While the Cauvery violence is deplorable, the media seems to have gone overboard and condemned only one state. As a result, Karnataka loses on perception.
The media is myopic and Delhi-centric and there is schadenfreude when the South is revealed to be no better than the North. The media also doesn’t realise that water usage fights are often predicted to create circumstances for war in the future. Calling for pellet guns and other related measures, however, is an overkill.
Karnataka, like India, is an upper riparian state and in this situation the national media demonising the state, calling for pellet guns and President’s rule, is doing no service to the nation.
Karnataka has one monsoon and two crops, whereas Tamil Nadu has three crops and two monsoons. The water sharing arrangement is such that the water in Karnataka’s dams are the only source of water for the entire year. It is also from these dams that drinking water is supplied to Bangalore.
This is what lies at the base of the ongoing problem.
Tamil Nadu CM’s Ineptness is Costing People
Tamil Nadu has had the same Chief Minister in 1992, 2002 and 2016 and her binary logic and imperiousness has never helped the situation. Her attitude has been akin to demanding a pound of flesh from citizens every single time.
The situation for Karnataka Chief Ministers, on the other hand, has been very different. In moments of distress, a Chief Minister in Karnataka has to equate a thirsty Bangalore in the following April-May and drying crops in the Thanjavur delta.
There have been moments when CMs, especially from Mysore area, have contemplated resignation rather than letting down the people in Karnataka.
Immediate Need For Strong Solutions
The Cauvery distress flares up approximately once in every decade, especially when storage in the water reservoirs is low. Distress sharing becomes acute only in the months of September and October because later in the year, the North-East monsoon sets in over Tamil Nadu. Karnataka doesn’t benefit from this spell of rain.
This leads to an immediate need for technical, long-lasting solutions. Distress management also requires tact and statesmanship on both the sides as opposed to the brinkmanship, zero sum games and politicking that we usually see.
Centre Can’t Sit on its Hands
Central governments stay out of distress management as long as they can, because they do not want to antagonize either state. This is why Karnataka suffers at the central level. The State’s 28 MPs are split among parties, as opposed to Tamil Nadu’s 40 MPs who are often from one party/alliance (ADMK or DMK).
This calls for an effective management of the water-deficit Cauvery basin, especially in years of distress.
With the problem now taking a dangerous, violent bend, the Centre can’t afford to sit on its hands anymore.
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Violence Is Not the Solution
The solution to the issue may take some work but violence is definitely not the answer because it targets the powerless. What needs to be done the following summer is to rationalise the problem and then proceeding towards effective crisis-management.
The nation needs to know if Bangalore and Karnataka will have drinking water this summer, or whether prayers for rain in the catchment are the only available option.
Sanjay Hegde is a senior advocate in the Supreme Court.
(The article was originally published in the form of Tweets by Sanjay Hegde. It has been republished with his permission.)
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