Dhaka, June 23 -- The Padma Barrage, now being undertaken by Bangladesh, is not merely an engineering project. It is a strategic water-security response born from decades of national frustration over the Farakka Barrage, constructed by India upstream on the Ganges. Since Farakka became operational in 1975, Bangladesh has argued that the dry-season withdrawal of Ganges water has reduced freshwater flow into the Padma, weakened river branches, increased salinity in the southwest, damaged agriculture and fisheries, impaired navigation, and threatened the Sundarbans ecosystem. The Bangladeshi project documents also describe the Farakka-induced reduction in dry-season flow as a major cause of river degradation in the southwest and northwest. ...