The Teesta Dispute: UPSC Daily Important Topic |8 July 2022

The Teesta Dispute

✓Historically, the root of the disputes over the river can be located in the report of the Boundary Commission (BC), which was set up in 1947 under Sir Cyril Radcliffe to demarcate the boundary line between West Bengal (India) and East Bengal (Pakistan, then Bangladesh from 1971).

✓During East Bengal’s days as a part of Pakistan, no serious dialogue took place on water issues between India and East Pakistan. In 1972, the India-Bangladesh Joint Rivers Commission was established.

✓The Teesta river originates in Sikkim and flows through West Bengal as well as Bangladesh. India claims a share of 55 percent of the river’s water.

✓The river is Bangladesh’s fourth largest transboundary river for irrigation and fishing.

✓The Teesta’s floodplain covers 2,750sq km in Bangladesh. Of the river’s catchment – an area of land where water collects – 83 percent is in India and 17 percent is in Bangladesh.