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Thursday, Oct 28, 2004

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Opinion - Editorials

NOW FOR THE FINAL AWARD

WITH THE SUPREME Court dismissing the Karnataka petition seeking the reconstitution of the Cauvery Waters Tribunal (CWT), the decks have been cleared for the tribunal to go ahead and complete its work quickly. The Gandhi Sahitya Sangh Trust, which filed the writ in the apex court, and the Karnataka Government, which endorsed the view and impleaded itself in the petition, will not take kindly to the Supreme Court's ruling. It is unfortunate that the Government and political parties, notably the Janata Dal (S), should have filed those petitions apparently in a bid to delay, if not thwart, the conclusion of an exercise in dispute resolution that has constitutional and legal sanction and is clearly the only way forward under the circumstances. The case was filed at a stage when the CWT was about to wrap up its work with a final report, an astonishing 14 years after its constitution.

Over the past year and more the Karnataka Government, under pressure from chauvinist elements, has been inclined to disregard every authority connected with the Cauvery waters dispute. It has consistently failed to comply with the interim orders of the tribunal; it has faced contempt proceedings in the apex court and rendered the Cauvery River Authority toothless. Of course, Karnataka has had its share of adversity. It went through two drought years, but when it did receive good rain this year, the upper riparian State decided to hold on to all the water it could. As a result, for three successive years, the Cauvery delta in Tamil Nadu has gone without a single successful crop. Even this year, only after the dams in Karnataka filled up and could hold no more did some water flow down to Mettur. In consequence, a good samba crop has now been raised in Tamil Nadu. This crop has to survive for another three months, which means that aside from the Northeast monsoon yield there must be enough water in Mettur to see through the final wettings in January. In previous decades Karnataka used to respond to crisis situations in Tamil Nadu. It has now stopped doing even that. Water has become an intensely politicised, volatile issue.

It was in this difficult situation that a commendable non-official attempt was made to bring the farmers in the two riparian States together, under the `Cauvery family' umbrella. This has been successful to a significant extent. But the State Governments have failed to recognise this effort and encourage the farmers to find a non-political solution to the problem of sharing Cauvery waters. When Karnataka has found it difficult to accept and implement the interim award that called upon it to release 205 tmc feet of water to Tamil Nadu, it remains to be seen how it will respond should the final award increase the lower riparian's entitlement. More important, an equitable regime of distress-sharing, which is best expressed in percentage terms, must be put in place and meticulously implemented when the need arises. Especially in the context of a poor monsoon that leaves insufficient storage in Karnataka, the riparian States must see it as a political dharma that they share that distress equitably. Farmers in both States need to be persuaded of the justice of the course, and also that there is no other constitutional way of handling this periodically occurring challenge. Perhaps the two Governments could think of a barter deal in a crisis year — either electricity or foodgrains for water. But such win-win arrangements can be worked out only in an atmosphere that is congenial, not one that is tense with confrontation.

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