Indian farmers to benefit from suspension of Indus Waters Treaty, says Shivraj Chouhan

Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare

Indian farmers will benefit from the suspension of the Indus Waters, as more water be would available for irrigation, agriculture and farmers welfare minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on May 8.

The government would work on a short-term, mid-term and long-term plan to utilise water in a way that would help Indian farmers, Chouhan said at the National Conference on Agriculture-Kharif Campaign 2025.

“The decision is a positive for Indian farmers. More water for irrigation will be available for Indian farmers in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh,” said Chouhan.

India on April 23 put the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan in abeyance a day after 26 people were killed in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam.

On May 7, two weeks after the Pahalgam attack, Indian forces hit nine terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The Indus Waters Treaty was signed between India and Pakistan in 1960 to share the waters of Indus and five of its main tributaries.

India, being the upper riparian state, was required to alert Pakistan on all the ebbs and flows of the rivers. India said it would stop sending flood warning messages regarding Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej rivers to Pakistan.

Pakistan had labelled the suspension of the treaty as an "act of war".

Chouhan said the government is continuously working towards improving farm yield amid changing climatic conditions in the country. Maintaining soil health for future generations is another top priority of the government, he added.