Tag: GD agarwal

Seers Working for the Ganga Accuse Government of ‘Insulting Hindu Saints’

“The seers have put their lives on the line for the Ganga and a government which claims to treat the river as holy is not treating them with any insensitivity. In fact there is a kind of hostility.”

New Delhi: An organisation of saints, working for the better health of the Ganga, has accused the government of ignoring their demands and ‘insulting Hindu saints’. This is the Haridwar-based Matri Sadan, whose patron G.D. Agarwal, a scientist, saint and Ganga activist, had died in October 2018 after fasting since June that year. His demands – chiefly, a clean and free-flowing Ganga – had not been met by the government

Now, the Matri Sadan has said that the government’s response to its seers who are presently fasting has been as indifferent. “The seers have put their lives on the line for the Ganga and a government which claims to treat the river as holy is not treating them with any insensitivity. In fact there is a kind of hostility,” said Swami Shivanand Saraswati, Agarwal’s spiritual guru and the founder president of Matri Sadan.

Aatmabodhanand and Padmavati. Photo: Matri Sadan

As of now, 23-year-old Padmavati and 27-year-old Aatmabodhanand are fasting for the Ganga. Padmavati began her fast in December 2019 while Aatmabodhanand began his in late January after Padmavati was picked up by the police and taken to Doon hospital in Dehradun and force-fed, she has alleged. She also accused the hospital administration of ‘defaming’ her by claiming that she was pregnant and must break her fast for that reason.

Subsequently, she wrote a letter to the prime minister seeking his permission to “peacefully sacrifice her life for the Ganga”.

“What could be worse mental harassment for a woman that she is told that she is pregnant when she is not? On behalf of the administration, this is an attempt to discredit the ashram so that somehow it can be destroyed,” said Saraswati.

Now both Padmavati and Aatmabodhanand have been admitted to the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) by the government. The Matri Sadan has said that it is concerned for the safety of its seers.

“As long as our saints are on hunger strike in the ashram, they are perfectly fine and as soon as the police forcefully take them to a hospital, their condition starts deteriorating and eventually dies in suspicious condition,” Saraswati said, referring to the death of Agarwal which occurred when he was in AIIMS Rishikesh where he was taken against his wishes by the Uttarakhand government.

Also read: If Modi Really Loves Sanyas, Why Won’t He Talk to Sanyasis About the Ganga?

Social activist Medha Patkar, who was also present at the press conference organised by Matri Sadan, said, “It is so strange that during the rule of a Hindutva government, sadhus are putting their lives on the issue of conservation of Ganga and not only the government but also society is sensitive not enough to show any sympathy with them.”

Medha Patkar and others at the press conference. Photo: Dheeraj Mishra

Over the last two decades, several seers of the Matri Sadan have protested and fasted, demanding that the government take proactive steps to revive the river considered holy in Hindu mythology.

Their key demands include a ban on illegal sand mining around the Ganga, cancellation of proposed hydroelectric projects on the Ganga and maintenance of a free-flowing river. Successive governments have been reluctant to give in to these demands.

Now the Matri Sadan has once again reiterated these demands and also demanded that the Central government meet and speak with the fasting seers.

On Ganga Voyage, Priyanka Misses Chance to Question Modi on His River Plans

The BJP’s previous campaign manifesto claimed the Ganga’s water was required for the country’s “spiritual and physical wellbeing”. However, the river’s health has only deteriorated since.

What prompted Priyanka Gandhi to take a three-day ride on a steamer from Prayagraj to Varanasi? This was an obvious challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had claimed in 2014 that “Mother Ganga” had summoned him to fight the elections from Varanasi.

In contrast to Modi’s bluster and fury, Priyanka remained low-key as she posed before photographers, visited temples, interacted with students, anganwadi workers and others who had gathered at the ghats to hear her diatribe against the government.

Before setting out on March 18, she had tweeted (in Hindi) her memory of her grandmother, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. “[She] would speak to me at night and tell me the story of Joan of Arc. The words still echo in my heart: ‘Be fearless and all will be good’, she used to say.”

This was Priyanka’s chance to remind the people of her legacy – as well as of dynasty – as well as Indira’s contributions to the country. Whether this trip will be the first step towards reviving the moribund Congress party remains to be seen. However, environmentalists believe Priyanka squandered an opportunity to remind the people of her grandmother’s legacy as one of India’s foremost environmentalists as well.

Also read: Almost Rs 4,000 Crore Spent, but the Ganga Is More Polluted Under Modi’s Watch

The miss is more significant in light of Modi’s disgraceful record at protecting the Ganga river. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s previous campaign manifesto, in 2014, claimed the Ganga’s water was required for the country’s “spiritual and physical wellbeing”. After coming to power, Modi announced the ‘Namami Gange’ project to ensure the river’s purity and unimpeded flow with Rs 20,000 crore. But while a significant fraction of that allocation has been spent, the Ganga seems to be no better for it.

The Varanasi-based Sankat Mochan Foundation regularly tests the river’s water for pollution. It has found that the river’s faecal coliform content has only increased in the last five years.

The National Ganga Council, headed by Modi and appointed to inspect the river for cleanliness, is yet to meet since it was floated in 2016. On the back of this and many other concerns, including the tragic death of G.D. Agarwal, the prime minister’s commitment remains questionable.

Brahmachari Dharmendra, one of the sadhus who assisted Agarwal during the latter’s fast, said Modi had ignored two letters Agarwal had sent him. Uma Bharti, the former water resources minister, had also persuaded Agarwal to speak to Gadkari. However, Agarwal reiterated his demand that the government not build a series of dams on the river’s tributaries, Gadkari reportedly slammed the phone on the activist.

However, Priyanka skipped asking any of these questions on her 100-km journey, as if they didn’t matter.

The Indo-Gangetic basin hosts the world’s largest surface-water irrigation system, supporting the lives and livelihoods of 800 million people. Apart from the Ganga’s own pollution, the basin is also becoming more saline and contaminated with arsenic. Many farmers in the region are also aware that the Gangotri glacier is shrinking by over 10 metres every year.

Priyanka’s own steamer ride was delayed by four days because they didn’t have enough water and the administration wanted to stave off the embarrassment of her steamer getting stuck.

Also read: Gadkari Not on the Side of the Angels Where Ganga Is Concerned: Jairam Ramesh

Given all these issues, Priyanka should have asked why the Yogi Adityanath government increased the Ganga’s velocity by releasing it from different dams at Tehri, Bijnor and Narora from December onwards. Adityanath did so because he wanted the Ardh Kumbh Mela, when millions of devotees took dips in the river, to be a success. This shows that the government can indeed ensure good flow if it wishes to, not just for selfish reasons.

Manoj Misra, an environmentalist and the head of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan, had called the act one of “sheer deception — not just with the river but also with the devotees. You diverted water from farmers who needed it for irrigation purposes for three months without providing them any alternatives.”

Rajiv Gandhi, Priyanka’s father, had mooted the first government initiative to clean the Ganga, but it lapsed after his death.

Today most – if not all – of India’s rivers are in dire straits. And as has usually been the case, the world, and India, paid lip-service to World Water Day on March 22 but took no proper steps to save its water bodies.

This is why it grates even more that Priyanka could have changed this narrative but chose not to. As a barb directed at the prime minister, it would have carried much weight as water issues matter not just to farmers but to all of us. Why didn’t she?

Rashme Sehgal is an author and a freelance journalist based in Delhi.

Watch | Modi is a Master Campaigner for Cleaning Ganga Without Doing Anything: Rajendra Singh

Rajendra Singh, also known as the Waterman of India and winner of the Magsaysay Award, discusses with Dheeraj Mishra what the government has done towards cleaning the Ganga.

Under Modi, India Has Witnessed an Unprecedented Chomping of the Earth

When a government justifies environmental ‘sacrifice’ for ‘development’ purposes, it is not answering: whose development, at whose cost?

On October 28, in his ‘Mann ki Baat’ broadcast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Adivasis and their fight for rights. He said that India’s foremost freedom fighters were tribals, and recalled Adivasi heroes like Birsa Munda.

Touching. Anyone listening would be moved by the homage to India’s oldest communities. Until you hear how, three days later, he unveiled the Sardar Patel statue in Gujarat, for whose land acquisition and resource use, the livelihoods of 70 Adivasi nearby villages were compromised. They boycotted the ceremony and held a bandh.

To add to the irony, the statue is built on an island in the Narmada river, downstream of the Sardar Sarovar Project dam. Pushed by Modi first as chief minister and then as prime minister, the dam is responsible for the displacement and dispossession of several thousand more adivasis. As Narmada Bachao Andolan’s Medha Patkar asked in an open letter to Sardar Patel on the day of the unveiling, would the Sardar have condoned such injustice?

A month earlier, the United Nations conferred the Champion of the Earth Award on Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron, citing their International Solar Alliance, and Modi’s push to eliminate single-use plastic. India’s recent enhancement of solar energy, and actions on some kinds of plastic, are indeed welcome. But what these hide is a much bigger pushback on environmental safeguards by the BJP government.

This builds on a trend the Congress had already set, in particular since the 1991 ‘reforms’ pushing India into the arms of the global economy. But the BJP’s forays into environmentally illiterate processes has been with greater single-mindedness than the Congress was able to muster. As noted by the Centre for Science and Environment in a quick analysis immediately after the UN award was announced, the last four years have seen:

  • Significant increase in allowing ‘development’ projects inside wildlife protected areas, bypassing necessary impact studies, from 260 in 2009-13 (under UPA) to 519 in 2014 – 18 (the BJP phase);
  • Proposed policy changes (e.g. a new Forest Policy, and Coastal Regulation Zone notification) that favour take-over of land, forest, water, coasts by corporate entities;
  • New projects that are mere greenwash, having no teeth or clarity, e.g. the National Clean Air Programme which has no specific targets for cities;
  • Attempts to weaken several crucial institutional structures, such as the National Green Tribunal (indications are that if BJP had its way, it would have shut the Tribunal down by now).

One can add more examples. One of the government’s brainchildren is the Sagarmala project. Much like the inland River Linking scheme (to which the Congress was also a party), this project too will be ecologically and socially disastrous, threatening coastal ecosystems and dispossessing fisher communities. Meanwhile, BJP’s favourite river, the Ganga, faces an even higher pollution load than it did in 2014, despite some 4,000 crores spent ostensibly for cleaning it up. And much of the celebrated solar push is from mega projects, by big corporations, with their own serious social and ecological costs, rather than decentralised energy production recommended by environmentalists and many energy experts.

Also read: Environment Ministry Mandates Health Assessment for Thermal Power Plant Clearance

In countries like India, the natural environment is the daily lifeline of the majority of its population: forest-dwellers, fishers, farmers, craftspersons, pastoralists, urban poor. So when a government justifies environmental ‘sacrifice’ for ‘development’ purposes, it is not answering: whose development, at whose cost? This is consistently ignored by politicians and economists sitting in Delhi. Oxfam’s latest report Reward Work Not Wealth shows that 1% of India’s population owns about 60% of its private wealth, and that in 2017 the wealth of India’s richest 1% increased by over Rs 20.9 lakh crore, equivalent to total central budget in 2017–18! Inequality is steadily growing; such  ‘development’ has fattened the rich, at the cost of the poor.

At the same time, the three-decade old phenomenon of ‘jobless growth’ has intensified, according to Azim Premji University’s State of Working India 2018. Much of the wealth generated by rapid growth, has simply bypassed over 90% of its workforce stuck in the informal economy. The BJP has made it worse; demonetisation has led to the loss of 3.5 million jobs, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. Meanwhile crony capitalism continues, with the government bending over backward to excuse the enormous debt that corporations (including Adani, Tata, Essar) owe to public sector banks; and new scams like crop insurance (favouring Reliance) coming to light.

It is therefore no surprise that large sections of the dispossessed are in agitation mode. The last year has seen several mass protests against anti-poor policies: 30,000 farmers marching into Mumbai in March; 1.5 lakh farmers and workers in a Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh rally to Delhi in September; thousands more joining rallies under the auspices of Ekta Parishad and Samvidhan Samman Yatra of National Alliance of People’s Movements; and one lakh participants of a pan-Indian coalition of farmer movements are expected to demonstrate in Delhi in end-November.

Dalit movements have upped the protest against horrendous attacks on them in the name of the cow, as they find themselves still at the bottom rungs of a religion-ordained hierarchy. In Karnataka and elsewhere, craftspersons have held satyagrahas, protesting the imposition of GST on already fragile livelihoods. Though Modi was able to push through the Statue of Unity, his even more wasteful project, the Bullet Train (estimated to cost as much as the total 2017 Railways Ministry outlay), is facing opposition from over 1,000 farmers who have gone to court against the acquisition of their land.

If this mass discontent is not resulting in rebellions to overthrow a blatantly pro-rich and anti-poor state, it is because we are not yet seeing common cause. And we have all been seduced by a superficial model of democracy, believing that it’s all about voting the ‘right’ party into power, rather than exercising power in our own local communities and collectives.

But even the partial democracy we have is currently under threat. Organisations like INSAF, Hazards Centre, Greenpeace India, Amnesty, and several individual activists, advocates, academics have been targeted because they ask uncomfortable questions. New terms like ‘urban Naxals’ get coined to give legitimacy to this witch-hunt.

Alos read: Gadkari Not on the Side of the Angels Where Ganga Is Concerned: Jairam Ramesh

In May the University Grants Commission told universities that academics in public funded institutions are subject to rules applying to government servants, which means they cannot criticise state policy. The Centre has written to all states to track NGOs that indulge in ‘anti-national’ (a euphemism for any form of dissenting) activities. Virtually all spaces where civil society could participate in the state, such as expert committees or planning bodies, have been shut off, or filled with ‘yes-men’ (yes, mostly men) who won’t dissent. And Prime Minster Narendra Modi has perfected the art of encouraging all this by keeping silent, including on some of the most horrendous crimes against women, Dalits and Muslims.

The above is not an argument in favour of other major opposition parties. When it comes to blind faith in economic growth, ignoring environmental and human rights concerns, there is not so much to distinguish them from each other. But the toxic combination of ecologically illiterate decisions, authoritarian and anti-democratic steps, and communal politics that the BJP has displayed in the last four years, may be unprecedented.

If the BJP comes back to power in 2019 and does not change its spots, we are in for a period that may surpass the harrowing couple of years of the Emergency in the 1970s, pushing India into dangerous waves of internal conflict, division and suffering. People’s movements and all those who care for fundamental democratic freedoms, peace, and a healthy environment – including youth, particularly the youth – need to gather forces to safeguard the fundamental values our constitution is premised on.

Ashish Kothari is with Kalpavriksh, Pune.

Gadkari Not on the Side of the Angels Where Ganga Is Concerned: Jairam Ramesh

An interview with the former Union environment minister about G.D. Agarwal, hydropower projects, sand-mining and the ‘Clean Ganga’ mission.

On October 11, after fasting for nearly four months, G.D. Agarwal passed away in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand. Agarwal, also known as Swami Gyanswarup Sanand, had been on a ‘fast unto death’ since June 22. Among other things, he was demanding better stewardship of the Ganga and to make it ‘aviral’ (free-flowing).

This wasn’t Agarwal’s first such fast. Nidhi Jamwal caught up with Jairam Ramesh, the former Union environment minister, on behalf of The Wire for an interview about Agarwal, hydropower projects, sand-mining and the ‘Clean Ganga’ mission. Ramesh had met Agarwal in Haridwar in early 2010, convincing him to break his fast then.

The conversation offers a retrospective view of attempts India has made to revive the Ganga. These issues will also be discussed at the India Rivers Week 2018, a unique meeting on rivers in India. It is being held at the WWF, New Delhi, from November 24 to 26, 2018. The focus of this year’s three-day meet is ‘Can India Rejuvenate Ganga?’.

The interview has been presented in full, lightly edited for clarity. The questions are in bold and the editor’s comments, in square brackets.

You seem to have had both personal and professional interactions with G.D. Agarwal…

G.D. Agarwal and my father were contemporaries. My father was a professor of civil engineering at IIT Bombay and Agarwal was a professor of civil engineering at IIT Kanpur. So they were both part of the IIT system. I had heard of Agarwal, but had never met him.

My first meeting with him in February 2010 was rather dramatic, when Agarwal went on a fast and I was the environment minister. I went to Haridwar to meet him. When I met him, he embraced me, remembered my father and said they were friends. That was my first physical contact with Agarwal. I spent the whole morning, five to six hours with him, and asked him his demands.

What were the demands?

He demanded that Gomukh to Uttarkashi – 130 km – be declared an eco-sensitive zone. He demanded protection of the river Ganga and putting a stop to the hydel projects on the Bhagirathi: the Loharinag Pala, Bharon Ghati and Pala Maneri projects. I told him I will convey his demands to the Indian government. I came back and wrote a note, which is also there in my book, Green Signals: Ecology Growth and Democracy in India. I informed the government that Agarwal’s demands were eminently reasonable, which I support.

Two of the projects [Bharon Ghati and Pala Maneri] had not started. The only demand on which I had some reservation was the Loharinag Pala hydro power project, because 40% of the work was already complete, and about Rs 1,000 crore had been spent by the NTPC [National Thermal Power Corporation]. But this is a project that shouldn’t have started at the first place. I don’t know how an environmental clearance was granted to it. The fact of the matter is projects were being indiscriminately approved on the Alaknanda, Mandakini and Bhagirathi rivers, and without a cumulative assessment. We were only doing individual assessment of the hydro projects.

So what was the government’s response after you approached it with Agarwal’s demands?

I spoke with the then prime minister [Manmohan Singh] and he said I should talk to Pranab Mukherjee [the then finance minister] and Sushilkumar Shinde, who was then the power minister. Time was running out because Agarwal was on a ‘fast unto death’. We had a discussion and I said that if I can get a commitment that the Indian government will compensate the NTPC, then it should be okay. The then PM, Mr Mukherjee and Mr Shinde saw my point of view. I was asked to go back and tell Agarwal that the government will meet his demands and he should give up the fast. So I went back to Haridwar and Agarwal drank some juice and broke his fast.

My last meeting with Agarwal was in April 2016 in New Delhi, when Nitish Kumar had organised an interaction on ‘aviral’ Ganga at the IIC [India International Centre]. This was the extent of my interaction with Agarwal.

Also read: Almost Rs 4,000 Crore Spent, but the Ganga Is More Polluted Under Modi’s Watch

Agarwal also used to stress on the river-basin approach. Did he discuss that with you?

Yes, apart from declaring Gomukh to Uttarkashi as an eco-sensitive zone and the abandonment of three hydro projects, Agarwal had a third, equally important demand – of a comprehensive assessment of the Ganga river basin. So I set up a consortium of the seven IITs under the leadership of IIT Kanpur to prepare, for the first time, a comprehensive Ganga river basin management plan. Such a plan should actually have been done 20 years ago. The IITs consortium produced a 30-35-volume report and submitted it to the Indian government. But nothing has come out of it. The same report had [described] a draft law for protecting the Ganga, which I am told is now under consideration.

There have been news reports [such as this] quoting Nitin Gadkari, the Union minister for water resources, that the Centre will bring an Act to protect the Ganga in the Parliament’s next session.

Mr Gadkari is not on the side of the angels as far as the Ganga is concerned. Mr Gadkari, [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi, all of them believe in the nirmal [clean] Ganga part. They don’t realise that without aviral Ganga, you cannot have nirmal Ganga. The present Indian government has bifurcated aviral Ganga and nirmal Ganga. In fact, Namami Gange is largely a ‘nirmal’ Ganga plan, whereas the Mission Clean Ganga that I had announced in 2010 as an environment minister… I had clearly said there are two components to it: nirmal Ganga and aviral Ganga. How can you clean Ganga if there is no water in the river?

So, I am not sure if Mr Gadkari understands this, and even if he does, he is very commercial in his outlook, like with plans for dredging, waterways, etc. The Indian government is laying a lot of stress on the nirmal part of the Ganga, which is a continuation of what we had started. But on aviral Ganga, I have not seen any movement whatsoever in the last four years. In fact, the Centre wants to reopen many of the hydel projects that have been closed.

But India is not an energy-sufficient country, and hydro is seen as clean energy.

Hydro accounts for 17% of our electricity generated. We are committed that by 2030, 40% of our electricity will come from non-fossil fuel sources, which means hydel, nuclear, wind, solar, etc. Fortunately, nuclear is not taking off and accounts for only 3.5% of our electricity generation. It will go maximum up to 5%. The hydel contribution will probably be in the range of 20-22%, which means doubling our hydel capacity.

The notion that hydel is clean isn’t true. It is clean in some ways, but hydel is also environmentally devastating in many ways. It submerges land, displaces people, destroys forest and wildlife. It can induce seismicity, like what happened in Koyna. It is a difficult choice to make. And we are a democratic system. We can’t do what the Chinese did in the Three Gorges dam. They went ahead with the project and ‘resettled’ a million or two million people. No one knows where those people are now. We are still doing resettlement and rehabilitation in the Narmada project, which has some very different viewpoints. So, we cannot close our eyes blindly and say we will promote hydel. The promotion of hydel projects also has environmental consequences, which we have to be very sensitive to.

Environmentalist G.D. Agrawal. Credit: gangatapasya.in

G.D. Agrawal. Credit: gangatapasya.in

A lot of hill states complain that if they are not allowed to come up with hydel projects, they will lose out on a source of income.

So give them a green bonus. I wrote my solution to the then PM [Singh] that if we cancel a hydel project on environmental grounds, we should compensate the state with a green bonus. I don’t see any reason why states like Uttarakhand cannot be compensated. Say Rs 300 crore a year for five years. There are ways of compensating.

Agarwal had also protested sand-mining in the Ganga and demanded a ban on it.

Ban on sand-mining is a tricky issue. According to law, it is a minor mineral and a responsibility of the state government. As an environment minister, I had written a large number of letters to the then chief minister of Uttarakhand, Ramesh Pokhriyal, and had met him twice in Delhi and twice in Dehradoon. But [sand mining in the Ganga] was happening with political patronage.

I wrote a letter to Pokhriyal that is in the public domain, where I said if push comes to shove, I will use section 5 of the EPA [Environment (Protection) Act] to issue directions. But I didn’t use it as then it would have created an unnecessary problem between the Centre and the state government, and people would have said I am targeting a [Bharatiya Janata Party] government in Uttarakhand. I kept talking to Pokhriyal, but it was clear there was political patronage [for sand mining] at the highest level.

Do you think the successive governments have failed Agarwal and the Ganga river?

It’s not for me to say, but I went to Haridwar twice in the space of four days to meet Agarwal. It is very rare that ministers go. My first visit, the then PM didn’t know of. I went on my own. But my second visit had the full backing of the Indian government, where I carried a letter sent by Mr Mukherjee [the finance minister] to Agarwal asking him to break the fast.

I remember one meeting of the National Ganga River Basin Authority. The Ganga was declared a national river in February 2009. And the National Ganga River Basin Authority was set up. The chief ministers of the five main Ganga basin states were a part of the authority. I became environment minister in May 2009 and then we had the first meeting of the authority. Mr Nitish Kumar suggested that the Gangetic dolphin should be given national status. If there were more dolphins, it would mean that the Ganga had both water and clean water. In less than 48 hours, the Centre notified and gazetted the Gangetic dolphin as India’s national aquatic mammal. This is something Mr Nitish Kumar still remembers.

Also read: Climate Change Threatens Dolphin Habitats in Ganga

In 1985, then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had announced a national programme to clean the Ganga. You set up the river authority as well. It has been over three decades and the river remains polluted.

It isn’t true to say that nothing has happened. Two things on this. Firstly, I got the Ganga water quality tests done by the CPCB [Central Pollution Control Board]. There were three indices of river quality: BOD [biological oxygen demand], DO [dissolved oxygen] and faecal coliform. On the first two indicators, there is evidence to show that there has been an improvement. But on the third indicator, unfortunately we have not done well, and it is easy to see why: because the bulk of sewage led into the Ganga is untreated. In fact, 75% of the pollution load in the Ganga is because of untreated municipal sewage. Only 25% comes from industrial effluents.

Secondly, the main Ganga river is 2,500 km long. But it is not true to say that the entire length is highly polluted. The worst stretch is the 750 km from Kannauj to Varanasi because this is where municipal sewage gets mixed with industrial effluents from sugar mills, paper mills, distilleries, tanneries, agricultural runoff, etc., and flows into the Ganga. Had Mr [Rajiv Gandhi] not launched GAP-1 [Ganga Action Plan 1] – and then there was GAP-2 – the pollution load in the Ganga would have been worse.

Then there is the Namami Gange project, which has Rs 20,000 crore funds already allocated for rejuvenating the river.

Namami Gange is basically taking the ‘Clean Ganga’ mission forward. It has proposed sewage treatment plants in 160 towns and cities along the 2,500-km-long river, covering Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar. A lot of projects had already been sanctioned between 2009 and 2011. The present government has sanctioned more projects. That’s all. Namami Gange is actually Mission Clean Ganga translated into Sanskrit.

So at present, are those projects being proposed and implemented on the Ganga following the cumulative assessment approach?

No. The Wildlife Institute of India has warned that many of the national waterways will endanger the dolphin. Secondly, if there is going to be a revival of hydel projects [on tributaries of the Ganga] – and the Indian government, I think, has gone to the Supreme Court of India and filed some affidavits – then there will be no water left in the river. No aviralta. Aviralta is no longer an issue. No one is talking of aviral Ganga.

Nidhi Jamwal is an independent journalist based in Mumbai.

PMO Sat on G.D. Agarwal’s Letters for Two Months, Chose Not to Respond: RTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was quick to tweet his condolences after Agarwal’s death but the PMO chose to pass the buck with Agarwal’s complaints when he was alive.

New Delhi: G.D. Agarwal, who died on October 11 after a 112 day fast to ‘save the Ganga’, had written three letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He urged that ‘Ganga putra’ Modi act to stall hydroelectric projects along the river to ensure it was restored to its free-flowing status.

According to information received through a Right to Information (RTI) application, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) chose not to respond to Agarwal after even two months as the engineer-turned-activist remained on a fast unto death.

Nonetheless, Modi had been quick to offer condolences on Twitter after Agarwal’s passing – within hours, in fact. “Saddened by the demise of Shri GD Agarwal Ji. His passion towards learning, education, saving the environment, particularly Ganga cleaning will always be remembered. My condolences.”

In its RTI response to Ujjawal Krishnam, an activist with the NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace, the PMO acknowledged it received two of Agarwal’s letters addressed to the PM dated June 13 and June 23.

Also read: G.D. Agarwal’s Third and Final Letter to PM Modi on Saving the Ganga

On August 20, the PMO forwarded the letter to the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR) and closed the complaint. The following note was attached with the letter: “A letter/gist of oral representation dated 23/6/2018 received in this office from Shri Swami Gyanswarup Sanand is forwarded herewith for action as appropriate. Reply may be sent to petitioner and a copy of the same may be uploaded on the portal.” (The name in the letter was an alias of Agarwal.)

According to Swami Shivanand Saraswati, Agarwal’s spiritual guru and the founder president of Matri Sadan, the ashram that was Agarwal’s home, no reply has been received from the MoWR so far.

‘Needed PM to respond’ 

In Agarwal’s letter dated June 13, he addressed Modi as ‘his younger brother’ and accused him of not acting or responding to any of his previous letters. He had sent his first letter in February. Agarwal also said that the Modi government was responsible for causing ‘harm’ to the Ganga.

He had demanded that a draft 2012 Bill that he had helped create for the Ganga’s conservation be enacted. He also asked that all proposed hydroelectric projects in the upper streams of the river be suspended. Third, he wanted all tree cutting and mining along the Ganga to be stopped as well.

“The letters were very clearly addressed to the Prime Minister,” Saraswati told The Wire. “They demanded that he take action, instead he just washed his hands off it and left Swamiji to die.”

Further, according to Saraswati, Gadkari had spoken to Agarwal over the phone in July after Uma Bharti, the Union minister for drinking water and sanitation, had paid him a visit. “Gadkari was very rude to Swamiji. He did not want to listen to what he had to say,” Saraswati said.

‘No authority to act’

Despite the PMO’s letter asking the ministry to “take action as appropriate”, the MoWR had said it couldn’t because it didn’t have the power. This emerged in a meeting that had been arranged in September with Agarwal’s representatives and other NGOs working to protect the Ganga.

The Wire spoke to three people who were present at the meeting. All confirmed that Gadkari had said that he did not have the power to act vis-à-vis fulfilling Agarwal’s chief demand: stalling the hydroelectric projects along the Ganga.

Also read: Narendra Modi Could Have Learnt so Much From G.D. Agarwal. But It’s Too Late Now.

“The minister of water resources informed us that he doesn’t have authority to  decide upon the cancellation of under-construction hydropower projects,” said Mallika Bhanot of Ganga Ahvaan, an Uttarakhand-based forum working on conserving the river.

Paritosh Tyagi, ex-chairman of the Central Pollution Control Board and co-drafter of the 2012 Bill, was also present at the meeting. “The minister said that he could only act on certain things and does not have the power to act on some demands like stopping the projects,” he told The Wire.

According to Bharat Jhunjhunwala, former professor of economics at IIT Bangalore, Gadkari had said that he could simply “try and redesign” the projects to minimise damage to the river. “And he said that he can’t do anything to stop the power projects,” Jhunjhunwala said. “But the ministry has done nothing on even redesigning the projects.”

Gadkari had also apparently remained non-committal on the two other demands that Agarwal had raised – end mining in the Ganga basin, and enact the 2012 Bill.

According to Tyagi, “He did say that they will stop sand mining in the Haridwar kumbh area. Even that notification has not been issued till today.”

Controversy Over G.D. Agarwal’s Dead Body: Uttarakhand HC Allows Last Respects, SC Stays It

Followers of Agarwal approached the Uttarakhand high court arguing that the body should be handed over to Matri Sadan, the ashram that was Agarwal’s home, to allow the followers to pay last respects.

New Delhi: On Friday morning the Uttarakhand high court in Nainital directed AIIMS Rishikesh to hand over the body of G.D. Agarwal to Matri Sadan, the ashram that was his home, within eight hours. Soon after, AIIMS Rishikesh approached the Supreme Court in Delhi against the order. In the evening, SC issued an order staying the Uttarakhand HC order.

Agarwal had been on a fast since June 22 demanding urgent action by the government to make Ganga aviral (free flowing) and to ensure that steps are taken to rejuvenate the river. After 112 days of fasting, he died on October 11 while he was in AIIMS Rishikesh, where he was taken forcibly a day prior.

Also Read: Read: G.D. Agarwal’s Third and Final Letter to PM Modi on Saving the Ganga

When Agarwal’s followers at the Matri Sadan asked for his body to allow followers to pay homage, AIIMS refused, arguing that Agarwal had donated his body to the institute. Vijay Verma, a follower of Agarwal’s, approached the Uttarakhand HC arguing that the body be handed over to Matri Sadan to allow the followers to pay last respects. The HC accepted the plea on Friday morning.

“We are of the considered view that the followers are entitled to have the last Darshan of the body of Swami Sanand (Agarwal was also known as Swami Sanand),” Acting chief justice Rajeev Sharma and justice Manoj Tiwari noted.

The HC directed AIIMS to handover Agarwal’s body to Matri Sadan within eight hours of the passing of the order ‘to enable his followers to pay last homage and also to perform religious ceremonies as per Hindu religion’. The body was to be preserved in ice while the homage was paid and it was to be returned to AIIMS after 72 hours.

However, AIIMS approached the Supreme Court, which has stayed the HC order ‘until further orders’. “The order of the High Court, if implemented, will make the organs of the deceased whose body has been embalmed in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh unfit for being transplanted to other human beings,” the SC order said.

Swami Shivanand Saraswati, the founder president of Matri Sadan said, “The Supreme Court has gone beyond its remit. It has not right to interfere in matters of belief. And the argument that AIIMS has put forth is bogus. His (Agarwal’s) organs would already have decayed because it has been 15 days since his death. We will appeal this order.”

Also Read: Narendra Modi Could Have Learnt so Much From G.D. Agarwal. But It’s Too Late Now.

“The reason which the Supreme Court has given is not correct. The organs would already be unfit for transplanting to other human being. They become non-functional once you put the body in the mortuary and after that can only be used only for anatomical dissection. The body can only be used for 2-3 months then it is cremated,” a former head of the AIIMS Delhi Department of Anatomy said on the condition of anonymity.

However, Harish Thapliyal, spokesperson for AIIMS Rishikesh, has argued that the organs can still be transplanted as the body has been preserved using formalin. “Since October 11, the body has been kept in a glass case preserved using formalin. It will decay two hours after it is taken out. That is why we approached the SC. As of now, the organs are in the condition that they were in at the time of death and can be transplanted. So, the argument that we have made in the SC is completely valid,” he said.

A tussle for Agarwal’s body began the day after his death when family members and followers were allowed to view the body only for a few minutes. The AIIMS director Professor Ravikant said at the time, “The man is dead. What is family now? Family wanted to see body, we did it yesterday. If you want to pay homage, garland a photo at home. Hospital is not a place for a function (event). This way, people will keep coming for 2 days.”

Saraswati has raised questions about the way AIIMS and the government has handled the situation. “He gave his life for the cause of the Ganga and no one was bothered when he was on fast and no one is bothered now. They have shown their true colours in the way he has been treated. Dignity has not been allowed to him even after death,” he said.

What’s Ailing the Ganga?

Let us not give up on cleaning the Ganga, however skeptical one may be of the record of previous clean-ups starting from Rajiv Gandhi’s time – and we need only take two simple steps.

When G. D. Agarwal, a well-known crusader for the Ganga who embraced religious sentiments in his quest for saving the river, died after a prolonged fast, it brought a crucial question to the fore, one that the journalist Victor Mallet had asked in his 2017 book: how can the Ganga be worshiped by so many Indians and simultaneously abused by the same people? The irony of simultaneous acts of worship and defilement of an object considered holy by millions is stupendous. However, there is no denying that in a traditional society like India’s, the question of a religiously motivated cleanup is of great practical importance, and the Ganga has a special significance for a Hindu as a life-giving force and as a soul-purifying medium.

It is possible that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an invocation to Ma Ganga when he declared his mission to clean the river up, he expected to receive the support of devout Hindus. But interestingly, it was similarly devout Hindus that formed the frontline to protest an anti-pollution ruling by the Allahabad high court; it banned immersion of idols in the river.

Overt religiosity has multiplied the quantity of idols and offerings dumped in the river over the years, generating even more toxic waste in the waterbody. Despite the civilisational attachment to the river goddess, Indians have now ended up dirtying its waters, finding themselves almost at a point of no return. The Ganga, which Jawaharlal Nehru in his will called ‘a hope and symbol of India’, has now lost so much of its vigour and purpose, thanks to the dams located up-steam, unremitting pollution from industries lined up on its banks and untreated sewage, together with natural factors.

Need to maintain minimum flow

The natural cycles upon which the Indian civilisation is predicated are changing as a result of climbing of greenhouse gas emissions. The Himalaya – the source of the Ganga – is also drying up. More than scientific reports, assessments from climbers, guides and naturalists who have scaled peaks of the range repeatedly make the prognosis more convincing. Some of the glaciers are receding fast. Some scientists have also flagged the retreat of glaciers in the Uttarakhand Himalaya. Gangotri, a district in north Uttarakhand used to report four feet of snow in winter; now, it has reportedly declined to one and a half feet.

Also read: Forget Countdowns – Climate Catastrophe Has Started in the High Mountains of Asia

The melting of the Himalayan glaciers is impacting flows that convert the river into stagnant ponds, interspersed with massive seasonal flooding.

Tehri dam in Uttarakhand. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The Tehri dam in Uttarakhand straddles the Bhagirathi river, a part of the Ganga. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The Government of India recently issued a notification declaring stipulations for environmental (e-) flow. It stated: “The compliance of minimum environmental flow is applicable to all existing, under-construction and future projects and the existing projects which currently do not meet the norms will have to ensure that the desired environmental flow norms are complied with within a period of three years.”

However, this will be a very difficult task, and is one major reason why environmentalists like Agarwal are against the construction of dams far upstream in the Himalaya, which they fear will reduce the downstream flow. Diverting water through the Ganga canal near Roorkee (constructed in the 1870s) and the post-independent Narora barrage further downstream also have strong adverse impacts on the general availability of water at major religious centres on the Gangetic plains. Interestingly, at the Narora barrage, some 90% of the water is diverted inland and only a tenth or so is allowed to flow downstream. So much for ‘surplus water’ in the Ganga to be diverted to southern rivers in the inter-linking project!

Lack of monitoring

As we come down to the plains, the issues are mostly related to pollution. It doesn’t suffice to simply install the proper effluent monitoring systems at the identified locations but to also constantly monitor them to make sure they are working efficiently. We need to move fast enough to establish green technology in the urban centres, including cities like Varanasi that include sewage and waste treatment plants. Such alternative technologies also promise employment opportunities.

Like the tanneries of Kanpur, other sources of toxic waste are cropping up along the banks of the Ganga. Soil sampled from the banks of the Ramganga revealed, upon analyses, very high levels of heavy metals. This simply reflects how the application of environmental laws within the river basin is notoriously lax. Like so many sprawling towns across the Ganga basin, such places emit strong, unpleasant odours from untreated garbage and pollutants.

As we once passed these locales en route to Delhi, a travel companion from Australia said in jest that the general happiness index drops several notches, sometimes dipping into the negative regime. Carcinogenic industrial chemicals and pesticides and sewage from factories, farms and nearby towns find their way into the food chain. In the lower reaches of the Ganga, there is a massive accumulation of arsenic due to natural sedimentation from waters impacted by unnatural groundwater extraction, which experts have called ‘the biggest case of mass poisoning in history’. For example, despite declarations from the concerned ministries, Kanpur’s tanneries have not been upgraded to current generation waste management systems capable of stoppering their toxic wastes.

Also read: How Did Arsenic Get Into Bengal’s Groundwater?

Thus, it is no surprise that the faecal coliform bacterial counts from many locations along the river are way higher than the recommended limit. This is because most drains in cities flush their waste directly into the river despite having spent crores of rupees. The biggest task is to improve basic sanitation in population centres in the river plains and build treatment plants to clean the waste that now flow unchecked into water systems. More fundamentally, we need to address uncontrolled population growth and thus the increased pressure on the rivers. The government should be proactive in addressing this important issue – most relevant in the over-crowded and resource-depleted states of the Ganga catchment area.

A grave water crisis is enveloping India thanks to the depletion of surface and ground-water, compounded by factors like increase in temperature, melting of glaciers and population growth. But it is also rooted in human greed and carelessness, disregard of conservation practices, unsustainable agriculture methodologies and the manner in which rivers are being misused, including unsustainable religious practices followed in the hope of pleasing the gods. Our misplaced belief in engineering techniques originated in Europe of the 19th and 20th centuries as a solution to an Indian problem can be seen in the enthusiasm with which the national river-linking project was relaunched. China is making the same mistake: of building super-dams and creating severe water shortages downstream, but we take umbrage at their attempts to build a dam across the Brahmaputra in the headwater region.

Let us not give up on cleaning the Ganga, however skeptical one may be of the record of previous clean-ups starting from Rajiv Gandhi’s time. And we need only take two simple steps: stop pollutants from entering the river and ensure minimum flow. To realise this, we need a highly goal-oriented implementation mechanism. The Ganga is supports one third of humanity and the success of its rejuvenation program will determine the future of India. But this lifeline is now in its death throes. This is what G.D. Agarwal wanted to tell us through his activism, and he had to give up his life to send that message strong and clear.

C.P. Rajendran is a professor of geodynamics at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru.

Almost Rs 4,000 Crore Spent, but the Ganga Is More Polluted Under Modi’s Watch

The Narendra Modi government has initiated many projects to clean up the Ganga, but pollution has increased at several sites where the river’s water is monitored. The water is not fit for drinking, bathing or domestic purposes.

Professor G.D. Agarwal, the prominent environmentalist who spent several years for the cause of cleaning up river Ganga, passed away on October 11. He had been on a fast for 112 days. Professor Agarwal wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi thrice, demanding that the government ensure uninterrupted flow of Ganga. He sought to remind the PM of his visit to Varanasi in 2014 and his proclamation that “maa Ganga had called him”.

However, the prime minister’s office did not respond to Agarwal. He eventually sacrificed his life. The question now is how has the Modi government fared on its promise to clean up the Ganga and ensure uninterrupted flow.

The response to an RTI filed by The Wire provides some answers. The Ganga has not become any cleaner under the Modi government. In fact, the river’s contamination levels have increased at many places since 2013, even though Rs 5,523 crore was released for cleaning the Ganga between 2014 and June 2018. Of the funds released, Rs 3,867 crore has already been spent.

Pollution has risen at several sites

According to information provided by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), an organisation under the ministry of environment, forest and climate change, the amount of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) in the Ganga river was very high in 2017. Information also reveals that the quantity of Dissolved Oxygen (DO) is continuously decreasing at most places.

BOD is the amount of oxygen needed by biological organisms to break down non-essential organic material in the water. The higher the BOD level, the faster oxygen present in water would deplete. A high BOD level is harmful for both the river and the organisms that live in it.

Also Read: Read: G.D. Agarwal’s Third and Final Letter to PM Modi on Saving the Ganga

Dissolved oxygen in another parameter used to measure pollution. A high DO level means the water is less polluted.When pollution rises, the oxygen is used to decrease it.

Scientific parameters dictate that the BOD level in a clean water body should be less than 3 milligram/litre, whereas the DO level should be more than 4 mg/l. If BOD level exceeds 3 mg/l, the water is not suitable for even domestic purposes, let alone consumption.

The CPCB has been examining the water quality of rivers since 1980. At present, it examines the 2,525 km long Ganga river at 80 sites, up from 62 a few years ago.

Map showing the Ganga’s pollution levels at various sites. Illustration: The Wire/Maninder Paul Singh

A CPCB report said that in 2017, the BOD level of Ganga was more than 3 mg/l at 36 of the 80 sites and 2-3 mg/l at another 30. In 2013, it was more than 3 mg/l at 31 sites and 2-3 mg/l at 24.

According to the CPCB criteria, if the BOD level of water is 2 mg/l or less and the DO level is 6 mg/l or more, the water is fit for drinking without any treatment. However, if the BOD level is 2-3 mg/l, water treatment is essential. If such water is consumed without being treated, it may cause serious diseases.

If the BOD level is more than 3 mg/l and the DO level is less than 5 mg/l, the water is not suitable even for bathing. The CPCB report reveals that almost at half the sites where Ganga water is tested, the water is unsafe for domestic purposes.

Water is only safe for consumption in Uttarakhand

The CPCB monitors the quality of Ganga water from Gangotri, where the river originates, to West Bengal. Its water is pure at Gangotri, Rudraprayag, Devprayag and Rishikesh, with BOD level at 1 mg/l and DO level between 9 and 10 mg/l.

However, as the Ganga flows forth, the contamination levels keep rising. At Haridwar, Uttarakhand’s famous religious site, the condition is extremely pathetic. The BOD level stands at 6.6 mg/l. However, it has seen a decrease from the 2013 level of 7.8 mg/l.

High levels of pollution prevail at Varanasi, Allahabad, Kannauj, Kanpur, Patna, Raj Mahal, Dakshineswar, Howrah and Darbhanga Ghat in Patna. In Varanasi, Modi’s constituency, the maximum BOD level was 5.1 mg/l in 2013. It was to 6.1 mg/l in 2017. Similarly in Allahabad, the BOD level was 4.4 mg/l in 2013 and increased to 5.7 mg/l.

Also Read: In Modi’s Constituency, a Wildlife Sanctuary is Quietly Being Erased

Besides Aligarh and Bulandshahar in UP, the BOD level of Ganga has gone up at Tribeni, Diamond Harbour and several other places in West Bengal.

In May 2015, the Modi government approved its flagship Namami Gange program, under which guidelines were formulated for cleaning the Ganga river. These included treatment of sewage from cities, treatment of industrial pollution, cleaning the river’s surface, rural sanitation, riverfront development, construction of river banks and cremation ghats, tree plantation and conservation of biodiversity.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Japanese counter part Shinzo Abe at the Ganga bank. Credit: PIB

So far, 221 projects have been sanctioned under the program at an estimated cost of Rs 22,238 crore. Of these, 105 projects were sewage treatment plants, undertaken at a cost of Rs 17,485 crore. Just 26 projects have been completed. Of the 67 projects for riverfront development, construction of banks and ghats and cleaning of the river bed, only 24 have been completed.

Professor Agarwal, in his letter to the PM, had expressed doubts over the efficiency of the Ganga projects started by the government. Agarwal felt the projects for cleaning the Ganga were beneficial only to the corporate sector and business houses and did little to ensure uninterrupted flow of Ganga.

In addition, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has also questioned some of these projects. In its 2017 report, CAG said, “Even after six and a half years of settlement with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), the long term work plans of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) could not be completed. It has been more than eight years since the formation of the National Ganga River Basin Authority, yet NMCG does not have a river basin management plan so far.”

Water unsafe for domestic purposes or irrigation

In addition to BOD and DO level, the quality of Ganga river water is determined on the basis fecal coliform and total coliform bacteria levels, pH level, and conductivity.

The CPCB stipulates that total coliform bacteria should be 50 mpn (most probable number) or less in every 100 ml of drinking water. If the water is used for domestic purposes, it should be 500 mpn or less. If higher levels of coliform bacteria are found in drinking water, it causes nausea, vomiting, fever and diarrhoea.

Agarwal felt the projects for cleaning the Ganga were beneficial only to the corporate sector and business houses and did little to ensure uninterrupted flow of Ganga.

The Ganga water does not meet this standard anywhere except Gangotri, Rudraprayag and Devprayag in Uttarakhand.

In Haridwar, the mpn is 1,600. In Allahabad it is 48,000, 70,000 in Varanasi and 1,30,000 in Kanpur. In Bihar’s Buxar, the level is 1,60,000, the same as Patna. In West Bengal’s Howrah, it is a shocking 2,40,000.

The pH level of a water body determines if it can be used for irrigation. The safe level of pH is 6 to 8.5. However, the 2017 report states that the pH level of Ganga water is above 8.5 at some places, making it dangerous for irrigation too.

Also Read: It Will Take More than a Prime Minister to Clean Up the Ganga

The Ganga flows through five states. The State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) of every state checks the quality standard of Gangetic water every month and sends the report to CPCB. The Central body compiles the final report based on the average of data collected.

If the Ganga’s monthly water quality is analysed, the picture is even more frightening. During certain months, the pollution is significantly higher than the average. Industrial pollution and domestic waste have been identified as the reasons behind the Ganga’s deplorable condition.

Translated from Hindi by Naushin Rehman.

Narendra Modi Could Have Learnt so Much From G.D. Agarwal. But It’s Too Late Now.

While the PM proclaimed in 2014 that ‘Maa Ganga had called him’ and spent the next four years spending close to Rs 5,000 crore publicising himself and advertising his intentions, the other man led a life of near-obscurity working away year after year for the cause of a cleaner Ganga.

The act of public fasting has been so completely reduced to political gimmickry in recent times that it barely registers in the public mind any more. Politicians, in particular, end up inviting derision more than anyone else for their token fasts, which normally don’t last more than a day (a recent case in point being Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah’s high profile day-long fast earlier this year to “protest disruptions of the Budget session of Parliament”).

So when news broke on October 11 that an 86-year-old Ganga activist had literally fasted unto death, protesting the government’s complete failure to make any real progress in cleaning up the river, it gave us pause. Perhaps it was the photograph of his gaunt, bearded and gentle face that so many of us saw for the first time, or perhaps it was the fact that he was an alumnus of IIT Kanpur who had left everything behind to become a Ganga activist or maybe it was the just the stark news that an 86-year-old man had died fasting for his beloved river, that stunned, moved and, yes, angered so many.

Also read: Professor G.D. Agarwal’s Contributions to the Ganga Cause Were Unparalleled

Prof G.D. Agarwal (or Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand as he later came to be called) had done something so few in public life have done in recent years. – he had kept his word. In a letter written on the June 22, he had simply and briefly informed the prime minister that “because you have not taken certain urgent steps to clean up the Ganga that I had expected you to take, I will fast till I die.” And 110 days later, he did.

But the thing that has ended up staring us in the face the most – unwittingly perhaps – has been the contrast between the man who had written the letter and the man to whom the letter had been written. Although Swami Sanand called Narendra Modi “his younger brother” and addressed him with affection and firmness, just as an older brother would a younger one, the dissimilarities between the two men could not have been greater.

While one man issued headline-making proclamations upon coming to power in 2014 that ‘Maa Ganga had called him’, and spent the next 4.5 years spending close to Rs 5,000 crore publicising himself and advertising his intentions, schemes and slogans, the other man led a life of near-obscurity working away year after year for the cause of a cleaner Ganga. (Not too many know this but the Swami succeeded in getting the Manmohan Singh government to shut down the near-complete Lohari Nagpala Hydel Project in 2010 and also declare the stretch of Bhagirathi river from Gangotri to Uttarkashi as an eco-sensitive zone.)

While one man announced the launch of the grand Namami Gange scheme with much fanfare, the other man continued to ask him tough questions in repeated letters about why the scheme had come a cropper. In his third and final letter to the prime minister, Swami Sanand said:

It was my expectation that you would go two steps forward and make special efforts for the sake of Gangaji because you went ahead and created a separate ministry for all works relating to Gangaji, but in the past four years all actions undertaken by your government have not at all been gainful to Gangaji and in her place gains are to be seen only for the corporate sector and several business houses. (One is not entirely surprised at a lack of response from a prime minister who is not often known to take challenging questions head-on.)

The lives of these two men brings to mind a 1965 book called The Lonely Man of Faith in which the author, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik describes two opposing sides of human nature, indeed two different kinds of people, whom he calls Adam I and Adam II.

Adam I is described as a “shrewd, crafty, self preserving creature who turns everything into a game, but who lacks the internal criteria to make internal commitments. He never develops inner constancy and does not have strategy to build character, and without that, not only does his inner life, but his external life also eventually falls to pieces.”

Adam II on the other hand, has a serene inner character and a quiet but solid sense of right and wrong. Adam II sacrifices self in the service of others, lives in obedience to some transcendent truth and has a cohesive inner soul that honours creation and one’s own possibilities. While Adam I wants to conquer the world, Adam II obeys an inner calling to serve it. People with an Adam II character do not lead fragmented, duplicitous lives. They have achieved inner integration. They are calm, settled and rooted. Their minds are consistent and their hearts are dependable.

Watch | Prime Minister Narendra Modi Betrayed Environmentalist G.D. Agarwal

And, as in the case of Swami Sanand, it is very easy to not even find out about these people, because they possess the self-effacing virtues of people who don’t need to prove anything to the world. They radiate a deep moral joy. They answer quietly when challenged harshly, they are silent when unfairly abused and they are restrained when others try to provoke them. But they get things done without thinking about what impressive work they are doing. In fact, they are not thinking about themselves at all. They just recognise what needs doing and they do it.

Prof. G.D. Agarwal’s life and death serve as a standing rebuke to those who live and exemplify the Adam I model. In words which apply powerfully to the deceased activist, New York Times columnist Richard Brooks, commenting on the Joseph Soloveitchik’s Adam II writes:

The heart cannot be taught in a classroom intellectually, to students mechanically taking notes. Good, wise hearts are obtained through lifetimes of diligent effort. You can’t teach it or email it or tweet it. The job of the wise person is to swallow their frustration and just go on setting an example of caring and diligence in their own lives. What a wise person teaches is the smallest part of what they give. The totality of their life, of the way they go about it in the smallest details, is what gets transmitted.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi could have learned so much from Swami Sanand. But it’s too late now. The man is gone. But the lessons of his life live on, if we will but care to learn.

Rohit Kumar is an educator with a background in Positive Psychology and Psychometrics. He works with high school students on emotional intelligence and adolescence issues and helps to make schools bullying-free zones.