India gives 2 lakh sweaters to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

India has begun its 4th tranche of relief assistance to Rohingya refugees sheltering in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar as part of its Operation Insaniyat which began in September 2017. The total aid in the 4th tranche would include 2,25,000 blankets, 2,00,000 woollen sweaters and 500 solar street lights. This tranche of assistance is in specific response to the request of the Minister for Disaster Management and Relief.

In a release, the Indian High Commission in Bangladesh said, "As a special gesture, India is making available a part of the consignment of blankets and sweaters for distribution to vulnerable sections of the local community in Cox's Bazar."

The clothing consignment will help the displaced persons through winter, while solar street lights will ensure environment-friendly lighting solutions for the camps.

The release by the High Commission added that the aid "is part of India's continuing partnership and support for Bangladesh especially in sharing the burden imposed upon it because of the influx of a large number of displaced persons from Rakhine State in Myanmar."

The distribution of aid began from Monday by the Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commissioner of Bangladesh.

The first tranche under 'Operation Insaniyat' in September of 2017 comprised of 981 metric tonnes (MT) of relief supplies, including family packs of rice, pulses, sugar, salt, cooking oil, tea, ready-to-eat noodles, biscuits, mosquito nets, etc.

The 2nd tranche was delivered in May 2018 with 373 MT of relief material including 104 MT of milk powder, 102 MT of dried fish, 61 MT of baby food, 50,000 raincoats, and 50,000 pairs of gumboots.

The third consignment was provided in September 2018, where India handed over 1.1 million litres of SKO (Super Kerosene Oil) and 20,000 Kerosene multi-wick stoves.

India has been calling on Myanmar and Bangladesh to implement the Rohingya repatriation agreement. Recently, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said, "The government of India has noted that governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar have recently reached a bilateral understanding, and obviously as the only country that neighbours both Bangladesh and Myanmar we believe it is in our interest and in the interest of the region that this bilateral understanding is implemented as soon as possible and that the displaced persons return to their homeland as soon as possible."

Late last year India signed the Rakhine State Development Programme with Myanmar. The programme is designed to assist the government of Myanmar to build housing infrastructure for the return of displaced persons to Rakhine.