RR Iyer’s scientific contributions

This paper is structured around three treaties: the Indus Treaty, the Mahakali Treaty and the Ganga Treaty. In each case, the paper covers very briefly the background to and nature of the dispute, the approach to a resolution, the major features of the treaty, the manner in which it has been operating, the difficulties encountered, and how these can be resolved. It then sets forth some explanations and reflections that arise from these cases, including the complex interaction between water issues and political relations: the twin dangers of big-country insensitivity or arrogance and small-country pathology; the need to guard against a doctrinaire approach to the question of 'bilateralism' versus 'regionalism'; and the importance of not equating inter-country co-operation exclusively with a few large projects.