Face up to China

Government must suggest a treaty on Brahmaputra waters

There has been a spate of reports recently about China's grandiose river water translocation programme. All these suggest that India needs to be wary about the programme's consequences for its Northeast, a region that relies heavily on water flowing in from across the border. The threat comes essentially from Beijing's ambitious "South-to-North Water Diversion Project", a plan for the massive transfer of water from its water-rich southern region to its water-scarce northern tracts. On its completion, this vast water network will not only carry water from the Tibetan Brahmaputra to the parched northern areas and the rapidly dying Yellow River, but will also connect China's four main rivers - the Yangtze, the Yellow River, the Huaihe and the Haihe. While construction of myriad dams and storage structures for diverting Brahmaputra water will affect India and Bangladesh, similar plans for the Mekong bode ill for countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. Besides, such a massive manipulation of the natural water bodies will inevitably affect the hydrology, geology and environment of the whole land mass encompassing China and its neighbourhood.

China's need for equitable distribution of water is understandable, given that the bulk of its indigenous water resources is positioned in the south while the north, which accounts for a sizable part of the country's total gross domestic product, is highly water-deficient. However, usurping waters that normally flow down to the lower riparian countries through international rivers is hard to justify. India is worried primarily over the construction of a series of storage-cum-diversion dams on the Brahmaputra that is the lifeline of its Northeast, especially Arunachal Pradesh and Assam - though it also caters, partly, to the needs of West Bengal. China has formally conceded taking away only one per cent of the run-off from this giant river, but, given the multitude of dams it's planning, the actual depletion of downstream flow may be much larger. China's energy development plan for 2011-15 talks of construction of three more dams on the Brahmaputra in addition to one already under construction. Yet other proposals are under consideration. Large parts of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam may consequently turn arid or semi-arid.

What really defies logic is why, despite knowing China's water relocation plans, New Delhi has been pursuing a soft line on this issue. The previous government invariably took the Chinese defence on this issue at its face value, and even defended Beijing in Parliament against the Opposition's criticism on this count. The Bharatiya Janata Party was in the forefront of assailing Chinese designs on water while in opposition. It is now in power, and it is to be hoped that New Delhi will toughen its stand. This is an issue that must be raised at the highest level. Further, India should press for a comprehensive bilateral - or possibly trilateral, involving Bangladesh - treaty with China on water sharing that is open to international scrutiny and adjudication. The present Indo-Chinese agreement on the exchange of water data is of little value.