MB & J

February 6, 2007

The Ganges of the South

The Cauvery River is the main river the flows through South India. It flows through the southern part of Karnataka, the state we live in, and through the middle of Tamil Nadu, our neighboring state, to Pondicherry. Pondicherry is a city on the east coast of India, it was under French rule long ago, during the time of the British Raj, but that's a totally different blog. The Cauvery is the main supply of water for millions of people. There is an ongoing battle between the two states for how much water each state should get. The dispute among parties began back in 1807, at that time the two states as we know them weren't even around, it was the Madras state and the Mysore state. An agreement was signed in 1892 that neither party would take on new irrigation projects, but 'rules are for fools' and in the 1930s two new dams were built anyway. In 1990, a task force was formed called the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, proving that adding the word 'tribunal' will always make a group sound cool. Seventeen years after the CWDT was formed, February 5, 2007, a verdict was given. I could go into the details of the verdict, but I have no idea what it means, they are using some strange unit of measure. However, I know it didn't go in our favor, because everyone is unhappy with the verdict. After it was given yesterday, people started rioting and throwing rocks and bottles at the Forum Mall. It's okay though because it was expected, the Forum had already put up long nets that covered the sides of the building so that rocks and bottles couldn't break the glass. Karnatakans have planned a Bandh for Thursday. If you'll remember from MB before, a bandh is like a day everyone takes off work so they have time to riot and complain about something. It's a work stoppage to protest the tribunal's ruling. I just hope they keep the golf course open.

My personal take is that Karnataka was indeed unfairly holding back water from Tamil Nadu. However, the ruling was overly generous to TN and it seems that a more equal sharing of the water is in order. Just wanted to share with you what's happening in our part of the world.