Politicians must keep people first rather than playing with their emotions
It is August and Dravidian politicians are experiencing the customary itches caused by the shortage of water in river Kaveri (written as Cauvery as a tribute to the colonial masters). Originating in Karnataka, the more than 800-km-long river meanders through hills, valleys and plains before joining the Bay of Bengal at Poompuhar in Tamil Nadu. The divine river, which is described as the lifeline of Tamil Nadu’s five delta districts (Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Tiruchirappalli, Cuddalore and Nagapattanam), has become an eternal source of worry for farmers and politicians alike in the State. If the southwest monsoon fails, water level in Kaveri shrinks and this causes severe water shortage in these five districts, which form the Rice Bowl of Tamil Nadu. If only the upper riparian State of Karnataka gets reasonable rainfall during monsoon, it could release water to Mettur dam in Tamil Nadu which sustains irrigation in the lakhs of hectares of paddy fields in the delta region. The battle for Kaveri waters was resolved by the Supreme Court and the Kaveri River Water Tribunal which ruled that Karnataka should release 177.25 thousand million cubic ft (TMC ft) to Tamil Nadu in a normal-water year (June–May). Out of this, 123.14 TMC ft water is to be released during June to September, when farming operations are at their peak. But when rains fail, Tamil Nadu politicians get cold and start sneezing. This year (2023-2024 water year), Karnataka has released only 11.6 TMC ft water during June 1 to July 31 against the court-ordered 40.4 TMC ft water. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar, who is also the water resources minister, have expressed helplessness in releasing more water as the State reservoirs are almost empty.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his immediate intervention and make Karnataka release water as per the court directive. Meanwhile, the Kaveri Water Management Authority asked Karnataka to release 10,000 cusecs of water daily for the next 15 days and this has added fuel to fire. The Opposition parties, BJP and the Gowda Janata Dal, have lambasted the Karnataka Government for releasing water to Tamil Nadu as farmers in their districts face severe water shortage. Karnataka Government is caught in a Catch 22 situation. The blame lies with our own political leadership which lacks vision and is incapable of finding out long-term solutions to nagging issues. Tamil Nadu has a 1076-km coastline. It could have set up a series of desalination plants to meet its water requirements instead of rushing to the SC whenever the monsoon fails to shower its anticipated bounty. An interesting point to note is how politicians of yesteryears (those belonging to the genre of K Kamaraj and Raja Gopalachari) resolved the issue. At no point in time did they rush to the media. In fact, Kamaraj used to pick up the phone, make a call to his Karnataka counterpart seeking a portion of the Kaveri waters, which was granted immediately.