Protection of the Ganga river is one of those tasks in which the government can achieve great success with the enthusisastic involvement of people. Then why is it that success has so far proved so elusive? The available data for Varanasi, the most prioritized place for Ganga protection, reveals that in terms of the essential parameters which define acceptable water[Read More…]
Rakesh Tikait visits Swami Sivananda Image courtesy: हिन्दुस्तान टीम, हरिद्वार In June 2011 Swami Nigamananda died fasting for more than a hundred days. Later, Swami Gyan Swarup Sanand (formerly known as professor G D Agarwal the pioneer Environmental Engineer at IIT Kanpur and one of the initiators of Pollution Control Boards of our country) died in October 2018 fasting 112[Read More…]
In recent years the Matra Sadan Ashram in Hardwar has emerged as a hub of efforts of saints and activists for protection of Ganga river. So far three saints associated with Matra Sadan have died here fasting for protection of Ganga , while at the time of writing two other saints have been on fast for several weeks. One saint[Read More…]
For the past two decades, 75-year-old Swami Shivanand Saraswati has been an eco-champion, fighting for the cause of protecting the holy river, fasting with fellow seers of Matri Sadan, and most importantly posing the right questions for the decision-makers. Surviving on just five glasses of water and living at a small forest-ashram in Haridwar, environmental advocates like Swami Shivanand Saraswati[Read More…]
The River Ganga is facing challenges of preserving ecological integrity due to declining flow and degrading water quality primarily due to pollution, illegal mining & quarrying of rocks, and unsustainable ways of constructing dams and barrages in the foothills of the Himalayas. Also, the ongoing and planned construction of hydroelectric projects on the river Ganga and its tributaries in the[Read More…]
In 2011 Swami Nigmanand died on the 115th day of his fast against illegal mining in Haridwar. Matri Sadan, the ashram with which he was associated alleges that he was killed by poisoning in the hospital at the behest of a mining mafia. Swami Gokulanand, who sat on first fast organised by Matri Sadan along with Swami Nigmanand in 1998,[Read More…]
Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand who earlier served as Professor at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and was the first member-secretary of Central Pollution Control Board began a fast unto death on 22 June, 2018 demanding a law for conservation of Ganga. After 112 days of fasting he died at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Rishikesh because of alleged cardiac[Read More…]
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Our beloved K.P.Sasi is no more. Filmmaker, cartoonist, writer, mentor, friend and above all tireless activist championing the cause of every underdog, Sasi breathed his last, mid-afternoon this Christmas day – after battling a medical condition for months. I remember the last time I met him, almost exactly a month before he passed away, at the ayurvedic healing center in[Read More…]
