Cauvery dispute needs a permanent solution
The Supreme Court's order to the Government of Karnataka on Monday for releasing 15,000 cusecs of water a day to neighbouring Tamil Nadu has once again brought back the old fight between the two States. What saddens is that the decades old fight for water has badly taken on the lives and livings of the ordinary people those who work across the border of both the States. It has become a sort of mystery why successive Governments at the Centre have failed to settle the issue that had the reputation of raging war like situations between two progressive States.
As both Governments are restricting regular movements of people, pre-empting trouble in the border posts, this may lead to huge revenue losses in the days to come. The Government of Karnataka despite facing distress situation due to bad monsoon is releasing the water to Tamil Nadu for the time being. But this may cause serious trouble for the farmers of the State as well, leading to fall of crop production in future. But then, how Tamil Nadu will survive without the water from CauveryIJ Why can't there be an amicable solution, suiting both the statesIJ
The dispute regarding the sharing of the Cauvery water dates back to 1892 when an agreement was signed between the Madras Presidency and the Maharaja of Mysore, but it could not put an end to the fight. But the post-independence era witnessed the real problem because of the re-organisation of the states. Since the establishment of the Cauvery Waters Tribunal in 1990, the tribunal announced its final order in 2007 after a gap of 16 years. As per this order, 419tmc ft water was allotted to Tamil Nadu, 270tmc ft to Karnataka, 30 tmc ft to Kerala and 7tmc ft to Puducherry, after considering that the total availability of water at the Cauvery basin stood at 740tmc ft.
Even after filing review petitions by both the Governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, during the time of the UPA Government under Manmohan Singh in 2012, he, being the chairman of the tribunal, directed Karnataka to release 9,000 cusecs of water to its neighbour. But it has been observed in the past that Karnataka usually fails to release water to Tamil Nadu and then the entire gamut of protests, claims and counter claims rock various political platforms and largely affects the lives of the farmers. By sticking to the verdict of the tribunal, Karnataka must give the water allotted for Tamil Nadu and it should be happy with whatever is being given to it.
And in case of a bad monsoon, both the major states must seat across the table and decide the share of water instead of gunning for what has been apportioned to each state. If there is less water in the river due to insufficient rainfall, then the major share holders of the water, has to come forward for a pragmatic solution. The need of the hour is to avoid seasonal conflicts between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Instead of resorting to adhoc arrangements and adjudications, both the states must come up with a plan for mutual agreement through which almost near about a religious frenzy can be avoided for sharing water. Bad monsoon resulting insufficient water supply may be revisiting both the states. But then it is not a good occasion to realise and try fulfilling the demands of the dying farming community.