Two of the major issues in India-Bangladesh relations relate to water. First is the sharing of the river waters. Earlier, it was Ganga river, now Teesta. There are more than 50 rivers and rivulets flowing between the two countries and some sort of bilateral agreement on many of them might be needed in due course. The second is the transit facility as required by India to transport goods to and from its north-eastern region by the river routes which are in Bangladesh. At the two-day India-Bangladesh Dialogue organised by the Asian Institute for Transport Development in Delhi last week, the delegates from both sides, including eminent journalists, present and former diplomats, Ministers and Members from Parliaments, among others, spoke on these two and various other subjects of bilateral relations. One thing was clear. Both sides exuded optimism over an early settlement of the present stalemate surrounding the signing of the Teesta agreement. The source of optimism is understandable. The political party, which was opposed to the agreement and a partner of the present coalition government at the Centre, is no longer in the coalition. Also, there are political compulsions on both sides of the border to expedite the process. The transit facility, it appeared, might not be easy resolve as various other issues are involved. However, it was heartening to note that there was no dearth of sincerity on both sides for settling it quickly.

Truck speed way behind global average

Trucks in India travel at half the average global speed, according to a report published by Deloitte Research. While the average speed of trucks here is just 25-35 km an hour, the global average is 60-80 km. According to the report, the average distance covered by a truck in a day in India is 250 km, while globally it is 400-450 km. Inadequate capacity, lack of funds and project delays have contributed to the problems in the Indian transport sector. For instance, the total length of four-lane highways in the country is only 7,500 km against 34,500 km in China. In the World Bank’s International Logistics Performance Index Global Ranking, India is 46th among 155 countries. The ranking measures logistics competitiveness of a country across six parameters: customs, infrastructure, international shipments, logistics competence, tracking, and tracing and timeliness. Logistics cost in India is also higher with the average logistics cost as a percentage of GDP at about 14 per cent. For other BRIC nations, it is about 10 per cent and for developed nations less than 8 per cent.

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