New Delhi: The Union cabinet on Tuesday approved the legislation to implement the land boundary agreement (LBA) with Bangladesh, a step that is likely to help improve ties with India’s eastern neighbour.

The cabinet cleared the Constitution (119th Amendment) Bill 2013 on LBA between India and Bangladesh, Frank Noronha, principal spokesperson of the government, tweeted. Once approved by Parliament, the law will enable exchange of territories between the two countries.

The bill amends the first schedule of the Constitution to give effect to an agreement between India and Bangladesh on acquiring and transfer of territories between the two countries on 16 May 1974, according to PRS Legislative Research.

The National Democratic Alliance government has stepped up its efforts to boost relations with Bangladesh, including a new visa policy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking to strengthen ties with all neighbours in South Asia as he follows a neighbourhood-first foreign policy.

Experts welcomed the move.

“This is a very good step especially since the (state units of the) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) changed their position. The earlier view was that the LBA was unwise politics. It was an outstanding matter. It needed closure. It is important to improve relations with Bangladesh and other countries in the Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) region. It supports the Prime Minister’s vision of improved relations with the neighbourhood," said former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal.

India signed the additional protocol to LBA in September 2011, but it was not ratified because the then Manmohan Singh government failed to get Parliament’s backing after the bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha by then external affairs minister Salman Khurshid.

At that time, the main opposition to the legislation came from the now ruling BJP, especially its Assam unit. The BJP had objected to LBA because India stood to lose around 10,000 acres under the terms of the agreement when Bangladesh took over 111 enclaves (17,160 acres) from India’s possession and India, in turn, received 51 enclaves (7,110 acres) from Bangladesh. Enclaves are tiny landlocked territories that each country has within the borders of the other nation.

Prime Minister Modi told a BJP rally in Assam in November that ratification of LBA would result in a better demarcated border and stem the flow of illegal migrants from Bangladesh to India—a key concern for the BJP and some regional parties. A multiparty parliamentary standing committee in December, too, backed the ratification, saying it was in India’s national interest.

India has recalibrated its strategy to exert economic and strategic influence on neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh.

“This also opens the door for collaboration with Bangladesh for transit facilities (through Bangladesh) to India’s (landlocked) North-East," a long standing demand of India crucial for developing the vast insurgency-riven region, added Sibal.

India is also using the benefits of electricity commerce as a key to development in the region. The eight-member Saarc had signed a framework agreement on electricity trade at its Kathmandu summit in November. An interconnected grid planned under the agreement will allow power to be traded like any other commodity. Saarc groups India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and the Maldives. India already has power grid links with Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh, and has plans to develop transmission links with Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Troubles over finding a formula to share the Teesta waters and ratify LBA had cast a shadow over bilateral ties with Bangladesh, despite better relations since Sheikh Hasina became the Prime Minister.

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