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  • 9/27/2023
WHY CAUVERY WATER DISPUTE FLARES UP AGAIN BETWEEN KARNATAKA, TAMIL NADU

Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have been at loggerheads over the sharing of the water of the Cauvery river for decades. The issue has flared up again now after the Supreme Court ordered the Karnataka government to release 5,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for 15 days from September 13. In protest, a bandh was held and another called by the ‘Karnataka Jala Samrakshana Samiti’, an umbrella outfit of farmers’ associations and other organisations. The protesters argue that water is being released to Tamil Nadu even as the southwest monsoon draws to a close and storage levels are very low in the Cauvery basin reservoirs in Karnataka. Cauvery is the main source of drinking water for the city of Bengaluru and for the irrigation of farmland in the Mandya region of the state.

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00:00 Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have been at loggerheads over the sharing of the water of the Kaveri
00:10 River for decades.
00:11 The issue has flared up again now after the Supreme Court ordered the Karnataka government
00:16 to release 5000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for 15 days from September 13.
00:23 In protest, a bandh was held and another was called by the Karnataka Jal Samrakshan Samiti,
00:28 an umbrella outfit of farmers' associations and other organisations.
00:33 The protesters argue that water is being released to Tamil Nadu even as the southwest monsoon
00:38 draws to a close and storage levels are very low in the Kaveri basin reservoirs in Karnataka.
00:45 Kaveri is the main source of drinking water for the city of Bengaluru and for the irrigation
00:51 of farmland in the Madhya region of the state.
00:54 But what is the Kaveri dispute?
00:58 The water sharing dispute has been a bone of contention between Karnataka and Tamil
01:02 Nadu since the time of the British Raj.
01:05 The 765-kilometre-long Kaveri River originates in Kodagu district, Tal Kaveri in Karnataka
01:12 and flows through Hassan, Mandya and Mysore districts before entering Dharampuri, Erode,
01:18 Karur, Trichy, Kodalur, Padukottai, Nagapattinam, Bhanjavar and other districts in Tamil Nadu.
01:24 Many of the districts in both the states are dependent on the Kaveri for irrigation
01:32 while the city of Bengaluru gets its water from the river.
01:36 The Kaveri water sharing dispute began in 1892 between the Madras presidency under the
01:41 British Raj and the princely state of Mysore as the two regions could not agree over how
01:46 to divide the water.
01:48 In 1910, the two states began conceptualising the idea of constructing reservoirs to store
01:52 the river water but as the two sides could not agree, the British presided over the issue
01:57 of water sharing and in 1924, the Madras presidency and Mysore state signed an agreement where
02:03 the rules regarding the water usage of Krishna Raj Sagar or the KRS dam were listed out.
02:13 The 1924 agreement gave Madras presidency and the Mysore state the right to use surplus
02:18 water from river Kaveri.
02:20 Before the agreement, the Madras presidency had objected to the construction of the KRS
02:25 dam.
02:26 However, when the agreement was signed, it gave Madras the freedom to construct the Mithoor
02:30 dam.
02:31 As per the agreement in 1924, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry would get 75% of the surplus water
02:38 while Karnataka would get 23%.
02:41 The remaining would go to Kerala.
02:42 There were also restrictions on how much land could be irrigated.
02:51 The issue of water sharing became a real problem after the reorganisation of the states in
02:55 1956.
02:56 After the division of states, several protests have been witnessed in both Tamil Nadu and
03:01 Karnataka which have sometimes escalated into violence.
03:05 Through the late 20th century, Tamil Nadu was opposed to the construction of dams on
03:10 the river by Karnataka.
03:12 Karnataka's argument was that the 50-year time period for the 1924 agreement had ended
03:18 in 1974 and hence the state was not obliged to stick to the regulations, especially since
03:24 the river originated in the state.
03:27 This became a problem for Tamil Nadu as the state had become dependent on Kaveri water,
03:32 especially the huge area of agricultural land in the delta area.
03:36 Between 1960 and the late 1980s, Karnataka built four dams on Kaveri – Hembati, Harangi,
03:43 Kabini and Suvarnavati.
03:45 Tamil Nadu, which is downstream, argued that this put them in a precarious situation and
03:50 approached the Supreme Court.
03:52 Karnataka suggested that the two states could obtain 47% of the water each and the rest
03:57 could be supplied equally between Kerala and Kuducherry.
04:01 But Tamil Nadu wanted to stick to the 1924 agreement.
04:10 In 1986, the Farmers Association in Tamil Nadu's Thanjavur area moved the Supreme
04:14 Court demanding that a tribunal be formed for sorting out the water-sharing dispute.
04:19 In 1990, the Apex Court heard the petitions submitted by both the states and directed
04:24 them to negotiate.
04:25 When dialogue failed, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to form a tribunal which would
04:30 decide on the distribution of water between the two states.
04:33 The Kaveri Water Disputes Tribunal or CWDT calculated the water inflow to Tamil Nadu
04:38 between 1980 and 1990.
04:41 In 1991, the Tribunal in its interim order directed Karnataka to ensure that 205,000
04:47 million cubic feet of water reach Tamil Nadu per annum.
04:51 The CWDT also ordered Karnataka to stop its plan to increase irrigated land area.
04:57 The tribunal's decision was not received well and riots erupted in both the states.
05:01 Karnataka rejected the tribunal's decision but the Supreme Court upheld the tribunal's
05:05 order.
05:06 In 1993, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jai Lalitha went on a hunger strike at MGR Memorial in
05:16 Chennai stating that the tribunal's interim order was not being followed.
05:20 Karnataka said that the state was facing drought and hence could not release water.
05:26 In 1998, the Kaveri River Authority or CRA was formed and was tasked with implementing
05:31 the interim order of the CWDT.
05:33 The CRA consisted of the Prime Minister as the chairperson and the Chief Ministers of
05:37 the four states as its member.
05:40 In 2007, the CWDT decided that in a normal year, Karnataka would release 192,000 million
05:47 cubic feet in monthly installments.
05:49 In a distress year, the tribunal order stated that the allocated shares shall be proportionately
05:53 reduced among Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kuducherry.
05:58 The lack of clarity on the sharing of water during a distress year is one of the reasons
06:02 for the continuing dispute.
06:07 In February 2018, the Supreme Court reallocated the water share.
06:10 Tamil Nadu had argued that the court should not leave the dispute open for Karnataka to
06:14 take advantage of and should appoint the authority and frame a scheme for the allocation of water.
06:19 However, Tamil Nadu's share of water was reduced to 175.25 thousand million cubic feet
06:25 from 192 thousand million cubic feet.
06:28 The Supreme Court added that 20 thousand million cubic feet of groundwater in Tamil Nadu had
06:32 not been accounted for.
06:34 The Supreme Court also said that Karnataka could expand its irrigation area.
06:38 Bengaluru would receive 4.75 thousand million cubic feet more.
06:41 Karnataka's allocation was changed to 284.75 thousand million cubic feet while the allocation
06:47 for Kuducherry and Kerala was unchanged.
06:50 Recently, on September 21, 2023, the Supreme Court ordered Karnataka to release 5 thousand
06:55 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.
06:58 This has led to the recent trouble with many farmer organizations calling bans in protest.
07:11 [MUSIC PLAYING]

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