River Kaveri has thrown up this question to us for ages: Who `owns’ a river? The indigenous people all over the world believe that nobody `owns’ a river since it belongs to the past, present and future generations of not just human beings, but also of all other species which keep the life cycle and the bio diversity of this planet alive. Though the Governments may pretend to be the owners of rivers, that ownership can lead to its own problems. They have to be reminded that they are just care takers appointed by one of the species in a particular geographical area, in this present limited time of five years through elections, while the river may stretch out beyond that particular geography consisting of people who voted for such a leadership. Even if the governments pretend to be owners of any river, it is their responsibility to see to it that there is no violence by any group of people claiming to be `owners’ with communal or regionally parochial politics with vested interests operating from behind. Even if the governments fail to control such violence, it is the job of environment groups, human rights groups and all other civil society groups on both sides of the geographical boundaries of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, to come forward and pressurise their governments to undertake immediate action to curb the violence and punish the guilty for exhibiting `ownership’ of the river. For if the Kannadikas and Tamils can not coexist and live in harmony, who can? No blood that is lost speaks Kannada or Tamil. It only speaks the language of life!
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