The Ganges River is 2600 kilometers-long, originating in the Tibetan Himalayas. Around 1080000 square kilometers of the whole sewage region are spread across four nations – China, Nepal, India and Bangladesh (Rahaman, 2006). As the Gange River flows from Bangladesh, the barrages and dams constructed by the rest of the nations are significantly affected. The country therefore suffers the most in the dry seasons. The Ganges Water Treaty was signed twice between India and Bangladesh to solve the problem of water shortage in Bangladesh.
The river also transports pollution and is a serious danger to Bangladesh’s rivers, canals, public safety, and coastal ecosystems (Amin, 2021).What is no harm principle?No harm principle, it was only a policy but now has become a customary legislation. Basically, it actually says that for its development activities, no one can hurt any other State or territory or individuals or anybody’s land.
During the first phase of environmental laws, no harm principle was laid forth. It was established by a case which is called ‘Trail Smelter Dispute, 1938,’ rather than an international law. However, this was only a case judgment for Canada and the United States, thus no other nations were obligated to pursue this approach. Furthermore, it has become international law and is obligated to continue with all the governments in the world,
as part of the Stockholm declaration and the Rio Declaration. We can see the law becomes more explicit from the Stockholm declaration to the Rio declaration. And it tells individuals that what must not be done might contradict the principle of No Harm. The Rio declaration of 1992 specifically defined no harm principle through the addition of development policies. It brings to each state extra restrictions and duties. The neighbor state or shared resources do not always truly indicate the no harm principle. It identifies transboundary pollution from everywhere in the world.
Infringement of No Harm Principle in the context of Ganges River Reducing pressure of water: The upstream nations of China, Nepal, India has all constructed several barrages to reduce their country’s water flows and the shifts in water flows have had a significant impact on Bangladesh, in particular the north. The Farakka dam is the cause of most of Bangladesh’s troubles. Moreover, because of the water scarcity in the dry season,
the agriculture sector is significantly affected.Solid and hazardous wastes dumping: Bangladesh’s rivers get 24 times as much plastic trash as their own land dumps from neighboring nations and this severe threat to rivers, canals, health impacts and marine biodiversity (Amin, 2021). The Ganga River is additionally polluted by industrial pollutants that are dispersed directly in water in upstream nations.
Ganges water
Constructing the Farakka Dam is the main source of debate between Bangladesh and India over Ganges water. The Dam was erected at a position where the river flows get Bangladesh. The dam was created for two reasons. a) to sustain this river and to smooth the water deposited inside the port of Kolkata. b) to ensure that the city of Kolkata receives saline free water (Rahaman, 2006).One of the biggest goals made in defining an extensive strategy was to honor the 1972 Indira Gandhi of India and Sheik Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh resolution of the India-Bangladesh Joint River Commission (JRC) (Bhattacharjee,
2013). Both parties disagreed profoundly with the supplementation of Ganges water supply and Bangladesh’s quantity of water to be allocated India declined to start operating the Farakka dam without Bangladesh’s approval. India started to withhold water arbitrarily. By bringing it up before the United Nations, Bangladesh tried to globalize the matter. The Joint Committee of the River reported in 1974 that the yearly lowest flow under Farakka was 55,000 cusecs in summertime (Bhattacharjee, 2013).
The Ganges Water was signed in November 1977 shortly after India independently executed its pullout from June 1975 to November 1977 and the agreement for five years is the first significant sharing arrangement in Ganges (Hossain, 1998). Under the 1977 agreement, during the dry season between January and May the water would be divided into 10 days. A dry season flow plan was developed from the documented historical data between 1948 and 1973 on the basis of 75% flow availability at Farakka. The assurance term of 1977 assured that Bangladesh would get at least 80% of its planned flow if the Farakka flow fell to less than 80% of the schedule flow.
With the expiration of the 1977 Treaty of 1982 India and Bangladesh, between 1983 and 1988, signed two ‘Memoranda of Understanding.’ The share between India and Bangladesh was about the same overall but this agreement eliminated from the assurance provision shown in the 1977 Agreement (Rahaman, 2009). There were no operating mechanics between the two countries between 1989 and 1996 for the distribution of the Ganges waters.
The Ganges Water Sharing Treaty between Bangladesh and India, which was signed for a term of 30 years on 12 December 1996 (GWT, 1996), was a significant step in the direction of the end of a long-standing controversy about the sharing of Ganges water. The Treaty states that during the dry season (January–May), flow in the Farakka area would be shared between India and Bangladesh. The Treaty’s most significant feature is the requirement that, during most crucial periods between 11 March and 10 May, every country is guaranteed to receive 35,000 cusecs of flow in alternative 10-day cycles.
Conclusion and Recommendation After 30 years of operation of a system for water sharing between India and Bangladesh, the existing terms of the Treaty expire in 2026. This shows that implementation of the Treaty has not made a significant impact to the improvement of the availability of dry season water in Bangladesh. But the problem might get worse without the Treaty, destroying the downstream natural balance. However,
if adjusted by the proposed changes, the Treaty may still address the problems of water shortages and promote cooperation between downstream countries.
To address the water issue between India and Bangladesh, an arbitration body should be established by specialists from both governments.
References: Amin, M. A. (2021, March 18). Bangladeshi rivers receive 24 times more plastic waste from neighbours. The Business Standard. Retrieved Bangladeshi rivers receive 24 times more plastic waste from neighbours (tbsnews.net)Bhattacharjee, J. (2013). Understanding the Ganges Water Treaty. Water Scarcity in Bangladesh: Transboundary Rivers, Conflict and Cooperation, 37–46. Water Scarcity in Bangladesh: Transboundary Rivers, Conflict and Cooperation (ethz.ch)
Rahaman M. M., (2009). Integrated Ganges basin management: conflict and hope for regional development. Water Policy 11(2), 168–190. https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2009.012.GWT (1996). Treaty Between the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and the Government of the Republic of India on Sharing of the Ganga/Ganges Waters at Farakka. Government of Bangladesh, Dhaka A critical review of the Ganges Water Sharing arrangement | Water Policy | IWA Publishing (iwaponline.com)
