Clean Ganga Project and Manusmriti Relevance
India to get 3bn dollar aid from World Bank for Ganga cleaning projects!
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The complete guide to the Ganges At the spiritual heart of Hinduism, the Ganges is India's most sacred river. Its length is strewn with cities, pilgrimage sites, mountains and lush forests. RHIANNON BATTEN dips a toe in the murky water of one of the world's great waterways
WHAT IS IT?
The mightiest river in India - and Bangladesh. It is known locally as Ganga. (The title has nothing to do with the substance of a similar name found in these parts.) Its source is in Gangotri in the Indian Himalaya, north-east of Delhi and close to the Chinese border. The river runs through the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, draining a large part of the northern plains, clips the top of West Bengal and then enters Bangladesh. Here, the Ganges merges with the Brahmaputra river and spills out into the Bay of Bengal. It is not the biggest river that passes through India - ...
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Ganga in Hinduism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ganga | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Ganges River | |
| Devanagari | ???? |
| Affiliation | Devi |
| Abode | kailasa |
| Mantra | om hili hili mili mili ganga devi namaha |
| Consort | Shiva or Santanu |
| Mount | Makara |
In Hinduism, the river Ganga (Sanskrit and Hindi: ???? Ga?ga, Thai: ???? Khongkha) or Ganges River (as called by westerners) is considered sacred. It is worshipped by Hindus, and personified as a goddess in Hinduism, who holds an important place in the Hindu religion. Hindus believe that bathing in the river on certain occasions causes the remission of sins and facilitates the attainment of salvation. Many people believe that this effect obtains from bathing in Ganga at any time. People travel from distant places to immerse the ashes of their kin in the waters of the Ganga; this immersion also is believed to be meritorious as the ashes are believed to go to heaven. Several places sacred to Hindus lie along the banks of the river Ganga, including Haridwar, Allahabad and Varanasi. During the Loy Krathong festival in Thailand, candlelit floats are released into waterways in honoring the Buddha and the goddess Ganga (???????) for good fortune and washing away sins.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Birth
There are several Hindu beliefs that give various versions of the birth of Ganga. According to one version, the sacred water in Brahma's Kamandalu (water-vessel) became personified as a maiden, Ganga. According to another (Vaishnavite) legend, Brahma had reverently washed the feet of Vishnu and collected this water in his Kamandalu. According to yet a third version, Ganga was the daughter of Himavan, king of the mountains, and his consort Mena; she was thus a sister of the goddess Parvati. Every version declares that she was raised in the heavens, under the tutelage of Brahma.
[edit] Descent to Earth
Several years later, a king named Sagara magically acquired sixty thousand sons. One day, King Sagara performed a ritual of worship for the good of the kingdom. One of the integral parts of the ritual was a horse, which was stolen by the jealous Indra. Sagara sent all his sons all over the earth to search for the horse. They found it in the nether-world (or Underworld) next to a meditating sage Kapila. Believing that the sage had stolen the horse, they hurled insults at him and caused his penance to be disturbed. The sage opened his eyes for the first time in several years, and looked at the sons of Sagara. With this glance, all sixty thousand were burnt to death.
The souls of the sons of Sagara wandered as ghosts since their final rites had not been performed. When Bhagiratha, one of the descendants of Sagara, son of Dilip, learnt of this fate, he vowed to bring Ganga down to Earth so that her waters could cleanse their souls and release them to heaven.
Bhagiratha prayed to Brahma that Ganga come down to Earth. Brahma agreed, and he ordered Ganga to go down to the Earth and then on to the nether regions so that the souls of Bhagiratha's ancestors would be able to go to heaven. The vain Ganga felt that this was insulting and decided to sweep the whole earth away as she fell from the heavens. Alarmed, Bhagiratha prayed to Shiva that he break up Ganga's descent.
Ganga arrogantly fell on Shiva's head. But Shiva calmly trapped her in his hair and let her out in small streams. The touch of Shiva further sanctified Ganga. As Ganga travelled to the nether-worlds, she created a different stream to remain on Earth to help purify unfortunate souls there. She is the only river to follow from all the three worlds - Swarga (heaven), Prithvi (earth) and, Patala (neitherworld or hell). Thus is called "Tripathaga" ( one who travels the three worlds) in Sanskrit language.
Because of Bhagiratha's efforts Ganga descended on to earth and hence the river is also known as Bhagirathi, and the term "Bhagirath prayatna" is used to describe valiant efforts or difficult achievements.
Another name that Ganga is known by is Jahnavi. Story has it that once Ganga came down to earth, on her way to Bhagiratha, her rushing waters created turbulence and destroyed the fields and the sadhana of a sage called Jahnu. He was angered by this and drank up all of Ganga's waters. Upon this, the Gods prayed to Jahnu to release Ganga so that she could proceed on her mission. Pleased with their prayers, Jahnu released Ganga (her waters) from his ears. Hence the name "Jahnavi" (daughter of Jahnu) for Ganga.
It is sometime believed that the river will finally dry up at the end of Kali Yuga (the era of darkness, the current era) just as with the Sarasvati river, and this era will end. Next in (cyclic) order will be the Satya Yuga or the era of Truth.
[edit] Other Mythological Associations
According to the Hindu scriptures like Skanda Purana, the goddess Ganga is foster-mother to Karttikeya (Murugan), who was actually a son of Shiva and Parvati.
Parvati who created an image of Ganesha (son of Shiva and Parvati) out of her bodily impurities but which became endowed with life after immersion in the sacred waters of the Ganga. Therefore Ganesha is said to have two mothers--Parvati and Ganga and hence called Dvaimatura and also Gangeya (the son of Ganga).[1]
According to Brahma Vaivarta Purana 2.6.13-95 Vishnu has three wives, who constantly quarrel with each other, so that eventually, he keeps only Lakshmi, giving Ganga to Shiva and Saraswati to Brahma.
The Hindu epic, Mahabharata tells that the Vasus, cursed by Vashishta had requested Ganga to be their mother. Ganga incarnated and became the wife of King Santanu on condition that at no stage shall he question her actions, or she would leave him.. As seven Vasus were born as their children, one after the other, Ganga drowned them in her own waters, freeing them from their punishment and the king made no opposition. Only when the eighth was born did the king finally oppose his wife, who therefore left him. So the eighth son, Dyaus incarnated, remained alive, imprisoned in mortal form, and later became known in his mortal incarnation as Bhishma (Devavrata), who is one of the most respected characters of the Mahabharata.
[edit] Rig Veda
The Ganga is definitely mentioned in the Rig-Veda, the earliest and theoretically the holiest of the Hindu scriptures. The Ganga is mentioned in the nadistuti (Rig Veda 10.75), which lists the rivers from east to west. In RV 6.45.31, the word Ganga is also mentioned, but it is not clear if the reference is to the river.
RV 3.58.6 says that "your ancient home, your auspicious friendship, O Heroes, your wealth is on the banks of the Jahnavi (JahnAvyAm)". This verse could possibly refer to the Ganga.[2] In RV 1.116.18-19, the Jahnavi and the Gangetic dolphin occur in two adjacent verses.[3][4]
[edit] Iconography
In the canons of Indian art, Ganga is visualized as voluptuous and beautiful, carrying an overflowing pot in her hand. The vessel conveys the idea of abundant life and fertility, which nourishes and sustains the universe.
The second distinguishing aspect of Ganga's iconography is her animal mount, which is often shown serving as a pedestal for her. This is the makara, a hybrid creature having the body of a crocodile and the tail of a fish. The makara in Hindu thought corresponds to the star sign of Capricorn in western astrology.
The makara is also the vehicle of the Vedic god of waters, Varuna, thus establishing firmly Goddess Ganga's Vedic roots.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Y. Krishan (Ga?esa:Unravelling an Enigma, p.6
- ^ Talageri, Shrikant. (2000) The Rigveda: A Historical Analysis; Talageri, S.: "Michael Witzel - An examination of his review of my book". --Griffith translates JahnAvyAm in this verse as "house of Jahnu", even though in similar verses he uses the "on the banks of a river" translation (see Talageri 2000)
- ^ Talageri, Shrikant. (2000) The Rigveda: A Historical Analysis.; Talageri, S.: "Michael Witzel - An examination of his review of my book" 2001.
- ^ The Sanskrit term shimshumara refers to the Gangetic dolphin (the Sanskrit term for dolphin is shishula). Talageri 2000, 2001
[edit] External links
- The Life Of Ganga
- Sacred Ganga
- Ganga Arati Video Quicktime streaming video of worship of the Ganges in Hardwar (15 minutes)
- Various Aspects Of Ganges
- The Mystic Ganga
- History of Loy Krathong
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Ganga safai aviyaan (Ganga Cleaning Program) by Haridwar ... | |
 | 75 min - 15 Mar 2007 This video is about creating awarness in people's mind for cleaning of Ganga held by Shantikunj, Haridwar. Shantikunj Video video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4229405492770019220 - Related videos July 17th, 2009
Responding to a Calling Attention Motion on checking pollution in rivers and lakes in India, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said: "I admit with full responsibility that Ganga and Yamuna are no cleaner than 20 years ago." Ramesh added that a "determined and renewed effort" was required to cleanse these major rivers. He said he could provide figures on their pollution levels but "I myself don't believe these numbers, for a layman, the answer is a depressing no." Over 816 crore rupees were spent on two phases of the Ganga Action Plan (GAP), and 682 crore rupees were spent on the first phase of the Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) and another 190 crore rupees on the second phase so far, the minister informed. Referring to the National Ganga River Basin Authority headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said global tender for project consultants to prepare a basin management plan have attracted 30 bids and the selection would be done in the next two months. (ANI) The Ganges: A Journey into IndiaPart 1: Exploring the Sacred, Modern Along the Ganges(0) (19) April 2, 2007 India's holy Ganges River provides sustenance to more people than the population of the United States. A 1,550-mile journey along Mother Ganga offers a unique glimpse of what lies behind the complexities of India today. Part 2: Ganges Reveals Extremes in Indian LIfe(0) (9) April 3, 2007 India has overtaken Japan as home to the most billionaires in Asia. Yet it also has the world's largest population of hungry people, as one reporter's continuing journey down the Ganges River reveals. Reporter's NotebookDevprayag, Rishikesh, Kanpur: The Journey's Start(0) (2) April 2, 2007 Philip Reeves recently traveled the length of the Ganges River and reports on the people and places along the way: a holy man living in a case, the wild roads of India, and a luxury spa amid abject poverty. Part 3: India's Heart of Hinduism to Heart of Darkness(0) (0) April 4, 2007 In the third of a five-part series on the Ganges, Philip Reeves visits Varanasi, one of the holiest cities in Hinduism, where religion and domestic life coexist. Then he travels to crime-plagued Bihar, one of India's poorest states. Reporter's NotebookFrom Varanasi to Bihar: Meeting the Divine, Criminal(0) (0) April 4, 2007 In this installment of his Reporter's Notebook, Philip Reeves recounts meeting religious pilgrims in the holy city of Varanasi — and criminals in the poor state of Bihar. He also contemplates the role of religion among middle-class Indians. Part 4: Calcutta's Industrial Ambitions, Tradition Clash(0) (1) April 5, 2007 As the Ganges River's journey nears an end, it passes through Calcutta, one of India's great cities. Renowned for its slums, militancy and red tape, Calcutta is changing, as it remakes itself into an IT hub. But the change has met with resistance. Reporter's NotebookCalcutta: Habitat of the Indian Intellectual(0) (1) April 5, 2007 Philip Reeves recounts his experiences in Calcutta, a city known for its militancy, poverty and red tape. He enjoys the view from a floating hotel and visits a legendary coffeehouse, where he spots a native species: the Indian intellectual. Part 5: Where the Ganges Meets the Sea, A Journey Ends(0) (3) April 6, 2007 Our Ganges journey ends on Sagar Island, where the river meets the sea. Once a year, millions of Hindus come here to worship the river and to toss coins into its waters. It's a spot where the income gap between rural and urban India is evident. Reporter's NotebookPoverty, Idyllic Beauty Coexist on Sagar Island(0) (0) April 5, 2007 At the end of his Ganges journey on Sagar Island, Philip Reeves meets a man who lives in limbo between the "new India" of the rich and the ranks of the profoundly poor. He also meditates on the idyllic beauty of the place, and the hard lives its people live. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9358334 |
NEW DELHI - Despite spending 17,000 crore rupees on river cleaning projects, Ganga and Yamuna were "no cleaner" now as they were two decades ago, the government has admitted in Lok Sabha.India to get 3bn dollar aid from World Bank for Ganga cleaning projects!
New Delhi, Oct 5(ANI): Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday said that India is soon expected to get an aid of 3 billion dollar from the World Bank for preparing projects to clean the river Ganga.
Ramesh said this after attending the first meeting of National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), which was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the national capital on Monday.
"We are hopeful of clinching an agreement with the World Bank, as the President of the World Bank will visit India in December. The preliminary indications from the World Bank are very positive," Ramesh said.
"Discussions between Environment and Forest Ministry and the World Bank are proceeding very rapidly and we are likely to get 3 billion dollars very soon for preparing projects under what is called the project preparation facility under the World Bank," he added.
The Government had earlier constituted NGRBA, under the Environment (Protection) Act as an empowered Authority to adopt a new holistic river basin approach to the cleaning of the river Ganga and address the issue of minimum ecological flows, besides pollution abatement works.
The meeting decided that the on-going sewage treatment projects would be put on fast track and States will formulate projects for critical pollution hotspots and major towns near river Ganga and its tributaries by November 30, 2009.
"By 2020 mission the objective is that no untreated municipal sewage and no untreated industrial effluents will be allowed to flow into river Ganga without full treatment," Ramesh added.
The Central and State Governments will also provide an estimated Rs. 150 billion for the initiative over the next 10 years.
Industrial discharges, sewage, pesticides and the rotting remains of dead bodies have increased pollution levels in the river over the years despite Government promises to clean-up country's most sacred river. (ANI)
Luxury calling
Be a part of the global luxury shopping extravaganza tomorrow night at Vogue Fashion's Night Out at DLF Emporio, New Delhi
Vaishali Jain
Vogue magazine is holding a global event, Fashion's Night Out, on 10 September in 13 countries including the US, UK, Greece, Italy, Russia, France, Brazil, India, Spain, China, Germany, Japan, and Taiwan. Fashion's Night Out will be held in India on the same day at DLF Emporio, New Delhi and aims at "putting the spotlight back on shopping," says Vogue India's editor Priya Tanna in the magazine's September issue.
Click here to watch the choicest brands at Vogue Fashion's Night Out
According to a Bain & Company report, global sales of luxury goods are expected to drop 10% this year. But it will be the emerging markets, including Brazil, Russia, China, and India, that will, in part, help the luxury markets, with a surge in spending by high net worth individuals in these markets ranging between 20%-35%. Some brands within India are already feeling optimistic. Events like this usually spike sales for a day, and also help build brand awareness. Angelique O'Brien, GM of Jimmy Choo in India, says a one-day preview sale at the Galleria Mall in Mumbai, for example, resulted in a 50% increase in sales for the brand.
Fashion's Night Out will start at the DLF Emporio at 6pm and will continue until midnight and is open to all. For the event, brands like Burberry are organising an in-store lucky draw where the winner will get to win a Burberry Trench, Christian Dior will organise a make-over (call 011 46005900 for an appointment), get a foot massage at Jimmy Choo between 7pm and 10pm and learn how to tie a scraf at Salvatore Ferragamo. A Rs1,000 raffle ticket will give you a shot at winning a prize worth about Rs50,000 from brands like Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Dior, de Grisogono, Mirari, Tarun Tahiliani, JJ Valaya, and many more. All proceeds from draw will be donated to Women IndiaBUILDS, a Habitat for Humanity India initiative.
http://www.livemint.com/2009/09/08210957/Luxury-calling.html?d=1
Centre to pump in Rs 15,000 cr to clean Ganga!Mind you, Rajiv Gandhi who opened the Doors of Babri Mosque to worship Puroshottam Ram, the God who organised ASHWAMEDHA Yagya to acomplish CONVERSION as SHUDRAYAN of the Aboriginal Communities, also introduced the Ganges cleaning Hype. RSS associated by Gandhian Carbides including Environment Activst Sunderlal Bahuguna and Four Highest preists of Zionsist Fascist Hindutva, the Shankaracharya and YOGA Guru cum CORPORATE head BABA Ramdev along with Brahaminical Media also plead the SANCTITY of Great ganges which represents all the Holy Scripts of Hindutva. Mind You, after Blue Star Operation Mrs Indira gandhi was assasinated and it provoked SIKH Genocide unprecedented. RSS supported the new Prime Minister rajiv gandhi and his ZIONIST Dynasty. RSS is loyal most even today as it has been proved with Manipulated mandate to continue the Economic Reforms. Hence, ganga Cleaning is nothing but another RITUAL for the Sacrifice of Black Untouchables in this divided Bleeding Geopolitics of Manusmriti Aparteid hegemony and US Periphery!
I covered the 1978 Floods created by Artificial lake due to Land slide! I went up to the way to Gangotri just under man made Calamity then. I was intensely involved in Environment Movement as a CHIPKO Activsit in the Himalays! I was based in Nainital and was working for Nainital Smachar, the mouthpiece of the Uttrakhandi Nationality!
I had serious Political difference with my Father until he brethed his last. I included all displaced communities and internal refugees while I talked of Refugee Problem and I knew how the Hegemony used it Demographically. At the time we were Protesting Tehri dam Project. Late, I wrote my Novellette Nai TEHRI Purani tehri which was published in reputed Hindi literary mag PAHAL. My father was focused on aboriginal Bengali Refugees and I had no time for them since I NEVER read AMBEDKAR Until being DISILLUSIONED with Ideological Hypocricy and Capitalist ways of Indian Marxists.
I followed Ganges from gangotri to Ganga Sagar. I know well that ganges had always been the life line of Indian Humanity, Nature and Economy. As a Marxist I never mixed Folk and folk Lore with the Religion whatsoever it may be. I read Holy Scripts of All Major religions specially while Campaigning against US Zionist Imperialism indulged in OIL war in the Middle East just in quest of Religious Identites involved in the war and so called war agaist Terrorism. I NEVER believed Either in Holy Scripts nor the Religion.
I always lived with the Great Ganges but NEVER did Consider it HOLY nor I took a HOLY Dip ever. My father also did never believe in the Religious sanctity but he was a FOLLOWER of Ambedkarite Ideology and knew well the roots of Enslavement Infinite definitely better than me who believed in Materialistic Interpration of History.
NGOs are also involved in Ganga cleaning as Eco Friends cleans the Kanpur stretch of the river (10 km stretch) regularly of dead bodies, animal carcasses, solid waste and visible trash such as clay idols, polybags, worship materials and ensures their safe disposal. The idea is to awaken the sense of responsibility in the civil society to the health of the river and eliminate the non-point sources of pollution and various polluting social practices. Special campaigns are launched during various bathing festivals when people float worship materials and other polluting materials in the river. Eco Friends has also adopted Massacre ghat in Kanpur to develop it as a model ghat.
Let us see where to the national revenue is DIVERTED under RELIGIOUS Agenda!In the last leg of the Save Ganga campaign the group of volunteers led by Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati undertook cleaning of the
banks of Sangam on Sunday by collecting polythene bags and other materials. Later, they took a pledge to work for the cause of the Ganga and save it from growing pollution.
Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati said the Puranas state that the river Ganga is present everywhere but it assumes special importance in the holy cities of Prayag, Haridwar and Ganga Sagar out of which Prayag is the most significant place owing to the fact that Poorna Kumbh, Ardh Kumbh and Magh Mela are organised here.
He expressed hope that the campaign would help in creating awareness about the ganga in other parts of the country as well.
While it is claimed that Corporate heads against religious profiling of staff! What a HYPOCRICY as Reservation and quota have become irrelevant in Contact based IT oriented COMPUTED ROBOTICS Job market and all recruiters and Policy makers belong to High caste Hindus only!
On the other hand, The Supreme Court today came down heavily on the Mayawati government for constructing memorials despite its order and warned the state that it cannot play politics as it does with other parties.
"You don't play politics as you do it with other political parties in the assembly," a bench of justices B N Agrawal and Aftab Alam sternly told senior counsel Harish Salve appearing for the state.
The bench rejected the arguments that there was some "confusion" and that there was no violation of its order.
"We have read with deep pain your affidavit and the undertaking made by you was lacking in sincerity. It was just eyewash," the bench observed.
The bench said that prudence demand that if there was any such confusions, it was the duty of the state to approach the court and seek necessary clarifications.
After investing almost Rs 960 crore in the past 22 years, the Centre has now decided to spend an additional Rs 15,000 crore to make the Ganga river pollution free within the next ten years.
"No untreated industrial effluent and municipal sewage will be allowed to flow in the river after 2020," Union Minister Jairam Ramesh told reporters here after the first meeting of the newly formed National Ganga River Basin Authority which was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
He pointed out that currently there is a sewage treatment capacity of only about 1000 mld (million litres per day) against 3000 mld sewage being generated in the towns along Ganga.
"An estimated investment of Rs 15,000 crores over next ten years will be required to create the necessary treatment and sewerage infrastructure," Ramesh said.
One- man industry, Bachchan is Rs 700 cr brand !
Mumbai: Brand Amitabh works for everything – from mass market hair oil to the finest textiles.
French Director Francois Truffaut called him a one-man industry in the late-seventies, when eight of his films - released almost simultaneously - had an unprecedented success at the box office.
Thirty years later, Amitabh Bachhan has become a one-man brand - he is reportedly being paid Rs 126 crore (Rs 1.5 crore per episode) for his appearance as a pop-philosopher in the third edition of mega serial Bigg Boss that started yesterday. That's 50 per cent more than the reigning superstars, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar, who have been charging Rs 1 crore per episode for their TV shows.
http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3270209
Now, the database will be used to find out whether a company has a desirable social diversity!
The UPA government's proposal requiring public and private sector companies to maintain religious profile of their employees has not gone down well with several corporate leaders, though some say they can live with it.
Companies will have to build a database of their employees, including their religion, to enable the government implement minority welfare programmes under the oversight of the Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC).
The database will be used to find whether a company has a desirable social diversity.
Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid had said the government would bring before Parliament the EOC Bill in the winter session.
"It's the next major step that we will take in bringing minority and majority together in (our) concern for equality," he said.
Reacting to the proposal, Future Group Chief Executive Officer Kishore Biyani said the move would add to the problems in the society. "Our society is complicated and this will make it more complicated," he added.
President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Harsh Pati Singhania said though giving equal opportunities to diverse groups is a welcome proposal, "at work places it may not be conducive and may not lead to a healthy atmosphere."
PHD Chamber President Satish Bagrodia said, "I do not think that corporates will be happy doing religious profiling of employees as these are very personal issues."
However, Videocon Chairman and Managing Director Venugopal Dhoot said it was an issue of equality and there was nothing wrong about it.
"It will be good... And employees will also be benefited from this. It is a matter of equality," he said.
Echoing him, Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said with the enactment of the law, over a period of time companies can correct the social and religious diversity.
Meanwhile, Mittal scouting new sites for his Indian plants!
ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steel maker, today threatened to abandon its USD 20 billion steel projects in two Indian states over delays, but will look for new sites within the country for the plants.
"The company continues to work on its two greenfield projects in Jharkhand and Orissa. However, in the event that land acquisition continues to prove difficult, we will start to search for alternative sites in India...," ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal said in a statement.
The statement followed a report in The Financial Times, which carried an interview of Mittal, stating: "Lakshmi Mittal is close to pulling out of a USD 20 billion plan to build two large steel plants in India..."
In the statement, Mittal said: "ArcelorMittal has no plans to quit its investment plans for India... is an important country for steel demand growth and... important part of ArcelorMittal's long-term strategic plans.
And see the report! compare it with ground reality of Job LOSS!
Indian companies are world's best in employee satisfaction: Study
New Delhi: Indian companies rank top among global peers in employee satisfaction, reflecting their successful business practices, says a study.
The findings are part of a report, 'Driving Success Through Performance Excellence and Employee Engagement,' by research arm of leading global HR solutions provider Kenexa.
The report is based on two employee-based indicators of business success, which can be used to measure and monitor a firm's state --the Performance Excellence Index (PEI) and the Employee Engagement Index (EEI).
"The higher the scores on these two indices, the better positioned employees are to deliver the organisation's value proposition. By improving their scores on these indices, organisations can improve their business results," Kenexa Research Institute Executive Director Jack Wiley said.
India ranks highest with 76 per cent on country-level PEI index of 14 countries. The index tracks employees' views of product and service quality and the firm's focus on customer service, quality, training and employee involvement.
Other than India, Russia also ranks high at 67 per cent, while Japan has reported the lowest score at 45 per cent.
Al-Qaeda 'suppository bombs' cast doubt on airport security: Report
Paris: Suicide bombers associated with Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist network have begun carrying bombs inside their bodies in the form of suppositories to circumvent strict security controls, the French daily Le Figaro reported Monday.
Citing information supplied by the newly formed French anti-terrorist service DCRI, the report highlighted a recent assassination attempt in Saudi Arabia in which the terrorist carried the bomb within his body.
"That is to say, it was undetectable," a French interior ministry official said. "The suicide bomber had only to detonate it with his cellphone, which the palace guards did not have the presence of mind to remove."
The target of the attack, Mohammed bin Nayef, the son of the Saudi interior minister, suffered only minor injuries.
However, the method used by the bomber has forced security officials to reconsider the controls used to prevent suicide bombings, particularly at airports.
"Our aviation controls are equipped with metal detectors, but in the case of the Saudi suicide bomber only an X-ray control would have detected the explosive," a police official said.
But X-ray controls are not being considered for general use. For one thing, they are very expensive.
There is also another consideration, that of health.
"It is simply unthinkable to put X-rays into general use for security controls, since we know how often some passengers fly," an interior ministry official said. "The health risks of over-exposure to X-rays are too great."
According to a police security expert, one solution would be to concentrate on finding the telephone that emits the signal for the explosion. That could mean that passengers may in future be forced to hand their cellphones to a stewardess on boarding.
Source: IANS
What a Joke of the Time! Discarding and DESTROYING the Agrarian Rural Black Untouchable Aboriginal Indigenous India, IT to generate 5.8 million new jobs by 2013!International Data Corporation research says that IT will create more that 75,000 new businesses in the next four years and add jobs at a rate of 3% annually! Information technology will be an employment machine, generating 5.8 million new jobs in the coming four years, according to International Data Corporation (IDC) research released Sunday.
IDC predicts that the IT industry will be an engine powering economies out of economic doldrums, creating more that 75,000 new businesses in the next four years and adding jobs at a rate of 3% annually.
"Countries that foster innovation and invest in infrastructure, education and skills development for their citizens will have a major competitive advantage in the global marketplace," said Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer.
"In this fundamental economic reset, innovative technologies will play a vital role in driving productivity gains and enabling the creation of new local businesses and highly skilled jobs that fuel economic recovery and support sustainable economic growth."
US software colossus Microsoft sponsored the IDC research into the impact of IT in 52 countries that represent 98% of the global IT spending.
"IT spending growth is a good sign as we come out of the recession," Microsoft corporate affairs communications manager Scott Selby said.
Employment growth in IT related jobs will be three times that of overall job growth in what Selby said is a "good driver of economic growth."
While the world has been in the gripes of a recession, it has also been in the midst of a "technology renaissance" flush with advances in software, devices, and Internet-based services, according to IDC.
IDC expects IT spending in the countries studied to grow at slightly more than three percent annually, three times as fast as the gross domestic products between now and the year 2013.
In what is good news for software powerhouse Microsoft, spending on software is predicted to grow faster than overall IT spending, rising 4.8% annually.
"Software is a driving force behind this IT growth," Selby said. "IT allows us to do more with less."
New technologies are also ushering in a new "cloud computing" paradigm in which applications are provided online as services instead of as software bought and installed on home or office machines, according to IDC.
Money saved by using software as needed "in the cloud" instead of buying, maintaining, and updating applications will likely be devoted to bringing new products or services to market faster and cheaper, according to Selby.
IDC estimates that cloud services could add $800 billion in net new business revenues between the end of 2009 and the end of 2013.
"Over the past 20 years, we've seen transformative power in how investments in IT innovations foster economic growth," said Robert D. Atkinson, founder of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation in Washington DC.
"Continued innovation and investment in information technology will help jump-start recovery from the current recession and will significantly contribute to the growth of employment and new businesses."
Emerging markets will reap the greatest economic gains from IT, according to Selby.
"Emerging markets are really going to take advantage of IT for years to come," Selby said.
"One reason is they will be able to leapfrog and enjoy benefits of innovations like cloud computing much more quickly."
Microsoft played up the prime role its software is playing in IT systems worldwide.
Cleaning Ganga | The monumental decline of a great river
In a matter of decades, the pollution of the Ganga has acquired the same status that Varanasi's holy men and funeral pyres took centuries to achieve--that of a literary cliché
Samanth Subramanian
Varanasi/New Delhi: For four generations before him, the priests in V. Krishnamurti's family practised in their profession's supreme headquarters—in Varanasi, on the banks of Hinduism's holiest river. So understandably, Krishnamurti—rotund and ordinarily cheerful—wants ardently to believe in the purity of his beloved Ganga. "But now I get visitors who are reluctant to bathe in the river—they ask me if there's some cleaner spot, on another ghat, but there isn't," he says with sadness. "I know fewer Varanasi families use the water to cook and drink." The irony has not escaped him: The Ganga, cleanser of humanity's sins, is in desperate need of cleansing itself.
Murky truth: A garbage-strewn ghat in Varanasi on the banks of the Ganga. The river is dirtier today than in 1986 when GAP was launched. Harikrishna Katragadda / Mint
In a matter of decades, the pollution of the Ganga has acquired the same status that Varanasi's holy men and funeral pyres took centuries to achieve—that of a literary cliché. Every element of the average travelogue is in plain view: the hillocks of rubbish, the bobbing human and animal corpses, the open drains, the plastic bags, and through them all, the pilgrims resolutely immersing themselves in the murky river.
That the Ganga is filthier today than in 1986, when then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi launched the Ganga Action Plan (GAP), prompted minister of state for environment Jairam Ramesh to admit recently in Parliament the Centre's failures in cleaning the Ganga as well as the Yamuna. There were some statistics out there, Ramesh suggested, that showed the rivers' average pollution levels falling within the norms.
"But I myself don't believe these numbers," Ramesh said. "The true test for a layman would be whether Ganga is cleaner than 20 years ago… The answer is a depressing 'No'."
A 36-page May 2009 report, prepared for the Supreme Court by Kirit Parikh, a Planning Commission member, is even more damning in its specifics. In its two phases, GAP has spent Rs816 crore on setting up expensive sewage treatment plants in cities along the river. "The goal…has not been fully achieved," the report concluded. "The quality of the river water at some locations has marginally improved. In many other locations, the quality…has in fact worsened."
Even apart from its spiritual importance, the Ganga is a source of domestic, industrial and agricultural water to at least 400 million people living in its basin. Acknowledging the failure of GAP, therefore, is tantamount to conceding that these millions have had their access to usable water severely curtailed.
http://www.livemint.com/2009/09/01000852/Cleaning-Ganga--The-monumenta.html?h=E
Growth will be double-digit this fiscal, we will outperform most
With the economy recovering, TAG Heuer, part of Paris-based LVMH Moet Hennessy-Louis Vuitton SA, or LVMH, the maker of Dior watches and Krug champagne, will increase its marketing budget by around 30%
- Posted: Mon, Oct 5 2009. 9:37 PM IST
- Corporate News
Growth will be double-digit this fiscal, we will outperform most
Gouri Shah
Mumbai: Jean-Christophe Babin, president and chief executive officer of luxury sports watch maker TAG Heuer SA, said in an interview that the firm is growing at double digits in India despite the slowdown as it focused more on smaller cities. And with the economy recovering, the firm, part of Paris-based LVMH Moet Hennessy-Louis Vuitton SA, or LVMH, the maker of Dior watches and Krug champagne, will increase its marketing budget by around 30%. Edited excerpts:
Globally, within the LVMH group, wines and spirits, and watches and jewellery are two divisions that have performed very badly. Where does TAG Heuer feature in the scheme of things?
Time check: President and CEO Tag Heuer Jean-Christophe Babin. Abhijit Bhatlekar / Mint
This doesn't mean TAG Heuer is at minus 25%; we are doing better than that! We are declining in the US, in Japan, because the crisis in those markets has been so bad at the consumer level with the credit crunch and unemployment. But there are countries where we are growing and India is one of them.
In India, TAG Heuer reported a significant drop in sales, with practically no sale in metro cities, which accounts for 60% of all your sales.
Mumbai is the heart of the financial community in India. Obviously, with what happened in banking, the first half of the year has been pretty hard. Delhi reacted differently; you can't really compare metros. So just by shifting efforts, or by adding more to secondary cities when things were tough in Mumbai, we were able to develop these secondary cities.
Our growth this year is still double-digit; it is indeed less than last year because of the first half of the year.
So we probably won't grow as much as 2008 in 2009 but we will still grow double-digit and outperform most of the industry.
We didn't slow down our investment base, and as a result, have continued to gain market share in India. And because the economy is coming back, we will be putting more resources this year, close to 30% over what we spent last year.
Having worked with P&G (Procter and Gamble Co.), do you think it's time for luxury brands to adopt a similar strategy that focuses on factors such as cost and value for money?
Your point is very valid for many luxury brands…they have to rethink their price. It's a question that TAG Heuer has answered since ages.
The company has always been price conscious in a way where value for money has been built into our DNA. And by this, I don't mean being cheap; it means that for Rs40,000, for Rs1 lakh or Rs4 lakh, to deliver the best product or service versus any competitors in that price range.
Are you worried about the potential loss of the aspiring middle class, which is saving more than ever today?
In India today, probably 10 million people can afford luxury watches, which is really the upper, upper-middle class. We are targeting 5-10 million people in India, who are not necessarily rich but are wealthy enough, and usually top business executives.
http://www.livemint.com/2009/10/05213706/Growth-will-be-doubledigit-th.html?d=2
China @ 60: inspiring and yet worrisome
The nation has proved that democracy can only succeed prosperity and not precede it
Off the Record | Srivatsa Krishna
From "Conceal brilliance, cultivate obscurity" (Deng Xiaoping's mantra which defined China's ethos for many decades) to "make China more politically inferential, more economically competitive and more morally inspiring" (President Hu Jintao), the country has come a long way.
Consider the following startling facts:
• China spends about $1 billion (Rs4,790 crore) a day or $300 billion annually on developing truly world-class infrastructure, which makes the roads, airports and ports of even the US look ragtag in comparison. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) in infrastructure are expected to touch $200-300 billion in the next five years, which is equal to the current global PPP market.
• Xiaogang village practised "Yi Zi Er Shi" which literally meant that a Chinese would hand over his child to his neighbours and reciprocally accept their child—to eat, in order to escape starvation as recently as during the Cultural Revolution in 1958. Now it is part of the rice bowl of China! From cannibalism to prosperity in 50 years.
Also Read Srivatsa Krishna's earlier columns
• India's non-performing loans, as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP), is 2.8% vs China's 27%. China has bad debts to the tune of $911 billion, which is six times of what the US had during the infamous savings and loan crisis that almost wiped out the American banking system! This, and environmental degradation and domestic political and citizen pressures, remain China's biggest challenges at 60.
• In five years, transport related civil construction alone is likely to reach $1 trillion, which is about the equivalent of constructing 100 Channel Tunnels!
• Railway equipment, including rolling stock locomotives, and technical systems purchases will reach $60 billion by next year itself, which is over 50% of the size of the global market!
• China added 105GW of power generation capacity in the last calendar year, which is roughly equivalent to India's entire generation capacity!
The above proves that China is an exceptional nation in more ways than one. Within a span of a generation or two it has produced so much economic growth that today few talk about its lack of democracy. It has proved that democracy can only succeed prosperity and not precede it. Its economic transformation is simply mind-numbing and China's accomplishments, especially in infrastructure, makes us want to reinvent numbers, for we are fast running out of all known metrics to measure its stupendous growth and success.
While China has begun flexing its muscles (its recent skirmishes with India on the Arunachal and Kashmir visa stamping issues are cases in point) and it has demonstrated ambition overseas on numerous occasions, it is plagued by numerous domestic challenges. A growing rich-poor divide and rampant corruption in almost all walks of life are threatening to tear apart Chinese society. A recent startling case was the acquisition of land for a hyper mart last year, when farmers rose up in revolt and burnt public property, which was an unusual case in an otherwise disciplined China.
One can't help observing a startling irony: Just some months ago the world saw the Beijing Olympics where China took enormous care to hide its "socialist" tendencies and demonstrated to the world a visually and culturally stunning spectacle. At 60, it has done the opposite. The parade of 8,000 picture-perfect, same height soldiers, tanks and missiles, 60 elaborate floats, and 100,000 well-drilled civilians was a proud moment for Chinese citizens, watching the spectacle across the country on television. However, even those living on the parade route were banned from peaking out of their windows. Flights into Beijing were stopped during the parade and even kites and pet pigeons grounded! So much for democracy @ 60 in China.
India is where China was about two decades ago and can learn a lot from the neighbour, especially its ability to focus on any problem and resolve it with a single-minded dedication.
Further, its pace at project execution is second to none in the world and it is in the process of rebuilding ground up. However, even as there are calls for a more proactive role for China in the world, it is ironically bogged down by too many of its own problems to pay heed to that. India needs to reassess and recalibrate its relationship with China for it is often seen as the counterpoise to the other in Asia, something which other countries can well take advantage of.
Instead of continuing what it showcased at the Olympic Games, China chose to show off its military muscle in a parade for an invited audience, which the bulk of its own citizens were banned from attending and went to town with its "motherland hail" and "socialism is best" rhetoric, something it had sought to assiduously eschew just a few months ago. That's China for you: Modern, yet traditional, progressive yet insular, vibrant yet sullen, capitalistic yet socialist! China has a lot to be proud of, and yet a lot to be ashamed of.
Srivatsa Krishna is a Harvard MBA and an Indian Administrative Service officer. He writes weekly on business, government, infrastructure and entrepreneurship. The views expressed here are his own.
http://www.livemint.com/2009/10/04223432/China--60-inspiring-and-yet.html
India needs infra funds as much as they need us
There are now at least 25 large infrastructure funds globally with combined funds under management in excess of $200 billion and hopefully, if wooed at least a few of them may want to invest in Indian infrastructure in a big way
Off the Record | Srivatsa Krishna
India is rebuilding itself, from scratch, ground-up. It is a $1 trillion opportunity over the next 10 years, or about $700 billion (Rs33.6 trillion) of debt and $300-400 billion of equity capital in all, if we were to assume a debt-equity ratio of 70:30. It is further estimated by the government and various analysts that roughly 30%, or $150 billion in five years, would come from private sources, both domestic and foreign, both debt and equity. If we take all pools of equity capital, including sponsors' own funds, the initial public offering market, sub-debt, equity from government in some cases, even when the capital market was at its peak, the total equity funding available for infrastructure projects was about $10-12 billion per annum, far less than the $30 billion required every year. Infrastructure investment as a per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) dropped from a high of about 6% (1991) to a 33-year low of 3.3% (2003) and this year would close at about 4.5%. That's way below the 8% target which India has set for itself. During 1990-2004 India received an average annual private sector investment of just $2.8 billion in infrastructure. This presents an incredible opportunity for global private equity funds such as Alinda Capital Partners Llc, Wasserstein and Co., EMP Global, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Fund, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co., and Global Infrastructure Fund to take a serious look at India in particular and Asia in general.
Also read |Srivatsa Krishna's earlier columns
Returns vary by sector, stage of project and the investment model. Post-tax project internal rates of return (IRRs) vary enormously in India and are 14-19% for power and roads, 25-30% for Special Economic Zones and 15-25% for ports and airports. Also, in India there is a special class of projects which is at the intersection of real estate and infrastructure, such as remodelling of railway stations or post offices, say the equivalent of remodelling the Penn Station in New York, where the winning consortium is given many acres of prime land for real estate development, in return for modernizing the railway station and some railway operational assets. In such cases, IRRs can vary 20-80% post-tax, depending on a number of factors. Equity IRRs are significantly higher depending on the structuring of individual deals, gains from refinancing, and government grants and subsidies, which vary project to project. Debt-equity is usually 2:1 (during construction phase), but rises to 3:1 or even 4:1 in the post-construction phases.
There are now at least 25 large infrastructure funds globally with combined funds under management in excess of $200 billion and hopefully, if wooed at least a few of them may want to invest in Indian infrastructure in a big way. Private equity (PE) is one of the few asset classes, which does not face redemption pressures and though there is a shortage of capital around the world, there still are a fair amount of PE funds focused on infrastructure looking for good deals. At a time of acute capital crunch elsewhere, infrastructure funds are one possible way ahead for India. The current scenario of specialized global infrastructure funds, each in the $3-6 billion range, with at least $500 million-$1billion in each focused specifically on India, is pretty poor. Apart from IDFC-Citigroup Fund and 3i Group Plc, which have done some impressive deals in India, in roads, ports and power sectors, the rest don't offer much to write home about. Goldman Sachs has done one deal, namely the Vivekananda toll bridge in Kolkata which is not doing great; Morgan Stanley is yet to open its account in India despite having raised a fund and KKR's infrastructure fund is still undecided on India; State Bank of India-Macquarie awaits final approvals and faces various Macquarie legacy issues in India that are preventing it from taking off; Global Infrastructure Partners has recently shut shop in India.
In today's environment, these funds are getting an assured 14-16% post-tax return in mature brownfield projects such as railroads in the US or in Australia, and as such their appetite to diversify to emerging markets is not very high. Extremely poor governance, absence of clarity and predictability in bid documents and procedures, constantly shifting and unclear concessions and multiple authorities, lack of viable "good" deal flow, unrealistic valuation expectations of Indian developers, the inability to "manage" a rapacious Indian political system keen on rent-seeking alone, the unwillingness to leave a lot of the potential upside on the table to future uncertain "renegotiations", the absence of a corporate bond market, incomplete contracts and poor quality of contracting, and the enormous execution/construction risks some of which are peculiar to India, ensure that foreign PE firms shy away from large infrastructure projects. Further, there is simply not enough deal flow in the $100-300 million big-ticket equity category, which would attract big funds that are simply not interested in smaller deals.
In sum, India needs global PE infrastructure funds today as much as they need India/emerging markets. If India irons out the chinks in the policy framework and execution challenges, gets realistic about valuations and finds adequate debt finance, then it's an alliance worth striving for, and India should do whatever it takes to attract these largest pools of global capital to create the sinews of our nation.
http://www.livemint.com/2009/09/27210335/India-needs-infra-funds-as-muc.html?d=1
Clean Ganga Campaign
| City | Kanpur |
| Country | India |
| Organisation | Eco Friends |
| Contact e-mail | info@ecofriends.org |
| Website | http://www.ecofriends.org |
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| Eco Friends is launching a massive Ganga Clean-Up Campaign in Kanpur from March 16 to March 22, 2003. The objective behind this campaign is to make the 10 km stretch of Kanpur Ganga visibly clean. It also aims to instill in the masses that Ganga is a national heritage and it is our responsibility to keep it clean. We hope that the clean-up drive would make the government departments concerned to take stock of the pollution situation in Ganga. The cleaning programme would be done in three phases. On March 16, our team with support from NCC/ NSS, school children and the Ganga communities (people staying on the ghats and in the villages along the river) will generate awareness about the pollution in the Ganga ferrying on the boats. Loudspeakers would be used to disseminate the importance of keeping the Ganga clean and the way the masses can contribute in the movement. Pamphlets would also be distributed to maximize the impact of the drive. Banners will also be put up to ensure the participation of the civic society. Phase I: March 17: On this day, the ghat community and villagers would be motivated and mobilized to participate in the physical cleaning of the Ganga in Kanpur (approximately 4 km stretch of the river stream and both banks). Eco Friends plans to fish out dead bodies and clean the river of polythene bags, worship materials and other non-point sources of pollution. The corpses and carcases retrieved would be given a proper burial on these ghats by digging pits and consigning these bodies to the sands. Phase II: March 19: We intend to clean-up the next stretch of the river (from Gola Ghat to Dapka Ghat) on this day. Simultaneously, the team of Eco Friends with their volunteers comprising Ganga Prahari (Ghat community) and Ganga Vahini (Village community) would put thrust to the campaign by raising slogans and spreading the message of a clean and pollution-free Ganga. Phase III: March 22: The school children along with the Ganga communities would be involved in the cleaning of the next stretch of the river (from Dapka Ghat to Siddhanath Ghat including Chandan Ghat which is on the northern bank of the river). The children will display placards and banners while riding on the boats and on the ghats. All these programmes are aimed at seeking, soliciting and urging an active and enthusiastic participation in Eco Friends Ganga cleaning efforts from people belonging to different sections of the society. | |
| Entry date | 6 Mar 2003 |
| Last updated | 6 Mar 2003 |
http://www.worldwaterday.org/wwday/events/view.php?id=153
All plan, little action on cleaning Ganga
the cpcb, along with state pollution control boards, inspected over 30 sewage treatment plants in uttaranchal, up, bihar and west bengal during may and june this year, while preparing a report for the supreme court.
the gap was launched in 1985 to check the pollution of river being caused by untreated sewage. by march 2000, rs 451 crore had been spent on it.
the original plan was to treat only 875 million litres of sewage a day (mld) in these plants out of the 1,345 mld estimated to be flowing into the river in 1985. since then, the volume of sewage has nearly doubled.
another worrying point is that in most of the towns included in gap, says the cpcb, there is no sewerage. sewage flows in open drains and during the rainy season, the run-off mixes with it. pumping stations can't handle this additional load. so, pumping out from the drains is not effective in controlling the river pollution.
thirty-five plants were planned under phase i of gap, which ended in the early '90s three in uttaranchal, 10 in up, seven in bihar and 15 in west bengal. of these, 32 have been commissioned and 29 were found functioning by the team. but only 12 were working satisfactorily.
operation and maintenance is, without doubt, the weakest point. there is lack of funds, particularly in bihar and up, and shortage of qualified and trained staff. regular monitoring of the plants or the staff is not being done.
some plants, such as jajmau in kanpur, and naini in allahabad, are ``underloaded''. those in dinapur and bhagwanpur in varanasi are ``overloaded''. many need upgradation ^ at least all the plants in bihar. at this situation is partly due to, as cpcb chairman dilip biswas puts it, lack of communication between people who designed the plants and those who operate them. for example, in bihar, says cpcb, two plants are yet to be constructed, and two are ``underdesigned'' (inadequate for the sewage generated). one plant in chapra isn't getting sewage as the sewer is blocked. lack of uninterrupted power supply is another problem.
the focus, says biswas, has to be on operation and maintenance, training of staff and preparing a professional cadre of people ready to take up conservation work. or, cleaning the ganga may remain an expensive dream.
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Clean the Ganges
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| Varanasi is considered the holiest place on the Ganges River |
Editor's Note: From the glaciers of the Himalayas in the north, down the mountains, and across the plains to the Bay of Bengal, the Ganges river is one of the world's greatest rivers.
Over 400 million people live along the Ganges river, and in spiritual and religious significance this river has no equal. Known as the Ganga Ma, or Mother of all Hindus, the Ganges is considered sacred by Hindus. The Ganges is also one of the most polluted rivers in the world.
To clean the Ganges a most unusual alliance has developed, emanating from the city of Varanasi, which is considered the sacred heart of this sacred river. The Mahant at the Sankat Mochan Temple in Varanasi is also a scientist, a man who has enjoined the faithful to honor their sacred river by figuring out a way to cleanse her of pollution. His message is timely, his ideas unique but compelling. To clean the river is a natural extension of a religious conviction that the river is sacred.
"This is not visionary, it is simply essential," says Veer Bhadra Mishra of his calling, downplaying the revolutionary significance of his message. Not only is Mishra's message of science and religion working in harmony towards cleaning the environment innovative and compelling, but his methods are innovative as well.
In partnership with Dr. Bill Oswald, a scientist from the University of California at Berkeley, gravity-fed decantation ponds that use algae to turn sewage into fertilizer are being planned and tested throughout the Ganges watershed. These innovative messages and methods have the potential to make the waters of the Ganges as pristine in reality as they are in spirit. – Ed "Redwood" Ring
Please consider them an endangered species,
these people who still have this faith, this living relationship with the river," pleads Veer Bhadra Mishra, Mahant of the Sankat Mochan Temple of Varanasi, a retired hydraulic engineer and head of the Civil Engineering Department at Banaras Hindu University. "If birds can be saved, if plants can be saved, let this species of people be saved by granting them holy water."
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| Veer Bhadra Mishra A Mahant who wants to clean the holy Ganges |
But this priest, coming from the riverside laboratory, knows that the Ganges or Ganga River's holy water must be cleaned before it can be granted to anyone. For almost 25 years, he has led a political campaign, a scientific development project and a holy crusade to save India's most sacred river.
When his father died, Mishra was 14 years old. He thus became Mahant of the sect of Hinduism that follows sixteenth-century divine poet Tulsi Das, author of the "Ramayana," one of the most revered Hindu texts. To devotees and to all Hindus– over a billion people worldwide– the Ganga is a living mother goddess, a symbol of purity.
Originally Banaras (Varanasi) was known as Kashi, the holy city from Hindu scriptures. Only here, for 7 kilometers, the river turns northward, back towards her source. It is said that the river fell in love with the city and nearly turned back here. The half loop northwards creates the curved bank where the ghats (stairs close to the river) stand today.
Ganga flows some 2,500 km from the Himalayan Mountains to the Bay of Bengal. Her basin is inhabited by nearly 400 million people, making it the most populous river basin in the world. Each sunrise brings 60,000 people, come to bathe and pray at the various ghats of Varanasi. It is believed that if a person's ashes are placed in the Ganga after cremation, they will go to Nirvana (Heaven).
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| Prayers along the Ganges |
Therefore, human ashes, and often corpses of those who cannot afford cremation, are immersed in the river. And although the river is sacred, it is used practically for washing clothes and animals, the disposal of chemical waste from textile dying and brass making industries, and solid waste like plastic bags, flower garlands etc. Yet the biggest cause of pollution is untreated sewage. 88% of the pollution comes from 27 cities from along the banks of the Ganga.
Dr. Veer Bhadra Mishra is the co-founder of the Sankat Mochan Foundation (SMF), a secular, non-governmental organization at Tulsi Ghat in Varanasi dedicated to cleaning and protecting the Ganga, especially from sewage since 1982.
The Indian government initiated the first stage of an unrelated Ganga Action Plan (GAP) to clean the river in 1984. Three sewage treatment plants and an electric crematorium were built. Although the major part of the GAP was completed in 1991, testing shows no significant improvement in water quality, not to mention major design flaws, including the backflow of sewage into religious bathing areas, pollution of groundwater throughout the district and backflow of sewage into the streets of the city. The electric crematorium is now used for 80% of cremations, but is plagued by frequent breakdowns which again result in bodies in the water.
The former director of the GAP himself, K.C. Sivaramakrisnan, said, "In spite of working on this plan for 10-15 years, I do not see the levels of maturity increasing." The Sankat Mochan Foundation established the Swatcha (clean) Ganga campaign, with funding and support primarily from the United States, Sweden, Britain and Australia. With this outside support Dr. Mishra is able to analyze water quality of the Ganga.
The riverside Swatcha Ganga Research Laboratory monitors water quality daily. Local villages are also suffering from the effects of extreme sewage pollution in their water supply, both from the river and well water. The recent tests indicate faecal coliform levels in the wells of theses villages ranges from 21,000 to 80,000 colonies per 100ml. The safe level for drinking water is zero, for bathing water, less than 150 colonies per 100ml.
Faecal coliform are a bacteria found in the intestinal system of warm-blooded animals; their presence in large numbers indicates pollution by sewage contamination.
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| Every morning in Varanasi 60,000 worshipers bathe in the Ganges |
The statistics for the ghats of Varanasi are not much better. Here the fecal coliform count at times is up to 3,000 times the level acceptable for human beings.
People who are dependent on the river for their water supply often become sick from drinking the water, with hepatitis, typhoid or cholera. According to WorldWatch Institute in Washington D.C., eight out of ten people in India suffer waterborne stomach disorders at some time in their lives.
The Sankat Mochan Foundation has mobilized volunteers from all over the world. Aside from the laboratory, they have led a large-scale international awareness campaign, utilizing television, radio, print media and the internet. Dr. Mishra has traveled the world learning about the plight of rivers and how activists and scientists have tried to clean them; he hopes that his work for the Ganga will inspire others to clean the waterways they depend on for life.
Among others, he has worked with Thames21, an environmental group in Great Britain. Swatcha Ganga Environmental Education Centre was started by Oz GREEN and the Sankat Mochan Foundation In 1998. It is a direct people to people project which is funded by Australians. They have provided equipment, training and environmental education resources like water testing kits to schools and community groups. The Asia Foundation, based in San Francisco has also provided core funding for the Sankat Mochan Foundation's cleaning project.
| THE GANGES / BRAHMAPUTRA WATERSHED |
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| Varanasi, in the heart of the Ganges Watershed, is also the epicenter of a new scientific & spiritual movement to eliminate pollution from this sacred river Yellow areas = elevation over 200 meters Map Scale: 100 pixels = 500 kilometers |
Since 2001, campaigners have also cleaned up litter, debris and corpses of humans and animals in the river and along all 77 ghats with their own hands. Numerous sources credit them with improving the situation by one third. The Sankat Mochan Foundation has also built tubewells in six neighboring villages, providing clean drinking water to residents who were previously ill from drinking the water of the Ganga.
With the help of William Oswald, an engineering professor at the University of California at Berkeley, Dr. Mishra has developed a plan to clean the Ganga. In his own words, it is "a cost-effective and safe system for cleaning the Varanasi stretch." It is called an advanced integrated wastewater oxidation pond system.
The non-electric wastewater system would store sewage for 45 days in biological oxidation ponds, using bacteria and algae to eliminate pesticides, heavy metals and deadly coliforms, cleansing the entire 7 kilometer stretch. The system would not only purify water but could be used to irrigate farmland and grow fish. The ponds would be built outside the city limits.
Powered by gravity, the system would save an estimated US$ 55 million annually compared to electrical solutions – which are impractical in Varanasi anyway due to frequent power cuts.
Foundation Members have spoken to the thousands of residents along the river front and in the villages nearby, and more than 6,500 local people have signed a petition demanding the interceptor be built. Over 100,000 people have agreed to help build the dam walls for the oxidation ponds, as an act of religious devotion dedicated to cleaning the river. Nearly 10,000 local residents have volunteered to build the type of non-electrical wastewater treatment system advocated by the campaign. The Varanasi City Corporation has accepted the plans and the funds are available (about 40 million sterling) but, according to the SMF, the Uttar Pradesh state government is behaving unconstitutionally and blocking Varanasi City Corporation's plan to clean the Ganga.
In 1994, the 74th amendment to the Indian constitution was adopted, guaranteeing the city's right to determine and implement environmental policies. While the political standoff continues, the river and its people continue to suffer.
Clean Ganga Day 2004 was held in New Delhi, the political capital of India, on the 27 th of August. The political and environmental issues were discussed by international diplomats and activists.
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| Veer Bhadra Mishra Scientist & Holy Man |
Addressing participants on Clean Ganga Day, organized by Varanasi's Sankat Mochan Foundation, the U.S. Embassy's Deputy Chief of Mission Robert O. Blake said, "The American people are proud to support your ongoing work to protect this beautiful waterway."
Although Dr. Mishra is an engineer, it is his faith and his heart that keeps him going in this lifelong plight. He says, "We have to clean all the rivers, and only then our hearts will be happy. This is what I feel. It cannot be clean just by technology, just by setting up the right kind of infrastructure, there has to be an intermixing of culture, faith, science and technology. We have that kind of living relationship with the river. You [Western societies] have the best technology. So both the societies need to interact with each other to take care of these rivers."
Dr. Mishra was recognized on the United Nations Environmental Program's Global 500 Roll of Honour in 1992 at Rio, Brazil, and was a TIME Magazine "Hero of the Planet" recipient in 1999.
Rather than claim visionary status, however, Mishra chooses to raise the standard for all of us: "This is not visionary," he says. "It is simply essential. To aim for less would not be worthy of us as human beings."
To help with the Swatcha Ganga Campaign, or for more information contact:
Telephone: 91-542-313884
Fax: 91-542-314278
Postal address
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INDIAN RELIGIONS
Indian Religions | Far Eastern Relogions | Semitic Religions | Mythology
The main Indian religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism are linked by a belief in karma. Life is regarded as a continual cycle of birth, life and re-birth (samasara) and that the deeds or desires of part lives determines ones fate in this and future lives (karma). The karmic cycle can be broken by adherance to the doctrine preached by each religion.
BUDDHISM
origin. North India, 5th century BC, a Hindi protest group.
originator. Prince Siddhartha Gautama (563-483BC), Buddha.
main text. Three pitakas (baskets) called vinaya, dharma and abhidharma (discipline, doctrine and further doctrine).
followers. 307 million.
divisions. The main divisions are Theravadan in SE Asia, Mahayanan in N Asia, Lamaism in Tibet and Zen in Japan.
deity. None although Mahayanan Buddhists believe in buddha as a spiritual being.
The teachings of Buddha reveal that there is no permanent 'self' and suffering is caused by a desire for that which is impermanent. These beliefs are expressed in the nobel truths:
Dukkha, to exist is to suffer.
Samuddaya, suffering is caused by desire, the cravings for pleasure and possessions.
Nirodha, detachment from desire will end suffering. Magga, there is a Way to achieve detachment.
The 'Way' varies between the buddhist divisions but the central theme is of meditation to acheive enlightenment or nirvana (the blowing out of desire).
HINDUISM
origin. Indus valley, about 1500BC.
originators. Persian settlers influenced by Aryan invaders.
main text. Collectively known as the Veda. The earliest, Veda Rig, dates from before 1000BC. The most popular is the Bhagavad Gita.
holy city. Varanisi, on the river Ganges.
followers. 650 million. About 80% of all Indians are Hindi.
deity. See below.
Hinduism is a multitheistic religion in which the many gods and goddesses are worshiped in the home and by the numerous sects. The caste system is strictly enforced and all Hindi's are expected to make an annual pilgrimage to a holy centre such as the Ganges, for cleansing. To die in a holy place ensures re-birth.
The Veda Gods: Indra (thunder god), Varuna (divine arbitrator), Agni (god of fire) and Surya (the sun).
The Hindu Gods: Brahma (creator), Vishnu (preserver), Shiva (destructor), Gamesh (remover of obstacles) and Hanuman (warrior god). There are also the 10 Avatars of Vishnu which include Krishna and Buddha.
JAINISM
origin. 6th century India.
originator. Break away group of Hindus led by Mahavira.
main text. Siddharta.
followers. 4 million.
divisions. Digamaras and Swatambaras.
deity. None.
The central theme is of non-violence, an idea that has influenced other religions. Jains see the world as a place of misery and suffering and most are monks or nuns each seeking the way to personal liberation (moksha).
SIKHISM
origin. India 16th century.
originator. Guru Nanak (1469-1539).
main text. Guru Granth Sahib.
holy city. Amritsar in the Punjab.
followers. 16.5 million.
deity. God, the immortal creator.
The central lesson is that a good and contemplative life will achieve unity with God. Sikhs also believe in reincarnation. Sikh history revers the first 10 Gurus the last of which, Gobind Singh, developed the Sikh community. The five Sikh symbols are: kesh, kangha, kara, kachh and kirpan (beard and uncut hair with a turban, comb, metal bracelet, knee-length shorts and dagger).
Sikhs have a wide influence in India and there is increasing demand for a separate homeland in the Punjab (North India).
Ganges
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008) |
| Ganges (Ganga) | |
| River | |
 The Ganges in Varanasi | |
| Countries | India, Nepal, Bangladesh |
|---|---|
| Tributaries | |
| - left | Mahakhali, Karnali, Koshi, Gandak, Ghaghra |
| - right | Yamuna, Son, Mahananda |
| Cities | Haridwar, Soron, Kannauj, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Rajshahi |
| Source | Gangotri Glacier |
| - location | Uttarakhand, India |
| - elevation | 7,756 m (25,446 ft) |
| - coordinates | 30°59'N 78°55'E? / ?30.983°N 78.917°E? / 30.983; 78.917 |
| Mouth | Ganges Delta |
| - location | Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh |
| - elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| - coordinates | 22°05'N 90°50'E? / ?22.083°N 90.833°E? / 22.083; 90.833 |
| Length | 2,510 km (1,560 mi) |
| Basin | 907,000 km2 (350,195 sq mi) |
| Discharge | mouth |
| - average | 12,015 m3/s (424,306 cu ft/s) |
 A 1908 map showing the course of the Ganges and its tributaries. Major left-bank tributaries include Gomti (Gumti), Ghaghara (Gogra), Gandaki (Gandak), and Kosi (Kusi); major right-bank tributaries include Yamuna (Jumna), Son and Damodar. | |
The Ganges (pronounced /'gænd?i?z/; Hindi: ???? Ga?ga, IPA: ['g??ga?] (
listen), as in most Indian languages) is one of the major rivers of the Indian subcontinent, flowing east through the Gangetic Plain of northern India into Bangladesh. The 2,510 km (1,560 mi) river rises in the western Himalayas in the Uttarakhand state of India, and drains into the Sunderbans delta in the Bay of Bengal. It has long been considered a holy river by Hindus and worshiped as the goddess Ganga in Hinduism. It has also been important historically: many former provincial or imperial capitals (such as Patliputra, Kannauj, Kara, Allahabad, Murshidabad, and Calcutta) have been located on its banks. The Ganges Basin drains 1,000,000-square-kilometre (390,000 sq mi) and supports one of the world's highest density of humans. The average depth of the river is 52 feet (16 m), and the maximum depth, 100 feet (30 m).
The many symbolic meanings of the river on the Indian subcontinent were spoken to in 1946 by Jawaharlal Nehru in his Discovery of India,
The Ganges, above all is the river of India, which has held India's heart captive and drawn uncounted millions to her banks since the dawn of history. The story of the Ganges, from her source to the sea, from old times to new, is the story of India's civilization and culture, of the rise and fall of empires, of great and proud cities, of adventures of man…
The extreme pollution of the Ganges affects 400 million people who live close to the river.[1]
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Course
Although many small streams comprise the headwaters of the Ganges, the six longest headstreams and their five confluences are given both cultural and geographical emphasis (see the map showing the headwaters of the river). The Alaknanda river meets the Dhauliganga river at Vishnuprayag, the Nandakini river at Nandprayag, the Pindar river at Karnaprayag, the Mandakini river at Rudraprayag and finally the Bhagirathi river at Devprayag, to form the mainstem, the Ganges. The Bhagirathi is the source stream; it rises at the foot of Gangotri Glacier, at Gaumukh, at an elevation of 3,892 m (12,770 ft). The headwaters of the Alaknanda are formed by snowmelt from such peaks as Nanda Devi, Trisul, and Kamet.
After flowing 200 km through its narrow Himalayan valley, the Ganges debouches on the Gangetic Plain at the pilgrimage town of Haridwar. There, a dam diverts some of its waters into the Ganges Canal, which irrigates the Doab region of Uttar Pradesh. The Ganges, whose course has been roughly southwestern until this point, now begins to flow southeast through the plains of northern India.
Further, the river follows an 800 km curving course passing through the city of Kanpur before being joined from the southwest by the Yamuna at Allahabad. This point is known as the Sangam at Allahabad. Sangam is a sacred place in Hinduism. According to ancient Hindu texts, at one time a third river, the Sarasvati, met the other two rivers at this point.
Joined by numerous rivers such as the Kosi, Son, Gandaki and Ghaghra, the Ganges forms a formidable current in the stretch between Allahabad and Malda in West Bengal. On its way it passes the towns of Mirzapur, Buxar , Varanasi, Patna and Bhagalpur. At Bhagalpur, the river meanders past the Rajmahal Hills, and begins to run south. At Pakur, the river begins its attrition with the branching away of its first distributary, the Bhagirathi-Hooghly, which goes on to form the Hooghly River. Near the border with Bangladesh the Farakka Barrage, built in 1974, controls the flow of the Ganges, diverting some of the water into a feeder canal linking the Hooghly to keep it relatively silt-free.
After entering Bangladesh, the main branch of the Ganges is known as the Padma River until it is joined by the Jamuna River, the largest distributary of the Brahmaputra. Further downstream, the Ganges is fed by the Meghna River, the second largest tributary of the Brahmaputra, and takes on the Meghna's name as it enters the Meghna Estuary. Fanning out into the 350 km wide Ganges Delta, it finally empties into the Bay of Bengal. Only two rivers, the Amazon and the Congo, have greater discharge than the combined flow of the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Surma-Meghna river system.
 The Bhagirathi river, the source stream of the Ganges, in Gangotri, Uttarakhand, India. |  A bend in the Ganges river, Garhwal hills, Uttarakhand. |  Ramjhula bridge over the Ganges in Rishikesh. |
[edit] Religious significance
 The Ganges in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, as it leaves the Siwalik Hills for the Gangetic plain. |  An 1810 engraving of the town of Cawnpore (now Kanpur) as seen from the Ganges river. |  Aqua tint (1804) of the Ganges river in the town of Dalmau, near Raebareli, in present-day central Uttar Pradesh. |  Pen-and-ink and wash drawing (1803) of the Ganges below the town of Kara, a major provincial capital during the rule of the Delhi Sultanate. |
Situated on the banks of River Ganges, Varanasi is considered by some to be the most holy city in Hinduism. The Ganges is mentioned in the Rig-Veda, the earliest of the Hindu scriptures. It appears in the Nadistuti sukta (Rig Veda 10.75), which lists the rivers from east to west. In RV 6.45.31, the word Ganga is also mentioned, but it is not clear whether this reference is to the river. Also, people scatter ashes of loved ones here.
According to Hindu religion a very famous king Bhagiratha did Tapasya for many years constantly to bring the river Ganga, then residing in the Heavens, down on the Earth to find salvation for his ancestors, who were cursed by a seer. Therefore, Ganga descended to the Earth through the lock of hair (Jata) of god Shiva to make whole earth pious, fertile and wash out the sins of humans. For Hindus in India, the Ganga is not just a river but a mother, a goddess, a tradition, a culture and much more.
Some Hindus also believe life is incomplete without bathing in the Ganges at least once in one's lifetime. Many Hindu families keep a vial of water from the Ganges in their house. This is done because it is prestigious to have water of the Holy Ganga in the house, and also so that if someone is dying, that person will be able to drink its water. Many Hindus believe that the water from the Ganga can cleanse a person's soul of all past sins, and that it can also cure the ill. The ancient scriptures[citation needed] mention that the water of Ganges carries the blessings of Lord Vishnu's feet; hence Mother Ganges is also known as Vishnupadi, which means "Emanating from the Lotus feet of Supreme Lord Sri Vishnu."
Some of the most important Hindu festivals and religious congregation (worship) happen here. Congregations are celebrated on the banks of the river Ganges, such as the Kumbh Mela every twelve years at Media:Allahabad and the Chhath Puja.
Varanasi has hundreds of temples along the banks of the Ganges which often become flooded during the rains. This city, especially along the banks of the Ganges, is an important place of worship for Hindus as well as a cremation ground.
[edit] Dams
There are two major dams on the Ganges. One at Haridwar diverts much of the Himalayan snow-melt into the Upper Ganges Canal, built by the British in 1854 to irrigate the surrounding land. This caused severe deterioration to the water flow in the Ganges, and is a major cause for the decay of Ganges as an inland waterway.
The other dam is a serious hydroelectric affair at Farakka, close to the point where the main flow of the river enters Bangladesh, and the tributary Hooghly (also known as Bhagirathi) continues in West Bengal past Calcutta. This barrage, which feeds the Hooghly branch of the river by a 26 mile long feeder canal, and its water flow management has been a long-lingering source of dispute with Bangladesh, which fortunately is likely to be resolved based on discussions held with the new Hasina government in Bangladesh in 1996 when I.K. Gujral was the Foreign Minister in India, Failure to resolve this has caused harm to both sides of the border for nearly two decades now. Bangladesh feels that the lack of flow in the summer months causes sedimentation and makes Bangladesh more prone to flood damages. At the same time, proposals for linking the Brahmaputra to the Ganges to improve the water flow in the Ganges is hanging fire. Also, the water management problem may actually involve a number of other riparian countries such as Nepal, where there has been tremendous deforestation, leading to greater silt content.
It is likely that Ganges carried more water around the time of the Roman Empire, when Patna was the major port city of Pataliputra. Even in the eighteenth century the ships of the East India Company would come to call at the port city of Calcutta, and the British ran a steamer line all the way to Allahabad. Now only smaller ocean traffic can make it through the Hooghly to Calcutta, beyond which the silting prevents all deep-draft vessels.
A branch of the Hooghly, the Damodar, flows south and enters the Bay of Bengal at the growing port of Haldia. It has the large hydroelectric dam called Damodar Valley Project, built on the lines of the Tennessee Valley Authority. There is also a controversial dam at Tehri, on the Bhagirathi, one of the main source rivers of Ganges.
Another dam is proposed to be built on the upper reaches of a tributary of the Ganges, Mahakali, This Indo-Nepal project, the Pancheswar dam, proposes to be the highest dam in the world and will be built with US collaboration.
The upper and lower Ganga canal, which is actually the backbone of a network of canals, runs from Haridwar to Allahabad, but maintenance has not been very good.
[edit] History
 The Triveni confluence, of the Ganges and the Yamuna, in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. |  Final course(s) of the Ganges; at the Farakka Barrage, a small channel is widened and diverted towards Kolkota as the Bhagirathi-Hoogly river. |
During the early Vedic Ages, the Indus and the Sarasvati River were the major rivers, not the Ganges. But the later three Vedas seem to give much more importance to the Ganges, as shown by its numerous references.
Possibly the first Westerner to mention the Ganges was Megasthenes. He did so several times in his work Indika: "India, again, possesses many rivers both large and navigable, which, having their sources in the mountains which stretch along the northern frontier, traverse the level country, and not a few of these, after uniting with each other, fall into the river called the Ganges. Now this river, which at its source is 30 stadia broad, flows from north to south, and empties its waters into the ocean forming the eastern boundary of the Gangaridai, a nation which possesses a vast force of the largest-sized elephants." (Diodorus II.37)
In Rome's Piazza Navona, a famous sculpture, Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (fountain of the four rivers) designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini was built in 1651. It symbolizes four of the world's great rivers (the Ganges, the Nile, the Danube, and the Río de la Plata), representing the four continents known at the time.
[edit] Economy
 Watercolor (1840) of the Nizaamat Qila (Criminal Court) of the Nawab of Bengal along the banks of the Bhagirathi-Hoogly river in Murshidabad. |  The Bhagirathi-Hoogly river, shown here at the Bagbazaar Ghat, Kolkota. |  The main channel of the Ganges in its penultimate form as the Padma river in Bangladesh |  The Ganges in its final form as the Meghna river in Bangladesh. |
The Ganges Basin with its fertile soil is instrumental to the agricultural economies of India and Bangladesh. The Ganges and its tributaries provide a perennial source of irrigation to a large area. Chief crops cultivated in the area include rice, sugarcane, lentils, oil seeds, potatoes, and wheat. Along the banks of the river, the presence of swamps and lakes provide a rich growing area for crops such as legumes, chillies, mustard, sesame, sugarcane, and jute. There are also many fishing opportunities to many along the river, though it remains highly polluted.
Tourism is another related activity. Three towns holy to Hinduism – Haridwar, Allahabad, and Varanasi – attract thousands of pilgrims to its waters. Thousands of Hindu pilgrims arrive at these three towns to take a dip in the Ganges, which is believed to cleanse oneself of sins and help attain salvation. The rapids of the Ganges also are popular for river rafting, attracting hundreds of adventure seekers in the summer months. Muslims from India & Bangladesh often do wudu, a religious cleansing of the body for prayer in the Ganges River.
[edit] People
Chars are temporary islands formed by the deposition of sediments eroded off the banks of the river in the State of West Bengal. They each provide dwelling ground to up to 20,000 destitute people. The soil they are made of is very fertile, thus suitable for growing crops and pastures to feed cattle on, but it may disappear in a matter of a few hours, following any river water surge, particularly during the Monsoon season.The people living on chars are either Bangladeshi refugees or Bengalis, therefore the Government of West Bengal does not acknowledge their de facto existence, nor does it issue the ID cards they would need aged 14 to emigrate and find jobs on the mainland. Sanitation on the islands is very poor and char-dwellers do not benefit from health care; moreover, schooling is not provided, so illiteracy is widespread. The Inland revenue demands nevertheless they pay tax.[2]
[edit] Pollution and ecology
The Ganges river has been considered one of the dirtiest rivers in the world. [3] The river waters start getting polluted right at the source. The commercial exploitation of the river has risen in proportion to the rise of population. Gangotri[4] and Uttarkashi are good examples too. Gangotri had only a few huts of Sadhus until the 1970s[5] and the population of Uttrakashi has swelled in recent years. As it flows through highly populous areas the Ganges collects large amounts of human pollutants, e.g., Schistosoma mansoni and faecal coliforms, and drinking and bathing in its waters therefore carries a high risk of infection. While proposals have been made for remediating this condition, little progress has been achieved. Along the 4 miles (6.4 kilometres) stretch of terraced bathing ghats in the holy city of Varanasi, the water of the Ganges is a "brown soup of excrement and industrial effluents."[6] The water there contains 60,000 faecal coliform bacteria per 100 ml, 120 times the official limit of 500 faecal coliforms/100ml that is considered safe for bathing.[6]
The Ganges river's long-held reputation as a purifying river appears to have a basis in science. First of all, the river carries bacteriophages that vanquish bacteria and more. The water has a unique and extraordinary ability to retain oxygen. As reported in a National Public Radio program, dysentery and cholera are killed off, preventing large-scale epidemics. The river has an unusual ability to retain dissolved oxygen, but the reason for this ability is unknown.[7]
[edit] The effects of climate change on the river
The Tibetan Plateau contains the world's third-largest store of ice. Qin Dahe, the former head of the China Meteorological Administration, said that the recent fast pace of melting and warmer temperatures will be good for agriculture and tourism in the short term; but issued a strong warning:
"Temperatures are rising four times faster than elsewhere in China, and the Tibetan glaciers are retreating at a higher speed than in any other part of the world.... In the short term, this will cause lakes to expand and bring floods and mudflows. . . . In the long run, the glaciers are vital lifelines for Asian rivers, including the Indus and the Ganges. Once they vanish, water supplies in those regions will be in peril."[8]
A UN Climate Report issued in 2007 indicates that the Himalayan glaciers that feed the Ganges may disappear by 2030, after which the river's flow would be a seasonal occurrence resulting from monsoons.[9]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Wandering Gaia". "The Give and Take of the Ganges". http://www.wanderinggaia.com. Retrieved 2009-04-13.
- ^ http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1581251,00.html
- ^ Swami Sundaranand Himalaya: Through the Lens of a Sudu Published August 2001 ISBN 81-901326-0-1
- ^ Swami Sundaranand,Himalaya: Through the Lens of a Sudu Published August 2001 ISBN 81-901326-0-1 Page 252
- ^ a b "India and pollution: Up to their necks in it", The Economist, 27 July 2008.
- ^ Self-purification effect of bacteriophage, oxygen retention mystery: Mystery Factor Gives Ganges a Clean Reputation by Julian Crandall Hollick. National Public Radio.
- ^ Global warming benefits to Tibet: Chinese official. Reported 18/Aug/2009.
- ^ The Boston Globe
[edit] References
- Alley, Kelly D. (2002). On the Banks of the Ganga: When Wastewater Meets a Sacred River. University of Michigan press. ISBN 0-472-06808-3.
- Alter, Stephen (October 2001). Sacred Waters: A Pilgrimage up the Ganges River to the Source of Hindu Culture. . Harcourt. ISBN 0-15-100585-0.
- Berwick, Dennison. A Walk Along the Ganges.
- Darian, Steven G (1978). The Ganges in Myth and History. The University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu. ISBN 0-8248-0509-7.
- Newby, Eric (1966). Slowly down the Ganges. ISBN 0-86442-631-3.
- Hillary, Edmund (November 1980). From the Ocean to the Sky: Jet Boating Up the Ganges. Ulverscroft Large Print Books Ltd. ISBN 0-7089-0587-0.
[edit] External links
 | This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text. |
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Learning resources from Wikiversity- Ganga in the Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1909
- Melting Glaciers Threaten Ganges
- Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law. Peace Palace Library
- Ganga as the River of India
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Coordinates: 30°54'N 79°07'E? / ?30.9°N 79.117°E? / 30.9; 79.117
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The Ganges in myth and history - Google Books Result
by Steven G. Darian - 2001 - History - 219 pages
3 The Rig Veda rings with such violence in its descriptions of Aryan battles with ... as the Aryans moved eastward through the jungles of the Ganges Valley, ...
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A history of Indian Buddhism: from Sakyamuni to early Mahayana - Google Books Result
by Akira Hirakawa, Paul Groner - 1993 - Religion - 420 pages
had settled along the upper reaches of the Ganges River in the Punjab. Their religion, based on the Rg-veda, was a form of polytheism in which forces of ...
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Rig Veda | Las Vegas Guitarist - Robby LeBlanc
19 Jul 2009 ... The Ganges River, considered the most holy river in India is 1557 miles long (2506 km) The Ganga is also mentioned in the Rig-Veda, ...
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Scientific Verification of Vedic Knowledge: Archaeology Online
On the contrary, the Vedas speak of the mighty Sarasvati River and other places indigenous .... everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganges. ...
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Ganges - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Emerging from the sacred dip on the banks of the Ganges River at the Maha Kumbha Mela, Swami Veda Bharati assumed the full weight of his spiritual role as ...
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In Search of the Cradle of Civilization - Google Books Result
by Georg Feuerstein, Subhash Kak, David Frawley - 2001 - History - 341 pages
Thus the Vedas speak of the seers in the sky as stars, on Earth as sages, and in the head as cognitive centers. Likewise, the Vedic texts know of the Ganges ...
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Ganges River - New World Encyclopedia
During the early Indo-Aryan Ages, the Indus River and the Sarasvati River were the major holy rivers, not the Ganges. However, the later three Vedas seem to ...
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