more-in The DMK may be genuinely interested in restoring the water bodies. But experts feel DMK’s working president M.K. Stalin’s initiative would produce desired effects only if it is done with a scientific approach and with the involvement of the government. “Desilting does not mean bringing in earth movers and removing tonnes of soil from the water bodies because a tank is only a fragment of an irrigation system. All the water bodies are inter-linked, and unless you remove the encroachments on the channels that bring water to the tanks, all our efforts will go waste,” said S. Janakarajan, President of the South Asian Consortium for Inter-disciplinary Water Resources Studies. He said since the State was facing a severe drought, the DMK’s initiatives could help garner people’s attention. “The party should make a silt-survey and desilting should focus on the deepest sluice of a water body,” said Mr. Janakarajan. ‘No proxy for govt.’ Economist Venkatesh Athreya also felt while Mr. Stalin could succeed in exposing the government’s inaction and get publicity for his party especially when the AIADMK was faced with factionalism, DMK’s efforts could not be a substitute for the large-scale involvement of the State machinery. To drive home the point that government’s involvement was vital, he said even though the Tamil Nadu Science Forum involved itself in Arivoli Iyakkam, the literacy movement, the campaign became a huge success only when the government became part of it. “I am not decrying the efforts of Mr. Stalin. But the DMK’s initiatives should not lead to the State government giving up its responsibility. If a political party is leading a local body, it can work closely with the local people to improve the conditions. But significant changes are possible only if the government enters the scene,” said Mr. Athreya. He also bemoaned the fact that NGOs involved in social work do not get the same attention from people and media as parties do. “We ran a 14-day campaign focused on untouchability. Unfortunately, it did not get the kind of attention that it richly deserves,” he said.

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