Save Ganga Movement

Save Ganga Movement is a widespread Gandhian non-violent movement supported by saints and popular so-cial activists across the Indian States Uttar Pradesh andBihar in support of a free Ganga. The movement issupported by Ganga Seva Abhiyanam, Pune-based Na-tional Womens Organisation (NWO) besides those ofmany other like-minded organisations and with the moralsupport from many religious leaders, spiritual and po-litical, scientists, environmentalists, writers and socialactivists.[1][2][3] Ganga Calling Save Ganga is anothersuch campaign supported by Indian Council for Enviro-Legal Action (ICELA).

1 CausesSee also: Pollution of the GangesGanges is the largest and the most sacred river of India

Pollution at the ghats of Varanasi.

Ganga Dashahara in 2005 brought throngs of bathers to theriverfront in Haridwar. (Religious association of Ganga also ac-counts for an appreciable degree of pollution.)

with enormous spiritual, cultural, and physical inuence.It provides water to about 40% of Indias population in 11

Wastes and left overs of tours and picnics owing in Ganges.

Timeline of retreat of Gangotri glacier.(Note that the blue contour lines drawn here to show the recessionof the glaciers terminus over time are approximate.)

states. It is estimated that the livelihoods of over 500 mil-lion people in India are dependent upon the river, and thatone-third of Indias population lives within the GangesBasin. Despite this magnitude of inuence and controlby the river over present and future of the country, it isallegedly under direct threat from various man made andnatural environmental issues.

1.1 PollutionRiver Ganges ows through the most densely populatedregions of India passing 29 cities with population over100,000, 23 cities with population between 50,000 and100,000, and about 48 towns.[4] A sizeable proportionof the euents in Ganges are caused by this population

1

2 3 MOVEMENT

through domestic usage like bathing, laundry and pub-lic defecation. Countless tanneries, chemical plants, tex-tile mills, distilleries, slaughterhouses, and hospitals con-tribute to the pollution of the Ganges by dumping un-treated toxic and non-biodegradable waste into it.[5][6]It is this sheer volume of pollutants released into theriver every day that are causing irreparable damage tothe ecosystem and contributing to signicant sanitationissues.

1.2 Dams

Built in 1854 during the British colonisation of India,the Haridwar dam has led to decay of the Ganges bygreatly diminishing the ow of the river. The FarakkaBarrage was built originally to divert fresh water intothe Bhagirathi River but has since caused an increase ofsalinity in the Ganges, having a damaging eect on theground water and soil along the river.[4] Apart from this,Bangladesh and India faced major tensions due to thisbarrage. The government of India planned about 300dams on the Ganges in the near future and the tributariesdespite a government-commissioned green panel reportthat has recommended scrapping 34 of the dams citingenvironmental concerns.[7][8]

1.3 Global warming

Gangotri glacier which feeds the river Ganges is 30.2 kmlong and between 0.5 and 2.5 kmwide is one of the largestin the Himalaya. However, Due to global warming it hasbeen receding since 1780, although studies show its re-treat quickened after 1971. Over the last 25 years, Gan-gotri glacier has retreated more than 850 meters, with arecession of 76 meters from 1996 to 1999 alone.[9][10]The UN 2007 Climate Change Report has suggested thatthe glacial ow may completely stop by 2030, at whichpoint the Ganges would be reduced to a seasonal riverduring the monsoon season.[11]

1.4 Failure of Ganga Action Plan

The Ganga Action Plan or GAP was a program launchedby Rajiv Gandhi in April 1986 to reduce the pollutionload on the river. But the eorts to decrease the pollu-tion level in the river became abortive even after spend-ing 9017.1 million (~190 million USD adjusting toination).[12] Therefore, this plan was withdrawn on 31March 2000. This plan is described as failure by manyscientist and NGOs in their studies.[13][14]

2 BackgroundThe movement did not build up suddenly. Concernsabout the condition of the Ganges were raised for decadeswhich gained impetus in the past few years owing toawareness and support from keen environmentalists. Fur-thermore, dierent studies revealed the deterioratinghealth of the river. In 1998, Smt RamaRauta, the founderof National Womens Organization (NWO) under theleadership of Dr. Sushila Nair conceived the necessityto initiate public mobilization based on the principlesof non-violence to seek support for Save Ganga Move-ment against the pollution of the Ganges and its trib-utaries. A seminar on Ganga aur hamaaraa daayitvaon(Ganga and our duty) was conducted on 13 November1998 at Kanpur. Soon popular Gandhians, Shri Sunder-lal Bahuguna and Dr. Kanchanlata Sabarwal, also joinedthe Movement.[15]

3 MovementSwami Avimukteshwaranand Sarasvat, convener ofGanga Seva Abhiyanam alleged the Central Governmentof overhearing their demands and trying to obstruct themovement.[16]

3.1 Mega rally of June 2012

Moved by the governments inaction towards saving theGanges, the eminent Ganga Mukti Sangram Saamiti de-cided to initiate a mass drive by gathering thousands ofGanga Devotees along with the Ganga Rath which trav-elled through Varanasi on 14 June and then to Allahabad,Kanpur, Matura, Vrindavan and nally reach to Delhion 17 June.[17] Shankaracharya of Dwarka Sharda Pi-thas Swami Svarpnanda Sarasvat who also joined themovement at Jantar Mantar in Delhi gave an ultimatumof three months to the Central government over the gov-ernments apathetic attitude towards the protection andconservation of the National River.[18]

3.2 Activists

3.2.1 Acharya Jitendra

Main article: Acharya Jitendra

Acharya Jitendra is National General Secretary of GangaMahasabha. He is working for Ganga since 2000.He isa well known Social Activist(Environmentalist) in India.It was his eort to convince Mr. Lal Krishna Advani[19]in 2008 to compel the Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri toabandon all state hydro-dam projects on the Ganga andpersuade Professor Guru Das Agrawal G. D. Agrawal

3to give up his fast within 24 hours. In 2010 AgainAcharya Jitendra played a crucial role to stop the Lohari-nag Pala Hydel Project On The Ganga. As K.N. Govin-dacharya said he worked behind the scenes for threeyears, interfacing with people and like Baba Ramdevand Acharya Jitendra, environmentalists and politiciansof all hues. He even approached senior Congress lead-ers for their support. When a favourable atmospherewas created, he met Pranab Mukherjee, leading a del-egation of the Ganga Mahasabha. He then spoke to se-nior Vishva Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal and theBharatiya Janata Partys Rajnath Singh, who persuadedCM Ramesh Pokhriyal to write to the PM, asking him toscrap the Loharinag Pala project.[20]

3.2.2 Nigamanand

Main article: Nigamanand

In early 2011, a Hindu seer named Swami NigamanandaSaraswati fasted unto death, protesting against ille-gal mining happening in the district of Haridwar (inUttarakhand) resulting in pollution.[21] Following hisdeath in June 2011, his Ashram leader Swami Shivanandafasted for 11 days starting on 25 November 2011, tak-ing his movement forward. Finally, the Uttarkhand gov-ernment released an order to ban illegal mining all overHaridwar district.[22] According to administration o-cials, quarrying in the Ganges would now be studied by aspecial committee which would assess its environmentalimpacts the river and its nearby areas.

3.2.3 Prof. G. D. Agrawal

Main article: G. D. Agrawal

Noted environmental activist, Prof. G. D. Agrawal Pa-tron of Ganga Mahasabha sat for fast unto death ontwice in 2008 and 2009.[23] to protest the building ofdams in the Upper course of Ganges. On both occa-sions, Dr. Agrawal was successful in stopping thermaldamming construction in this sensitive and sacred regionof India. Due to support from other social activists likeAnna Hazare, the Prime Minister of India, ManmohanSingh admitted publicly to cease any further hydroelec-tric damming of the Ganga in Uttarkhand. He also calledfor a National River Ganga Basin Authority (NRGBA)meeting and urged the authorities to utilize the 26 bil-lion (about 520M US$) sanctioned for creating sewernetworks, sewage treatment plants, sewage pumping sta-tions, electric crematoria, community toilets and devel-opment of river fronts.

3.2.4 Narendra Damodardas Modi

Main article: Narendra Modi

Former Chief Minister of Gujarat, P.M. Narendra Modihas been very bent on the issue of the holy river, andhas promised the Parliament of India to get the holy riverclean and out of misery, as the density of coli-form bacte-ria have risen from 5,000 per 100ml to 58,000 per 100ml,which is 11.6 over the acceptable limit. So far, Rs 20,000crore has gone into the cleaning of the Gangamost ofit down the drain. From household waste to constructiondebris, from used irrigation water containing fertilizerand pesticides to industrial waste, from people bathingin the river to ashes immersed in it, the Ganga is abused.Shri. Modi has oered the gifts he received during histenure as PM of the nation for bidding. The amount re-ceived from the bidding will be utilized for the cause.

4 DemandsThe movement is solely aimed at one goal to preventthe anti-nature, anti-human, anti-environment activitiesagainst Ganges and sustain the cultural importance, ho-liness and age old heritage of the same. Though mostof the demands are directly related to the pollution andconstruction works overs Ganges, there are ought to beseveral demands related indirectly to these.

4.1 No construction

It is demanded that the Upper course of Ganges shouldbe strictly disallowed any kind of damning and construc-tion work.[24] It should be declared aWild River zone andvisits by tourists and people to Gangotri National Parkshould also be regulated and toned down. Eco-friendlytourism should replace the present eco-hostile tourism.Time-bound steps for non-commercial aorestation ofthe Uttarakhand should be undertaken and these activi-ties should be carried by the local people, using samplingsof local plants.[25] This demand was backed by a recentreport prepared by the state-funded Wildlife Institute ofIndia that recommended scrapping 34 of the Ganges damprojects, citing environmental concerns.[24]

4.2 Pollution regulation

Ganga suer from a large scale pollution due to commonpractices like bathing, washing, putting owers and idolsinto the river creating lthy and unhygienic conditions.Dismal civic conditions, bad smell and unavailability ofbasic amenities like toilets and changing rooms could beseen. Most of the ghats could be seen with a series ofiron grills erected on stony platform, laden with heaps of

4 6 CONTROVERSIES

garbage and rotten stu. Animal loitering on ghats, trou-bling the residents and devotees is the other problem.[26]

It is necessary to frame some rules and guidelines for theCivic authorities and municipalities to carry out a sched-uled and continued cleaning eort from the concernedocials.

4.3 Industrialization controlSince, Industries dump a large quantity of inorganic andnon-bio degradable wastes into the river, It is demandedthat further establishments of any kind of new Indus-try without proper management shouldn't be undertaken.Also, those who are outing the pollution regulationnorms should be checked at once. Aorestation and ef-forts to save wild life in the Himalayas should be regulatedby a high powered committee.

4.4 AwarenessMass awareness against environmental degradation, es-pecially against pollution of air, water and land anddeforestation and destruction of wildlife should be under-taken.

T.V. and Radio are to be persuaded togive a substantial amount of prime timeto create such awareness, informing reg-ularly about the water pollution levels ofmajor rivers and of air pollution levels inbig cities and their adverse aect on thecommon people.

National laboratories such as NEERI,TRC, etc., must regularly monitor thepollution levels of major rivers and in-form the public about the hazardous ef-fects through various forms of mass me-dia.

A comprehensive website on the Gangesand other rivers of our country should becreated for networking of various organi-sations and people involved in the GangaAction Plan and for creating necessarymass-awareness for saving the Gangesand other rivers of our country.

Environmental ethics should be taught asa part of the syllabus on ethics, both atthe school as well as at the college level.Teaching environmental ethics withoutdiscussing the value andmeans of an ethi-cal life would be of little signicance. Wemust study critically the views of great re-ligions and of great teachers and thinkersof mankind about various fundamentalissues of ethics.

4.5 Monitoring committee

It is demanded that a committee of experts to monitorthe progress of the governmental course of actions in thisdirection should be appointed. It should report all of itsndings and actions to the Supreme Court of India whichdirect the Central and State Governments.

5 Governments eorts

5.1 Panel to review projects on Ganges

Amid the building pressure from the Hindu leaders in theJune mega rally, the government proposed to set up anexpert-panel which would review the situation and exam-ine the ecological impact of hydel projects taken on theHimalayan rivers.[27] The committee includes represen-tatives from the ministries of environment, power, andwater resources and other authorities and research insti-tutions. From outside the government, the PMO has cho-sen director general of Centre for Science and Environ-ment Sunita Narain, former professor of IIT-BHU andmahant of Sankat Mochan temple at Varanasi VirbhadraMishra and head of Tarun Bharat Sangh-Rajendra Singh.The committee will also inspect previous reports by IITRoorkee and Wildlife Institute of India.[28]

5.2 NRGBA

To fulll the demands of activists to have an independentmonitoring committee for Ganges, the government hasproposed to upgrade the existing National Ganga RiverBasin Authority (NRGBA) to the level of an independentcommission along the lines of the National Human RightsCommission through a new law.[28]

6 Controversies Those groups who backed the construction of HydelPower projects on course of river Ganga, alleged thatthe agigators protesting against themwere funded byUS, so that India would buy Uranium from them torun its Nuclear Power Plants.

Controversies were raised about alleged xing ofthe agitation among the sadhus and the Congressparty. It is known that senior Congress leadersshare old association with the Shankaracharya ofShrada Jyotish and Dwarka Peeths Swami Swa-roopanand Saraswati. Since the launch of stir by theGanga Seva Abhiyanam, initiated by the disciples ofShankaracharya, the latter stayed away. However,the union government soon sprung into action afterthe Shankaracharya reached the city to participate in

5the agitation. It raised rumours of having this meetup between the two to be xed.[29]

7 Present statusThe movement which made most of the news for 168days, culminated to a halt by its organizers after the thenunion coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal arrived in Delhiwith the then PM Manmohan Singh's letter assuring ofno new dam projects to start while works on those whichhave already started would also be stopped. An inter-ministerial committee constituted by the Prime Ministeritself will submit its study report on dams creating hurdlein the ow of Ganga in the same period.[30] It was de-cided by the organising committee that theMahasangramwould be halted only for three months and shall resumeagain in September if no sucient action is taken.

8 Notes[1] TNN (15 May 2012). Ganga Mukti Maha Sammelan on

May 21. The Times of India. Retrieved 5 June 2012.

[2] TNN (17 May 2012). Fight for Ganga continues fromKashi to Pune. The Times of India. Retrieved 5 June2012.

[3] Ganga activists threaten to re-launch campaign. IndiaVision. 14 May 2012. Retrieved 5 June 2012.

[4] The Water Page River Ganges. Africanwater.org. 12December 1996. Retrieved 7 July 2012.

[5] Sacred Ganges Carries Toxic Pollution.

[6] Ganga receives 2,900 million ltrs of sewage daily

[7] 300 dams on the Ganga: A bane or a boon?"

[8] Pranab gives go-ahead for dam on Bhagirathi. TheTimes of India. 11 July 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2012.

[9] Gangotri glacier retreat. NASA. Retrieved 29 June2012.

[10] The Gangas Last Roar. Tehelka News. 19 July 2008.Retrieved 29 June 2012.

[11] India Seeks Israeli Technology to Clean Ganges River.ENS-Newswire. 7 May 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2012.

[12] Ganga Action Plan

[13] GAP Failure. Sankat Mochan Foundation. Retrieved29 June 2012.

[14] Ganga Action Plan bears no fruit. The Hindu (Chennai,India). 28 August 2004.

[15] Save Ganga Movement. India Water Portal. Retrieved2 July 2012.

[16] Govt trying to obstruct Save Ganga Movement, saysseer. The Times of India. 21 June 2012. Retrieved 2July 2012.

[17] Ganga Mukti Mahasangram. NI Wire. 12 June 2012.Retrieved 2 July 2012.

[18] Shankaracharyas ultimatum to Centre over Ganga. 24June 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.

[19] Abandon dam projects on Ganga: Advani tells KhanduriCopyright Hindustan Times.

[20] Kang, Bhavdeep (11 Sep 2010). http://www.tehelka.com/these-are-the-men-who-stopped-a-dam-the-loharinag-pala-hydel-project-on-the-ganga-this-is-how-they-did-it/''.Tehelka http://www.tehelka.com/these-are-the-men-who-stopped-a-dam-the-loharinag-pala-hydel-project-on-the-ganga-this-is-how-they-did-it.Retrieved 11 Sep 2010. These Are The Men Who StoppedA Dam The Loharinag Pala Hydel Project On TheGanga. This Is How They Did It Missing or empty |title=(help)

[21] Dube, Priyanka (14 June 2011). Sadhu dies after a 73-day fast to save Ganga. ibnlive.in.com. CNN-IBN. Re-trieved 14 June 2011. Swami Nigamanand

[22] Shivanand breaks fast after forcing curb on Ganga bedquarrying

[23] Save Ganga activist GD Agarwal ends fast

[24] Indian 'sadhus protest dam projects on holy Ganges.The malay mail. 18 June 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.

[25] Charter of 10 Demands. Retrieved 29 June 2012.

[26] Ganga ghats in miserable condition. The Times of India.26 June 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.

[27] Govt mulls panel to check impact of dams on Ganga.Hindutan Times. 19 June 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.

[28] Government sets up panel to review power projects onGanga. The Times of India. 26 June 2012. Retrieved 2July 2012.

[29] Controversies start with pause given to movement. TheTimes of India. 30 June 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.

[30] nands potest for uninterrupted and clean Ganga haltedfor 3 months. The Times of India. 30 June 2012. Re-trieved 2 July 2012.

9 External links ICELA Tribune India Tehelka Save Ganga Movement Save Ganga Movement by Acharya Ashish Ganga Mahasabha

6 10 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

10 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses10.1 Text

Save Ganga Movement Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Save_Ganga_Movement?oldid=670307218 Contributors: Darkwind,Ground Zero, Wavelength, Gaius Cornelius, Chris the speller, Ohconfucius, Shyamsunder, R'n'B, CommonsDelinker, Happysailor, Roxythe dog, Yobot, AnomieBOT, Materialscientist, Armbrust, Jonesey95, John of Reading, Orphan Wiki, GoingBatty, Vivek Rai, ClueBotNG, BG19bot, Acetotyce, Melonkelon, Evano1van, Dhakksinesh, Srathi00, Parikshit gulia 121, Acharyaashish, Akarsh Mathur, Varunhiraand Anonymous: 26

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10.3 Content license Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

Causes PollutionDamsGlobal warmingFailure of Ganga Action Plan

Background Movement Mega rally of June 2012 Activists Acharya JitendraNigamanandProf. G. D. AgrawalNarendra Damodardas Modi

Demands No construction Pollution regulation Industrialization control Awareness Monitoring committee

Governments efforts Panel to review projects on Ganges NRGBA

Controversies Present status NotesExternal linksText and image sources, contributors, and licensesTextImagesContent license