Saving The Ganges And Turning Waste To Wealth

Worship brings to mind the sound of temple bells, the scent of incense sticks, and colorful fowers adorning the deity. However, the not so pleasing side is the fate of the oferings - dried fowers, incense and vermilion packets, plastic – all the waste from the temples is dumped the following day into nearby rivers like the Ganges or in land, thereby causing irreversible harm to the environment. In Varanasi , the temples are mostly built on the banks of the Ganges and oferings tend to get dumped in the river to avoid ofending sentiments of devotees. Te situation is further aggravated during festivals when the footfalls in temple complexes reach a peak.

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The Ganges, the largest and the most sacred river of India, has enormous spiritual, cultural, and physical influence. It provides water to about 40% of India’s population in 11 states. It is estimated that the livelihoods of over 500 million people in India are dependent upon the river, and that one-third of India’s population lives within the Ganges basin. Despite this magnitude of influence and control by the river over present and future of the country, it is under direct threat from various manmade and natural environmental issues.