India has a rich history of States working together towards achieving their mutual interests when it comes to water governance. This is evidenced by the numerous multilateral and bilateral agreements that have been entered into over the years, dating back to the 19th century.
India’s twenty-five river basins are shared by its multiple States and Union Territories. This creates a mutually dependent system of inter-State river water governance. The shared nature of this scarce and indispensable resource and the varied interests of the States involved has often led to the recurrence of protracted conflicts over river water which see no easy resolution. At the same time, while these conflicts have often been the focus of legislative and policy efforts and scholarly works too, India also has a rich history of States working together towards achieving their mutual interests. This is evidenced by the numerous multilateral and bilateral agreements that have been entered into over the years, dating back to the 19 th century.
From 2015-18, the Central Water Commission updated its earlier compilation of the Legal Instruments on Rivers in India. In 2015, Volume III on Agreements on Inter-State Rivers was published in two parts. Volume II, titled Awards of Inter-State Water Disputes Tribunals, was published in 2018. This Conflict and Cooperation Map graphically presents this information with each coordinate representing an instance of conflict or cooperation. The 160 agreements compiled in Volume III betoken cooperation, where States have come together to try to effectively deal with issues of inter-state river water governance. The nine disputes that have been referred to Tribunals constituted under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 have been taken to represent instances of conflict. By juxtaposing the two, we aim to enable viewers to see correlated cases of conflict and cooperation and to work towards building a narrative around the situations that foster or prevent cooperation. For this purpose, the user is also provided with important information pertaining to each coordinate, such as the year in which the agreement was entered into or the Tribunal was set up in case of the nine disputes, the river basin to which the agreement or dispute pertains, the States involved in the dispute or agreement, and any further relevant notes on the same. Users also have the option of viewing this information in the context of the different variables involved by selecting different layers that can be displayed on the map: the various Indian States, the Rivers of India, the 25 River Basins, and the Base World Map.