Water Governance and Management in India by Girish Chadha & Ashwin B. Pandya

Author:Girish Chadha & Ashwin B. Pandya
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789811364006
Publisher: Springer Singapore

4.3 Transboundary and Interstate Water Conflict: A Brief Parallel Discussion

Sustainable management of water resources is as it is a complex process which involves achieving a balance between various environmental and socio-economic aspects associated with it (Hussein and Grandi 2017). It becomes even more convoluted with the involvement of two or more sovereign nations. The prevailing inter-state water discord between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh over the Brahmaputra within India also has an effect on the transboundary water interactions taking place at the international level (i.e. with Bangladesh, Bhutan and China) (Paula 2015). Furthermore, transboundary waters are considered to be neither public nor private goods, rather they are seen as common pool resources (or collective goods). But it is challenging for the riparian countries to exercise their sovereignty collectively (IDSA Task Force 2010). Within South Asia, it has been difficult to reach an agreement between the riparian nations owing to the presence of multiple factors like power asymmetry, historical rivalries, zero-sum game attitude, lack of trust etc. (Varis et al. 2008; Barua et al. 2017). Among the four riparian nations of the Brahmaputra River Basin (India , China, Bhutan and Bangladesh), only bilateral agreements related to the river exist between the countries, although certain multilateral agreements do exist for issues like trade and connectivity (Price and Mittra 2016). Most of the bilateral arrangements that exist for the river have narrow scope and are often contentious in nature. The Simla Convention is one of the first legal agreements to be signed between the riparian countries of the basin. In order to negotiate boundaries between India and Tibet, a meeting have been conducted in 1914, which involved Great Britain, China and Tibet, and resulted in the recognition of “McMahon Line” that has been based on the natural boundary of the Brahmaputra watershed. The line which stretches from Bhutan to the Great Bend significantly shifted the border north, thereby making India one of the riparians of the Brahmaputra Basin (Uprety and Salman 2011). But the treaty itself has been a source of contention between India and China, with China questioning the legality of the line (Shelvankar 1962). But there have been other bilateral treaties, involving India , which has performed well so far barring few hitches. For close to 50 years, Pakistani and Indian competition for the Indus water has been moderated by a relatively stable Indus Water treaty. In 2005, a disagreement between the two countries over India ’s construction of a hydroelectric project (Baglihar dam) on the Chenab River , Indus tributary, have been referred to a neutral third party by both Pakistan and India ; the neutral expert’s decision in 2007 has been considered final (Salman 2008). Water competition within each nation could unsettle stable relationships, as foreshadowed by the third party involvement. Therefore, the elements of both conflict and cooperation coexist among the riparian nations of the region.

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