Key Terms & Concepts — UPSC Mains
Farakka Water Treaty
"A 1996 India-Bangladesh treaty apportioning the Ganga's dry-season flow at the Farakka Barrage, expiring 12 December 2026."
The Farakka Water Treaty (formally the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty) was signed on 12 December 1996 between India and Bangladesh for a term of 30 years, apportioning the dry-season flow of the Ganga at the Farakka Barrage in West Bengal on a fixed formula between the two countries. The Barrage itself was built to divert Ganga water into a feeder canal toward the Hooghly River, maintaining navigability for Kolkata Port, which was silting up due to reduced upstream flow. The treaty has long drawn criticism from within India, particularly from Bihar, which lies upstream of the barrage. Critics argue that an arrangement negotiated around the needs of Kolkata (downstream within India) and Bangladesh (downstream internationally) structurally excludes the water needs of Bihar, through whose territory the Ganga flows before reaching Farakka at all, making it a three-way rather than a genuinely two-way allocation question. With the treaty's 30-year term expiring on 12 December 2026, its renewal has become a live centre-state and international issue, with demands (including from Bihar's JD(U)) for a fresh arrangement based on a scientific assessment of Ganga-basin states' water needs projected through 2050, rather than a straightforward extension of the existing formula.
Combines international river-water law, centre-state relations and a live 2026 renewal deadline, making it highly testable for both Prelims (treaty facts) and Mains (federalism and international water-sharing).
- 1 Signed 12 December 1996, term 30 years, expires 12 December 2026
- 2 Governs dry-season Ganga flow apportionment between India and Bangladesh at Farakka
- 3 Farakka Barrage diverts water to the Hooghly River to maintain Kolkata Port's navigability
- 4 Bihar (upstream) argues the treaty ignores its needs, citing a shortfall of roughly 2,000 cusecs
- 5 Renewal debate (2026) calls for a scientific, basin-wide needs assessment through 2050
- 6 Illustrates a three-way, not bilateral, river-allocation problem inside a nominally two-party treaty
JD(U) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kumar Jha's August 2026 Special Mention opposing the treaty's renewal framed Farakka as a case where an upstream Indian state's needs were excluded from a bilateral river-water arrangement.
