India said it wants a positive, forward-looking relationship with Bangladesh and reported no update on a Joint Rivers Commission meeting, with the 1996 Ganges Water Treaty due to expire on December 12.

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• At its November 3 briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India wants a positive, constructive and forward-looking relationship with Bangladesh.
• He was asked about Bangladesh's growing engagement with China and Pakistan but did not directly say whether India sees ties as normal or a pro-Pakistan shift.
• Jaiswal said India has already invited Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to visit India.
• He said India is monitoring ongoing garment workers' protests in Bangladesh.
• Jaiswal declined to comment on an allegation by a Rahman aide that Indian intelligence agencies were conspiring with Jamaat-e-Islami to destabilise Bangladesh.
• On transit and the Ganges treaty, he pointed to the Joint Rivers Commission as the structured mechanism for cross-border rivers and said there was no update on a meeting.
• The Ganges Water Treaty was signed on December 12, 1996 by Deve Gowda and Sheikh Hasina for 30 years and is due to expire on December 12, 2026.
• It governs dry-season sharing of Ganga waters at the Farakka Barrage between January and May.
• India and Bangladesh share 54 rivers, but the Ganges is the only one covered by a 30-year water-sharing treaty.
• The Joint Rivers Commission was constituted in 1972 as a bilateral mechanism on common and transboundary rivers.
• Bangladesh wants a new or revised treaty with an explicit guarantee clause on its water share, which the 1996 treaty lacks.
• A Singapore-based think-tank brief notes that the Janata Dal (United), an ally of the Modi government, has opposed renewal.

Tags: IndiaBangladesh, GangesWaterTreaty, JointRiversCommission