A welcome decision

AFTER TWO ABORTED attempts, the Cauvery River Authority, set up in 1998 to secure the implementation of the Tribunal's June 1991 interim order, has met and decided, at last, on the technical nuances of conducting its business. Although a formality, this preliminary process remained stalled so far mainly because of the almost certain prospect of contentious issues pertaining to the release of water also being raised at the meeting, and the Authority cannot meet even if the Chief Minister of one member- State stays away for some reason or the other. The very fact that the CRA's Friday meeting went off smoothly must be seen as a positive development, given the complexities of the Cauvery dispute and the narrow regional, chauvinistic and essentially `vote bank' politics-driven approaches of the two major riparian States - Karnataka and Tamil Nadu - to the problem. By all accounts, cordiality and an accommodative spirit have marked the deliberations.

What is of immediate relevance from the standpoint of Tamil Nadu's irrigation needs for the standing kuruvai paddy crop is Karnataka's commitment to make good the deficit (in water releases) over a period, although there seems to be some confusion about the precise quantum agreed upon - whether it is six tmcft as first reported or ``much more'' as claimed by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi. It passes one's comprehension how there could be an ambiguity on such a vital and potentially controversial issue. Admittedly, the upper riparian is not comfortably placed, the precipitation during the current southwest monsoon so far helping only partially to improve the combined storage in its Cauvery-based reservoirs, although Kabini is surplussing. The comment of the Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr. S. M. Krishna - that he was looking to the rain-god - is significant. Tamil Nadu, where the Government took a calculated risk by opening the Mettur dam for kuruvai cultivation on the customary date of June 12, is not facing any emergency at the moment, particularly in the context of the boosted inflow from Kabini. This and the hope of the favourable trend sustaining for some time must have contributed not a little to Tamil Nadu choosing not to queer the pitch and thus paved the way for a consensus. Mr. Karunanidhi's reaction to the promised release by Karnataka - he described it as a ``good decision'' - may not sound very enthusiastic but reflects an appreciation of what may be possible in the circumstances.

Crucial indeed are the months of July, August and September; close to 62 per cent of the 205 tmcft which Karnataka is required to make available for the lower riparian during a water year is slated for release during this period as per the schedule laid down by the Tribunal. It is when the monsoon starts showing distinct signs of playing truant that pressure mounts, with the all-too-familiar Karnataka-Tamil Nadu wrangle breaking out generally in August-September. Even last year, it was in September that Tamil Nadu, faced as it was with an evolving crisis, sought the CRA's intervention to get the upper riparian to clear the backlog in water releases. That the Authority could not meet because of the then Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr. J. H. Patel's `inability' to participate (on health grounds) and that, subsequently, monsoon revived vigorously to bring copious supply to the reservoirs is public knowledge. Obviously Mr. Krishna is pinning his hopes on such a fortuitous denouement this year too.

As it has turned out, the two-year-old CRA - an institutional dispute resolving mechanism (within the limited ambit of the Tribunal's interim award) created under sustained pressure from the apex court - is yet to be tested seriously for its effectiveness. In a critical way, its success is contingent upon its evolving a `deficit sharing' formula, which is at once reasonable and viable, and the ideal period for undertaking the task is evidently when the monsoon has been good and when no State is under the sort of political and sectional pressures associated with conditions of acute water scarcity.

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Section  : Opinion
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