Water, Water, Everywhere...

Every summer, it either rains or it doesn’t. When it does, everyone’s happy and singin' kumbaya and all that jazz. The problems arise when it doesn’t. One of these problems pertains to the issue of sharing the water of the river Cauvery. I am by no means an expert on the facts of this issue, but as far as I know (and please correct me if I’m wrong), this is how they stand:
Fact: The river originates in Karnataka.
Fact: Tamil Nadu has the most area under irrigation, more than Karnataka.
Fact: Although other states are involved as well, the main issue seems to be between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Fact: Tamil Nadu got more water in the recent verdict than Karnataka.

For quite a while, there had been no official solution to the water sharing issue; every time it cropped up, it was a big "thing", and an interim solution was imposed each year. This year, however, the tribunal has finally come to a decision, which is pretty much the same as the previous interim solution, with some minor alterations.

As with the interim solutions, the people of Karnataka (or some portion of them) don’t seem especially thrilled with this decision (the people of Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, seem fairly content with it). Their grouse seems to be that in their opinions, Karnataka deserved more water than it got, yet it received less. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem in a democracy, but their answer seems to be to create as much of a stir as possible, in the hopes that some authority somewhere will wake up and grant their wishes. By “stir”, I mean disrupting normal life, and by “disrupting normal life”, I mean strikes, agitations, bandhs, and the rest of the whole package.

In my opinion, this is plain stupid on multiple levels. First off, the notion that protesting or striking will cause the Indian Government to wake up is laughable, especially in an issue like this one; no central government wants to make a decision that could become unpopular with their supporters, or could be used by the opposition to bash them over the head later.

Secondly, instead of taking a proactive approach to this, the dissenters are (as always) blindly reacting, causing as much discomfort to the locals as possible in their misguided bid to be listened to. As far as I know (and again, correct me if I’m wrong), while the sharing of water was fixed, there were no limits placed on the expansion of the reservoir area, or that of the Cauvery’s origin; by expanding either, Karnataka could create more water resources. Sure, they’d have to give Tamil Nadu more, too, but I was under the impression that the issue wasn’t so much about how much “they” got as much as it was about how little “we” got.

Yet another thing to be kept in mind is that water isn’t a panacea for farmers; they need a whole host of other things, ranging from better transport to electricity to better seeds and fertilizers. Water isn’t going to solve all their problems, not by a long shot. Most of those crusading for a “better” verdict aren’t farmers either – they’re movie stars, or IT czars, or (worst of all) politicians, who’re not really crusading for the rights of the farmers, but for their votes. What’s more, instead of cooler heads prevailing and an amicable solution being sought, this issue has (again, as always) turned into yet another “my-state-is-better-than-yours” spat, with plenty of ad hominem arguments being bandied about.

While I fully realize that there’s plenty of blame to be spread around – with the Center, with Karnataka, with Tamil Nadu, with the tribunal, and others - my point is not that. My point is that perhaps instead of just pointing fingers and denouncing those who disagree, perhaps those in Karnataka who disagree with the verdict should seek a proactive solution within the ambit of the decision. After all, a solution from the Center – or anyone else, for that matter – which pleases all parties is nigh impossible. We might as well learn to live with it, and get on with our lives.