India-Bangladesh Relations: Current Perspectives

The importance of a thorough analysis of the current state of India-Bangladesh relations can hardly be exaggerated. Sceptics may observe that India can afford to remain indifferent to relationships with Bangladesh, whereas Bangladesh cannot do so vis-à-vis India. But realities do not admit of such skeptic oversimplification. With India's northeast region remaining chronically unstable, and with count ries across this region, e.g. China and Myanmar, trying to improve their relations with Bangladesh (which itself provides a commercial gateway to India's northeast region), India has to upgrade substantially its relations with Bangladesh in order to safeguard some of its vital interests. The necessity to strengthen the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) provides an additional impetus to the urgency of such upgradation. The disparity in the size and resources of India and Bangladesh are but a misleading indicator of the present importance of India-Bangladesh relations. Dr. Jayanta Kumar Ray (b.1934), formerly Centenary Professor of International Relations and Director of Centre for South and South-East Asian Studies, University of Calcutta, is currently Research Coordinator of the Institute of Foreign Policy Studies, University of Calcutta. Some of his previous assignments were: Chairman, Executive Council, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata; National Fellow, Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi; Professor of Behavioural Sciences, Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi; Senior Research Associate, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. He has to his credit a number of important publications in the field of public and international affairs. Dr. Muntassir Mamoon (b.1951), a founder member of Bangladesh Lekhak Shibir and Bangladesh Lekhak Union, a participant in all secular-democratic movements in Bangladesh since 1969, is currently a Professor in the Department of Hisotry, University of Dhaka. A promoter of Bangabandhu Museum and Dhaka City Museum, Muntassir, Mamoon is one of the most popular and respected authors of Bangladesh. He has been honoured with the Dr. Hilali Gold Medal, the President's Award, and the Ekushe Padak. This is the fourth book co-authored by these two scholars. The others are: Inside Bureaucracy: Bangladesh; Civil Society in Bangladesh: Resilience and Retreat; and Essays on Politics and Governance.