Possible ramifications of Indo-Bangla river disputes

The very survival of human existence depends upon water. Both in industrial and third world countries, disputes of water have become inevitable, due to political, economic and other reasons. Water is vital in South Asia, where most countries are still largely agrarian. As such, water is inherently political – its socio-ecological flows are implicated in competition by economies, individuals and nations, while its distributional regimes have the capacity to alter lives and livelihoods. Competing water-use for agriculture, industry, and domestic purposes have led water to become an increasingly scarce resource with limited and threatened supply.

SAARC nations' water needs exacerbate the water crisis on the one hand, and lack of mechanisms for good governance and cooperation required for addressing issues related to food and water security within the region makes matters worse on the other hand.

Voluminous use of water for hydropower and agriculture, due to population growth accounts for future water shortages that will affect a quarter of South Asia population by 2050. Water crises affect all member-nations of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

The same is the situation with regards to India and Bangladesh as well in the SAARC region. Water dispute between India and Bangladesh is one among many disputes relating to use of water resources around the world. India and Bangladesh share trans boundary rivers as a result of which water disputes are still persisting. With regards to the water disputes, there are various legal and technological issues that were involved and also the riparian management system between these two countries very often leads to several frictions.

The Ganges and the Brahmaputra are two major rivers that flow from India through Bangladesh and into the Bay of Bengal.

Bangladesh has around 400 rivers and its rural economy is dependent on agricultural production. People in Bangladesh depend on rivers for their livelihood. Rivers are their identity, their lives.

Bangladesh shares 54 rivers with its neighbour country India, with just one river going upstream and the remaining 53 coming southward from India, according to the Bangladesh National River Conservation Commission. India, therefore, has the upper hand in regulating water flow.

The water disputes between these two nations are primarily centred on the sharing of water of Ganges and also river Teesta. Since Bangladesh is the downstream country, the quantum of water it has access to be dependent on the amount of the water diverted by India as an upper riparian nation. These two nations failed to resolve the dispute for many decades due to various reasons. The dispute over sharing of river waters between these two countries took its birth in the year 1951, when India decided to construct Farakka barrage when Bangladesh was part of East Pakistan, as during that point of time Pakistan opposed the construction of barrage. Despite of it, a lot of efforts were made by the two nations between 1960 and 1970. After partition of Bangladesh from Pakistan in the year 1971, India and Bangladesh signed the Treaty of Cooperation and Peace in the year 1972 for the promotion of goodwill between the two countries. Article VI of the treaty provided that both the nations have to adhere to the treaty provisions with regards to water sharing. During 1972 to 1976, India and Bangladesh signed some instruments. Bangladesh bought the issue to UN in the year 1976, however, India opposed, and the UN decided that the both the nations have to solve the problem on bilateral basis at that point of time. In the year 1977, both the nations formed the water sharing agreement. Due to lapse of agreement, in the year 1982 both the nations signed an MoU and it was continued till the year 1996. In the year 1996, India and Bangladesh concluded the treaty on sharing of the Ganges waters. However, implementation of the treaty has resulted into many difficulties due to technical reasons. On par with the Ganges water dispute, India and Bangladesh also not able to reach any amicable agreement on Teesta River even now.

Despite the 1972 Joint River Commission for Water Management, tensions between India and Bangladesh on sharing resources came to a head in a dispute over the Teesta River. The 1996 Comprehensive River Pact established a 30-year water-sharing arrangement between the two countries. This was set to change in September 2011 when India's former Prime Minister, Manmohan Sing, was to sign a pact with his Bangladesh counterpart for access and use of the Teesta waters. However, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, refused to approve the treaty, fearing that loss of higher volume of water to the lower riparian would cause problems in her State, especially during drier months. The Tipaimukh hydroelectric project in India is another similar source of contention. While it is expected to control floods in Assam's Barak valley and generate electricity for states in northeast India, farmers in Bangladesh fear 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.

Teesta is an important trans-boundary river between both India and Bangladesh. It is a major tributary to Jamuna (Brahmaputra). Both of the countries, especially the Sates of Sikkim and northern parts of West Bengal in India and North Eastern part of Rangpur depend on the water of Teesta. The sharing of the water of Teesta is also a lingering water diplomacy issue between India and Bangladesh. An ad hoc agreement on sharing of the water of Teesta was in place from 1983 to 1985. According to the agreement, India was supposed to get 39 per cent while Bangladesh 36 per cent of the flow volume.

Neighbours India and Bangladesh share a largely cordial relationship. To begin with, both are part of sub-regional organisations like the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectorial Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and the BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal) initiative, where they find common ground on issues facing the neighbouring countries. India's 'Act East Policy' further reinforces the bilateral relationship. So far, India and Bangladesh have signed more than 100 Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) covering various sectors including trade, transport and water allocation.

Taking into consideration with the rights of riparian States, the position between India and Bangladesh, the water dispute revolves around on the basis of riparian structure. This dispute has assumed importance in the recent years and is going to have serious ramifications in future unless both the nations took a serious look in the given dispute. In this direction, the theories of absolute Sovereignty, Territorial Integrity, Theory of Utilisation, UN Conventions and Helsinki Rules have to be implemented. In this context, other issues like social, economic, data exchange, also to be given equal importance. A sound and a robust dispute settlement mechanism and bilateral agreements also have to be encouraged within the SAARC model.

(The writer is an advocate & research associate, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad)