India proposes comprehensive deal with Bangladesh on all 54 common rivers as stalemate continues over deal on Teesta

India on Sunday proposed to work with Bangladesh for “comprehensive management” of the 54 common rivers, although the two nations could not yet end the more-than-a-decade-long impasse over a proposed deal on sharing of water of one of them – the Teesta.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his counterpart in the Government of Bangladesh, A K Abdul Momen, co-chaired a meeting of the joint consultative commission in New Delhi to review the bilateral relations between the two nations and the ways to expand it with cooperation in newer areas, including renewable energy, Information Technology, Fintech, Artificial Intelligence and cybersecurity.

“We share 54 rivers. Comprehensive management of our rivers and their conservation, as well as the shared environmental responsibility that we have, especially the Sundarbans (the mangrove forest shared by India and Bangladesh) – are really areas that we need to work together as part of our commitment to climate action,” Jaishankar told Momen while making opening remarks at the meeting.

The two ministers agreed to work closely together to further deepen and strengthen cooperation in the areas of common rivers and water resources management, agriculture and food security, sustainable trade, climate change and disaster management, according to a joint press release issued by the two governments after the meeting.

New Delhi is keen to work with Dhaka to explore the possibility of inking a comprehensive agreement on the management of all common rivers, as they do not appear to be close to resolving the stalemate over the proposed deal on Teesta.

Teesta is a river which originates in Sikkim and flows through West Bengal in India before entering Bangladesh. Though New Delhi and Dhaka had in 2011 made a move to clinch a water-sharing deal, it had been stalled as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee refrained from giving her consent, stating that such a pact would result in water scarcity in the northern region of the state and hit the farmers hard. The impasse is still continuing.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind visited Bangladesh in March and December 2021. New Delhi is now preparing to host Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The meeting between Jaishankar and Momen and the seventh round of the India-Bangladesh joint consultative commission was intended to start working on the possible outcome of the neighbouring country’s prime minister’s visit to New Delhi.

Jaishankar and Momen also reiterated the importance of the safe, speedy and sustainable return of the forcibly displaced persons (the Rohingyas) from the Rakhine State to Myanmar, currently being sheltered by Bangladesh.