The Cauvery water dispute which has been a bone of argument between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka for decades now, has again led to violence in the region after Supreme Court marked its order on Monday. The supreme court has directed Karnataka to release 15000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu for the next 10 days in order to save the Sabha crops has flood up tensions in the state. So what exactly is the dispute? The Cauvery basin covers a large spread of land including major portions in both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and also smaller areas in Kerala and Puducherry. Initially, the dispute was between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu but later Kerala and Puducherry also joined the conflict. An agreement was filed in 1892 between Mysore and the Madras Presidency for adjudication. But it ended up into a fresh set of disputes. Later many attempts were made in order to resolve the issue but all in vain. In 1924, again, under supervision of Government of India a second agreement was signed as attempts were renewed to negotiate between the two states.
Now, the organization which has been at the forefront of issue in Karnataka, Cauvery Horata Samiti, has called for a statewide ‘bandh’ which has led to violent protests by the farmers. The protests have paralyzed the daily life of the people by affecting public transport facilities, government offices, schools and colleges in Mandya. Now why is it that the two states have never been able to resolve this issue since decades. Why has the Cauvery water dispute always taken a political turn and has become a rather nation issue? Why are there clashes in the negotiation meeting of the two states and not solutions? So To deeply understand this let us try and understand a few things here.
Why Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have failed to find solutions?
We think the Supreme Court was not really very sensitive towards the conditions in Karnataka. Because if you look at the IMD data you realize that southern Karnataka, which is basically the catchment area for Caurvery and its tributaries, it received very low rainfall this year. And if you look at the reservoirs, the biggest of them, Krishna Raja Sagar has just 32% of its capacity as compared to the 54% last year. Water is a finite source when you say you have do this, it may not be possible considering the above things. So you have to be more sensitive towards the Karanataka farmers. And also, if you look back the state government has said that it is not going to let water for irrigation because there is not sufficient water even for drinking. So that being the context, this could have been handled in a more sensitive way, considering that you have a history of such animosity.
If legal interventions does not seem to solve this issue, what could perhaps be the solution?
The legal interventions can only look up to the macro picture. The real issue is that the river has basically 4 stake holders but majorly it flows through Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Now, the river has to be treated like a single river basin and you have to plan accordingly rather than Karnataka carving up its part and Tamil Nadu carving up its part and looking up only for their farmers respectively. But this is not possible because it’s a organic unity and it must be planned accordingly. So you have to have more social society initiatives. For example we have the ‘Cauvery Family’ where Tamil Nadu farmers are taken to meet farmers in Karnataka and vice versa. So the advantage of such innovation is that each other understands that there is a concern on the other side as well. The distrust that has built needs to be sorted out.
With this issue coming up every time there is a shortfall in monsoon, what does a long term solution look like in this area?
We have to be very realistic about the amount of water available in Cauvery. Now the locations are also based on the agreement that was signed in 1924. But the landscape has changed. You have the urbanization in the delta that has happened and the industrialization. And you have more water intensity for paddy and sugarcane being cultivated. So you need to rethink all such factors and maybe relook at the crop planning. Also a though is required at the crop patter that is followed, various ways of crop cultivation so that water consumption Is brought down, localized and decentralized water management so that over dependence on Cauvery is reduced. So majorly the need of relooking at the Cauvery basin management at the micro level is there.
