Water Resources Cooperation between India and Nepal

Monika Mandal

Trans-boundary rivers between Nepal and India have long signified both cooperation and dispute. Though both countries are highly interested in mutual cooperation for the development of the shared rivers, their attempt to bring things to a successful solution has been hampered by debate. Several treaties and agreements have been signed over time by these countries, such as the Koshi Agreement, the Mahakali Treaty, the Gandak Agreement, etc. While some of these have generated positive outcomes, others are languishing, for reasons political rather than technical. Nepal is not able to harness its water resources, while India is seeking cooperation in order to utilise the shared water. Lack of trust, negotiations and compromise along with vested political interests have affected the degree of cooperation over shared rivers between India and Nepal.

To make cooperation more fruitful, the two countries first need to build trust, identify the merits and demerits, compromise for the sake of the common good, share information with each other and implement the mutually agreed upon cooperation package.

The essays in this volume bring together a spectrum of viewpoints on this issue.

This volume is the outcome of an international conference on this subject organised by the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata (MAKAIAS) in collaboration with the B. P. Koirala India-Nepal Foundation, Embassy of India.

Monika Mandal Monika Mandal has a Ph.D (2007) from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, and is a Fellow of the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata. Presently, she is working on Internal Displacement in Contemporary Nepal.

Contents
Contributors

Introduction
Monika Mandal

1. Water Resource Cooperation between Nepal and India: What Persists?
Dwarika Nath Dhungel and Christopher Butler

2. Understanding the Ecological Flow in the Himalayan Rivers
Kalyan Rudra

3. Shared Water Resources between Nepal and India: A Cooperation and Conflict Perspective
Bishnu Raj Upreti and Gopikesh Acharya

4. India–Nepal Cooperation on Hydropower: Challenges and the Road Ahead
Nalini Kant Jha

5. Nepal, India and Inundation Problems
Shital Babu Regmee

6. Nepal–India Relations: Mega Models of Mutual Cooperation in Water Resource Utilisation
Shambhu Ram Simkhada and Satish Joshi

7. India–Nepal Water Issues: Moving Past Negotiated Frameworks
Medha Bisht

8. Socio-Environmental Concerns in Developing the Trans-Boundary Water Resources: Opportunities and Challenges for the Nepal–India Water Cooperation
Prakash Gaudel

9. River-Water Sharing between India and Nepal: Implications of Climate Change
D. Purushothama

10. Water Security and Inter-State Relations: The Management of Floods in North Bihar
Sanjay K. Jha

11. Indo-Nepalese Cooperation for Managing Trans-Border Flood Problems
Prakash Paudel

12. Constructs, Contradictions and Cooperation in the Context of Integrated Basin Water Management between India and Nepal
Pranab Kumar Ray