♤ Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bangladesh in June 2015

♤ Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Visited Bangladesh in 2011

1.4. River Waters

♤ India and Bangladesh share 54 common rivers: Ganga and Brahmaputra are chief among them. Bangladesh is a lower riparian state.

♤ Joint Rivers Water Commission was formed in 1972 for carrying out survey of the shared river systems.

♤ Farrakka Barrage constructed in 1975 by India to use water from Ganges to flush the Hooghly river and keep the Kolkata Port operational, became a bone of contention. Bangladesh under general Zia confronted India and tried to internationalise the issue.

♤ A settlement was finally reached in 1977, with a new government in India led by the Janata party, known as the Farakka accord.

♤ The Ganges Waters Treaty was signed in 1996 for the sharing of waters of the River Ganges during the lean season (January 1-May 31).

♤ On the Teesta River, an interim agreement was reached by both sides for water sharing in 1984. However, a final agreement has been elusive. The West Bengal’s government’s opposes any such agreement perceived to be unjust & insensitive to West Bengal’s water needs & demands.

1.4.1. The Teesta Dispute

♤ Historically, the root of the disputes over the river can be located in the report of the Boundary Commission (BC), which was set up in 1947 under Sir Cyril Radcliffe to demarcate the boundary line between West Bengal (India) and East Bengal (Pakistan, then Bangladesh from 1971). During East Bengal’s days as a part of Pakistan, no serious dialogue took place on water issues between India and East Pakistan. In 1972, the India-Bangladesh Joint Rivers Commission was established.

♤ The Teesta river originates in Sikkim and flows through West Bengal as well as Bangladesh. India claims a share of 55 percent of the river's water.

♤ The river is Bangladesh's fourth largest transboundary river for irrigation and fishing. The Teesta's floodplain covers 2,750sq km in Bangladesh. Of the river's catchment - an area of land where water collects - 83 percent is in India and 17 percent is in Bangladesh. That means more than one lakh hectares of land across five districts in Bangladesh are severely affected by withdrawals of the Teesta's waters in India, said the Observer Research Foundation. These five Bangladesh districts then face acute shortages during the dry season, it added.

♤ In 1983, an ad hoc arrangement on sharing of waters from the Teesta was made, according to which Bangladesh got 36% and India 39% of the waters, while the remaining 25% remained unallocated.

♤ After the Ganga Water Treaty, a Joint Committee of Experts was set up to study the other rivers. The committee gave importance to the Teesta. In 2000, Bangladesh presented its draft on the Teesta. The final draft was accepted by India and Bangladesh in 2010. In 2011, during then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Dhaka, a new formula to share Teesta waters was agreed upon between the political leadership of the two countries.

♤ The 2011 interim deal - that was supposed to last 15 years - gave India 42.5 percent of the Teesta's waters and gave Bangladesh 37.5 percent.

♤ West Bengal CM, Mamata Banerjee opposed this deal so it was shelved and remains unsigned. In fact, she was scheduled to accompany the then PM Manmohan Singh to Bangladesh to sign that deal in 2011, but cancelled the trip.

♤ West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has in the past countered Bangladesh’s argument citing the amount of Teesta waters India already gives Bangladesh. "When we need a certain quantity of water to maintain our Kolkata Port and fulfil the need of farmers, water is released from Teesta and Farakka barrages to Bangladesh sacrificing the state's interest" she said in 2013.

♤ Hydropower on the Teesta is another point of conflict. There are at least 26 projects on the river mostly in Sikkim, aimed at producing some 50,000MW.

♤ Mamta Banerjee has proposed sharing the waters of other rivers. As north Bengal is completely dependent on the Teesta, she said, rivers like the Torsa and Manshai, which are closer to the border of India and Bangladesh, are good options. The Torsa, in fact, has connectivity with Bangladesh's Padma river. The West Bengal CM proposed that the two countries set up a commission to ascertain the level of water flowing through the Torsa and the quantum of water that can be shared.