River of life
The Ganga is no longer being seen as a source of life but merely as a source of energy………..Dr Vandana Shiva
The Ganga is no longer being seen as a source of life but merely as a source of energy………..Dr Vandana Shiva
The Ganga has shaped Indian civilisation. The rich silt she gifts to the land of the Ganges basin has created the most fertile soils anywhere in the world. The minerals the Ganga picks up in her upper reaches in the Himalaya are deposited generously along her 2500 km journey to the sea creating alluvial soil more than 1500 meters deep. This is the secret of why the Ganga basin in the most densely populated in the world and has been farmed continuously for more than 5000 years. And the 38,000 cusecs of water she carries replenishes groundwater, irrigates fields and quenches the thirst of plants, animals and humans alike.
India is alive because of the Ganga, and the death of the Ganga means the death of our civilisation. There are multiple threats to the Ganga today. The first is climate change and global warming which is leading to the melting and retreat of the Gangotri glacier. The glacier is currently 30.2 km long, and between 0.5 and 2.5 km wide. Over the last 25 years, Gangotri glacier has retreated more than 850 meters, with a recession of 76 meters from 1996 to 1999 alone.
The glacier, which provides up to 70 per cent of the water of the Ganga during summer is shrinking at a rate of 12 to 13 meters per year, which is twice as fast as it was 20 years ago. In June 2008, part of the glacier collapsed, killing one sadhu and injuring nine pilgrims.
By 2030 it could completely disappear, which means the disappearance of the Ganga in the lean season. It may become a seasonal river flowing only during the monsoons.
But it is not just global warming, which is leading to the disappearance of the Ganga. The river runs dry in many stretches as it is dammed and diverted into tunnels for hydro-electricity. Dams rob the river of its full and free downstream flow and the basin of silt and soil fertility.
But it is not just global warming, which is leading to the disappearance of the Ganga. The river runs dry in many stretches as it is dammed and diverted into tunnels for hydro-electricity. Dams rob the river of its full and free downstream flow and the basin of silt and soil fertility.
The Tehri dam cleared in 1972 is getting so rapidly silted up that an island was formed in the reservoir within two years of impoundment. This siltation will increase because the dam has induced landslides since February 2007. According to a Navdanya study, more than 100 landslides have already been triggered, severely threatening 1500 to 2000 families in nine villages.
The Himalayas are the youngest mountain system in the world. For more than three decades I have dedicated my life to protecting the Ganga-Himalaya, my home, first with the Chipko movement, which stopped commercial logging in 1981, and then to stop the mining of limestone in the Doon Valley in 1983. The government was compelled to recognise the fragility of the Himalayan ecosystem. Yet the new dam building madness has unleashed a war against the fragile slopes. The Tehri Dam reservoir water seeps into the slopes and triggers landslides as the water level changes. The rains add to this, thus threatening communities who were not directly project affected people because their homes and land were not submerged by the dam. These landslides may affect the dam, by filling up the reservoir capacity with landmass instead of water.
In spite of the fragility of the earthquake-prone Himalayas and the disasters the dams have already triggered, dam building continues. The sacred Ganga is no longer being seen as a source of life for 500 million Indians but merely as a source of energy. When the Pala Maneri project was inaugurated by the chief minister of Uttarakhand, huge full page ads redefined Uttarakhand from Devbhoomi – the sacred land – to Urja Pradesh – the new energy state, with an ambitious plan to generate 30,000 MW of power in the next decade.
GD Aggarwal, one of Indias most respected environmental scientists, undertook a fast unto death in June 2008 to save the Ganga. Diverse movements are calling for a freeze on all new dam construction and a review of all dams already built. Uttarakhand was compelled to cancel two dams – Bairon Ghati and Pala Maneri.
GD Aggarwal, one of Indias most respected environmental scientists, undertook a fast unto death in June 2008 to save the Ganga. Diverse movements are calling for a freeze on all new dam construction and a review of all dams already built. Uttarakhand was compelled to cancel two dams – Bairon Ghati and Pala Maneri.
It is time to reflect on the irrationality of destroying our very lifeline, to assess how much loss of water and food will result from insane dam building in the Ganga catchments. It is time to explore how alternatives like solar energy could make Uttarakhand an energy state while also protecting it as Devbhoomi – the land of the Char Dhams – Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. We do not hold the Ganga sacred for trivial reasons. Without her life giving water and fertility, India cannot survive as a civilisation. If the Ganga dies, India dies. If the Ganga lives, India lives.
The author is an environmentalist