INDUS WATERS TREATY 1960: PRESENT STATUS OF DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA

Indus Basin: 

• The Indus system comprises of main Indus River, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. 
  
  
• The basin is mainly shared by India and Pakistan with a small share for China and Afghanistan. 
  
  

Indus Waters Treaty, 1960: 

• Under the Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank, was signed between India and Pakistan in 1960, all the waters of three rivers, namely Ravi, Sutlej and Beas (Eastern Rivers) averaging around 33 million-acre feet (MAF) were allocated to India for exclusive use. 
  
  
• The waters of Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab (Western rivers) averaging to around 135 MAF were allocated to Pakistan except for specified domestic, non-consumptive and agricultural use permitted to India. India has also been given the right to generate hydroelectricity through run of the river (RoR) projects on the Western Rivers which. 
  
  

Present status of development in India: 

• To utilize the waters of the Eastern rivers, India has constructed Bhakra Dam on Satluj, Pong and Pandoh Dam on Beas and Thein (Ranjit-sagar) on Ravi. 
  
  
• These storage works, together with other works like Beas-Sutlej Link, Madhopur-Beas Link, Indira Gandhi Nahar Project etc has helped India utilize nearly entire share (95 %) of waters of Eastern rivers. 
  
  
• However, about 2 MAF of water annually from Ravi is reported to be still flowing unutilized to Pakistan below Madhopur. To stop the flow of these waters, following steps have been taken: 
  • Resumption of Construction of Shahpurkandi project: This project will help in utilizing the waters coming out from powerhouse of Thein dam to irrigate 37000 hectares of land in J&K and Punjab and generate 206 MW of power. 
    
    
  • Construction of Ujh multipurpose project: This project will create a storage of about 781 million cu m of water on river Ujh, a tributary of Ravi for irrigation and power generation in districts of J&K. 
    
    
  • The 2^nd Ravi Beas link below Ujh: This project is being planned to tap excess water flowing to Pakistan through by constructing a barrage across river Ravi for diverting water through a tunnel link to Beas basin.