Bangladesh Demands Guarantee Clause in Ganges Treaty
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- Bangladesh is demanding a 'guarantee clause' in the renewed Ganges Water Treaty with India, which guarantees a minimum flow to the downstream country during dry seasons — a provision that was in the 1977 treaty but dropped from the 1996 pact.
- Water Resources Minister Shahiduddin Chowdhury Anee said Bangladesh is prepared to approach international forums to protect its water rights if a renewed treaty cannot be secured, and expressed hope PM Tarique Rahman would make Bangladesh's case at the United Nations next month.
- The Farakka Barrage remains a central dispute: India describes it as a diversion structure channeling about 40,000 cusecs of Ganga water into the Farakka canal, while Anee called it a 'death trap' and said India built around 900 embankments along the Ganges afterward.
- India's parliamentary standing committee on external affairs urged the government in July to begin renewal talks 'without further delay,' recommending updated hydrological data, climate projections, and input from West Bengal and Bihar.
- Bangladesh also wants a right-to-information provision in future agreements and argues the current allocation formula relies on outdated hydrological conditions that no longer reflect increasingly uncertain dry-season flows.
- The Joint Rivers Commission handles water-sharing between the two countries, which share 54 major rivers, though India told Parliament in February that formal discussions on renewing the Ganges treaty had not yet begun.
Why it matters: With the 1996 treaty expiring in December and India's own parliament pressing for talks, Bangladesh is using a public deadline to lock in enforceable minimum-flow guarantees — and threatening international forums if India doesn't engage. The standoff puts India's West Bengal and Bihar stakeholders directly in the negotiation crosshairs, since the parliamentary committee explicitly tied renewal talks to their concerns.
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