Cauvery water sharing

Tweet

Looking at this Cauvery Problem, I remember the famous lines said by Mark Twain way back in 1865, that is “Alcohol is for Drinking and Water is for Fighting”. When Lord Ganesha pushed the Kamandelu of Sage Agasthya he had only one vision that is the drought prone areas of Tanjore and areas in Tamilnadu gets water. Today also the areas are under drought. He might be wondering why did I push the Kamandelu. Cauvery is Mother of all rivers in the South. The 764 km path she takes from her origin in the Brahmagiris is something amazing. This is of interest to me as the river has its origins from the Sholas and Grasslands ecosystem rather than the snowy glaciers like the Ganges, Yamuna, Brahmaputra and others. Tamil Nadu has had more attachment to Cauvery than any other states, because it was their lifeline and is their lifeline. The Trimurthis of Carnatic Music, Thygaraga, Shyma Sastri and Muthuswamy Dikshithar have all written kritis on Cauvery. And Cauvery has been source of inspiration for many artists. Tamil Nadu also has been irresponsible in conserving water and has also not conserved its own natural resources Water is the prime resource of the shola forests. When forests are conserved in their best ecological shape, people benefit from rivers that run full. When biomass extractions, commercial operations and other exploitations for greed takes place, not only there is erosion of forests, but we also pay the consequent hydrological price. More than 40 % of the water for Cauvery is from its tributaries in the Nilgiris. The NBR if protected well, Tamilnadu need not fight with Karnataka in the courts for want of Water. Tamilnadu desperately need for 11 tmcft of water allowed most political parties to gain mileage out of empty rhetoric by whipping up ethnic passions. Not one politician however displayed the political will or statesmanship to protect the Nilgiri Forests. Three major rivers from the Nilgiris enriches the Cauvery River. Protecting the Nilgiri Forests is the best way to keep a perpetual water supply in Tamilnadu. And the other factor we should look is in those days there was not so much of areas planted in Karnataka like today. And we should look at the crops too, all of them use Rice and Sugar Cane has main crops in Mandya district. Paddy and Sugarcane are water intensive crops. For producing 1kg of rice there is requirement of more than 1000 litres of water, which is an approx figure, the exact figure will be even more. Today attachments have no much value in the modern life style. Same in the case of River, attachments apart, people in both states should work towards a common understanding based on Ground Realities rather than fighting with each other. Water conservation should reach everyone’s mindset if we have to live in peace in future. Biomass conservation also should be taken up by the people rather than the forest dept. Unless small attitude changes start coming up, the future is bleak. As such there are more than 300 wars going round the world for water. We must stop fighting for water between our own brothers and sisters across the states. Our people should understand the ecosystem of south India which is mainly dependent on the Western Ghats. And in the Western Ghats there are no snowy mountain glaciers, it is all the shola-grasslands and evergreen forests that really contribute to the rivers and streams. If we have a rich forest we will have no water problem. There is an old Kannada saying that says, if there is Tiger in the Forest, the Village will get water. How right they were. Tiger is at the apex of the ecosystem. If a tiger has to be protected so much of forest areas also should be conserved, so naturally u will get water. This year the EL Nino did the major damage to our rains (South west Monsoon), we hope such El Ninos do not repeat, this is not in our hands. The last El Nino was in 1997. Protect Water, Conserve Water, it is the element u need next to Air for ur survival. It is no more Water, Water Everywhere not a Drop to Drink. There is no water in first place today.