Indian Express

5-October-2023

1) Cauvery Water Dispute

Context:

• The Cauvery Dispute has flared up again, the first time after 2018 when the Supreme Court (SC) re-adjudicated the dispute after a tribunal gave its award.
• The Court also directed the creation of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) to implement the decision
• This article will discuss if such steps have been helpful or not.

Details

Cauvery River

• Cauvery (or Kaveri) is the state’s largest river, flowing from Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri hills of Karnataka’s Western Ghats.
• It is known as the Dakshina Ganga (the Ganges of the South) and is regarded as one of India’s holiest rivers.
• The source of the Kaveri River is a popular pilgrimage and tourism destination in Coorg, located in the Bramahagiri Hills near Madikeri.

The tributaries of the Kaveri include:

• Harangi, Hemavathi (origin in western Ghats joins the river Kaveri near Krishnarajasagar), Lakshmanatirtha,
• Kabini (originates in Kerala and flows eastward and joins the Kaveri at Tirumakudal, Narasipur),
• Shimsha, Arkavati, Suvarnavathi or Honnuholé, Bhavani, Lokapavani, Noyyal, Amaravati.

Cauvery Water Dispute

About

• The issue stems from a long-standing disagreement about the distribution of water from the Cauvery River.
• There are three states and one union territory involved: Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, and Puducherry.
• The disagreement is on how river water should be apportioned among these states for diverse purposes like as agriculture, drinking water, and industrial use.

History of Dispute

• This disagreement initially arose in 1892, during the reign of Britishers, between the Presidency of Madras and the Princely State of Mysore.
• Mysore and Madras established an agreement in 1924 that would last for 50 years. As a result, it was no longer enforced in 1974.
• Without the permission of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka has been diverting water into four newly constructed reservoirs since 1974.
• This caused conflict in post-independence India.

The establishment of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and its final decision

• The Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) was established in June 1990 in compliance with Section 4 of the Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956.
• The CWDT gave its final award in February 2007, after 17 years, outlining the amount of water that each state should receive at different times of the year.
• Given that the total available water in the Cauvery basin throughout the four states is 740 TMC in a normal year, the Tribunal has apportioned the water as follows:
  • Tamil Nadu: 419 TMC (as opposed to 512 TMC),
  • Karnataka: 270 TMC (as opposed to 465 TMC),
  • Kerala has 30 TMCs, and 7 TMCs in Pondicherry
• The final award set aside 10 TMC for environmental purposes and 4 TMC for inevitable seawater exits.
• The tribunal ordered the formation of a monitoring authority to manage water releases.
• However, the final decision did not provide a specific methodology in circumstances where there is a water deficit owing to insufficient precipitation.
• It simply stated that in such cases, the assigned shares should be lowered accordingly.

The following development

• On the direction of the Supreme Court, the administration took another 6 years and notified the order in 2013.
• Later, the Tamil Nadu government petitioned the Supreme Court for a special leave under Article 136.
• The Tamil Nadu government had sought the court because the Karnataka government had refused to obey the tribunal’s decision.
• Article 136 makes the Supreme Court the highest appellate court.
• It states that, notwithstanding anything in this Chapter, the Supreme Court may grant special leave to appeal from any judgment, decree, resolution, sentence, or order rendered by any court or tribunal in India’s territory.
• The Supreme Court issued its decision in 2018. The Supreme Court designated Cauvery a national asset in its decision.
• It upheld the CWDT’s finalized water-sharing arrangements.
• According to the ruling, Karnataka would receive 284.75 TMC, Tamil Nadu 404.25 TMC, Kerala 30 TMC, and Puducherry 7 TMC.
• The Centre was also asked to notify the Cauvery Management Scheme.
• The ‘Cauvery Water Management Scheme’ was announced by the central government in June 2018.
• To carry out the decision, it established the ‘Cauvery Water Management Authority’ (CWMA) and the ‘Cauvery Water Regulation Committee’ (CWRC).

Water sharing procedure

• Karnataka, the upper riparian state of the Cauvery basin, has agreed to transfer water to Tamil Nadu every month.
• According to the timetable, Karnataka will make a total of 177.25 TMC accessible to Tamil Nadu at Biligundlu in a “normal” water year (June to May).
• From this total, 123.14 TMC will be distributed between June and September, which coincides with the southwest monsoon season.
• When the monsoon produces less rainfall than expected, the Cauvery issue inevitably flares up during this time.

The reason behind Tamil Nadu’s approach towards the Supreme Court

• At its meeting on August 11, the CWMA requested that Karnataka manage its releases in such a way that 10,000 cusecs of water were realized at Biligundlu over the next 15 days, beginning August 12.
• In other words, Karnataka would have to deliver 0.86 TMC per day for a total of 12.9 TMC over 15 days.
• However, what reportedly irritated Tamil Nadu was Karnataka’s failure to adhere to the quantity agreed upon at the previous day’s CWRC meeting.
• Karnataka has claimed that low rainfall in the Cauvery basin, which includes Kerala, has resulted in minimal inflow to its reservoirs.

Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC)

• Later, the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) was formed to implement and monitor the CWDT’s award and to govern water distribution by its terms.
• The committee is responsible for monitoring water releases from Karnataka’s reservoirs and ensuring that the allocated amounts of water are given to Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry by the set formula.

Importance of interstate institutional mechanisms in river-water disputes:

• In a transboundary water sharing context, conflict and cooperation coexist. We must supplement legal adjudication with institutional responses that sustain cooperation and mitigate conflict.
• We need to reflect on how institutions like the CWMA can be improved, depending on the way this episode pans out.
• We have models like the NCA (Narmada Control Authority) that evolved out of consensus and the CWMA that was created on Supreme Court directives.
• A renewed emphasis on consensus building may be needed.

What should be done to resolve these disputes?

To obtain amicable resolutions as soon as possible, these interstate river disputes and the Cauvery water issues must be settled in the following methods.

• Finding a mutually acceptable water sharing/deficit formula is the responsibility of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA). The monsoon and water availability should be taken into consideration while allocating water.
• Transparency in CWRC proceedings: The Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC) and the CWMA should post the minutes of their meetings online.
• Restoration of Inter-State Councils: Article 263 of the Indian Constitution calls for the creation of an Interstate Council to settle disputes between states. To enable it to participate more actively in the resolution of interstate river issues, the Inter-State Council has to be revitalised. According to a recent economic analysis, cooperative federalism, like the GST, could resolve interstate water problems.
• Fixed deadline for decision-making: The Union Government must set a deadline for establishing the Tribunal. The award-giving process should not be delayed needlessly, according to tribunals.
• Simplifying the legal process for resolving disputes – The government’s failure to manage water-related problems appropriately is reflected in the significant number of appeals to the Supreme Court. According to some experts, the Supreme Court should solely consider procedural issues in appeals. The Court shouldn’t examine the awards made based on expert testimony. The Sarkaria Commission has advocated giving tribunal awards the same weight as decisions made by the Supreme Court.
• Exploring mediation as a viable solution for interstate river issues – Mediation might also be investigated as a potential alternative for amicably resolving disputes. A success of this strategy is cited as the World Bank’s work as a mediator in the Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan.
• Better management of water data: Infrastructure for better data gathering on interstate river basins should be developed. Better statistics will paint a clear picture of the waters’ availability, seasonal changes, and the States’ fair share of water allocation.

2) Old pension scheme vs New Pension Scheme

Context:

• The old pension scheme (OPS) is becoming more popular, especially after a few States declared they would be switching back to it.
• Several states such as Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab and Himachal have already announced a shift back to the OPS.

Old Pension Scheme (OPS): What Is It?

• Old Pension Scheme, often known as OPS, is a post-retirement benefit for employees in the public sector that guaranteed a set sum to be paid to the employee following their or her superannuation. On April 1st, 2004, a New Pension Scheme took its place and went into effect.
• The OPS, also known as the “Defined Benefit Scheme,” provided government employees with a future guarantee in the form of a payment equal to 50% of their base income.
• Therefore, if the person’s basic wage is Rs. 10,000, the government will pay them a set pension of Rs. 5,000 each month. The government seeks to balance the pay with the rising expense of living by increasing Dear Allowance twice a year.
• A greater pay and hence a higher pension result from the increase in DA.

Why was OPS discontinued?

• OPS was a financial liability for the government because there was no way for it to make money from the corpus that government employees had saved up. Even though the announcement would be made annually, it was unclear how much of the programme could be carried on.
• In December 2003, the BJP-led NDA government said that the New Pension Scheme (NPS) would take the place of the Old Pension Scheme as of April 1, 2004.

What is New Pension Scheme (NPS)?

• As a substitute of OPS, the NPS was introduced by the Central government in April, 2004.
• This pension programme is open to employees from the public, private and even the unorganised sectors except those from the armed forces.
• The scheme encourages people to invest in a pension account at regular intervals during the course of their employment.
• After retirement, the subscribers can take out a certain percentage of the corpus.
• The beneficiary receives the remaining amount as a monthly pension, post- retirement.
• Nodal agency:Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA)

The following are some of the main distinctions between OPS and NPS:

OPS

• The previous pension plan used to provide retired government workers with a set monthly stipend.
• It offered a pension equal to 50% of the last wage received.
• The employees are not eligible for any tax benefits.
• The former pension plan’s income is not subject to tax.
• Only government workers are qualified to earn an OPS pension after retirement.

NPS

• Additionally intended for government workers, Employees in the private sector can also join NPS.
• Employees participate in NPS by making contributions from their salaries while still employed. The sum is invested in instruments with a market value.
• Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961 permits tax deductions for NPS investments up to Rs 1.50 lakh. Under Section 80CCD (1B) of the Act, additional annual investments up to Rs 50,000 are tax deductible.
• An employee’s pension can be partially withdrawn in one lump sum after retirement. The rule states that 40% of the corpus must be invested annually for a regular income or pension, and 60% of the corpus is tax-free at maturity.
• Except for the armed forces, NPS is mandatory for central government employees hired on or after January 1, 2004. The NPS is used by state governments as well for their staff.
• Employees that participate in the NPS pay a monthly payment equal to 10% of their salaries. The government also makes a matching contribution. The employer contribution rate for central government employees has increased to 14% as of April 1, 2019.
• For the NPS, all citizens between the ages of 18 and 65 are eligible.

Way Forward

• A return to defined benefits, in whatever form, could thus have adverse fiscal implications for governments.
• It would leave less space for more productive forms of spending.
• Governments must resist the temptation of short-term fiscal and political gains, and take into consideration the long-term implications of their policies.

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