M A I N   N E W S

Delhi offers economic sops to mollify Dhaka
Raj Chengappa writes from Tehran

When Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina sat down for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the NAM Summit on Wednesday evening, they were both acutely aware of their respective political limitations that had stymied what they had hoped would have been a historic breakthrough in relations between the countries.

It has been almost a year since the two signed a slew of agreements at Dhaka in September 2011, including a significant agreement on demarcation of long-disputed territories between India and Bangladesh. Given a recalcitrant Opposition, Manmohan Singh has shied away from moving a Bill in Parliament to amend the Constitution that would fructify the land boundary agreement he had signed with Sheikh Hasina.

So, in his 40-minute meeting with Hasina, the Indian Prime Minister made it a point to enumerate the economic goodies that India had finalised for Bangladesh. He informed her that India would be immediately releasing the $200 million grant that it had promised as part of the $1 billion line of credit it opened last year.

These were to be used for short gestation projects including procurement of buses, locomotives and passenger coaches. He also mentioned to her that India had now agreed to allow Bangladesh zero duty access for not just garments but almost all trade-able goods.

The economic sops were meant to mollify Bangladesh, which has been expressing increasing unhappiness with the pace of implementation of agreements. Hasina has increasingly come under fire from her political opponents for being "soft" on India and getting little in return. With the agreement on sharing of Teesta waters stalled because of stiff resistance from West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, it has given her critics one more stick to beat her with.

The meeting turned out to be a review of the progress made since the September 2011 agreements on a host of issues. Manmohan Singh assured Hasina that India stood "firm" on its commitments and would move to implement them. Bangladesh is keen that at least the land boundary agreement be implemented speedily.

Under the agreement, India had agreed to transfer 102 enclaves to Bangladesh as a swap for 71 enclaves of theirs. But to do that requires ratification by Parliament and the Prime Minister explained the process it entails and the problems he is facing in getting it through.

On Teesta, Manmohan Singh informed her that there were continuing political consultations on the project and India was hoping to bring it to a close soon. Hasina was informed that Mamata had referred the agreement to an expert and was waiting for his report.

The PM also expressed his appreciation to Hasina of how Bangladesh has been cooperating in preventing its territory from being used by North East rebels inimical to India.

PM strikes chord with ‘Little Punjab’
Raj Chengappa writes from Tehran

The PM interacts with representatives of the Indian community on the sidelines of the NAM Summit on Wednesday. — PTI

PM Manmohan Singh’s wife Gursharan Kaur pays obeisance at Tehran’s only gurdwara, Bhai Ganga Singh Sabha Gurdwara

Darvish Street, a narrow lane in the old city limits of Tehran, is Iran’s ‘Little Punjab’. Turbaned Sikhs are a common sight as it houses Tehran’s only gurdwara, the Bhai Ganga Singh Sabha Gurdwara, and the Kendriya Vidyalaya School (also known as the Indian school), in an adjoining premises, where many of the 70-odd Sikh families living in the city send their children to study.

Gursharan Kaur, wife of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was quite at home when she paid a visit to both the school and the gurdwara on Wednesday. The schoolchildren put up a colourful show that included a toe-tapping gidda and folk songs from Punjab. Gursharan Kaur, on behalf of the Indian Government, announced a Rs 2-crore grant for the school apart from Rs 20 lakh for the Indian school in Zahidan. She paid obeisance at the gurdwara and offered ‘rumala’.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister also had his own slice of ‘Little Punjab’ when he held a small get-together with the Indian community leaders, most of them Sikhs. He gave a patient hearing to the issues they raised. These included requesting the Iranian government to permit Indians, who have been residing in the country for long, to purchase property apart from recognising them as permanent residents so that they didn’t have to get their visas renewed at regular intervals.

Many of the Indians who met the Indian Prime Minister had originally lived in Pakistan and then migrated to Iran to do business. Manmohan Singh made it a point to personally shake hands and talk to each of them. Juggoo Sawhney, who runs a flourishing business supplying machinery for railway projects, said, “We were touched by his warmth. We continue to maintain our links with India but regard Iran as home.”

The Sikh community has an interesting history that spans over three generations. Sawhney’s father, for instance, migrated from Rawalpindi to Tehran in 1913, nearly 100 years ago to set up business and stayed on. Sawhney (65) was born in Tehran and has lived here since as does his son, who now runs the business.

The Bhai Ganga Singh Sabha Gurdwara at Tehran was started initially from the house of Sahib Singh, who migrated to Tehran from Rawalpindi in the early 1920s. After setting up an auto spares business, he brought in more people from his village to work as salesmen. As business expanded, the community of Sikhs also grew and flourished.

“In the 1970s when they celebrated Gurpurb the entire auto spares markets came to a standstill,” recalls Inderjit Singh Sahni, whose parents had migrated from Pakistan’s Jhelum district.

With the donations collected from the Sikh community, a duplex building was constructed which regularly holds recitations of the gurbani to sangat. The gurdwara management committee also set up an Indian school in Tehran that was once affiliated to Panjab University and the Central Board of Secondary Education).

After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, there was a steady exodus of Sikh families to India. From 350 families, the number is now down to around 80. Most of them stay in Tehran apart from a few in Ifsahan and Zahidan. With the number of schoolchildren also dwindling, the community found it difficult to manage the school. In 2004, it was decided to hand it over to the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, an autonomous body of the Ministry of Human Resources Development.

Jugal Kishore, the principal, who hails from Hoshiarpur in Punjab, says that apart from Persian, Hindi, English, French and Punjabi are taught at the school. The school now has around 30 per cent of its students from other countries.

Akansha Singh (17), a standard 11th student, who is Indian, says, “I find Tehran beautiful. The school is small compared to others but there is a sense of security and discipline.” Akansha says she feels as much at home in Tehran as she does in Delhi. Many of the Indians who live in Iran echo her sentiments.