“More than one-half of the world’s major rivers are being seriously depleted and polluted, degrading and poisoning the surrounding ecosystems, thus threatening the health and livelihood of people who depend upon them for irrigation, drinking, and industrial water.”
– Ismail Serageldin,
Chairman of the World Commission on Water for the 21st Century.
My perspective of looking at nature is different from the rest of the world, while I observe many humans taking photos of nice clouds or rivers taking twists and turns, I mentally feel very peaceful and confident from inside. The fact that all these years, these rivers have been flowing like this and the clouds have been taking shapes makes me feel like they are the only constant thing around us, and no matter where we are or with whom, nature stays with us, and we should admire it by heart.
The theme of this month’s issue is to delve into the importance of water, the essential river systems of India, Flows of India, rivers as sustenance to communities and ecological systems, and as a source of inspiration for these communities that live along with them. Ironically, while following the course of India’s major rivers, a substantial portion of our daily budget was spent on buying bottled water!
While it is a known fact that the piety of Indians is legendary, one is often appalled at the lack of civic sense and insensitivity towards the environment. In India, places along the rivers suffer the most in terms of sanitation and cleanliness. Rivers have a self-cleaning ability, but if people continuously use them, they can o longer support life and progress. When we travel along with the Flows of India, we retrace the veins that sustained the great civilizations of modern India’s predecessors. Even today, rivers are the primary support systems of contemporary civilizations. Every one of the 1.21 billion people who live in India is directly or indirectly dependent on rivers for their sustenance. It is thus our moral responsibility to treat these water bodies with the respect they deserve.
As a concerned writer, I hope the representation will help change the destiny of these magnificent water bodies. By rousing collective conscience and consciousness, I hope to spark a debate. To claim that our special effort will result in cleaner rivers would be stretching the truth; however, I do hope that our efforts will contribute to a greater understanding of issues affecting India’s rivers.
For any doubts, feel free to ask on Quora, a social question-and-answer website.
Also, have a look at our various monthly issues.
Regards
Khushi Anand
