There is a very fine line between tradition and culture. If tradition is the flower then culture is its fragrance. Our tradition conveys ‘what we are’, and culture shows ‘what we have’. Problems occurs when tradition and culture do not complement each other. Pollution is one of these problems.
Our tradition springs from the worship of trees, rivers and rocks. The expansion of our culture, the innovation of new technique and our restlessness has brought us to the stage where we invest crores of rupees to clean the river Ganges but not much results are found. For this we can blame our tradition.
We Indian have made up our mind that the river Ganga can never get polluted! Therefore bathing, washing clothes even the cremation rituals are done near the bank of river Ganga or other rivers.
37% of Indian population are settled near the Ganga banks. From Gomukh to the Bay of Bengal,the Ganges covers about 2525 kilometres. And through our activities approximately 2.9 billion litres of polluted water is added to it daily.
We say that the Ganga is always pure, but its condition is not hidden from anyone. In Haridwar, more than 9 litres of polluted water are disseminated into it. Every year people from all over the place come here for pilgrimage or tour and add to the pollution.
In Allahabad, the filthy water of the drains are sent to the river. 4 crore litres of polluted water that comes from industries and the drainage are pushed into the Ganga.
The worst condition is of Varanasi, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to clean the river Ganga. Here almost 30 crore litres of polluted water is being added daily.
Also tonnes of ashes, half burnt or unburned dead bodies, died animals are thrown into River Ganga and all this is done because we believe our all bad deeds and impurities are washed by the Ganga of Kaashi.
So when will our tradition meet our culture? Who can say?
[Written by Seema Kumari and edited by Newsnet Desk]