Sunday 30 September 2018

Saluting River Champions on #WorldRiversDay2018

The last/fourth Sunday of September has been observed as World Rivers Day celebrating as Mark Angelo  (Canadian River Conservationist) puts it the "arteries of the planet....lifelines."

In Chennai - whose cityscape is dominated by the rivers Adyar, Cooum & Kosasthalaiyar the day began with the Reciprocity Foundation organized a sunrise Kutcheri [concert] by Carnatic singer Bombay Jayshree in the city with its UNESCO Heritage City tag thanks to our musical legacy of Kutcheris and a cleanup event of the River Adyar. 

Way back in February I had the privileged to attend a few of the events organized as part of the DAMed Art festival on the theme Embrace Our Rivers. Few that have stayed with me is the River Savaari - a bus tour of the River Cooum from its entry into Chennai to its estury leading into the Bay of Bengal - hosted by Arun Krishnamurthi of EFI. Now Arun and his EFI team and EFI volunteers are not just #RiverChampions but are champions of water bodies across the nation.

River Cooum flowing into Marina Beach/Bay of Bengal under the Napier Bridge

 More recently, and from up north I came across the NGO Help Us Green based out of Kanpur that's stopping flowers and temple offerings from ending up in River Ganga. The Ganga a.k.a. Ganges is in my mind the equivalent of India's aorta - the main artery - if we continue with Mark Angelo's analogy.


This year I also got to interact with the  dynamic Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan that's been working for decades to save the River Narmada and the communities along its banks. A true River Champion as well as a disadvantaged peoples' champion.

There was also news of Ms. Bachendri Pal who is leading a "Mission Ganga" expedition to raise awareness on cleanup. There was also reports of a long-time conservationist and river activist who has fasted before for the "Clean the Ganga" cause but now pledges to fast to death. 

With future global wars and current inter-state and cross-border/downstream conflicts happening over water especially river water, we need more river champions and serious policy and efforts to clean up dead and dying rivers. The Thames, once considered the dirtiest in Europe recently has been revived enough that a  Beluga Whale is visiting. 


The rivers of India and Asia that sustain millions need more care. We need them to be more than just the main conduits of plastic trash, industrial effluents, pesticides, insecticides, antibiotics and sewage into the sea. The planet will suffer a massive coronary if its arteries continue to be clogged like this. 

Let's all do our bit to Embrace and Save Our Rivers and enable and empower the river champions who as already doing this much-needed Herculean if not Sisyphean task.