The land border between India and Bangladesh is approximately 4,100 kilometres. The 1947 Radcliffe Award established this boundary as the India-East Pakistan land border, but disagreements rapidly developed over key areas. Following the exchange of ratification instruments, the 1974 India Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement comes into force on June 6, 2015. This article focuses on the Land Boundary Agreement signed between India and Bangladesh. Candidates should go over this piece for the Civil Services Examination and other such exams.

Land Boundary Agreement - An Overview

• In an effort to resolve unresolved disputes following Bangladesh's independence, India and Bangladesh signed the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement.
• In 1974, a Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) was drafted, stating that 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and 51 Bangladeshi enclaves in India needed to be exchanged. Citizens in these enclaves lacked access to basic rights and services.
• The agreement was reached but not recognised by India, preventing the exchange under the LBA from taking place.
• In 2011, an extra Protocol was added to the 1974 LBA.
• Because the Land Boundary Agreement necessitated India's acquisition and cessation of territory, ratification by India necessitated a constitutional modification. The Constitution (One-Hundredth Amendment) Act of 2015 had an impact on this.
• On June 6, 2015, the Land Boundary Agreement came into effect.

Features of LBA

• The LBA calls for the handover of 111 Indian enclaves to Bangladesh in exchange for 51 Indian enclaves.
• The land transferred to India is smaller than the area transferred to Bangladesh by India. In terms of area occupancy, India suffers a net loss overall.
• While India will acquire 510 acres of land, Bangladesh will theoretically gain 10,000 acres.
• By exchanging enclaves in Assam, West Bengal, Tripura, and Meghalaya, this legislation will redraw India's border with Bangladesh.

Need of LBA

• West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya, and Mizoram are all part of India's 4,096-kilometer land border with Bangladesh.
• This is the most extensive of India's international borders with its neighbours.
• 50,000-100,000 people live in so-called Chitmahals, or Indo-Bangladeshi enclaves, along this border.
• In Bangladesh, there are 102 Indian enclaves and 71 Bangladeshi enclaves.
• There are also 28 counter-enclaves and one counter-counter-enclave, Dahala Khagrabari, within those enclaves.

Implementation of LBA

The Land Boundary Agreement's implementation addresses three lingering border issues:

1. Enclaves

• An enclave is a portion of a state's territory that is totally surrounded by the territory of another state. The enclaves on the India-Bangladesh boundary were hundreds of years old, but they remained unresolved when India and East Pakistan gained independence.
• Because the enclaves were physically blocked off from the "home" State, residents of the enclaves, who were also citizens of the "home" State, were denied access to fundamental State services like electricity, health care, and education.
• Under the terms of the Land Boundary Agreement, India gave Bangladesh 111 enclaves while Bangladesh gave India 51 enclaves.
• Residents of the enclaves were granted the right to remain on the lands as citizens of the country to whom the lands were transferred.

2. Adverse Possession

• Adverse holdings are regions that are next to a country's border and under its control but are legally part of the neighbouring country. Despite the land being legally part of the bordering nation, residents of these adverse holdings were considered citizens of the country in adverse possession.
• The LBA of 1974 asked for the exchange of these unfavourable possessions. In the 2011 Protocol, India and Bangladesh agreed to redraw the international boundary to recognise the status quo.

3. An unmarked land of approximately 6.1 kilometres

• The Land Boundary Agreement also established a 6.1-kilometre border between India and Bangladesh in three sectors (in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, and Assam).

Importance of LBA

• The Land Boundary Agreement's implementation has prepared the path for major cross-border investment by Indian investors in Bangladesh, as well as the increasing potential for foreign investment from other countries.
• In the energy sector, the two nations have agreed to establish an annual India-Bangladesh Energy Dialogue between their respective energy ministers.
• The debate will cover a wide range of topics in the energy sector, including coal, natural gas, LNG, petroleum product supply in the sub-region, renewable energy, and oil and gas pipelines.

Status of implementation of LBA

• A report produced by civil rights organisations on the situation in former enclaves more than four years after the landmark Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) between India and Bangladesh indicates that protest and resistance have become an integral aspect of their survival in India.
• The problem hasn't gotten any better. Although the nature and context of the difficulties have altered, there remain obvious continuities in the challenges that existed prior to the LBA.
• In India, the focus has switched away from the pre-LBA identity dilemma faced by former enclave dwellers and toward issues of bad governance and conflict of interest between the Centre and the state in the post-LBA years.

Conclusion

The situation is yet to improve between India and Bangladesh regarding the land disputes Although the nature and context of the difficulties have altered, there remain obvious continuities in the challenges that existed prior to the LBA. The persistent disagreement over the implementation of the policies promised to the new citizens, combined with a lack of cooperation between the Centre and the states in India, appears to have turned the enclaves into political hotbeds.