The stalemate mirrors a failed 1986 attempt to resolve a related but equally intractable territorial dispute, both rooted in the 1985 Rajiv-Longowal Accord.
Chinese commentary repeatedly casts India as a hegemonic upstream actor leveraging its geographic position, while China is painted as a stabilising force.
CM Bhagwant Mann has defended his move claiming Punjab has no surplus water, a statement rejected by Haryana's Nayab Saini govt. 5 districts face strain in Haryana.
On Wednesday, court warned Punjab not to compel it to issue tough orders. But with Punjab CM refusing to back down, Sutlej-Yamuna link seems to be headed for fresh confrontation.
With Cauvery river water being an extremely emotive issue, Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK & ally Congress, which is in power in Karnataka, are walking a political tightrope.
The recent tension with Nepal, misunderstanding with Bhutan and border clash with China show that India can no longer create policy of long-term water security in isolation.
SC will decide the fate of appeals filed against a tribunal order that had divided the Cauvery water between Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.
Since the bulk of citizens did not regard drinking as a crime, they had no respect for the prohibition laws and did not cooperate with the police, wrote MV Venkata Rao in 1962.
We now live in a world order that will keep shifting. India must use this window. This also means we remain disciplined enough not to be knee-jerked into reacting to what Pakistan sees as its moment in the sun.
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