Category: Lok Issues

Manoj Kumar, 40, a priest on the ghats of Ram Ganga in UP, says his skin itches after he takes a dip in the holy river. Kumar believes Namami Gange should involve all stakeholders it its plans.

In my 12 years as a priest (panda), I have seen that people often get contemplative in the presence of Ma Ganga (river ganges). I often try to make people contemplate more deeply and spare a thought for the environment and the irreversible damage we, humans are causing to our rivers, trees and other natural resources. I always make it a point to talk to my jajmans (clients) about how the environment (our rivers in particular) is getting polluted, in the little time I get to interact with them. 

Every day, I sit on the ghats of River Ganga from morning till late in the noon. That Ganga and its tributaries remain clean is of great importance to everyone, but more specifically for us, because it is so closely connected to our ajeevika (livelihoods). When the Namami Gange Project was launched in 2014, the priests as well as the shraddhalus (devotees) had high hopes. 

In the past five years, the water has definitely seems cleaner than before, but there’s still a lot of scope for improvement.  I live in Bareilly, the tributary of the Ganga flowing here, that is, Ram Ganga needs more attention from the authorities. Every year, after Holi, the river starts drying up, but the authorities visit the ghats only during Jyaishtha Dussehra (also known as the Ganga Dussehra) in the month of June and Kartik mela in the month of November. I wish they would visit the ghats more regularly and communicate clearly with all the stakeholders involved. 

Also, the authorities need to understand that just the physical cleaning of the river isn’t the solution, we need a more holistic approach. We need more safai karmacharis on the ghats, who can stop people from throwing the pollutants in the river.  As a priest, I make it my duty to put all the leftovers from the puja (mainly biodegradable items) in a pit so that it can be composted. My fellow priests also try to practice this and we plan to do everything in our capacity to keep the ghats clean. The government should create mass awareness about why people should not throw the leftover material that is generated during home pujas into rivers and what they can do instead. This way a huge amount of pollutants can be stopped from entering the rivers. 

Apart from all this, the Namami Gange project should also look at building infrastructure to fulfil the basic needs of the pilgrims as well as the people who work at the ghats. There is an urgent need for changing rooms for women so that our mothers and sisters can perform their pujas comfortably. Washrooms also need to be built in large numbers, but at quite a distance from the ghats. We need a tree plantation drive too. Even in the dead heat of Indian summers we have to sit under the Sun; there’s no shade or cool breeze. Even if we want to wash our faces or want to take a dip to ward off the excess heat, we can’t do it very regularly because our skin starts itching from the river water. 

My children, who are studying in another town, often come to visit me. Whenever, they are here, they update me about what other countries are doing for the environment. They have told me all about climate change and how it is slowly killing our planet. Polluted rivers too, can contribute to climate change, leading to extreme weather events. We don’t have much time and we need to put all our collective intelligence, heart and soul into cleaning our country’s most precious natural resource, the river Ganga, our Ganga Maiya.

Income tax payer community feels shortchanged by the Union Budget 2019-20 as they feel that instead of bringing more people into the tax net to increase earnings, successive governments have only taxed the organized sector professionals.

Even as the middle class found nothing enthusiastic in the Union Budget, presented by Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, finance professionals believe the vision document is in continuation with the Modi government’s declared policies.

The salaried middle class in the National Capital Region feels neglected by the Union Budget 2019-20 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Most of them were expecting some relief in income tax slabs but it never came.

Also Read: My Skin Itches After Every Holy Dip In Ganga

In this video, Team LokMarg speaks to young experts, mainly CA and CS aspirants, about the Union Budget 2019-20 and what it entails for various sections of society. Clearly, it is a big disappointment for the middle class.

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Jagdish, a carpenter at village Tavalik in Uttarakhand, has never heard of Swachh Bharat not the grant for toilets at home. Jagdish says the kuccha toilets in his household became a necessity after leopards were spotted near the village.

Our village is about three-hour drive from Nainital. But even after a long winding drive, one has to walk quite a bit to reach here. Villages nestled in the Himalayas may look picturesque, but they come with their own set of challenges. A few years ago, we made our village free from open defecation. But it wasn’t because of a cleanliness drive. It was the fear of leopards and other wild animals that drove us to take the decision. 

Our village is in the middle of a forest reserve. Encountering wild animals, such as leopards, barasinghas (swamp deer) and wild boars while relieving ourselves in the open, had become very common.  

I have five kids and all of them used to go to the forest to answer the call of nature. One day they came across three leopard cubs. This meant that their mother was probably around. My children knew how to handle the situation. They just ran for their lives. From that day onwards, I vowed to build a toilet at home. 

The toilet in the house was built entirely by me. The construction is not that great, and it is not uncommon to encounter a scorpion or two perched upon the toilets, but it serves the purpose. 

The same holds true all the other toilets in the village. The construction is kuccha and has been built using outdated technology. Last year, during last rains, the roof of one toilets collapsed, fortunately no one got hurt.  

Residents of my village have no idea about the government’s support for construction of toilets. This is probably because our village is hardly accessible via motorable roads. The only motorable road that is connected to my village on the farther side of the mountain, which is not linked to any city or village. To get to work every day, I have to trek uphill for an hour to reach Hartola, the nearest village, relatively bigger than ours. Villagers often use horses to carry their goods. 

Our village lies in neglect. No government official has ever bothered to come here and tell us how we can benefit from their schemes. We are pretty much on our own. We have achieved the unthinkable, without any government support.

Aishwarya Sunder, 25, an automobile engineer, says things have come to such a pass in Chennai that one doesn’t expect a running tap at restaurants, what to say about using the washroom. And she sees darker days ahead.

Chennai summers are unbearably hot and they are turning hotter with each passing year. Water has always been a problem in Chennai, but this year the metro city is grappling with its most severe crisis. I used to live in the heart of the city (Crumpet) earlier but recently shifted to the outskirts. I am happy I did so.

For, the water supply in the outskirts is far, far better than inside the city. Maybe the credit should go to the society administration for ensuring that the resident don’t suffer. My current housing society lies in an SEZ (Special Economic Zone) where water is conserved by way of rain-water harvesting and other means. There are more trees here as well. And, most important, people take care to not waste water despite no imminent acute shortage.

A couple of days ago, I went to a friend’s birthday party at a restaurant in Chennai downtown and found there was no water in the taps to wash one’s hands with. That led me to think how do they access the water they use for cooking? If they have to buy bottled water to cook, then wouldn’t that lead to price rise soon? Also, what if someone wants to use the washroom? There are reports that the hospitality industry has been hit badly by the water shortage and I wonder how hotels are managing the water crisis. And summers aren’t just a few months’ long affair in Chennai; it is only around December that it rains in Chennai properly and the temperatures go down.

ALSO READ: Hurtling Towards A Dystopian Urban Crisis

The Cauvery water dispute which had been raging for years was finally sorted last year but the result was that Karnataka was allocated more water than before. I see it as one of the main reasons for the water shortage apart from the obvious fact that the city received, as per reports, 62% lesser rains than in 2017. Water at Chennai’s Porur lake has also reached its lowest level.

For many years, we have relied on tankers for water supply. It is not simple to rely on tankers. First of all, one has to be available to receive the water. Then, the tankers don’t always arrive on time. Next, there is no guarantee that the water will be clean. People can’t even use ROs (water purifiers) to cleanse the water directly from tankers. More, one has to shell out anything between ₹1,000-1,500 per person per month. Do the maths and you will realize what a heavy burden it is on the pocket.

Last, but not the least, infections and water-related health issues are common. So, we have to depend on about 30 litres of mineral water bottles every month and there’s no guarantee that they will always be easily available.

We are hearing stories from our friends working in the IT Sector as to how they are being asked to work from home since their offices aren’t able to handle the water shortage. I work in the automobile sector, and so far we haven’t been asked to work from home. However, the swimming pool in our office has been closed down and there is regular office advisory to use water judiciously.

It is high time our city, state and country woke up to the environmental crisis we are facing. This crisis has been long in the making and the solutions will take time too. However, now everyone needs to stop the blame game and contribute to the best of their capacity to restore the city’s ailing water supply system. It can be something as small as taking bath using buckets and not showers because then one can regulate how much water one has used or washing vegetables in utensils rather than under a running tap. After all boond boond se sagar banta hai (many a trickle makes a mickle).