-By Milan K Sinha
The
great civilizations of the world including ours blossomed on the banks of
rivers. These rivers are so revered in India that people worship them as their
mother. Whether its Ganga, Yamuna, Brahmaputra, Saryu, Narmada, Krishna,
Godavari, Mahanadi, Chenab or Jhelum, Indians particularly ordinary Indians
have a feeling that their life moves with the flow of these rivers.
But due
to increasing population coupled with modern technological
initiatives in the name of GDP growth, the sanctity & survival of most of
these rivers are at stake. The plight of most of them can be seen to be
believed. On top of it, the traditional tested methods of water conservation
& management by civil societies were assiduously weakened & destroyed
by active intervention of colonial masters before independence followed by the
new Desi masters afterwards. True, until water shortage impact the planners,
policy makers & large sections of creamy layers of society, this life
saving liquid will continue to be managed poorly.
It
is unfortunate that the educated & economically well off section of Indian
society know well that due to global warming & other climatic changes together
with erratic & gradual lesser rain fall during monsoon would result in dwindling
water availability which is bound to intensify Inter State River disputes & general water related conflicts in
society at large. Naturally, this may threaten the democratic fabric of the
nation and may have serious impact on our reported economic growth story in
days to come.
Can
you believe that there were millions of ponds & thousands of lakes in
different states even in 19th & some periods of 20th
century in India? The then Mysore state alone had 39000 ponds in 1800 AD. Delhi too had more than 300 ponds. And so was innumerable ponds in Rajasthan. These ponds either dried up or could not be
maintained due to apathy & lack of support from the then masters of state.
Now the situation in our country has come to this pass that we are facing
the duel problem at the same time- water shortage & water pollution on the
one hand and severe drought & floods
on the other. Even two days torrential rain in places like Mumbai,
Delhi, Kolkata or even in Patna or Jaipur disrupts the normal life beyond
imagination. In some cities even civil
life comes to almost stand still. But very little efforts at the Govt. level
have been taken except making some promises on those crisis moments to be
forgotten as a routine.
In nut shell, there is a serious water problem
in the world and also in India. We know many people find problems in opportunity but
some people find opportunity in problems as well. These courageous
& brave people are the solution finder in every society. They think out of
the box & travel through uncharted
path to achieve their social goal on their own.
मजरूह साहेब ने इनके लिये ही शायद लिखा है :
मैं तो अकेला ही चला था जानिबे मंजिल मगर ,
लोग साथ आते गये और कारवां बनता गया !
We shall talk about these inspiring initiatives
in my next post. All the Best.
Let's stop talking and start doing something sir because actions speak louder than words.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Right you are. So, as the saying goes,'charity begins at home', let us do our best in this direction.All the Best.
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