The sharing of waters of the Kaveri river has been the source of conflict between the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The –long Kaveri river originates at Talakaveri in the Western Ghats in Karnataka, and flows for about before entering Tamil Nadu. It flows further eastward in Tamil Nadu for before flowing into the Bay of Bengal near Poompuhar in Tamil Nadu. The basin area consists of 44,000 km2 in Tamil Nadu and 32,000 km2 in Karnataka.
The conflict stems from the agreements made in 1892 and 1924 between the Kingdom of Mysore and the Madras Presidency during the British Raj. After the Indian Independence in 1947, the states were re-organised, with the erstwhile Madras Presidency being split between various states, majorly Tamil Nadu and Andhra, and parts of the Kaveri basin became part of Kerala and Puducherry. After the expiry of the 1924 agreement in 1974, Karnataka demanded its due share of water from the river stating that the pre-Independence agreements are invalid and favored the Madras Presidency due to its expanse at the time, and demanded a renegotiated settlement. However, Tamil Nadu argued that it has about 3 million acres of land under cultivation, which is heavily dependent on the river water, and any change in the existing water sharing pattern would adversely affect the livelihood of millions of farmers in the state.
Two decades of negotiations between the parties yielded no result. In 1990, the Supreme Court of India directed the Government of India to constitute the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. The tribunal gave an interim award in June 1991 that was based on its 10-year calculation of average inflow of water into Tamil Nadu, and though deemed unfair by Karnataka, it adhered to it as the Supreme Court upheld the same. The tribunal gave its final allocation on 5 February 2007, which was only announced by the Indian government on 20 February 2013. The final award made an annual allocation of 419 tmcft to Tamil Nadu, 270 tmcft to Karnataka, 30 tmcft to Kerala, and 7 tmcft to Puducherry. Karnataka was also specified to release a certain amount of water as designated every month.
In 2013, the Supreme Court issued a direction to the union government to establish an supervisory committee to implement the order. Following further litigation, on 16 February 2018, the Supreme Court pronounced its verdict, allocating 404.25 tmcft to Tamil Nadu and 284.75 tmcft to Karnataka, while the allocations for the others remained the same. As per the orders, the Cauvery Water Management Authority was created by the union government on 1 June 2018, and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee was created three weeks later. The dispute, however, did not end there, and further review petitions and request for clarifications have been filed with the committee and the courts. Over the years, the dispute has also resulted in widespread protests, demonstrations, and riots in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Kaveri river
The Kaveri river system is one of the major river systems in South India. It arises at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri Hills of the Western Ghats in Karnataka. Once it leaves the Kodagu hills, it flows eastwards onto the Deccan Plateau and widens to before flowing south-east. At Shivanasamudra, the river drops and forms the Shivanasamudra Falls, after which it passes through the Mekedatu gorge. After flowing for in Karnataka, the river flows for about along the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border.
The river enters Tamil Nadu and forms the Hogenakkal Falls. After the falls, the river flows southwards towards Mettur Dam and joins its main right bank tributary Bhavani at Kooduthurai. The river flows eastwards and widens further before splitting into two branches near Tiruchirappalli. After flowing for , the two branches converge around the Srirangam island. The river further branches off into 36 different channels before emptying into the Bay of Bengal near Poompuhar in Mayiladuthurai district. The river traverses for about in Tamil Nadu for a total length of about . The basin area of the river is spread over 44,000 km2 in Tamil Nadu and 32,000 km2 in Karnataka.
British era The early precursor for the dispute arose during the British Raj in 1807 when the Madras Presidency wrote to the princely state of Mysore regarding the usage of the Kaveri water by Mysore, which it considered as detrimental to Madras. In 1881, the princely state of Mysore planned irrigation projects using water from the Kaveri river, but was met with resistance from the Madras Presidency. A conference held in 1890 between the two parties resulted in an agreement signed in 1892 which aimed to meet the needs of both states.
In 1910, Krishnaraja Wodeyar, the ruler of Mysore, drafted a plan to construct a dam at Kannambadi with a capacity to hold up to 41.5 tmcft of water. However, Madras opposed the plan as it had its own plans of building a dam at Mettur which could hold up to 80 tmcft of water. While the British Raj gave permission to Mysore to build a dam that could store 11 tmcft, the dam was designed to hold the 41.5 tmcft as per the original plan. This led to further dispute amongst the two parties and the British government sent the matter to arbitration under the 1892 Agreement. The award was declared on 12 May 1914, which allowed Mysore to construct the dam with a permitted capacity of 11 tmcft. The decision was appealed by the Madras Presidency which eventually led to a new agreement in 1924. As per the agreement, Mysore was allowed to construct the Krishna Raja Sagara dam and Madras was let to build the Mettur Dam. It was agreed to give 75% of the surplus water of the Kaveri to Madras, with Mysore getting 23%, and the remaining to Travancore-Cochin.
Post-Independence 1950s After Indian independence in 1947, and the reorganisation of the Indian states based on linguistic lines in 1956, the regions of the ertswhile territories of Mysore and Madras largely became part of Mysore State (which was renamed as Karnataka later) and Madras State (which was renamed as Tamil Nadu later) respectively. Parts of the Kaveri basin which earlier formed part of Madras Presidency went to Kerala, and the union territory of Puducherry. The reorganisation also resulted in some of the river's tributaries to be in Kerala. As a result, both Kerala and Puducherry became invested in the sharing of the waters of the Kaveri river. In the late 1950s, Madras planned to implement three new projects based on the river, which was objected to by Mysore on the grounds that they were not permitted as per the 1924 agreement.
1970s Dispute arose when Mysore took on new projects on the river, which was opposed by Madras. As the 1924 agreement came closer to its end date, differences arose between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu regarding the interpretation of the same. Karnataka believed that the agreement had to expire as did not address water issues pertaining to the time as the state boundaries had changed. Tamil Nadu believed that the agreement was meant to be reviewed after 50 years, and it should not be let to expire because it served as a foundation for developmental projects for both states and if altered, it would harm both the states. Tamil Nadu wanted a tribunal established under the Interstate River Water Disputes Act of 1956 to address the conflict, which was turned down by the union government. A subsequent report on the union-state relations was created by the Government of Tamil Nadu, which recommended that the Supreme Court of India should handle the interstate water disputes and ensure that its decisions are implemented.
In 1971, petitions were submitted to the Supreme Court requesting that the union government should send the dispute to a tribunal under the Interstate River Water Disputes Act of 1956. In May 1972, Kerala, Mysore, and Tamil Nadu agreed to discussions on the matter, and let the union government establish a Cauvery fact finding committee, the results of which were deliberated during further discussions. In August 1976, the three parties agreed to a share of 489 tmcft to Tamil Nadu, 177 tmcft to Karnataka, and 5 tmcft to Kerala. Of the surplus water, Karnataka was entitled to 53%, Tamil Nadu to 30%, and the remaining was awarded to Kerala. It was also agreed to form a Cauvery Valley Authority which would be headed by a Central Water Commission member, but this committee was never established due to political reasons. In 1977, Tamil Nadu rejected the draft agreement stating that the 1924 agreement be allowed for an extension but not a review and that the 1892 and 1924 agreements should be reinstated.
1980s Despite having 26 meetings mediated by the union government between 1968 and 1990 to resolve the Kaveri water dispute, an agreement could not be reached. After the lapse of the previous agreement, a crisis management system was established for 15 years, with Tamil Nadu requesting more water annually to support agriculture. In 1983, the Society for the Protection of the Irrigation and Agricultural Rights of the Tamil Nadu Farmers of the Cauvery filed a petition with the Supreme Court requesting the union government to establish a Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT). During the initial hearing of the petition, the Supreme Court encouraged the states to negotiate a water sharing deal, but they were unable to agree to a solution. The case remained pending with the Supreme Court for nearly seven years, and in 1989, the Tamil Nadu government passed a resolution that the dispute be referred to a tribunal if no agreement can be reached.
1990s On 4 May 1990, the Supreme Court instructed the union government to set up the CWDT. The three-man tribunal was constituted on 2 June 1990 and was headed by Chittatosh Mookerjee. The tribunal was later formed and heard arguments from all four parties–three states and Puducherry. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka requested for 566 and 465 tmcft respectively, with Kerala asking for a share of 99.8 tmcft, and Puducherry requested 9.3 tmcft. The tribunal gave an interim award on 25 June 1991 that was based on its 10-year calculation of average inflow of water from Karnataka into Tamil Nadu. It instructed Karnataka to provide 205 tmcft to Tamil Nadu annually and specified the weekly and monthly stipulations for the same. It also stipulated that the crop area irrigated by the Kaveri waters should not exceed 1.12 million hectares in Karnataka. Karnataka deemed the order as inimical to its interests and issued an ordinance seeking to annul the tribunal's award. The Supreme Court stepped in to strike down the ordinance and upheld the tribunal's award which was subsequently gazetted by the union government on 11 December 1991. As Karnataka was forced to accept the interim award, widespread demonstrations and violence broke out in parts of Karnataka, which resulted in targeting of Tamil families, with many forced to flee from Bangalore in fear of being attacked and lynched by pro-Kannada activists with the behest of the state government. The violence continued in the Tamil populated parts of Bangalore for nearly a month before it was brought in control.