Waters not ours to give

Waters of common rivers are "shared natural resources" and should be used "responsibly and equitably," says India's ruling Congress party lawmaker and former UN Under Secretary General Shashi Tharoor.
In his latest book, Tharoor, a former junior foreign minister of India who quit the ministry in April, 2010, argued that "we must all help persuade the West Bengal leadership that these waters are not ours to give but a shared natural resource (as we accepted in the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan), which we should use responsibly and equitably".
The book "Pax Indica: India and the World of the 21st Century", which was launched by Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari here on Wednesday said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's objections to signing of the Teesta water-sharing treaty between India and Bangladesh in September last year "was widely seen as a setback for a relationship that was once again beginning to blossom after a long freeze."
Mamata had pulled out of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's entourage to Dhaka.
Tharoor wrote that cooperation on sharing of Teesta waters is indispensable for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to be able to claim that Bangladesh had "gained from her friendship with India".