· India has long standing treaties over water sharing with nepal over mahakali, khosi, gandak
· Nepal’s terrain provides ideal location for hydro electric projects which can help in flood control as well as water augmentation
· But most of the agreements on water sharing have been exceedingly in favour of India
· As a result while India enjoys access to hydro power from nepal, nepal remains a net importer of power form India
· This has created a resentment against India among the nepalis
· As a result of this mutual distrust, India has failed to arrive at an agreement on many multi purpose projects in alst 3 decades
India-bhutan
· In case of bhutan, it has achieved development through the revenues from sharing hydro power with India
WAY AHEAD
· Nepal doesn’t have much of manufacturing base. So hydro power is the only way for it to prosper economically
· But nepalese fear the multi purpose alrge dams for
o Displacement
o Impact on seismic sensitive region
o Nepal has very less space and hence can’t afford space for large dams
· So way ahead for nepal is to have small hydo projects which primarily fulfill requirements of nepal
· India needs to adopt more open, generous approach in engaging nepal on matters of water and power
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