Bangladesh, India exchange land in historic deal Friday July 31,2015

India, Bangladesh to notify border settlement Friday July 31,2015

 

 

 

 

Bangladesh and India prepared on Friday July 31,2015 to swap tiny areas of land, ending one of the world's most intractable border disputes that has kept thousands of people in stateless limbo for nearly 70 years.
Officials of two nations will hoist their respective national flags in 162 enclaves - 111 in Bangladesh and 51 in India - at one minute past midnight (1801 GMT Friday) to assume sovereignty over the territories following a historic border pact in June 2015     Following the flag hoisting, the enclaves - pockets of one country's territory surrounded by the other - will cease to exist and more than 50,000 people who have been living there can now access citizenship benefits such as schools, power and healthcare that they have lacked since 1947. The enclaves date back to ownership arrangements made centuries ago between local princes.
The parcels of land survived partition of the subcontinent in 1947 after British rule and Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence with Pakistan.  Bangladesh endorsed a deal with India in 1974 in a bid to dissolve the pockets, but India only signed a final agreement in June 2015 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Dhaka   India has sanctioned a Rs 3,048-crore package for rehabilitation of the people affected by the exchange of enclaves under the LBA implementation.Between July 31, 2015 and June 30, 2016, the entire process, including physical exchange of enclaves and land parcels in adverse possession along with boundary demarcation, is expected to be completed.