River Ganga: Holy or Polluted

India is a country of rivers. Rivers in India have been a lifeline of several civilizations since ages. Ganga, the most majestic river, is the third-largest river in the world. It has a length of  2525Km. It has the World's Largest delta in West Bengal - Sundarban Delt. It flows through five states. Gomti, Ghaghra, Tamsa, Yamuna, and Koshi are some of its tributaries.

Ganga is considered a holy river by the Hindus. It has an important cultural significance since it is considered sacred in the Hindu tradition. Hindus sprinkle Ganga’s water for purification and worship it. Unfortunately, Ganga, our pure and precious resource is being polluted by the activities of humans based on their traditional beliefs. People take bath in the holy river to wash off their sins. When people take a bath in it using soaps it pollutes the river. Similarly,  the traditionally famous Ganga Aarti is also a contributing factor for polluting this river as sometimes during the aarti, people float down diyas along with some offerings like flowers and leaves or even food items. The action of flowing the mortal remains into the river in the belief that it will atone the sins also pollutes the river. In addition,  people throw plastic bags, glass bottles, and many other things which adds up to the level of pollution.

Industries and factories set up for our country’s development too are compounding the pollution of Ganga. A large number of industries like tanneries, chemical plants, textile mills, distilleries, slaughterhouses, etc. discharge the untreated waste materials in it, polluting the river and deficits the dissolved oxygen in the riverbed. All these actions affect the aquatic life of the river adversely. All these cultural, social, and economic factors contribute to making Ganga the world’s sixth most polluted river.

We must all join hands and make sincerely combined efforts to save our beautiful, pious, and perennial river Ganga to rejuvenate and regain her beauty. We must create awareness to keep this great river clean and practice steps like not throwing and dumping garbage into the river, not using soaps while taking bath in the river, we can also form groups and do a project ‘Clean Ganga’ practically on a regular basis. We must plead with the authorities to use trawlers on a daily basis to clean the river.

By: Aradhita Sinha 

School: Ramjas School, R.K. Puram  

Class: 10th