Along the Teesta River, uncertainty arrives with every season. During the dry months, shrinking water levels leave farmers struggling to irrigate their fields and place immense pressure on communities dependent on agriculture for survival (Gupta, 2023). When the monsoon arrives, the same river often becomes destructive, flooding villages, eroding riverbanks, and displacing families across parts of India and Bangladesh (Hoque & Ghosh, 2020). For many living along its basin, life has become increasingly shaped by a river that is both essential and unpredictable.
Originating in the eastern Himalayas, the Teesta flows through Sikkim and North Bengal before entering northern Bangladesh, sustaining millions of people across its course. The river supports agriculture, fisheries, local trade, and fragile ecological systems deeply connected to everyday life in the region. Yet despite its significance, the Teesta continues to remain one of the most unresolved transboundary water issues between India and Bangladesh (Gupta & Prasad, 2026).
The dispute largely centers on water sharing during the dry season, when river flow declines considerably and pressure over limited water resources intensifies. For farming communities dependent on seasonal cultivation, reduced water availability often means uncertain harvests, lower incomes, and growing economic insecurity. Climate change has further intensified these pressures through erratic rainfall, glacial retreat in the eastern Himalayas, and increasingly unpredictable river flows (Parven & Hasan, 2018).
For communities living near the basin, these challenges are not distant policy discussions taking place between governments. They directly shape livelihoods, food security, housing, and local stability. The issue has generated political debate, public protests, and concerns among affected communities. Repeated flooding and erosion continue to damage agricultural land and displace vulnerable families, while changing river patterns increasingly threaten the environmental balance upon which entire communities depend.
Yet the Teesta dispute should not be viewed simply as evidence of failed cooperation between India and Bangladesh. Over the years, both countries have repeatedly demonstrated the ability to engage constructively on sensitive issues through dialogue and institutional cooperation. Bilateral relations have expanded in areas such as border management, regional connectivity, trade, and security cooperation. The 1996 Ganges Water Treaty remains an important example of how shared rivers can become spaces of cooperation rather than confrontation (Gupta et al., 2025).
The unresolved nature of the Teesta issue has instead been shaped significantly by political complexities within India’s federal structure. Although negotiations over transboundary rivers are conducted by New Delhi, rivers such as the Teesta directly affect state-level agricultural and ecological interests, particularly in West Bengal. This became most visible in 2011, when India and Bangladesh appeared close to concluding a comprehensive Teesta water-sharing agreement. Despite substantial progress in negotiations, opposition from the government of Mamata Banerjee prevented the agreement from being finalised due to concerns surrounding irrigation requirements and water availability in North Bengal (Gupta, 2025).
Recent political developments, particularly the change in government in West Bengal, may now create space for renewed engagement on the Teesta issue. The earlier tensions between the central and the state government that had long complicated negotiations could potentially become less restrictive, opening greater room for coordination and dialogue. This may provide both India and Bangladesh with an opportunity to revive negotiations and pursue a cooperative settlement capable of strengthening regional stability and improving the lives of river dependent communities.
At the same time, new geopolitical concerns have begun to emerge around the river. Following political changes in Bangladesh, the new administration under Tarique Rahman, formed in February 2026, has in recent months shown increasing interest in Chinese support for the proposed Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration Project (PTI, 2026). The initiative includes river dredging, embankment construction, irrigation expansion, reservoir development, and riverbank restoration aimed at improving water management in northern Bangladesh.
While Bangladesh largely views the initiative as a developmental effort, China’s growing involvement has introduced broader strategic sensitivities into the region. The Teesta basin lies close to the strategically important Siliguri Corridor, the narrow corridor connecting mainland India to its northeastern states. As larger regional powers become increasingly connected to river management projects, communities living along the Teesta risk becoming caught between environmental vulnerability and geopolitical competition (Datta, 2002).
This is particularly concerning because the basin is already confronting multiple layers of crisis climate stress, flooding, erosion, water scarcity, displacement, and livelihood insecurity. Additional geopolitical tensions risk making long-term cooperation even more difficult at a time when collective environmental management has become increasingly necessary.
Yet for communities living along the river, geopolitical rivalry offers little relief from the challenges they continue to face every year. Farmers, fishing communities, and river-dependent populations across the basin have for decades experienced the consequences of environmental instability and prolonged political deadlock. Their concerns often remain overshadowed by strategic calculations, despite the fact that they are the most directly affected by the river’s uncertainty.
This is why the Teesta should not be understood solely as a strategic or diplomatic issue. It is equally a question of human security, environmental justice, and peacebuilding. Shared rivers often connect communities long before they become subjects of political negotiation, and sustainable cooperation over water can play an important role in reducing instability, strengthening regional trust, and protecting vulnerable populations.
A cooperative framework between India and Bangladesh could significantly improve flood management, ecological conservation, irrigation planning, disaster preparedness, and livelihood security for millions living across the basin. This could be achieved through measures such as regular hydrological data-sharing, coordinated flood forecasting systems, and joint river management initiatives that enable both countries to address shared environmental challenges collectively. More importantly, it could demonstrate how environmental cooperation can become a foundation for broader regional peacebuilding in South Asia.
Today, the future of the Teesta remains uncertain. The river can continue to become entangled within political delays and growing geopolitical competition, or it can emerge as a model for cooperative river governance between neighbouring countries facing shared environmental challenges. For the communities living along its banks, the outcome will shape far more than diplomacy alone. It will shape their security, stability, and hope for the future.
Keywords: India, Banglades, Teesta, Teesta river, river, environment, climate change, peace, conflict, conflict resolution, geopolitical, tensions
Kajol Gupta
Kajol Gupta is a research scholar in the Department of Political Science at the University of Burdwan, West Bengal, India. Her research focuses on transboundary water governance, hydro-politics, peace and conflict studies, and India-Bangladesh relations, with particular emphasis on the Teesta River dispute. Her work examines how water-sharing conflicts affect regional cooperation, environmental security, and the everyday lives of river-dependent communities.
