The Rajya Sabha has passed a bill to operationalise the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) with Bangladesh, and the exchange of certain enclaves of land between the two countries.
The Constitution (One Hundred and Nineteenth Amendment) Bill, 2013 was unanimously passed on Wednesday by the upper house, with 180 votes in favour and zero against it, reports IANS.
Earlier in the day, the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) (Constitutional Amendment) bill was placed before Rajya Sabha.
Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj placed the bill before Rajya Sabha for discussion around 2pm.
The LBA Bill is aimed at redrawing the international boundary between India and Bangladesh by exchanging areas of adverse possession and enclaves along with population on either side, thus making the highly incongruous and porous Indo-Bangla border more manageable.
Once the Indo-Bangladesh border gets redrawn, India will transfer 111 enclaves measuring 17,160.63 acres to Bangladesh and receive 51 enclaves measuring 7,110.2 acres.
Indian Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the bill will be put before the two houses of Parliament for consideration and adoption, and it will be tabled before the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
Earlier in 2013, ex-Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj managed to introduce the LBA bill amid protests by the Trinamool Congress and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) members.
On Tuesday, the Union Cabinet of India cleared a constitutional amendment bill for the historic land boundary agreement.
The Indian government had accepted the demand of including enclaves in Assam in the agreement.
Now, the agreement will include territories in Assam, West Bengal, Tripura and Meghalaya for exchange with Bangladesh.
Naidu said: "In the larger interest of the country, Assam will be included in the land boundary agreement with Bangladesh and fencing will also be done on the border in Assam."
However, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government had earlier decided not to include Assam in the agreement.