By R. Hassan (TON Bangladesh)

Bangladesh and India are members of sub-regional organizations like the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and the BBIN initiative (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal), where they find common ground on issues facing their neighboring countries, to begin with. Let us describe the water woes between Bangladesh and India:

There are already more than 100 Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) in place between India and Bangladesh, covering various topics from trade to water allotment. Disputes over water resources between India and Bangladesh date back when Bangladesh was still East Pakistan.

In 1961, India began construction of the Farakka Barrage, which would be operational by April 1975. The barrage was designed to divert a portion of the dry-season flow and boost the navigability of Calcutta (now Kolkata) harbor. In 1950-51, when India began preliminary planning for the project, Pakistan raised to worry about the project’s possible impact on East Pakistan.

A total of five meetings between India and Pakistan to discuss the subject were held between 1960 and 1969. India insisted that negotiations should be based on facts after the exchange of pertinent material. India’s plan to build an embankment dam over the river Barak, the upper part of the river Meghna in India, to control flooding and generate power is a more recent source of contention between India and Bangladesh. Churachandrapur District in Manipur will host the dam, which will submerge portions of Manipur and Mizoram. After construction, it will be 162.8 meters high and 390 meters long. The Maximum Water Level (MWL) is planned to be 178 meters high from the Full Reservoir Levee Level (FRL), which is 175 meters MSL.

This has been a contentious endeavor since its inception. As the largest dam in India’s Northeast, the project will be located in one of the world’s most seismically active regions. A biodiversity hotspot not only in India but throughout the world, the region is situated. And the Hmar people, a Kuki tribe, have their whole lives and culture linked with the river. They oppose the dam, claiming that it will destroy their lives and the lives of their families.

This project will permanently submerge 291.5 square kilometers of farmland at FRL, according to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study from 2007. (275.5 sq. km. in Manipur and 16 sq. km. in Mizoram). [17] This will permanently submerge an area of 311 square kilometers, including 229,111 acres of forest and 81,89 acres of farmland and settlements; according to various news reports, There were 31 settlements included in the 1984 survey official number dropped to 15 as of 1998. It was further decreased to eight in the NEEPCO report of 2000, while the AFCL report of 2007 predicts the displacement of 12 small communities. [18] In other independent studies, the 311 sq. km.

Great rivers (Brahmaputra, Meghna, and the Ganges) originate in other nations. The amount of water that eventually makes its way to Bangladesh is considerably limited by the rising populations of China and India, which are the world’s largest economies. There are only 7% of the watersheds for these rivers in Bangladesh. Consequently, the Bengalis are powerless over the amount of water they obtain from these sources.

India has a strategic advantage over Bangladesh because of its geographical location. 94 % of Bangladesh’s surface water comes from outside the country. Bangladesh is especially subject to decisions made upstream, such as the construction and operation of dams in China and India. Especially with the Farakka Barrage, India relies on its military and economic strength to act independently in water-sharing scenarios.

The barrage reduces Kolkata’s salinity, but Bangladesh’s river salinity has increased due to the redirection of the Ganges. Due to the increasing sensitivity of rice paddies to salinity, Bangladesh’s food security is threatened. There are negative repercussions on Bangladesh’s ecosystem from reduced river flow, especially in Sundarbans mangrove forest. Due to forest degradation, Bangladesh’s timber production has decreased, and the government has suffered an economic loss.

India and Bangladesh share a river, the Teesta, which flows across both countries. This transboundary river relationship, like many others, has been plagued with challenges. Nearly 21 million people rely on the Teesta River Basin for their livelihoods. Bangladesh relies on the Teesta River for irrigation, agriculture, and residents’ livelihoods; therefore reaching an agreement on the river’s use is crucial.

Since a significant part of the dam shared is within The Indian Territory, India takes the upper hand and has the majority of the water. Incredibly, sometimes, the Indian Govt. releases dams so suddenly that the Northern Regions of Bangladesh get poorly flooded.

Although some progress has been made but generally, India has kept this matter on its side, and Bangladeshi people want some solutions here.  The agreements signed on this between Bangladesh and India should quickly come to light and execution to use water safely and live in harmony. In addition other related issue need to be resolved.