Discuss the steps required to realise ‘hydro-co-operation’ between India and Bangladesh. (2022, 10 Marks)
India and Bangladesh share 54 rivers, India is upstream on every one, and only the Ganga carries a full sharing treaty (the Feni and Kushiyara have withdrawal arrangements). Claudia W. Sadoff and David Grey (2002) argued that riparians cooperate best when they move from dividing water to sharing the benefits it creates. Five sets of steps follow.
1. Close the pending allocations
- Renew the Ganga Waters Treaty before it expires on 12 December 2026. The 1996 formula rests on 1949–88 flows, and below 50,000 cusecs at Farakka it promises only consultation. A new text needs a guarantee clause for the lean season, flow-indexed shares, an environmental flow and a review trigger. Dhaka now seeks a new treaty rather than an extension, and in late September 2026 the MEA said talks remained at the technical level.
- Sign Teesta. West Bengal’s change of government (May 2026) has removed the political veto; the lean-season shortage on both banks remains, so a deal needs storage and dredging as well as percentages.
- Use Article IX of the 1996 treaty, on “other common rivers”, for interim pacts on the Manu, Muhuri, Khowai, Gumti, Dharla and Dudhkumar.
2. Build trust through data and institutions
- Joint gauging and real-time data on flows, rainfall and sediment, extending the flood-forecasting transfers that already work.
- Give the Joint Rivers Commission (1972) a standing secretariat and a neutral technical mechanism, which the Ganga Treaty lacks.
- Restore regular high-level dialogue, thin since August 2024: technical bodies prepare agreements, but only leaders conclude them.
3. Settle India’s federal side first
Water is a State subject (List II, Entry 17), and the 1996 treaty needed Jyoti Basu’s consent. Bihar’s JD(U) leadership now asks the Centre not to renew in the present form, and S. Jaishankar has assured Bihar its needs will be considered. Early consultation with Patna and Kolkata prevents a veto at the point of signature.
4. Plan at basin scale and share benefits
- Joint basin plans for the Ganga–Brahmaputra–Meghna system, with projects assessed for ecological and social effects on both banks.
- Augmentation through Nepal’s storage and trilateral power trade (Nepali electricity reaching Bangladesh through India since November 2024) turn a zero-sum share into joint gain.
- Inland waterway protocols make rivers corridors.
5. Present a joint position upstream
China began the Medog project in July 2025; in August 2025 it agreed to share only emergency hydrological data with India, on humanitarian grounds. A common India–Bangladesh demand for notification and data would align India’s two riparian roles.
Conclusion
In Mark Zeitoun and Jeroen Warner’s terms (2006), India has practised hydro-hegemony by containment, and Dhaka’s interest in a Chinese-financed Teesta project shows its cost. Lasting hydro-co-operation means a generous Ganga renewal and a Teesta deal in return for a stable, interest-based relationship.