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MNA Editorial Desk: River Diversion by India in the upcoming days is going to intrigue Indo-Bangla river water dispute. A senior minister of India has announced that India is going to divert water from its rivers to deal with its severe drought.
Water Resources Minister Uma Bharati said transferring water, including from major rivers like the Brahmaputra and the Ganges, to drought-prone areas is now her government’s top priority. At least 330 million people are affected by drought in India.
Drought is taking place as heat wave spreads across India, with the temperatures in surplus of 40C. The Inter Linking of Rivers (ILR) has 30 links planned for water-transfer. 14 of them are fed by Himalayan glaciers in the north of the country and 16 in peninsular India.
Environmentalists have opposed the project, arguing it will invite ecological disaster but the Supreme Court has ordered its implementation.
“Interlinking of rivers is our prime agenda and we have got the people’s support and I am determined to do it on the fast track,” Ms. Bharati said.
“We are going ahead with five links now and the first one, the Ken-Betwa link, in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, is going to start very soon and then we’ll have Damnaganga-Pinjal interlink which will sort out Mumbai drinking water facility.” He also said.
Bharti also said that river-linking project would be the 1st in the history of India since independence.
India-Bangladesh river water dispute
Bangladesh shares 54 rivers with India. The Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna river systems drain through Bangladesh into the Bay of Bengal. Internal political dynamics in both India and Bangladesh have led to estrangement despite the fact that the two nations have ample opportunities for cooperation, especially over water issues.
Farraka Barrage
The proposal to construct the Farraka Barrage in the state of West Bengal in India across the Ganges River had led the two countries to come to the negotiating table to discuss respective claims and justifications that date back in the 1950s.
The 1996 Ganges Treaty (a thirty year comprehensive treaty) provides for the distribution of water from Farakka for the two countries between January 1 and May 31. It states that during any critical period, India would get an assured flow of 990 cubic meters per second.
The 1996 treaty came into existence despite hostilities and inconsistencies largely due to the efforts of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is considered to be pro-India.
The fact that domestic politics plays a big role in river water sharing treaties is best explained by the Indo-Bangladesh water sharing arrangements. However, the BNP has always opposed the Ganges Treaty and indicted India for excessive drawing of water, depriving Bangladesh of its rightful share.
But it has claimed that the water allocated for India is not sufficient for the operation of the Kolkata Port and the power plant in Farakka.
Teesta river water sharing agreement
The West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s refusal to assent to the Teesta river water sharing agreement (fully endorsed by the Central Government in 2011) gave a big jolt to the two countries’ water cooperation. She argued that the proposed allocation scheme would harm agriculture in the north of West Bengal. This river caters to the demands of a major paddy growing region and to the greater Rangpur region of Bangladesh as well.
This was a big let-down for the Sheikh Hasina government that was cooperating with its Indian counterpart in counter-insurgency operations against the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), a separatist group from the Indian state of Assam bordering Bangladesh that had found a safe haven in Bangladesh and had cracked down on anti-India Islamist groups in Bangladesh.
Tipaimukh hydroelectric project
Another dispute regarding the Tipaimukh hydroelectric project in India on the Barak is yet to be settled. The dam is expected to control floods in Assam’s Barak valley and generate electricity for states in the Northeast of India. Farmers in Bangladesh have cried foul fearing it would reduce the water flow to their land, thus damaging rice crops that depend on seasonal flooding of these trans-boundary rivers during every monsoon. However, there has been a decision between the two countries to conduct a joint Environmental Impact Assessment of the project.
Effective initiatives needed
There have been discussions on augmenting the flow of the Ganges River by diverting waters of the Brahmaputra River, considering the two meet in central Bangladesh as the in-basin utilization of the latter currently accounts for only 4 percent of the available surface flow. India has proposed to construct a gravity link canal to divert 43 billion cubic meters (BCM) of water from the Brahmaputra River to the Ganges River.
This has also raised concerns in Bangladesh as this could mean that the entire flow of river water to Bangladesh would be controlled by India and it could also lead to reduction in the amount of water downstream, causing saltwater intrusion and other environmental damages.
However, it could help control frequent floods in Bangladesh. If India could share the augmented share of water with Bangladesh equitably through the Joint Rivers Commission, the latter’s fears could be laid to rest.
India however, has been focusing more on the actual deliverables in the form of bilateral arrangements. Such a short-range response by India has only subdued the enthusiasm for initiatives that could enhance hydro-cooperation with its neighboring countries especially Bangladesh.
India must also realize that Bangladesh is crucial for increasing connectivity with the Northeast – a part of India that has been politically and geographically alienated from the rest of the country for a long time.
The two countries must be engaged in the joint assessment of impacts of climate and environmental change on water security in the region and work towards design and implementation of appropriate policies in this direction.
It would be a daunting task to reach an agreement on the sharing of each of the 54 rivers. It would be better to adopt a more feasible approach that would be constituted by an integrated collaborative and sustainable management of all shared rivers.
