The quote ‘melting pot’, a land that promises ‘unity in diversity’ is given by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India and we find it to be true. India is declared as a secular country and a land crowded with people of different religion, belief, culture and heritage. Indian culture is one of the oldest culture and known worldwide for its uniqueness. In the modern view, different culture is the root of different ideology. A behaviour which is very idealistic that it sometimes takes toll on an unseen scale, and in this case it’s our holy river Ganga. Present Prime Minister also said that ‘The diversity of India, of our civilisation, is actually a thing of beauty, which is something we are extremely proud of.
River ‘Ganga’ is considered as the holy river and stretches miles of kilometres over the entire northern hemisphere of the geographical India. It is the only river mentioned time and again in every major Hindu script and has of Vedic importance too. The Ganga which is shelter of various life forms is now a victim of the sole cruelty of the human race. The reality is we have developed ourselves in technology, but we have failed to understand nature in its true form and it is the result of our activity that the entire ecological system is out of balance. So, the question is: to keep Ganga clean the puja’s should not be performed on the bank of the river, do I agree? Yes, I do, in fact, not just I, any responsible citizen of the nation would be agree on the same statement. River Ganga is the largest river in India with numerous streams. The origin of Ganga is the Himalayas which covers a large land and make it fertile, and rests in the Bay of Bengal. Since, Ganga is a water body, it is the major source of irrigation, fishery, supports large percentage of Indian agriculture and adds to the economic spectrum of our country. To avoid the wrath of floods, Dams are built on river in order to serve as partial-reservoir. Also, it is the only river mentioned time and again in every major Hindu script. So it’s of Vedic importance too.
According to early Vedic legends, holy river Ganga always was time immemorial. People believe from the ancient time that after bathing in the sacred river, they are bound to get salvation in afterlife, or maybe they will end up in heaven directly after ones death, washed away of all their sins. After bathing in the river, their souls become clean and the ‘atma’ becomes pure is the solid notion embedded and every Hindu, once, in their entire lifetime wishes to take a bath in the holy river to clean his soul. Many cities host the ‘kumbha-mela’ and various other pujas stretching over days like Varanasi and Patna. To become witness of the spectacular view of these pujas, thousands of local people and tourists gather and take part by offering prayers and wishing goodwill to the Ganga. The most important aspect is the outcome, i.e., the ecological effects of these pujas, what are the effects of pujas on the river?
The survey done by ecologists mentioned devastating effects to the river. The amounts of organic wastes offered during the puja like flowers, bangles, leaves, mud plates with oils, carbon wicks, were in huge amounts that their decomposition takes a long time. Also the whole process of funeral pyres on the banks affect the river a lot which includes death of a person, soon after ones death the body is prepared for final rights by decorating it with flowers, colours etc., then prayers are chanted through pujas and rituals and the body is set ablaze and burnt. Even before the body is completely burnt, it is dumped into the river along with the pyre. Another issue which affects a lot is the industries treats the river like a disposal ground and tons of chemical wastes, non-biodegradable materials, and reactant elements are directly let into the river without treating it. In some other parts, the city’s sewage is also let into the river, in fact the local people also use the river for recreational purposes such as washing clothes, bathing, cleaning cattle etc., is a common site along the river bank. All the activities are performed everyday and no one stops these activities. Everyday, we treated the river as divine, and on another side we do such cruelty.
To stop these inhuman activities, various programmes have been initiated by the government and NGOs from many decades. Yet, Ganga fails to get its name out of the list of most polluted river which is such a disappointment for us. For clean Ganga project, billions of rupees sanctioned by the World Bank fail to make Ganga pollution free. Public interests litigations (PIL) filed against industries and actions taken against them are all long forgotten. Something actions must be taken at least to save what is left of the river because it serves multiple services and it is even regarded as a national river.
River Ganga or ‘the great Ganges’ known to be as important source to various aspects is indeed on a edge of failing. Failing for its existence and originality, soon the river may disappear. We can see clearly that aquatic life is vanishing. People and animals consuming its water are suffering from different diseases such as large scale cholera, skin infections and fatal being death etc., due inhuman activities. Before the river lost its originality and we become late to undo the wrongs, local masses need to be educated. To protect the river, propaganda should spread widely otherwise most of north India will suffer a lot without its major river.
According to philosophers and thinkers, civilisation changes on the edge of precipice. It makes us realise our originality and it is the time to save the Ganga river by changing ourselves that means a mindset that needs to be uprooted