{"id":375045,"date":"2026-11-04T16:41:08","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T11:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=375045"},"modified":"2026-11-04T16:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T11:11:08","slug":"ganga-water-treaty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/ganga-water-treaty\/","title":{"rendered":"Ganga Water Treaty"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content-box-green\">\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong> Ahead of the Ganga Water Treaty\u2019s expiry in December 2026, India reiterated that a structured mechanism exists to address the treaty\u2019s requirements.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"red-h2-box\">About Ganga Water Treaty<\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 428px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.impriindia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/photo_he_optimized_200.jpg?resize=993%2C686&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"Ganga Water Treaty\" width=\"428\" height=\"296\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Source: IWA Publishing <\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>Ganga Water Treaty<\/strong> is a<strong> 30-year bilateral agreement <\/strong>between<strong> India and Bangladesh.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It governs the<strong> sharing of the Ganges River waters <\/strong>at the<strong> Farakka Barrage in West Bengal<\/strong> during the<strong> lean season from January 1 to May 31 every year.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Signed in:<\/strong> It was signed on<strong> December 12, 1996,<\/strong> by <strong>Prime Ministers HD Deve Gowda and Sheikh Hasina.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Important Provisions:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>If the <strong>water level at Farakka is less than 70,000 cusecs,<\/strong> the two nations share it <strong>equally<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>If the level of water is between 70,000 and 75,000 cusecs,<\/strong> <strong>Bangladesh<\/strong> receives <strong>35,000 cusecs<\/strong> and <strong>India<\/strong> gets the <strong>remaining<\/strong> water.<\/li>\n<li><strong>If the water level falls below 50,000 cusecs in a 10-day period,<\/strong> both governments, through the existing bilateral mechanisms, immediately consult with each other to <strong>adjust allocations<\/strong> on an emergency basis.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A clause in the agreement ensures a minimum of 35,000 cusecs<\/strong> to each side in<strong> alternate 10-day periods between March 11 and May 10.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Emergency clause:<\/strong> It also has an emergency clause (Article II) that dictates that <strong>if the water flow at the Farakka Barrage drops below 50,000 cusecs in any 10-day period, both India and Bangladesh must immediately enter into consultations to negotiate emergency adjustments to water flow.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bangladesh&#8217;s Demands:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Bangladesh wants the<strong> treaty to be renewed before its expiry on 12 December 2026.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It seeks the <strong>restoration of the guarantee clause of the 1977 agreement<\/strong>.\n<ul>\n<li>The clause ensured that <strong>Bangladesh would receive 80% <\/strong>of its allocated share even when the Ganga&#8217;s water flow at Farakka fell<strong> below 80% of the agreed level.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bangladesh<\/strong> has argued that the <strong>treaty does not adequately address ecological and environmental flow considerations, nor does it include factors such as climate change.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Some experts in Bangladesh have suggested <strong>including Nepal to make it a trilateral agreement.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Other river water sharing treaty with Bangladesh:\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/kushiyara-river-delhi-dhaka-sign-river-pact-first-in-25-years\/\">Kushiyara River MoU<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/explained-the-significance-of-the-feni-river-mou-between-india-bangladesh\/\">Feni River MoU<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table style=\"width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; border-style: solid;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 100%;\">\n<h2 class=\"yellow-h2-box\"><strong>About Ganga River<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 537px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdnbbsr.s3waas.gov.in\/s308a414f9e8aeb5be39198b0da2dfc595\/uploads\/2025\/06\/202506231697773227.jpg?resize=537%2C323&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Ganga\" width=\"537\" height=\"323\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: State Mission for Clean Ganga, Namami Gange Uttarakhand<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>Ganga River<\/strong> is a <strong>trans-boundary river that flows through India, Tibet (China), Nepal and Bangladesh.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Origin:<\/strong> It rises in the<strong> Gangotri glacier in the Himalayas<\/strong> at an elevation of about 7,010 m in the <strong>Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand. <\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Course of river:<\/strong> At its source, <strong>the river is called as the Bhagirathi.<\/strong> It descends <strong>down the valley upto Devprayag where after joining another hill stream Alaknanda, it is called Ganga.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>It finally drains into the <strong>Bay of Bengal.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Boundaries:<\/strong> The basin is bounded by the <strong>Himalayas on the north, by the Aravalli on the west, by the Vindhyas and Chhotanagpur plateau on the south and by the Brahmaputra Ridge on the east.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Total length:<\/strong> The total length of river Ganga is <strong>2,525 km.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Drainage area:<\/strong>\u00a0 The drainage area lying in India is<strong> 861452 km<sup>2<\/sup><\/strong>which is <strong>nearly 26.2% of the total geographical area of the country.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>States covered:<\/strong> In India, it covers states of<strong> Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Ganga in Bangladesh:<\/strong> It is known as the<strong> Padma as soon as it enters Bangladesh<\/strong>, around 22 km downstream from the <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/farakka-barrage\/\">Farakka Barrage<\/a> in Murshidabad district of West Bengal.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tributaries:<\/strong> The principal tributaries are the<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/yamuna-river\/\"> Yamuna<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/sone-river\/\">Son<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/ramganga-river\/\">Ramganga<\/a>, Ghaghra, Gandak, Kosi, and Mahananda. Chambal and the Betwa are sub tributaries.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Dams:<\/strong> \u00a0Important storages constructed in the basin include<strong> Matatial, Sarda Sagar, Ramganga, Bansagar dam (Interstate MP, UP, Bihar), Rajghat Dam (Interstate MP, UP), Chambal Valley dam (Gandhisagar, Ranapratap Sagar, Jawahar Sagar), Kangsabati, Tehri, Mayurakshi, Rihand and DVC reservoirs.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It is one of <strong>India&#8217;s holiest rivers, holding immense cultural and spiritual significance.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: Ahead of the Ganga Water Treaty\u2019s expiry in December 2026, India reiterated that a structured mechanism exists to address the treaty\u2019s requirements. About Ganga Water Treaty The Ganga Water Treaty is a 30-year bilateral agreement between India and Bangladesh. It governs the sharing of the Ganges River waters at the Farakka Barrage in West&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/ganga-water-treaty\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Ganga Water Treaty<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10366,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,164,1760,11209,12039],"tags":[11872,10498],"class_list":["post-375045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-international-relations-daily-factly-articles","category-polity-and-nation","category-geography-in-news","category-knolls","tag-9pm-daily-factly","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375045\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}