“The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people, round which are intertwined her memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats. She has been a symbol of India’s age-long culture and civilization, ever changing, ever flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga” – Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
Just a few days ago the Uttarakhand High Court has declared the holy rivers Ganga and the Yamuna, “legal and living entities, having the status of a legal person with all corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of a living person”. In a nutshell this basically means that now the Ganga and Yamuna can represent themselves in court over any violations they face.
It is no secret that Ganga has actually been called a ‘cancer-causing river’ by a reputed medical research organization because of its current state. The amount of pollutants and toxins and heavy metals has made the river a health hazard to people nearby.
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The Yamuna, on the other hand, has already been declared a dead river! The dissolved oxygen level in the water is next to none. So much so that the river mostly flows with toxic foam on its surface and often actually catches fire.
This landmark order by the Uttarakhand High Court now makes it illegal for anyone to harm these rivers. But this order brings up some important questions; will all activities that depend on the flowing of a river legal and illegal now come under heavy scrutiny?
Can the river actually file a case against anyone violating her rights? Of course, the rivers will have human representatives to interpret their rights and essentially this means that a new era on environment protection has dawned in India and its high time it did.
We as a country have not taken our ecology seriously for quite some time now and have sacrificed environmental responsibility in the name of development and business. This short sighted view has already done much harm but it is never too late to change.
Only time will tell if this dramatic new order can actually save our rivers or if it will just be yet another namesake judgement passed to gain political mileage. Will the great rivers watch helplessly as we, as a civilization let them down again or will we ensure their cleanliness and survival so that they flow with life helping our future generations just like they helped us? I sincerely hope that this judgement is the first step towards actually cleaning our holy rivers and taking a giant step towards a cleaner, greener India.
(The author is a NewsMobile I Journo and an is also Editor international affairs for Daily Milap. Views expressed are personal)