Both states take a strong stand on their right to the Cauvery water. Tamil Nadu has a much earlier history of using the Cauvery water for irrigation. Karnataka, the upper riparian state, came into the scene later but has a strong stand on its entitlement to using the Cauvery waters. Tamil Nadu uses Cauvery water to cultivate 25.8 lakh acres of land while Karnataka used it only to cultivate about 4.42 lakh acres till 1971, which was expanded later. This was because the 1892 agreement on interstate rivers and the 1924 agreement related to irrigation development during the colonial period placed restrictions on the upper riparian (Karnataka in this case) from conducting new works upstream and expected permission from Tamil Nadu in case new construction works were started. Karnataka later violated this agreement by constructing four dams across the tributaries of the Cauvery without getting clearance from the Planning Commission, the Central Water Commission (CWC) and the government of India saying that it was discriminated against in the past. This has fuelled the conflict between the two states.
The response to this dispute
Water is a state subject but the union government can intervene in case of interstate rivers. The Inter State Water Disputes (ISWD) Act was enacted in 1956 as per the provisions of Article 262 of the Indian Constitution, which was amended later in 2002. This Act provides legal mechanisms to resolve these disputes.
The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal was constituted on June 2, 1990 as per the provisions of the ISWD Act 1956 to resolve the disputes. This Act bars the intervention of the Supreme Court in resolving the disputes once the tribunal is constituted. Another legal window for addressing interstate water disputes is the River Boards Act of 1956. However, this has never been used in India due to the resistance from the states.
Experts warn that no Indian or International laws provide ownership or rights over flowing waters. No one state can own the Cauvery. States have use rights, but there is no hierarchy of rights. There is an equality of rights, but no entitlements to equal shares.
The intensity of the conflicts between the states has been growing over the years. For example, the period between 1924 and 1974 saw sporadic conflicts. In the later phases, between 1974 and 1990, the distrust was intensified and has been growing since. After 1990, a number of judicial and state interventions were attempted--the significant ones being the formation of Cauvery River Authority (CRA) and its monitoring committee headed by the prime minister and the chief ministers of the riparian states involved. However, it has not been functioning effectively. The Cauvery Water Tribunal did help in arriving at some solution with an interim order in 1991 and the final award in 2007.
The final award states the shares of the four contending parties as: Kerala-30 TMC, Karnataka-270 TMC, Tamil Nadu-419 TMC and Pondicherry-7 TMC. However, this has not helped and the states have gone back to the Supreme Court by filing Special Leave Petitions (SLPs) and bypassing the tribunal. The admission of the petitions by the Supreme Court has now taken the dispute to square one. It is still uncertain now as to how long it will take to arrive at an amicable solution.
The way out of this dilemma
Legal and political efforts have not helped to arrive at a solution. Later, it was realised that one of the important elements that has been missing from the efforts to solve the crisis is the active participation and communication between farmers from both the states. Filling that gap, Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) initiated a Multi Stakeholder Dialogue (MSD) in 2003.
The MSD included farmers as well as academicians, retired bureaucrats, people from NGOs, lawyers, leaders of farmers organisations, people from the media and concerned citizens. The processes included visits to the sites, individual and group meetings and documentation. The Committee of the Cauvery Family, that evolved from MSD, was consecutively formed that has met 17 times so far in different parts of the basin in both states to get first hand information on the situation. Though the efforts have not helped in reaching a solution, they have provided valuable lessons that include the understanding that constructive and sustained dialogues are the only viable alternatives when other efforts fail. Sound research is a necessary precondition for taking forward any dialogue and that the efforts need active and sustained state support and political mandate.
The article ends by highlighting that the dispute is unique and complicated than others due to high levels of politicisation and emotional attachment to the issue in the two states.
The paper concludes thus: