{"id":35691,"date":"2023-05-28T04:26:06","date_gmt":"2023-05-27T22:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=35691"},"modified":"2025-06-30T12:07:42","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T06:37:42","slug":"implications-of-us-new-visa-policy-for-dhaka-and-new-delhi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/implications-of-us-new-visa-policy-for-dhaka-and-new-delhi\/","title":{"rendered":"Implications of US&#8217; New Visa Policy for Dhaka and New Delhi"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is the US&#8217; New Visa Policy?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Ongoing Scenario in Bangladesh<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Relations between US and Bangladesh<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Implication of these Developments on India<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>A month after the PM of Bangladesh accused Washington DC of seeking to oust her government, the US Secretary of State announced a new visa policy supporting Bangladesh\u2019s goal of holding free, fair and peaceful national elections.<\/li>\n<li>It could also have an impact on India\u2019s diplomacy with Bangladesh.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is the US&#8217; New Visa Policy?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The new policy, which covers current and former Bangladeshi officials, members of ruling and opposition parties, etc., <strong>would restrict issuance of visas to those who undermine the holding of a free and fair elections.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>In clarifications issued soon after the announcement, the US State Department said the actions were not targeted against the Awami League led government.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Ongoing Scenario in Bangladesh:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Opposition is protesting and demanding that the <strong>elections be held<\/strong> under a caretaker government and by a <strong>\u201cneutral\u201d Election Commission.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>In her three terms in office, PM\u2019s style of functioning has come to be seen as increasingly <strong>authoritarian<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Her crackdown<\/strong> on former PM Khaleda Zia\u2019s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), citing its links to Islamist parties and alleging corruption at the top, dealt a crippling blow to the Opposition.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The space for dissent and criticism has shrunk <\/strong>visibly in Bangladesh. Hence, the Bangladesh opposition has welcomed the new policy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Relations between US and Bangladesh:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The US is the biggest destination<\/strong> for Bangladesh\u2019s garment exports, and Bangladesh is the third largest exporter of garments to the US after China and Vietnam.\n<ul>\n<li>As the industry is the backbone of the country\u2019s economic growth, it is seeking a <strong>GSP-Plus status<\/strong> with the US and Europe for its readymade garment exports.<\/li>\n<li>The EU\u2019s Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) <strong>gives developing countries a special incentive<\/strong> to pursue sustainable development and good governance, in return for cuts in import duties.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The US is the top foreign investor in Bangladesh. However, <strong>the mutual unhappiness<\/strong> in the US-Bangladesh relationship has been no secret for some years.<\/li>\n<li><strong>For example<\/strong>, Sheikh Hasina\u2019s recent visit to Washington to mark <strong>50 years of diplomatic ties with the US<\/strong>, included no big-ticket meetings.<\/li>\n<li>The PM of Bangladesh even said in Parliament that the <strong>US was seeking regime change in Bangladesh.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The US government, on the other hand, <strong>had conveyed its concern over democratic erosion<\/strong>, and also about the two previous elections in Bangladesh.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Implication of these Developments on India:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The US position on the Bangladesh elections<strong> could complicate India\u2019s diplomacy in Bangladesh.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>New Delhi, <strong>wants Sheikh Hasina &#8211; <\/strong>a leader who has acted on its security concerns swiftly, <strong>back in power in Dhaka<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>She is seen as having given away too much<\/strong> &#8211; land transit rights to the Northeastern states, a favourable coal power deal to an Adani company, etc., while Bangladesh itself has been awaiting Teesta waters for many years.<\/li>\n<li>Over the last few years, <strong>the US and India were seen as acting in tandem in Bangladesh<\/strong>, especially as their security objectives converged.<\/li>\n<li>The visa policy is a sign that this may be changing. <strong>A post-Afghanistan US<\/strong> seems more open than India to political change in Dhaka.<\/li>\n<li>For now, <strong>India may prefer to keep silent<\/strong> on the linking of the US visa policy in Bangladesh to free and fair elections in the country.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1) Which is the first country to recognise Bangladesh as a separate and independent state?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>India was the first country to recognise Bangladesh as a separate and independent state and established diplomatic relations with the country immediately after its independence in December 1971.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2) Which is the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP)?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>GSP is a preferential tariff system (instituted in 1971 under the aegis of UNCTAD) which provides tariff reduction on various products. The concept of GSP is very different from the concept of &#8220;most favored nation&#8221; (MFN).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-global\/us-visa-policy-bangladesh-antony-blinken-sheikh-hasina-elections-8630248\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>What explains the US visa \u2018threat\u2019 to Dhaka?<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>USA\u2019s new visa policy supporting Bangladesh\u2019s goal of holding free, fair and peaceful national elections could have an impact on India\u2019s diplomacy with Bangladesh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":35692,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-35691","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}