bansal is expected to sign the deal for a 15-year term and leave before Singh’s arrival, he added.
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Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is said to be under tremendous pressure to extract a fair deal from India because the dispute has become an emotional issue in her country.

How about a fair deal to West Bengal?

According to media reports in Bangladesh, International Farakka Committee chairman Atiqur R.K. Eusufzai, a leading water activist, favoured setting aside at least 25 per cent of the water for the river and splitting the rest — 60 per cent for Bangladesh and 40 per cent for India. Delhi is unlikely to agree to such terms, but a 50 per cent share will vastly help dilute apprehensions in Dhaka.

2. Extradition treaty: Linky

Official sources in Dhaka said India was keen on inking the treaty during Hasina’s tenure and were ready with a draft, which has to be given to Bangladeshi officials for inputs and feedback. “India is keen that the treaty is signed during this regime as Indo-Bangla ties have never been better. We are at the most positive stage of our relationship and the treaty will heighten this sense of mutual confidence. Also, one has to take into account that Bangladesh is a highly polarised country and for us the time and situation is just right to go ahead with the deal,” said a senior official closely associated with the developments. The sources said the deal would most likely be inked during Hasina’s next trip to India and before Bangladesh goes to polls in 2013.

How naive of people to think that Sh. Hasina will be able to sign a deal before the Polls and will commit hara-kiri?

Delhi’s concerns are understandable. A sizeable section of the public and the opposition, led by Khaleda Zia’s BNP, have been criticising Hasina for selling out to India. There are also doubts whether the Awami League will return to power in the 2013 elections. However, it is not just India which will benefit if the treaty is signed. India is holding some 200 Bangladeshi criminals and Dhaka has given the Indian home minister a list of 100 wanted men.

Bangladesh is also keen to lay its hands on 19 absconding persons accused of involvement in the August 2004 grenade attack on Hasina. While Dhaka has already sent Interpol notices on all of them, those in India — Haris Chowdhury, Mohammad Hanif, Ratul Babu, Anisul Morsalin and his brother Muttakin — could be handed over if an extradition treaty is inked. Also on the radar are two killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who are believed to be hiding in India.

3. Elsewhere, slowing down coal project: Linky

Bangladesh and India's move for a $1.5 billion joint venture coal-fired power plant in Khulna has somewhat slowed down due to various hitches, and a feasibility study has scaled up cost of civil construction at the project site due to poor soil condition.

4. However, BD wants power from the Indian grid: Linky

According to officials, Bangladesh will formally place a proposal in the Bimstec technical committee meeting to import 500 MW of additional electricity from India and also another proposal to import electricity from Myanmar. “We'll try to convince India to export 250 MW power from its under-construction Palatana power plant and another 250 MW from other plants in West Bengal,” said an official at the power ministry who is a member of the Bangladesh working group for the meeting.

Officials said Bangladesh's present target is to import a total of about 1000 MW of electricity from neighbouring India. They further said another proposal for establishing inter-regional power grid connectivity among the member countries, particularly among Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan, will be placed in the meeting from Bangladesh side.

And more news on the power grid: Linky

Bimstec member states plan to finalise a memorandum of understanding today on exchange of electricity among them, said Power Secretary Abul Kalam Azad yesterday. The secretary was talking to reporters after the inauguration of a two-day Third Task Force Meeting on Trans Power Exchange of the Bimstec (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in Dhaka.

The process of exchanging power through the national grids among the Bimstec members is still at the initial stage though it was thought a lot earlier, Azad added. “We are hopeful this initiative will provide energy security in the region as it will enable the member states to share their surplus gas and electricity with each other.” Once it is finalised, the member countries will sign the MoU in the next ministerial meeting, said the power secretary.

5. On border settlement: Linky

Of the 4,156 km borderline, 320 km border with the Indian state of Mizoram had been drawn earlier. Land surveyors of both the countries have been working on the rest of the borderline, and so far finalised 1,083 maps for 3829.5 km of the borderline except 6.5 km strips along Panchagarh, Moulvibazar and Feni. The remaining 6.5 km boundary line will be drawn in a month, said Abdul Mannan, director general of Directorate of Land Record and Survey (DLRS).
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A total of 628 maps have been drawn for 2,262 km border with West Bengal, 93 maps for 264 km border with Assam, 20 maps for 320 km border with Mizoram, 269 maps for 874 km border with Tripura, and 139 maps for 436 km border with Meghalaya.
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The prime ministers of the two nations will decide on 111 Indian enclaves (17,160 acres of land) with a population of 37,000 and 51 Bangladeshi enclaves (7,110 acres of land) with a population of 14,000 during Manmohan Singh's Bangladesh visit on September 6-7. The two countries have disputes over land at about 25 points in West Bengal, Tripura, Meghalaya and Assam. Bangladesh adversely possesses 1,880.81 acres of India's land at seven points while India adversely possesses 1,165.49 acres of Bangladesh land at 18 points.

6. On Transit fees: Linky

A government panel on transit may suggest charging India, Nepal and Bhutan minimum transit fees between 2.5 cents and 7 cents a tonne for every kilometre of travel depending on the mode of transport. The committee, led by Tariff Commission Chairman Mujibur Rahman, is likely to submit its report to the government soon.
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Wishing anonymity, a commerce ministry official said the protocols may not be signed during the Indian prime minister's visit. They could be inked after the fixing of transit fees. The finance minister said the charges have to be fixed after discussions with India, Nepal and Bhutan. The government formed the committee on transit in November last year after the signing of the joint communiqué. The committee submitted a report to the government in April without recommending route-wise transit charges or details of Bangladesh's benefits from transit. The government asked the committee to submit a more detailed report. Apart from India, two major development partners -- the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank -- have been pressing Bangladesh for the last two decades to give transit to the three countries.

Wishing anonymity, a foreign ministry official said deals on transit will be signed with India in line with the joint communiqué inked in January 2010. The communiqué reads, “It was agreed that Bangladesh will allow use of Mongla and Chittagong seaports for movement of goods to and from India through road and rail. Bangladesh also conveyed their intention to give Nepal and Bhutan access to Mongla and Chittagong ports.”

7. Sea boundary demarcation: Linky

The United Nations will hear Bangladesh's claim on the continental shelf in the Bay of Bengal on August 25, months after Dhaka sought international arbitration following disputes with neighbouring India and Myanmar. Foreign Minister Dipu Moni will present Bangladesh's case in the hearing scheduled at the UN headquarters in New York, official sources said in Dhaka. Bangladesh's claim on the Bay of Bengal continental shelf extends up to 400-460 nautical miles (850 km) from the coast. Dhaka says it should have total rights over the undersea natural resources within this area.

The continental shelf is an undersea extension of a continent which can stretch for many miles out to the sea. Many nations have asserted mineral and land rights to their associated continental shelves since these are rich in natural resources. Bangladesh submitted its arbitration on February 25 to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS), a UN body that deals with the continental shelf.
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Bangladesh's claim is that the dispute should be resolved on “equity principle” meaning that the countries adjacent to the Bay of Bengal would get proportional areas in the zone. India and Myanmar favours "equidistance" system to get bigger maritime areas. Under a UN charter, the principle of "equity" takes into account a country's population, economic status and needs, GDP growth, and other human issues, while the "equidistance" system marks the boundary through geometric calculations.

8. And finally, the gullibility of the Indian neta-class. Gogoi pins hopes on Dhaka visit Linky

Gogoi is of the view that Assam can gain a lot from improved connectivity — air, land and waterways — between the state and the neighbouring country as this would give a big boost to the Look East Policy in the real sense of the term. “More importantly, he is also looking for connectivity of the minds. More person-to-person interactions will help understand each others point of view, improve neighbourly relations,” one of them said.

A question that is often missed is: how stable are person-to-person interactions to sea changes in popular identification of The Other? Have nt we seen enough of this Indira Gandhi-Bandaranaike, Sheikh Mujib-Indira Gandhi-type special bonds? What have they come to today? We already have precedents on unilateral concessioning that has come back to bite us: Linky

I have written extensively on the 1974 Maritime Boundary Agreement between India and Sri Lanka and the background to the ceding of the Island of Kachchatheevu. I do not propose to dwell on those details here. However I would like to highlight one point. New Delhi’s decision that Kachchatheevu is a disputed territory was a political decision taken by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The personal chemistry between Sirimavo Bandaranaike and Indira Gandhi came into play in a big way and the island was ceded to Sri Lanka. As stated earlier, if the principle of median line was strictly enforced Kachchatheevu should have been an integral part of India. In order to gift Kachchatheevu to Sri Lanka the precedent of the 1921 fisheries agreement was followed (where Kachchatheevu came within the fisheries jurisdiction of Ceylon). Let us await Supreme Court’s decision in this subject.

The personal equation between Indira Gandhi and Sirimavo Bandaranaike which played a decisive role in the conclusion of the 1974 Agreement has been aptly summed up by Prof. Partha Ghosh of Jawaharlal Nehru University. To quote Prof. Ghosh, “Kachchativu was the most typical case of a personal equation, playing the role of diplomacy. When the negotiations had virtually failed, and the Indian official delegation was virtually pressurizing Indira Gandhi not to give up India’s claim on the islet, Sirimavo Bandaranaike made a personal appeal to Indira Gandhi to come to her rescue, as it would otherwise spell political disaster for her. Indira Gandhi appreciated Mrs Sirimavo Bandaraniake’s predicament and manipulated the situation in such a way that it became a fait accompli even before the Indian delegation could react. Sirimavo Bandaranaike remembered this gesture as late as 1990 with immense gratitude”.

9. As a postscript, Why India's largest textile exports hub is dying? Linky
10. And as a post-postscript on what BD-Burma relations are like: Linky

Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh Mijarul Quayes will be paying a visit to Myanmar to meet his counterpart on August 24 for two days to discuss bilateral and regional issues. The last meeting at the foreign secretary level took place in Dhaka on December 28, 2009. The trip is welcomed. It is reported that the issues to be discussed, among others, may include:
* Multi-modal transport connectivity;
* Border security to prevent criminal activities and illegal immigration;
* Facilitation of trade;
* Repatriation of remaining Rohingya refugees;
* Cooperation in other areas including energy and agriculture.
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Since the present government came to power, there has been an attempt to inject momentum and dynamism into bilateral relations. On May 16, 2009, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr. Dipu Moni visited Myanmar and held official talks with her counterpart U Nyan Winz. They reportedly discussed a host of issues, including repatriation of the remaining Myanmar refugees, relaxation of visa requirements for citizens of either country, facilitation of banking services, increased border trade, export of surplus power to Bangladesh, road link between the two countries up to China, direct air link, and sharing bandwidth with fiber-optic cable.

What's in a name? The curious case of Paschimbanga

I am as amused as you are at why certain states/cities change their names: United Provinces to Uttar Pradesh, Central Provinces to Madhya Pradesh, Madras State to Tamil Nadu, Orissa to Odisha, West Bengal to Paschimbanga, Bombay to Mumbai, Calcutta to Kolkata, Ahmedabad to Amdavad, Bangalore to Bengaluru, etc. The more interesting case of Madras to Chennai is something over which I have strong personal biases/opinions. For someone who grew up in Madras, Chennai makes zero sense and I dont intend to call it Chennai any time soon.

What is the case for this renaming? The most obvious issue is one of linguistic/cultural pride as Linky

legendary magician P.C. Sircar Jr. expressed happiness over the decision. "I am very happy and excited. Finally Bengali sentiments have been honoured. No other state in the country has an English name except ours. The new name will remind the coming generation about the painful history of division of Bengal. It will help them grow strong."

If it was just pride that is the burning issue, that should be stated so. Here is one reason that is suggested: Linky

State Commerce and Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee has said a change of name is essential as West Bengal, which begins with the letter 'W', figures last at inter-state discussions when it comes to the alphabetical order of things. "Since the name of the state starts with W, our representatives get to speak only at the fag end of any function when most of the audience has left. To do away with the problem, the chief minister has suggested the name be changed," Chatterjee said. "We wanted a change in the name of the state to get the administrative advantage," he said.

This makes absolutely no sense, going from 35th in the list of speakers to 27th is NOT improvement however Partha Chatterjee wants to spin it. Further, the fact that the Mamta Banerjee-led government chose to rename it as Paschimbanga and not Bangla or Bangabhumi suggests that the state still has not moved away from the 1905 division that fed into the Naokhali carnage and Partition of 1947. To me, there does not seem to be inner peace, whatever the case may be. Atin Bandyopadhyay says:

"East Bengal and West Bengal came into existence after the bifurcation of Bengal. East Bengal became Bangladesh. The name West Bengal signifies that Bengal has been divided," he added. Partha Chatterjee added that, "Paschimbanga as a new name also mirrors history."

We will have to wait for a while to figure out what administrative/economic, popular/cultural, sociological/historical issues were considered in the renaming. That said, I am yet to see a decent case study of renaming a State in the Indian context. In any case,

Once a bill is passed by two-thirds majority in the Parliament and ratified by the President, the state would get the new name.

With respect to Tamil Nadu, the state was renamed and this renaming was codified by the "Madras State (Alteration of Name) Act, 1968" which was then approved by the Union Government via the "Central Act 53 of 1968." This happened in the immediate aftermath of the 1967 victory of the DMK when renaming the State became an electoral issue due to various other baggages of linguistic pride. Of course, the question of why Tamil Nadu and why Chennai has been confronting many a jobless people, including me. A PIL was filed that the name of the state should have been Tamizh Naadu and not Tamil Nadu (the Anglicized version). The PIL was of course dismissed with the only comfort being that it was not dismissed as "frivolous," see the case history at Linky. On the 1967 elections, I must digress. Here is a voter % in the first few elections that mattered in the then Madras State and Tamil Nadu (Click on the pic for a better resolution):


Certain facts should be clear from the above table:
1) The DMK excelled in mobilizing people along ideological lines and in getting people to vote (especially the youngistan of those days). This is seen by the clear jump in voting % from the 1957 elections to the 62 elections. This jump stayed consistent at 70+% in those days. While some of it could be attributed to the post-Independence euphoric polity, there are clear evidences of ideological polarization along the lines of Tamil pride, which was channelized by the new "kid" on the block, the DMK.
2) In a head-to-head battle in 1967 that changed the electoral face of the then Madras State, it is surprising that the DMK garnered a lesser popular mandate in terms of voting % than the Congress. Of course, the most famous display of this verdict was the defeat of K. Kamaraj, but this is belied by the fact that the Congress was ahead of the DMK in terms of voting %.
3) The lack of any stalwarts in the post-Kamaraj era delivered a death knell to the fortunes of Congress in the state from which it has still not recovered. The same cannot be said for the DMK as the grassroots of the DMK covered the bases well.
4) Characterized by a Stalinistic purge that became the DMK in the Karunanidhi-era, and depleted by the purging of the grassroots/money spinning vehicle/propaganda machinery that mattered, the ADMK delivered the same medicine to the DMK in a multi-cornered fight that was the 1977 elections.

Bangladesh update (August 18, 2011)

1) On Anup Chetia: Linky

Sources said the Ulfa general secretary was expected to withdraw his petition, filed in the high court in 2003, seeking asylum in Bangladesh. Once he withdraws his petition, he will be handed over to the Indian authorities. It had been reported earlier that Chetia could not be handed over to India until his asylum case had been disposed of. The Bangladesh government has to approach the high court to seek permission to release him.
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The sources said Dhaka was considering handing Chetia over to India as soon as the legal formalities were over but it was also expecting an assurance that India would extradite the two remaining killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who are allegedly hiding in India.

No idea who these two are, since the last known collation of data showed that they were all elsewhere, see Linky
Another unknown nugget:

Chetia, a Muttock from Upper Assam, belongs to the same ethnic group as Paresh Barua. They are first cousins and Chetia is believed to have been Barua’s mentor in the early days.

2) Rail Bhavan ki Diplomazy: Linky

Bangladesh wants the Dhaka-Calcutta train service to be extended to other Indian cities, including Delhi and Ajmer. “We want India and Bangladesh to agree to at least two more cities which will be connected by rail. Right now, it’s just a Calcutta-Dhaka service, we want it to be a service which connects Bangladesh with India, not just the two Bengals,” Bangladesh high commissioner Tariq Karim said.
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With the Dhaka-Calcutta service already in place, India is now working to link Bangladesh with neighbouring Tripura.

If you missed more of that news, here it is:

India will construct an 18-km-long railway line at a cost of Rs 267 crore to connect Agartala with Akhaura via Gangasagar in Bangladesh, a top railway official said today. B N Rajsekhar, additional member of the Indian Railway Board, said here that the project, second after the Kolkata-Dhaka line, would be completed in two and a half years. A six-member delegation, led by Rajsekhar, yesterday saw the alignment of the railway line and gave a final nod to it. Rajsekhar said the project was held up for a long time and got a fresh lease of life only after Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited New Delhi last year. "Two months ago the Planning Commission had asked the Railway Board to finalise the alignment of the railway," he said

In any case, we have more:

The train plan is part of a larger sub-regional pact Dhaka wants to sign for better road and rail connectivity, power grid and water-sharing with India, Nepal and Bhutan. It has been flagged as “the key issue” in Prime Minister Singh’s planned talks with Sheikh Hasina early next month, besides exchange of border enclaves and trade concessions. Mamata is scheduled to accompany Singh on the trip.
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India has also drawn up plans to take its railway network to Bhutan and Nepal. This follows China linking Tibet’s Lhasa with Beijing by train. It has also started work on a rail link to Khasa, on the Nepal-Tibet border. India, too, acknowledges the strategic and trade significance of networking its neighbours with its 64,000 km rail network. “Just like Europe, the time has come to integrate South Asia as one railway hub.

Also: Linky

Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma will accompany Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to Bangladesh next month, officials said in Shillong on Thursday. The decision came after Mr. Sangma received the personal invitation letter from the Prime Minister on Wednesday, they said.

3) More on integration: Linky

Bangladesh yesterday pitched for a sub-regional cooperation in hydro power sector involving India, Bhutan and Nepal, and equitable share of Teesta River water.
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Asked if Bangladesh hopes to get half the share of Teesta waters, Rizvi declined to mention the quantum but said, “We are for equitable sharing and the benefit of the people living in catchment areas of the river.” Since the larger portion of the catchment area of Teesta is in Bangladesh, Dhaka has argued its case on the water-sharing citing the needs of the people in the area. Indian Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal is expected to come to Dhaka ahead of Manmohan Singh's visit next month, but the dates for Bansal's trip are yet to be finalised, said Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Tariq Ahmed Karim.
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He said Bangladesh has suggested India more boarding and boarding-off points for the Maitree Express train running between Dhaka and Kolkata, so that it truly becomes an “India-Bangladesh friendship” train instead of just a link.

4) Will West Bengal go the Tamil Nadu way, a little belatedly?

The Left Front today discussed the government’s proposal to rename West Bengal and decided to request the administration at tomorrow’s all-party meeting to choose between Bangla and Paschimbanga. “Three names have been suggested by the government — Bangla, Paschimbanga and Bangabhumi. As far as the Left Front is concerned, we prefer either Paschimbanga or Bangla,’’ Forward Bloc leader Naren Chatterjee said. The all-party meeting will also consider the bifurcation of West Midnapore, Jalpaiguri, South and North 24-Parganas, Burdwan and Murshidabad, sources said.

5) HUJI-B's acting boss held: Linky

Banned militant outfit Harkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji) "acting chief" Hafez Moulana Yahiya, an accused in the August 21 grenade attack case, was arrested along with two accomplices in Kishoreganj yesterday. The Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) claims Yahiya, 46, was serving as the acting chief of Huji since its earlier chief Moulana Sheikh Farid was arrested on July 26. According to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), he is also charge-sheeted accused in the Ramna Batamul blast case and Kotalipara bomb planting case.
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Sources say Yahiya was one of the masterminds of the August 21 grenade attack that killed 24 Awami League leaders and activists and injured over 300 including Sheikh Hasina. Describing the operation, Commander Sohail said the elite force had a tip-off that the trio were heading towards Kishoreganj on a bus that left Sylhet late Wednesday night. Accordingly, they intercepted several buses at Durjoy intersection in Bhairab and arrested them around 2:15am. Some training manuals of the banned outfit and books on jihad were also recovered. Earlier in December in 2005, police arrested Yahiya in Chittagong as a suspected leader of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). He later disappeared after he came out of jail on bail.

Yahiya, who hailed from Chhalimpur village in Sitakunda upazila in Chittagong, had fought in Afghanistan and also in Myanmar for the Arakan Muslims. He studied at Kazi Bazar Kowmi Madrasa in Sylhet for seven years and for one year at Hathajari Madrasa. In 1986, he joined Lalkhan Bazar Madrasa as a teacher and took part in the Afghan war in 1988. After the Afghan war, he returned to Bangladesh in 1992.
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Sohail said they have so far arrested 76 top-ranked leaders and activists of Huji including former Huji chiefs Mufti Abdul Hannan and Sheikh Farid and top Huji leader Moulana Sabbir. Replying to a query, Sohail added 20,000 to 25,000 leaders and activists of the Huji are active.

Deganga Riots

A short twitter like post....

Tapan Ghosh on the Deganga riots : http://hindusamhati.blogspot.com/