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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8375609.stm
Plans to clean up the river so far have been unsuccessful
The BBC's Chris Morris travels to the holy Indian city of Varanasi to find out why the Ganges river is so polluted - and if it can be saved.
As night falls on the banks of the mighty Ganges, Hindu priests are praying to the river. Incense drifts through the air, mingling with the sound of bells and drums.
In the distance, on another of Varanasi's famous ghats, bodies are being burnt on funeral pyres. Dying in this city is particularly auspicious - it ensures that the soul is released from an endless cycle.
So for Hindus this is the holy of holies - the river is the embodiment of the goddess, Mother Ganges. But the water itself is absolutely filthy.
"It's not really fit for anything, even bathing," admits one of the priests, Vivek Sharma. "If it keeps getting polluted it's going to vanish in the next few years."
In the harsh light of day, scientists from the Swachcha Ganga (clean Ganges) laboratory try to confirm just how bad it is. They test water quality every day, and the news isn't good.
The project manager, RK Mishra, has been working here for nearly 20 years. And every year, he says, it gets worse and worse.
"The problem in Varanasi is raw human sewage being pumped straight into the Ganges," he says. "Nothing has been done to change things for the better."
And if that carries on?
"Then the river will become dead," he concludes. "It won't be here for the people."
'Depressing'
The Indian government first announced a plan to clean up the river way back in 1986. But success has proven elusive.
"Is the Ganges cleaner than it was?" Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said in parliament recently. "The answer is a depressing 'no'."
 Many believe that bathing in the Ganges will wash off their sins |
Poor implementation and corruption have bedevilled efforts to save India's most important river. Now the government says it intends to spend billions of dollars over the next decade to make a decisive difference.
"No untreated industrial effluent and municipal sewage will be allowed to flow in the river after 2020," Mr Ramesh announced last month, following the first meeting of the newly formed National Ganga River Basin Authority.
It could be the last chance.
Quite apart from the central spiritual role it plays in Indian life, hundreds of millions of people depend on the river's water for domestic and agricultural use.
Fishermen who live on the outskirts of Varanasi say they have seen the Ganges changing before their eyes.
Bablu Sahni has been casting a net from his boat since he was a boy. Now, he complains, there is less water, fewer fish and more pollution.
"Our livelihood is at stake," he says bluntly as we drift down the river.
Keenly aware
"We used to get a huge catch. But now we're only just surviving, and in the future our children are going to suffer. Without fishing we're doomed."
Part of the campaign to save the Ganges is raising awareness among the next generation.
 The river is getting filthier by the day |
Environmental science is now supposed to be a compulsory subject in every school.
On the leafy campus of the Rajghat Besant school, just above the river banks, students seem keenly aware of the challenges they face.
"The river has shrunk," Martha says, "It has moved away from the city towards the other side. The number of islands is increasing and there are less species than there used to be.
"One of the problems is that politicians are very rich in India so they don't face any water shortage," Srijan argues.
"Politicians should be poor people so they face all these issues and act on them."
"We just can't blame politicians," Rupal replies. "Everyone has to do something for themselves."
"We're still developing," Ishita says, "and if you tell people they can't bathe in the Ganges there will be a riot. It's a very volatile situation here."
Just after dawn, as pilgrims immerse themselves in the holy waters and the sun rises over the far bank of the river, that doesn't feel like a clear and immediate threat.
Flickering candles in clay pots are floating on the surface, and offerings are made to the goddess. It's a scene of serenity and devotion.
But what's happening to the Ganges here in Varanasi isn't sustainable. And that raises the spectre that if nothing changes this time, a whole way of life will one day disappear.
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(if you having troubles, try posting your comment on this page or send an email to chronicle @ itbhuglobal.org)Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University
Varanasi 221005, UP
We just won't understand this simple thing that nature will take care of us only if we return the favor.
I pity our dear goverment for being so helpless in order to save the holy river. Thanks to our society's mindset and rituals, we are losing one of our very important and dear river and that too very rapidly.
Until and unless every individual feels responsible towards keeping in surroundings clean, nothing is going to change for good.
December 16, 2009 5:44 PM