Indus Waters Treaty: Government focus on Chenab projects, renegotiation

📌 Summary:

• A year after India put the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) "in abeyance" following the Pahalgam terror attack, the government is pushing for speedy development of Chenab hydropower projects and renegotiation of the six-decade-old pact

• Government assessment: the pact "has outlived its utility"; a top source said "IWT, in its present form, cannot function again"

• Any future reactivation of river water-sharing provisions is contingent on Pakistan permanently halting cross-border terrorism against India — treated as a pre-condition

• Priority Chenab hydropower projects (combined capacity over 5,000 MW): Sawalkote (1,856 MW), Pakal Dul (1,000 MW), Ratle (850 MW), Kiru (624 MW), Kwar (540 MW)

• Kiru and Pakal Dul expected to be completed by end-2026; the rest in the next two-three years

• Government frames these as critical for India's clean energy transition, grid stability and regional development, enabling fuller utilisation of India's rights in the Indus basin

• India's counter to Pakistan's global lobbying: IWT was negotiated in a spirit of goodwill and depended on mutual trust and reciprocity, not merely legal obligation; India honoured it through wars and crises for six decades while Pakistan pursued sustained cross-border terrorism, destroying the trust needed for cooperative implementation

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS2 (India and its neighbourhood — Pakistan; treaties and international agreements) and GS3 (Energy, Internal Security). A live case study in treaty suspension, rebus sic stantibus-style arguments, and the linkage of water diplomacy to counter-terrorism policy.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• IWT signed 1960, brokered by the World Bank; India got unrestricted use of the Eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej), Pakistan of the Western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab)
• Chenab is a Western river; India is permitted non-consumptive/run-of-the-river hydropower use on it
• Sawalkote (1,856 MW) is the largest of the listed Chenab projects
• Treaty put "in abeyance" by India after the Pahalgam terror attack

🔑 Key Term: Abeyance — a state of temporary suspension of operation of a treaty obligation, short of formal withdrawal or termination, leaving the instrument legally alive but functionally inactive.