- 1974 Agreement: Called for the surrender of "adverse possessions" (areas controlled by one country but legally belonging to the other), but lacked the enforcement mechanics.
- 2015 Agreement: Successfully demarcated the 6.1 km of undemarcated land (in sectors like Daikhata in West Bengal, Muhuri River in Tripura, and Lathitila in Assam) and finalized the legal transfer of these adverse possessions.
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India-Nepal Border Dispute
Photo Credit: Insight IAS
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Baglihar Hydroelectric Power Project
The Baglihar Hydroelectric Power Project is a major run-of-the-river power generation facility constructed by India on the Chenab River in the Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir. Conceived in the 1990s and executed in two distinct 450 MW phases (completed in 2008 and 2015 respectively), the dam currently boasts a total installed capacity of 900 MW.
Beyond its significance as a crucial source of clean energy for the region, the Baglihar project has long been at the center of complex geopolitical, legal, and water-sharing contentions between India and Pakistan under the framework of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).
1. The Core Dispute and the Indus Waters Treaty
Under the terms of the World Bank-brokered Indus Waters Treaty, the six rivers of the Indus system are divided into two main categories:
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- Eastern Rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej): Allocated to India for unrestricted, exclusive use.
- Western Rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab): Allocated to Pakistan.
However, the IWT permits India limited "non-consumptive" use of the Western rivers, which explicitly includes building run-of-the-river hydroelectric plants that do not permanently store water or alter the downstream volume flowing into Pakistan.
When India began constructing the Baglihar Dam in 1999, Pakistan objected heavily on technical grounds, claiming that several design elements violated Annexure D of the treaty. Pakistan’s primary concerns were:
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- Pondage & Storage: Pakistan argued the dam’s maximum water pondage capacity was twice what was necessary for generating firm power, potentially giving India the ability to manipulate river flow.
- Spillway Gates: Pakistan claimed that the gated spillway configuration was unnecessary and could allow India to artificially create floods or induce droughts downstream during critical agricultural cycles.
- Sluice Outlets: Pakistan objected to the low placement of the intake tunnels and sediment evacuation gates.
2. World Bank Arbitration & The Neutral Expert (2005–2007)
After bilateral talks via the Permanent Indus Commission failed to yield a consensus, Pakistan officially invoked Article IX of the IWT in January 2005 and requested the World Bank to appoint an independent Neutral Expert to resolve the technical "difference".
In May 2005, Swiss civil engineering professor Raymond Lafitte was appointed. He delivered a landmark, binding determination in February 2007:
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- Upholding India’s Right to Build: The Neutral Expert completely rejected Pakistan's core demand to stop the project or remove the gated spillways, ruling that modern design practices necessitated them for dam safety and silt management.
- Mandated Design Adjustments: The expert did, however, order minor design revisions in India's blueprints. He mandated that the freeboard height be slightly reduced, the maximum pondage volume be lowered by roughly 13.5% (from 37.5 million cubic metres to 32.56 million cubic metres), and the power intakes be raised by 3 metres.
Both countries accepted the finality of the 2007 arbitration. India implemented the required design alterations, and the project was seamlessly commissioned. It was heralded globally as a triumph for the dispute resolution mechanisms built into the IWT.
3. Recent Developments and the Trans-Border Context
In recent years, the context surrounding the Baglihar Hydro Project has shifted from purely engineering technicalities to broader geopolitical leverage:
- Geopolitical Strains: Following a major cross-border terror strike at Pahalgam, India adopted a significantly tougher posture on water sharing. New Delhi formally announced a temporary suspension/abeyance of regular interactions under the Indus Waters Treaty, tying future cooperation directly to the cessation of cross-border terrorism.
- Operational Control: Amidst these diplomatic freezes, the gates of the Baglihar Dam have periodically made headlines. For extended periods during the dispute, India kept the gates closed to maximize upstream run-of-the-river storage. However, due to natural hydrological realities—such as heavy monsoon rainfall and swelling waters in the Chenab River basin—India opened the spillway gates to release water downstream as a standard safety procedure to protect the dam's structural integrity.
- Broader Treaty Disputes: Concurrently, India has rejected separate international legal rulings (such as those from a Court of Arbitration regarding the nearby Kishanganga and Ratle hydro projects), arguing that the mechanisms used to set up those panels bypassed the specific sequence outlined in the IWT.
