Can we identify a water body that needs immediate rejuvenation,” asks agriculture scientist Sachin Tendulkar on the ‘Goa Jalyaatra’ WhatsApp group. He suggests that the group can take up water conservation and mobilise local communities in Sattari, Dharbandora or Sanguem. “Government-initiated efforts are cement and money-centric,” he says. The other group members agree and suggest extensive use of social media to mobilise support for reviving water bodies across Goa.
While social media draws flak over cases of misuse, people in Goa are using WhatsApp groups to identify, document and revive dying water bodies in the state.
“Social media is a boon for finding support for a constructive cause,” says medical practitioner Dattaram Desai who, along with Tendulkar, started the ‘Goa Jalyaatra’ WhatsApp group in 2016.
Read more of this in a report by Radheyshyam Jadhav published in The Times of India....
(Such efforts can be made elsewhere too. And whatsapp can be made of good use not only for water needs, but for any other social cause. - Editor)
