Against the flow

Cauvery dispute highlights poor water management policies

Tensions between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over the sharing of the Cauvery river waters date back to over a century earlier. Now the exigencies of climate change are adding to the intensity of the conflict, which has swiftly acquired political connotations ahead of the parliamentary elections next year. But the current dispute is also a reflection of the poor standard of water management in both states, which create shortages whenever seasonal rain is deficient. This is a sorry situation for the states whose capital cities claim to be India’s Silicon Valley and Detroit but depend heavily on the Cauvery river