 "Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Shivraj Singh, Shivraj")
Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will meet a group of farmers from the North Indian states of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and Western Uttar Pradesh to discuss the benefits of keeping the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan in abeyance.
The discussion will be held at the ICAR Pusa campus. According to sources, Chouhan will apprise the farmers of how the decision to keep the IWT in abeyance will benefit them and secure their future. He will also speak on the losses they have suffered due to water sharing under the IWT—and the role of the Congress party in enabling that.
The Centre placed the IWT in abeyance as part of a series of measures announced in the aftermath of the deadly terrorist attack in the Pahalgam area of Jammu and Kashmir last month.
The treaty, which governs almost 80 per cent of the water flow in the shared basin, was signed between India and Pakistan in 1960, brokered by the World Bank. It is considered one of the most durable trans-boundary water agreements in the world.
The treaty divides the six rivers in the Indus Basin between the two nations. India, under the agreement, has complete control over the three eastern rivers—Ravi, Beas and Sutlej—while Pakistan received rights over the three western rivers—Indus, Jhelum and Chenab. The three rivers that flow into Pakistan account for nearly 80 per cent of the shared basin’s water.
As per the agreement, India is allowed to use water from the western rivers—Indus, Jhelum and Chenab—for hydropower generation and irrigation, but cannot build any structure that diverts or impacts the downstream flow of these rivers.
For Pakistan, these rivers are virtually lifelines, providing irrigation for large areas of cotton and paddy cultivation, as well as a significant portion of horticultural production.
 "Dr ML Jat, Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)")
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