Skip to main content

Demand to decommission polluting habitats, industries along Ganga, rehabilitate sufferers

Counterview Desk
An Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur) and Indian Indsitute of Management (Kolkata) alumni, Chandra Vikash, convener, Global Academy for Indigenous Activism (GAIA), has in an open letter to Union Minister for River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari sought urgent intervention to save "Mother Ganga and people's livelihoods from the greedy and criminal polluter class", insisting, there should be a "decommissioning of all polluting habitats, industries, and infrastructure in a scientific and phased out manner."
Written on behalf of BK Jha, Gauri Sarin, Nirmala Pandey, and other Ganga activists, the letter wants that those suffering from the "existential and even pathological dependence and addiction" by this tiny polluter class should be appropriately rehabilitated.

Text of the letter:

As Ganga minister, you must be aware that according to various recent studies conducted by IIT Kanpur, IIT Banaras Hindu University, Sankat Mochan Foundation, and feedback from local communities, Ganga Maiya ("jisne Modi ko Varanasi bulaya tha" -- "she summoned me to Banaras") is not only far more polluted, her incessant mutilation by new dams, bridges, and concretization of the river banks (in the name of cosmetic beautification), our Divine Mother is in poor health, anemic with the emaciated and constricted water flows and dying.
We need to attend and take care of her just as we would take care of our birth-giving mother, who bears us for nine months in her womb and nurtures us as infants with her milk.
But just as only diseased or monstrous children would eat away the breasts of their feeding mother rather than suckling on her breasts, modern greedy and diseased industrialized humans are behaving like those diseased and monstrous children. Interlinking of Mother Ganga and other rivers is like interlinking your intestine with your arteries.
Most ironical is that these sick people, in their delusion, call this cancerous disease as Development and claim a moral authority to spread it all around. Many of such sick people like Modi are unaware that school children and youth world over led by 16-year old environment activist Greta Thunberg are calling their lies and cheating of the younger generation and sending them to panic and nervous breakdown.
Millions of protesters in a large number of countries from Britain to Australia, China, Russia, Japan and Africa, the Americas and Canada are protesting against this monstrosity and even courting arrests in large numbers. It is likely that if this outrage of the school children and youth is not duly addressed, this could spill over as planned pogrom of the Polluter Class.
The National Green Tribunal in its recent statement has raised alarms that Prayagraj faces epidemics due to the pollution and sewage left behind by the ill-conceived "Divya" Kumbh Mela in gross violation to the indigenous cultural and spiritual traditions.
In this context, we must all salute the fasting Sant Brahmachari Atmabodhanand (26-year old youth from Kerala) who has taken a sankalp (pledge) to leave even water (jal tyag) from May 2, 2019, after more than 180 days of having quit food. He is absolutely right in all his demands and concerns as shared in his recent letter to Modi -- who has no time to visit Matri Sadan, as he is busy with narcissistic interviews to sycophants like Akshay Kumar on whether he likes mangoes or not.
According to him, even as Modi has been a disastrous failure in creating the 5 crore jobs that he promised, 2-times more indigenous livelihoods have been already or are in the process of being destroyed. This is due to the state-sponsored loot, plunder, daylight robbery (by terrorizing the indigenous people and communities who protest or even raise a voice) of the natural resources in the Ganga basin and the culture and civilization that it has been nurturing since at least thousands of years of our known and validated history.
We, Ganga activists, strongly appeal to you to firstly acknowledge that pollution (including dams, bridges and concretisation of river banks etc. that impede the free-flow or Aviralta of the river in all its majestic glory) of all kinds is a social hazard that loots and plunders the natural resources that belong to the indigenous people and communities and siphons them away to a few and shrinking numbers of greedy and immoral hoarders as fiat money in their banks controlled by them.
Swami Atmabodhanand
Next is to acknowledge that the "Ulti Ganga" (flowing in opposite direction) by which these greedy and immoral hoarders -- the polluter class -- are given social recognition and status must be immediately reversed and they must be criminalized according to the volume of their crime and their current social status - higher the status, greater the punishment for the same crime.
On humanitarian grounds, however, we, Ganga activists, acknowledge that a large number of people have been trapped into an existential and even pathological dependence and addiction by the tiny polluter class. To ensure a safe passage for them, the decommissioning of all polluting habitats, industries, and infrastructure, must be done in a scientific and phased out manner.
Accordingly, based on our rich cultural heritage of living in harmony with nature and taking cognizance of the depleted state of our natural resources, we must set up an elaborate network of Resettlement & Rehabilitation Habitats (RRH) around the country, where the sick and diseased people can be treated and cured to good health and vitality.
To restore the indigenous livelihoods, similarly, we need an elaborate network of Social & Cultural Entrepreneurship Academies (SEA) to be set up around the country and neighboring regions in every village, town, and city based on natural and indigenous principles and the geo-climatic conditions.

Comments

Sanjeev Ratan Singh said…

These people don't know anything. According to our super intelligent chowkidar pm it is the left liberals who are polluting Ganga by not treating her as a mother

TRENDING

Wave of disappearances sparks human rights fears for activists in Delhi

By Harsh Thakor*  A philosophy student from Zakir Hussain College, Delhi University, and an activist associated with Nazariya magazine, Rudra, has been reported missing since the morning of July 19, 2025. This disappearance adds to a growing concern among human rights advocates regarding the escalating number of detentions and disappearances of activists in Delhi.

How community leaders overcome obstacles to protect forests and pastures in remote villages

By Bharat Dogra  Dheera Ram Kapaya grew up in such poverty that, unable to attend school himself, he would carry another boy’s heavy school bag for five kilometers just to get a scoop of daliya (porridge). When he was finally able to attend school, he had to leave after class five to join other adolescent workers. However, as soon as opportunities arose, he involved himself in community efforts—promoting forest protection, adult literacy, and other constructive initiatives. His hidden talent for writing emerged during this time, and he became known for the songs and street play scripts he created to promote forest conservation, discourage child marriages, and support other social reforms.

‘Act of war on agriculture’: Aruna Rodrigues slams GM crop expansion and regulatory apathy

By Rosamma Thomas*  Expressing appreciation to the Union Agriculture Minister for inviting suggestions from farmers and concerned citizens on the sharp decline in cotton crop productivity, Aruna Rodrigues—lead petitioner in the Supreme Court case ongoing since 2005 that seeks a moratorium on genetically modified (GM) crops—wrote to Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on July 14, 2025, stating that conflicts of interest have infiltrated India’s regulatory system like a spreading cancer, including within the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR).

The GMO illusion: Three decades of hype, harm, and false hope

By Sridhar Radhakrishnan  Three decades of hype, billions of dollars spent, and still no miracle crop. It's time to abandon the GMO biotech fairy tale and return to the soil, the seed, and the farmer. “Trust us,” they said. “GMOs will feed the world.” Picture a world where there is plenty of food, no hunger, fields grow without chemical pesticides, children are saved from malnutrition, and people live healthily.

Overriding India's constitutional sovereignty? Citizens urge PM to reject WHO IHR amendments

By A Representative   A group of concerned Indian citizens, including medical professionals and activists, has sent an urgent appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to reject proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) before the ratification deadline of July 19, 2025. 

Sandra Gonzalez Sanabria: An inspiring life from Colombia’s Amazonian valley

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  In the village of Héctor Ramírez, known as Agua Bonita, in La Montañita, Caquetá, Colombia, a vision of peace and renewal is unfolding. In the pre-2016 period, this would have been nearly impossible for outsiders to visit, as it was the epicenter of violent resistance against state oppression. However, after the Peace Accord was signed between the Colombian government and former revolutionaries—marking the end of a 70-year insurgency that claimed over 400,000 lives until 2025, including civilians, rebel fighters, and security personnel—things began to change. Visiting Agua Bonita during the Global Land Forum in Bogotá revealed a village of hope and resilience. Former FARC revolutionaries have settled here and transformed the village into a center of peace and aspiration.

Indigenous Karen activist calls for global solidarity amid continued struggles in Burma

By A Representative   At the International Festival for People’s Rights and Struggles (IFPRS), Naw Paw Pree, an Indigenous Karen activist from the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), shared her experiences of oppression, resilience, and hope. Organized with the support of the International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL), the event brought together Indigenous and marginalized communities from across the globe, offering a rare safe space for shared learning, solidarity, and expression.

Activists allege abduction and torture by Delhi Police Special Cell in missing person probe

By A Representative   A press statement released today by the Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) alleges that several student and social activists have been abducted, illegally detained, and subjected to torture by the Delhi Police Special Cell. The CASR claims these actions are linked to an investigation into the disappearance of Vallika Varshri, an editorial team member of 'Nazariya' magazine.

India’s zero-emission, eco-friendly energy strategies have a long way to go, despite impressive progress

By N.S. Venkataraman*   The recent report released by OPEC’s World Oil Outlook 2025 has predicted that by the year 2050, crude oil would replace coal as India’s key energy source. Clearly, OPEC expects that India’s dependence on fossil fuels for energy will continue to remain high in one form or another.