Analyze the impact of hydro politics on Indo-Bangladesh relations. (UPSC CSE Mains 2020 - Political Science and International Relations, Paper 2)
- Ever since Bangladesh was formed, water has been a critical explanatory factor in Bangladesh-India relations with 54 rivers crossing each other’s boundaries.
- The most contentious issue in the hydro-political relations between the two nations, so far, had been the construction of the Farakka barrage. The barrage had been the point of contention right from its design phase when Bangladesh was East Pakistan. The 1996 Ganges Water Sharing Agreement (GWA) between Bangladesh and India saved the hydro-political impasse.
- The recent inauguration of “Maitri Setu,” the bridge on the transboundary Feni river shared between Bangladesh and India was another feather added to the Bangladesh-India friendship cap.
- While GWA and Maitri Bridge over Feni seem to be the sweet spots of success from a hydro-diplomacy perspective, the Teesta River remains the bone of contention between the two riparian nations. An ad-hoc agreement of 1983 lapsed within two years. An attempt in 2011 to ink an agreement by the Bangladesh and Indian governments based on the 1984 recommendations could not be implemented due to objection from the state of West Bengal.
- From an institutional and governance perspective, the Bangladesh-India Teesta stalemate is largely created due to water being a State subject in the Indian Constitution. In the case of the GWA, West Bengal played an enabling role, while for the Teesta it is just the contrary. Therefore, Bangladesh-India transboundary water relations will always emerge as a “two-level” game as far as India is concerned.
- 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.
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