• The 38th meeting of the ministerial-level Joint Rivers Commission of India and Bangladesh was held in New Delhi.

• The Indian delegation was led by Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. The Bangladeshi delegation was led by Zaheed Farooque, State Minister for Water Resources.

• The meeting assumes significance as it was held after a gap of 12 years, though the technical interactions under the framework of the JRC have continued in the intervening period.

• The Joint Rivers Commission of India and Bangladesh was constituted in 1972 as a bilateral mechanism to address issues of mutual interest on common/border/transboundary rivers.

• India and Bangladesh share 54 rivers, of which seven were identified earlier for developing a framework of water-sharing agreements on priority.

• The JRC and the ministerial-level meeting come ahead of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s three-day visit to India starting September 5.

Highlights of the meeting:

• The discussions during this bilateral meeting were held on a number of ongoing bilateral issues of mutual interest including river water sharing of common rivers, sharing of flood data, addressing river pollution, conducting joint studies on sedimentation management, river bank protection works etc. 

• Both sides finalised the text of MoU on Interim Water Sharing of Kushiyara river. 

• The ministers welcomed finalisation of the design and location of water intake point on the Feni River to meet the drinking water needs of Sabroom town in Tripura as per the October 2019 India-Bangladesh MoU on this subject.

• It was agreed to widen this area of ongoing cooperation by including eight more rivers for data exchange. The matter will be further discussed at the technical-level committee of the JRC.

• One of the important areas of cooperation, where India has been assisting Bangladesh, is sharing of real time flood data. India has recently extended the period of flood data sharing beyond October 15 to help Bangladesh address unforeseen flood events.

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