And unquiet flows River Ganga…

Swami Sanand, who recently passed away after his 111-day fast to save the Ganga, wrote to Modi : "In the previous four years of your Government, there is not even a single action that can be said to be a fruitful one in the direction of saving Gangaji"!! The recent CAG review of Namami Gange corroborates the Swami.

It says that only 1% of the river has been cleaned in the last 4 four years and around Rs.50,000 crores more is needed to complete the project, due to administrative delays, poor contract management and lack of monitoring!

As we all know, Rs.20,000 crores for a period of 5 years was allocated for this mission that was flagged off amidst much fanfare in 2014. It is therefore really deeply shocking that nearly half of that budget has been spent only to achieve 1% progress!

Earlier too, dismissing the claims of respective State Governments about the measures taken, the NGT had expressed it's bitter disappointment at the abysmal ground reality.

My relatives, however, from their recent trip to Varanasi tell me that at least the Ganga ghats appear relatively cleaner now than before.

Not only Sanand, but another person, Swami Nigamanand(of the same Matri Sadan Ashram, where Swami Sanand was fasting) gave up his life in 2011 after a similar 4-months-long fast.

In any case, the fundamental issue is the same as ever - "Development vs Environment". The Uttarakhand Government maintains that mining is essential for their State's "growth" , while environmental activists, including the said swamis and their colleagues, hold that successive governments have been colluding with the mining mafia in their unlawful and unsustainable mining.

This apart, the grave pollution that the Ganga faces from tannery effluents, abattoir wastes(blood, carcasses), municipal sewage(esp. human wastes!) , once she flows into Uttar Pradesh(esp. Kanpur, Allahabad) is well-known.

The utterly unscrupulous and egregious pollution of such a holy river began, since the advent of the "modern civilization" in post-Independence India, that is based on the failed and hedonistic Western theories like Environmental Kuznets Curve("economic growth first, environmental protection later")! Add to this, "secularism" and vote-bank politics.

To conclude, it is only the people of this punyabhoomi who have been blessed with few unique and outstanding things - Ganga, Gau, Gita and Gayatri.

It is high time we as Indians, rising above all divisions, collectively endeavoured to resurrect at least this divine aquatic gift called Ganga (along with Gau), otherwise there will be no Ganga remaining, leaving us with the only option of making do with a mere mental dip in it from "Yojanaanaam Shatairapi"(i.e. hundreds of yojanaas/kilometers distance away - for, the Ganga stotra says the one who chants the name Ganga 3 times at the time of bath even from "Yojanaanaam Shatairapi", will get rid of his sins!).

It is only in saving these priceless gifts that we prove ourselves as the worthy heirs of a glorious civilisation.

Swami Sanand, who recently passed away after his 111-day fast to save the Ganga, wrote to Modi : "In the previous four years of your Government, there is not even a single action that can be said to be a fruitful one in the direction of saving Gangaji"!! The recent CAG review of Namami Gange corroborates the Swami.

It says that only 1% of the river has been cleaned in the last 4 four years and around Rs.50,000 crores more is needed to complete the project, due to administrative delays, poor contract management and lack of monitoring!

As we all know, Rs.20,000 crores for a period of 5 years was allocated for this mission that was flagged off amidst much fanfare in 2014. It is therefore really deeply shocking that nearly half of that budget has been spent only to achieve 1% progress!

Earlier too, dismissing the claims of respective State Governments about the measures taken, the NGT had expressed it's bitter disappointment at the abysmal ground reality.

My relatives, however, from their recent trip to Varanasi tell me that at least the Ganga ghats appear relatively cleaner now than before.

Not only Sanand, but another person, Swami Nigamanand(of the same Matri Sadan Ashram, where Swami Sanand was fasting) gave up his life in 2011 after a similar 4-months-long fast.

In any case, the fundamental issue is the same as ever - "Development vs Environment". The Uttarakhand Government maintains that mining is essential for their State's "growth" , while environmental activists, including the said swamis and their colleagues, hold that successive governments have been colluding with the mining mafia in their unlawful and unsustainable mining.

This apart, the grave pollution that the Ganga faces from tannery effluents, abattoir wastes(blood, carcasses), municipal sewage(esp. human wastes!) , once she flows into Uttar Pradesh(esp. Kanpur, Allahabad) is well-known.

The utterly unscrupulous and egregious pollution of such a holy river began, since the advent of the "modern civilization" in post-Independence India, that is based on the failed and hedonistic Western theories like Environmental Kuznets Curve("economic growth first, environmental protection later")! Add to this, "secularism" and vote-bank politics.

To conclude, it is only the people of this punyabhoomi who have been blessed with few unique and outstanding things - Ganga, Gau, Gita and Gayatri.

It is high time we as Indians, rising above all divisions, collectively endeavoured to resurrect at least this divine aquatic gift called Ganga (along with Gau), otherwise there will be no Ganga remaining, leaving us with the only option of making do with a mere mental dip in it from "Yojanaanaam Shatairapi"(i.e. hundreds of yojanaas/kilometers distance away - for, the Ganga stotra says the one who chants the name Ganga 3 times at the time of bath even from "Yojanaanaam Shatairapi", will get rid of his sins!).

It is only in saving these priceless gifts that we prove ourselves as the worthy heirs of a glorious civilisation.
C V Krishna Manoj, Hyderabad