Our ancestors have given us the formula ‘dharma-artha-kama’. Here ‘dharma’ should be understood as environment. The discharge of our responsibility towards other living beings and elements such as earth, air and water is ‘dharma’. Our benign attitude towards other living beings will enable them to survive. That will preserve the environment and enable us to survive as well. Plants will continue to provide us with food and animals will provide us with milk.
By contrast, ‘artha’ refers to personal moneymaking and profit. The businessman builds a dam on the river to generate hydropower to earn profit. This is ‘artha’. Our ancestors told us to pursue ‘artha’ in a way that does not hit dharma. Just as the farmer does not cut the mango tree that bears fruit every year, rivers too must be exploited in a way that the entire creation grows and prospers along with us.
The government recently set up the National Ganga River Basin Authority. Similar authorities are likely to be established for other river basins. Indeed, separate authorities for ecological zones such as the Western Ghats should also be established. The challenge before these authorities, including the Ganga Authority, is to adjust economic activities to preserve the environment. This will become clear through some examples.
The government built the Farakka Barrage on the Bihar-Bengal border. The purpose was economic growth. Most of the Ganga’s waters flowed to Bangladesh and the Hooghly was left with little. It was becoming difficult to ply small ships from the sea to Kolkata. Goods had to be transshipped and brought to Kolkata. So it was necessary to provide the Hooghly with more water to make it navigable. Thus the Farakka Barrage, which diverted large amounts of water to the Hooghly, but only for a short time.
Large amounts of silt continued to be deposited in the bed of the Hooghly, raised its level, reduced the flow and nullified the gains from Farakka. Silt is also deposited upstream of Farakka due to the obstruction created by the barrage. Previously, the river was free and carried all the silt to the sea.
Now siltation is threatening large areas upstream with submergence. The barrage also obstructs fish movement, leading to deterioration in the quality of river water. In this way we have harmed the environment in our anxiety to reduce the cost of transport.
The solution, perhaps, is to increase flow in the Hooghly by dredging instead of creating obstructions like Farakka. This too will lead to increasing flows, and will not degrade the environment. The cost of dredging will be greater than making a barrage. But this is precisely what our ancestors taught us. Undertake ‘artha’ in a way that promotes dharma. The Ganga Authority should order the removal of Farakka and begin a dredging programme.
The Uttar Pradesh government proposes to build an expressway along the Ganga from Ghaziabad to Ballia to reduce the cost of transport and to make provide areas for setting up new townships. Most of the expressway will be built on the riverbank. It will cost less because this land is mostly owned by the state government. But it will impose huge environmental cost. The water of the Ganga overflows during the monsoon and spreads fertile silt on the fields. Water percolates and recharges underground aquifers. These aquifers supply the water extracted by bore wells in the dry season. The expressway will restrict the spread of the waters and deprive us of these services. Also, the worms, turtles and insects living on the riverbanks will die. These organisms have a vital role in purifying the water. The expressway will, therefore, lead to deterioration in the quality of Ganga water. The Ganga Authority should insist that the expressway be built upon barren land. Surely, the cost will be greater, but it should make it clear that harm to the environment is not acceptable for purposes of economic growth.
The situation of hydropower dams on the Bhagirathi, Bhilangana, Alaknanda, Mandakini and other tributaries of the Ganga in Uttarakhand is similar. These dams will generate electricity. Our businesses will get cheap electricity. Our goods will become competitive in the global markets and we shall conquer the world economy. But silt will be trapped in these dams, and that is accelerating the erosion of our coasts. The coasts are not getting the silt and the sea is eating into them.
Source: Express Buzz, 6th October 2009
Holding water behind dams and barrages is leading to deterioration in water quality. Organic matter such as leaves and dead bodies ferment in the bed of the dams and produce methane. The Ganga Authority must put a stop to this adharma. It should stop all new dams and insist on a redesign of existing dams to reduce the negative environmental impact. Instead of a barrage across the entire river, only partial obstructions should be made on both banks leaving the main flow uninterrupted. These obstructions will divert part of the water for power generation. Such a bund has been made at Haridwar to divert water for irrigation.
Such obstructions do not prevent silt flows and do not harm water quality. The water can be diverted into an open canal for production of electricity instead of a tunnel, as being done presently. A flow in an open canal will keep the water in contact with air and sun and preserve its natural quality. Such hydropower dams will cost more but preserve our environment. The Ganga Authority is likely to be the first among such authorities and the responsibility cast upon it to lay the path of dharmic development is, therefore, greater.
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