Shafaqna India: India and Bangladesh have begun the process to renew a landmark agreement on sharing the waters of the Ganges, as analysts warn political disputes and uncertainty over Dhaka’s general election could complicate talks between the two neighbours.
Officials from both sides have started joint measurements of water levels in the Ganges, or Padma as the river is known in Bangladesh, as part of preparations to renew the agreement signed in 1996 and due to expire in December this year, according to Indian media reports, citing officials.
The monitoring began last week and is scheduled to continue at 10-day intervals until May 31, a period that is critical for assessing dry-season flows, the reports say.
The talks come at a sensitive moment as the two countries navigate political and geographical knots bedevilling their ties, even as they assess hydrological data arising from one of the region’s most contested transboundary water-sharing arrangements that affect the livelihoods of millions of people.
Pintu Kumar Mahla, research associate at the University of Arizona’s Water Resources Research Centre, said two ongoing controversies might complicate the water talks between New Delhi and Dhaka.
A map controversy over “Greater Bangladesh” gained significant public attention and diplomatic concern last April after Islamist groups in the country reportedly published maps showing portions of eastern and northeastern India as part of Bangladesh.
Last month, the brutal lynching of Hindu garment worker Dipu Chandra Das in Bangladesh, accused falsely of blasphemy by his colleagues, sparked widespread outrage in India. Bilateral ties were strained after India conveyed its strong concerns over the killing, prompting Dhaka to say that justice would be delivered.
“However, it is hopeful that both nations will work amicably for their people and the environment,” Mahla said.
Under the 1996 agreement, India and Bangladesh would each get 35,000 cubic feet (991 cubic metres) per second of water.
One concern in New Delhi is that Dhaka may ask for more water than originally specified, particularly since Bangladesh has “a more powerful negotiation platform” after it joined the UN water convention last June, according to Mahla.
This was why Bangladesh’s suggestion to create a new institutional framework in September to manage water-sharing agreements with India for 14 transboundary rivers was “viewed with suspicion” in India, which is not a signatory to the convention.
Apart from addressing severe water vulnerability and the impact of climate change, Dhaka’s involvement in the UN treaty is also seen as an attempt to seek a stronger legal framework for cooperation on shared rivers with upstream nations like India and China.
“Renewing the Ganges River Treaty with a framework that gives Bangladesh more water may put more stress on eastern India, an area already experiencing water scarcity, and test India’s water storage capacity, especially during dry seasons,” Mahla explained.
Bangladesh is the first South Asian nation to join the UN treaty, which provides a global framework for managing shared water resources.