What is the present political condition of Bangladesh?

How important is Bangladesh for the socio-economic condition of Northeast India?

• Answer:

  If you take a look at any map of India you'll notice that as the crow flies, the farthest points of North Eastern states of India are closer to Kolkata than the city is to other Indian metros. Now consider the distance from Kolkata to the NE around Bangladesh through the Chicken Neck corridor of Silliguri. Now also keep in mind that the railway tracks through Silliguri are single lined for considerable stretches and being hill tracks generally take a winding path and aren't even present in some states. Now imagine the distance. You will find that there is a significant increase in distance, sometimes even a two twofold direct increase. This unfortunate reality of partition has had significant impact on the North East both social and economical. Let me point those out. Social: The North Eastern people being isolated from the rest of the country have had troubles realizing their Indian identity. The rest of India has consequently become "mainland' and the north east different. This psychological distance wouldn't have been had there been a medium of transport through Bangladesh. Since the partition of India and especially since events of 1971 there has been a significant rise in illegal immigrants in the North East. This has lead to a demographic situation which is disadvantageous to the locals. The social impact of this has been enormous and has made clashes common. The economic disadvantage that the segregation has brought along with the physical and ethnic separation from the rest of India lead to insurgencies in the North East. Bangladesh along with Myanmar and Bhutan also have acted safe havens for terrorists and criminal elements of these states. Economic: The nearest port from many of the north east states is Chitagong while the only port they have access to right now is far far away in Kolkata. This means that all necessary items to Bangladesh and all possible exports from the North East have to take the tedious road or railway link to Kolkata. The isolation has also made infrastructure development in North East extremely difficult. Most projects in the region suffer due to poor connectivity to rest of India. The scenario would have significantly different if there were an ease of transporting construction material etc. As a country of significant demands Bangladesh itself can act as a export hub for the region. There are significant advantages from a productive relationship with Bangladesh. I tried to list them in this answer: