The word Cauvery is enough for emotions to run high in South India, especially in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. In reality, without Cauvery, water requirements of these states -mainly in agriculture- will be left in quandary. People in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu know the importance of the Cauvery; they worship the river as their life sustaining goddess. There rich literature on Cauvery in both Kannada and Tamil stands testimony to the river’s place in the cultural history of these states. But chauvinistic bias blend with inane electoral politics have been dragging the dispute of sharing of Cauvery water for more than four decades. Both these states have seen turmoil, unrest and even bloodshed, on Cauvery in the past with fundamentalists fanning emotions.
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In the past Tamil Nadu used about 602 TMC of the total yield of the Cauvery river and Karnataka got only about 138 TMC. This was the case until the turn of the 20th century. In 1924, Tamil Nadu built the Mettur dam, and the two states signed an agreement effective for 50 years. As per the pact Tamil Nadu was allowed to expand its agricultural area by 11 lakh acres from the existing 16 lakh acres and Karnataka was authorised to increase its irrigation area from 3 lakh acres to 10 lakh acres. In 1974, when the pact lapsed, Karnataka started building reservoirs to develop farming activities along the Cauvery basin. This led to a dispute between the two states.
In 1990-91, a dry monsoon spell caused violent protests against an interim order of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal to release water to Tamil Nadu. 18 people were killed in the violence in Karnataka. Cauvery River Authority and Cauvery Monitoring Committee were formed by the central government. The CMC was an expert body which consisted of engineers, technocrats and other officers who would take stock of the ‘ground realities’ and report to the government. In the summer of 2002, once again monsoon failed in both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and reservoirs in the states fell to record low. Tamil Nadu demanded that Karnataka honoured the interim award and released its proportionate share of water. Karnataka ruled out releasing any water in the circumstances that prevailed. Such situation rose whenever there the monsoon turned truant and the two states locked horns.
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Tamil Nadu approached Supreme Court, seeking direction to Karnataka to release Cauvery water from its reservoirs. Karnataka also filed cases in the apex court. The Supreme Court on Friday has pronounced its verdict on all the pending cases on Cauvery. It has ruled that 177.25 TMC of Cauvery water will be released for Tamil Nadu and Karnataka will get an additional 14.75 TMC. The increase in allocation to Karnataka is taken from Tamil Nadu’s share of 192 TMC. Though there is a reduction in Tamil Nadu’s share, there may be long-term benefit for the state in the verdict, observers say. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have to find ways and introduce policies to use the allocated water wisely and plug holes in water wastage. So, it is time river Cauvery run her course off the clutches of disputes, spreading the green of life all the way from Kodagu to Poompuhar.
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