The first point to note in relation to the current dispute between Tamil Nadu and Kerala over the Mullapperiyar Dam is that it is not a water dispute at all. It is a dispute about the safety of a century-old dam. However, behind it lies a long and chequered history of differences between the two states marked by a strong sense of grievance on the part of Kerala. We have to view the current dispute against that background.

This is a case of a west-flowing river in Kerala being partially diverted into Tamil Nadu for providing irrigation waters to certain water-short areas of that state. In Kerala this is widely regarded as an unfair appropriation of Kerala’s waters by Tamil Nadu. Proponents and supporters of the Inter-Linking of Rivers Project (ILR) announced by the Government of India in 2002 often cite the Periyar project as a century-old and successful example of inter-basin transfer; but when we consider the strength of feeling in Kerala against the project, it might well be cited as a bad example of inter-basin transfer and a powerful argument against the ILR Project. The accepted view in Kerala is that the more powerful Madras Presidency of British India imposed its will on the weaker princely state of Travancore, and that the latter signed an agreement against its own interests, giving away a significant part of Periyar waters for a paltry consideration.

A similar sense of grievance exists in Kerala even regarding the agreement on the Parambikulam Aliyar Project (again, a diversion of Kerala waters into TN) signed in 1958 — well after Independence. There is some justification for that sense of grievance, because the benefits of these two projects go overwhelmingly to TN, with relatively meagre financial compensation to Kerala (very low initially, subsequently revised, but still quite small). Looking back on that history, it is difficult to understand why Travancore/Kerala signed these agreements, but there were doubtless complex reasons.

... contd.