Renewing the Ganges water treaty will test India–Bangladesh ties, says ORF

Writing on 23 October, Sohini Bose of New Delhi-based ORF points out that the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty, signed by India and Bangladesh in 1996 for 30 years, expires in 2026. The two countries share 54 transboundary rivers. During the lean season, from 11 March to 10 May, the treaty guarantees Bangladesh 35,000 cusecs (cubic feet per second) in 3 alternating 10-day periods. If flow at Farakka falls below 50,000 cusecs, emergency consultations are triggered.

According to the author, India regards Farakka as a diversion structure rather than a dam. New Delhi wants to keep the flexible emergency consultation clause and opposes a fixed minimum guarantee. Bangladesh's government and the BNP want back a "guarantee clause" of the kind in the 1977 agreement, which secured at least 80% of the allocation. Some Bangladeshi experts propose adding Nepal as a 3rd party and a brief 3-year term. The state of Bihar, meanwhile, has asked New Delhi not to finalise the renewal.

Bose argues that the renewal should go beyond water sharing and become a basin agreement covering energy, biodiversity and sediment management. She warns that on both sides every concession risks being read as a political defeat. Talks are expected in December, she writes. Bangladesh's Padma Barrage project and the option of joining the UN Watercourses Convention are counted among its bargaining chips.