Besides, the high point of the year gone by remained the notification of the final award of the Cauvery inter-state water dispute tribunal after a Supreme Court rap.
Despite sharp differences among ministries, the Ministry of Water Resources managed to get the nod of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for continuation of the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) with a total outlay of Rs 55,200 crore. It is expected that states would create an additional irrigation potential of 8.7 million hectare.
In its final award on the India-Pakistan arbitration case, the court also decided that India shall release a minimum flow of nine cumecs (cubic meters per second) into the Kishenganga/Neelum river below the Kishenganga hydro-electric project (KHEP) at "all times".
The issue of minimum flow was left unresolved by the partial award issued on February 18, 2013.
The court, in its final award pronounced on December 20, also decided that both India and Pakistan may seek "reconsideration" of its decision through the Permanent Indus Commission and the mechanisms of the Indus Waters Treaty "after a period of seven years from the first diversion of water from the Kishenganga river".