Inking a Pact on Kushiyara River Water Sharing

Why in news?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have signed 7 MoUs on issues related to water sharing, railways, space, science and judiciary.

How has the bilateral relationship evolved over the years?

Trade- Bangladesh is India’s sixth largest trade partner while India is Bangladesh’s second biggest trade partner, and its largest export market in Asia.
Bangladesh imports critical industrial raw material from India on which its exports are reliant.
Under South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), Bangladesh extends preferential tariffs to Indian exports of products outside the sensitive list.
Connectivity- The Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal Motor Vehicle Agreement (BBIN-MVA) is a key development that can enhance the trade potential of India with Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has expressed its interest in joining the India-Myanmar-Thailand highway project.
India-Bangladesh bilateral waterway trade will get boosted as India can now use the Mongla and Chittagong ports.
Under Indo-Bangladesh Protocol on Inland Water Transit & Trade involving the Brahmaputra, inland vessels of one country can transit through the specified routes of the other country.
Currently, three express trains and international bus services operate between Indian and Bangladesh.
Border management- In 2015, India and Bangladesh resolved the decades-long border dispute through the Land Swap Agreement.
Home Minister Amit Shah recently reviewed the security arrangements in the Assam-Meghalaya-Bangladesh tri-junction, which used to a smugglers’ route.

What are the pending issues?

Regional geopolitics- Bangladesh had successfully approached China for a mega project to enhance Teesta river water flow.
Bangladesh also requires China’s support in resolving the Rohingya refugee crisis.
Bangladesh is the second biggest arms market for China after Pakistan.
Although memories of 1971 remain, Bangladesh has expressed its interest in establishing peaceful relations with Pakistan.
Border management- In 2019, India enacted the National Register of Citizens and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which created an uproar within and beyond the borders.
Water sharing- For West Bengal, Teesta is important to sustain its impoverished farming districts which comprise 12.77% of its population.
For Bangladesh, the Teesta’s flood plains cover about 14% of the total cropped area of the country and provide direct livelihood opportunities to approximately 7.3% of the population.

What agreements were signed recently?

India and Bangladesh signed seven agreements on various fields, including
Water resources- An interim bilateral agreement on water sharing of the Kushiyara river
Judiciary- Capacity building of Courts
Railways- To train personnel of Bangladesh Railways
Other areas- Space technology, scientific and technological cooperation, TV broadcasting
The two PMs also jointly inaugurated various projects, including a power plant, a railway bridge and several railway line projects.

What is the interim agreement on Kushiyara water sharing?

Teesta River, a major transboundary river that begins in India’s Sikkim state and runs through the north of West Bengal state before flowing into Bangladesh.

There were 54 rivers that pass through the Indo-Bangladesh border
India and Bangladesh had signed the Ganga water treaty in 1996 for sharing waters of Ganga for a period of 30 years.
Bangladesh has sought the early conclusion of the Teesta water sharing agreement, which has been hanging since 2011 due to opposition from West Bengal.
The current agreement will benefit southern parts of Assam state in India and the Sylhet region in Bangladesh.

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References

Quickfacts

Kushiyara river

The Kushiyara River is a distributary river in Bangladesh and Assam, India.
It forms on the India-Bangladesh border as a branch of the Barak River, when the Barak separates into the Kushiyara and Surma.
The waters of the Kushiyara originate in the state of Nagaland in India and pick up tributaries from Manipur, Mizoram and Assam.
After forming several braided streams it is rejoined by the Surma (locally known as the Danu River) and becomes the Meghna River.