MS GANGA AND MRS YAMUNA
On March 20th 2017, the High Court in the Uttarakhand state (India) ruled that the river Ganges and its main tributary Yamuna are to be considered “living entities, having the legal status as human beings with all the resulting rights, duties and responsibilities.” Damaging the Ganges and Yamuna, according to the law, is similar to harm a physical individual.
The event follows the decision made by the New Zealand parliament that on March 17th 2017 granted the status of juridical person to the Whanganui river, sacred to the Maori, to protect the health and well-being of the river ecosystem.
Ganges (called by the Hindus "mama Ganga") and Yamuna river cross metropolis like Calcutta and New Delhi and in their current billions of liters of wastewater and industrial waste are poured without any purification.
The rivers are slowly dying: the lack of a sewage system in most of the country, the millions of devotees who go on pilgrimage to purify themselves by immerse in the riverbeds, the dispersion of cremation ashes, the gifts to the river divinities and the many decomposing bodies are "killing" the waters.
The Court’s decision was necessary because of the dramatic nature of the ecological status of the two rivers. It’s trying to restore the health of an ecosystem essential to the life of the Indian subcontinent, the sacred rivers and the whole community.
In May 2018the prime Minister of Uttar Pradesh officially required the mandatory closure of the tanneries in kanpur from December 15th 2018 till March 15th 2019 in an attempt to preserve the Ganges for extremely polluting spills.
The event follows the decision made by the New Zealand parliament that on March 17th 2017 granted the status of juridical person to the Whanganui river, sacred to the Maori, to protect the health and well-being of the river ecosystem.
Ganges (called by the Hindus "mama Ganga") and Yamuna river cross metropolis like Calcutta and New Delhi and in their current billions of liters of wastewater and industrial waste are poured without any purification.
The rivers are slowly dying: the lack of a sewage system in most of the country, the millions of devotees who go on pilgrimage to purify themselves by immerse in the riverbeds, the dispersion of cremation ashes, the gifts to the river divinities and the many decomposing bodies are "killing" the waters.
The Court’s decision was necessary because of the dramatic nature of the ecological status of the two rivers. It’s trying to restore the health of an ecosystem essential to the life of the Indian subcontinent, the sacred rivers and the whole community.
In May 2018the prime Minister of Uttar Pradesh officially required the mandatory closure of the tanneries in kanpur from December 15th 2018 till March 15th 2019 in an attempt to preserve the Ganges for extremely polluting spills.