A long-standing dispute exists between
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
over the appropriate allocation, and development, of the water resources of the
Ganges River, which flows from northern India into Bangladesh. The issue had remained a subject of conflict for almost 35 years, with several bilateral agreements and rounds of talks failing to produce results.
However, a comprehensive bilateral treaty was signed by Indian Prime Minister
H. D. Deve Gowda and Bangladeshi Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina Wajed
Sheikh Hasina Wazed (''née'' Sheikh Hasina ; ; bn, শেখ হাসিনা ওয়াজেদ, Shēkh Hasinā, , born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh since January 2 ...
on 12 December 1996 in the Indian capital New Delhi. The treaty established a 30-year water-sharing arrangement and recognised Bangladesh's rights as a lower-level
riparian
A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks a ...
.
Background
Descending from India's northern plains, the Ganges river forms a boundary of 129 kilometres between India and Bangladesh and flows for 113 km in Bangladesh. At
Pakaur in India, the river begins its attrition with the branching away of its first
distributary, the
Bhagirathi River
The Bhāgīrathī (Pron: /ˌbʌgɪˈɹɑːθɪ/) is a turbulent Himalayan river in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and one of the two headstreams of the Ganges, the major river of Northern India and the holy river of Hinduism. In the Hindu fa ...
, which goes on to form the
Hooghly River. About 10 kilometres from the border with Bangladesh the
Farakka Barrage
Farakka Barrage is a barrage across the Ganga river located in Murshidabad district in the Indian state of West Bengal, roughly from the border with Bangladesh near Shibganj. Farakka Barrage Township is located in Farakka (community develop ...
, built in 1974, controls the flow of the Ganges, diverting some of the water into a
feeder canal linking the Hooghly to keep it relatively
silt
Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel ...
-free.
After entering Bangladesh, the main branch of the Ganges is known as the
Padma River
The Padma ( bn, পদ্মা ''Pôdma'') is a major river in Bangladesh. It is the main distributary of the Ganges, flowing generally southeast for to its confluence with the Meghna River near the Bay of Bengal. The city of Rajshahi is sit ...
until it is joined by the
Jamuna River
The Jamuna River ( bn, যমুনা ''Jomuna'') is one of the three main rivers of Bangladesh. It is the lower stream of the Brahmaputra River, which originates in Tibet as Yarlung Tsangpo, before flowing into India and then southwest into ...
, the largest distributary of the
Brahmaputra River, which descends from
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
and
Northeast India
, native_name_lang = mni
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, ...
. Further downstream, the Ganges is fed by the
Meghna River
The Meghna River ( bn, মেঘনা নদী) is one of the major rivers in Bangladesh, one of the three that form the Ganges Delta, the largest delta on earth, which fans out to the Bay of Bengal. A part of the Surma-Meghna River System, ...
, the second-largest distributary of the Brahmaputra, and takes on the Meghna's name as it enters the Meghna estuary. Fanning out into the 350 km wide
Ganges Delta, it finally empties into the
Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line betwee ...
. A total of 54 rivers flow into Bangladesh from India.
[Sudha Ramachandran (8 June 2006)]
''India, Bangladesh fight against the current''
Asia Times. Accessed 30 May 2008.
Efforts at resolution
Indian Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi and Bangladesh's founding leader
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ( bn, শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান; 17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), often shortened as Sheikh Mujib or Mujib and widely known as Bangabandhu (meaning ''Friend of Bengal''), was a Bengali politi ...
signed the wide-ranging
Indo-Bangladeshi Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Peace on 19 March 1972;
as per the treaty, the two nations established a
Joint River Commission
The Joint River Commission'' was a bilateral working group established by India and Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the w ...
to work for the common interests and sharing of water resources,
irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...
, floods and
cyclones control.
Farakka Barrage
The
Farakka Barrage
Farakka Barrage is a barrage across the Ganga river located in Murshidabad district in the Indian state of West Bengal, roughly from the border with Bangladesh near Shibganj. Farakka Barrage Township is located in Farakka (community develop ...
is a dam on the Bhagirathi River located in the Indian state of West Bengal, roughly from the border with Bangladesh. India uses it to control the flow of the
Ganges
The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...
River. The dam was built to divert Ganges River water into the Hooghly River during the dry season, from January to June, 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 excess drawing of water by India.
In May 1974 a joint declaration was issued to resolve the water–sharing issue before the Farakka Barrage began operation.
This was followed by an interim agreement in 1975 to allow India to operate the feeder canals of the Barrage for short periods.
However, India withdrew from the process of negotiations by September 1976 as both nations grew apart after the
assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the President of Bangladesh, in August 1975 during a military coup d'état, and the related
establishment of military rule in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh protested India's unilateral action at a summit of the
Non-Aligned Movement
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 120 countries that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After the United Nations, it is the largest grouping of states worldwide.
The movement originated in the aftermath o ...
(NAM), and at the 31st session of the
United Nations General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...
.
At the urging of other nations and the U.N., both India and Bangladesh agreed to resume dialogue, but with no results.
Temporary agreements
Bilateral relations had improved in 1977 during the governments of the then-Prime Minister
Morarji Desai
Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 to 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his ...
of India and the then-President
Ziaur Rahman
Lt. General Ziaur Rahman (19 January 1936 – 30 May 1981), was a Bangladeshi military officer and politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1977 to 1981. He was assassinated on 30 May 1981 in Chittagong in an army coup d ...
of Bangladesh;
in 1977 both leaders signed a 5-year treaty on water-sharing, but this expired in 1982 without being renewed.
Bangladesh attempted to internationalise the affair by lobbying the U.N. General Assembly and the
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of states in South Asia. Its member states are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan ...
(SAARC) without any result.
1996 Treaty
The formation of an
Awami League government in 1996 under
Sheikh Hasina Wajed
Sheikh Hasina Wazed (''née'' Sheikh Hasina ; ; bn, শেখ হাসিনা ওয়াজেদ, Shēkh Hasinā, , born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh since January 2 ...
, the daughter of Sheikh Mujib, led to a fresh thaw in relations and negotiations restarted. Both countries leaders met in the Indian capital on 12 December 1996 and signed a 30-year, comprehensive treaty.
As per the 1996 treaty for sharing the Ganges waters at
Farakka , the division is as follows:
Both nations were able to co-operate in harnessing the water resources; the treaty also permits the construction of
barrages and irrigation projects in
Kushtia and the
Gorai-Madhumati River
The Gorai-Madhumati River ( bn, গড়াই-মধুমতি ''Gôŗai-Modhumoti'') is one of the longest rivers in Bangladesh and a distributary of the Ganges. In the upper reaches it is called the Gorai, and the name changes to Madhumat ...
in Bangladesh, draining the south-western districts and thus preserving the environment, natural and economic resources.
Assessment
The 1996 treaty established a long-term solution and considerably eased strains in
Indo-Bangladeshi relations.
The 1996 treaty has been attacked by the
Awami League's (AL) main rival, the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয়তাবাদী দল, Bangladesh Jātīyotābādī Dol; BNP) is a centre-right to right-wing nationalist, political party in Bangladesh and one of the major ...
(BNP), which is regarded as hostile to India, but BNP did not renege from the treaty when it came to power in 2001. The BNP and other Bangladeshi political factions allege that India is drawing excessive water and the amount allocated to Bangladesh is unjust and insufficient.
India in turn complains that the water allocated to Bangladesh leaves it with less water than necessary for the functioning of
Kolkata Port and the
National Thermal Power Corporation
NTPC Limited, formerly known as National Thermal Power Corporation Limited, is an Indian central public sector undertaking under the ownership of the Ministry of Power, Government of India which is engaged in generation of electricity and ...
in Farakka.
Other critics have also stressed environmental reasons for India to reconsider its drawing of water at Farraka. Alarming increases in
deforestation
Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated ...
and
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is dis ...
at the upper levels of the Ganges River increases the deposition of silt at the lower level, which is already measured at 2 million tonnes annually, along with increased
salinity, have led to
desertification. In Bangladesh, the diversion has raised salinity levels, contaminated fisheries, hindered navigation and posed a threat to water quality and public health.
Such silt levels are believed to be adversely affecting the Hooghly River and Kolkata Port.
References
{{Waters of South Asia
Bangladesh–India relations
Treaties of Bangladesh
Water and politics
Ganges
Treaties concluded in 1996
Treaties of India
Water conflicts
Water supply and sanitation in Bangladesh
Water supply and sanitation in India