Sharing of Ganges Waters

The sharing of the Ganges' waters is a long-standing issue between India and Bangladesh over the appropriate allocation and development of the water resources of the Ganges River that flows from northern India into Bangladesh. The issue has remained a subject of conflict for almost 35 years, with several bilateral agreements and rounds of talks failing to produce results.

However, a comprehensive bilateral treaty was signed by the then-Indian Prime Minister H. D. Dewe Gowda and the then-Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed on December 12, 1996 in the Indian capital of New Delhi. The treaty established a 30-year water-sharing arrangement with guaranteed minimum quantities of water supply for Bangladesh, whose right as a lower-level riparian was recognised.Robie I. Samanta Roy (November 1997). [http://www.american.edu/ted/ice/indobang.htm India-Bangladesh Water Dispute] American.edu. Accessed 2008-05-30.] [http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/G_0023.htm Ganges Water-Sharing] Banglapedia.] Saswati Chanda & Alok Kumar Gupta (24 January 2000). [http://www.ipcs.org/South_Asia_articles2.jsp?action=showView&kValue=670&country=1016&status=article&mod=a The Ganges Water Sharing Treaty: Genesis & Significance] IPCS.org. Accessed 2008-05-30.]

Background

Descending from India's northern plains, the Ganges river forms a boundary of 129 kilometres (km) between India and Bangladesh and flows for 113 km in Bangladesh. At Pakaur in India, the river begins its attrition with the branching away of its first distributary, the Bhagirathi River, which goes on to form the Hooghly River. About 10 kilometres from the border with Bangladesh the Farakka Barrage, built in 1974, controls the flow of the Ganges, diverting some of the water into a feeder canal linking the Hooghly to keep it relatively silt-free. [http://countrystudies.us/bangladesh/106.htm Bangladesh's relations with India] CountryStudies.us. Accessed 2008-05-30.]

After entering Bangladesh, the main branch of the Ganges is known as the Padma River until it is joined by the Jamuna River, the largest distributary of the Brahmaputra River, which descends from Assam and Northeast India. Further downstream, the Ganges is fed by the Meghna River, the second-largest distributary of the Brahmaputra, and takes on the Meghna's name as it enters the Meghna estuary. Fanning out into the 350 km wide Ganges Delta, it finally empties into the Bay of Bengal. A total of 54 rivers flow into Bangladesh from India.Sudha Ramachandran (June 8, 2006). [http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HF08Df04.html India, Bangladesh fight against the current] . Asia Times. Accessed 2008-05-30.]

Efforts at resolution

The then-Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Bangladesh's founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman signed the wide-ranging Indo-Bangladeshi Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Peace was signed on March 19, 1972; as per the treaty, the two nations established a Joint River Commission to work for the common interests and sharing of water resources, irrigation, floods and cyclones control.

Farakka Barrage

The Farakka Barrage is a dam on the Bhagirathi river located in the Indian state of West Bengal, roughly 10 kilometres from the border with Bangladesh. India uses it to control the flow of the Ganges river. The dam was built to divert the Ganges River water into the Hooghly River during the dry season, from January to June, in order to flush out the accumulating silt which in the 1950s and 1960s was a problem at the Kolkata Port on the Hooghly River. Bangladesh claims that its rivers were drying up because of excess drawing of water by India. In May 1974 a joint declaration was issued to resolve the water-sharing issue before the Farakka Barrage was put into operation. This was followed by an interim agreement in 1975 to allow India to operate feeder canals of the barrage for short periods.

However, India withdrew from the process of negotiations by September 1976 as both nations grew apart after the killing of Sheikh Mujib and establishment of military rule. Bangladesh protested India's unilateral action at a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and at the 31st session of the U.N. General Assembly. At the urging of other nations and the U.N., both India and Bangladesh agreed to resume dialogue, but with no results.

Temporary agreements

Bilateral relations had improved in 1977 during the governments of the then-Prime Minister Morarji Desai of India and the then-President Ziaur Rahman of Bangladesh; in 1977 both leaders signed a 5-year treaty on water-sharing, but this duly expired in 1982 without being renewed.

On October 4, 1982 the then-Bangladeshi president Hossain Mohammad Ershad signed with India a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on water sharing for 2 years. On November 22, 1985 another MoU for 3 years was signed. As still there was no agreement on augmenting the flow, India did not agree to a further extension of the accord and reduced the river's dry season flow for Bangladesh in 1993 to lower than 10,000 cusec in place of around 34,500 cusec in the last accord. Bangladesh attempted to internationalise the the affair by lobbying the U.N. General Assembly and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) without result.

1996 Treaty

The formation of an Awami League government under Sheikh Hasina Wajed, the daughter of Sheikh Mujib, in 1996 led to a fresh thaw in bilateral relations and both nations restarted negotiations. Both leaders met in the Indian capital on December 12, 1996 and signed a 30-year, comprehensive treaty. According to the treaty, the water of the Ganges river would be distributed from Farakka for the two countries between January 1 and May 31 and that India would maintain the flow at Farakka at the average level of previous 40 years. At any critical period, Bangladesh would get a guaranteed flow of 35,000 cusec.

The two countries also agreed to the need for mutual cooperation in augmenting the flow of the Ganges on a long-term basis, and for entering into similar accords in sharing the flows and developing the water resources of other shared rivers. It established India's pre-condition for augmenting the flow of the Ganges and recognised Bangladesh's right as a lower riparian to an equitable share of its existing flow. Both nations were able to cooperate in harnessing the water resources; the treaty also permits the construction of barrages and irrigation projects in Kushtia and the Gorai-Madhumati River in Bangladesh, draining the southwestern districts and thus preserving the environment, natural and economic resources including the world's largest mangrove forests in Sundarbans by preventing salinity from the Bay of Bengal.

Assessment

The 1996 treaty established a long-term solution and considerably easing strains in Indo-Bangladeshi relations. The 1996 treaty has been attacked by the Awami League's main rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which is regarded as hostile to India, but it did not renege from the treaty when it came to power in 2001. The BNP and other Bangladeshi political factions allege that India is drawing excessive water and the amount allocated to Bangladesh is unjust and insufficient. India in turn complains that the water allocated to Bangladesh leaves it with less water than necessary for the functioning of the Kolkata Port and the National Thermal Power Corporation in Farakka.

Other critics have also stressed environmental reasons for India to reconsider its drawing of water at Farraka. Alarming increases in deforestation and erosion at the upper levels of the Ganges river increases the deposition of silt at the lower level, which is already measured at 2 million tonnes annually, along with increased salinity have also led to desertification. ["Indo-Bangladesh Common Rivers: The Impact on Bangladesh." Contemporary South Asia. 1. 2. (1992):5.] In Bangladesh, the diversion has raised salinity levels, contaminated fisheries, hindered navigation and posed a threat to water quality and public health. [Wolf, Aaron T. “Water and Human Security.” Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education. 118. (2001): 29.] Such silt levels are believed to be adversely affecting the Hooghly river and the Kolkata Port.

References

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