5-decade war for water comes to an end

Passions had run high over the dispute leading to riots in Karnataka and several protests including bandhs, rail rokos and hunger protests by even a sitting chief minister J Jayalalithaa. Besides being the lifeline of both states, the river Cauvery is closely associated with the culture, ancient literature and pride of people in both the states.

From 573 tmc in 1972, Tamil Nadu’s share had come to just 177.25 tmc in the final Supreme Court verdict. But, the right of Tamil Nadu over Cauvery in the face of relentless slogans of ‘Cauvery manadhey’ in Karnataka had been upheld by the Supreme Court.

The dispute began when Karnataka claimed that the agreement signed in 1924 between the Madras Presidency and Mysore would lapse in 1974 since it had been stated that it should be renewed after 50 years. After the DMK came to power in 1967, the then PWD Minister M Karunanidhi started his negotiations with the Karnataka government over the renewal of the pact.

The negotiations continued for more than a decade and finally in 1986, then chief minister MGR broke the negotiations and a farmer’s association with his backing moved the Supreme Court demanding the constitution of a tribunal to resolve the dispute.

The apex court ordered the constitution of a tribunal in 1990 and the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal was formed by the VP Singh government in 1990. The tribunal delivered its interim verdict in 1991 allocating 205 tmc of water, but Karnataka refused to accept the judgment and passed an ordinance in the Assembly resulting in riots.

The violent incidents were repeated in Karnataka when the tribunal gave its final order in 2007 reducing the share of Tamil Nadu from 205 tmc to 192 tmc. Karnataka refused to accept the tribunal’s final award and the Centre published it in the gazette only after the Supreme Court order in 2013.