Political parties and various other groups are protesting for the formation of the Cauvery Management Board to implement the recent verdict of the Supreme Court on the sharing of river waters between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Police have been deployed at the stadium in large numbers to prevent protests or incidents of violence inside the stadium. The police have taken several preventive measures including banning spectators from taking certain items inside the stadium.

Apart from most major parties and Tamil outfits taking part in the protests, film star Rajinikanth, who is entering electoral politics, has suggested that Chennai Super Kings team players could play wearing black bands to express the anguish of people who are protesting for setting up of the Cauvery Management Board.

A group of prominent film actors and directors launched a forum to back the Tamil cause in the state and called for postponing the IPL matches in the state. Veteran film director Bharathiraja said IPL would divert the awakening among the youth in Tamil Nadu over the Cauvery issue.

Below is a brief history of the dispute over the Cauvery waters between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

The Kannada and Tamil regions have been fighting over the Cauvery waters over the past few centuries, but the current water-sharing dispute can be traced back to the time of British India. At the root of the dispute are two agreements between the British-controlled Madras Presidency and the princely state of Mysore in 1892 and 1924.

After the Madras Presidency objected to the Mysore state's plan to build irrigation projects on the river, the British government made them sign an agreement in 1892 which aimed at serving the purposes of either state.

In 1910, Madras Presidency objected to the construction of a dam on Cauvery by the Mysore state. The matter then went to a tribunal for arbitration. The arbitration led to another agreement between the two states in 1924 which would lapse 50 years later. After Independence, when the states were formed on the basis of language, Kerala and Puducherry staked their claims over the Cauvery waters as some parts of these states fell in the river basin.

The dispute lingered on. The two states remained locked in a fight for water which saw numerous protests and incidents of violence. The Supreme Court directed the VP Singh government to constitute a tribunal to settle the dispute which gave its final verdict in 2007. However, all the three states and Puducherry filed review petitions against the award.

The Supreme Court on February 16 this year pronounced its verdict. It reduced water allocation to Tamil Nadu by 14 tmc (one thousand million cubic feet). Karnataka will now release only 177 tmc of water to Tamil Nadu for the next 15 years. The court also ordered the Centre to constitute Cauvery Management Board within 40 days for implementing the tribunal award and its verdict.

While Tamil Nadu wants immediate formation of the board so that it could get at least its allotted share of the Cauvery waters, a poll-bound Karnataka would not be too eager to see that happening. In the absence of an implementing authority, Karnataka can defy the orders.

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