Indus water treaty

Subject: IR

Context:

September 19 marks the 60th anniversary of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) between India and Pakistan, a treaty that is often cited as an example of the possibilities of peaceful coexistence that exist despite the troubled relationship.

Concept:

• In the year 1960, India and Pakistan signed a water distribution agreement came to be known as Indus Waters Treaty which was orchestrated by the World Bank.
• This agreement took nine years of negotiations and divides the control of six rivers between the two nations once signed.
• Under this treaty, India got control over: Beas, Ravi Sutlej while Pakistan got control over: Indus, Chenab, Jhelum

• Under the treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1960, all the waters of the three eastern rivers, averaging around 33 million acre-feet (MAF), were allocated to India for exclusive use.
• The waters of the western rivers – Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab – averaging to around 135 MAF, were allocated to Pakistan except for ‘specified domestic, non-consumptive and agricultural use permitted to India,’ according to the treaty.
• India has also been given the right to generate hydroelectricity through the run of the river (RoR) projects on the western rivers which, subject to specific criteria for design and operation, is unrestricted.