Ahead of the Supreme Court taking up hearing of the Cauvery river water sharing dispute on Tuesday, a high-level government panel held that both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were facing water shortage and recommended doing away with “outdated and unscientific” water application techniques to resolve the issue. The expert panel, set up at the direction of the apex court, was mandated to visit the Cauvery river basin areas to assess the ground situation in the two states. The court is likely to consider the report on Tuesday. “The infrastructure to deliver water to the farmers is centuries-old and has very low conveyance efficiency. This needs to be modernised for optimal use of scarce water,” the report said.

Source: Hindustan Times October 17, 2016 18:00 UTC