Parliament panel to mull international water treaties next week

NEW DELHI: A parliamentary committee will consider India's international water treaties with neighbouring countries next week, including with China amid less-than cordial relations between the two countries in the wake of deadly clash between the two armies in Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in June.

The committee will discuss issues related to similar treaties with Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan regarding water resource management as well as flood management in India.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Water Resources is set to hold its meeting on Tuesday, in which "oral evidence" by the representatives of Ministry of Jal Shakti (Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation) and the Ministry of External Affairs will be put forth.

A Parliament source privy to the development said that the committee will take up issues based on the oral submissions by the two Ministries, and move suggestions if new agreement or some changes are necessary.

As per a parliamentary note circulated by the Committee Secretariat, the matter regarding the "oral evidence by the two Ministries on the subject of 'Flood Management in the country, including international water treaties in the field of water resource management/flood control with particular reference to treaty/agreement entered into with Nepal, China, Pakistan and Bhutan' will be discussed in the meeting.

The meeting will be held from 2 pm onwards on Tuesday on Parliament premises. Formed on September 13 this year, the 31-member Committee will take up the issue for the first time after its formation in the wake of India-China face-off.

A total of 21 LokSabha and 10 RajyaSabha members would discuss the issue and then submit the report to Parliament on which Indian government would take further decisions.

The agenda papers regarding the meeting will be circulated to the parliamentarians in electronic form only on e-portal and the MPs have been requested to make it convenient to attend the sitting of the committee.

BharatiyaJanata Party leader Sanjay Jaiswal, who is an MP from PaschimChamparan in Bihar, will head the meeting as Chair.

NarayanaSwamyAbbaiah, Vijay Baghel, BhagirathChaudhary, Nand Kumar Singh Chauhan, Nihal Chand Chauhan, Chandra PrakashChoudhary, Guman Singh Damor, HeenaVijaykumarGavit, K Jayakumar, Kaushal Kishore, Dhanush M Kumar, Mohammad Akbar Lone, KuruvaGorantlaMadhav, ShriHasmukhbhaiSomabhai Patel, DipsinhShankarsinhRathod, P Raveendranath Kumar, NusratJahanRuhi, Agatha K Sangma, Suresh, and KempegowdaDoddaalahalli are among the LokSabha members on the committee.

The RajyaSabha members include Balwinder Singh Bhunder, Harshvardhan Singh Dungarpur, NR Elango, Mir Mohammad Fayaz, KirodiLalMeena, A Mohammedjan, Arun Singh, Rewati Raman Singh, Subhash Chandra Singh, and PradeepTamta.

It would be the first such meeting on the issue amid the ongoing crisis, including the stand-off at the Line of Actual Control with China. The move might influence the trajectory of South Asia's transboundary water security.

Water policies on shared rivers have far-reaching consequences for India as well as neighbouring countries because of shared waterways amid growing populations, climate change and expanding demand for water.

Following the 2017 Doklam crisis, China withheld monsoon data, critical for flood management in northeast India, thereby violating terms of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Later in 2019, following the Pulwama attacks, India's plan to divert water flowing into Pakistan gained momentum.

Neither of these instances had anything to do with the shared waters or existing agreements, yet they had detrimental effects on the resource as well as the potential for furthering dialogue on joint management or cooperation. (IANS) 

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