Karnataka and Tamilnadu boiling over cauvery water issue. Protests
started in Karnataka after supreme court ordered Karnataka government to
release 15,000 cusecs of water per day to Tamilnadu. On September 12, Apex court
revised it’s order and reduced the level of water to 12,000 cusecs. Some
protesters attacked tamil people in Karnataka and vice versa in tamilnadu also.
Shops, industries, institutes, IT companies closed in Bangalore due to these
protests. Asocham estimated that there is a loss of Rs.25,000 cr to the
industry.
So, this is the time learn every body about Cauvery water disupute,
here are the ten points
Cauvery’s
course
Originating in
Talakaveri (rough translation: Kaveri lake) in Kodagu district of Karnataka,
this mighty southern Indian river flows through four states of postcolonial
India, culminating in a huge delta that opens into Bay of Bengal through
Poompuhar in Tamil Nadu.
About 800
kilometre long, this river basin is roughly 81,155 square kilometre in area,
with over 50 per cent in the lower riparian Tamil Nadu, 34,273 sq km in upper
riparian Karnataka, and about 2,866 sq km in Kerala and 160 sq km in
Puducherry.
Naturally,
given its wide swathe, the water sharing issue has been a source of conflict
long before these states divided along linguistic lines came into actual
existence.
Colonial
history
The source of
the conflict is in the colonial times when the control of Mysore was wrenched
from the British while they retained the Madras Presidency. Drought and famine
in the mid-1870s and the retaking on control of Mysore by its native kings in
1881 meant that dispute was brewing about the water sharing arrangement.
In 1892, an
agreement was reached which was reworked in 1924 after an arbitration, which
ensured that regular supply of water from Mysore to Madras Presidency was
legally carried out. A 50-year validity for the 1924 agreement was fixed in
order to avoid more intermittent conflicts.
Post-independence
However, with
the independence of India and the 1956 reorganisation of states along
linguistic lines, fresh problems cropped up. Both Mysore state and Madras
Presidency were divided among newly formed states, and without a template to
suit the different times, Cauvery became a cauldron of simmering tensions.
In 1956, the
Interstate River Water Disputes Act was also legislated in light of the water
conflicts.
With Karnataka
and Tamil Nadu already in the fray, Kerala and Puducherry threw their hats in
the wrestling ring of Cauvery conflict. In the 1960s, with the 50-year period
since the last binding law soon ending in 1974, negotiations started among the
concerned parties.
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Source:
Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India.
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In the 1970s,
the Cauvery Fact Finding Committee submitted a report in 1973, resulting in the
1974 draft agreement and the creation of Cauvery Valley Authority, but it was
not ratified.
Through the
1970s and 1980s, negotiations continued but in vain. Periodic outbursts of pent
up tensions occurred souring Kannadiga-Tamil relations. In 1986, a
farmers’ association from Tamil Nadu knocked on SC’s door demanding
constitution of a tribunal for full and final settlement of the issue.
Tribunal and
Supreme Court order
The Supreme
Court directed the VP Singh government at the centre to constitute a tribunal,
which was formed on June 2, 1990.
The claimants
wanted the following:
Karnataka – 465
billion cubic feet
Kerala – 99.8
billion cubic feet
Puducherry –
9.3 billion cubic feet
Tamil Nadu –
566 billion cubic feet for itself (177 billion cubic feet for Karnataka)
In 1995-96,
severe rainfall shortage meant Karnataka battled with limited waters in Cauvery
and was loathe to release waters. Then PM PV Narasimha Rao urged the CMs to
reach an interim arrangement and lowered release of water from 11 billion cubic
feet to 6 billion cubic feet that time.
Worse occurred
in 2002, and even then SC had to intervene. From 2003-2006, good rainfall kept
the tempers down. Finally, in 2007, the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal
announced its verdict. According to it:
Tamil Nadu –
419 billion cubic feet
Karnataka – 270
billion cubic feet
Kerala – 30
billion cubic feet
Puducherry – 7
billion cubic feet.
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Cauvery river
basin and water allotment as per 2007 tribunal order. [Source: KBK graphics]
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None of the
states were happy with the verdict and appeals continued, and the recent SC
order asking Karnataka to release 12,000 cusecs to Tamil Nadu in a drought year
has meant all-out ruckus in the two states.
Violence and
mayhem
Curfew was
imposed in parts of Bangalore as the city came to a standstill. A 12-hour bandh
was declared which brought India’s Silicon Valley to a virtual standstill. One
death has been reported so far, many TN buses torched at a bus depot, several
injured and beaten up, including some for their social media posts.
Letters From
chief ministers
Tamil Nadu’s J
Jayalalithaa and Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah have written heated letters to each
other, asking the other to ensure safety of the citizens in respective states.
Tamils have been attacked in Bangalore while Kannadigas assaulted in Chennai,
and the situation looks grim in absence of an immediate political solution.
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Farmers
affected
Farmers in
water-intensive deltaic regions of Tamil Nadu, who grow crops like samba,
karuvai and paddy, have been left high and dry without adequate water release
from Karnataka. On the other hand, drought was declared in a number of
districts in the upper riparian state with them receiving less than 25 per cent
of the rainfall during the monsoon.
For the farmers
on both sides, this is less politicking and more a question to livelihood, and
pretty much life and death. With both the states administrations refusing to
budge and not coming up with alternate solutions, it’s the farmers who are
truly bearing the brunt of this century-old rivalry.
Hashtag wars
Social media
has been awash with competing hashtags, with Karnataka and Tamil Nadu locked in
a bitter game of upping the ante on Twitter and Facebook. Reports of hashtag
wars and videos, memes, gifs have given this rowdy times the requite colour
that befit states producing software geeks at a steady rate.
The dueling
communities have started several virtual campaigns saying Cauvery rightfully
belongs to them.
Filmstars
fightclub
Even filmstars
have joined the fray, though the biggest stars such as Rajinikanth have decided
to play it mute, not risking their pan-India fanbase.
Climate change
However,
inflecting this longstanding dispute is the pressing threat of global warming
and climate change. 2016 has reported some of the hottest months since the
recordkeeping began and that means fresh urgency of climate change, with
alternate drought and flooding would have to be taken into account while
sharing the waters of Cauvery.
Moreover, the
river basin, with its widely differing ecosystems in the four states, must be
understood in keeping with the environmental and biodiversity issues at stake,
and not just for its human contenders.
In other words,
Cauvery water dispute is a local manifestation of planetary conflicts of our
times. It must be approached scientifically, with economics and ecology driving
it, not empty sentimentality.
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