Hey Karnataka, why so angry?

(Image: BCCL)

Karnataka is going through a rough phase. There has been curfew, deaths, protests and crores of rupees loss of public property over last 24 hours.

It’s been more than hundred years and yet the distribution of Cauvery River’s water is in a mess. Given the present situations, it’s far from getting resolved. It’s not the first time that two states are fighting over a river. The history has seen it all. The war of water between Bangladesh and West Bengal over Farakka barrage and now the Teesta River and the Punjab- Haryana conflict over Sutlej-Yamuna link are similar in nature as the Cauvery issue. Agriculture of both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are dependent on the river that originates at Kodagu in Karnataka and flows for 765 km before meeting the Bay of Bengal in Tamil Nadu. The strategic course that the river takes during its flow has made it a villain for many years on the distribution of water issue.

Current scenario
If Karnataka decides to distribute water to Tamil Nadu as per their demand, the former wont have much left. According to the data provided by Central Water Commission (CWC), Karnataka’s reservoirs this year were 30% below the normal water level compared to Tamil Nadu’s shortage of 49%.

The main reservoirs in the two states’ catchment areas include Krishna Raja Sagara dam in Mandya district, Kabini in Mysore, Harangi in Kodagu and Hemavathi in Hassan; Mettur dam in Salem and Bhavanisagar Dam in Erode. All these reservoirs have reportedly 46% less water than normal and 27% lesser water than last year. In short, the situation is quite grim for both states, as per the CWC report.

A third party needs to intervene
No matter how much these two states fight, there would be no solid solution ever. There needs to be a third party intervention to resolve this issue. A third party can solve things like nobody else. A good example of third party intervention can be the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan. This was brokered by World Bank, which was signed on September 19, 1960 by Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and President of Pakistan Ayub Khan.

Since the ratification of the treaty in 1960, India and Pakistan have not engaged in any water wars. Most disagreements and disputes have been settled via legal procedures, provided for within the framework of the treaty. The treaty is considered to be one of the most successful water-sharing endeavours in the world today even though analysts acknowledge the need to update certain technical specifications and expand the scope of the document to include climate change. As per the provisions in the treaty, India can use only 20% of the total water carried by the Indus River.

Weapon of politics
As things get murkier the in Karnataka, it’s a hint that the issue wouldn’t get settled as easily as expected. When a crisis becomes a weapon of politics, it is no longer an issue to be solved. Rather it becomes more of a chance for the political parties to milk the situation. In this political game, the crisis has surpassed the actual need of water, the need of the agriculture and become a war of egos between the two states. It’s a motive of victory than a solution that matters to the common people caught in the crossfire. The threat of not sharing a drop of water would gain more brownies for the parties in both the states rather than finding a lighted avenue to the dead end.

It’s a murderous rage
If media reports are to be believed, Tamil channels and movies have been unofficially banned in Karnataka. This gives proof to the fact that the fight over Cauvery’s water has actually delineated to become a war between two states. Even if the situation can be solved by the two ruling parties of the states through dialogue, there is no indication for the public rage incited by these parties subsiding anytime soon.

Where lies the solution?
Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, Minister of State for Water Resources has proposed that issue of river water distribution needs to be scrapped from the State list of constitution and added to the Concurrent List so that the Centre has its say as well.

The republican set up of India has often been blamed for the centre hijacking power from the states to use it to dictate its own benefit. That is definitely something not so praiseworthy. However in the water distribution issue, the centre needs to have a say.

The Cauvery issue keeps on recurring. 70 odd years have passed and the states couldn’t come up with a solution. Both the states are well aware of the fact that being adamant and sticking to illogical reasoning wouldn’t fetch any result. But for the game to be played in a gentleman’s way, the rules call for a quick change of perspective.