TREADS builds on our earlier work, and has taken a consolidated shape with the establishment of the MoJS (Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India) Research Chair - Water Conflicts and Governance at CPR in 2018. The Research Chair enabled us to deepen our research interests to address some key policy questions about interstate river water governance in India.

• Why does the Indian constitution bar courts’ (including Supreme Court) jurisdiction over interstate river water disputes under Article 262 of the constitution? How has the Supreme Court engaged with this bar historically, in respecting or violating the bar?
• What can we learn from the remarkable track record of interstate river water cooperation to inform policy making?
• Why are the river boards in India made up outside River Boards Act 1956–an act meant for facilitating interstate river water cooperation?
• What is the role of the Article 263 provided Interstate Council in interstate river water disputes resolution, and in enabling interstate river water cooperation?
• What does an ecosystem for interstate river cooperation entail and encompass: policies, politics, laws, institutions and practices?

TREADS programme is also engaged in other projects with related research interests such as federalism, political ecology of transboundary waters, politics of infrastructure development (dams, roads and smart cities).

Some illustrative research questions we pursue are the following.

• How do interstate river water disputes shape India’s international transboundary water governance?
• How should Centre-States reposition for better federal water governance?

  Please visit Projects for an overview of our research projects.