GS Paper 2:
Topics Covered:
Indian Constitution- historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.
Land Boundary Agreement (LBA)
What to study?
For Prelims: What is LBA?
For Mains: Issues and concerns involved, review of its implementation.
Context: More than four years after the historic Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) between India and Bangladesh, a report released by civil rights organisations on the situation in erstwhile enclaves states that protest and resistance have become an essential part of their survival in India.
What’s the issue now?
- The situation has not improved. There are marked continuities in the problems that existed in the pre-LBA years, although the nature and context of the problems have perceptibly changed.
- On India’s part, the spotlight has now shifted from the identity crisis faced by erstwhile enclave dwellers in the pre-LBA situation, to issues of poor governance, as well as conflict of interest between the Centre and the state in the post-LBA years.
What are the concerns?
The intractable discord regarding the implementation of the measures as promised to the new citizens, coupled with lack of coordination between the Centre and the state in India, has apparently transformed the enclaves into hotbeds of local politics.
About the Land boundary agreement:
Under the Land Boundary Agreement between, the Bangladeshi enclaves in India and Indian enclaves in Bangladesh were transferred on July 31, 2015.
The agreement involved handing over 17,000 acres of land to Bangladesh in return for 7,000 acres in 162 enclaves in West Bengal, Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya.
It also required an amendment to the Constitution (the 119th amendment).
Sources: the Hindu.
