The waters of the Indus River and its tributaries have lengthy represented a strategic vulnerability for Pakistan. Within the wake of the heinous assault on civilian vacationers in Pahalgam, the choice by India’s Cupboard Committee on Safety (CCS) to withdraw from the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) is each well timed and applicable.
The IWT, signed in 1960 after six years of negotiations below the aegis of the United Nations, divided the waters of six Himalayan rivers—specifically the Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Sutlej, Ravi, and Beas—in a 30:70 ratio between India and Pakistan.
India’s choice on the time was an act of magnanimity; few nations would willingly share such a major strategic useful resource—freshwater—with a hostile neighbour. Sadly, Pakistan has not proven gratitude for this gesture. As a substitute, it has handled the association as an entitlement whereas concurrently nurturing terrorism on Indian soil. The CCS’s choice, below the management of the Prime Minister, goals to ship an unequivocal message to Pakistan: such belligerence will not be tolerated.
India’s withdrawal from the IWT has despatched shockwaves throughout Pakistan, significantly amongst its agrarian communities, who now face the grim chance of a famine-like scenario within the coming months. Nonetheless, whereas this transfer seeks to punish an adversary, it additionally presents a novel alternative for India to safe and optimize its water sources.
Beneath the treaty, the six rivers had been categorised into Jap (Sutlej, Ravi, and Beas) and Western (Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab) rivers. India’s present 30% share offers it with 33 million acre-feet (MAF) of water, whereas Pakistan receives 135 MAF (equal to roughly 165 billion cubic meters, or BCM). If India halts the movement of this water inside its territory, it may be utilized in a number of methods to strengthen nationwide infrastructure and scale back dependence on the unstable southwest monsoon.
Firstly, this surplus water will be employed to determine mini and micro hydropower tasks within the mountainous areas, thereby boosting energy technology in Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh. Secondly, the Jap rivers will be linked with different rivers within the plains—particularly people who face water shortage in the course of the winter months—by an expansive canal community. This interlinking would enormously profit monsoon-dependent states and water-deficient areas alike, considerably enhancing agricultural productiveness.
India’s rising inhabitants, urbanisation, and industrialisation are inserting immense strain on freshwater sources, that are already dealing with depletion and degradation. Water safety is crucial for India’s social and financial improvement, significantly because the nation helps 17% of the world’s inhabitants. The Nationwide Fee on Built-in Water Assets Improvement estimates that irrigation water necessities will rise from 611 BCM in 2025 to 807 BCM by 2050. Groundwater alone can solely contribute about 217.61 BCM, making river and canal sources important. The provision of 164 BCM from the Indus system would significantly scale back the nation’s reliance on monsoons.
To successfully utilise the waters of the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab, India may discover the development of lengthy canal methods such because the proposed Jhelum–Yamuna and Chenab–Ganga hyperlink canals. Historic precedents for such huge water-management tasks exist worldwide. For example, China’s Grand Canal—constructed in the course of the Yuan Dynasty within the thirteenth century—extends 1,776 kilometres and hyperlinks 5 main rivers, connecting Beijing within the north to Hangzhou within the south. The Karakum Canal in Turkmenistan, an irrigation canal stretching 1,445 kilometres, carries water from the Amu Darya River throughout the Karakum Desert to Ashgabat. Nearer to house, India’s personal Indira Gandhi Canal, which begins at Harike close to the confluence of the Sutlej and Beas, offers irrigation to the Thar Desert over roughly 788 kilometres.
Whereas the federal government doubtless has varied plans to utilise this water successfully, a coordinated and strategic method is important. A complete community of canals, supported by hydropower installations, may remodel Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh into power-surplus areas and provide very important aid to farmers in Central India, Rajasthan, and southern states.
The time to behave is now. With correct planning and infrastructure improvement, India can reap the advantages of those measures over the following 20 years, making certain long-term water and vitality safety for the nation.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the writer’s personal.
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