Nauseated and enveloped rivers.

Nauseated and enveloped rivers…….

Freshwater is what comes packed in the bottles.This was the observation of an eight years old.It may be an offhand response but it has all the possibilities of turning into an earsplitting reality.

Silence is the ocean, speech is the river.Well! I invoke that every river had an inherent voice.Then even the skies would not have faced down to breach into their horizons.The fathomless and assertive sound waves from the rivers would have made the ears of lawmakers bleed. For they have shut their eyes to the health of the life-giving rivers in continuity have allowed the ecosystem to knavish.when the talks surf for interlinking the rivers, I am puzzled about, what makes the authorities oversee the natural and already existing interlinking of the rivers?If the rivers are sanctioned to live free they will not only perk up life forms in totality but also the complete human race.The supernatural profit making might look divine but while we tamper, tunnel and dam these free-spirited life benefactors, we are turning our backs to the aftereffects of shriveling the nature’s subsidy to the planet.

 The marvelous green pastures and fertile lands of Himachal Pradesh are credited to the five major rivers basins which are Satluj, Ravi, Beas, Yamuna, and Chandrabhaga which is also known as Chenab.According to a study led by the world bank in alliance with the government of India, most of the Himalayan rivers will dry up in seven-eight decades.It is a horrendous situation.

 In India, the authority to inspect, the health of the rivers is the pollution control board.The assessment of a healthy river is made by studying the presence of heavy metals in its water.It also involves the temperature of the water.Its color and the level of dissolved oxygen in it.The  PH level and a few things more.It goes by the rule book but overlooks the support system.  According to a well-known environmentalist Kulbushan upmanyu, the water, and the riverine landscape cannot be separated.He is on pins an needles with the ecological imbalance which will have an unalterable spin-off.

The dictionary says that a large quantity of flowing substance is a river.Do we have a few lefts now? We can take out time to laud Himachal as the largest producer of hydropower in India but we have fallen flat on our face overlooking the nature’s purpose and need of creating the rivers.The hydropower in India is based on the Run-of-the-river technology.For this underground tunnels are made through which the water is rushed, making it fall on the turbines which spin generating electricity.For this the rivers are being diverted from their original track.They are being caged ,choking the life dependent on it.The river beds are parched and dry.

Taking a serious note of the issue Mr. Upmanyu says that,”To make it imaginable to the general public. The following will be the side-effects.

1-The migratory fish will perish.

2-Plains will feel the heat.As the fertile silt will not reach them.

3-The forest being cubed, the groundwater conserving roots will be done for.

4-The human population will feel wretched on regular basis for their daily water requirement.

5-The fast and strong flow of these glacial and snowbound rivers have been constantly shaping the young Himalayas.The beauty of its evolution will suffer.

6-The monsoons will be harsh with its duration shrinking.It is will cause flash floods and tormenting rains”.

 working for the environment for many decades now, he shares that to reverse the damage already done is not possible but to rectify and stop will help delay the assumed third world war which will be fought for water.He explained that” we will have to revive the forests in a scientific way.Concentrating on growing trees alone will not help.A combination of water restoring bushes, grass and trees are needed”.

This problem might not have a quick fix remedy but we need to start by giving our bit to it.Rainwater harvesting is a must to have water at the individual level.The government needs to wake up and think beyond harnessing the power of the free-flowing rivers.Now the efforts should be made to give them a freeway.As the money that the state is making is the accumulation of slow poison for its own biodiversity, civilization, and eco-diversity.

At times, I wonder if we can compare the situation with the story of the man who had cut open the stomach of the hen which laid a golden egg every day.His impatience made him think that he will take out all the eggs at ones.No wonder the only thing he was left was with the blood on his hands.Nature has its soul in the free-flowing water of the river and body in the seabed.Nature has made the rivers available to us ones but to maintain them is our duty.They need to be maintained and protected