'Need to focus on role of rivers as connectors'
Guwahati: Stressing on the role of rivers as connectors, India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Doraiswami on Saturday said all economic and political contexts of a river system along with its historical and cultural dimensions need to be taken into consideration for formulating policies surrounding it.
The focus of discussion on rivers should shift from "hydro diplomacy" to "water cooperation," he said.
"The notion of a river as a separator has been in focus for long but the role of a river as a connector is more fundamental," Doraiswami said.
He was speaking at a session on 'Rivers of the Bay of Bengal: Connecting the Blue Economy, the Mountain Economy and the Plains Economy' as part of 'NADI 3: Asian Confluence River Conclave 2022' here. We tend to look at rivers sanguinely, rather we should view it more comprehensively. A more holistic approach is needed rather than a mere technocratic or political approach, he said at the conclave. The senior diplomat said rivers have different contexts and dimensions and "all these aspects need to be taken into consideration for formulating policies surrounding it."
From political context to economic and historical and cultural dimensions to its role in the sustenance of human life, a single river system fulfils different roles, he said.
Doraiswami also highlighted importance of management of river systems in totality rather than dividing them into different basins and dealing with the aspects in isolation. Notably, India and Bangladesh share 54 common rivers.
Former Bangladesh's High Commissioner to India Syed Muazzem Ali had in 2019 said the subject of water sharing during the lean season has been an important issue.
The Teesta deal was set to be signed during the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Bangladesh in September 2011, but was postponed at the last minute due to objections raised by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. She opposed the pact maintaining that people in
her region would "not get a single drop."
