Every verdict issued by the Cauvery tribunal has created friction between the government and farmers in South Karnataka.
In the last week of September 2023, Karnataka observed two public bandhs called within a gap of two days. There was a split between the politically backed protesters and farmers’ unions. This is one of the many bandhs, protests, demonstrations, instances of violence, and farmers’ aggression in the last four decades.
As a Bengalurian who grew up with frequent holidays due to the Cauvery issue, I can attest that there is more politics at play in the Cauvery matter than just the water-sharing formula.
No one wants to invest
“The silt has decreased the water storage capacity of the Cauvery dam. Why can’t a government initiative financially support brick factories using silt from the Cauvery dam?” I asked my writer friend, albeit in a lighter tone.
“Since 1932, the silt has been removed yearly during summer, and the dam remains crystal clear,” my friend responded sarcastically.
The dam, Kannambadi Katte, which was later called KRS dam, was designed for a specific purpose. Today, without the Cauvery water from the KRS dam, ten districts in southern Karnataka, including Mysore and Bengaluru urban districts, which entirely depend on rainwater, are facing arid conditions.
Built in the 1900s, no one anticipated water demand a century later. Moreover, irrigation is necessary for southern Karnataka and Tamil Nadu farmers due to changes in crop patterns.
Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry want more water for their urban needs and agriculture, but no one is ready to take even a small step to improve the dam’s storage facility. If there was a yearly silt removal mechanism in place, we could increase our storage capacity by at least 2.5 thousand million cubic feet more, as suggested by Bapu Lingaraj Urs, 2023. All three states and the Union territory want their share of water, however, no one appears to be willing to find a long-term solution.
Urban expansion heavily relies on exploiting water resources. For instance, Bengaluru’s water demand has changed exponentially. In 1995, there were 87 wards (councils). Now there are more than 200 wards, including the newly formed ones. The IT boom in Bengaluru has changed the economy and the water map. This has increased the need for more Cauvery drinking water.
On the other side, sand mining in Tamil Nadu is happening at an unprecedented pace, depleting the essential water bed of the Cauvery river.
In addition, Tamil Nadu’s Kuruvai crop (short-duration paddy grown in the mid-monsoon period) heavily depends on the Cauvery river. Both urbanisation and ecological destruction have affected the demand-supply chain of Cauvery water.
Addressing the root issue is crucial; otherwise, actions taken may simply serve to gain political leverage without effectively resolving the problem.
The Cauvery tribunal was constituted in 1990. However, since then, instead of finding solutions, the focus largely remained on politicising the matter.
The first direction issued by the Cauvery tribunal led to court revisions and ended with violent protests and attacks by the Kannadigas and Tamilians.
In the last 30 years, farmers’ unions continued to show their dissatisfaction through protests. Pro-Kannada organisations were divided into hundreds of factions, often taking to the streets to prove their existence.
However, instead of addressing the farmers’ genuine concerns, the state’s political leadership has attempted to capitalise on this issue for political gains. With the 2023 state elections already lost and the 2024 general election on the horizon, the state Bharatiya Janata Party might see Cauvery as an influential agenda.
On the other hand, the alliance between Congress and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam puts the Karnataka state Congress leadership in a difficult position to address the issue.
Sand mining on the Cauvery river in 2017. Prashanth NS/Flickr, CC BY-SA
Where is the rain?
This year, northern Karnataka received average rainfall, but the southern Karnataka districts faced a significant deficiency in rainfall, especially in the Cauvery catchment area. Due to this, underground borewells and lakes dried up by early August in the rain-dependent areas. It appears that we aren’t prepared for a year with a rainfall deficit.
We have ignored every opportunity to harvest rainwater, including mandating every household in the metro city to include a rainwater system. In September, Karnataka declared 191 taluks as drought-hit regions.
Farmers in Karnataka highlight the Kuruvai crop in Tamil Nadu, while Tamil Nadu farmers draw attention to the sugarcane crop grown in southern Karnataka, which is water-intensive. Both paddy and sugarcane are considered ‘masculine crops’ due to the effort and scale needed to grow them.
However, it appears that the Cauvery river is not sufficient for both states at this point. These issues cannot be resolved by legal or political interventions alone, unless farmers on both sides contemplate their cultivating methods and the profitability of these water-intensive crops.
Despite this, farmers’ groups have not been included in any decisions regarding the Cauvery. Their opinions might have been recorded, but it is essential to include them in the decision-making process. Their economy is directly connected to the amount of water reaching their land. There is no contention during excess rainfall, but the problem arises when it is deficient. There should be some standard procurement during distress years.
Why do we have to depend on large dams, which always raise environmental concerns, and give rise to contention between states? If minor irrigation projects and traditional water harvesting methods, per Govindaswamy, 2008, were encouraged along the 805 kilometre Cauvery basin, this could have allowed underground water to recharge. The practical utilisation of gram panchayats has the potential to change the efforts at the grassroot levels in improving the conservation of rain and river water.
Irrespective of the size of dams, there are serious ecological concerns that need to be addressed. As suggested by the Y.K. Alagh committee, the issue of water disrupting could only be solved by the farmers mutually. It is impossible to solve this matter through any other means. The crop pattern should change from upper reaches to tail-end fields, and a crop should be decided based on water availability. Otherwise, ritualistic aggression won’t provide any solution, except disrupting the daily lives of the weaker sections.
Lost identity
“How is the rain in your place?” I asked my farmer friend, who was practising natural farming on the outskirts of Bengaluru. After a long sigh, he replied, “The rain has lost its identity. No thunder, lightning, or rhythm. It was supposed to be thunderous rain (referring to the Uttare rain of mid-September in Karnataka). This rain is sufficient to grow short Ragi (finger millet) but nothing else. Water is not flowing further; it is simply absorbed by the soil.”
With changing weather patterns, no one knows when it will rain. We have to be ready to harvest when it falls.
S. Shantharaju is a media teacher at Christ University, Bengaluru. He is also a documentary filmmaker and a freelance writer.