The Indus Water Treaty (IWT) is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan signed on September 19, 1960.
What is the Indus Water Treaty (IWT)?
- The treaty was signed by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistan’s President Ayub Khan in 1960. It was brokered by the World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development).
- The treaty gives the Beas, the Ravi and the Sutlej rivers to India, while the Indus, the Chenab and the Jhelum rivers are given to Pakistan.
- The components of the treaty were fairly simple. The three western rivers (Jhelum, Chenab and Indus) were allocated to Pakistan while India was given control over the three eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas and Sutlej).
- While India could use the western rivers for consumption purpose, restrictions were placed on building of storage systems. The treaty states that aside of certain specific cases, no storage and irrigation systems can be built by India on the western rivers.
In the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, union minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said that India has decided to divert water from rivers flowing into Pakistan.
”Under the leadership of Hon’ble PM Sri @narendramodi ji, Our Govt. has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan. We will divert water from Eastern rivers and supply it to our people in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab,” tweeted Gadkari.
”The construction of dam has started at Shahpur- Kandi on Ravi river. Moreover, UJH project will store our share of water for use in J&K and the balance water will flow from 2nd Ravi-BEAS Link to provide water to other basin states,” he tweeted.
Gadkari said, ”The water from our three rivers was going to Pakistan, now we are planning to build a project and divert the water from these three rivers into Yamuna river. Once this happens, river Yamuna will have more water.”
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