The India -Bangladesh Joint Rivers Commission (JRC) concluded its 37th meeting in New Delhi on Saturday. The JRC is the highest forum for resolution of disputes on sharing waters of common rivers between the two countries. The forum was constituted in 1972 with its charter calling for holding at least two meetings every year. At the current meeting, the Bangladesh side was led by Minister for Water Resources, Ram Chandra Sen. Indian Water Resources and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kuman Bansal led the Indian side.

During the talks, Bangladesh proposed a draft “interim agreement”, while India offered a “statement of principles” on sharing of the waters of the Teesta.  At the end of the talks, India agreed to examine the draft submitted by the Bangladeshi side. The delegations discussed a motley of issues, from Teesta to other common rivers, drinking water supply, minor lift irrigation schemes on the Feni and Muhuri rivers and implementation of the 1996 Ganga Water-Sharing Treaty. The Bangladeshi side referred to Article-VIII of the Treaty for long-term augmentation of the flows of the Ganga during the dry season at Farakka. The delegation proposed that this clause could be implemented by India, Bangladesh and Nepal, jointly building a reservoir at a suitable location in Nepal, to benefit all three countries.

The two countries agreed to identifying 12 new bank protection sites in India and 22 new ones in Bangladesh. They also agreed to sharing flood data. India agreed to provide flood data to Bangladesh to enhance the lead-time to the latter to more than 57 hours for advance warning of floods, much to the Bangladeshi delegation’s delight. The two sides also agreed that India would begin dredging of the Ichamati River in Bangladesh, which has been causing flood in West Bengal in India, due to the emergence of a 20kms shoal. Bangladesh also agreed to release 1.82 cusecs of water to India from the Feni River for drinking purposes. On the Tipaimukh Dam Project, the Indian side reiterated its commitment to restrain from any steps that would adversely impact Bangladesh. It also gave assurances on refraining from any unilateral decisions on its river-linking project.

The main focus however remained on water sharing of Teesta, a common river originating from India, which is crucial for the irrigation of Bangladesh's major rice producing region of Rangpur. For India, any decision on Teesta is multilayered because India considers water as a state subject and hence the state of West Bengal, which depends on the Teesta water for irrigation and hydropower generation, has to be consulted before any decisions can be taken. Bangladesh wants to have water sharing on a 50-50 basis at Gazoldoba- the only release point of Teesta river water to Bangladesh. The West Bengal government does not want the Indian government to make any deals with Bangladesh that would adversely affect its interests.

The Teesta is considered very important for Bangladesh’s food security. Over 750,000 hectares of farmland in the food surplus Rangpur region is dependant on the river for supplementary irrigation. The Rangpur area in Bangladesh faces severe water shortage every year during the dry season. The government has the largest supplementary irrigation in the dry season (Nov to April) at Dalia in Rangpur over the Teesta. The flow of water decreases every year and farmers in the drought prone region don’t get enough water for growing Bangladesh’s main staple, rice.

The JRC mandate stipulates for two meetings a year but this meeting was held after 5 years. In the last JRC meet in 2005 the major issues that were raised were Tipaimukh, cooperation on flood data, the river-linking project in India and water sharing on Teesta, but except future cooperation, no major decisions were made on the issues. At the current JRC, however, the Indian side made concrete assurances on almost all the issues discussed in the last meeting. The JRC 2010 also decided to enhance cooperation on the Ganga Treaty. In light of these developments, it would not be hasty to term JRC 2010 as a relative success. It is also imperative to recognize that more vibrant political relations between the two countries, as compared to 2005, might have facilitated this meeting. The JRC should thus be seen as both the result of better bilateral relations, as well as an effective tool for enhancing relations between the two. 

The JRC 2010 was also significant because it was representative of the resolve of the two countries to augment bilateral relations as evidenced by the Joint Communiqué signed by them at the beginning of this year. This document emphatically reiterated the need to continue discussions on all water related issues. India and Bangladesh have 54-shared rivers and so far they have only one treaty for the sharing of the Ganga. If both the countries can successfully negotiate a deal on the Teesta, it will help in setting a precedent for water management in the future. The progress made at this JRC should be commended and it should also be diligently carried forward. One way of ensuring that would be to meet more regularly, as envisaged in the charter of the JRC.