News Highlight
During the 38th Joint River Commission ( JRC) meeting, India and Bangladesh addressed various issues about the main common rivers, including the Ganga, Teesta, and several minor rivers.
Key Takeaway
- At the JRC meeting, the Indian delegation was led by Minister Jal Shakti.
- The two parties also covered the River Interlinking Project of India, the exchange of flood-related data and information, riverbank protection projects, common basin management, and other topics.
- The Bangladesh side requested the conclusion of the long pending Teesta Waters Sharing Treaty at an early date.
Transboundary water conflicts.
- Water remains a politically contested issue in much of South Asia.
- The region is facing water shortages and agricultural difficulties, and it will continue to meet increasing demands on energy and water with rapid industrialisation.
- Over-extraction of groundwater is of particular concern; salinity, arsenic contamination of water resources, and the impact of climate change are reducing the amount of water in the rivers, making “water sharing” an important topic in bilateral relations.
India–Bangladesh water sharing
- The Brahmaputra, Ganges, and Teesta are the significant rivers shared between India and Bangladesh.
- Teesta river water sharing.
- Sharing the waters of the Teesta river is perhaps the most contentious issue between the two neighbours, India and Bangladesh.
- The Teesta river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, originates in the Teesta Kangse glacier and flows through the states of Sikkim and West Bengal before entering Bangladesh.
- The river covers nearly the entire floodplains of Sikkim in India.
- It has been in conflict since 1947 when the catchment areas of the Teesta were allotted to India.
- After the setting up of the India-Bangladesh Joint Rivers Commission in 1972, an ad hoc arrangement for sharing of Teesta waters was made in 1983, with India receiving 39 per cent of the water and Bangladesh receiving 36 per cent of it.
- The Ganges Water Sharing Treaty (1996):
- The Ganges Water Sharing Treaty between Bangladesh and India was signed in 1996 for 30 years.
- As per the 1996 treaty for sharing the Ganges waters at Farakka, the division is as follows.
- The treaty also permits the construction of barrages and irrigation projects in Kushtia and the Gorai-Madhumati River.
- The treaty provides for the setting up of a committee consisting of representatives nominated by the two governments in equal numbers following the signing of the treaty.
- The Joint Committee shall submit to the two governments all data collected by it and shall also submit a yearly report to both governments.
The Farakka Barrage
- It is a dam on the Bhagirathi River, located in the Indian state of West Bengal.
- India uses it to control the flow of the Ganges River.
- The dam was built to divert Ganges River water into the Hooghly River during the dry season to flush out the accumulating silt, which in the 1950s and 1960s was a problem at Kolkata Port on the Hooghly River.
- Bangladesh claimed that its rivers were drying up because of the excess water being drawn by India.
Pic Courtesy: The Asian age
Content Source: The Hindu