Any rescue act directed toward ecologically endangered and sensitive Himalayan glaciers will have to wait for China to come clean on its double-speak on the border issue and cooperate in the true spirit before India decides to share data for joint glaciology research with its deceitful neighbour, say top government sources.
The Narendra Modi government has decided to reject, for now, a parliamentary standing committee’s suggestion to share glacial data with China to deal with threats to melting Himalayan glaciers, their behaviour and hydrology.
The government’s cold response to suggestions on joining hands with China comes in response to a report filed by House panel on “Glacier Management in the Country: Monitoring of Glaciers/Lakes Including Glacial Lake Outbursts leading to Flash Floods in the Himalayan Region.”
The suggestion from the panel to the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has not been endorsed by the Ministry of External Affairs. The MEA has not shown eagerness to have a multilateral agreement with China and other neighbours for sharing details about threats to glaciers. The panel was looking at a possible tie-up with China on glaciers—on the lines of the 2006 expert-level mechanism with China on trans-border rivers.
The Committee’s report said that “in order to devise a comprehensive and coordinated strategy that could effectively address both the risk of glacier related outburst floods and water management challenges, regional cooperation is the need of the hour”.
The Modi government’s firm stand against sharing any glacial data with China comes in contrast to the UPA government’s near-deal with Beijing in 2009 on sharing of such data. However, wider discussions with the defence set-up on the proposed deal in 2009 had forced its dumping as such an arrangement for glacial data sharing would have amounted to granting access to China to the upper reaches of the Himalayas that form the natural border between the two neighbours.
Despite a growing threat from glacial lake outburst flood disaster, the Modi government appears to have decided to give geopolitics priority over cooperation with neighbours on environment disaster management.
The MEA’s reluctance to endorse sharing of glacial data is linked to the security concerns related to LAC and the response comes close to leaked excerpts of a retired Army Chief’s book mentioning that Chinese President Xi Jinping would never forget his birthday on 16 June 2020—the day when Indian Army gave a befitting response to Chinese aggression in the Galwan Valley.
While the book awaits the Ministry of Defence nod, the leaked excerpts also point to China’s wolf warrior diplomacy, which is a style of coercive diplomacy adopted by Chinese diplomats during the Xi Jinping administration. The former Army Chief also mentioned the salami slicing strategy of Beijing which is the practice of using a series of many small actions to produce a much larger action or result that would be difficult or unlawful to perform all at once. On the need for handling the ecosystem in mountains with care to prevent man-made disasters and casualties, the parliamentary standing committee also recommended earlier this year the need to lay down regulations for land use planning/zoning in the Himalayan states, especially those areas which are more prone and susceptible to landslides.
The committee, headed by Parbatbhai Savabhai Patel, noted a policy on sediment management is at the drafting stage under the aegis of the Ministry of Jal Shakti. “The Committee are of the view that regulating construction activities in Glacial Lake Outburst Flood/Landslide Lake Outburst Flood prone areas will go a long way in averting disasters and saving precious human lives,” said the parliamentary panel report.
The Committee also expressed concern regarding occurrence of higher casualties due to changes in the architecture of the houses in the hills (the increasing use of brick and concrete instead of the traditional mud and wood).