(Video) Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV) The Big Picture: No Water for Pakistan

Topic: No Water for Pakistan

Guest:

Shashank, (Former Foreign Secretary)
Arvind Gupta, (Director, Vivekananda International Foundation)
Prof. Swaran Singh, (Chairperson, CIPOD, JNU)
Uttam Kumar Sinha, (Senior Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library)

Topic Description:

In a stern message to Pakistan New Delhi has decided to stop the flow of its share of water to Pakistan from rivers under the Indus Waters Treaty… The announcement was made on 21 February by Union minister Nitin Gadkari after the attack generated series of strong reactions across the country.

Similar demands or to say sentiments to stop the flow of India's share of Indus water to Pakistan were echoed after the Uri terror attack in 2016.

Now, the Indus Water Treaty is a water sharing mechanism between two countries that came into being in the year 1960… The system comprises of main Indus River and five other rivers that flowed in undivided India… Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. The basin is mainly shared by India and Pakistan with a small share for China and Afghanistan.

Under the Indus Waters Treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1960, all the waters of three rivers, namely Ravi, Sutlej and Beas… also termed as Eastern Rivers were allocated to India for exclusive use… while the waters of Western rivers - Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab were allocated to Pakistan.

Now, after announcing the stopping of water to flow its share to Pakistan the government has also reiterated that we would be diverting water from eastern rivers to Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.