A dry spell along the Cauvery

Marilingaiah, a farmer from Karnataka’s Kuntanahalli village in Maddur taluk of Mandya district, has raised a nursery of paddy seedlings on his two-acre plot. He is waiting for water to reach his fields, which lie at the tail end of the Visvesvaraya irrigation canal system. The canal draws water from the Krishna Raja Sagara (KRS) reservoir, located across the Cauvery river near Mysuru.

Editorial | Distress and dispute: On Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and the Cauvery

Worried, he says, “If water does not flow into the fields in the next 7-10 days, I will not only have to give up hopes of sowing paddy, but also lose the ₹8,000 I have spent on raising the nursery.”

Marilingaiah knows that adequate rainfall, along with canal water, is essential for the paddy to survive. Yet, he is among the many farmers in Karnataka’s Cauvery basin who have defied official advice against sowing water-intensive crops such as paddy and sugarcane this season, amid a predicted deficient monsoon and inadequate inflows into the basin’s reservoirs.

The optimism of the farmers was fuelled by a brief revival of the monsoon in the first week of August, when the water level in the 124.8-foot KRS reservoir rose from 93-94 ft to over 100 ft within a few days, before stagnating at 109 ft.

While farmers like Marilingaiah have chosen to trust nature instead of switching to semi-dry crops such as ragi, pulses, or oilseeds, others are waiting for a clearer picture to emerge. D.K. Ramu of Kodihalli village in Maddur taluk and Raju of Siddapura village in Srirangapatna taluk are among them. “If there is a promise of water in the next few days, I will sow paddy. Otherwise, I will grow ragi,” Ramu says. However, he notes that heavy rain could also damage the ragi crop.

Farmers across Karnataka’s Cauvery basin are facing not only the pressure of a deficient monsoon and uncertainty over the availability of irrigation water, but are also concerned about the need to share the limited Cauvery water with neighbouring Tamil Nadu — a vexed issue that goes back more than 130 years.

Also read: Cauvery water received by T.N. in July hits 50-year low

Meanwhile, in Tamil Nadu, farmers in the Cauvery delta are facing a water crisis of their own. Low storage at the Mettur dam, Karnataka’s failure to release a sufficient share of the water it received in June and July, and the Tamil Nadu government’s decision not to open the dam for irrigation on the customary date of June 12 have left large tracts of paddy fields barren. The State continues its legal battle with Karnataka to secure its share of the Cauvery water.

Balancing competing water needs

With the monsoon falling short and reservoir levels under pressure, Karnataka has had to balance irrigation needs with drinking water requirements and its obligations under the Cauvery water-sharing arrangement.

On August 19, the Cauvery Irrigation Advisory Committee, a regional body chaired by Karnataka Water Resources Minister N. Cheluvarayaswamy, met in Bengaluru and decided to release canal water in only four rotational cycles during the crop season, instead of continuously. This decision was taken to conserve reservoir storage and to ensure water availability for other needs, including for drinking.

Devaraj, a farmer from Attahalli village near Mysuru, says the plan to release water for about 15 days and then stop it for the next 15 days will not provide enough water for paddy and sugarcane crops. “Farmers will be able to grow only dry crops,” he says.

The State is also under pressure from the Supreme Court and the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) to share the limited water with Tamil Nadu in what is shaping up to be a distressing year. This central body was set up in June 2018 by the Union government to handle water-sharing from the Cauvery among Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry.

On August 11, Karnataka appealed to the CWMA to immediately reduce water releases to Tamil Nadu from 12,000 cusecs per day to 10,000 cusecs, warning that there will be a severe drinking water shortage if more water is released for crops in the Cauvery basin now.

With water to be released under the rotational cycle only as long as reservoir levels permit, State Sugarcane Farmers’ Association president Kurubur Shanthakumar questions whether the Karnataka government and its legal team were making a strong enough case for farmers and presenting the State’s position before the Cauvery water-sharing bodies — the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) and the CWMA — and the Supreme Court. He says the legal team does not appear to have succeeded in convincing the authorities about the water crisis in Karnataka.

Farmers in Maddur taluk are also bracing for a confrontation with the State government over the proposed diversion of KRS water to the Cauvery Stage VI drinking water project for Bengaluru, which requires an additional 6 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water annually. The Cauvery Stage VI drinking water project is a ₹6,939-crore infrastructure initiative approved by the Karnataka government this February to supply 500 MLD (million litres per day) of Cauvery water to roughly 30 lakh residents in Bengaluru as well as the adjoining towns of Bidadi, Hoskote, Anekal, Devanahalli, and Nelamangala.

“Is it fair for the government to starve us of water while diverting it to Bengaluru? Shouldn’t it identify other sources of drinking water for the city instead,” asks Mallesh, a Kuntanahalli resident, who is also a journalist.

A season of uncertainty

While farmers at the canal’s tail end bear the brunt of the distress, paddy transplantation is nearly complete in areas closer to the KRS reservoir, such as Karekura and Hosahalli. In a paddy field in Hosahalli, Cheluvaraju says most farmers in the region typically grow two crops a year given the usual availability of water. But his hopes for a second crop this year have dimmed as reserves have depleted. “We are not sure if we will be able to raise the second crop,” he says.

Cheluvaraju adds that he may have to work as a labourer to make ends meet if he is unable to grow the second crop. Most agricultural labourers in the region earn ₹400-500 for a day’s work from 7 a.m. to noon.

The deficient monsoon has also cast a shadow over sugarcane fields. Farmers who have already harvested their crops are relieved, but many others are pinning their hopes on rain. Chikkalingaiah, a farmer from Chikkabyadarahalli in Pandavapura taluk, says his sugarcane crop needs another nine months before harvest — and without timely rain, it may not even be fit to use as cattle fodder.

Many farmers have taken not only interest-free short-term loans from primary agricultural co-operative credit societies but also high-interest loans from microfinance companies. “If we are unable to grow crops, how will we repay our loans?” asks Nagesh, a resident of Chikkanahalli. He believes that the government should waive farmers’ agricultural loans and take steps to stop microfinance companies, notorious for deploying aggressive recovery agents, from harassing borrowers.

Though the despair among farmers over poor rainfall and the release of water to Tamil Nadu is reflected in the occasional protests, staged mostly by farmers’ organisations and pro-Kannada outfits across different parts of the Cauvery basin, these demonstrations, unlike in previous years, have remained muted. Even the Karnataka bandh, called by Kannada activist Vatal Nagaraj on August 13, drew a lukewarm response, barring parts of Maddur taluk.

Sunanda Jayaram, Organising Secretary of the Mandya District Raithara Hitharakashana Samithi, a farmers’ welfare committee, says with regret that farmers, the main stakeholders in the Cauvery water-sharing issue, were not responding to the calls for struggle.

An agriculturalist in Kuntanahalli, however, points to a different reason: ruling Congress leaders, he says, are actively discouraging farmers from taking to the streets, cautioning them against falling into what they call an “Opposition trap” — joining the protests only to later face the hassle of police stations and court appearances.

Watch | Can a dynamic formula for distress years ease Cauvery conflict? | Decode Karnataka

Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar has chastised activists for staging protests over the Cauvery issue “for the sake of publicity”. In particular, he warned them against wading into the river — a common form of protest — after the Water Resources Department issued a flood alert earlier this month over the release of water from the near-brimming Kabini reservoir.

While acknowledging that Karnataka’s dams were not yet full, Shivakumar vowed to protect the interests of the State’s farmers. But he has also emphasised the need to uphold the law by complying with directions on the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu.

Crisis in the Cauvery delta

“Very bad, very depressing situation” is how Thanga Jayaraman, an agriculturist from Tiruvarur, describes the situation in Tamil Nadu’s Cauvery delta, considered the rice bowl of the State.

“Ordinarily, when water is released from the Mettur dam (built in Salem district in Tamil Nadu across the Cauvery) on June 12 for irrigation, it reaches our area, about 300 kilometres downstream, by June 23 or 24. But this year, nothing,” says Jayaraman, who taught English at several institutions of higher education before taking up farming after retirement.

A drive of over 200 km from Tiruchi through Thanjavur, Thiruvaiyaru, Tiruvarur, and Mannargudi shows largely barren paddy fields. “You should have come last year. You would have found greenery everywhere,” says A.T.B. Balamurugan, a farmer of Andaankarai, about 15 km from Thiruthuraipoondi in Thiruvarur district.

Ordinarily, paddy is cultivated across 5.3 lakh acres in the Cauvery delta during the ongoing short-term Kuruvai season, followed by cultivation across 12.9 lakh acres during the longer Samba-Thaladi season, which begins with transplantation in late July or early August and ends with the harvest in mid-January. According to Tamil Nadu government data, the area under paddy cultivation this year has fallen to 4.5 lakh acres.

However, some agriculturists dispute the figure. They say there have been instances of stunted growth and crops showing signs of withering, making the official figure unreliable. The impact, they say, extends beyond the fields.

“Economic activity in the region is getting crippled because of the erosion of livelihood opportunities,” says P.R. Pandian, president of the Tamil Nadu All Farmers Organisations’ Coordination Committee and a resident of Mannargudi. “Shops and other businesses here down their shutters by 7 p.m.”

Located along the eastern coast of the State, the Cauvery delta, spanning districts such as Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Mayiladuthurai, and Nagapattinam, is characterised by fertile alluvial soil and a tropical climate with the flow of the Cauvery. Its importance can be gauged from the fact that during the procurement year of 2025-26 (September 1, 2025 to July 31, 2026), the region contributed 39.5 lakh tonnes of paddy out of the State-wide procurement of 57.5 lakh tonnes.

Yet many parts of the zone remain economically backward, with a majority of the population depending on agriculture for livelihood, despite climate challenges. Scheduled Castes, who live in large numbers in the region, constitute the dominant segment of landless agricultural labourers.

These are the reasons why successive Tamil Nadu governments have been keen to protect the interests of the Cauvery delta.

Opening the Mettur dam

This year, given the poor forecast for the south-west monsoon, attributed to Super El Niño, the government chose not to open the Mettur dam on June 12. “The authorities should not release water from the dam until the water level reaches at least 100 ft,” says Pandian. The level is about 85 ft, against the dam’s full capacity of 120.

The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and the Supreme Court have provided for a greater share of the river water to be released by Karnataka to Tamil Nadu during the south-west monsoon (123.14 TMC ft out of the annual quota of 177.25 TMC ft). This share is mostly meant to support paddy cultivation during the Samba season.

The Samba crop is important not only for food security but is also the mainstay of the delta’s rural economy. Farmers also grow the shorter-duration Kuruvai crop, which can offer higher yields. This crop is largely dependent on groundwater, with farmers using energised pumpsets to irrigate their fields. But declining groundwater levels and salinity are making even this option increasingly difficult.

“My area is located between the Cauvery and one of its branches, the Coleroon (Kollidam). Even there, the water level is going down,” says R. Arivalagan, a farmer from Peramur, about 10 km from Thiruvaiyaru. Submersible pumpsets, once more common in the dry districts of Coimbatore and Dharmapuri, have become commonplace in the delta too. Over-extraction of groundwater has also led to salinity ingress in many areas.

So far, the Tamil Nadu government has not announced when the Mettur dam will be opened, even as it continues its legal battle with Karnataka to secure Tamil Nadu’s share of the Cauvery water. The government has strongly opposed Karnataka’s push to reduce water releases, pressing the Supreme Court to ensure strict adherence to the mandated 12,000 cusecs daily flow.

At the 31st meeting of the Southern Zonal Council held at Mamallapuram and presided over by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay said the legitimate rights of lower riparian States and the livelihoods that depend on assured river flows must be fully protected.

Meanwhile, several farmers’ groups have also begun demanding compensation for crop losses. They are unhappy with the crop loan waiver scheme announced by Vijay and are seeking a full, unconditional waiver of up to ₹1 lakh for all farmers who have taken crop loans.

Officials are also hoping that the monsoon will revive, with about a month left in the season. Any compensation for crop losses, meanwhile, will be subject to the Union and State governments’ norms for natural disasters and a survey by the departments concerned.

S. Vivekanandan, a farmer of Vilakudi, is increasingly worried over the prospects of the Samba crop. A senior official says that as the government is closely watching, it will take steps to safeguard the farmers of the Cauvery delta.