widespread public protest and media debate has forced the Kerala government to shelve its ambitious project to sell the waters of two major rivers to multinational companies. The project sought to attract global corporate investment in two industrial water supply programmes.

It envisaged extraction of 240 million litres of water per day (mld) from Periyar river and diversion of 10 mld of irrigation water from the Malampuzha dam to the Kanjikode industrial area in Palakkad district. The proposal met with stiff resistance from farmers, activist groups and politicians.

Under the Cochin Industrial Water Supply Scheme (ciwss), a 2.5-kilometre stretch of Periyar river and under-utilised supply lines of the Kerala Water Authority were to be handed over to a joint venture company on a