Revitalization of Rivers in India Draft Policy - Isha Guru Jaggi Vasudev

Revitalization of Rivers In India
Draft Policy Recommendation
PLIGHT OF OUR RIVERS TODAY
When one looks at the state of the rivers of our country, it is
depressing and overwhelmingly complicated. The issues that plague our
rivers are not one or two – they are many. Our rivers are polluted across
the country, they are drying up in the summers, and there are inter-state
disputes over them. If we turn on any news channel, there is at least one
report on how floods or droughts are affecting some part of the country.
The current devastation of India’s rivers and water bodies, which support
the livelihood of hundreds of millions of people, is a precursor for the
gravest crisis of our times. Water resources and soil are being destroyed at
such a rate that in another few decades we may no longer be able to feed
or quench the thirst of the Indian population. When water scarcity hits
a land of 1.3 billion people the situation that emerges will be that of civil
strife. The images of women flocking to one well in a dry desert, or the
strikes and fights between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are only brief hints
of what could happen if we do not attend to the state of our rivers.
A river should ideally remain ecologically healthy and biodiversity
rich throughout the year, i.e. during monsoon, lean, and non-monsoon
seasons with minimum but, differential flow. This minimum quantum
of flow with seasonal variations has to be ensured as that will keep
it rejuvenated. A river will remain rejuvenated when it is capable of
sustaining a healthy ecology and catering to the developmental and
livelihood needs of the people.
Death of rivers happens when the river ceases to function as a
resilient self-cleansing organism, which slowly begins to deteriorate.
Before we can call a river as a dead entity, the health of the river and its
ability to revive itself decides how near it is to its death. Many rivers in
India are gradually dying. Major Indian rivers have depleted dramatically
in a matter of just a few decades. Some rivers like the Palar have totally
dried up. 21 Many other rivers have already changed from being perennial
rivers to seasonal rivers – reaching the ocean just for a few months a
year. This problem is as acute for the rivers of peninsular India as it is for
the rivers of northern India. The “lifeblood” of a river is its water flow
throughout the year. If one were to visualize rivers as trees, water and
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