The legendary Professor Guru Das Agrawal failed to convince a government about his viewpoint on the rejuvenation of river Ganga and had to pay for this with his life.
 
He got promoted from a Lecturer directly to Professor at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur after having finished his Ph.D. from University of California at Berkeley in two years and laid the foundation of India’s anti-pollution regimen as the first Member-Secretary of Central Pollution Control Board. He died on 11 October, 2018 after 112 days of fasting on lemon water and honey, last three days of which were without any water at all.
 
It may be intriguing why the government, which rode to power on a Hindutva agenda, did not listen to a Hindu saint, which he had become in 2011, at the age of 79 years, on an issue of ecological and religious significance of Ganga, which was at the core of Prime Minister’s election campaign. Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand, as Professor G.D. Agrawal was now known, had put forward a draft for National River Ganga ji (Conservation and Management) Act in 2012. The government came up with The National River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Protection and Management) Bill in 2017 and updated it in 2018. The two draft Bills, however, differed in their basic perspectives.
 
During his sixth and last fast he wrote to PM Narendra Modi on 5 August 2018 that whereas the National Environmental Appellate authority of previous Manmohan Singh government had suspended the Lohari Nagpala hydroelectric project, even after some construction was over, on his clearly articulated demands and declared a length of over hundred kilometres of Bhagirathi from Gangotri to Uttarkashi as an Eco-Sensitive Zone, which means no destructive activity could take place here, the present government had not done a thing for conservation of Ganga even after four and a half years of being in power.
 
He repeated his four demands which he had intimated to PM before going on fast:

(1) The draft prepared by him along with Advocate M.C. Mehta and Paritosh Tyagi, among others, be placed before and passed by the Parliament,
(2) All under construction and proposed hydroelectric projects on streams directly flowing into Ganga in the upper reaches, downstream and its tributaries be scrapped with immediate effect,
(3) All mining and deforestation activities be banned in Ganga basin, and
(4) Form Ganga Bhakt Parishad to work to protect the interest of Ganga.
 
He never heard from the PM till his death, even though during his fifth fast in 2013 Rajnath Singh as the then Bhartiya Janata Party president had promised to him that all his demands related to Ganga would be met when Narendra Modi government will come to power.
 
Professor Agrawal wanted Ganga to be declared a national symbol. His main emphasis was on conservation of Ganga in its natural pristine glory, unobstructed natural flow, which he called as Aviral, and unpolluted water quality, which he described as Nirmal. He also wanted a ban on discharge of any untreated or treated sewage or industrial effluents in Ganga, incineration of any kind of solid waste, setting up of any units discharging pollutants, deforestation, illegal stone quarrying and sand mining, river-front development structures and chemicals or hazardous substances to be used in its vicinity. These have become necessary if any river is to be protected against destruction and degradation. It is important to know that Professor G.D. Agrawal’s important learnings emerged from his engineering experience with Rihand dam while working for the Uttar Pradesh State Irrigation Department.
 
As a true scientist, Professor Agrawal precisely defined Aviral to mean minimum environmental/ecological flow at every place, including the downstream of each dam, and at all times with universal bed, lateral, open-to-air, longitudinal and temporal connectivities.
 
He believed that to preserve the unique qualities of water of Ganga, that is, non-putrefying, disease destroying, health enhancing and pollution destroying it was necessary to ensure its Aviral flow. Similarly, Nirmal doesn’t merely mean meeting the standards on water quality related to pH (measure of acidity or alkalinity), Dissolved Oxygen, Biological Oxygen Demand, Chemical Oxygen Demand, Total Dissolved Solids, Free Chlorine and Total Chlorine or water treated by Reverse Osmosis process and Ultraviolet rays. The special ‘self-cleaning’ property of Ganga, he concluded scientifically, is because of the presence of bacteriophages, coliform destroying capabilities, large amounts of exo-cellular polymers coming from trees present in Himalayan uplands, a unique mix of heavy and radioactive metals, ultrafine silt or micro nucleii in the water. Essentially it is the rocks, sediment, vegetation including medicinal plants or ecology of the upper region that contributes to the special property of Ganga described as Nirmal.
 
Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Water Resources, River Basin Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, is known to have publicly said that he understands the concept of Nirmal but not that of Aviral. It is quite obvious that accepting Professor Agrawal’s concept of Aviral would disallow construction of any more dams. Another view emanating from the ruling BJP government is that they don’t care about the country, religion or its people but are only interested in ‘Development.’
 
Development which is clearly corporate driven and, as is now established, yields sufficient kickbacks to fund the next electoral cycle of the political party in power. Hence even though a senior functionary of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, who tried to mediate, said he agreed theoretically with Professor G.D. Agrawal’s vision on Ganga, the compulsions of realpolitik sealed the fate of Professor G.D. Agrawal and by extension that of Ganga. This threat will loom large on life and livelihood of people living in other river valleys too.
 
Professor Agrawal also fasted five times during the United Progressive Alliance regime. However, he never faced a threat to his life. The only time he fasted during the National Democratic Alliance government’s tenure it proved fatal for him. This also demonstrates that the development paradigm is not sensitive to socio-cultural issues, including religion, or environmental issues, in spite of the PM having won a United Nations award, and is more brazenly pro-corporate and less humane under the present government.
 
The vacuum created by Professor G.D. Agrawal’s demise almost seems to be unfillable. Where is another strong voice for Ganga? To many, religious-minded Professor G.D. Agrawal appeared to be in the mould of mythological figure Bhagirath, almost single-handedly taking up the cause of Ganga.
 
A true condolence to him would be to brace ourselves for the fight against governments which believe in concepts of development with attendant destruction of nature, corporations which implement such misplaced and misgoverned ideas of governments, contractors plundering natural resources including sand from river bed and the catchment, all three insensitive to human beings in the name of ‘development.’
 
The fight for conservation of Ganga is far from over. The chief priest of Matre Sadan, the ashram in Haridwar Professor Agrawal chose as his fast site, Swami Shivanand has warned Narendra Modi that after Swami Sanand he and his disciples will ensure that the chain of fasting doesn’t break. One Swami Gopal Das had also begun fasting soon after Swami Sanand started his fast on 22 June, 2018. Earlier Swami Nigmanand, also associated with Matre Sadan, laid down his life in 2011 on the 115th day of his fast, which is alleged to be a murder at the behest of a mining mafia associated with the then ruling BJP government in Uttarakhand. How many more lives will be sacrificed at the altar of development?
 
Medha Patkar is a social activist and the leader of Narmada Bachao movement. Sandeep Pandey is a social activist who co-founded Asha for Education.
 

The post How many more saints will be sacrificed at the altar of development? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
Haridwar: Members of Matu Jansangathan, a collective that works for dam-affected villagers in Uttarakhand have demanded an FIR against PM Modi, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and Union Minister Uma Bharti and to charge them with the murder of Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand (G.D Agarwal)
 
“We, Matu Jansangathan and other organisations express our anguish on the Government assassination of Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand (G. D. Agrawal) whose contributions to India’s environmental planning and design remains unparalleled till date in the country, he was CPCB’s first member secretary and a passionate engineer who inspired scores of students while at IIT-Kanpur,” said Vimalbhai of Matu Jansangathan.
 
They said that the current govt ignored the issues raised by Swamiji whereas the Congress acknowledged the issues and notified a stretch of the Bhagirathi river as free flow.
 
They were livid the govt heads call themselves sons and servants of Ganga. Nitin Gadkari is the road and highways ministers besides being the minister of water resources, shipping, river development and Ganga Rejuvenation. He calls himself the servant of Ganga.
 
“Uma Bharti, who calls herself the daughter of Ganga served the Ganga ministry and indulged in extravaganzas in Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan. She put up a show of the Namami gange project worth Rs. 22,000 crore and she failed miserably when it came to upholding her words towards Ganga and Swamiji,” they said.  
 
Vimalbhai added that Swamiji took to fasting because he saw that the govt did not respond to him for 4 years and with their tenure coming to an end and the work on dams continuing unabated on Ganga, he decided to go on a hunger strike.
 
They accused the govt of prolonging his suffering and causing his death. “Swamiji sent many letters to PM Modi but they went unnoticed. To divert the attention, they got onboard former CM Nishank who is a supporter of damns and was party to many dam projects during his tenure. They callously prolonged the process and Swamiji’s body gave in. When he became terribly weak and had announced to give u water, on Oct 10, Swamiji was taken to the hospital by the district magistrate. They forcibly lifted Swamiji along with his chair into the ambulance and drove away. They did not have the basic courtesy to show a senior citizen who was 87 years old. They did not care about taking him on a stretcher. The govt just wanted to wriggle out of this problem,” they said.
 
“We request an FIR against PM Modi, Nitin Gadkari and Uma Bharti for the assassination of Swamiji because Swamiji had said that if he died, PM Modi will be responsible for his death,” they said.
 
Swami Sanandji had fought for the closure of the dams on Alaknanda and Mandakini rivers. Matu Jansangathan has been raising the environment and ecology-related issues and “We are very grieved that the government did not pay heed to any of the issues. They neither thought of environment nor strengthened its own case advocated by the Board of Priests for Ganga. They have shown their true face that they only care about big dam companies. They do not care about the sanctity of Ganga but the resources and funds that can be extracted from it. Either in the form of waterways, running cruisers on its waters, misusing its water or just making the river a vote bank issue.”
 
They added that none of the Akhadas of Rishikesh, Haridwar or Sant Samaj in Ashrams stood with Swamiji. “Even they only care about the material gains they can acquire from the river. Baba Ramdev and Swami Chidanad of Rishikesh are also guilty. These saints conducting big seminars, conferences, meetings, collecting funds from around the world, inviting people to ashrams to perform Ganga Aarti besides the rest of the Sant Samaj, in reality, will bear the taint of killing the son of Ganga,” they said.
 
“We demand an FIR be registered under Sec. 302 of IPC, on Mr Modi, Mr Nitin Gadkari and Ms Uma Bharti for being complicit in the death of Swamiji. Also, all the Ashrams and sadhus should support the issues raised by Swami Sanandji to stop the construction of dams and stand for the cause for which Swamiji had to pay with his life,” Vimalbhai wrote.

Read Also:
Ganga flows….with ‘blood’…?
Fasting since June to save river Ganga,Prof. G. D. Agarwal dies
Why is the Central Government Silent on Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand’s Fast?
No end in sight for Ganga conservation crusaders fast unto death
 

The post Register FIR against PM Modi, Union ministers for murdering Ganga crusader Swami Sanandji appeared first on SabrangIndia.

From ‘ Ganga behti hai kyon’ by Pundit Narendra Sharma and lyrics rendered by Bhupen Hazarika
 

One of the present government’s prime mission was cleaning Ganga. It boasted of a flagship program ‘ Namami Gange’ but could not care to listen to the real fighter who was on fast since June 22 demanding concrete action to cleanse Ganga by not allowing industrial waste causing pollution and health problems to people.

Environmentalist GD Agrawal suffered cardiac arrest. He was administered a potassium and heart related medicine, told a doctor at AIIMS, Rhishikesh to ANI. (Environmentalist GD Agrawal dies after fasting to save Ganga … October 11, 2018, indiatvnews.com). He was demanding steps to make ganga ‘ aviral’ (free flowing) and clean.

The 86- year old former professor of IIT Kanpur has been demanding a ban on all hydroelectric projects along the tributaries of ganga besides enactment of the Ganga Protection Management Act . ( October 11, 2018, outlookindia.com). Agrawal sent several letters to the Prime Minister who, in 2014 pledged on the banks of ganga in Varanasi that immediate steps would be taken to clean ganga. But the government paid no heed to his demands, said ‘ IIT-ians for Holy Ganga’ , a forum formed to preserve the heritage and ecology of the river.

Brief sketch
G D Agrawal, also known as swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand, has earlier held the chair at Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering , Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He served on the board of the National Ganga River Basin Authority and was the first member secretary of Central Pollution Control Board. The government had also engaged him at various levels to advise them on the health of the country’s rivers. ( Oct 11, 2018, scroll.in). His demands included maintaining the environmental flow of the river to prevent pollution, removal of encroachments from the riverbank, and,a special law to deal with the pollution of the river.

In July, he was forcibly removed from his fasting venue by police and taken to undisclosed destination. Later, he filed a petition in Uttarakhand High Court stating that his peaceful fast did not pose law and order problem to State.

Condolences
Many human rights activists, environmental experts and politicians expressed their condolences. Activist Prashant Bhushan said that Agrawal passed away after his pleas to save the Ganga ‘ fell on Modi’s deaf ears’ . He also regretted ‘ this world is not for pure souls’ . Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, “…. Rs.22,000 crore was allotted for cleaning it ( ganga) but not even 1/4 th of it has been used..” Aam Admi Party leader Sanjay Singh, Rajya Sabha MP termed government as ‘ insensitive’ opined that the bjp garnered votes on the name of Ganga but could not save the son of ganga (Agrawal). Even the ruling party members including PM and Uma bharati ( who vowed to clean ganga) expressed grief but their inaction and lack of political will is palpably visible. Despite fasting for almost 111 days, the government failed to assure Agrawal and could not stop him from fasting. He had tried his best but when he realized that the rulers are unmoved, he stopped taking even water and honey for the last few days leading to his demise.

To- day, Ganga is smeared with blood of its loving son. Will the powers that be initiate any concrete step in future?

(The writer from anywhere and everywhere is supporter of human rights. Whenever the writer ponders on the question ‘ who am I?’, He receives response from a lyric by Bhupen Hazarika, ‘ ami ekti jajabor’ ( I am a gypsy). Some of the works appeared in dissident voice, poemHunter.com, tuckmagazine.com, counterview.org, counterview.net, velivada and virasam.org, etc)

Courtesy: https://countercurrents.org/
 

The post Ganga flows ….with ‘ blood’ …? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
Rishikesh: Noted environmentalist and Ganga river crusader Prof. GD Agarwal passed away due to a heart attack at the age of 86. He was taken to AIIMS Rishikesh where he was pronounced dead. He had been on an indefinite fast since June 22 demanding action over the river clean up.
 
In the course of his 111 day fast, he was only consuming water mixed with honey and had stopped the intake of water on Oct 9. “GD Agarwal, also known as Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand, was shifted by the police from Haridwar to AIIMS in Rishikesh yesterday after being on fast for 109 days. An AIIMS doctor said he suffered from hernia, high blood pressure and coronary artery disease and the fast worsened his condition,” reported NDTV.
 
“Dr. Agarwal refused to take water two days ago, as none of the state governments of the Gangetic basin, the Central Environment Ministry, the Water Resources Ministry or the Prime Minister’s Office did anything to respond to his Sathyagraha and take action to clean the Ganga and save her for posterity. Dr. Agarwal also demanded government must stop construction of hydroelectric projects along the river’s tributaries and enact the Ganga Protection Management Act to ensure the river has a chance to come back to life,” said the Environment Support Group.
 
Dr. Agarwal has served as a faculty member of IIT Kanpur, guided the Central Pollution Control Board as Member Secretary in taking tough action against industrial and urban polluters, and ensure our rivers flow free and healthy. He inspired thousands by his ascetic life and dedication to environmental causes.
 
ESG claims that Dr. Agarwal died due to the callousness of the Government and not taking any action to stop the river’s pollution. He died due to the unwillingness of the Judiciary to enforce multiple rulings tackling the river’s pollution. From the high reaches of the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal, this mighty river is being intensely polluted and its watershed extensively destroyed. Yet, no one has gone to jail.  But the one man who gave everything he could to save the river, has now been put to death.
 
“We must force the Government to take immediate steps to stop destroying the Ganga, and all other rivers. The Indian Government is seriously compromising the nation’s ecological, economic and health security by promoting reckless dam building, over-extraction of water, deforestation, wanton industrial and urban pollution, sand mining, river linking, and promoting land-use changes destroying riverine watersheds. This must end,” the group said.
 
In the third and last letter to PM Modi, Prof Agarwal had told him that he had misled people into believing that he cared about the river when he only made a ministry to help industries and corporates.
 
Full text of the letter (sourced from The Wire)
 
In Your Service
Shri Narendra Bhai Modiji,
Respected Prime Minister, Government of India, New Delhi
 
Respected Prime Minister,
 
I have written a few letters to you in the past addressing matters related to Gangaji, but I have not received any response from you addressing them till now. I had a great confidence that after your becoming the Prime Minister you would think seriously about Gangaji because you have yourselves stated in the run up to 2014 elections in Banaras that you have come there because of the call given to you by Ma Gangaji — that very moment I came to believe that you would probably do something worthwhile for Gangaji and it is on account of that belief that I kept waiting in peace for the past four and a half years. You would probably be aware that I have undertaken several fasts in the past seeking actions in favour of Gangaji and earlier accepting the grounds for my insistence ((sic) erstwhile Prime Minister Shri) Manmohan Singh ji decided to stop as well as cancel all activities in a major project like Lohari Nagpala which was already 90% complete by then, because of which the Government had to bear the brunt of the loss of thousands of crores rupees, yet the Government under Manmohan Singh ji went ahead and did this for the sake of Gangaji. Over and above this the then Government went ahead and declared the stretch of flow of Bhagirathi ji from Gangotri to Uttarkashi as an Eco-Sensitive Zone so as to ensure that activities that may cause harm to Gangaji never occur.
 
It was my expectation that you would go two steps forward and make special efforts for the sake of Gangaji because you went ahead and created a separate Ministry for all works relating to Gangaji, but in the past four years all actions undertaken by your Government have not at all been gainful to Gangaji and in her place gains are to be seen only for the Corporate Sector and several business houses. Till now you have only thought on the point of earning profits from Gangaji. You do not seem to be giving anything to Gangaji, such is the impression created by all of your projects in relation to Gangaji. Even if for the sake of making a statement you may say that there is nothing to take from Gangaji but only give her from our side.
 
On the 03.08.2018 CE, Union Minister Sadhvi Uma Bharti ji came to meet me. She made me speak to Nitin Gadkari ji on phone, but the response is expected from you. It is therefore that I could not give any reply to Sushri Uma Bharti ji. It is my request to you that you accept the following four desired requirements which remain the same as I have listed in my previous letter written to you dated 13th of June 2018, failing which I will give up my life continuing my fast. I have no qualms about giving up my life because the issue of Gangaji is very significant to me and is of utmost priority. I was a Professor at an IIT and was member of the Central Pollution Control Board as well as that of Governmental organizations related to Gangaji. It is on the basis of my experiences gained over all these years of being part of these institutions, I can state that in the previous four years of your Government, there is not even a single action that can be said to be a fruitful one in the direction of saving Gangaji. It is my request, I repeat, that the following necessary actions be accepted and acted on. I am sending this letter through Uma Bhartiji.
 
Here are my four requests for necessary actions:
 
Bring the Draft Bill prepared by Ganga Mahasabha in 2012 [Draft of National River Gangaji (Conservation&Management) Act – 2012:
 
http://www.gangamahasabha.org/gm%20docs/Draft%20Proposal%20%20of%20Ganga%20Mahasabha.pdf ] for discussion in the Parliament immediately and get it passed (I, along with Advocate M.C. Mehta and Dr. Paritosh Tyagi were part of the committee in preparing this draft). In the event that this does not happen, then from the above draft bill, items from Chapter-1 (from Article-1 to Article-9) be brought into force by way of an immediate Presidential Ordinance.
 
As a part of the above stated exercise, cancel all the hydel power projects that are underconstruction over Alakananda , Dhauliganga, Nandakini, Pindar and Mandakini and also cancel all the proposed hydel power projects on Gangaji and all feeder streams of Gangaji.
 
From the draft Bill mentioned above, Article 4(D)-1 cutting/deforestation and 4 (F) slaughtering/processing of living species/matter and 4(G) all types of mining activities be completely stopped and this be enforced and this be specifically enforced in Haridwar Kumbha-Kshetra.
 
Constitute a Ganga Bhakta Parishad provisionally (till June 2019 CE) in which there will be 20 members nominated by you, who are to take an oath standing in the waters of Gangaji that they will act only in the interests benefitting Gangaji and only Gangaji’s favourable interests and in relation to all actions pertaining to Gangaji, the opinion of this Parishad be taken as decisive.
 
Since I did not receive any response or reaction from you for my letter dated 13th June 2018, I have started my fast as stated in the letter from 22nd June 2018 and in that light, this is for your appropriate action quickly as well as with due thanks for the same.
 
Yours,
Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand
(formerly Prof. G.D. Agrawal)
 
Environment Support Group had the privilege of hosting Dr. Agarwal in August 2002 in delivering lectures in a workshop on “Judicial Enforcement of Environmental Law”, co-hosted by Karnataka Judicial Academy.  The two papers Dr. Agarwal presented the judiciary are attached.
 

The post Fasting since June to save river Ganga, Prof. G. D. Agarwal dies appeared first on SabrangIndia.