Water Resources Governance in the Indus Basin

The Department of Political Science, GC University, Lahore, plans to organize a two days conference on Water Resources Governance in the Indus Basin on 9th and 10th of January, 2013. The conference seeks to explore critical perspectives on the politics of water in the Indus Basin. We define the Indus Basin by its natural watershed from Kabul in Afghanistan to north-western states of India, and most of Pakistan’s territory including Gilgit-Baltistan. The dominant discourse in understanding water related issues in Pakistan and India, since independence from colonial rule in 1947, has been a managerial-technocratic discourse, which tends to depoliticize issues pertaining to water. Critical decisions concerning water distribution and management have generally been taken in the absence of a full scale political participation of all the stake holders. Furthermore, water has played a significant role in the delineation of the social, political, and economic structures of the Indus society. Impending water scarcity and uncertainty due to climate change in the basin, coupled with a bourgeoning population, poses major challenges to these hydraulic societies. Problematizing these challenges and framing strategic responses to negotiate these challenges are the main concerns of the conference.