The issue in News
- India and Pakistan began discussions on the Indus Water Commission on Monday after 22 months.
- The talks were suspended in May 2015 after the Pakistani Commissioner objected to the designs of the Kishenganga and the Ratle hydropower projects of India.
- Last year, the secretaries of power of both countries agreed to third-party resolution through the World Bank.
But the World Bank announced late last year that Pakistan and India should hold bilateral talks.
- Following the World Bank’s reluctance to pass an order, both sides would meet in Washington in April on the Ratle project.
Important Facts to be known about Indus River Treaty
- The Indus Waters Treaty was signed on September 19, 1960 by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistan’s President Ayub Khan.
- It was brokered by the World Bank.
- The treaty administers how river Indus and its tributaries that flow in both the countries will be utilised.
- According to the treaty, Beas, Ravi and Sutlej are to be governed by India, while, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum are to be taken care by Pakistan.
- However, since Indus flows from India, the country is allowed to use 20 per cent of its water for irrigation, power generation and transport purposes.
- A Permanent Indus Commission was set up as a bilateral commission to implement and manage the Treaty. The Commission solves disputes arising over water sharing.
- The Treaty also provides arbitration mechanism to solve disputes amicably.
- Though Indus originates from Tibet, China has been kept out of the Treaty. If China decides to stop or change the flow of the river, it will affect both India and Pakistan.
- Climate change is causing melting of ice in Tibetan plateau, which scientists believe will affect the river in future.
- It maybe noted that both India and Pakistan are still at loggerheads over various issues since Partition, but there has been no fight over water after the Treaty was ratified.
The Indus River Treaty implications
- From the rivers flowing in India, India got nearly 33 million acre feet (MAF) from eastern rivers whereas Pakistan got nearly 125 MAF from western rivers.
- However India can use the western river waters for irrigation up to 701,000 acres with new water storage capacity not exceeding 1.25 MAF.
- Also India can use the rivers for run of river hydro power generation with storage not exceeding 1.6 MAF and nominal flood storage capacity of 0.75 MAF.
- These water allocations made to the J&K state of India are meagre to meet its irrigation water requirements whereas the treaty permitted enough water to irrigate 80% of the cultivated lands in the Indus river basin of Pakistan.
- The storage capacity permitted by the treaty for hydro power generation is less than the total annual silt that would accumulate in the reservoirs if the total hydro potential of the state was to be exploited fully.
- Ultimately, J&K state is bound to resort costly de-silting of its reservoirs to keep them operational.
- Whereas Pakistan is planning to build multi purpose water reservoirs with massive storage for impounding multi year inflows such as 4,500 MW Diamer-Bhasha Dam, 3,600 MW Kalabagh Dam, 600 MW Akhori Dam project with huge population resettlement.
- Pakistan is also losing additional benefits by not permitting moderate water storages in upstream J&K state whose water would be ultimately released to the Pakistan for its use and avoid few dams requirement in its territory.
- It is totally unfounded that water deluge / flooding from the reservoirs by the upstream state would cause any appreciable damage in the Pakistan territory after passing through the steep valleys of J&K state.
Treaty under scrutiny
- The treaty has not considered Gujarat state in India as part of the Indus river basin.
- The Indus river is entering the Great Rann of Kutch area and feeding in to Kori Creek during floods.
- At the time of the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960, the Great Rann of Kutch area was disputed territory between the two nations which was later settled in the year 1968 by sharing total disputed area in 9:1 ratio between India and Pakistan.
- Without taking consent from India, Pakistan has constructed Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) project passing through the Great Rann of Kutch area with the assistance from the world bank.
- LBOD’s purpose is to bypass the saline and polluted water which is not fit for agriculture use to reach sea via Rann of Kutch area without passing through its Indus delta.
- Water released by the LBOD is enhancing the flooding in India and contaminating the quality of water bodies which are source of water to salt farms spread over vast area.
- The LBOD water is planned to join the sea via disputed Sir Creek but LBOD water is entering Indian territory due to many breaches in its left bank caused by floods Gujarat state of India being the lower most riparian part of Indus basin.
- Pakistan is bound to provide all the details of engineering works taken up by Pakistan to India as per the provisions of the treaty and shall not proceed with the project works till the disagreements are settled by arbitration process.
- In aftermath of the 2016 Uri attack, India reviewed the treaty and its provisions and proposed several changes.
- In September 2016, public interest litigation was filed in the Supreme Court of India challenging the validity of the treaty as it was signed by the Prime minister of India who is not head of the Indian republic.
The Kishenganga Project
- The Kishanganga Hydroelectric Plant is an $864 million dam which is part of a run-of-the-river hydroelectric scheme that is designed to divert water from the Kishanganga River to a power plant in the Jhelum River basin.
- It is located 5 km (3 mi) north of Bandipore in Jammu and Kashmir, India and will have an installed capacity of 330 MW.
- Construction on the project began in 2007 and was expected to be complete in 2016.
- Construction on the dam was temporarily halted by the Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration in October 2011 due to Pakistan’s protest of its effect on the flow of the Kishanganga River (called the Neelum River in Pakistan).
- In February 2013, the Hague ruled that India could divert a minimum amount of water for power generation.
Pakistan’s Contention
- Pakistan is worried that the project will have adverse impacts on the flow of the river, which flows into their country and meets with the Jhelum River.
- Pakistan is constructing the Neelum–Jhelum Hydropower Plant downstream of the Kishanganga.
- The Kishanganga Hydroelectric Plant operates in a similar sense as the Neelum–Jhelum Hydropower Plant, using a dam to divert the Kishanganga (Neelum) River to a power station before it is discharged into Wular Lake which is fed by the Jhelum River.
- The Kishanganga Project will divert a portion of the Neelum River from Pakistan which will reduce power generation at the Neelum–Jhelum Hydropower Plant.
- India states the project will divert 10 percent of the river’s flow while other estimates stand as high as 33 percent.
- Nevertheless, water flow below the Neelum–Jhelum Dam, in Pakistan’s Neelum Valley, is expected to be minimal as both projects are diverting water to the Jhelum River.
- This has the potential to have adverse impacts in the Neelum Valley.
The Legal Battle
- In 2010, Pakistan appealed to the Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration (CoA).
- Pakistan complaint that the Kishanganga Hydroelectric Plant violates the Indus River Treaty by increasing the catchment of the Jhelum River and depriving Pakistan of its water rights.
- In June 2011, the CoA visited both the Kishanganga and Neelum–Jhelum Projects.
- In August 2011, they ordered India to submit more technical data on the project.
- India had previously reduced the height of the dam from 98 m (322 ft) to 37 m (121 ft).
- After Pakistan’s application was first rejected, the court asked India late September to stop constructing any permanent works that would inhibit restoration of the river.
- While India cannot construct the dam, they can continue on the tunnel and power plant in hopes that the court will allow the project.
- In February 2013 the Hague ruled that India could divert a minimum of water for their project.
- In this partial award, the court upheld India’s main contention that it has the right to divert waters of western rivers, in a non-consumptive manner, for optimal generation of power.
- The International Court of Arbitration gave its “final award” on 20 December 2013, wherein it allowed India to go ahead with the construction of the Kishanganga dam in Jammu & Kashmir over which Pakistan had raised objections.
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