Context

Activists from Kodagu have urged the state government to put an end to the large-scale commercialization of land in the Cauvery River catchment area, noting that the rampant land use change has affected the water inflow to the river.

About Kaveri River

• Kaveri River, sacred river of southern India.
• It rises on Brahmagiri Hill of the Western Ghats in southwestern Karnataka state, flows in a southeasterly direction for 475 miles (765 km) through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and descends the Eastern Ghats in a series of great falls.
• Before emptying into the Bay of Bengal south of Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, the river breaks into a large number of distributaries forming a wide delta called the “garden of southern India.”
• Known to devout Hindus as Daksina Ganga (“Ganges of the South”), the Kaveri River is celebrated for its scenery and sanctity in Tamil literature, and its entire course is considered holy ground.