India–Bangladesh relations are increasingly shaped by elite diplomatic frameworks that often fail to reflect ground-level realities. Shared rivers, cross-border trade, cultural ties, and migration patterns bind millions of ordinary citizens on both sides of the 4,156-km border. Critics argue that foreign policy conducted through closed negotiations and bureaucratic channels neglects people-to-people connectivity, water-sharing grievances, and the aspirations of border communities. The argument is that durable bilateral stability requires embedding civil society, local economies, and grassroots concerns into the diplomatic architecture itself.

India and Bangladesh share one of the world's most complex bilateral relationships — built on the 1971 Liberation War solidarity, the Ganga Waters Treaty (1996), the Land Boundary Agreement (2015), and extensive trade and connectivity frameworks. Yet each of these achievements was negotiated at the state level, with limited formal input from affected communities.

The 'people-centric' foreign policy argument challenges the conventional realist model, insisting that neighbourhood diplomacy must account for the lived experiences of border populations. For India, this matters because Bangladesh is its largest trade partner in South Asia (bilateral trade exceeding $14 billion), a key partner in BBIN (Bangladesh–Bhutan–India–Nepal) connectivity, and a frontline state in managing insurgency routes from India's Northeast.

The Teesta River dispute — unresolved since the 2011 draft agreement — exemplifies how elite-level impasses harm farmers and fisherfolk on both banks. Similarly, killings at the India–Bangladesh border by BSF remain a persistent human-rights flashpoint that erodes public trust far more than diplomatic communiqués can repair.

For UPSC, the conceptual link is between India's 'Neighbourhood First' policy (announced 2014) and its practical execution. The examiner tests whether aspirants understand the gap between stated policy and structural delivery — and how multilateral frameworks like BIMSTEC, SAARC, and BBIN attempt to bridge that gap institutionally. Static knowledge about the Land Boundary Agreement (ratified 2015, resolved enclaves issue), the Ganga Waters Treaty duration (30 years), and Bangladesh's role in India's Act East Policy are all frequently tested.