{"id":35964,"date":"2025-01-22T20:51:52","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T15:21:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=35964"},"modified":"2025-04-23T17:25:48","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T11:55:48","slug":"world-bank-on-indus-water-treat-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/22-01-2025\/world-bank-on-indus-water-treat-dispute","title":{"rendered":"World Bank on Indus Water Treaty Dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS1\/Geography; GS2\/India and Its Neighbourhood<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recently, the <strong>Neutral Expert<\/strong> appointed by the <strong>World Bank<\/strong> declared competent to decide on the differences between <strong>India and Pakistan<\/strong> regarding the hydroelectric projects <strong>on the <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/indus-river-system\/\"><strong>Indus and its tributaries<\/strong><\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About the Indus Water Treaty (IVT)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It was signed in 1960, governs the water-sharing arrangements between <strong>India and Pakistan, <\/strong>&nbsp;and was <strong>brokered by the World Bank.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"f2f3f4\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"498\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/01\/About-the-Indus-Water-Treaty-IVT.webp\" alt=\"About-the-Indus-Water-Treaty-IVT\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-35965\" style=\"--dominant-color: #f2f3f4; width:332px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/01\/About-the-Indus-Water-Treaty-IVT.webp 600w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/01\/About-the-Indus-Water-Treaty-IVT-300x249.webp 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It allocates the <strong>Eastern Rivers<\/strong><em>(Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej)<\/em><strong>to India, <\/strong>and the <strong>Western Rivers<\/strong><em>(Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab)<\/em><strong>to Pakistan<\/strong>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>However, <strong>India <\/strong>is permitted <strong>limited use of western rivers<\/strong> for <em>Non-Consumptive Use; Domestic Use; Agricultural Use, and Generation of hydro-electric power.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Features of IWT<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Allocation of Water Resources:<\/strong> The treaty allocates about 80% of the water from the Indus system to Pakistan, highlighting its dependence on these rivers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Permanent Indus Commission (PIC): <\/strong>Commissioners from both countries, to manage the treaty&#8217;s implementation and resolve disputes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Dispute Resolution:<\/strong> Detailed mechanism for resolving disagreements, involving bilateral negotiations, World Bank-facilitated mediation, and, if necessary, arbitration. For resolving disputes, the IWT outlines distinct mechanisms:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>\u2018Questions\u2019 <\/strong>are addressed by the <strong>Permanent Indus Commission (PIC)<\/strong>;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>\u2018Differences\u2019<\/strong> are addressed by a <strong>Neutral Expert,<\/strong> and;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>\u2018Disputes\u2019 <\/strong>are addressed by a <strong>Court of Arbitration.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The World Bank&#8217;s role includes appointing individuals to these positions upon request from either country.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Disputes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Pakistan has objected to <strong>several Indian hydroelectric projects,<\/strong> including the<strong> Kishanganga and Ratle plants etc<\/strong>, citing potential violations of the treaty&#8217;s provisions.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Kishenganga river<\/strong> <strong>&nbsp;(Neelum) <\/strong>is a tributary of the <strong>Jhelum River.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ratle hydroelectric project is on <\/strong>Chenab River.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Both India and Pakistan differed on whether the technical details of the hydel projects conformed with the treaty, given that the <strong>Jhelum and Chenab<\/strong> <strong>were part of the \u2018western tributaries\u2019<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Implications<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India has welcomed the <strong>Neutral Expert<\/strong>&#8216;s decision as a significant step towards resolving the ongoing disputes by emphasizing <strong>all questions referred to the Neutral Expert <\/strong>fall within his competence under the treaty.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It prevents the matters from being taken up by the <strong>Court of Arbitration (CoA),<\/strong> which Pakistan had sought.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Indus River and Its Tributaries<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>Origin of Indus River: <\/strong>Bokhar Chu in the Tibetan region in the Kailash Mountain range near the Mansarovar Lake.<br>1. In Tibet, it is known as <strong>\u2018Singi Khamban\u2019 or the Lion\u2019s Mouth.<\/strong><br>2. It flows northwest and <strong>enters the Ladakh region of India<\/strong> at a place called <strong>Demchok.<\/strong><br><strong>Tributaries of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/indus-river-system\/\">Indus River<\/a><\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>Left Bank Tributaries:<\/strong> Zaskar River, Suru River, Soan River, Jhelum River, Chenab River, Ravi River, Beas River, Satluj River, and Panjnad River.<br>&#8211; <strong>Right Bank Tributaries:<\/strong> Shyok River, Gilgit River, Hunza River, Swat River, Kunnar River, Kurram River, Gomal River, Tochi River, and Kabul River.<br><strong>Other Key Hydroelectric Projects on Western Rivers<\/strong><br>&#8211; <strong>On Indus: <\/strong>Nimmo-Bazgo (Leh); Stakna (Leh)<br>&#8211; <strong>On Chenab:<\/strong> Baglihar Stage- I (Doda); Chenani on River Tawi (Udhampur, Tributary of Chenab); Dulhasti (Doda);<br>&#8211; <strong>On Jhelum: <\/strong>Uri-I &amp; II (Baramula); Ganderbal (Sri Nagar); Upper Sindh I &amp;-II (Sindh Nallah tributary of Jhelum);<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/world-bank-neutral-expert-says-competent-to-judge-indus-water-treaty-dispute\/article69123775.ece\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Source: TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recently, the Neutral Expert appointed by the World Bank declared competent to decide on the differences between India and Pakistan regarding the hydroelectric projects on the Indus and its tributaries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35964"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41810,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35964\/revisions\/41810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}