Cauvery Order getting set to be notified - Bharat Bandh today !

Some good news for the Cauvery delta farmers….. a  day before the expiry of the deadline set by the Supreme Court, the Centre on Tuesday took steps to notify the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal allocating the quantum of waters to the Cauvery basin States of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala and Union territory of Puducherry.

The Hindu reports that Water Resources Secretary S.K. Sarkar signed the notification for publication in the official gazette, which is said to be in the process. The CWDT order attempts to settle the 120-year-old dispute on the sharing of the Cauvery waters. Karnataka has opposed the gazette notification of the final order. However, it is not clear yet if the notification will include the setting up of implementation mechanisms such as the Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery Regulation Committee as contained in the CWDT order. The CWDT order determined the usable quantum of the Cauvery waters at Lower Coleroon Anicut site on the basis of 50 per cent dependability to be 740 tmc ft (thousand million cubic feet). Of this, Tamil Nadu has been allocated 419 tmc ft, Karnataka will get 270 tmc ft, Kerala 30 tmc ft and Puducherry 7 tmc ft. Further, the final order has reserved 10 tmc ft. for environmental protection and 4 tmc ft. for inevitable seepage into the sea. In a distress year, the allocated shares shall be proportionately reduced among the basin States and Puducherry.

The order shall supersede the agreements of 1892 and 1924 between the then Government of Madras and the Government of Mysore so far as it is related to the Cauvery river system. It shall come into operation on the date of publication of the tribunal’s decision in the official gazette under Section 6 of the Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956, as amended from time to time.

People must remain thankful to the judicial activism for it  is the Supreme Court that has, time and again, pushed the process of resolution of the intractable Cauvery water dispute, be it at the stage of constitution of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal or the notification of final award of the Tribunal. Now it is for the Centre to implement the notified orders or rather ensure that the States follow the order……..

Did you know that today and tomorrow is Bharat Bandh…… a word which paralysed the Nation not so long ago, but has somehow become farcical these days.  There are reports that the talks between Govt and Unions have failed and the TU are going against with the strike  which they state is against the anti-people and anti-workers policies of the government.

Gone are the days when everything would be paralysed as there would be no banking transactions ~ but with ATMs, Internet banking and more … not a day to day activity affecting the common man one thought.   The buses and rails would function normally and hence traffic may not be affected in any big way.  

The day after the strike Govt would state that things went on normal while Left and other TUs would claim that things were paralysed ~ life would go on.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

PS : the notification news almost entirely reproduced from The Hindu