India moves to ratify land boundary deal

A meeting of India’s Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the proposed Bill, which is now set to be introduced in Parliament during the coming Budget Session, commencing on Feb 21, official sources in New Delhi confirmed.

Though the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government does not have enough numbers in both the Houses of Indian Parliament to ensure a smooth passage of the Bill, it is still preparing to introduce it, apparently to reassure Bangladesh government of its commitment to ratify the Land Boundary Agreement and the protocol added to it during Singh’s visit to Dhaka in September 2011.

India’s External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has been meeting leaders of all political parties over the past few weeks seeking support for the Bill to ratify the deal with Bangladesh.

Khurshid is set to travel to Dhaka this weekend for his maiden visit to Bangladesh after taking over as India’s External Affairs Minister.

Singh’s government needs at least two-thirds majority in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha of Indian Parliament to get the Constitutional Amendment Bill passed.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party is also likely to oppose the Bill as it had joined the regional party Asom Gana Parishad in Assam to protest against the protocol that New Delhi and Dhaka inked last year to resolve long-standing boundary disputes.

The deal is to swap 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh with 51 Bangladesh enclaves in India and preserve status quo on the adversely possessed swathes of land.

To ratify the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement along with the protocol signed in September 2011, Indian government needs to amend the country’s Constitution.