The Impact of Suspending a Water Treaty
01-05-2025
05:30 AM
1 min read
Context
- In a significant geopolitical shift, the Indian government has taken a hardline stance against Pakistan by suspending the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) of 1960, following the killing of 26 tourists in Jammu and Kashmir.
- This decision, declared by India’s Cabinet Committee on Security, marks a dramatic escalation in response to Pakistan’s alleged support for cross-border terrorism.
- By holding the IWT in abeyance, India is signalling a potential termination of a longstanding water-sharing agreement, one that has endured multiple wars and diplomatic crises.
Challenges and Implications of India’s Decision to Suspend IWT
- Legal Constraints and Complexities
- The IWT, brokered by the World Bank in 1960, lacks an explicit provision for unilateral withdrawal.
- Article XII (4) of the treaty asserts that it remains in force unless terminated through a mutually ratified treaty between India and Pakistan.
- This significantly constrains India's ability to legally abrogate the treaty without bilateral consent.
- While some Indian analysts suggest leveraging Articles 60 and 62 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT), which allow for treaty suspension in cases of material breach or fundamental change of circumstances, these arguments face legal ambiguity.
- India is not a signatory to the VCLT, and Pakistan has signed but not ratified it.
- Moreover, applying these provisions would be legally and diplomatically complex, particularly in the absence of clear evidence or international consensus.
- Pakistan, on the other hand, has signalled intent to challenge India’s move through multiple international legal forums.
- Minister of State for Law and Justice Aqeel Malik has indicated that Pakistan may appeal to the World Bank, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, or even the UN Security Council, alleging violations of international law, including the VCLT.
- Strategic and Environmental Ramifications
- India's suspension of the treaty could have profound implications for the Indus Basin.
- Under the IWT, India is entitled to limited use of the western rivers, Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab, primarily for non-consumptive purposes such as hydroelectric power generation.
- The suspension opens the door for India to exert greater control over water flows, including withholding water during dry seasons and releasing it during monsoons.
- Such actions could precipitate artificial droughts or floods in Pakistan, particularly affecting its agrarian economy.
- Pakistan’s heavy reliance on these rivers for agriculture, drinking water, and electricity makes it especially vulnerable.
- Compounding this vulnerability are internal fissures, such as the longstanding inter-provincial water disputes between Punjab and Sindh.
- The recent controversy over the construction of six new canals, including the Cholistan Canal, has already sparked unrest in Sindh, and further disruptions in water flow from India could worsen domestic instability.
Infrastructure Limitations and India’s Long-Term Strategy
- While India's intent to fully exploit its entitlements under the IWT is clear, practical limitations exist.
- The country currently has a storage capacity of only about 1 million acre-feet (MAF), against an allowable 3.60 MAF under the treaty.
- Similarly, of the permitted 1.34 million acres of irrigation potential, only 0.642 million acres have been developed.
- India has made notable progress on the eastern rivers, Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi, with over 90% of its 33 MAF allocation being utilised through major infrastructure like the Bhakra, Pong, and Ranjit Sagar dams.
- However, on the western rivers, projects such as the Kishanganga, Rattle, and Baglihar dams are primarily run-of-the-river systems, offering limited storage.
- Ambitious future projects, including the Kiru and Pakal Dul dams, aim to increase this capacity, but geographic and bureaucratic challenges imply that a full realisation of India's strategic objectives may take a decade or longer.
Geopolitical Consequences and Regional Diplomacy
- While India’s move may be seen as a strong political message, it carries substantial diplomatic risks.
- The precedent set by suspending a bilateral treaty could prompt other neighbouring countries to reconsider their water-sharing agreements with India.
- For instance, China, the upper riparian to several Indian rivers, could use this as justification to withhold hydrological data or delay renewing Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) on rivers like the Sutlej and Brahmaputra.
- During the 2017 Doklam standoff, China withheld water data from India while continuing to share it with Bangladesh, foreshadowing potential future actions.
- India’s relations with Bangladesh also stand at a critical juncture.
- The Ganga Water Treaty is due for renewal in 2026, and any aggressive water-related decisions could complicate negotiations.
- Similarly, sentiments in Nepal and Sri Lanka may become more cautious, with calls for more rigorous scrutiny of water and infrastructure agreements with New Delhi.
Conclusion
- India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty is both a bold assertion of strategic sovereignty and a high-stakes diplomatic gamble.
- While the action may resonate domestically as a tough response to terrorism, its legal footing is uncertain, its implementation constrained by infrastructure, and its broader geopolitical implications significant.
- As India moves forward, it must weigh the benefits of coercive diplomacy against the costs of regional alienation and the erosion of trust in international treaty frameworks.
- In an interconnected and interdependent region, long-term water security may depend less on unilateral action and more on cooperative, sustainable management of shared resources.
Q1. Why did India suspend the Indus Waters Treaty?
Ans. In response to a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir linked to Pakistan.
Q2, Can India legally revoke the IWT unilaterally?
Ans. No, the treaty requires mutual agreement for termination.
Q3. What rivers are crucial for Pakistan under the IWT?
Ans. The Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab rivers.
Q4. What international bodies might Pakistan approach?
Ans. The World Bank, Permanent Court of Arbitration, and UN Security Council.
Q5. How might India’s move affect relations with China?
Ans. China may withhold water data or delay renewing related agreements.
Source:The Hindu
India’s Shame, the Trap of Bonded Labour
01-05-2025
05:30 AM
1 min read
Context
- Every year on May 1, International Labour Day is observed globally to honour workers' rights and the dignity of labour.
- Yet, for millions in India, this day serves as a grim reminder of their continued entrapment in bonded and forced labour, a form of modern-day slavery that strips individuals of their basic freedoms and human dignity.
- The harrowing stories of survivors like Mukesh Adivasi and K. Thenmozhi underscore the systemic exploitation that persists despite decades of legal prohibition and policy pledges.
Personal Stories of Entrapment and Abuse
- Ordeal of Mukesh Adivasi
- The ordeal of Mukesh Adivasi, a 35-year-old from Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh, reflects the devastating consequences of bonded labour.
- Lured with the promise of work, he and his family were trafficked over 1,400 kilometres to Karnataka in 2023, where they were enslaved on a sugarcane farm.
- Working up to 16 hours daily under brutal conditions, Mukesh faced violence for demanding wages, culminating in a shattered leg and long-lasting trauma.
- Although eventually rescued, the scars of physical abuse and psychological torment linger.
- Story of K. Thenmozhi
- Similarly, the life of 13-year-old K. Thenmozhi from Andhra Pradesh took a tragic turn when poverty forced her family into bondage at a brick kiln in Bengaluru.
- A mere ₹2,000 advance bound the family into long hours of backbreaking labour. Instead of school, Thenmozhi endured beatings, verbal abuse, and confinement.
- Their escape, triggered by a social worker’s visit, was perilous, fleeing barefoot by train back to their village.
- Their story is emblematic of countless others who are trapped, tormented, and only occasionally rescued.
Structural Causes of Bonded Labour
- These cases are not isolated. They stem from a complex web of socio-economic factors.
- Immediate crises such as illness, dowries, food insecurity, or job loss often drive impoverished individuals to accept advances from employers or agents.
- But it is the deeper structural inequities, caste-based discrimination, illiteracy, lack of access to financial and legal systems, and the monopolistic power of local elites, that entrench bondage.
- What begins as a financial transaction swiftly morphs into a mechanism of exploitation and control.
- India legally abolished bonded labour in 1975, and ambitious goals have been set to eradicate it.
- In 2016, the government unveiled a 15-year plan to rehabilitate 1.84 crore bonded labourers by 2030.
- However, the actual progress has been dismal. By 2021, only 12,760 had been rescued, a mere fraction of the target.
- To achieve the goal by 2030, India would need to rescue approximately 11 lakh bonded labourers annually, a task that seems increasingly unrealistic given current efforts.
The Broader Context of Forced Labour in India
- Informality, Migration, and Policy Failure
- Beyond bonded labour, the broader context of forced labour in India reveals a bleaker picture.
- The majority of India’s workforce, 39 crore out of 47 crore, is employed in the unorganised sector, according to the National Sample Survey Organization.
- These workers, largely migrants, often work without contracts, protections, or union representation.
- The absence of collective bargaining rights and unionisation leaves them vulnerable to exploitative practices, low pay, and job insecurity.
- Historically, labour rights championed by figures like Dr. B.R. Ambedkar recognised the importance of unionisation and the right to strike.
- However, recent labour reforms, particularly the Labour Codes introduced between 2019 and 2020, have diluted these protections.
- Critics argue that these changes favour employers and prioritise profit over people, further weakening the ability of workers to demand fair treatment.
- A System Built on Exploitation
- Investigative reports and interviews with hundreds of workers reveal the grim underbelly of India’s industrial growth: an economy that, in many cases, thrives on forced labour.
- Displaced by climate change, rural poverty, and lack of opportunity, migrant workers move to urban and industrial centres only to face systematic exploitation.
- They endure long hours, meagre wages, and a constant threat of dismissal, all while the system turns a blind eye.
- This deliberate erosion of worker dignity constitutes not just an economic issue, but a profound moral failing.
Conclusion
- International Labour Day should be a celebration of workers’ contributions and rights.
- In India, however, it serves as a reminder of unfulfilled promises and deep systemic injustices.
- The persistence of bonded and forced labour demands more than token policy responses, it requires genuine political will, robust enforcement of labour laws, and social mobilisation.
- Until India confronts and dismantles the structures that sustain this exploitation, its economic progress will remain tainted by the suffering of its most vulnerable citizens.
Q1. What is bonded labour?
Ans. It is a form of forced labour where people are trapped in work through debt or advances.
Q2. Who are Mukesh Adivasi and K. Thenmozhi?
Ans. They are survivors of bonded labour who endured severe exploitation and abuse.
Q3. When was bonded labour abolished in India?
Ans. It was abolished in 1975.
Q4. What percentage of India's workforce is in the unorganised sector?
Ans. About 83% (39 crore out of 47 crore workers).
Q5. What do recent labour reforms in India risk undermining?
Ans. Workers' rights, including unionisation and collective bargaining.
Source:The Hindu
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