Which of the following statements about the Indus Waters Treaty is/are correct? 1. The term ‘Eastern Rivers’ means the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi taken together. 2. The term ‘Western Rivers’ means the Indus, the Jhelum and the Chenab taken together. Select the answer using the code given below:

Correct — C, Both 1 and 2. The two statements are not summaries of the treaty; they are its own definitions, and they can be checked word for word. Article I(5) provides that the term Eastern Rivers means the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi taken together, and Article I(6) that the term Western Rivers means the Indus, the Jhelum and the Chenab taken together. Those two definitions carry the whole allocation that follows. Article II(1) makes all the waters of the Eastern Rivers available for the unrestricted use of India. Article III(2) requires India to let the waters of the Western Rivers flow on to Pakistan, keeping back only what is allowed for domestic use, non-consumptive use, a specified amount of agricultural use and run-of-river hydroelectric generation. So the six rivers of the Indus system are split three and three, with the eastern three going to India and the western three to Pakistan, and the treaty's later machinery — the Permanent Indus Commission, the Neutral Expert, the Court of Arbitration — exists mainly to police the conditions attached to India's limited rights over the western three.

• (a)1 only — Would require statement 2 to fail, but the Indus, the Jhelum and the Chenab are exactly the three named as the Western Rivers in Article I(6).
• (b)2 only — Would require statement 1 to fail. Article I(5) names the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi as the Eastern Rivers, which is what the statement says.
• (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — Both definitions are verbatim from Article I of the treaty. The likely reason a candidate lands here is a suspicion that one river has been swapped between the groups — most often the Chenab, which is sometimes wrongly put with the eastern three.

The Indus Waters Treaty was signed at Karachi on 19 September 1960 by Jawaharlal Nehru for India, Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan for Pakistan and W. A. B. Iliff for the World Bank, after nine years of Bank-facilitated negotiation, and it took effect retrospectively from 1 April 1960. Rather than sharing each river, it divides the system: three rivers to each country. It also builds a graded dispute mechanism — a question goes to the Permanent Indus Commission, which meets at least once a year; a difference goes to a Neutral Expert; a dispute goes to a Court of Arbitration. Article XII(4) provides that the treaty continues in force until terminated by a duly ratified treaty concluded by both governments, so there is no unilateral exit clause.

The whole item turns on remembering which three rivers go in which basket, and geography supplies the check: the eastern three lie further east and reach India's Punjab plains, while the western three run through Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan. The Chenab is the one candidates most often misplace, because it rises in Himachal Pradesh and flows through Indian territory before crossing over — but it is a Western River, and that is why India's projects on it, Baglihar and Ratle, have been argued over for years. Timing matters for this paper. When candidates sat this examination in April 2025 the treaty was operating normally. Ten days later, on 23 April 2025, the Cabinet Committee on Security decided to hold the treaty in abeyance following the terror attack at Pahalgam of 22 April. Abeyance is not termination, and Article XII(4) is the reason the decision took that form; the definitions in Article I are unchanged.

• Article I(5) defines the Eastern Rivers as the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi taken together — allocated to India for unrestricted use under Article II(1).
• Article I(6) defines the Western Rivers as the Indus, the Jhelum and the Chenab taken together — India must let their waters flow on, with limited exceptions under Article III(2).
• The treaty was signed at Karachi on 19 September 1960 and took effect retrospectively from 1 April 1960; the World Bank is a signatory with procedural responsibilities.
• Disputes are graded: questions to the Permanent Indus Commission, differences to a Neutral Expert, disputes to a Court of Arbitration.
• Article XII(4) allows termination only by a duly ratified treaty concluded by both governments, which is why the Indian decision of 23 April 2025 was framed as holding the treaty in abeyance.

• Moving the Chenab into the Eastern group because it flows through Indian territory. The treaty puts it with the west.
• Reading 'allocated to India' as ownership of the whole flow. India's rights over the Western Rivers are limited and conditional, not absolute.
• Assuming either country can walk away from the treaty at will. Article XII(4) requires a ratified treaty by both governments.

As a definition-check statements item like this one, as a river-to-basket sorting question, or through a named project on one of the Western Rivers and the proceeding it triggered.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the Indus Waters Treaty, 1960, which one of the following is NOT among the Eastern Rivers?

  • (a)Ravi
  • (b)Beas
  • (c)Chenab
  • (d)Sutlej

  Answer(c) Chenab — it is one of the three Western Rivers along with the Indus and the Jhelum. The Eastern Rivers are the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which institution facilitated the negotiation of the Indus Waters Treaty and is itself a signatory to it?

  • (a)The United Nations Security Council
  • (b)The International Court of Justice
  • (c)The World Bank
  • (d)The Asian Development Bank

  Answer(c) The World Bank — it brokered nine years of talks and signed the treaty, with limited procedural responsibilities such as designating a Neutral Expert or the chairman of a Court of Arbitration.