Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are having a dispute about sharing water from the Cauvery River. The leader of Tamil Nadu criticized the Congress-led Karnataka government for not releasing enough water. Tamil Nadu is planning a meeting to decide their next step in the inter-state river dispute on Tuesday.
Cauvery Water Dispute History
Historically, Tamil Nadu utilized an Excessive portion of the Cauvery’s water, leaving Karnataka with less resources. Records show Tamil Nadu using around 602 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water. While Karnataka only had access to about 138 TMCs before the 20th century.
In 1924, a water-sharing agreement was established to address this Disproportionate water dispute. This agreement allowed both states to expand their irrigation capabilities. Tamil Nadu was permitted to increase its cultivated land by 1.1 million acres (from 1.6 million to 2.7 million). While Karnataka’s irrigation area could grow from 0.3 million acres to 1 million acres in 1974, an agreement between two neighbouring states in India expired. Karnataka, one of the states, felt like the agreement held them back from growing more crops near the Cauvery River. To jump up, they began building reservoirs to store water. This disagreement between the two states turned into a cold fight. To settle things fairly, a court called the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal stepped in 2007. But both states were unhappy with the court’s decision and took the matter to the Supreme Court, hoping for a different ruling underlining that “drinking water requirement” has to be placed “on a higher pedestal” The Supreme Court stepped in 2018 They ordered that Karnataka could get a little more water, about 14.75 thousand million cubic feet more. This brought their total share to 284.75 thousand million cubic feet, up from 270 thousand million cubic feet.
Recent Update
Karnataka has more water (75 TMC ft) than Tamil Nadu (13 TMC ft) but refuses to share according to CWRC rules. Stalin said in a statement, adding that “Karnataka declining to release water according to the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee’s (CWRC) directive is a betrayal of Tamil Nadu’s farmers. Now Tamil Nadu is planning a meeting to resolve the dispute on Tuesday.
on Sunday, Karnataka CM and Congress leader Siddaramaiah stated that they were ready to release 8,000 cusecs of water from the Cauvery River each day to Tamil Nadu instead of the one TMC ft as mentioned by the CWR. Congress and the DMK are in the Opposition INDIA alliance at the national level.
