Inter State River Disputes

River-disputes	India has 12 major rivers 9 of them are inter-state, in all case water in intensely fought over Example: Kaveri dispute between TN and Karnataka Satluj in Punjab and Haryana
Provision	Constitutional Article 262(1): Parliament has the power to provide for adjudication of water disputes Legal: Inter-state water disputes Act 1956: Tribunals Power of civil court Schemes for better implementation of its decisions Maintenance of data bank and information Bar on Power of SC River boards Act: for regulation and development Others:
Cauvery case	Cauvery tribunal awarded verdict on 2007: has asked the parties to share the deficiencies on pro-rata basis.  But not accepted by the parties Because: Neither the Cauvery management board nor regulatory authoritieswere set up to implement Importance of Cauvery management Board(other such authorities) Proactive Participatory Regular accountable  transparent trust and confidence Center has set up a Supervisory committee on this in 2013 SC order september 2016: for the release of water
Reasons	Natural: Deficit monsoon Climate change Man made: Water shortage due to climate change Population growth Urbanization Agricultural practices Construction of dams (by  Karnataka) Administrative and institutions: failure of mechanism Water management Failure of ISWDA: Delays in implementation (Ravi-Beas case since 1986) Inadequate machinery and in-capacity to enforce and implement Issue of Finality: Parties often approaches SC regarding constitutional and procedural issues like Karnataka in cauvery issues. Expertise: data, HR, Finance Example: Neither the Cauvery management board nor regulatory authorities were set up to implement Separate tribunal for each case Political: Regionalism, vote bank politics
Impact	Livelihood Regional and Sectional conflict National and federal integrity Separatist movements : Example Telangana  Political gains
Solutions	ISWD amendment Bill 2017 Dispute resolution committee  Timely, negotiation and mediation. Single tribunal: Timely, final Centralized Data collection by an agency of each river basin Technical support Issues: separate benches: no clarity no finality Not holistic implementation mechanism Water management: Water pricing Crop management like rice in TN (water shortage areas) and sugarcane in Karnataka, best practices Rain water harvesting: Johad (traditional) Prevention---resolution cycle Institutional reforms: Role of Inter-state council Mihir shah report to constitute central water authority to manage rivers. Parliamentary stnding committee on water resource  Make it a concurrent subject quick implementation of the awards by formation of concerned authorities like river management boards and regulatory authorities  Need for National water management policy Tribunal: should be a multidisciplinary body with participatory and conciliatory approach Declaration of river as national property National schemes  DVC For Implementation: River basin organization to be set up under River boards Act Rule of law Cooperative federalism Follow the philosophy of National interest and Public good Technology: data base management, hydrological data  Research and development Political initiative: debate, discussion and deliberation Arbitration, conciliation and Mediation Non-political  Cauvery family : body of farmers from both the state River basin organization  Water governance Environmental ethics
Way forward	Depoliticize, Humanitarianism, Overall water governance