Editorial 1: A Document past its time
Context:
Indus water treaty was signed in 1960 to provide the arrangement for the judicious use of Indus River and its tributaries. It was necessary to ensure the proper use and allocation of its waters for irrigation, building dams. Its relevance is debatable in the present challenges of 21st century including climate change. The Pahalgam terror attack has strained India-Pak relation and the treaty is kept in abeyance since then.
Historical Context and Significance:
- The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), signed 65 years ago in 1960 by India and Pakistan with the World Bank’s mediation, was a unique experiment in water diplomacy.
- It divided the Indus river system into two groups: the western rivers—Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab—were allocated to Pakistan, while the eastern rivers—Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej—were given exclusively to India.
- This arrangement was backed by provisions for utilization, regulation, and dispute resolution through arbitration.
- At that time, the treaty was seen as both a pragmatic compromise and a symbol of sovereign control over rivers in the post-colonial imagination.
- For India, losing access to the eastern rivers would have jeopardized irrigation in Punjab and Rajasthan, while for Pakistan, access to western rivers was essential for agriculture and survival.
- By enabling Pakistan to build barrages and canals, the treaty helped it avoid food insecurity.
- For decades, the IWT was hailed as one of the most successful trans-boundary water-sharing agreements in the world, functioning despite wars, terrorism, and political hostility between the two countries.
- It was viewed as a bridge of peace, an instrument that forced two hostile neighbors to cooperate, at least on paper, over shared natural resources.
- However, with the passage of time, its relevance has come under scrutiny.
Changing Realities:
- Terror Attacks and political hostility have reduced the shared water resource management strategy to hollow idea. The treaty is kept in abeyance by India since Pahalgam Attack.
- Climate change is one of the realities today which are not addressed by the Treaty. The glaciers are shrinking in Hindu-Kush and Himalayas mountain ecosystems.
- In upper stream Indus basin, water flow is expected to increase due to melting of glaciers. This may lead to major shifts in the course of river.
- Downstream monsoon has become erratic. Recent floods in Punjab have affected all the 23 districts and have submerged 1.75 lakh acres of farmland. In Pakistan’s Punjab province, over two million people have to be evacuated due to rise in the level of rivers.
- These floods are not mere natural disaster; they have become new hydrological reality. This leads to extraordinary strain which is far beyond the reach of the clauses of this treaty.
- The Treaty is not able to deal with Siltation, which is new reality in modern times. It leads to choking of reservoirs, shrinking storage capacity, and rising riverbeds making floods fierce.
- In Punjab floods this year left large tracts of land buried under silt. Siltation has become national crisis.
- However, slit is a good natural resource with wide uses such as enriching soil use in construction, and aiding land reclamation.
- The rivers need not a piecemeal dredging after each flood or adhoc siltation when reservoirs clog, but a coherent national strategy on silt management. It may reduce floods, expand storage, and make water use far more efficient.
- Treaty was forged mainly to prioritize irrigation projects, dams and water sharing mechanisms. Today, treaty needs to adapt to modern challenges of resilience in climate extremes, disaster preparedness, and sustainability of fragile ecosystem.
- Today disaster management needs the sharing of trans-boundary hydrological data and timely flood information. Though data exchange was embedded in the Treaty. Despite political challenges, the data sharing arrangement was adhered.
Way Forward:
This year marks the 65th anniversary of the Indus water Treaty. The treaty is a case study in water diplomacy as it has been in operation for 65 years. The present challenges call for renegotiating the Treaty to withstand the shocks of 21st century. India must also adopt a national siltation policy. It needs to be made broad based by addressing these modern challenges.