Benaras Final Word

Benaras 2011 Ganga on a Wobbling Pivot A Discover India Program Analytical report submitted to Discover India Program Committee, FLAME for partial fulfillment of Discover India Program Six Credit Course Research Team Shruti Bansal, Palak Shah, Shivani Shah, Janam Mehta, Sehar Chumble, Samrat Urval, Manan Vyas, Navak Gupta, Kunjal Gandhi, Dhvani Kothari, Ajit Balkawade, Sejal Singhvi Faculty Mentor : Professor Shirisha Sathe 21-3-2011 FLAME School of Liberal Education Foundation for Liberal and Management Education, Pune Year 2010 - 2011 2 3 Authentication Certificate This is to certify that the work incorporated in this report entitled “ Benaras 2011 – Ganga on a Wobbling Pivot” submitted by the undersigned Research Team was carried out under my mentorship. Such material as has been obtained from other sources has been duly acknowledged. Research Team Shruti Bansal ____________________ Palak Shah ____________________ Shivani Shah ____________________ Janam Mehta ____________________ Sehar Chumble ____________________ Samrat Urval ____________________ Manan Vyas ____________________ Navak Gupta ____________________ Kunjal Gandhi ____________________ Dhvani Kothari ____________________ Ajit Balkawade ____________________ Sejal Singhvi ____________________ Date : ______________ Faculty Mentor : ___________________ Place: ______________ Signature: ___________________________ 4 5 Acknowledgements Sudhir bhai, Manjuji and Malik bhai were like our Lamp posts in the night, Mayor Kaushalendra Singh exposed the Holy river Ganga’s plight, Dahya Mama, Vasundhara and Yogesh Pathak Thanks for being our guiding light! Professors Dalia and Maya What would we have done without you? Dom kids, diya sellers, pandas on the Ghat Thanks for explaining to us what you do! Ram Krishna Malviyaji, For your help we bow down Hoping that one day Benaras becomes a clean town! Ahmad bhai and Shrey We are grateful to you For telling us about Benaras when we had no clue FLAME Chairman and President For allowing DIP to happen, Hats off to you DIP Committee- No one could have done a better job than you! Shirisha Ma’am- Thank you for being ever so helpful and kind If we had to do DIP again Benaras is the only place that comes to our mind! 6 7 Table of contents INDEX OF CHAPTERS AUTHENTIFICATION CERTIFICATE ................................................................................................................................................... 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................................................................ 5 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................................................... 10 LITERATURE REVIEW …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………17 MYTHS AND CONTRASTS ...................................................................................................................................................... 18 RIVER GANGA…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...20 GANGA ACTION PLAN………………………………………………………………………………………………………….22 DEATH…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….26 METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………29 ANALYSIS………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...45 APPENDIX………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..53 BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…57 INDEX OF FIGURES AND VISUAL DOCUMENTS FIGURE 1: MAP OF INDIA SHOWING VARANASI ............................................................................................................................. 9 FIGURE 2: GANGA POLLUTION ....................................................................................................................................................... 11 FIGURE 3: RIVER BANK POLLUTION DUE TO RITUALS AND SEWAGE ................................................................................... 12 FIGURE 4: MAP OF THE 12 DAMS .................................................................................................................................................. 21 FIGURE 5: SUNRISE AT GANGA……………...………………………………………………………………………………………29 FIGURE 6: GANGA AARTI .................................................................................................................................................................. 32 FIGURE 7: MOUNTAINS OF WOOD .................................................................................................................................................. 34 FIGURE 8: MANIKARNIKA GHAT: THE PERRINIAL PYRE .......................................................................................................... 35 FIGURE 9: SHAMSHAAN NAATH STUDIO.……………………………………………………………………………………..….37 Figure10 Pappu Chai Walah ……………………………………………………………………………………………….....43 TABLE 1: LITERACY RATES OF THE STATES IN INDIA………………………………………………………………………….53 8 Figure 1: Map of India showing Varanasi 9 “Ganga: The abused yet adored superstar of India!” ~ Philip Reeves At the formal launching of the Ganga Action Plan on June 14, 1986 at Benaras, the then PM Rajiv Gandhi made an opening statement saying: “The purity of the Ganga has never been in doubt. Yet we have allowed the pollution of this river, which is the symbol of our spirituality….From now on, we shall put a stop to this. We shall see that the waters of the Ganga become clean once again...In the years to come, not only the Ganga, but all our rivers will be clean and pure as they were thousands of years ago.”1 It has been twenty five years since the Congress initiated the ambitious Ganga Action Plan. It has failed three times, and the standards of goals have been lowered with each attempt. In the twenty five years, the Apex body NRCA (National River Conservation Authority), was supposed to meet once every year whereas they have met only eleven times, with no discussion between the years 2003 – 2007.2 Inertia in taking action largely stemmed from the widely held belief that Ganga as a holy river can purify everything that is put into it. As of today the Ganga is counted by the WWF (World Wide Fund) as one of the 5 most threatened rivers in Asia and top ten in the world.3Water samples from Benaras reveal that the faecal Coliform (type of bacterium found in colons of humans and animals) count is 10,000% higher than the government standard for safe river bathing.4 And yet people bathe in the Ganga every day.5 1http://www.ecofriends.org/main/eganga/images/Critical%20analysis%20of%20GAP.pdf 2http://www.ecofriends.org/main/eganga/images/Critical%20analysis%20of%20GAP.pdf 3http://www.financialexpress.com/news/ganges-is-one-of-worlds-10-most-polluted-rivers/194554/ 4 http://www.indiawaterfoundation.org/water_situation_in_UP.aspx 5 http://www.indiawaterfoundation.org/water_situation_in_UP.aspx 10 People from various parts of the country come to die in Benaras, with bodies burning every hour of the day. The two cremation Ghats (Harishchandra and Manikarnika) together dump 33,000 bodies and 16,000 tonnes of ash annually into the river.6 People in Benaras attribute the major cause of pollution to the Tehri Dam in Uttarakhand, which has led to the flow of water falling from 1,000 cubic feet per second to a mere 2 cubic feet per second.7 Mild forms of stagnation are the most pertinent causes of pollution today. But the more imperative question is, do we really need major statistics to tell us how polluted the water is when it is clearly visible to the naked eye? Figure 2: Ganga Pollution In twenty five years, the government has spent 36,000 rupees8 on de-polluting 6http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-05-15/india/28297840_1_ganga-river-basin-authority- king-bhagirath-lower-ganga-canal 7http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-05-15/india/28297840_1_ganga-river-basin-authority- king-bhagirath-lower-ganga-canal 8http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-05-15/india/28297840_1_ganga-river-basin-authority- king-bhagirath-lower-ganga-canal 11 the rivers of India but if after it all the Dom Raja9 even today says, “It is our tradition to dirty the Ganga, for our religion deems it tolerable”, then we have a problem. The root of this problem lies in the fact that there is a conflict between the belief systems of people, and the strategies applied to de-pollute the river. Let’s take the simple ritual of offering flowers into the river. Flowers do not decompose completely in water; they become lumps that settle down on the river bed. Figure 3: River Bank Pollution due to rituals and sewage The government devices measures to stop this, but the problem occurs when people do not conform to the measures that are imposed. This is due to an opposing religious belief that it is disrespectful to put flowers on the ground after they have been offered to god. The only option then is the river, and since the Ganga will ‘forever remain pure’, the individual will prefer to go against the government and preserve his belief systems. So even if there is a will to support the government, the will to uphold one’s own belief system is more powerful and sometimes inflexible. 9Dom Raja- Dom is the caste of cremators in Benaras. Dom Raja is the head or king of this caste. 12 Three words that unarguably stand out in the statement made by the Dom Raja are tradition, dirty and religion. For someone to make a statement like this with not only conviction but also pride means that there is more to it than what it

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