ABLUTION OF GANGA - GANGAPEDIA

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Bureaucratic Corruption is also indirectly responsible for the pollution, but here I would avoid talking about it explicitly as it is inherent in the democratic system we live in. Industrial development and Urbanization Not in my backyard syndrome and curtain of selfishness are impediments to imagine the cumulative effect of an individual’s industrial waste disposal. India’s rapid industrialization and unplanned urbanization incites a very disturbing thought. According to survey done by the World Bank by 2020 pressure on India’s water resources will be more than in any other country .Surely thinking about this in terms of the river which is a lifeline for millions would upset even the stoic. Currently, 28 cities and around 70 towns are situated on the banks of Ganga. So Ganga receives more than 1.3 billion liters of sewage per day. Data reveals that 25% pollution of Ganga is due to the industries. The leather industries in Kanpur are major contributors to their economic development as well as to the pollution of Ganga. The effluent from these industries contains high level of toxic substances mainly chromium. Like any rapidly industrializing nation the amount of waste produced has a direct relation with the growth rate, and it does form a huge chunk of the problem if not handled well. Superstitions and Ganga’s religious significance Refinement of soul is possible only through good deeds, not by merely dipping into Ganga. As I learn from the experience of one of my friends, who during his visit to Haridwar asked one of the pundit whether there was any place in the course of the river where there was cleaner water. This infuriated the pundit and he replied that though all the waste floats in Ganga, it can never get polluted. This incident is enough to judge the level to which superstition exists in the minds of people who mindlessly believe in the purity of Ganga. We definitely need to see to what extent our religious sentiments are not detrimental to the state of the river. Even after people see that the water is contaminated people take a dip in the water thinking it would cleanse them of their sins. I am not sure if that would be the case, but from the little bio-logical knowledge I have I can certainly say it would cause damage to their
health. Ganga has witnessed lacs of cremations, and has held the burden of ‘n’ number of carcasses. Even after seeing the state of things we can find reasons to continue polluting, this simply contravenes logic. Why did we fail? Failure is an indication of either the efforts are in the wrong direction or insufficient. It is an important question which we need to ask ourselves in order to apply our efforts in the right direction from now on. Despite having a good administrative structure and excellent environmental laws why is it, that we still were not able to protect Ganga from pollution. The conclusions which I drew from this situation are the following: Ineffective implementation of laws Mindset of the people. We sensed the seriousness of the situation in 1985, and thus GAP was our first step towards cleaning Ganga. But our focus and objective were both placed precariously. So, the plan was destined to fail. India has spent a huge amount of money in this plan (approximately 1.2 billion dollars) but has not got proportionate returns. For example, under GAP the Uttar Pradesh government made three sewage treatment plants in Varanasi. They had a total capacity of 100m litres /day. But Varanasi produced a total of 150m litres/day and now probably they produce double this amount. Moreover, the plants do not work at their full capacity. During power cuts, all the waste flows into Ganga untreated. Even after observing these fruitless plants the government wanted to build more of these (luckily the ministry of environment did not like this idea!). Here we see that incorrect implementation of the plan, and bureaucratic corruption are like Achilles’ heel leading to the breakdown of the plan. Coming to the mindset of the people, we have not been able to decide upon our objective. Every time we have changed our goals according to our convenience. I read a 50 page document titled ‘Critical analysis of GAP’ by Rakesh. K. Jaiswal where he talks about the confusing objective of GAP which has always been very ambiguous and repeatedly changed. Apart from the mindset of the officials involved, even the people who consider Ganga the most pristine river do not seem to realize that it’s high time they do something about the dying river.
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ABLUTION OF GANGA - GANGAPEDIA

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