Water wars: India needs an effective hydro-diplomacy

As an active regional player,riparian issues for India will be crucial for settling many of the water-induced conflicts in the region. Both the GBM and the Indus basins account for two-thirds of India’s water potential. Further,any water outlook will necessitate interdisciplinary approaches linking together natural sciences,politics and policy.

“The challenge for India will be to imbibe hydro-diplomacy in its overall regional diplomacy; not an easy task as India’s diplomacy has traditionally been bilateral rather than multilateral,” opine analysts.

According to officials,”Water has been a major issue in India-Bangladesh relations. Nearly 50 rivers flow from India into Bangladesh. Both sides signed the Ganges Water Treaty in 1996. While the treaty has helped them to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution on the sharing of the water of the Ganges; Bangladesh remains apprehensive about India’s intentions with regard to several other water-related issues such as the sharing of the Teesta river waters,India’s plans for the interlinking of the rivers and the construction of the Tipaimukh dam in the northeast.”

Sharing his views with FE on conditions of anonymity,a senior army officer points out the urgency to upholster our northeast region. “ We need to prepare for competitive relations in the northeast region on more than one ground and more so water resources.”

China has strengthened its political and economic control over Tibet where India and China have a complex,unresolved boundary dispute. Thus,water has assumed higher priority in Sino-Indian relations in recent years. There are widespread fears in India that China’s diversion of waters of the Yarlung-Tsangpo,to meet high demand in its arid north,will cause hydrological imbalance in the northeast part of India and shortage in Bangladesh,which in turn will impact riparian relations.

Rivers,a crucial source of water resources,physically link upstream and downstream users. While their flows offer ample opportunity for water harnessing,equally,they create barriers. The management of rivers does not take place in a vacuum but rather in a complex political and economic framework.

“The implementation of river policies,even when purely design-related to the linking of rivers or constructions of dams and barrages,are undertaken within a political context. Rivers,in effect,can no longer be viewed as a soft component of a country’s foreign policy. Rather they are intricately linked to developmental goals and domestic needs and thus impact bilateral relations,” experts opine.