What is Teesta Treaty?

July 1, 2024

In June 2023, when Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, paid a state visit to India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that a technical team would go to Bangladesh to talk about how to protect and control the Teesta River. The Teesta water-sharing pact has been a point of contention between India and Bangladesh for over a decade. This brought it back to the public’s attention.

India’s Stand on Teesta Water Sharing

After Modi’s speech, India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra made it clear that the talks were more about controlling the flow of water in the Teesta than making deals to share water. While the central government agreed with this position, West Bengal’s Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, disagreed. She said that talks about the Teesta waters should not continue without the state’s participation. She was worried that sharing Teesta’s water would have bad effects on the people in north Bengal.

Background of the Teesta Dispute

The Teesta River is a big river that starts in Sikkim and flows into Bangladesh. It is important for farming and the environment. As part of the planned treaty from 2011, which was almost agreed upon by India’s UPA-II government, India would get 42.5% of the water and Bangladesh would get 37.5%. But the deal didn’t go through because Mamata Banerjee was against it, saying that it could be bad for West Bengal.

Political and Environmental Considerations

There are also political and environmental issues at play in the argument over the Teesta water-sharing plan. India’s hydroelectric projects and barrages in the river’s top catchment areas are thought to have slowed it down, which has hurt the environment and the people in Bangladesh who depend on it for their livelihoods. There are pressures on Bangladesh’s Awami League government to complete the treaty from within the country as well as from outside, such as China’s plans for large-scale dredging and infrastructure projects along the Teesta River.

Broader Implications and Future Perspectives

Managing and sharing Teesta’s waters is connected to problems of sustainability and working together in the region as a whole. Environmentalists and political leaders in India and Bangladesh are still trying to figure out how to handle resources, follow international law (The Helsinki Rules), and deal with the unique social and economic situations in their countries. The current talks, along with the need to renew the Ganga water sharing treaty, show how difficult it is to manage transboundary rivers in a way that is fair, long-lasting, and takes into account everyone’s needs.

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