Joint Rivers Commission crippled by a lack of political will

The Joint Rivers Commission has not been much effective in resolving the issues of water sharing of transboundary rivers due to a lack of commitment from India and also for Bangladesh's technical incapacity to be persuasive.

And this has been affecting the ecology, environment and livelihoods of millions in Bangladesh.

Even though the neighbours share 54 rivers, and the JRC has been working since 1972, only one water-sharing deal – the Ganges -- was signed, and that too, two and a half decades ago. That treaty is set to expire in 2026.

The water ministers of the two countries have so far met 37 times and there have been many meetings of secretaries and technical committees. Yet, the JRC has very little to show for.

However, after a series of discussions, the JRC had finalised the agreement for sharing the water of the Teesta in 2010, but the deal was torpedoed by West Bengal, stalling the minister-level JRC talks for 12 years.

Yet, the JRC remains the lone platform for meetings with India to discuss sharing of water, joint management, sharing of flood-related data, interventions in Indian territory to control flow, embankment and river bank protection work adjacent to borders, and other pertinent issues.

The JRC has now become a consultation platform and it does not have any executive power. It cannot take charge. It can only recommend and execute what the governments of the two countries decide, said Prof Shahab Enam Khan of international relations at Jahangirnagar University.

The discussions at the JRC meetings are not made public and the so-called decisions made there do not always reflect the people's desires. "If we want to make the JRC successful, the information provided to the JRC has to be made public," said the professor.

Water sharing between Bangladesh and India is more of a political issue than a technical one. "Hence, we need to enhance the capacity of our bureaucrats and technical experts to deal with hydro diplomacy and hydro politics," he said.

Activists and environmentalists alleged that India had built dams unilaterally on almost all transboundary rivers and has diverted water without Bangladesh's consent.

Bangladesh could not handle the issues properly due to a lack of competency and expertise, they alleged.

Sharif Jamil, general secretary of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (Bapa), said the JRC was an ineffective platform. Delegates of the JRC were supposed to sit twice a year to solve issues but they do not do so.

"… India has unilaterally built more than 40 structures on transboundary rivers in recent years. We have photographs of those structures and also have other proofs," said Sharif.

The United Nations adopted the UN Watercourses Convention in 1997 under which states are allowed to utilise water in an equitable and reasonable manner.

China had voted against it; India and Pakistan abstained; Nepal and Bangladesh voted in favour but did not ratify it.

Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of Bangladesh Environment Lawyers Association (Bela), said Bangladesh should ratify the convention to raise its voice at the international level. The convention has provisions for a party to place its demands before the international community and the UN secretary general has the authority to form a fact-finding mission.

"Bangladesh would not be able to avail itself of the facilities if it did not ratify the convention," she said.

"They [JRC] should make all the information and documents public. It is already proven that discussions of bureaucrats, without ensuring any accountability even if they are for hundreds of hours, are not fruitful."

Today, India's Jal Shakti (Water Resources) Minister Gajendra Singh Shakhawat and State Minister for Water Resources of Bangladesh Zahid Faruk will lead their delegations to the 38th JRC ministerial-level meeting in New Delhi.

The meeting is being held ahead of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India in early September.

At today's meeting, the two sides are expected to finalise a joint study on the utilisation of the Ganges water and an agreement for the withdrawal of water from the Kushiyara, sources familiar with developments said.

They added that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on sharing data on the water flow of six rivers that enter Bangladesh from India's North-East could be finalised. The rivers are the Monu, Muhuri, Khowai, Gumti, Dharla and Dudhkumar.

The JRC has been talking about these six rivers since 1985 but failed to reach an agreement.

The sources said Bangladesh would raise the Teesta issue at the meeting.

When our New Delhi correspondent sought comments from the members of the Indian delegation at the JRC, they declined to comment and said there would be a statement issued after the JRC meeting.