5/23/2016 BBC News ­ India's dying mother (/) (https://ssl.bbc.co.uk/id/signin?ptrt=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fresources%2Fidt­ aad46fca­734a­45f9­8721­61404cc12a39) (http://search.bbc.co.uk/search) India's dying mother by Justin Rowlatt The Ganges is one of the greatest rivers on Earth, but it is dying. From the icy Himalayan peaks, where it begins, right down to the Bay of Bengal, it is being slowly poisoned. The Ganges is revered in India but it is also the sewer that carries away the waste from the 450 million people who live in its catchment area. Pollution from the factories and farms of the fastest-growing large economy in the world – and from the riverside cremation of Hindu true believers - has turned its waters toxic. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt­aad46fca­734a­45f9­8721­61404cc12a39 1/30 5/23/2016 BBC News ­ India's dying mother The Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, promised two years ago to clean up the Ganges, but can he do it? Can the sacred mother of Hinduism be saved? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt­aad46fca­734a­45f9­8721­61404cc12a39 2/30 5/23/2016 BBC News ­ India's dying mother The Swami The source of the Ganges lies among the soaring, snow-clad peaks of the Himalayas. As a rose-pink dawn rises over the jagged teeth of the mountains, the valley where the river begins remains in deep shadow. It takes hours for the sun to scale the great crags. Only then does a single shaft of sunlight finally penetrate into the chasm. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt­aad46fca­734a­45f9­8721­61404cc12a39 3/30 5/23/2016 BBC News ­ India's dying mother It strikes a glacier called Gangotri, suddenly illuminating its cloudy blue and white depths. It is easy to understand why this is one of the most sacred sites in all Hinduism. Up here in the cold fresh air the great shimmering body of frozen water appears radiantly pure. At the foot of the glacier there is a cave in the ice. This is “Gaumukh”, the cow’s mouth, and the chuckling stream of crystal clear icy water that emerges from it is the beginning of the Ganges. Ma Ganga, it is known in Hindi: “Mother Ganges”. It’s an apt name - the Ganges has nurtured and supported the rise of Indian civilisation. As the stream snakes down from the mountains it gathers pace and volume, joined by hundreds of others bringing snowmelt from the vast Himalayan watershed. But studies show that even here in the Himalayas the water is becoming increasingly polluted. And the further you descend, the more pronounced the legendary river’s problems become. In the holy city of Rishikesh, Swami Chidanand Saraswati is leading the evening aarti, a Hindu fire ceremony. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt­aad46fca­734a­45f9­8721­61404cc12a39 4/30 5/23/2016 BBC News ­ India's dying mother He is an irrepressibly cheerful man, the flickering light of the butter candles he circles in front of him twinkle in his eyes as he chants and sings along with the music. About 50 monks take part, watched by a couple of hundred devotees. These river aartis are a celebration of the Ganges. A similar ritual is performed in towns and villages all along the 2,500km-long (1,500-mile) river. All day pilgrims have been descending to the water to bathe, part of an ancient ritual of purification. Hindus revere the Ganges as a god. They believe she came down from heaven to cleanse the Earth, and that bathing in her waters can wash away a person’s sins. The Swami has built the ashram into a huge enterprise. He glances down modestly when I ask how many followers he has. “Perhaps a million,” he replies. But his demeanour changes when I ask about pollution in the river. His brow furrows. Too many people think the Ganges not only purifies sin but also has the power to cleanse itself, he says. Sitting here by the Ganga I can tell you, before we take a bath in the Ganga we need to give Ganga a bath.” “People think Ganga can take care of my sins, can take care of anything, and they forget that while Ganga can take care of your sins it cannot take care of your waste, of your pollution.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt­aad46fca­734a­45f9­8721­61404cc12a39 5/30 5/23/2016 BBC News ­ India's dying mother Campaigning for a serious effort to clean the river, he says, occupies most of his time. He is in no doubt that India is killing the Ganges, “killing its own mother”, he says, and he is determined to save her. For me if Ganga dies, India dies. If Ganga thrives, India thrives.” The prime minister, Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist, also sees cleaning up the Ganges as nothing less than a mission from God. “Ma Ganga has called me,” he told the crowd at his victory celebration, when he was swept to power in a landslide victory two years ago. “She has decided some responsibilities for me. Ma Ganga is screaming for help, she is saying I hope one of my sons gets me out of this filth,” he said. “It is possible it has been decided by God for me to serve Ma Ganga.” He has pledged serious money to his Clean Ganga Mission - more than $3bn (£2bn) over five years. Quite deliberately he has chosen this as one of his signature projects, knowing that it is symbolic of an even bigger challenge - India’s effort to lift its people out of poverty and to become a modern world power. Previous Indian leaders launched similar initiatives. In the 1980s Rajiv Gandhi began a huge programme of public works, building sewers and water treatment plants, for example. But they didn’t solve the problem. In fact, the Ganges has steadily become more and more polluted. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt­aad46fca­734a­45f9­8721­61404cc12a39 6/30 5/23/2016 BBC News ­ India's dying mother So what can be done? The campaigner Rakesh Jaiswal believes he has a good idea where to begin. The veteran environmental campaigner has told me to meet him in the industrial area of Kanpur. Kanpur is the centre of India’s vast leather industry, and Jaiswal believes it is the dirtiest city in the entire country. Most of the leather produced in Kanpur is exported, much of it to Europe and the US. More likely than not you own products that use leather from Kanpur. “Follow me,” he orders, before vanishing into a web of high-walled alleyways. This modest, plump man has pretty much single-handedly led the campaign to clean up the leather industry in his home city for more than two decades. We swerve around a couple of tight corners until the alleyway opens up into a broad brick-paved path beside a stream. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt­aad46fca­734a­45f9­8721­61404cc12a39 7/30 5/23/2016 BBC News ­ India's dying mother Jaiswal turns to speak to me. I see he has a handkerchief clamped over his nose and is gesturing to the dark black water. I don’t hear a word he says. I am totally overwhelmed - disabled - by the warm oily stench coming from the water. Rakesh Jaiswal The smell is impossible to describe. There’s human waste in there, and something very rotten indeed. But that’s just what a wine buff would call the “top notes”. Behind them are other awful odours that I can’t even begin to identify: meaty, acidic and very wrong. Instinct takes over. I begin to retch uncontrollably. And each time my body convulses I suck in another great lungful of that fetid air. It is only with great effort that I manage to avoid vomiting. Jaiswal leads me swiftly away to a bluff overlooking the place where this filthy drain flows directly and completely unfiltered into the main flow of the Ganges. There is sewage and other domestic waste in the stream, he tells me, but also much more dangerous stuff. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt­aad46fca­734a­45f9­8721­61404cc12a39 8/30 5/23/2016 BBC News ­ India's dying mother The leather industry uses highly toxic chemicals to soften and preserve the hides, he says. Some - including compounds of chromium - are powerful carcinogens. “India has the resources to clean up the river,” he tells me. We have the science and technology, the talents, the manpower: everything is there. What is missing is honesty and dedication.” As Jaiswal sees it, the problem is simple. The government just does not enforce the laws it has enacted. What about the huge emphasis Narendra Modi has put on this project, I want to know. “Maybe he didn’t realise how difficult it would be,” he says. “It doesn’t matter how many meetings Modi has held in the past, how many he is holding, or will be holding in the future, I need to see the change on the ground to believe something is happening.” I can’t remember ever meeting a more dispirited campaigner. “I don’t think I am ever going to see a healthy and clean river in my lifetime. For the last 22 years I’ve been watching the same polluted river and there has been no change.