Shared resources: Kushiyara pact to strengthen India-Bangladesh ties

Changing the constitutional status of water only way to resolve India's inter-state water disputes

The Kushiyara river water agreement between India and Bangladesh assumes significance as it has come about despite any headway in resolving the impasse over the politically more consequential Teesta water dispute. Also, this is the first major water sharing accord between the two friendly neighbours since the Ganga water treaty in 1996, though they have managed to settle several other outstanding issues, including the contentious border disputes. The Kushiyara accord would, per se, benefit only the southern areas of Assam in India and the Sylhet region in Bangladesh. But the dialogue on the management of waters of the transboundary rivers that has ensued from this accord has far-reaching upshots. The India-Bangladesh joint river commission, which met in New Delhi last month after 12 years, agreed on several vital initiatives, including strengthening mutual cooperation in combating pollution of common rivers, regular sharing of water-stock data, and the extension of the Ganga treaty beyond its expiry date of 2026.

More importantly, Bangladesh is going to undertake large scale dredging and desilting of all the 54 rivers that flow through both the countries, focusing, in particular, on the Feni-Kushiyara and Muhuri rivers. It hopes to get a line of credit from India for this purpose. Significantly, Dhaka is also contemplating measures to augment groundwater aquifers in the entire region by improving the catchments of water bodies and reviving several old and decaying rivers and rivulets. However, regardless of all these seemingly positive outcomes of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India, the age-old Teesta water wrangle remains the constant sore point between the otherwise ideal neighbourly relations between the two nations. This river originates from the eastern Himalayas and flows through Sikkim and West Bengal before merging with the Brahmaputra in Assam and crossing over to Bangladesh under the local name of Jamuna. Over 80 per cent of the river’s catchment area falls in India, though its water supports the livelihood of a sizable section of the population in Bangladesh. In India, this river is the lifeline of a large part of North Bengal.

The negotiations on apportioning the water of this key river, which began way back in 1983, managed to thrash out a pact during the Dhaka visit of the then Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh in 2011. But the deal could not be formalised because of the last minute veto by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was part of the Indian delegation. The mutually agreed accord, supposed to last for 15 years, provided for allotment of 42.5 per cent of the Teesta water to India and 37.5 per cent to Bangladesh. Ms Banerjee, however, struck it down, maintaining that the water flow in Teesta has reduced substantially over the years, leaving little to spare for Bangladesh. Water being a state subject under the Constitution, the Centre could do little to settle this issue without the consent of the state. The time has perhaps come to review the constitutional status of water and declare it as a national asset under the control of the Union government. That seems the only way to resolve not only the issues concerning the waters of international rivers like Teesta but also many of the country’s internal inter-state water disputes that have lingered for decades.