No common ground in this water war
TAMIL NADU’S HOPE After incurring losses for six years, state’s farmers hope rain gods will be kind and Karnataka fair in sharing water so that they are able to harvest profit this year THANJAVUR: A FEW FARMERS SAY THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT K’TAKA MAY NOT ACCEPT THE APEX COURT’S VERDICT IF IT’S IN TAMIL NADU’S FAVOUR DUE TO THE UPCOMING STATE POLLS KARNATAKA’S RESOLVE Cultivators stake claim over river water, stating that if monsoon is bad like in past years, it will be difficult to give water to TN no matter what anyone says
Lush green, swaying samba paddy fields dot the horizon from Tiruchirapalli towards the tail end of Cauvery basin in Tamil Nadu, towards the Bay of Bengal coast in Nagapattinam.
Surely, all must be well with the farming community in TN’s rice bowl? Then, did the dramatic farmer protests with tonsured heads and human skulls in Delhi, led by P Ayyakannu, exaggerate farm distress?
A local farmer cautioned the untrained eye, “The greenery can be fleeting.”
At the moment, farmers are hoping the rain god is kind and Karnataka fair. For the first time in six years, a section of farmers in the Cauvery delta comprising Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur and parts of Tiruchirapalli are beginning to smell success after a favourable northeast monsoon.
Now, they are desperate for water from Mettur dam, but the Tamil Nadu government is unable to oblige due to acute shortage. Chief minister Edapaddi Palaniswami has sought time from his Karnataka counterpart, Siddaramaiah, to urge him to release Cauvery water to save the standing crop.
Deekshita Balasubramaniam, a prosperous landlord who owns farmland spanning 400 acres at Kallanai in Tiruchirapalli, has suffered extensive losses in the years gone by and is hoping to harvest a profit this time.
“I could withstand (the losses) because I own two colleges and other businesses. But for many, successive crop failures on account of water shortage due to drought and Karnataka’s refusal to part with Cauvery water have meant collapse,” said Balasubramaniam, the Tiruchirapalli district president of Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Association.
Delta farmers need a few more wettings of their standing crop before they harvest. If they don’t get water, it will be another year of loss.
NC Kannan, 42, who has a three-acre farm in Thirumalam village located barely 7 km from Bay of Bengal, has fingers crossed. “Every year in the past six years, I lost ₹1.5 lakh. All because of Karnataka,” he said. Farmers across the region take the same line.
P Sivagnanabharathi, 56, who has a two-acre farm at Irandamsetti village on the outskirts of Mannargudi, said, “Karnataka will not accept the Supreme Court verdict, like it ignored recent orders to release water to Tamil Nadu.” Sivagnanabharathi, who is also a state government employee, added, “Even if the SC verdict favours Tamil Nadu, Karnataka will never implement it. With elections in Karnataka, we will become victims again.”
T Madan, 26, working on his farmland at Pirinjimulai village near Thalainayar town, said, “Of course, Karnataka will dare the SC again and refuse to accept any order that asks it to give water.” Madan, who is pursuing a PhD, added, “Has anyone been able to force Karnataka to give water as per SC order? Unfortunately, politicians in TN are not united as they are in Karnataka when crucial issues come up. We have been left to the mercy of God and Karnataka.”
Jeeva Kumar, a farmer welfare activist and CPI(M) member, said, “In the last six years, Tamil Nadu government has not convened a single all-party meeting on the issue, nor sent one delegation to the President, the Prime Minister and authorities concerned.
S Ranganathan, general secretary of Tamil Nadu Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Welfare Association, said, “Karnataka has spent more money in desilting its lakes, ponds, canals and rivers, built more dams, whereas in Tamil Nadu, it seems the government and politicians are only interested in sand mining.” Ranganathan, whose petition led to the legal battle between the two states on Cauvery water sharing, added, “Rivers have become a source of money for politicians – so they want rivers without water.”
Incidentally, Ranganathan is a part of Cauvery Family, a group of farmers from both states who have met for years to find an amicable solution to the water dispute without recourse to courts.
He believes it is possible. “Leave it to farmers of both states. They will settle it,” said Ranganathan. So why haven’t they been able to resolve the differences? “Politicians have spoiled it,” he added.
Sakkare Nadu or City of Sugar, Mandya, mourned the death of farmer leader Konasala Narasaraju, 58, on January 30.
Narasaraju, who had been at the forefront of Karnataka Rajya Rythu Sangha’s agitation for Cauvery water, had died five days ago. A firebrand farmer leader, he had always insisted the state’s farmers had the first right on Cauvery water.
Mandya is no stranger to farmer suicides and one-and-a-half years ago, Narasaraju had warned of more such deaths if water was sent to Tamil Nadu instead of Karnataka’s needy farmers in the Cauvery basin comprising Mandya, Mysore, Chamarajanagar.
People mourning him promised to be as determined.
“Water for me first and then for anyone else,” said his son, Chetan Kumar, a farmer and schoolteacher. “There could be fresh trouble as the Supreme Court verdict may go Tamil Nadu’s way because their lawyers are better. This year monsoon has been good, but if it is bad like in the past few years, it will be difficult to give water to TN no matter what anyone says.”
Passions ran high among the mourners, who congregated at Pravasi Mandir in Mandya town, as they formed a human chain for peace and communal harmony.
A mention of Cauvery water-sharing dispute and the impending Supreme Court verdict sparked off an intense discussion. Most participants insisted Tamil Nadu was at fault.
Two years ago, when the Supreme Court ordered Karnataka to release Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, violent protests erupted in Bengaluru and Mandya, where pro-Kannada activists torched business establishments owned by Tamilians and attacked vehicles bearing Tamil Nadu registration. The IT sector too witnessed disruptions, hurting the brand Bengaluru image.
Ahead of the SC verdict, people in Mandya are hopeful it will protect Karnataka’s interests.
Ramakrishnayya, state secretary of Karnataka Rashtra Rythu Sangha, said, “Giving Tamil Nadu the water it demands is just not possible.”
According to him, it “is not just nature, even the Centre and the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal are against us”. Fellow
MANDYA: LOCALS WARN OF FRESH TROUBLES, LIKE THE VIOLENT PROTESTS THAT BROKE OUT IN THE STATE TWO YEARS AGO, IF TOP COURT TELLS KARNATAKA TO RELEASE WATER TO TN
farmers nodded in agreement. “If the rain is good, we can give water to Tamil Nadu. If the rain is poor, how can we give it to them? We will not allow water to be given to Tamil Nadu until all our farmers get all the water they need,” said Ramakrishnayya.
Local leaders are equally rigid. KS Puttannaiah, MLA of Melukote in Mandya and a farmer himself, argued for reducing the quantum of water allocated to Tamil Nadu from the present 192 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft) to 165 tmc ft. “Let us wait for the judgment. We will take a call only after seeing the order,” he said.
Educationist TV Mohandas Pai said he hoped the SC would “correct the injustice meted out to Karnataka” way back in 1924, when Tamil Nadu (then Madras Presidency) got the judgment it wanted through the good offices of the British.
Mandya farmers believe the top court will consider the reality that Karnataka is the biggest dry land state in the country after Rajasthan and do justice.
Not all voices are rigid, though. Kodihalli Chandrashekhar, a farmer leader from southern Karnataka, believes a solution will have to be reached through a dialogue between farmers of both states. This is in line with what S Ranganathan, general secretary of Tamil Nadu Cauvery Delta Farmers’ Welfare Association, also believes. However, like Ranganathan, Chandrashekhar too blamed politicians “for the current mess”.
Former IAS officer of Karnataka cadre, Renuka Viswanathan, now an aspiring MLA from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), said, “Politicians always feed on conflicts, whip up emotions and try and find a convenient enemy to target.” She said the issue should be left to the farming communities of the two states to resolve it themselves.
“But one thing for sure is both states need to use water efficiently and plan their crops well,” said the former bureaucrat, who worked with the Planning Commission, now scrapped and replaced by Niti Aayog.