Water war

Two states of India have been waging a war (at times violent) over rights to the Kaveri River. It's been going on for about a century. Only one identifiable group benefits from this on-going war - it's the government in each state.

"Governments give out water to farmers in order to secure votes. Why do farmers require so much water? Because the same governments are giving incentives for overproduction of water intensive crops like rice. Much of that rice goes, not to a table but rather, to a warehouse where it rots.

"Milton Friedman once said “If you put government in charge of the Sahara desert, in five years there would be a shortage of sand.” Similarly, putting government in charge of a river gave us a shortage of water."

Some of that violence - vehicles burned, roads barricaded, even two people killed.

(cont'd tomorrow)