http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/world/asia/violence-erupts-in-southern-india-over-order-to-share-water.html 2016-09-12 20:07:02 Violence Erupts in Southern India Over Order to Share Water Protesters in Bangalore threw rocks and set fire to vehicles after the Indian Supreme Court ordered Karnataka State to release river water to neighboring Tamil Nadu. === NEW DELHI — Violent protests broke out in the southern state of Karnataka on Monday after the Indian Supreme Court ordered the state to release water to the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu, the latest chapter in a longstanding dispute. The authorities in the Karnataka city of Bangalore banned public gatherings and deployed riot police officers as protesters set fire to vehicles and pelted buildings and cars with stones. Protests raged elsewhere in the state as well. Several trucks that were burned had Tamil Nadu license plates, said Chandrashekhar, a deputy commissioner of police in Bangalore who goes by one name. The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Karnataka would have to release 12,000 cubic feet of water, or almost 90,000 gallons, per second to Tamil Nadu every day until Sept. 20 from the “Our only appeal is if you are protesting, please protest peacefully,” the Karnataka home minister, G. Parameshwara, said at a news conference on Monday. “We know injustice has been done to Karnataka,” he added, citing the Supreme Court order. Water disputes over rivers are common in India, where droughts and weak monsoons weigh heavily on the majority of the country that still lives off agriculture. Experts say that the lack of a centralized plan for allocating scarce water resources contributes to the problem. “Are we going to treat this by addressing scarcity? Probably not,” said Nilanjan Ghosh, a senior fellow at the The Supreme Court In ordering the release on Monday, the The water dispute has provoked ethnic resentments on each side of the border. On Saturday, a Tamil student in Bangalore In its ruling, the Supreme Court noted that violence could not be the basis for modifying an order. “The citizens cannot become law unto themselves,” it said. The chief minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday Mr. Ghosh said, “It’s an ego issue between the two states and the two leaderships.”