DEFENCE MINISTER Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said the government is on alert regarding China's plan to construct a mega dam on the Brahmaputra river in Tibet, close to its border with India.
Days after China announced its plan to construct the world's largest dam on the Brahmaputra, India said it will continue to monitor and take necessary measures to protect its interests.
New Delhi has also urged Beijing to ensure that the interests of downstream states of the Brahmaputra are not harmed by activities in upstream areas.
"The Indian government is on alert," the defence minister said during an event here when asked about the dam.
Singh was in Agra to attend the 57th state-level meet of Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shikshak Sangh organised at the city's Mufeed-e-Aam Inter College.
Last month, China approved plans to build a dam over the Brahmaputra River called Yarlung Zangbo in Tibet close to the Indian border.
As per the plan, the massive dam will be built at a huge gorge in the Himalayan reaches where the Brahmaputra makes a huge U-turn to flow into Arunachal Pradesh and then to Bangladesh.
In its first reaction to the proposed dam on Jan 3, India urged China to ensure that the interests of downstream states of the Brahmaputra are not harmed by activities in upstream areas.
"We will continue to monitor and take necessary measures to protect our interests," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told media in Delhi.
"As a lower riparian state with established user rights to the waters of the river, we have consistently expressed, through expert-level as well as diplomatic channels, our views and concerns to the Chinese side over mega projects on rivers in their territory," Jaiswal said. (PTI)
A Palestinian boy carrying a bag over his shoulder walks through a heavily damaged street in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on July 31, 2026. Hamas said on July 31, 2026, it had agreed to a deal announced by the US president to end its war with Israel, which includes it handing over its weapons to a Palestinian governing committee and the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. Getty Images
Protesters trample on photographs of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump, along with Israeli and U.S. flags during a rally in Caracas on July 24, 2026, protesting the presence and influence of the United States and Israel in the country, one month after the June 24 earthquakes. Recovering from the earthquakes in Venezuela will take years, the Red Cross said on July 24, one month on from the June 24 disaster that killed more than 5,000 people. Getty Images