Cauvery- a river flowing on polarized inflamed passions
Poor Cauvery/
Kaveri in which ever name called is held hostage to caste/creed/ colour/
language and much more innumerable reasons a man can find to keep the water
away from thirsty standing crops in the downstream and thirsty human throats of
IT capital Bengaluru and Automotive capital Chennai.
This is not to
state the greediness of one state Karnataka or the over zealousness of another
state Tamilnadu. My interest in Cauvery was kindled by Mr. Arupathi Kalyanam a
farmer who has seen the lows and highs of the Cauvery dispute brings out a
perspective on the whole issue.
First and
foremost accords and agreement are signed at the amicable satisfaction of both
parties which has been happening since the dam was built and under British the
agreements were inked. But as and when states began to be re-organized on
linguistic grounds there has been a slow poisoning of regional politicians
thinking process with farmers’ interest taking backseat. With power comes great
responsibility has often been mentioned by superman but our politicians have
inflamed a livelihood position on lines of language and false regional pride
when need of hour is to support the farming community.
Tamilnadu has no
river in its geographical area and this has greatly impacted its agrarian
society in delta regions post states creation. So what made the plains of
Tanjore so fertile? Of course the un hindered centuries old Kaveri. But current
pressures from various sources are making this river burdened by increased agricultural activity and non-agricultural needs of society.
Tamilnadu
depends on the rivers of Karnataka and Kerala & Major River being Cauvery
from Karnataka. Tamilnadu and its agrarian topography as explained below-
·
Viewpoints of Arupathi Kalyanam-
a farmer from Tanjore district
o
Is fairly even and presents an
ideal space for cultivation, while Karnataka’s topography does not ideally suit
large field cash crop cultivation because of uneven landscape
o
Its total cultivable land is
estimated to be 22 million acres; which has grown with the growth of the
population
o
Its share of Cauvery waters has
always been a little less than 2/3rd the Karnataka’s requirement
o
The other reason why Cauvery
has become indispensable has been its usage for Urban drinking water needs;
Veeranam and other satellite townships draw Cauvery water for their drinking
needs
o
Approximately 2 to 2.5 crore
people are directly and indirectly dependent on the farming activities in
Cauvery basin area of Tamilnadu
o
Tamilnadu’s major crops in
delta regions are Nanjai crops like rice, sugarcane and water dependent &
Intensive crops
o
Cauvery’s downstream area in
Tamilnadu has a good ground water source while poor ground water source in
Karnataka which would support the case for more water for Karnataka and Kerala;
analysis show now Cauvery’s Ground water availability is 67% of the utilizable
surface water
o
Water allocation rules do not
include efficient use of water in Cauvery delta regions- cropping patterns and
cultivation of water intensive crops under scanner. Efficient usage must be
taken into account while rewarding water rights
o
Failure on part of Cauvery Tribunal in
appreciating water efficient farming techniques like SRI (System of Rice
Intensification), a practice prevalent already in the states like TN,
Karnataka and also in Andhra Pradesh and others.
o
Micro level issues ignored like
tank de silting projects on both sides of TN and Karnataka; not actively pursued
or implemented/ over developed basins meaning exploitative use of resources &
scientific approach not taken into account
o
The role of the Cauvery Family comprising farmers of
Tamilnadu and Karnataka is appreciated for understanding each other’s concerns
Perspectives-
·
Indian
Politics to Blame- PB Anand of University of
Bradford, Bradford centre for International Development, has published a
report, ‘Making sense of Cauvery river dispute’. He highlights few points like
o
Inter-state dispute within a
country’s boundaries presents a unique scenario when compared to international
rivers dispute: meaning all current theory is void
o
Highly politicized climate
presents a challenge where the beneficiary is not easily identified
o
Solution lies in non-partisan
body which would decide on the usage rights based on percentage of water
·
Fascination
with thirst-a series of Errors by Tamilnadu Government and Engineers- a trip down the great Sahara hits the traveler in his or her face
the harsh reality; no one needs a prompting, all packed and ready is a journey
with essential water packed in ample jerry cans, But Chennai has adopted an opposite
approach. Being 4th largest in terms of economic prowess and
socio-development it has turned a blind eye to drinking water needs by all
elected Government bodies for past many years. Staying in a place where no
rivers can be found or even thought to be made; dreaming for precious Cauvery
when the more urgent need is for riparian zones is highly ludicrous
o
So what does Chennai do to take a
share of Cauvery river water for its thirst when in reality it’s so called
100’s of lakes once dotting the city has been conveniently put up for SALE
& SOLD with impunity and madness. As reported by CSE in its DTE reports of
2004; Chennai’s Housing board and Metropolitan development authority and State
Governments have played havoc with the system. One wonders what sort of learned
engineers are managing these institutions that in a sane mind would permit to
build homes in a lake- dumping rubbish and debris into the water body and
raising the ground level by more than 10-20 feet and trying to fool nature.
§ Kodunguiyur residents have woken up to the largest dumping yard in
the city by forcing authorities to relocate the city’s filth from their
backyards- what a planning on behalf of CMDA????
o
Indiscriminate bore wells in
the city and peripheral villages supplying bore well water to metro water/
conversion of lake bodies into housing zones including Velachery/ Pallikaranai/
Tambaram to Madipakkam zones/ Mogappair/ Ambattur /Manali & many more. The
greed and mindless planning and playing to vote bank politics has defeated the
common sense
o
Continued denuding of water
bodies has seriously put strain on natural water re-charge zones with increased
desalination and poor soil quality to support vegetation
o
Rain water Harvesting
Structures got a lease of life when Ms. Jayalalitha was the CM but
implementation hit a road block with many inventing their own ways of putting a
RWH structure.
o
Chennai never had a leader who
would think seriously of the welfare of its people, to such an extent they
plotted foolish plans of diverting a part of Krishna river to Chennai from more
than 170 Kms. ‘But man is a part of nature,
and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.’- Rachel Carson
o
Of many 100’s of temples in
Chennai; the de-silting and de-weeding activity would greatly support in ground
water recharge to an extent the nearby areas will have a stable water table
o
Eating money in name of water
projects Veeranam Project- major source being Cauvery river’s Northern
tributary Kollidam- dam over which is Lower Anaicut ; we are killing the source at its place by pumping water from the dry river bed at such an indiscriminate
rate through bore wells during dry seasons-?
§ When Farmers are fighting for water for their crops,
Chennaiites are thirsty for Cauvery! What an irony one fights for survival
while other fights on options for survival.
§ Next foundation stone to blunder laid- Hogenakkal drinking water
project for water starved districts of Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri. The motive
is enlightening but who are the beneficiaries of this Japan Bank of International
Cooperation Grant project? of course Government of Tamilnadu in power & losers are those waiting with empty pots for water to trickle in their homes. The debate now is How Cauvery is diverted to drinking supplies when farmers are
already aggrieved over less tmc of water release? Who is this Government
fooling around with? What is the progress of the project started in 2008?
o
Now to top it up a Sea water
Desalination plant off Chennai’s coast near Minjur; an extreme step when
solutions are abound within city through regulated construction and preserving
water bodies.
· Scientific approach to modern times for efficient use of resourcese
o
Cauvery crisis has presented
some new insights into the current method of cropping and how that can be changed
to suit the needs of two states
o
According to former Bureaucrat
from department of ecology and environment, Mr. A N Yellappa Reddy, farmers on
both states have been encouraged to grow water intensive crops like rice and
sugarcane; when water is becoming scare due to variety of reasons.
o Reddy goes on to point that in Tamilnadu there are 3 seasons of
cropping In tn's delta area, rice varieties are
grown in three phases:
• Kuruvai
from June to September- this methodology has resulted in water logging during
peak summer and resulting poor soil health
• Thaladi
from October to February
• Samba
from August to January
o This above pattern has not been
properly correlated with groundwater/ surface water and rainfall water usage-
but question to be asked is how has this age old cultivation pattern been
sustainable for Tamilnadu or has Karnataka farmers taken to rice cultivation
recently adding to the strain on water resources?
o
A rash of irrigation projects
by Karnataka and Tamilnadu has over exploited the water; Tamilnadu has far
reached its saturation point in 1970’s while Karnataka had reached that level
in 1990’s. The point highlighted by S Guhan, former IAS officer and senior
fellow at Madras Institute of Development studies.
o
Indian Council of Agricultural
Research’s former head I C Mahapatra laments continuous cultivation of rice has
made rice cultivation a highly low efficient crop yield variety over the
decades
o
After much complaints from
Karnataka farmers a suggestion to improve on available resources by desilting water tanks and ponds- as suggested by Madan Gopal, senior Karnataka Government
official. Such ponds number 11,000 in Karnataka
o
A more accommodative approaches
were suggested by Sunita Narain , at CSE. Kuruvai crop was introduced in 1960’s
which is considered a water guzzling variety and at a time when it is totally
dependent on Cauvery waters and not on North East Monsoon like Samba.
§ Government played the villain by offering higher Minimum support
price for this crop in Tamilnadu and similar support by Karnataka State government for
Sugarcane farming in districts like Mandya, Hassan and Mysore
§ Next why not encourage alternate traditional crop cultivation சிà®±ு தானியம்
like சோளம்,கம்பு,கேà®´்வரகு,சாà®®ை,தினை,வரகு,குதிà®°ை,வரகு,
காடைக்கன்னி; which is more efficient when properly tended too and that to by
Organic method farming as propagated and advocated by Nammalvar Aiyya. These above grains are also considered to be
healthy for present lifestylef.
§ Instead of tapping the river water for drinking purposes adopt
conservation approaches; desalination plants are very costly affair and better
options would be recharging ground waters by helping de silting the natural water
tanks and ponds in and around the townships
o
A report by Centre for
Agriculture and Rural Development studies of Tamilnadu Agricultural University
of Coimbatore, has mentioned that out of 1.8 million wells, .16 million wells
have become defunct, nearly 9%. Have assessed 17 river basins in Tamilnadu to
give a more scientific approach on agriculture. j
§ Policy options to improve productivity of agriculture in basins- a
much needed solution
§ Out of 385 blocks in the state: 23% are being marked DARK meaning
have attained critical status in its ground water usage/ another 20% have been extracted
above 65% of its resources so what next?- adopt scientific planning in use of
water
§ A wide proliferation of bore wells has resulted in decreasing
addition of irrigated area when compared to pre 1990 levels due to decreased water availability
§ Recommendation to adopt poultry and dairy animal rearing on
commercial scale in small medium farms in addition to small farm cultivation
§ Technology as a tool to make better decisions in farming
o
Y K Alagh, Vice Chancellor of
Jawaharlal University in 1996 had presented a report to Government of India
under P V Narasimha Rao and his words with caution and sincerity on Cauvery River Dispute, ‘Both
states are water starved, and important things on table is balancing the ‘need’
and ‘usage’ which determines the irrigation methodology in two states.’ And to
add on, ‘"Water should be used in an optimum manner. There can be better
sharing patterns, rationing and pricing of water, rainwater harvesting,
creation of effective water markets and the like.’g
o
A report on Karnataka’s farming
history throws light on seasonal cropping chronicled by Dr. Buchanan. This
report does not give info on water sharing issues with Tamilnadu but highlights
traditional farm practices in Karnataka in 1800's.i
a. http://splash.bradford.ac.uk/files/Alternative%20Water%20Forum%20Anand.pdf-
viewed on 3rd October 2012
b. http://www.sandrp.in/rivers/Article_Cauvery_Tribunal_Verdict_0207.pdf-
viewed on 4th October 2012
c. http://www.downtoearth.org.in/node/12245-
viewed on 4th October 2012
d. http://www.sandrp.in/rivers/Article_Cauvery_Tribunal_Verdict_0207.pdf-
viewed on 4th October 2012
e. http://www.downtoearth.org.in/node/15430-
viewed on 5th October 2012
f.
http://www.agriinfomedia.com/profiles/blogs/4679593:BlogPost:26722-
viewed on 5th October 2012
g. http://www.downtoearth.org.in/node/25440-
viewed on 5th October 2012
h. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=nrcqGF3agsEC&pg=PA63&lpg=PA63&dq=cauvery+river+water+dispute&source=bl&ots=C4eqBABDVQ&sig=3mQa-kIAIHsW6T8YgrVx8ibtKVI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fFRsULjWC5HtrQeXx4DYBQ&sqi=2&ved=0CFcQ6AEwBw-
viewed on 3rd October 2012
i.
R. S. Deshpande & Malini
Tantri (2008), ‘Agriculture in Karnataka: A Historical view after fall of
Serirangapatana’. Institute for Social and Economic Change
j. K
Palaniswami et al., Performance of Agriculture in River Basins of Tamilnadu in
the Last Three Decades- A Total factor productivity approach (2011)- funded
Planning Commission of India
Comments
-ramasamy