Ganga Water Treaty: Joint River Commission Continues — SkimNews
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- Ministry of External Affairs: An official spokesperson described the Joint River Commission as the “structured mechanism” for dealing with the Ganga Water Treaty.
- Ganga Water Treaty: The treaty will expire on December 12, 2026, but bilateral engagement and issue-handling will continue at commission level regardless of its status.
- India: India and Bangladesh share about 54 rivers, of which three—the Ganga, Brahmaputra and Teesta—are identified as major.
- Ganga: Together with the Brahmaputra and Teesta, it is vital to Bangladesh’s agriculture and flood-preparation mechanism.
- Joint River Commission: India and Bangladesh agreed to establish it after the 1971 war to address all river-water-related issues between the two countries.
Why it matters: India’s assurance gives Bangladesh a continuing institutional route for river issues even if the Ganga Water Treaty expires on December 12, 2026, rather than tying bilateral engagement to the treaty alone. Because the commission covers all shared-river issues across roughly 54 rivers, its forum remains broader than the three major waterways central to Bangladesh’s agriculture and flood preparation.
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