By S Mithun Ganesh:
The praised Saraswati river of Vedas and Epics is nowhere to be seen now. It actually brings in a doubt whether the epics and Vedas are true? The archaeological department comes to the rescue of our Vedas and they lead us further deep into the missing river’s case. Saraswati like the Sindhu river, ran across 1800 miles and it is found to have delivered in Gujarat’s Kutch district. Even the Sindhu river is considered as a branch of the Sarawati river. Exciting news is the place drenched by the river once is now the location of India’s Thar Desert. But archaeological department has found out that 4000 years ago, there was an civilization much before the much celebrated Indus Valley Civilization. Even Rig Veda says that the civilization was flooded with milk and honey. Government Information System departments have confirmed the existence of the river with satellites that are capable of traversing through the lands. The archaeological department finishes that around 1900 BC, due to earthquakes and other natural calamities, the river became extinct. Thus we lost one of the important rivers of India.
Apart from the natural calamities, there are other artificial calamities. Even the paradise of nature’s bounty, Himachal Pradesh is not an exception. The state has estimated to get 23000 MW of power through hydel projects. As a result the four Himachal river basins — Ravi, Beas, Sutlej and Chenab basins are filled with about 400 hydel projects and there are plans for more. Another 600 projects are waiting for allotments. This will definitely spell doom for the rivers. These projects can result in long stretches of rivers getting dry. Though the government has appointed a committee to review the projects to prevent environmental destruction, there are private sectors which can buy even justice for money. If the projects turn up, then we can expect a successor to the throne — Paradise of nature’s bounty.
The businesses involved in the destruction of the rivers were considered in the previous paragraph. If you think that is worse, there is a even worse scenario in the southern states. There are regular fights between states on the issue of ownership of a river. To prove the ownership, one state blocks the river while the other stops the power supply being provided to the neighbor. This problem not only occurs within borders, even across borders. Pakistan now accuses India of having reduced river flow to their nation through unauthorized projects. The new saying among Pakistani’s is “Let water flow or face war”.
Though the Pakistani viewpoint cannot be agreed blindly, we cannot deny the fact that we are destructing our rivers. So let the saying among Indians be “Let water flow or face death”. The need of the hour is river restoration, which if not practiced, could lead to the next big war.