Karnataka and Tamil Nadu will meet face to face in New Delhi on Thursday for the first time since their CMs discussed the Cauvery issue in Bengaluru in 2012, under the aegis of the Supreme Court. The onus is now on the Union water resources minister to play honest broker.
Given the upper riparian state’s stand on sharing water with three other states with equally legitimate claims, it will be overly optimistic to presume a solution can be reached straightaway, in a dispute that has defied solution for over 100 years. While there is little question that waters of inter-state rivers must be shared, the political compulsions that drive states and vagaries of the monsoon that have a direct effect on the quantum of water in rivers and reservoirs, must be factored in. Karnataka has defied the Supreme Court’s orders by citing the primacy of drinking water needs over agrarian use as the reason for not releasing water to Tamil Nadu. This clearly puts Karnataka on a path of confrontation with the judiciary. Given the perception that Tamil Nadu’s farmers are being robbed of their due share, and that Karnataka’s stand is obdurate, that the matter will be heard by a third body, other than the court and a committee, may be better all around.
While releasing 6,000 cusecs a day till September 30 signals Karnataka is not for confrontation, hearing both parties out in a distress year, finding a solution based on groundwater realities until the Northeast monsoon arrives, will be a step in the right direction.
