India and Pakistan on Thursday agreed to have a minor international intervention regarding their dispute over the 330 MW Kishanganga hydro-electric project in Jammu and Kashmir.
The choice of international intervention came through a draw of lots between the options provided in the Indus Water Treaty of 1960, as both sides failed to reach a consensus.
With the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan failing to make any headway in talks, the two sides on Friday rejected the names suggested for three neutral umpires by either side to resolve the dispute between them over the 330 MW Kishanganga hydel project in Jammu and Kashmir.
The row over distribution of river water among provinces in Pakistan has erupted into a major crisis with the announcement by acting chairman of the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) for opening the Chashma-Jhelum link canal releasing 10,000 cusecs of water to Punjab.
An international expert consultation on climate change impact on Cryosphere of the Indus Basin and its implications on future water scenario has begun here at headquarter of International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Nepali capital Kathmandu on Friday.
The Indo-Pak row over the 330 MW Kishanganga hydroelectric project is getting more serious than New Delhi had earlier anticipated. Buoyed by the success in the Baglihar project, where the Indian position was largely upheld, New Delhi did not quite think matters would go this far when Islamabad first threatened to invoke arbitration proceedings.
The Himalayan glaciers that feed Asia's five largest rivers are in no danger of disappearing by 2035, as claimed in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's most recent report. In fact, only the glaciers that melt into the Ganges are shrinking, according to the most detailed analysis yet of how climate change will affect key Asian glaciers.
Fighting for water is not as rare as we think it is. Brawls and loss of life are reported every summer from different parts of the country. Yet, there is very little urgency about using water more efficiently. VIBHA SHARMA reports on the worsening situation
* DIAMONDS AND OIL ETC ARE WORTH NOTHING IN THE ABSENCE OF WATER
* MOST PEOPLE FEEL WATER SHOULD COME FREE
Even as Pakistan withdrew its objections to the construction of Uri-II and Chutak hydel power projects in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, the differences over Nimmo-Bazgo hydro-power plant to be built in J-K
The landslide-caused glacial lake in the Hunza Valley has put the Pakistani authorities on an emergency footing, but this catastrophe had been predicted for years.
