The Indus Waters Treaty

Prelims and MainsCurrent affairs on this: Rivers: sharing, linking and disputes

The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, brokered by the World Bank and signed at Karachi by Nehru and Ayub Khan, divides the six rivers of the Indus system between India and Pakistan. The three eastern rivers, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej, are India's to use without restriction. The three western rivers, Indus, Jhelum and Chenab, are allotted to Pakistan, but India may use them for domestic needs, limited irrigation, and hydropower that does not store water, run of the river projects, under design rules written into the treaty's annexures. A Permanent Indus Commission, one commissioner from each side, meets at least once a year and exchanges data. Disputes climb a ladder: commission, neutral expert on technical questions, court of arbitration on legal ones. The treaty survived three wars; its strain comes from Indian projects on the western rivers and, since April 2025, from India holding it in abeyance.

Six rivers, two sides

	Eastern rivers	Western rivers
Rivers	Ravi, Beas, Sutlej	Indus, Jhelum, Chenab
Allotted to	India	Pakistan
India may	use fully; store and divert	use for domestic needs, limited irrigation and run of river hydropower, storage capped
Share of system flow	about a fifth	about four fifths
Indian projects	Bhakra, Pong, Ranjit Sagar, Shahpurkandi	Salal, Baglihar, Kishenganga, Ratle, Pakal Dul
Disputes	none	Baglihar 2007, Kishenganga 2013, Ratle pending

The treaty divides rivers, not water; every dispute is about what India builds on Pakistan's three.Source: Indus Waters Treaty, 1960

The split is by river, not by volume: Pakistan's three rivers carry about 80 per cent of the system's flow, which is why Pakistan calls the treaty generous to India and India calls it generous to Pakistan.
India's permitted uses on the western rivers: run of the river hydropower with limited pondage, agricultural use on a fixed acreage, and storage capped at 3.6 million acre feet; the projects in dispute, Baglihar, Kishenganga, Ratle, are all about design details such as spillway gates and pondage.
The dispute ladder has been tested: a neutral expert decided Baglihar in 2007 largely for India; a court of arbitration decided Kishenganga in 2013, allowing the project with a minimum flow; since 2022 Pakistan has pursued both routes at once on Kishenganga and Ratle, which India objects to as outside the treaty.
India gave notice in January 2023 to modify the treaty, citing Pakistan's refusal to negotiate, and after the Pahalgam attack of April 2025 announced it would hold the treaty in abeyance, suspending data sharing and commission meetings; the treaty has no exit clause and no provision for suspension.
The eastern rivers are fully used through the Bhakra, Pong and Ranjit Sagar dams and the Indira Gandhi canal; the unused share that flows to Pakistan from the Ravi is the water the Shahpurkandi project is meant to capture.

Mains: The treaty's weakness is the reason it lasted: it separates the rivers so completely that the two countries never had to cooperate, and a treaty that needs no trust is one that offers no tools when trust is gone.