Context-

• Recently, the Supreme Court has refused to interfere in the order of the Kaveri Water Management Authority and the Kaveri Water Regulation Committee, in which the Karnataka government has been asked to release 5000 cubic metres of water per day to Tamil Nadu.
• The Kaveri Management Authority had also given the same decision.
• It is noteworthy that Tamil Nadu had asked for 7200 cubic metres of water citing drought.
• Still, Tamil Nadu is happy with the decision to release 5,000 cubic metres of water per day, but dissatisfaction has arisen against it in Karnataka. Due to which protests have started across the state.

Background of Kaveri river dispute-

• From time to time, committees were formed, orders were passed by the Supreme Court regarding the distribution of the water of Kaveri, known as the Ganga of the South, among four states - Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry, but the disputes could not end.
• The Kaveri water dispute between TamilNadu and Karnataka has been going on since before independence.

 The root cause of the dispute -

• Many districts of both the states depend on the water of Kaveri river for irrigation.
• Bangalore city gets drinking water from this.
•  Therefore this issue is highly sensitive for both the states.

Efforts to resolve this dispute -

• To resolve this issue, the Kaveri Water Dispute Tribunal was established in the year 1990.
• Apart from this, the Central Government notified the Kaveri  Water Management Plan' in June 2018, constituting the 'Kaveri  Water Management Authority' and the 'Kaveri river Water Regulation Committee'.

 The way forward -

• The possibility of getting rid of these disputes was seen in the ambitious river linking project, but this project has also not been able to gain the expected pace in the last two decades.
• The solution to this problem lies in cooperation and coordination with each other.
• In such a situation, the concerned states will have to sacrifice regional interests.
• Keeping each other's needs in mind, permanent and practical solutions will have to be found.

​Exam oriented Static facts

• Kaveri RiverState – Karnataka, Tamil Nadu
• Tributaries
•   From left – Hemavati, Shimsa, Arkavati
•   From right - Kabini, Bhavani, Noyyal, Amravati
• Source of origin: From Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri range of the Western Ghats in Kodagu district of Karnataka.