Ganga Water Sharing Treaty at 30: Reimagining India-Bangladesh Partnership
Fifty-four transboundary rivers connect India and Bangladesh, with the Ganga among the most important, sustaining life and livelihoods in both countries. It supplies essential drinking water, irrigates millions of acres of farmland, and supports a massive inland fishing and trade economy across both countries. Given the river’s importance, both countries prioritised a mutually beneficial arrangement regarding its flow. Accordingly, in 1996, the Ganga Water Sharing Treaty was signed, determining the water allotments for the next 30 years. For so long, the agreement has provided a durable framework for both countries and has often been highlighted as a hallmark of amicable bilateral ties.
As the treaty approaches its scheduled renewal in December this year, it is appropriate to revisit its terms in light of both countries’ growing development aspirations and the ecological reality. While its original terms underscored the critical need for equitable water distribution, they did not explore broader questions of energy, biodiversity, and sediment, intrinsic to a river’s flow. At the threshold of its renewal, and in a more environmentally conscious world aware of the impacts of climate change, there is a need to move towards a more nuanced understanding of how to manage rivers as a comprehensive system that benefits present and future generations. Hence, stakeholders in India and Bangladesh need a holistic, scientific approach, shifting from the earlier ‘partition mindset’.
However, neighbouring countries need complementarities in governance for the sustainable use of shared resources. After a year and a half of strained ties between India and Bangladesh, both countries are currently in the phase of cautious diplomatic recalibration. Although both governments are trying to revive and expand cooperation, speculation continues about the viability of New Delhi’s ties with Dhaka under the new BNP government, given their political divergences. Nevertheless, as both countries are emphatic about the need for functional re-engagement given their mutual interdependencies, the possible renewal of the Ganga water-sharing treaty and its terms will test their diplomatic prowess and ecological consciousness.
Against this backdrop, the Observer Research Foundation, Kolkata, is organising a hybrid Panel Discussion on “Ganga Water Sharing Treaty at 30: Reimagining India-Bangladesh Partnership,” on 28th October 2026, from 3:30-05:00 pm.
Featuring experts from India and Bangladesh, it will explore key questions, including:
- How should the 1996 Ganga Water Sharing Treaty be assessed after three decades, particularly regarding equitable water availability during periods of low flow?
- How can the renewed treaty move beyond water allocation to address biodiversity, sediment, climate change and the wider ecological health of the Ganga?
- What diplomatic and institutional mechanisms are needed to ensure effective India–Bangladesh cooperation even during periods of political strain?