Social media platforms should be used to revive the ‘Cauvery family’ concept of 2003 than to create divide among the people of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, according to an agro-economist.

In an informal chat with Business Line on the sidelines of a meeting in Mangaluru on Tuesday, TN Prakash Kammardi, agro-economist and Chairman of the Karnataka Agriculture Price Commission, said that an apolitical platform – ‘Cauvery family’ – was formed in 2003 with active participation of farmer leaders and others from both the states to find a solution to the Cauvery problem.

Rather than looking as an issue between two states, Cauvery basin from Talacauvery in Karnataka to Poompuhar in Tamil Nadu should be considered as a single entity.

Various dimensions of the issue, such as the destruction of forests in the Western Ghats and its impact on the river – especially in Talacauvery (the place in Kodagu district where Cauvery originates) – and drinking water for various cities and towns in the Cauvery basin, apart from irrigation facilities.

The ‘Cauvery family’ took the initiative in 2003.

The technology-savvy section of society in Bengaluru should take the lead and come out with an objective assessment of the situation through social media, Kammardi said.

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