Some Problems of Water Distribution between East and West Punjab

A IMONG the many problems resulting from the partition of India is that of establishing the ownership of, and the right to use, the water in the rivers that flow into West Punjab from East Punjab and Kashmir (Fig. I). It is a problem intimately linked with the whole Kashmir question; to Pakistan the threat of interference with vital water supplies is probably the most serious aspect of that question. In several parts of the world the problem of water rights is by no means new. Political boundaries seldom coincide with those of catchment areas, and accordingly the exploitation of a river by one political unit often jeopardizes its utilization by another unit. The distribution of river water for irrigation canals has been determined by several principles. There is, for example, the law of riparian rights, by which the owner of land contiguous to a stream has proprietary rights. In India this law has not been upheld in practice, or there could have been no large-scale diversion of water for irrigation. Then there is the doctrine of prior appropriation, by which the first user of water acquires a priority right, whether or not his land is contiguous to the stream. Finally, there is the principle of equitable distribution, which regards a river as an indivisible unit to be developed for the benefit of the maximum number of people regardless of territorial boundaries. In India this principle was recognized in the early days of British administration, and it has been adopted under numerous international treaties the world over. In India, though the most important rivers flow through more than one administrative unit, there has been no statutory law on water rights, but the policy of equitable distribution could be enforced by the central government, since it had executive power to impose its decisions in all interprovincial and interstate disputes. Under the India Act of 1935, which came into force in April, 1937, irrigation became a purely provincial matter, though provision was made for the appointment of commissions to investigate complaints relating to water rights and irrigation. This change did

Distribution (mathematics · Geography · Physical geography · Water resource management · Environmental Science · Mathematics · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · South Asian Studies and Conflicts · Transboundary Water Resource Management

• Boundary Concepts in the Setting of Place and Time

  Stephen B Jones•Annals of the Association of…•1959

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