Tag: Namami Gange

As Howrah Goes to Polls, Its Residents Fight for Land and ‘Life’

Sewage drains from the factories opening into the river are a common sight. So is the paucity of trees and plants. Beside under-construction skyscrapers are mountains of garbage. Very few have heard of the ‘Namami Gange’ programme.

Howrah (Bengal): It is often said that Howrah is older than 500 years. British rulers had called it India’s ‘Sheffield’ and ‘Glasgow’. It played an integral role in the freedom movement and eventually, across the country, it was known as a hub of small and big industries.

The present Howrah is still, incredibly, all of this. But it has another epithet now – the Narendra Modi government has pronounced it one of India’s dirtiest cities in its ‘Swachh Survekshan’ list.

Most people in this city beside the river Ganga are not familiar with the Namami Gange programme – the Modi government’s flagship effort to ensure a cleaner river.

Salim Miyan is a Trinamool Congress leader at Tikiapara. “I was born in Howrah. When Congress was in power [at the Centre], I had seen some work being done under the Ganga Action Plan. Otherwise, I have only seen pollution,” he says.

Sewage drains from the factories opening into the river are a common sight. So is the paucity of trees and plants.

Beside under-construction skyscrapers are mountains of garbage.

Sunil Poley has been driving cars in and around Howrah since 1970. Poley has been suffering from lung and skin diseases for the past few years. Frequent doctor’s visits have left him tired. “They always blame pollution. Where will I go to escape pollution?” Poley asks.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty

On May 6, 2011, shortly after the Trinamool Congress won power in Bengal, the party’s leader at Howrah’s Jagacha, Tapan Dutta, was murdered. Dutta’s widow Pratima, also a TMC leader, had alleged that Dutta had been working against efforts to fill wetlands in the area and was thus killed by other TMC workers who used to work closely with him. The Central Bureau of Investigation is still investigating the case.

But the matter of disputed wetlands and how they have become dumping grounds for garbage lingers with attention from local or state governments. Tanay Basu is a college student and says that trees are often cut, with little attention to impact. “Just the other day they were cut off at Dumurjola to ensure participants at an election rally would not have a difficult time,” he says.

Political parties have been largely silent on the issue. Land is a hot topic in Howrah, with multiple housing projects in the offing, covering over a thousand acres. There have been allegations that waterbodies have been illegally filled and trees illegally felled for many of them. The matter is particularly alive in the Jujarshah area of the Panchla block. People there have been active in decrying these alleged practices. This reporter saw police posted in the area.

A pond being filled in Jujarshah. Photo: Joydeep Sarkar.

That Jujarshah is rife with construction projects is lost on no one. This reporter saw a pond being filled and mounds of sand and solid waste being dumped on agricultural land. The area abutting the pond is populated by the Toposili community who are listed as Scheduled Castes in the state. Many whom The Wire spoke to said police and local leaders could penalise them for speaking to reporters.

An elderly man who asked to remain anonymous said that the pond is around 300 bighas and older than a century. “Land here was given to local people for upkeep by the Goureswar royal family. Locals practiced pisciculture here. Now the land mafia wants it all. Poor locals here also find themselves coerced to sell off their land to them,” he said.

Another elder said that records of land ownership exist but are no good in front of the mafia. A woman said that she is among those who have had to sell their land to local middlemen, who she claims sold it again. Yet another man says that he discovered that seven bighas of his land were no longer his only when he went to the BLRO office to pay land taxes. “My father died in 1998. But the records have it that he sold his land in 2021,” he added.

The Wire reached several offices of the Department of Land and Land Reforms but none of the authorities agreed to come on record on the matter.

Prasun Bandopadhyay, sitting Howrah MP.

The Lok Sabha MP from the seat for the last decade is former footballer Prasun Bandopadhyay. He told The Wire that he did not know of the land troubles and tension in Panchla. “I am trying to find out more,” he said.

He blamed the Left rule in the state and the British rule for the current environmental situation in Howrah. “I protested and was attacked. Miscreants stole my Arjuna Award. I think CPI(M) did this,” he said.

The Wire reached Srideep Bhattacharya of the CPI(M) to get a reaction to this claim. He said, “That Prasun Bandopadhyay had won an award is the pride of Bengal. What would the Left gain from this?”

Bandopadhyay, meanwhile, said he would bring up the cleanliness of the Ganga in future parliament sessions. “But Bharatiya Janata Party treats us like animals at the parliament and strips us of all rights,” he added.

Prasun also said the Howrah mayor was responsible, while adding that it was he who put him in the position. From 2013 to 2018, homeopathy doctor Rathin Chakrabarty had been Howrah mayor. Chakrabarty has left the TMC now and is the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate.

“TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee [MP and Mamata Banerjee’s nephew] has said in a rally that he will personally take charge of the development of seven assembly seats in Howrah. Why? What will the MLAs do then? It’s a marvel how corrupt they are,” Chakrabarty told The Wire.

The Left-Congress have CPI(M) lawyer Sabyasachi Chatterjee as candidate here. “Howrah’s fight is for its life. I plant trees personally. I tell my comrades to plant trees as well. But I would like to ask who it is that is taking land from the poor and giving it to corporates,” Chatterjee said.

He added that the “fight against these wrongdoings” began last panchayat polls. “Many more have joined us this time too,” he said.

Translated from the Bengali original by Soumashree Sarkar.

Namami Gange: Ten Years On, The Ganga Still Runs Dirty, Its Water Undrinkable

Though the union government has pumped in almost Rs 40,000 crore into the flagship Namami Gange programme since 2014, several concerns – including dysfunctional sewage treatment plants and bad governance – abound. 

Bengaluru: “The first time I contested, in 2014… I felt that Mother Ganga had called me here (to Varanasi). But now, after ten years, I feel that… (dramatic pause) Mother Ganga has adopted me.”

“The bond between Kashi (Varanasi) and me is like that between a mother and her son.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said these words in an ‘exclusive interview’ he gave to a news house on May 7. A week later, on May 14, he repeated the same words in another interview with yet another news channel. Modi went as far as to say that after he lost his biological mother, river Ganga was his mother now.

Before he filed his nomination papers in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh that day, Modi performed an elaborate Ganga aarti. The adopted son prayed to his river mother donned in an immaculate white suit, reverently dropping pink flowers into the dark green, algae-ridden waters of a barely flowing Ganga.

“I will do a Ganga aarti and show you that the solution to global warming that the whole world is so worried about lies in nature worship,” he said in one of his exclusive interviews.

But despite the prime minister’s touching devotion for his river-mother, his launch of the much-touted Namami Gange programme in 2014 and pumping in almost Rs 40,000 crore during the course of his ten-year governance, the Ganga still runs dark, its water undrinkable. The river hasn’t gotten much cleaner, say both locals and experts. Sewage treatment plants that have been installed are not doing an efficient job; many are not even functional even though they exist on paper, per several reports. And activities such as sand mining, dredging and tourism (that continue unregulated), as well as projects in the pipeline such as river-linking, are adversely affecting the river in several ways, experts told The Wire.

Namami Gange: Ten years on

The Ganga – one of India’s longest rivers, and one that supports a population of around 400 million by one estimate – has been the target of cleaning programmes since the mid 1980s, due to the sewage and industrial effluents that find their way to the river. As per a 2020 government estimate, 2,953 million liters of sewage is generated by 97 towns along the Ganga, and flows into the main stem of the Ganga everyday.

While the first Ganga Action Plan, which implemented 260 schemes on the main stem of the Ganga, was initiated in 1985, the National Ganga River Basin Authority, under which ‘Mission Clean Ganga’ was initiated came into force in 2009. Its objectives involved addressing wastewater management, solid waste management, industrial pollution, and river front development along the Ganga. The authority was dissolved in 2016, after the Union government constituted the National Ganga Council.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led union government launched the Namami Gange programme in 2014 as part of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) under the Ministry of Jal Shakti’s Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. 

And much money has flowed for Namami Gange since its inception. 

The Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Bishweswar Tudu, told the Lok Sabha in a written reply on February 8 this year that until December 31, 2023, 457 projects had been taken up under the Namami Gange programme at a cost of Rs 38,438.05 crores. Of these, only 280 have been completed and “made operational”. Most of these projects pertain to construction of sewage infrastructure – such as sewage treatment plants or STPs – the minister said in the statement.

Also read: After a Mega Roadshow, Narendra Modi Files Nomination From Varanasi

Indeed, as far as the nearly Rs 40,000 crore is concerned this is mostly related to the construction of STPs and sewers and river infrastructure such as river bank ghats and so on, said water activist and expert Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP). 

“The objective of these wasn’t to improve the status of the river, or river flow. It was only to tackle the sewage flowing into the river. Even if you look at that limited objective, the whole emphasis has been on money, infrastructure and some on technology. But nothing addresses the issue of governance,” he told The Wire. “You can put in as much money, technology, or install as much infrastructure as you want to, but if that infrastructure doesn’t work as per its objectives and design, it is not going to help.”

The Ganga has a long history of its STPs not functioning; in fact, nowhere are STPs functioning to their designed capacities, not even in Modi’s constituency of Varanasi, said Thakkar. Incidentally, Modi won from Varanasi in 2014, and one of his main promises was to clean up the Ganga.

“Varanasi is also in a pretty bad situation even in terms of the limited objective of treatment of sewage,” Thakkar told The Wire. 

No science, no governance

There is also no data which shows that the STPs are actually functioning, Thakkar added. And the information that we do have about the functioning of STPs does not inspire much confidence, he said. “Moreover, smaller and decentralized STPs are a far better option than big, mega-STPs but we are not even considering this option.”

Good governance will ensure that these ideal systems are in place, that they are monitored and that corrective measures are taken whenever necessary, Thakkar said. “Credible, independent, democratic, participatory governance is required at several levels, the STP, city, sub-district, district levels.”

According to him, the government has also not done anything to improve the quantum of flow in the river or its status either; they’ve not even been assessing flow in the river, he told The Wire. All the barrages on the Ganga divert water from the river, and none of them maintain flow in the river.

“The only thing they can claim to have done to maintain weather flow in the Ganga is the October 2018 notification on Ganga e-flows. But it is not based on any science, and not comprehensive.”

To decide on environmental flows based on science, the first thing that needs to be done is define your objective, Thakkar clarified. 

“There can be many objectives – to sustain certain social services, environmental services, biodiversity, economic services that the river provides. Then based on those objectives, at different points on the river and in different seasons, you need to estimate how much water is required to achieve this objective. Then you need to ensure that that flow exists. But this has not happened.”

Thakkar accuses that authorities just used a “thumb rule” to decide how much percentage of water should be released from specific projects on the Ganga.

Ganga aarti for global warming?

The lack of science also echoes in Prime Minister Modi’s recent statement in Varanasi on May 14 that he would “do a Ganga aarti and show to the world that is so concerned about global warming that the solution lies in nature worship”.

Worshiping nature may be important, but along with that should come action – which appears to be lacking now. Even monks know that.

Also read: Why Climate Change Needs to Be an Election Issue in India

Monks at the Matri Sadan in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, for instance, have gone on multiple hunger strikes to ensure that governments and authorities take action to clean up the Ganga. In 2018 at the age of 86, Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand (G.D. Agarwal, formerly a professor in civil engineering at IIT Kanpur who later took up monkhood at Matri Sadan) had already gone on several fasts for the Ganga to protest against the lack of efforts being taken by successive governments to clean the river.

As per reports, Agarwal’s fast in 2009 forced the then United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-led government at the Centre to shelve plans for two proposed dams on the Bhagirathi, a tributary of the Ganga in Uttarakhand; his fast in 2016 forced the Haridwar administration to crack down on illegal mining in the area.

Agarwal began his last fast on June 22, 2018, demanding that the government pass a law to save the Ganga and ensure the free flow of the river. He died on the 112th day of his fast.

“The UPA-led government would at least listen to his concerns and implement the measures he wanted but the NDA government completely ignored him,” Thakkar told The Wire. “They let him die.”

Obstacles interfering with the Ganga’s flow

Though the UN listed the Namami Gange project in 2022 as one of the world’s ten “pioneering” initiatives that are successfully restoring the natural world, experts such as Thakkar were not convinced as The Wire Science reported. Firstly, the UN did not provide details regarding the criteria used to put together the list. Secondly, though huge amounts of taxpayer money has gone into the project, several activities that adversely impact the river and its flow continue unabated, and unregulated.

These include illegal sand mining, riverfront development projects that are being built not to sustain the river but to channelize it and river navigation projects that require dredging the river that further interferes with the river’s flow, Thakkar told The Wire. The list doesn’t end there: river linking projects such as the Ken-Betwa river linking project will spell doom for the flow of the Ganga because it will reduce water flow in the river, Thakkar said. Both the Ken and Betwa rivers  join the Yamuna along UP-Madhya Pradesh border, which in turn merges with the Ganga at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh.

Another concern are river tourism projects, Thakkar said, such as the tent cities in Ayodhya. These uber-luxury properties have been built on the floodplains of the river, he added. 

“The government is not even assessing the impacts of such activities on the river,” he told The Wire. “The Ganga is possibly the most worshiped river in the world, and mentioned in many Hindu scriptures and is part of culture. Under the governance of a government that celebrates all this, the scriptures and festivals and prayers, the river is getting worse and worse.” 

For a clean Ganga, clean its tributaries too 

Experts have also pointed out that the focus on cleaning up the main stem of the river has diverted attention away from the status of the smaller tributaries and streams that drain into the Ganga as it flows through the Gangetic river basin from Uttarakhand, to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. India’s river cleanup drives have failed because the country has focused on major rivers alone, Venkatesh Dutta, professor, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow told Down To Earth in 2023. Though NMCG programme officers claim that smaller rivers are also being revived now, the ground realities are the same, the professor said. For instance, the Gomti river in Uttar Pradesh had dangerously low dissolved oxygen levels making it impossible to sustain biodiversity, per a report.

Another case in point is the story of the Tilodki Ganga – a stream that flows into the Sarayu also known as the Ghaghara, a tributary of the Ganga that later flows past the town of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, not far from Varanasi. The brand new Maryada Purushottam Shri Ram International Airport – now renamed as the Maharishi Valmiki International Airport – came up right on the stream and this has caused waterlogging in their village, said Durga Prasad Yadav, a resident of Ganja village near Ayodhya. To make matters worse, a Coca Cola bottling plant discharged untreated effluents into the stream, making it impossible to use its waters anymore for cultivation, reported Down To Earth.

“Farming is our mainstay,” Yadav told The Wire on May 16 this year. “Now we cannot even farm our lands let alone drink the water of the stream.”

In 2019, Yadav filed a case in the National Green Tribunal to fight the pollution of the stream. The green court constituted a Joint Committee to look into the matter. District authorities told the Committee that “steps are being taken to ensure that water flow of the area is not hindered due to extension of the Ayodhya Airport and water flow remains smooth” (as recorded in the NGT order pronounced on November  2023 that The Wire accessed). The state’s Department of Irrigation said that a drain – at the total cost of around Rs 5,500 lakh – would be constructed to ensure zero waterlogging, and that this would be constructed before the Airport becomes operational. The Airport is already operational, but the drain is still being built, Yadav told The Wire.

However, the committee declared that there was no river by the name of Tilodki Ganga in Ayodhya district. Yadav is disappointed.

“This was a nadi [river/stream] which was even mentioned in the Puranas, now the government only recognises it as a nala [canal/drain],” Yadav told The Wire. Yadav says he wants to fight for the recognition of the stream but he is facing pressure from several fronts.

Pollution of water, and the lack of clean water to farm and even drink are all election issues in the region, but nothing is being done, Yadav said.

“What do we do?”

Local activists trying to ensure that governments implement actions to clean the Ganga also know the importance of reviving the Ganga’s tributaries and ensuring they are clean too. V.N. Mishra, president of the Sankat Mochan Foundation (an NGO whose vision is to ensure a clean Ganga), has been vocal about the pollution that the Ganga witnesses, as does its tributaries. On March 6, he tweeted that in most of its segments, the river is “not even fit for bathing”.

As Prime Minister Modi talks of nature worship and Ganga aartis to curb global warming, his river-mother trudges along, wearily along Varanasi, wearing colours that would put his immaculate white suit to shame. A clean, free-flowing Ganga still feels far away and distant, despite funds worth nearly Rs 40,000 crore being pumped into the river to clean it up over the past ten years: ten years during which a son – who claims that Mother Ganga has adopted him – has been at the helm of the country.

Jobs, Justice and Smart Cities: The Promises BJP Made in Its 2014 Manifesto

Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, it’s imperative to examine whether the BJP has transformed its lofty words into reality.

Bengaluru/Raipur/New Delhi: In 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had presented an ambitious manifesto, promising speedy justice to all. However, recent events, such as the mishandling of the wrestlers’ protest and turning the inauguration of the parliament into a one-man show, has left many wondering whether the party has focused on the promises it made while in power.

These instances, among others, suggest that the ruling party may have prioritised the appearance of justice to flatter the masses rather than genuinely delivering it.

Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election, it’s imperative to examine whether the BJP has transformed their lofty words into reality.

There are several domains where the BJP’s performance raises significant concerns.

Price rise

The 2014 manifesto said, “The BJP-led NDA government’s record of holding the prices is a demonstration of our commitment to break the vicious cycle of high inflation and high interest rates.”

However, retail inflation hit an eight-year high of 7.8% in April 2022 and wholesale inflation surged to a nine-year high of 15.08% in the same month of that year.

In fact, retail inflation has remained above the Reserve Bank of India’s 6% for quite some time in 2023.

For a moment, let go of the technical jargons and ask, isn’t everybody (of course, except the rich) feeling the pinch of rising costs of basic commodities?

The persistent high inflation likely pushed household financial savings to a 30-year-low in the first half of financial year 2023. A report by Motilal Oswal Securities indicated that these depleted savings were being used for consumption.

But despite rising prices of essential products, people are still buying them, most probably, by using their savings.

However, not everybody can afford to buy essential products at a high price.

This can be shown from the fact that while cookie demand has grown, biscuit sales have slowed. Two-wheeler sales are in the slow lane. Meanwhile, demand for luxury products is booming.

Several reports also point that inequality and poverty have risen during the Modi years.

Despite rising prices of essential products, people are still buying them, most probably, by using their savings.

Employment

Creating employment opportunities is crucial for the economic growth and social stability of a country.

The BJP had promised in its manifesto that it would transform employment exchanges into career centres to connect youngsters with job opportunities. It had said it would focus on labour-intensive manufacturing, and tourism. It had also emphasised on job creation in rural areas.

“Labour-intensive jobs are the right way to tackle unemployment, if not, this will lead to a social explosion that is politically damaging,” said retired Jawaharlal Nehru University professor Arun Kumar.

However, the professor said that “unfortunately, the government is only promoting capital-intensive jobs like the PLI [production-linked incentive] scheme”.

“The government needs to shore up the micro (48%) and the agriculture sector (46%) in order to strengthen the job environment in India. An urban employment guarantee scheme can be brought in like the rural scheme for which we have been campaigning since 2012. They are increasing the allocation of capital-intensive [jobs] by reducing the allocation of labour-intensive [jobs], so the opposite needs to be done,” he added.

Interestingly, ahead of the 2019 general elections, in an interview to Zee News, Prime Minister Modi had said: “If someone opens a pakoda shop in front of your office, does that not count as employment?”

He claimed that the person’s “daily earnings of Rs 200 will never come into any books or accounts. The truth is massive [that] people are being employed.”

After the prime minister’s comments on the job environment in India, a group of professional degree holders, in February 2018, staged a unique protest, putting up an “acche din pakoda shop” in Lucknow.

In the next year, government data showed that unemployment touched a 45-year high in 2017-18. The data was published as part of a leaked report ahead of the 2019 general elections.

In Noida’s Labour Chowk, a labourer had in January 2022 told The Wire that despite having a college degree in IT (electrical), he’s not able to find a salaried job.

In May this year, the chief of Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, Mahesh Vyas, had told The Wire that India’s workforce – which is usually understood as the set of people who are employed – is not rising. He added that the quality of jobs in India is very low.

So therefore, since 2017, people have been vociferously voicing their concerns over joblessness in the country.

In terms of rural employment, note that the 2023 budget for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme – which protected the most vulnerable households from income loss during the COVID-19 pandemic – was sharply cut in the Union Budget.

But although jobs have increased in rural areas, there’s a dearth of good quality employment options in recent times. That could have led to a rise in low-paid work in rural India, according to the Hindu BusinessLine.

Also read: How in First Eight Years of Modi Government, Nearly Rs 12 Lakh Crore ‘Disappeared’

Smart cities

Under the Smart City Mission, launched in June 2015, the government selected 100 cities through a competitive process, wherein each state nominated a certain number of cities based on a specific criteria.

The 100 cities were selected to enhance several basic facilities such as quality of living, sanitation, transportation, electricity supply, affordable housing, digitisation, sustainable environment, and good governance.

But note that the Smart City Mission does not involve developing entirely new cities from scratch. Instead, it aims to transform existing cities and improve their infrastructure, services, and overall liveability.

For instance, Delhi, Pune and Udaipur are cities already. But they are not ‘smart’. The definition of ‘smart’, as per the government, however, is still unclear.

A view of Udaipur. Credit: Pixabay

But there are hits and misses in this mission, too. While some projects are in progress, several others have been shut.

In 2021, the mission was extended till June 30, 2023, due to a delay in the completion of the projects because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has again got an extension till June 2024.

The Indian Express, however, reported that of the 100 cities, only around 20 will be able to meet the June deadline.

In addition, concerns have been raised on whether the ‘smartness’, which has been promised by the government, is matching with what people want and need.

Environmentalists, experts and historians say that the Dehradun Smart City mission – which deployed Rs 1,400 crore between 2015 and 2022, to transform the city of Uttarakhand – has hardly made any impact on the city’s ability to manage waste, rapidly rising urban population and of slums, check pollution, and protect biodiversity.

The Wire reported in February that the city’s freshwater streams that were once the source of the famed basmati rice cultivation on the city’s periphery have all but vanished. Added to that, the city does not have a working master plan. The only industry that is alive in the city is the real estate sector.

A smart city needs a proper sewage system, an effective administration, good air, decent commute time, etc.

However, it appears that the idea of ‘smart’ for the saffron party means promoting religious tourism, real estate, technology, and the infrastructure of the city, irrespective of the available resources.

While launching the Smart Cities Mission, Prime Minister Modi had said: “…if anything has the potential to mitigate poverty it is our cities.” He said the mission aims to ensure access to basic services for the people, including affordable houses for the urban poor.

However, several news outlets highlighted how this mission leaves the poor behind.

Therefore, it’s important to ask whether the Smart City mission is only beautifying the areas marked, or are they also supporting the poor by giving them access to basic facilities.

Smart cities could create 250 million jobs over the next 10 years, as written in the BJP’s manifesto. But, as analysed earlier, it’s still to be seen how the job scenario pans out over the next few years with rising inflation and lack of incomes.

Also read: The Contradictions of the ‘Urban’ in India

Namami Gange

“It is my destiny to serve Maa Ganga,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in parliament in May 2014.

The ‘Namami Gange’ programme was launched by the BJP government in June 2014. The flagship programme is a conservation mission to ease pollution and to rejuvenate the national river.

With a budget of Rs 20,000 crore, the National Mission for Clean Ganga was planned to be implemented in three stages, depending on the intensity of the work.

The Wire had reported that the Namami Gange project has accorded undue prominence to establishing sewage and effluent treatment plants, shifting the focus away from the river’s minimum flow. Therefore, first, the government needs to come up with a realistic plan, and second, it should abandon its belief that the river will be cleaned anytime soon.

In 2018, Down To Earth had highlighted why the river Ganga won’t be clean by 2020.

The Diplomat had in July 2022 reported, citing research, that the “river’s lower stretch is the most polluted, with glaring evidence of algal bloom and signs of eutrophication compared to the middle or upper zones.”

Eutrophication is the process by which the water body becomes excessively enriched with nutrients, leading to an increase in the production of algae and macrophytes.

The research revealed the poor quality and sewage runoff in the lower stretch of the river.

In addition, a 2019 report released by the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board had said that the Ganga at Prayagraj, both upstream and downstream, is unsafe for bathing and could expose people to extremely high levels of coliform bacteria, mostly the faecal coliform, Escherichia coli, Mongabay reported.

Devotees gather to offer prayers during the third shahi snan of the Kumbh Mela 2021, at Har ki Pauri Ghat, Haridwar, April 14, 2021. Photo: PTI

Also read: Manual Scavenging Is Continuing Unabated in India – And Even Children Are Forced Into It

Manual scavenging

In its manifesto, the BJP had said that it’s committed to eliminate manual scavenging. But in another long line of hollow promises, it appears to have not fulfilled this promise as well.

As many as 330 people have died due to ‘hazardous cleaning of sewer and septic tanks’ from 2017-2022. But, according to the government, none of those people died due to “manual scavenging”.

Manual Scavenging is the practice of removing human excreta by hand from sewer lines or septic tanks. It is banned under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013. However, the practice remains prevalent in many parts of India.

Between March 22 to April 26, 2023, as many as eight people died while cleaning sewers in various parts of Gujarat, the Hindu reported.

Official data show that over 1,000 workers have died while cleaning sewers or septic tanks since 1993, but activists say the number is much higher as many are involved in manual scavenging.

Iti Dewangan and Mervin Preethi are interns at The Wire. 

Only Gender Transformative Approaches Can Bridge Water, Sanitation Inequalities

Given that women are the primary ‘users, providers, and managers’ of water and sanitation facilities, their participation in such programmes is necessary.

Worldwide women are primarily responsible for ‘care work’ which includes fetching water, cooking, cleaning, washing, and taking care of children, elderly or ill. This gendered division of labour typically purports that women and girls shoulder a series of roles in the ‘private sphere’ that, for the most part, men do not share.

According to an ILO report, in 2018, women in India spend 312 minutes every day in urban areas and 291 minutes per day in rural areas on unpaid care work. In contrast, men barely spent 29 minutes every day (in urban) and 32 minutes every day (in rural areas) on care work.

These socially allocated roles are effort-heavy but ‘invisible’, ‘unrecognised’ and ‘unpaid’. While performing these traditional social roles, women make sizeable contributions to the family economy, which is unaccounted for both within the family and as a part of our national accounts. The unpaid labour is often observed to be higher in developing countries where women compensate for the absence of or inadequate public infrastructure and services including water and sanitation services. This traditional gender role places a double burden on women and adolescent girls.

In the last five years, while there has been thrust on the creation of sanitation infrastructure, it has led to a simultaneous increase in the burden on women for Water and Sanitation (WATSAN) related activities.

Also read: Inclusion Is Key to Any Sanitation Goal India Sets

Gender-based inequalities in WATSAN roles

A study by the Centre for Policy Research in collaboration with Kalinga Institute of Rural Management, KIIT Bhubaneswar on Gender and urban sanitation in ten slums in Bhubaneswar revealed that women are disproportionately burdened by ‘care work’.

Findings revealed that in 79% households women fetch water, in 69% households women are responsible for solid waste disposal, in 68% households women clean individual household latrine (IHHL), and in 82% of households they take care of the ill.

Time burden in fetching water

Study findings also reveal that more than half of those who reported difficulty in accessing IHHL, also reported that IHHL has increased the burden of fetching water. Nearly three-fourth respondents disclosed that women and girls were responsible for fetching water. They spend close to one to two hours daily securing water for the entire household.

In Kedarpalli basti, also known as the ‘sweeper’s colony’, water access and conflict are critical concerns. While piped water connections were provided by the government nearly a year ago but, these taps have since run dry. Residents largely rely on common water connection points to collect water for household use. Inadequate supply, access and availability of water creates an insecurity amongst slum residents. It often leads to water conflicts in Kedarpalli slum. Residents revealed that the main inter-personal disturbance in the slum was based on water sharing. For instance, a woman respondent shared that:

“if I go and fill my buckets with water and the person after me in the queue does not get water, they would blame me. They would say – you will cook and eat today but, what about us?”

In fact, the burden of fetching water is a critical factor for sustained usage of IHHL and women carry this burden for the family and the community. Moreover, women perform ‘care functions’ including taking care of children and are also responsible for washing clothes at community toilets – they are often ridiculed by caretakers for taking more time, using too much water and dirtying the community toilets more than men.

Resultantly, at some community toilets they end up paying more for consuming more water. To ensure that the operation of CTs and PTs are sustainable, an adequate and equitable tariff structure should be built-in based on principles of equity and justice. The user charge can be differential and yet inclusive. It can be arrived at through a consultative process involving women, transgender, persons with disabilities, aged, and other urban poor and marginalised groups.

Also read: For Many Indians, the Right to Sanitation Is Coming at the Cost of Other Human Rights

Case for more thrust on IHHL construction

The evidence from the study strengthens the rationale for the construction of IHHL vis-à-vis community toilets (CT). Women have disclosed that during periods of heavy footfall, men enter women’s toilet wings. They have complained that male caretakers have been assigned to clean the facility, that community toilets have broken locks and doors and there is no provision for safe menstrual hygiene management (MHM).

Some 250,000 of India’s 649,481 villages have been declared open defecation free. Credit: Reuters

Representative image. Photo: Reuters

For members of the transgender community, community toilets are sites of harassment and ‘unsafe zones’ and hence, they completely avoid them. In contrast, IHHL brings security and dignity to them. Transgender revealed that after the construction of IHHL, they feel safer in accessing toilets. There is no physical or psychological threat of harassment. Given that CTs are non-operational at night, the toilets remain inaccessible to the community for at least 10 hours a day, thereby undermining the SDG goal of providing sanitation for all at all times.

Low WATSAN related decision-making power of women

Despite the increasing role of women in maintaining and providing sanitation infrastructure facilities for household usage, the study reveals that women and members of the transgender community are under-represented in the decision-making process (of planning and implementation) related to location and design of sanitation infrastructure at boththe household and community level. At the household level, while most of the ‘care wok’ is predominantly undertaken by women, their role when it comes to decision making surrounding sanitation is negligible.

Need to re-imagine WATSAN community forums for gender-transformative outcomes

Given that women are the primary ‘users, providers, and managers’ of water and sanitation facilities, their participation in the water and sanitation programmes are often deemed as necessary to increase the efficiency of the project. Resultantly, often WATSAN is perceived to be a ‘feminine function’.

On the ground, women collectives are formed. For instance, study findings reveal that basti committees in slums are male-dominated addressing broader issues of slum development including housing and other infrastructures, often seen as ‘masculine functions’ while Mahila Arogya Samiti – a women’s collective is responsible for WASH which is perceived to be a ‘feminine function’.

Also read: Budget 2020 Sets India on the Path to Meet SDG Targets for Water and Sanitation

However, these collectives based on a gendered division of ‘care roles’, rarely translates into improving women’s participation and ability to influence decisions, both at the household and community level. Their participation is usually either tokenistic or passive and rarely ever interactive or substantive. Moreover, it contributes to creating socio-cultural realities that perpetuate gender stereotypes.

Unless men’s collectives are also promoted to work on issues of water and sanitation, it is likely that the burden on women will continue to remain high. Hence, there is a need to bring about change in the structure of these forums to ensure gender-transformative outcomes both at the community and household level.

For ensuring gender transformation, it is vital to first recognise the gender-based complexities and vulnerabilities women and girls face and to develop gender-responsive strategies so that men’s and women’s group no longer work in silos. There is a need to find synergies and make concerted efforts to engage more with men and boys in WATSAN community forums. To achieve sanitation outcomes enshrined in the SDGs by 2030, it is necessary to interlink SDG 5 (Gender Equality), with SDG 6 (Water and Sanitation) and, SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities).

Tripti Singh and Anju Dwivedi work with the Centre for Policy Research.

Budget 2020 Sets India on the Path to Meet SDG Targets for Water and Sanitation

The water sector in India is highly stressed and steps announced in the budget to address this issue are a welcome step.

The Central government has announced in the Budget through the allocations for the water and sanitation sectors, it aims to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 of ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. These are welcome steps given the critical condition of India’s water sector, which is highly stressed.

Water resources are limited. The water demand in all sectors by 2050 is estimated to exceed its supply. While demand is growing, the quality of water supply is dwindling. Per capita water supply is declining on an annual basis and is likely to touch the benchmark of water-scarce supply in the coming years. Groundwater levels are also decreasing, although globally, India is the highest user of groundwater, especially in irrigation and domestic sectors. Its quality is also a cause of concern.

SDG 6.1 stipulates achieving universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking for all by 2030. Under the Jal Jivan Mission (JJM) scheme, India launched the programme to provide piped water connections (at 55 litres per head per day) to 14.6 crore rural households by 2024. An amount of Rs 3.6 lakh crore (with a Central share of Rs 2.08 lakh crore) has been approved for this scheme over the five year period. During 2020-21 (Table 1), an allocation of Rs 11,500 crore (15% more than the revised estimate for 2019-20) for connecting 1.15 crore household through functionally piped connections in rural areas, has been made. Under this programme, source sustainability measures for augmenting water supply through rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge, and management of greywater for reusing wastewater, have been envisaged through gram panchayats which should play a crucial role in planning, designing, execution, operations and maintenance of the in-village infrastructure.

SDG 6.2 goals are required to be achieved by India through access to adequate sanitation and hygiene for all, and ending open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women, girls, and those in vulnerable situations. Having made substantial progress under the Swachh Bharat Mission and declaring the country as open defecation free (ODF), India is determined to continue to take steps for liquid and solid faecal waste management, post toilet construction. Accordingly, it has allocated Rs 12,294 crore (25% more than the revised estimate of 2019-20) for FY 2020-21 for achieving the ‘ODF plus’ status of sanitation component. This is also a welcome step.

Swachh bharat

Swachh bharat

Water quality has to be improved by reducing pollution (SDG 6.3) by 2030. For cleaning the river, allocation of funds under Namami Gange (Rs 800 crore) for Ganga cleaning and National River conservation (Rs 840 crore) for cleaning other rivers, has been made during 2020-21. SDG 6.6 mandates protecting and restoring water-related ecosystem such as wetlands, rivers, aquifers. These two programmes address this aspect as well. There is no fund allocated for grey water management for recycling and reuse of wastewater as required under SDG (6.3), although this aspect is proposed to be covered under the JJM scheme while giving access to water.

India’s water use efficiency in all sectors is not satisfactory. For example, India’s water use is highest in the irrigation sector (80%) and its efficiency is only 38%. To address the improvement of the efficiency, PMKSY (‘per drop more crop’) scheme was launched using micro-irrigation technology. India’s potential for micro-irrigation is an area of 70 million hectares and the achievement till 2018 is only 9 million hectares. PMKSY is a Centrally sponsored scheme and states’ meaningful participation is essential. Budget 2020-21 allocated Rs 4,000 crore, which is almost double the RE 2019-2020 amount and is substantial.

Unfortunately, increasing water use efficiency in the domestic and industrial sectors was not touched upon in the Budget, although the SDG 6.4 mandates increasing efficiency in all sectors. To ensure sustainable water withdrawals, an allocation of Rs 200 crore under Atal Bhujal Yojana for incentivising and effective groundwater management is a welcome step. In addition, PMKSY (Har khet ko pani) and integrated watershed management have been allocated higher funds during 2020-21 for addressing source sustainability measures.

Given the allocation of funds for water and sanitation sectors was Rs 30,478 crore for 2020-21 (higher than the 2019-20 figure by about 20%), India’s commitment to implementing the SDG 6 goal is evident. Since water and sanitation are state subjects, the states’ full participation in the implementation of schemes is essential. Given the past achievements in sanitation sectors, there is much hope for overcoming the enormous challenges in the water sector.

S.K. Sarkar is a distinguished fellow and senior director, Natural Resources and Climate, TERI, New Delhi and a former secretary, Ministry of Water Resources.

Ganga Pollution: Centre Imposes Rs 50,000 Fine for Idol Immersion

A 15-point directive was issued by the National Mission for Clean Ganga to 11 states in the river basin.

New Delhi: The Centre has issued strict directives to state governments to take measures to prevent immersion of idols in the Ganga during festivals, including levying a fine of Rs 50,000 and cordoning off ghats.

According to the Indian Express, the 15-point directive was issued by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) to chief secretaries in 11 Ganga basin states. “No idol immersion into river Ganga and its tributaries and on their banks,” the directive says. Idols are immersed into rivers during festivals such as Dussehra, Diwali, Chhath, Ganesh Chaturthi and Saraswati Puja.

Last month, representatives of states and NMCG officials met to discuss ways to prevent pollution of the river. According to the newspaper, the chief secretaries of 11 states in the Ganga basin received the directive and were told to strictly implement norms against the immersion of idols and disposal of puja material in the Ganga and its tributaries. They were asked to make suitable alternative arrangements in an “environmental-friendly manner”.

The states that were issued the directive are Uttarakhand, Uttar Prades, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Rajasthan.

Apart from the Rs 50,000 fine and cordoning off and barricading ghats, arrangements should be made for “designated idol-immersion sites” by constructing temporary confined ponds with removable synthetic liners at the bottom”.

According to the Indian Express, the directive says:

“All concerned state government, authority, board or corporation should ensure that there is no use of synthetic material/ non-biodegradable material, Plaster of Paris (POP), baked clay, resin fibers and thermocol for making of idols. Besides, the use of toxic and non-biodegradable chemical dyes or synthetic paints for painting of idols should be strictly prohibited.”

The chief secretaries have also been asked to submit an action taken report within seven days after the end of each festival. District magistrates have been tasked to enforce the directives. “If any person violates above directions, then Rs 50,000 as environment compensation should be levied, collected and deposited with State Pollution Control Boards,” it says.

Media reports show that annually, after Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja and Kali Puja, pollution levels in rivers increase dramatically. Commercial idols are made using plaster of Paris (PoP) and coated with harmful paints containing heavy metals. Several states have banned the use of PoP and have encouraged natural paints in a bid to reduce pollution.

In 2014, the central government had launched Namami Gange, a flagship initiative “with a Budget outlay of Rs 20,000 crore to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of National River Ganga”. The Wire reported in April this year that only 18% of the total money collected under the Clean Ganga Fund (CGF) had been spent.

Clean Ganga Project: Uma Bharti Flagged High Expenditure on Crematoriums

During a visit to Jharkhand, she disapproved that huge amounts were spent on the construction of crematoriums in areas where locals could not even purchase medicines.

New Delhi: Former Ganga rejuvenation minister Uma Bharti was disappointed at the large amounts of money being spent on construction of river banks and crematoriums under the Namami Gange programme, documents accessed by The Wire show.

Nevertheless, the Narendra Modi government decided to allocate a huge sum for these projects under the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), according to the minutes of the meeting of the Empowered Task Force on River Ganga. A copy of the minutes was obtained by The Wire.

During an inspection, Bharti disapproved of the excessive amounts spent on the construction of crematoriums, particularly in Jharkhand.

The minutes of the second meeting of the task force, held on August 3, 2017, state, “Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Minister (Uma Bharti) said that she was extremely disappointed during her inspection visit in Jharkhand because a huge amount has been spent on the construction of crematoriums where locals do not have money to even purchase medicines.”

During this meeting, it also came to light that although the provision for the construction of cremation grounds under the Namami Gange programme was Rs 400 crore, more than Rs 1,150 crore was approved.

Also Read: Water Ministry’s Task Force on Ganga Is Not Having the Meeting It’s Supposed To

According to the minutes, “For several projects, the NOC was not issued for many reasons by the Forest Department, Irrigation Department, and local bodies. Even if the amount to be spent on construction of river banks and crematoriums is cut down, it will still be more than Rs 400 crore.”

Despite the disappointment expressed by Uma Bharti, the Modi government allocated more than Rs 400 crore for schemes related to river banks and cremation grounds.

On December 27, 2018, the minister of state for the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Satyapal Singh told the Lok Sabha that around Rs 966 crore was allocated for schemes related to river banks and cremation grounds. Of this, Rs 204.39 crore was allocated to renovate 24 old ghats and cremation grounds and Rs 717.39 crore for 35 new ghats and crematoriums. Another Rs 43.87 crore was allocated for three projects to clean ghats.

However, Uma Bharti refused to comment on the matter. Speaking to The Wire, she said, “Since I am no longer the minister, it is not appropriate for me to comment on the matter.”

Activists also raise concern

Apart from Uma Bharti, several activists working towards the conservation of the Ganga have also expressed concern. According to social activist Rajendra Singh, popularly known as Jalpurush, the government is doling out millions of rupees to contractors under the pretext of rejuvenating the Ganga. The river will never get cleaned this way, he said.

Singh said, “The government has interrupted the flow of the river by constructing dams. It is causing the river to die. The river can only survive if can flow unhindered, not by constructing a riverfront and cremation grounds. In the garb of the Namami Gange project, the government is merely raking in the moolah and distributing it. It will not benefit the Ganga.”

The first meeting of the Empowered Task Force on River Ganga was held on February 8, 2017. It was presided over by Uma Bharti. The second meeting was on August 3, 2017. The task force has not met again till date. On September 3, a month after the second meeting, Bharti was removed as the Union minister for water resources.

The Centre launched the Namami Gange project in May 2015. To conserve the Ganga, the plans included treatment of sewage from cities, treatment of industrial pollution, river surface cleaning, rural sanitation, riverfront development, construction of river banks and cremation ghats, tree plantation and biodiversity conservation.

So far, 254 projects have been sanctioned under the programme at an estimated cost of Rs 24,672 crore. Till November 30, 2018, 131 projects of sewage treatment plants (105 on the Ganga and 26 on its tributaries) were sanctioned at a cost of Rs 19,772 crore. Of these, only 31 project have been completed.

nirmalta, aviralta, Ganga river, Indo-Gangetic basin, GD Agarwal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ardh Kumbh Mela, Yogi Adityanath, 2019 Lok Sabha elections, National Ganga Council, Indian National Congress, Varanasi, Priyanka Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi,

Dirty water from an industrial plant flowing into the Ganga in Kanpur. Credit: PTI

Action against industries

In addition to opposing the large amounts of money allocated for construction of river banks, Uma Bharti also wanted stern action to be taken against industries polluting the Ganga. In the same meeting, Bharti said no industrial unit can release effluents into the river and said strict action should be taken against those who fail to comply.

Bharti added, “No industrial unit can release its waste in the river under the guise of providing employment because millions of others who fall sick due to it pay the price.”

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

It also came to light in the meeting that several states have not been provided adequate funds to carry out afforestation on the banks of the Ganga. A total of 16 afforestation projects have been approved under the Namami Gange, for which Rs 236.56 crore has been allocated.

Questions have also been raised on why money allocated under the project was not spent. During the task force’s meeting, the finance ministry’s representative expressed a concern that the rate of expenditure was not satisfactory and that it should be improved.

Council headed by PM hasn’t met once

Previously, The Wire reported that the National Ganga Council (NGC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not met even once thus far. The NGC was formed in October 2016 to preserve, protect and manage the Ganga river waters. According to the regulations, the NGC is supposed to meet at least once every year.

While the Empowered Task Force on River Ganga has met only twice thus far, the regulations say it must meet every three months.

The fact that not a single meeting was convened despite concerns from both the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and the parliamentary committee headed by Murli Manohar Joshi raises questions about the Modi government’s commitment to clean the Ganga.

Translated from the Hindi original by Naushin Rehman.

National Ganga Council Headed by Narendra Modi Has Not Met Even Once

According to the regulations, the council is supposed to meet at least once every year.

New Delhi: There has not been even a single meeting of the National Ganga Council (NGC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi thus far, a Right to Information query filed by The Wire has revealed. According to the regulations, the NGC is supposed to meet at least once every year.

The NGC was formed in October 2016. Its purpose is to preserve, protect and manage the Ganga river waters. On October 7, 2016, a notification issued by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation stated that the NGC should hold one or more meetings every year, at its discretion.

However, information obtained from the National Clean Ganga Mission, an organisation under the water ministry, has revealed that more than two years since its formation, the NGC has not held a single meeting. The NGC is perhaps the largest committee overseeing work being done towards cleaning the Ganga.

With the formation of the NGC, the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) was dissolved. The functioning of the NGRBA was similar to the NGC, and the prime minister was the chairman of the NGRBA as well.

The NGRBA was formed after the Congress-led UPA government came to power in 2009. Its first meeting was held on October 5, 2009, under the chairmanship of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

From 2009 to 2012, there were three meetings of the NGRBA which Manmohan Singh presided over. After this, there were three meetings between 2014 and 2016, out of which two meetings were presided over by then water minister Uma Bharti. The March 26, 2015 meeting of the Authority was chaired by Modi.

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

Environmentalist Ravi Chopra, who has worked on Ganga cleanliness, said that this shows how much importance the prime minister gives to the river. “This is the final deciding body on the Ganga. It should have had at least two meetings in a year. If the prime minister is not able to convene even a single meeting, then the question arises if this is indeed a decisive body or just a copy.”

The water resources, river development and Ganga conservation minister is the vice-president of the NGC. Apart from this, the chief ministers of five states – Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, the Union environment minister, finance minister and urban development minister are its members.

In a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit report on the National Clean Ganga Mission (NMCG) released in December 2017, the government was reprimanded. The report highlighted the delay in river cleaning, installation of sewage treatment plants and construction of toilets in houses.

At the same time, the parliamentary estimates committee presided over by BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi expressed great disappointment in the government’s efforts regarding Ganga cleaning.

Dirty water from an industrial plant flowing into the Ganga in Kanpur. Credit: Reuters

In response, the government had claimed that for cleaning the Ganga, the water ministry had prepared a five-level mechanism at the national, state and district levels. The NGC is the most prominent of these mechanisms. The fact that not a single meeting was convened despite concerns from both the CAG and the parliamentary committee raises questions about the Modi government’s seriousness about cleaning the Ganga.

In its report, the estates’ committee had said that pollution in the Ganga has been increasing rapidly for many years due to urbanisation, industrialisation and an increase in population. The river’s flow is hampered as water is diverted for irrigation, industrial purposes, drinking water and so on.

The committee further said, “Not only the mainstream of Ganga, but there is a huge shortage of sewage treatment (cleaning) capacity in the entire Ganga basin which passes through 11 states. On the mainstream of the Ganga, 7,301 million litres per day (MLD) sewage is created in five states (Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal), but facilities exist to treat only 2,126 MLD sewage.”

The estimates committee said that a sewage treatment plant is under construction to clear sewage up to 1,188 MLD. According to this, there is no arrangement for cleaning 3,987 MLD water every day, even after a sewage treatment plant is built.

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

Apart from this, the committee had said that seven IITs had jointly prepared the Ganga River Basin Management Plan, which states that in the 11 states, 12,051 MLD sewage is created daily, but only 5,717 MLD is treated. Given that, 6,334 MLD sewage falls into the river or other water resources without having been cleaned.

The parliamentary committee had said, “It is a matter of great concern that the Ganga has become one of the ten most polluted rivers in the world. Due to unchecked urbanisation, excessive hazardous waste and domestic sewage in the river, the cleanliness of the Ganges has suffered huge losses. Regarding the lack of effective coordination between the plurality of institutions and stakeholders at the Centre and state level, the committee suggests that a comprehensive and empowered authority should be created for cleaning the river.”

After this recommendation, the government formed the NGC. But since it hasn’t met, the government’s seriousness may be called into question.

A member of the disbanded NGRBA and social worker Rajendra Singh, known as Jalpurush, expressed disappointment and said that Modi is only showing off, and instead of saving the Ganga is only lying to the people of this country.

He said, “The Ganga river has a heart disease, but a dentist is treating it. The government has stopped the flow of the river by making a dam. The government is making ghats, a riverfront and waterways just anywhere. Under the Char Dham project, the entire Himalaya is being cut and deposited into the Ganga. This is a way to end the river’s life; the Ganga will never be cleaned.”

The Centre had approved the Namami Gange programme in May 2015 for the protection of the river. Under this, guidelines were created to clean the Ganga. This includes the treatment of sewage from the cities and industrial pollution, cleaning the river surface, rural sanitation, riverfront development, construction of ghats and cremation grounds, tree plantation and biodiversity conservation.

So far, a total of 254 projects have been approved for this programme, with an estimated cost of Rs 24,672 crore. Out of this, as of November 30, 2018, 131 (105 on the Ganga and 26 on tributaries) were sewage treatment projects at a cost of 19,772 crore. Only 31 of these projects had been completed.

Projects approved under the Namami Gange scheme. Credit: Lok Sabha

For the rest of the Rs 4,930 crore, 123 projects have been allocated for riverfront development, constructing ghats and cremation grounds, cleaning the river surface, tree planting, rural cleaning, etc.

The Ganga projects launched by Modi have seen controversy before. The late environmentalist G.D. Agarwal had been writing letters to the prime minister, saying that the projects approved by the government for cleaning the Ganga are only benefitting the corporate sector and business houses.

Agrawal, who was on a hunger strike for 112 days, wrote three letters to Modi about the Ganga before he died. They all went unanswered.

Rajendra Singh said, “When we were in the NGBRA, our voice was always heard. If there were any problems, then the prime minister would call us and talk to us. But the prime minister of the day does not think it necessary to talk to experts. Now, nobody is consulting the people who speak genuinely for the Ganga. Thousands of rupees were distributed in the name of the Ganga, but the required work was not done.”

Also read: India Revives Massive Yamuna Dam Project Despite Environmental Concerns

In October last year, The Wire had reported that the Ganga is not cleaner than before in any region, but in fact, has become more contaminated in many places in comparison to 2013. Between 2014 and June 2018, Rs 5,523 crore was released for cleaning the Ganga, out of which Rs 3,867 crore was spent.

Apart from this, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, has found in its study that of the 39 places that the Ganga passes through, the river was clean in only one region after the monsoon in 2018.

Following the instructions of the Supreme Court, the CPCB issued a report titled ‘Ganga River Biological Water Quality Assessment (2017-18)’ which stated that in 37 of the 41 places the Ganga passes through, water pollution was in the medium-severe category prior to the monsoon.

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.”