Claim
Under the Indus Waters Treaty India gave Pakistan 80.36% of the waters while keeping only 19.64%, and Nehru justified this by saying India had 'bought peace' through the treaty.
“जब उनसे पूछा गया कि हम उन्हें 80.36% पानी दे रहे हैं और अपने पास केवल 19.64% पानी रख रहे हैं। उन्होंने कहा कि उद्योग के माध्यम से हमने समझौता खरीदा, अगर आप चाहें तो हमने उस हद तक शांति खरीदी।”▶ Watch source segment
Rationale
The core numeric claim is essentially correct: the Indus Waters Treaty (1960) allocated the western rivers, carrying about 80% of the system's flow, to Pakistan and the eastern rivers (~20%) to India; the specific 80.36%/19.64% pair falls within the commonly cited range (~80.5%/19.5%). Nehru genuinely justified the treaty in the Lok Sabha on 30 November 1960 saying India 'purchased a settlement... purchased peace to that extent,' which the claim renders as India having 'bought peace.' The Hindi quote's phrase 'उद्योग के माध्यम से' (through industry) is a garble, but the substance — the water split and Nehru's 'bought peace' remark — is factually supported.
Evidence
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_Waters_Treaty Under the 1960 treaty the three western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab), which carry roughly 80% of the total Indus-system flow, were allocated to Pakistan, and the three eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej), ~20%, to India — matching the ~80.36%/19.64% split cited. ✓ reachable · archived
- https://testbook.com/question-answer/according-to-indus-water-treaty-the-percentage-of--6110e92194f54785b0d932b8 Standard reference giving Pakistan's share around 80% (≈80.52%) and India's around 20% (≈19.48%) of Indus-system waters, in the same range as the 80.36%/19.64% figures. ✓ reachable · archived
- https://theprint.in/feature/around-town/nehru-worried-about-indus-waters-treaty-he-signed-it-to-buy-peace-with-pakistan/2636426/ Documents that Nehru signed the treaty to 'buy peace' with Pakistan, conceding a larger water share to the western rivers. ✓ reachable · archived
- https://www.businesstoday.in/india/story/not-peace-we-bought-appeasement-jaishankar-on-1960-indus-waters-treaty-takes-shots-at-nehru-486993-2025-07-30 Cites Nehru's actual Lok Sabha statement of 30 Nov 1960 that India 'purchased a settlement... purchased peace to that extent,' the basis of the 'bought peace' justification. ✓ reachable · archived