Cleaning the Ganga

Ganga was a highly polluted river even in the 17th century

Cleaning of the river Ganga has obtained a place of prime importance in the new government's agenda due to factors more sentimental than concerns about value for invested money. However, the socio-economic relevance of this mighty river on the Indian mind cannot be denied. In the long run, cleaning of the river would certainly be beneficial to the country and its people in the northern states.

However, the cleaning party must read history before attempting anything solid on the spot. It has been our avowed practice to blame riparian industries for whatever pollution seen manifested in the water body. Industrial contamination of water indeed is a factor of concern, but the industry should not be singled out for the sorry plight of the Ganga. There is historical evidence that even before these industries began, the Ganga was a heavily polluted river. That's the reason why the river cleaners should read history first.

Jean-Baptiste Tavernier was a French jewel merchant who travelled extensively in India between the years 1636 and 1662, overlapping the reigns of Shah Jehan and Aurangzeb. Apart from business, he compiled several volumes of his travelogue which were published from 1675 to 1684. It makes interesting reading what he records near the city of Varanasi in those days. Tavernier says that "Claude Maille, who practised both surgery and medicine advised us not to drink any of the Ganges water, which would produce disturbance of the stomach, but to drink rather the water from wells". If this was the condition of the river in the 17th century, the problem lies deeper than mere industrial contamination and the policy makers should not lose sight of this fact.

At least, an awareness of what went wrong in the past would detain us from making the same mistake again!

(Book referred was published by Low Price Publications, 2007 under the title 'Travels in India' by Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, translated by Dr. Valentine Ball, ISBN 81-7536-206-5, see pages 95-96)