Bhai then mention these when you put figures like 50 billion, even I was like, doesn't seem right.
Yes Indians are strangely silent on the topic of how much benefit they are getting from a friendly neighbor like us.
Some of the economies of the border states in the Indian Union would grind to a halt if they could not supply Bangladesh with manufactured products (WB, UP, BIHAR) and raw materials (NE 7 Sisters). Official exports belie the number and quantity of items smuggled to Bangladesh, sometimes with the express help of the BSF, which is a supremely corrupt organization.
If Indians can fix the BSF and that idiot Rajnath - it will fix both smuggling and any terrorism insertion problem that Indians claim. Put any BSF person on court marshal if found taking bribes.
Clinker (raw material for cement production) lumber and other minerals and agri-products are supplied from 7 sisters region.
WB and Kerala receive medical tourism and their hospitals, hotels, restaurants, airports, airlines all benefit.
So do services and retail establishments serving tourists (hotels, restaurants, shops) in Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai. Bangladeshis became top tourists in India by numbers many years ago. Indian HC opened up Visa booths in every major mall in Dhaka - Visa is easier to get than candy.
They would not do this if there was no benefit to Indian govt. and businesses.
Not only does their center not acknowledge this contribution to their economy, but they also bad mouth us as "poorer than India", "unfit economically" etc. etc. which was handily busted last year when we showed them that our nominal per capita GDP was higher than theirs. It was a shock to Sanghis in power and the semi-educated Sanghi trolls in PDF.
On top of it, there is the constant harping about illegal Bangladeshis in India which is pretty much a myth.
It is easy to understand Bangladeshi frustration at Sanghis and even regular Indian people because they act like a bunch of ingrates.
If they continue to do so - and manipulation of Hasina Govt. and cabinet continues, relations are bound to take a turn for the worse.
Indian states bordering Bangladesh are terminally poor - those are the people that are flocking their richer cities for jobs. And these people often have the same culture, dress and food habits as we do. Some Indians have no clue about this.
Sadly,research in Bangladesh is non existant in Universities, so better not compare in that. All focus on primary and secondary education till recently.
Though may sound sad but think about it, when we got indipendence around 80% were uneducated, should we have used resourses for funding research or take education everywhere first? Now we are about 75% literate from 20%, and can allocate more resources on research in maybe 5 to 10 years when literacy will hit close to 90%
So soon we may not only catchup but exceed our neighbours as we have the Foundation now.
For a country like Bangladesh using semi-skilled labor for now (apparel) this does not matter yet. But when we graduate to making more higher ticket value-added products, we will need to have higher-skilled people on tap. So education and skills upgrade (including spending on R&D) is a must. Otherwise we will be stuck at middle income status like Thailand...
