Amid ongoing protests across Karnataka against releasing Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu, two bandhs have been called this week -- in Bengaluru on September 26 and statewide on September 29 on Friday.
The ongoing dispute reached the national capital with Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar meeting Union ministers and all-party MPs in Delhi on September 20.
Siddaramaiah announced that they will seek a stay on the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) order in the Supreme Court. The Cauvery Water Monitoring Authority has recently ordered Karnataka to release 5,000 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu. This led to significant concern among the farmers in the Cauvery basin in Karnataka. Siddaramaiah informed the Centre that it was practically not possible.
Let us take a look at the origin, reasons and politics around the issue.
Origin of dispute
The dispute between the two states goes back to the 19th century when the then Madras presidency came under British rule and then Mysore was ruled by Maharaja of Mysore. Two agreements were signed between Madras and Mysore, one in 1892 and another in 1924. According to The Deccan Herald, the 1892 agreement stated the upper riparian state (i.e., Mysore) must obtain the consent of the lower riparian state Madras for any construction activity. The seed of discontent was sown when Mysore proposed to build the Kannambadi dam which is now known as the KRS dam. Eventually, in 1990, the Centre formed the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) to adjudicate disputes between Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Puducherry with respect to the water-sharing capacities.
In 2018, the Supreme Court allotted 419 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of the Cauvery river’s total 740 TMC water to Tamil Nadu. A total of 270 TMC was allocated to Karnataka. Kerala got 30 TMC, Puducherry 7 TMC, and 10 TMC was kept aside for environmental protection, reported CNBC TV18.
A monthly schedule is in place for Karnataka to release water to Tamil Nadu, according to The Hindu.
Reasons
Most of the river's total watershed falls in Tamil Nadu. A bad monsoon year indicates a water shortage in Karnataka. According to reports, between June 1 and August 17, Karnataka recorded 499.4 mm of rainfall against the normal of 587.9 mm.
In August, the state recorded yet another massive deficit. Though Tamil Nadu received normal rainfall during this period, farmers there rely on Cauvery's water for irrigation, stated The Business Standard. The long-pending dispute rears its head whenever there is a deficit Southwest Monsoon in the region. Karnataka farmers are protesting the release of water citing a deficit of Southwest Monsoon. According to Himanshu Thakkar of South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), there needs to be a road map for all rivers in the country for all seasons. “So far as Cauvery is concerned, there should be a proper 'distress formula' for when there is a bad monsoon. The tribunal has laid down the principle for normal years but there is no guidance for years when monsoon is deficit," Thakkar was quoted as saying by The Hindu.
Politics
BJP leaders and former Karnataka chief ministers HD Kumaraswamy and Basavaraj Bommai have criticised the state government and accused it of betraying people for the sake of politics. The BJP has alleged that the Congress government is releasing water to help Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), an ally in the newly-formed Opposition block INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) ahead of the Lok Sabha elections
"If the state government releases Cauvery water just because they [DMK] are part of INDIA, farmers of Mandya and Mysuru and residents of Bengaluru will face shortage of drinking water in the coming days," Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Shobha Karandlaje was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
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