Bangladesh may not be very rich but the nice ambiance inside the embassy and a healthy conversation revealed the warm hospitality. B&E caught up with the gentleman, Enamul Hoque Chowdhury, a senior Embassy official in New Delhi who revealed interesting facets to share. Some excerpts:
“5 things Bangladesh appreciates about India...”
EDUCATION: Indian education system is among the best in the continent and at par with that of some of the developed countries. Institutes like IITs, IIMs and even private colleges are world class. Bangladesh would be grateful to have them in their country. The government is ready to consider its regulations in that regard.
HEALTH CARE SYSTEM: Like education, in health care also, India is in the league of top countries. Be government or private hospitals, they are truly world class and hence attract lakhs of medical tourists from across the world. It is cheap and easily accessible. Thousands of people from Bangladesh visit India every year for medical treatments.
PEOPLE: Indians are truly generous, unlike India’s polity and policies! There is lot to learn from Indians on how to prosper in a diverse society. Achieving unexpected pace of growth with such a huge population is praiseworthy and beneficial for the region and the world at large.
HUGE YOUTH POPULATION: A country with 300-400 million youth population raises high expectation. Bangladesh looks forward to India to participate and contribute more in world leadership with such a massive talent pool.
INDIAN POLITICAL SYSTEM: India’s biggest achievement is perhaps its democratic government. Bangladesh has a lot to learn from it. “And the 5 things we dislike...”
BE MORE RESPONSIBLE: Bangladesh often feels that India behaves like a Big Brother while it expects India to be more generous. For example, Bangladesh takes Indian students according to the SAARC quota to provide them free higher education while even after being such a big country and economically progressing, India still hesitates to take students from Bangladesh or other neighbouring countries.
CULTURAL EXCHANGE: Bangladesh also considers people-to-people exchange is extremely important. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to have been any positive response from the Indian polity so far.
PROTECTIONISM: If a tiny country like Bangladesh can welcome goods and services from India and any country from the world, why can’t India do the same! Bangladesh thinks that bilateral trade benefits both. There is a range of products that Indian government has banned to import from Bangladesh. Trade protectionism is harmful for both.
NOT NEIGHBOUR FRIENDLY: India does not have very clear vision for its neighbours. It is not very much neighbour friendly. The country doesn’t seem to have adequate policy initiatives for its neighbours, which may turn out to be a big problem in future as there is more and more diplomatic influence of other powerful countries.
LACK OF POLITICAL WILL: Indian polity doesn’t seem to be very active and clear when it comes to bilateral relations. Though Bangladesh can’t deny the contributions of India during the leadership of Indira Gandhi, there have been loose talks at the high level. There have also been quite big improvements in the recent past; but there is a lot to be done.
“5 things Bangladesh appreciates about India...”
EDUCATION: Indian education system is among the best in the continent and at par with that of some of the developed countries. Institutes like IITs, IIMs and even private colleges are world class. Bangladesh would be grateful to have them in their country. The government is ready to consider its regulations in that regard.
HEALTH CARE SYSTEM: Like education, in health care also, India is in the league of top countries. Be government or private hospitals, they are truly world class and hence attract lakhs of medical tourists from across the world. It is cheap and easily accessible. Thousands of people from Bangladesh visit India every year for medical treatments.
PEOPLE: Indians are truly generous, unlike India’s polity and policies! There is lot to learn from Indians on how to prosper in a diverse society. Achieving unexpected pace of growth with such a huge population is praiseworthy and beneficial for the region and the world at large.
HUGE YOUTH POPULATION: A country with 300-400 million youth population raises high expectation. Bangladesh looks forward to India to participate and contribute more in world leadership with such a massive talent pool.
INDIAN POLITICAL SYSTEM: India’s biggest achievement is perhaps its democratic government. Bangladesh has a lot to learn from it. “And the 5 things we dislike...”
BE MORE RESPONSIBLE: Bangladesh often feels that India behaves like a Big Brother while it expects India to be more generous. For example, Bangladesh takes Indian students according to the SAARC quota to provide them free higher education while even after being such a big country and economically progressing, India still hesitates to take students from Bangladesh or other neighbouring countries.
CULTURAL EXCHANGE: Bangladesh also considers people-to-people exchange is extremely important. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to have been any positive response from the Indian polity so far.
PROTECTIONISM: If a tiny country like Bangladesh can welcome goods and services from India and any country from the world, why can’t India do the same! Bangladesh thinks that bilateral trade benefits both. There is a range of products that Indian government has banned to import from Bangladesh. Trade protectionism is harmful for both.
NOT NEIGHBOUR FRIENDLY: India does not have very clear vision for its neighbours. It is not very much neighbour friendly. The country doesn’t seem to have adequate policy initiatives for its neighbours, which may turn out to be a big problem in future as there is more and more diplomatic influence of other powerful countries.
LACK OF POLITICAL WILL: Indian polity doesn’t seem to be very active and clear when it comes to bilateral relations. Though Bangladesh can’t deny the contributions of India during the leadership of Indira Gandhi, there have been loose talks at the high level. There have also been quite big improvements in the recent past; but there is a lot to be done.
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Ali’s presumptions on the uneasy alliance between two unequal economic partners. This apprehension was also shared by B.R. Ambedkar, though in a general way. “Why do Tamils hate Andhras and Andhras hate Tamils? Why do Andhras in Hyderabad hate Maharashtrians and Maharashtrians hate Andhras? Why do Gujaratis hate Maharashtrians and Maharashtrians hate Gujaratis? ……….. The hatred is due to the fact that they are put in juxtaposition and forced to take part in a common cycle of participation, such as Government…….So long as this enforced juxtaposition remains, there will be no peace between the two…,” Ambedkar had written in Thoughts On Linguistic States. “Telangana has been backward for centuries. The most crucial infrastructure element — irrigation system — was never developed here though both the Krishna and the Godavari flows through it. In contrast, coastal Andhra aggressively lobbied for and got a network of canals that took river waters deep into some districts,” BJP MLA Kishan Reddy told TSI.