It may not be either realistic or fair to expect a strong-arm solution from the Centre, particularly when it faces many survival problems. The BJP government has been asked to notify by July 21, the day the matter is listed before the Supreme Court, the scheme drafted by the I. K. Gujral regime for implementation of a seven-year-old order of the Cauvery Tribunal, when the Centre has sought and secured eight adjournments of the hearing. The point, however, is that this, even if done, is not and will not be the solution to the dispute. Tamil Nadu may appear to have the law on its side. Karnataka -- under Chief Ministers including S. Bangarappa, Deve Gowda and Patel has won no friends by flouting the Tribunal order and the apex court's directive on it. By its opposition to the scheme and indeed to anything like a legally binding settlement, the state has shown little keenness to find a solution to the problem. The fact needs, nevertheless,to be faced that there is no workable alternative to a negotiated solution to disputes of this kind. An imposed settlement, entailing serious injury to inter-state relations, particularly at the people's level, is not really worth it. A meaningful Central initiative will involve a modicum of firmness with its allies and an enlightened role in the matter by the BJP in Karnataka where it is widely considered a party-in-waiting.

This is not as tall an order as it may appear. It is not as if conflicts created by political parties cannot be resolved at all. Against attempts to blow the issue out of proportions should be set the important fact that the Cauvery waters have been shared peacefully and profitably by the people of the two states for a longer period than the pendency of the Tribunal award. It is unfortunate that the expert opinion that a solution can be found to the problem by changing the crop patterns and exploiting dry-farming techniques has been ignored. Protection of precious riparian resourcesfrom political threats must surely be part of a national agenda worth its name.