Dhaka: The Indian parliament will again go through the process of passing the India-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) bill on Monday as the earlier version approved by the two Houses of the parliament has some drafting errors, reported Indian media.
The changes will be made in clause 3 of the bill, changing its name to Constitution (One Hundredth Amendment) Act, 2015, from ‘Constitution (One Hundred and Nineteenth Amendment) Act, 2013’ as it was left in some parts of the bill due to oversight.

The bill is scheduled to be taken up again in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

‘The bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha at its sitting held on the 6 May, 2015 and transmitted to Lok Sabha for concurrence. The Lok Sabha at its sitting held on the 7 May, 2015 passed the Bill with amendments to Clause 3 of the bill,’ said an explanation in the foot notes of the list of business of the Rajya Sabha for Monday.

The bill, when introduced, was numbered as the 119^th Constitution Amendment Bill, and was supposed to carry the same name as an act.

However, once passed, it became the Constitution (One Hundredth Amendment) Act as several constitution amendment bills are introduced but the number of those which clear parliament is less.

Earlier, on 6 May Indian Rajya Sabha passed the much-awaited Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) with Bangladesh, while on 7 May the bill was unanimously passed after Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had placed the bill for passage before Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian parliament.

Ending the 41-year of wait of over 50,000 enclave people, Indian parliament passed constitutional amendment bill aiming to materialise Bangladesh-India Land Boundary Agreement.

The passage of this bill is expected to pave the way for a permanent settlement of long-standing land boundary disputes between the two countries.

The materialisation of LBA might also change the maps of the two countries which are expected to start enclaves exchange programme soon.

Dozens of enclaves exist on either side of the border, a historical oddity left after the partition in 1947.

The proposed solution would enable each side to acquire the enclaves within its borders, along with other disputed territories.

People living in the enclaves would have the right to move to live in their original country of nationality or to become nationals of their ‘new’ country after the exchange. Most are expected to stay put, according to the Indian government.

The Bill, which the Bharatiya Janata Party, Asom Gana Parishad and Trinamool Congress had opposed when it was brought by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2013, amends the First Schedule of the Constitution to give effect to an agreement entered into by India and Bangladesh on the acquiring and transfer of territories between the two countries on 16 May, 1974.

In 2011, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina had signed the land swap deal known as the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA).

The constitutional amendment bill to operationalise the agreement was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in 2013 but could not be passed due to stiff opposition.

When the Narendra Modi government came to power, the Bill was again sent to the standing committee on the external affairs ministry, and a report presented in December 2014.

An earlier plan by the Indian government to exclude Assam from the land swap arrangement because of fierce resistance from the BJP’s Assam unit ahead of state elections this year has now been shelved.

According the agreement, India is to receive 2,777.038 acres of land and to transfer 2267.682 acres to Bangladesh, much of which has already been effected on the ground already.

Timeline

16 May 1974: India-Bangladesh Agreement inked, not ratified.

India has 111 enclaves within Bangaldesh (70 square km).

Bangladesh has 51 enclaves in India (28 square km).

Most enclaves are in Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Tripura.

6 September 2011: Bangladesh and India signed protocol to pact.

18 December 2013: The Constitution (119th Amendment) Bill, 2013, introduced in Rajya Sabha Bill amended the First Schedule of the Constitution that defines the area of each State, Union Territory.

29 April 2015: Indian Cabinet clears the revised land boundary agreement delinking Assam.

The Indian central government is likely to introduce revised Bill in Parliament next week.