The Ganges Water Dispute: An Appraisal of a Third Party Settlement

Abstract

Few controversial matters of the Subcontinent have attracted the attention and concern of the world community as intensely as the long-standing dispute over the sharing of the Ganges water between India and Bangladesh. The dispute was generated by the construction and operation by India, the upper riparian, of a barrage across the Ganges at a place named Farakka, about 17 kilometers upstream from the western borders of Bangladesh with India. The barrage was designed to divert a certain portion of the Ganges dry season flow into the Bhagirathi-Hooghly River of India to resuscitate the Calcutta port with silt-free water, thereby improving the navigability of the harbor by supplying sufficient water during the lean months.1 Bangladesh, the lower riparian, is dependent on Ganges water cardinally for irrigation, inland navigation, and checking the intrusion of salinity from the Bay of Bengal. The parties to the dispute have so far striven to resolve their differences through bilateral efforts. The 36-year history of their negotiations-initially between India and Pakistan, and subsequently between India and Bangladesh-has not brought the parties any nearer to a solution. However, since the launching of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), both countries have been edging closer to settlement of their major irritants. Contentious bilateral issues, such as the Ganges water dispute, have been kept beyond the purview of the SAARC, but in the SAARC spirit, the two countries decided to join forces in developing their common water resources and an interim agreement was signed on