Save Ganga Movement

Save Ganga Movement is a widespread Gandhian nonviolent movement supported by saints and popular social activists across the Indian States Uttar Pradesh and
Bihar in support of a free Ganga. The movement is
supported by Ganga Seva Abhiyanam, Pune-based National Womens Organisation (NWO) besides those of
many other like-minded organisations and with the moral
support from many religious leaders, spiritual and political, scientists, environmentalists, writers and social
activists.[1][2][3] Ganga Calling Save Ganga is another
such campaign supported by Indian Council for EnviroLegal Action (ICELA).

Causes

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

See also: Pollution of the Ganges

Ganges is the largest and the most sacred river of India

Pollution at the ghats of Varanasi.

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

states. It is estimated that the livelihoods of over 500 million people in India are dependent upon the river, and that
one-third of Indias population lives within the Ganges
Basin. Despite this magnitude of inuence and control
by the river over present and future of the country, it is
allegedly under direct threat from various man made and
natural environmental issues.

1.1 Pollution
Ganga Dashahara in 2005 brought throngs of bathers to the
riverfront in Haridwar. (Religious association of Ganga also accounts for an appreciable degree of pollution.)

River Ganges ows through the most densely populated

regions of India passing 29 cities with population over
100,000, 23 cities with population between 50,000 and
with enormous spiritual, cultural, and physical inuence. 100,000, and about 48 towns.[4] A sizeable proportion
It provides water to about 40% of Indias population in 11 of the euents in Ganges are caused by this population
1

through domestic usage like bathing, laundry and public defecation. Countless tanneries, chemical plants, textile mills, distilleries, slaughterhouses, and hospitals contribute to the pollution of the Ganges by dumping untreated toxic and non-biodegradable waste into it.[5][6]
It is this sheer volume of pollutants released into the
river every day that are causing irreparable damage to
the ecosystem and contributing to signicant sanitation
issues.

MOVEMENT

2 Background

The movement did not build up suddenly. Concerns

about the condition of the Ganges were raised for decades
which gained impetus in the past few years owing to
awareness and support from keen environmentalists. Furthermore, dierent studies revealed the deteriorating
health of the river. In 1998, Smt Rama Rauta, the founder
of National Womens Organization (NWO) under the
leadership of Dr. Sushila Nair conceived the necessity
to initiate public mobilization based on the principles
of non-violence to seek support for Save Ganga Movement against the pollution of the Ganges and its trib1.2 Dams
utaries. A seminar on Ganga aur hamaaraa daayitvaon
(Ganga and our duty) was conducted on 13 November
Built in 1854 during the British colonisation of India,
1998 at Kanpur. Soon popular Gandhians, Shri Sunderthe Haridwar dam has led to decay of the Ganges by
lal Bahuguna and Dr. Kanchanlata Sabarwal, also joined
greatly diminishing the ow of the river. The Farakka
the Movement.[15]
Barrage was built originally to divert fresh water into
the Bhagirathi River but has since caused an increase of
salinity in the Ganges, having a damaging eect on the
ground water and soil along the river.[4] Apart from this, 3 Movement
Bangladesh and India faced major tensions due to this
barrage. The government of India planned about 300 Swami Avimukteshwaranand Sarasvat, convener of
dams on the Ganges in the near future and the tributaries Ganga Seva Abhiyanam alleged the Central Government
despite a government-commissioned green panel report of overhearing their demands and trying to obstruct the
that has recommended scrapping 34 of the dams citing movement.[16]
environmental concerns.[7][8]

3.1 Mega rally of June 2012

1.3

Global warming

Gangotri glacier which feeds the river Ganges is 30.2 km

long and between 0.5 and 2.5 km wide is one of the largest
in the Himalaya. However, Due to global warming it has
been receding since 1780, although studies show its retreat quickened after 1971. Over the last 25 years, Gangotri glacier has retreated more than 850 meters, with a
recession of 76 meters from 1996 to 1999 alone.[9][10]
The UN 2007 Climate Change Report has suggested that
the glacial ow may completely stop by 2030, at which
point the Ganges would be reduced to a seasonal river
during the monsoon season.[11]

Moved by the governments inaction towards saving the

Ganges, the eminent Ganga Mukti Sangram Saamiti decided to initiate a mass drive by gathering thousands of
Ganga Devotees along with the Ganga Rath which travelled through Varanasi on 14 June and then to Allahabad,
Kanpur, Matura, Vrindavan and nally reach to Delhi
on 17 June.[17] Shankaracharya of Dwarka Sharda Pithas Swami Svarpnanda Sarasvat who also joined the
movement at Jantar Mantar in Delhi gave an ultimatum
of three months to the Central government over the governments apathetic attitude towards the protection and
conservation of the National River.[18]

3.2 Activists
3.2.1 Acharya Jitendra

1.4

Failure of Ganga Action Plan

Main article: Acharya Jitendra

The Ganga Action Plan or GAP was a program launched

by Rajiv Gandhi in April 1986 to reduce the pollution
load on the river. But the eorts to decrease the pollution level in the river became abortive even after spending 9017.1 million (~190 million USD adjusting to
ination).[12] Therefore, this plan was withdrawn on 31
March 2000. This plan is described as failure by many
scientist and NGOs in their studies.[13][14]

Acharya Jitendra is National General Secretary of Ganga

Mahasabha. He is working for Ganga since 2000.He is
a 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 to
abandon all state hydro-dam projects on the Ganga and
persuade Professor Guru Das Agrawal G. D. Agrawal

3
to give up his fast within 24 hours. In 2010 Again
Acharya Jitendra played a crucial role to stop the Loharinag Pala Hydel Project On The Ganga. As K.N. Govindacharya said he worked behind the scenes for three
years, interfacing with people and like Baba Ramdev
and Acharya Jitendra, environmentalists and politicians
of all hues. He even approached senior Congress leaders for their support. When a favourable atmosphere
was created, he met Pranab Mukherjee, leading a delegation of the Ganga Mahasabha. He then spoke to senior Vishva Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal and the
Bharatiya Janata Partys Rajnath Singh, who persuaded
CM Ramesh Pokhriyal to write to the PM, asking him to
scrap the Loharinag Pala project.[20]

3.2.2

Nigamanand

Main article: Nigamanand

In early 2011, a Hindu seer named Swami Nigamananda
Saraswati fasted unto death, protesting against illegal mining happening in the district of Haridwar (in
Uttarakhand) resulting in pollution.[21] Following his
death in June 2011, his Ashram leader Swami Shivananda
fasted for 11 days starting on 25 November 2011, taking his movement forward. Finally, the Uttarkhand government released an order to ban illegal mining all over
Haridwar district.[22] According to administration ocials, quarrying in the Ganges would now be studied by a
special committee which would assess its environmental
impacts 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 Patron of Ganga Mahasabha sat for fast unto death on
twice in 2008 and 2009.[23] to protest the building of
dams in the Upper course of Ganges. On both occasions, Dr. Agrawal was successful in stopping thermal
damming construction in this sensitive and sacred region
of India. Due to support from other social activists like
Anna Hazare, the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan
Singh admitted publicly to cease any further hydroelectric damming of the Ganga in Uttarkhand. He also called
for a National River Ganga Basin Authority (NRGBA)
meeting and urged the authorities to utilize the 26 billion (about 520M US$) sanctioned for creating sewer
networks, sewage treatment plants, sewage pumping stations, electric crematoria, community toilets and development of river fronts.

3.2.4 Narendra Damodardas Modi

Main article: Narendra Modi
Former Chief Minister of Gujarat, P.M. Narendra Modi
has been very bent on the issue of the holy river, and
has promised the Parliament of India to get the holy river
clean and out of misery, as the density of coli-form bacteria have risen from 5,000 per 100ml to 58,000 per 100ml,
which is 11.6 over the acceptable limit. So far, Rs 20,000
crore has gone into the cleaning of the Gangamost of
it down the drain. From household waste to construction
debris, from used irrigation water containing fertilizer
and pesticides to industrial waste, from people bathing
in the river to ashes immersed in it, the Ganga is abused.
Shri. Modi has oered the gifts he received during his
tenure as PM of the nation for bidding. The amount received from the bidding will be utilized for the cause.

4 Demands
The movement is solely aimed at one goal to prevent
the anti-nature, anti-human, anti-environment activities
against Ganges and sustain the cultural importance, holiness and age old heritage of the same. Though most
of the demands are directly related to the pollution and
construction works overs Ganges, there are ought to be
several demands related indirectly to these.

4.1 No construction
It is demanded that the Upper course of Ganges should
be strictly disallowed any kind of damning and construction work.[24] It should be declared a Wild River zone and
visits by tourists and people to Gangotri National Park
should also be regulated and toned down. Eco-friendly
tourism should replace the present eco-hostile tourism.
Time-bound steps for non-commercial aorestation of
the Uttarakhand should be undertaken and these activities should be carried by the local people, using samplings
of local plants.[25] This demand was backed by a recent
report prepared by the state-funded Wildlife Institute of
India that recommended scrapping 34 of the Ganges dam
projects, citing environmental concerns.[24]

4.2 Pollution regulation

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

6 CONTROVERSIES

garbage and rotten stu. Animal loitering on ghats, trou- 4.5 Monitoring committee
bling the residents and devotees is the other problem.[26]
It is necessary to frame some rules and guidelines for the It is demanded that a committee of experts to monitor
Civic authorities and municipalities to carry out a sched- the progress of the governmental course of actions in this
uled and continued cleaning eort from the concerned direction should be appointed. It should report all of its
ndings and actions to the Supreme Court of India which
ocials.
direct the Central and State Governments.

4.3

Industrialization control

Since, Industries dump a large quantity of inorganic and

non-bio degradable wastes into the river, It is demanded
that further establishments of any kind of new Industry without proper management shouldn't be undertaken.
Also, those who are outing the pollution regulation
norms should be checked at once. Aorestation and efforts to save wild life in the Himalayas should be regulated
by a high powered committee.

5 Governments eorts
5.1 Panel to review projects on Ganges

Amid the building pressure from the Hindu leaders in the

June mega rally, the government proposed to set up an
expert-panel which would review the situation and examine the ecological impact of hydel projects taken on the
Himalayan rivers.[27] The committee includes representatives from the ministries of environment, power, and
water resources and other authorities and research insti4.4 Awareness
tutions. From outside the government, the PMO has choMass awareness against environmental degradation, es- sen director general of Centre for Science and Environpecially against pollution of air, water and land and ment Sunita Narain, former professor of IIT-BHU and
deforestation and destruction of wildlife should be under- mahant of Sankat Mochan temple at Varanasi Virbhadra
Mishra and head of Tarun Bharat Sangh-Rajendra Singh.
taken.
The committee will also inspect previous reports by IIT
Roorkee and Wildlife Institute of India.[28]
T.V. and Radio are to be persuaded to
give a substantial amount of prime time
to create such awareness, informing reg5.2 NRGBA
ularly about the water pollution levels of
major rivers and of air pollution levels in
To fulll the demands of activists to have an independent
big cities and their adverse aect on the
monitoring committee for Ganges, the government has
common people.
proposed to upgrade the existing National Ganga River
National laboratories such as NEERI,
Basin Authority (NRGBA) to the level of an independent
TRC, etc., must regularly monitor the
commission along the lines of the National Human Rights
pollution levels of major rivers and inCommission through a new law.[28]
form the public about the hazardous effects through various forms of mass media.
A comprehensive website on the Ganges
and other rivers of our country should be
created for networking of various organisations and people involved in the Ganga
Action Plan and for creating necessary
mass-awareness for saving the Ganges
and other rivers of our country.
Environmental ethics should be taught as
a part of the syllabus on ethics, both at
the school as well as at the college level.
Teaching environmental ethics without
discussing the value and means of an ethical life would be of little signicance. We
must study critically the views of great religions and of great teachers and thinkers
of mankind about various fundamental
issues of ethics.

6 Controversies

Those groups who backed the construction of Hydel

Power projects on course of river Ganga, alleged that
the agigators protesting against them were funded by
US, so that India would buy Uranium from them to
run its Nuclear Power Plants.
Controversies were raised about alleged xing of
the agitation among the sadhus and the Congress
party. It is known that senior Congress leaders
share old association with the Shankaracharya of
Shrada Jyotish and Dwarka Peeths Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati. Since the launch of stir by the
Ganga Seva Abhiyanam, initiated by the disciples of
Shankaracharya, the latter stayed away. However,
the union government soon sprung into action after
the Shankaracharya reached the city to participate in

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

Present status

[16] Govt trying to obstruct Save Ganga Movement, says

seer. The Times of India. 21 June 2012. Retrieved 2
July 2012.
[17] Ganga Mukti Mahasangram. NI Wire. 12 June 2012.
Retrieved 2 July 2012.
[18] Shankaracharyas ultimatum to Centre over Ganga. 24

The movement which made most of the news for 168

June 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
days, culminated to a halt by its organizers after the then
union coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal arrived in Delhi [19] Abandon dam projects on Ganga: Advani tells Khanduri
Copyright Hindustan Times.
with the then PM Manmohan Singh's letter assuring of
no new dam projects to start while works on those which [20] Kang, Bhavdeep (11 Sep 2010). http://www.tehelka.com/
have already started would also be stopped. An interthese-are-the-men-who-stopped-a-dam-the-loharinag-pala-hydel-project-onministerial committee constituted by the Prime Minister
Tehelka
http://www.tehelka.com/
these-are-the-men-who-stopped-a-dam-the-loharinag-pala-hydel-project-onitself will submit its study report on dams creating hurdle
Retrieved 11 Sep 2010. These Are The Men Who Stopped
in the ow of Ganga in the same period.[30] It was deA Dam The Loharinag Pala Hydel Project On The
cided by the organising committee that the Mahasangram
Ganga. This Is How They Did It Missing or empty |title=
would be halted only for three months and shall resume
(help)
again in September if no sucient action is taken.

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 from
Kashi to Pune. The Times of India. Retrieved 5 June
2012.
[3] Ganga activists threaten to re-launch campaign. India
Vision. 14 May 2012. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
[4] The Water Page River Ganges. Africanwater.org. 12
December 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. The
Times of India. 11 July 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
[9] Gangotri glacier retreat. NASA. Retrieved 29 June
2012.
[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.

[21] Dube, Priyanka (14 June 2011). Sadhu dies after a 73day fast to save Ganga. ibnlive.in.com. CNN-IBN. Retrieved 14 June 2011. Swami Nigamanand
[22] Shivanand breaks fast after forcing curb on Ganga bed
quarrying
[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 on
Ganga. The Times of India. 26 June 2012. Retrieved 2
July 2012.
[29] Controversies start with pause given to movement. The
Times of India. 30 June 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
[30] nands potest for uninterrupted and clean Ganga halted
for 3 months. The Times of India. 30 June 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.

9 External links
ICELA

[12] Ganga Action Plan

Tribune India

[13] GAP Failure. Sankat Mochan Foundation. Retrieved

29 June 2012.

Tehelka

[14] Ganga Action Plan bears no fruit. The Hindu (Chennai,

India). 28 August 2004.
[15] Save Ganga Movement. India Water Portal. Retrieved
2 July 2012.

Save Ganga Movement

Save Ganga Movement by Acharya Ashish
Ganga Mahasabha

10

10
10.1

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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, Roxy
the dog, Yobot, AnomieBOT, Materialscientist, Armbrust, Jonesey95, John of Reading, Orphan Wiki, GoingBatty, Vivek Rai, ClueBot
NG, BG19bot, Acetotyce, Melonkelon, Evano1van, Dhakksinesh, Srathi00, Parikshit gulia 121, Acharyaashish, Akarsh Mathur, Varunhira
and Anonymous: 26

10.2

Images

File:Ganga_Dashara,_at_Haridwar.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Ganga_Dashara%2C_at_

Haridwar.jpg License: CC BY 2.0 Contributors: Haridwar_Ganga Dashara Festival_2005 Original artist: gbSk
File:Gangotri_Galcier_Retreat.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Gangotri_Galcier_Retreat.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16584 Original artist:
NASA Earth Observatory
File:Pollution_of_Ganga_2.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Pollution_of_Ganga_2.jpg License:
CC BY 2.0 Contributors: Flickr: IndiaMarch07 169 Original artist: Lane
File:Varanasi_ghats.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Varanasi_ghats.jpg License: CC BY 2.0 Contributors: Flickr: Varanasi ghats Original artist: Ryan
File:Wiki_letter_w.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6c/Wiki_letter_w.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0 Contributors:
? Original artist: ?
File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg License:
CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors:
Wiki_letter_w.svg Original artist: Wiki_letter_w.svg: Jarkko Piiroinen

10.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0