Hinglish

Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan

Class 7 Social Science · Chapter 14: India and Her Neighbours · NCERT Exploring Society: India and Beyond section 14.3

Learn

Bangladesh, once East Pakistan, was born in 1971. Its border with India is even longer than India's border with China, running along West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. The two share Bangla, rivers of the Ganga and Brahmaputra, and the Sundarban, the world's largest mangrove forest and home of the Bengal tiger, which shields the coast from cyclones. Rising seas are a shared worry. Nepal has a long open border with India: under the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship, people cross without passports or visas. Pilgrims visit the Paśhupatinātha temple, festivals like Dashain and Tihar are shared, and India is Nepal's largest trading partner.

Bhutan, the "Land of the Thunder Dragon", is a small landlocked Himalayan kingdom between India and China. Rivers from Bhutan flow into India and run hydroelectric plants that supply clean power to India. Buddhism binds the two: Guru Padmasambhava brought Vajrayāna Buddhism to Bhutan in the 8th century, and Bhutanese pilgrims visit Bodh Gaya and Nalanda. Bhutan measures progress by Gross National Happiness, not only by GDP. Three schools of Buddhism spread from India: Theravāda (to Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia), Mahāyāna (to China, Japan and Korea) and Vajrayāna (to Tibet and Bhutan).

Explore: which school of Buddhism?

  1. Sort each clue.

Remember

  • Bangladesh shares language, rivers and the Sundarban with India; Nepal has an open border.
  • Bhutan supplies hydropower and shares Buddhist heritage; it measures Gross National Happiness.

Quick check

An open border means people can …

  1. cross without a passport or visa
  2. never cross
  3. cross only by air
  4. cross only once a year
Answer

cross without a passport or visa. India and Nepal work together so the open border is not misused.

Think about it

How does an open border affect families living near it?

One answer

They can visit relatives, study, work, trade and get healthcare on either side easily, so their daily lives and markets become closely linked.

Practice

Practise with fresh questions at three levels (easy, medium, hard), some answered hands-on, with hints and worked answers. Get 4 of your last 5 right to finish the topic.