BANGLADESH INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC STUDIES

INDIA’S RIVER LINKING PROJECT: POSSIBLE IMPLICATIONS FOR BANGLADESH

Author: Mohammad Humayun Kabir, Sufia Khanom

DOI Link: https://www.doi.org/10.56888/BIISSj2008v29n2a2

ABSTRACT

Low-lying, deltaic Bangladesh is a country of rivers where life, living and ecology are critically dependent on their waters. The unique nature of the country’s water availability characteristics –plenty in the monsoon period and scarcity in the dry season -and its lower-riparian location in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) river basins render Bangladesh precariously dependent on India for perennial fresh water flow. Bangladesh has been facing the brunt of steady reduction in water flows, particularly in its southwestern region, mainly due to the insensitive diversion of the Ganges waters at Farakka in India. This paper presents the details of India’s river-linking project (RLP), highlighting both its Peninsular and Himalayan components. Having as a backdrop the prolonged adverse impact of the upstream withdrawal of the Ganges waters by India, the paper focuses on the likely socio-economic, environmental, political and other implications of the Indian mega-project for Bangladesh, particularly if and when it is implemented in its Himalayan segment. It has been argued here that India’s RLP is highly likely to have disastrous consequencesfor Bangladesh even in greater magnitude and scale covering the whole of the country. It has been observed in the paper that regional cooperation is an important instrument to addressthe current situation in the GBM basins by working together for national development, collective gains and sustainable ecosystem. And, an all-round basin development approach in the eastern Himalayas could be an example of regional cooperation like in the Mekong river basin.