Jul 21st 2009

India and Bangladesh: Will the dams "damage" the relationship?

by Badrul Islam

Badrul Islam is a Freelance writer from Bangladesh. He worked formerly worked for various United Nations agencies in Bangladesh,Somalia and Uganda.

Environmentalists and academics called for a greater movement at national and international levels to resist what they said "India's conspiracy" to construct Tipaimukh dam without sharing information with Bangladesh. They also slammed the government's role in dealing with India about water issues. India has neither ensured water flow in the Ganges as per the Ganges Treaty nor shared information about Tipaimukh Dam, which is sheer violation of the treaty.( The Daily Star,July08,2009).

Remonstrance over the Farakka Barrage , first in 1965 , led to Indo-Pak war, but in 1975, Bangladesh in good faith , agreed to allow its friend, India to " test-run " its feeder canal for fourteen days only. India guaranteed Bangladesh that actual operation will commence after an agreement is signed detailing terms of operation and share of water. Rest is a history of non-compliance from India, resulting in desertification of many rivers inside Bangladesh. Next is India's move to construct the Tipaimukh Dam ignoring strong protest from Manipur, as well as Bangladesh as it threatens the North-East section part of the Country. Isn't both, faith and friendship, being compromised?

So why is India so obsessed with its Dam projects? In April 2001 David Barsamian, Director of Alternative Radio in Boulder, Colorado interviewed Arundhati Roy and here is what she said, "the myth of big dams is something that's sold to us from the time we're three years old in every school textbook. Nehru said, "Dams are the temples of modern India", the dam will serve you breakfast in bed, it will get your daughter married and cure your jaundice. People have to understand that they're just monuments to political corruption, and they derive from very undemocratic political institutions. You just centralize natural resources, snatch them away from people, and then you decide who you're going to give them to. When I was writing "The Greater Common Good," what shocked me more than the figures that do exist are the figures that don't exist. The Indian government does not have any estimate of how many people have been displaced by big dams. The reason that there aren't these figures is because most of the people that are displaced are again the non-people, the Adivasis and the Dalits. India doesn't mow down its people. It doesn't kill people who are refusing to move. It just waits it out. It continues to do what it has to do and ignores the consequences. Because of the caste system, because of the fact that there is no social link between those who make the decisions and those who suffer the decisions, it just goes ahead and does what it wants. The people also assume that this is their lot, their karma, what was written. It's quite an efficient way of doing things. Therefore, India has a very good reputation in the world as a democracy, as a government that cares, that has just got too much on its hands, whereas, in fact, it's actually creating the problems."- (www.progressive.org). The Book is an eye-opener for Citizens to understand the system in India ; its corruption, the obnoxious nexus with World Bank that offers the funds and the International Community that implements the projects robbing the poor to pay the rich. Tipaimukh Dam will be no exception to this system.

Now I wish to present an example of how arrogant attitude of "Government" over demands of the "Governed" breeds violence and terrorism. Water First by Kunta Lahiri-Dutt and Robert J.Wasson has a chapter on The Regional Politics of Water Sharing written by Douglas Hill.

In 1976 Central Government of India passed a ruling settling how much water should be available to each state. Punjab disagreed and filed a case in the Supreme Court challenging its validity. Meanwhile construction of 112 km Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal began in 1982 to divert waters to farmers in Rajasthan and southern Harayana(khurana2006). Construction was immediately met with opposition from Punjab unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Shriomani Akali Dal(SAD). The SAD section of protest eventually reverted to violent agitation and terrorism culminating in the events of 0peration Blue Star at Amritsar, 1984(where Indira Gandhi ordered the killing of hundreds of Sikh separists) and arguably resulted in her assassination in 0ctober. New Prime Minister Rajib Gandhi and Akali Dal leader Harcharan Singh Longowal met in 1985, set up a tribunal under Justice Eradi to re-examine appropriate allocations for Rajasthan,Punjab and Haryana. The findings of this tribunal was disputed by Punjab in 1987 on grounds that sufficient water to cover the recommended allocation was not available.Violence caused the closure of this tribunal in 1988 and construction of the Punjab section of SYL canal ceased in 1990. Again tribunal re-opened in 1997 and ruling passed in favour of Harayana in 2004. This triggered political crisis and the Punjab Government passed a Bill that nullified all previous agreements related to sharing of the Ravi and Beas (khurana2006): -(Google.com) Did India learn any lesson from this?

Governments works intricately through "Mama" system, to do their dirty work. Chetan Bagat in his book "The 3 Mistakes in My life" describes "Mama", a local tout but ambitious to climb up the ladder of" Power". He asks his political Guru to get him an election ticket. The Guru informs Mama that ambitious people like him are required in the party and since he is good and committed, he (Mama) to get to the next top level, needs to do work that gets him noticed. India has such "Mamas" for operations.

"Mamas", on behalf of India, bribed officials to make temporary settlement through promises that 10-12% of the electricity will be received free of cost and the rest of it will be given to NEEPCO for distribution to other states. Will other states not demand the same deal? Besides the "Citizens Concern for Dam and Development" (CCDD) and Environmentalists don't care about this temporary settlement and are continuing with the protest and if the Marxists and Maoist insurgents joins there is great possibility that protests could turn to violent agitation. How will India contain this violence? What would be the world's reaction to this? Will Bangladesh be pressurized to facilitate India?

And now, Bangladesh. India without moral and military support from the then USSR (Russia) couldn't have assisted Bangladesh in the war of Liberation. During liberation India was selectively aiding groups from Awami League (Mama Factor) though other political groups worked in tandem to achieve the common goal of Independence. Former Foreign secretary,Late Mr.J.N.Dixit in his comments to the Foreign Affairs Committee, said "We helped in the liberation of Bangladesh in mutual interest, it was not a favor. He also said that 90% of the problems could be resolved if Bangladesh exported gas to India. India subsequently made a list of other items to demand from Bangladesh. Friendship is being tested harshly.

Additionally, (1) India is ignoring clauses 2 and 3 of the Dublin Principles, 1992. Clause 2, stipulates Water Development and Management should be based on a participatory approach involving all users, planners and policy makers and Clause 3 stipulates that women play a central part in the provision, management and safeguarding of water. (2) India never agreed to the proposal to discuss with Nepal to solve the problems of Bangladesh due to Farakka Barrage. Why is India acting so mysteriously ?

Will the Bangladesh Parliament team that has been invited to visit Manipur be able to find solutions? The answer is a straight NO. In the absence of full details from India and the Funding Agency and subsequent analysis by local experts by all three states, free from political influence, the team wouldn't be able to distinguish any controversial points. Rather there is danger that the name of Bangladesh will be mis-utilized politically to pressurize Manipur and Mizoram.

What then is the solution? Following is my four step solutions: (1) Barrister Harun ur Rashid's suggests the construction of Ganges Barrage at Pangsha (90 miles west of Dhaka) to offset the adverse effects of Farraka Barrage. (Ref: Daily Star, May 31, 2008). It was first conceived in 1963 and next in 1984 and after feasibility report of 1997 the Joint River Commission approved it. Immediate steps must be made to implement this and next Bangladesh experts should undertake another study to construct another similar Barrage in the Sylhet region to offset the Tipaimukh Dam effect. Only after an agreement is made with India for construction of these two Barrages, should our Government think to cooperate with India. (2) Dr.Aiun Nishat suggests that positive politics, mutual understanding and the Prime Ministers of both India and Bangladesh should be involved. (Ref: NewAge Xtra June 12,2009). (3) From all three states, Women's participation must be ensured and their opinions recorded and taken into consideration. (4) I fully endorse the suggestions, the Non-resident Bangladeshis in Los Angeles, have forwarded to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina through the Consul General; they recommended that a team comprising of five countries be formed: Bangladesh, India, China, Nepal and Myanmar to find the right solution(.Ref: zshare.net/audio/616901121db0d245/Huda reading memorandum sent to Sheikh Hasina).

At the sidelines of NAM Conference, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has confirmed to Prime Minister Shaikh Hasina that India won't take any steps that might affect ties. Earlier in an exclusive interview Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh had stated "It is my sincere belief that a strong and prosperous Bangladesh is in India's fundamental interest."(Ref: Daily Star, Nov.15,2005). Let the Honorable Prime Minister prove his intentions. It would be great if Sonia Gandhi also takes a keen interest and joins Dr.Singh in this venture. I am confident that Bangladesh and India Relations will greatly improve.

Browse articles by author

More Current Affairs

The Myth of the Unprecedented 
by Stephen S. Roach
Dec 21st 2023
EXTRACT: "Shocks are here to stay, and our task is not to predict the next one – although someone always does – but to sharpen our focus on resilience. Staying the course of politically mandated policies while minimizing the inevitable dislocations is easier said than done. But that is no excuse to fall for the myth of being victimized by the unprecedented."
No World Order 
by Joschka Fischer
Dec 21st 2023
EXTRACTS: "A new world is indeed emerging. It will be characterized not only by more interdependencies, but also by more insecurity, danger, and war. Stability in international relations will become a foreign concept from a bygone age – one that we did not fully appreciate until it was gone."
Putin's Search for a Usable Past 
by Vitaly Dymarsky
Dec 14th 2023
EXTRACT: "Yet one must never forget that Putin is first and foremost an intelligence officer whose dominant trait is suspicion."
Will High Interest Rates Trigger a Debt Disaster? 
by James K. Galbraith
Dec 2nd 2023
EXTRACTS: "In a recent commentary for the Financial Times, Martin Wolf trots out the specter of a 'public-debt disaster,' that recurrent staple of bond-market chatter. The essence of his argument is that since debt-to-GDP ratios are high, and eminent authorities are alarmed, 'fiscal crises' in the form of debt defaults or inflation “loom. And that means something must be done.' ----- "If, as Wolf fears, 'real interest rates might be permanently higher than they used to be,' the culprit is monetary policy, and the real risk is not rich-country public-debt defaults or inflation. It is recession, bankruptcies, and unemployment, along with inflation." ---- "Wolf surely knows that the proper remedy is for rich-country central banks to bring interest rates back down. Yet he doesn’t want to say it. He seems to be caught up, possibly against his better judgment, in bond vigilantes’ evergreen campaign against the remnants of the welfare state."
Putin's Killer Patriotism 
by Nina L. Khrushcheva
Nov 27th 2023
EXTRACT: "The first Russia, comprising those living in Russia’s two biggest cities, Moscow and Saint Petersburg, can pretend there is no war at all." ---- "Then there is the other Russia, the one you find in small towns and villages scattered across the country’s massive territory. Here, the Ukraine war is a source of patriotic pride,"
The Rage of the Outsiders 
by Ian Buruma
Nov 27th 2023
EXTRACTS: "I interviewed Wilders in 2005 " ---- "Frankly, I thought he was a bore, with no political future, and did not quote him in my book. Like most people, I was struck by his rather weird hairstyle. Why would a grown man and member of parliament wish to dye his fine head of dark hair platinum blond?" ----- "His maternal grandmother was partly Indonesian" ----- "Eurasians, or Indos as they were called, were never fully accepted by the Indonesians or their Dutch colonial masters. They were born as outsiders." ---- "Ultra-nationalists often emerge from the periphery – Napoleon from Corsica, Stalin from Georgia, Hitler from Austria." ---- "Henry Brookman founded the far-right Dutch Center Party to oppose immigration, especially Muslim immigration. Brookman, too, had a Eurasian background, as did another right-wing politician, Rita Verdonk, who founded the Proud of the Netherlands Party in 2007." ---- "A politician who might fruitfully be compared to Wilders is former British Home Secretary Suella Braverman. As a child of immigrants – her parents are double outsiders, first as Indians in Africa and then as African-Indians in Britain – her animus toward immigrants and refugees “invading” the United Kingdom may seem puzzling. But in her case, too, a longing to belong may play a part in her politics."
Biden and Xi Pick the Low-Hanging Fruit
by Stephen S. Roach
Nov 19th 2023
EXTRACT: "The good news is that the San Francisco summit was indeed an improvement on last year’s meeting. Above all, both sides took the preparations far more seriously this time. It wasn’t just the high-level diplomatic engagement that resumed in the summer, with visits to Beijing by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, and climate envoy John Kerry. Equally important was identifying in advance the key issues on which the two leaders could cooperate and eventually agree."
Preparing for a Russian Nuclear Meltdown 
by Bennett Ramberg
Nov 11th 2023
EXTRACT: "It would be naive to hope that the Russian government or US diplomatic outreach would prevent nuclear war in the event of a serious threat to Putin’s political survival. The risk that Russia’s Ukraine misadventure could culminate in nuclear nihilism demands nothing less than a systemic review of America’s options."
The Economic Consequences of the Gaza War 
by Nouriel Roubini
Nov 11th 2023
EXTRACT: " Hamas’s barbaric massacre of at least 1,400 Israelis on October 7, and Israel’s subsequent military campaign in Gaza to eradicate the group, has introduced four geopolitical scenarios bearing on the global economy and markets. As is often the case with such shocks, optimism may prove misguided."
Certain Uncertainty in the US Bond Market 
by Barry Eichengreen
Nov 10th 2023
EXTRACT: "The last two years have been catastrophic for investors in US Treasury bonds. By one measure, 2022 was the worst year for such investors since 1788. Bond prices are poised to fall again in 2023, making this the first time in US history that they declined for three consecutive years. But now the “smart money” is jumping back in."
The Looming China-Japan Face-Off
by Chris Patten
Nov 6th 2023
EXTRACTS: "China’s economic slowdown could lead the CPC to embrace a militant form of Chinese nationalism in an effort to maintain public loyalty. This would spell trouble for Taiwan, the Asia-Pacific region as a whole, and China itself in the long run. Given the threat posed by China’s assertiveness, it is no surprise that Japan is increasing its defense budget and that other countries have decided to follow America’s lead and explore ways to support Asia’s liberal democracies." .... "The difference between China’s and Japan’s economic trajectories raises the question: Can a corrupt Leninist regime outperform a free society? Whatever the answer, China is facing an uphill battle."
Russian Life Imitates Dystopian Art
by Nina L. Khrushcheva
Nov 2nd 2023
EXTRACT: "Of course, Putin owes his authoritarian mandate to Russians themselves. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russians – reeling from rapid, profound economic changes and the new culture of consumerist individualism – grew nostalgic for the 'strong' state. Their superpower status, historic breakthroughs in space, and grand victories on the battlefield were all long gone. Trading their new freedoms for the promise of renewed imperial glory seemed like a good deal." ----- "After Stalin, the only time the state engaged so openly in such violent repression was under Yuri Andropov, who headed the KGB in the 1970s before becoming General Secretary of the Communist Party in 1982 (he died in 1984). -- Putin, who regards Andropov as a personal hero, has reinstated the Andropov-era 'disciplinary check-ups' of cultural institutions." ------ "We are dealing with people who want 'full revenge for the fall of the Soviet empire.' The empire they want to build will include Andropov-style control over every aspect of Russian life, as well as a grander claim of being anointed by God. Like the Orwellian equation “2+2=5,” it is a story that you would have to be insane – or brutally compelled – to believe."
Solar power expected to dominate electricity generation by 2050 – even without more ambitious climate policies
by Nadia Ameli, Femke Nijsse and Jean-Francois Mercure
Oct 27th 2023
EXTRACT: "The cost of electricity from solar plants has experienced a remarkable reduction over the past decade, falling by 89% from 2010 to 2022. Batteries, which are essential for balancing solar energy supply throughout the day and night, have also undergone a similar price revolution, decreasing by the same amount between 2008 and 2022. ---- These developments pose an important question: have we already crossed a tipping point where solar energy is poised to become the dominant source of electricity generation? This is the very question we sought to address in our recent study."
Hubris Meets Nemesis in Israel 
by Shlomo Ben-Ami
Oct 9th 2023
EXTRACT: "Sooner or later, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s destructive political magic, which has kept him in power for 15 years, was bound to usher in a major tragedy. A year ago, he formed the most radical and incompetent government in Israel’s history. Don’t worry, he assured his critics, I have “two hands firmly on the steering wheel.” But by ruling out any political process in Palestine and boldly asserting, in his government’s binding guidelines, that “the Jewish people have an exclusive and inalienable right to all parts of the Land of Israel,” Netanyahu’s fanatical government made bloodshed inevitable."
Hamas’ Brutal Attack Could Have Been Avoided
by Alon Ben-Meier
Oct 9th 2023
EXTRACTS: "....whereas Israel can prevail militarily over any of its enemies, albeit at an increasing toll in blood and treasure, it cannot stop the most dangerous threat of all—the deadly erosion, resulting from its continuing brutal occupation, of that moral foundation on which the country was established." --- "....the Israeli public must demand the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Netanyahu."
American Tactics vs. Chinese Strategy 
by Stephen S. Roach
Sep 27th 2023
EXTRACT: "......today’s American body politic has little patience for long-term thinking. This was not always the case. George Kennan, first as a diplomat and later as an academic, devised the containment strategy that the United States used against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Andrew Marshall, as the head of the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment, pushed the envelope on US military strategy. And Henry Kissinger, of course, was the ultimate practitioner of what has been dubbed “Grand Strategy.” "
Down on the Biden Economy
by James K. Galbraith
Sep 23rd 2023
EXTRACT: "In a recent CNN interview, Paul Krugman of The New York Times finds it hard to understand why ordinary American voters do not share his euphoric view of US President Joe Biden’s goldilocks economy – which appears to be neither hot nor cold. Inflation is falling, unemployment remains low, the economy is growing, and stock-market valuations are high. So why, Krugman asks, do voters give Biden’s economy a lousy 36% approval rating?" .... "what matters to working people is not the monthly or yearly price change taken alone. What matters is the effect on purchasing power and living standards over time. Whether these are rising or falling depends on the relationship of prices to wages. When wage growth exceeds price increases, times are generally good. When it doesn’t, they aren’t."
How Global Currencies End 
by Barry Eichengreen
Sep 14th 2023
EXTRACT: "The fundamental lesson, then, is that the issuer of an incumbent international currency has it within its power to defend or neglect that status. Thus, whether the dollar retains its global role will depend not simply on US relations with Russia, China, or the BRICS. Rather, it will hinge on whether the US brings its soaring debts under control, avoids another unproductive debt-ceiling showdown, and gets its economic and political act together more generally."
A Smidgen of Hope 
by Chris Patten
Aug 31st 2023
EXTRACT: "TOULOUSE – The days between Christmas and the New Year often prompt many of us to reflect on the problems facing the world and to consider what we can do to improve our own lives. But I typically find myself in this contemplative state at the end of my summer holiday, during the dog days of August. After several weeks of relaxation – reading books, taking leisurely walks, and drifting in a swimming pool – I am more open to contemplating the significant challenges that will likely dominate discussions over the coming months and pondering how I can gain a better understanding of the issues at stake."
The US Must Not Personally Humiliate Putin 
by Keren Yarhi-Milo
Aug 30th 2023
EXTRACT: "To the extent that international relations is an extension of interpersonal relations, how leaders publicly talk about their adversaries is important. US rhetoric about Putin, as much as shipments of F-16s, can push him – and thus the war – in various directions."