TEXT & CONTEXT: THE CAUVERY WATER CONUNDRUM
Current Affairs for 26th September, 2023
TEXT & CONTEXT: THE CAUVERY WATER CONUNDRUM
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The Supreme Court asked Karnataka to continue releasing 5,000 cusecs of water of the Cauvery to Tamil Nadu for 15 days, in line with the decisions of the Cauvery Water Management Authority and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee. This has evoked a strong reaction from the upper riparian state.
The recent dispute seems to be over the deficit in inflows to the four Karnataka reservoirs (Krishnaraja Sagar, Kabini, Hemavathy and Harangi), as per Tamil Nadu.
While Karnataka has been maintaining that the overall distress situation cannot be calculated till the end of January and that the outcome of the northeast monsoon soon be taken into account deciding the sharing formula.
The pace and shortfall in inflows this monsoon season has cast a shadow over the catchment areas of the Cauvery River in Karnataka and Kerala. The CWMA also noted the shortfall in the upper riparian state's inflows while directing Karnataka to continue providing 5000 cusecs to Tamil Nadu till the end of September.
In adding to serving irrigation, for the short-term crop (kuruvai) and long-term crop (samba), the Cauvery is the main source of drinking water for several districts in the State.
CWMA–
The Cauvery water dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu began in 1974. The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) was established in 1990 to resolve the issue.
CWDT issued its final award in February 2007, specifying water allocations among the four states in the Cauvery basin (Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry).
In 2018, the Supreme Court declared the Cauvery a national asset and largely upheld the water-sharing arrangements determined by the CWDT.
The central government notified the ‘Cauvery Water Management Scheme’ in June 2018, constituting the ‘Cauvery Water Management Authority’ and the ‘Cauvery Water Regulation Committee’.
• Article 262: Adjudication of disputes relating to waters of inter-State rivers or river valleys
• the Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956 was passed under this article.