Without rivers, the oceans cannot be imagined. In real sense, there is one ocean in the globe but man has made the political divisions of it into five. As per the version of the World Conservation Union, development means increasing the capacity to meet human needs and improve the quality of human life. The basic needs of human life are clean air, water, food and healthy habitat. At present, all the four things are polluted by man; as a result, peace is disturbed.
On his May 26 rally at Cuttack on the bank of the Mahanadi, PM Narendra Modi said Odisha fails to utilise 53 per cent water of river of Mahanadi, which is going waste by simply draining into the Bay of Bengal. He blamed the Odisha Government directly and indirectly for such unpardonable failure and on the contrary, praised the State Government of Chhattisgarh for raising dams to use the river water for meaningful purposes.
It is admitted that the Odisha Government has not erected sufficient infrastructure over the river and its tributaries, distributaries and sub-distributaries for harvesting of water for its own purposes; but it does not mean that, the powerful can only exist in the Indian democracy and others do not. It is a fact that, the meaning of democracy is not well-understood in India itself although the country boasts of being the largest democracy in the globe.
It is also a fact that the State, which occupies a vantage position in the up-stream side of a river, always wants to grab a lion’s share in use of the water. It is happening east to west and north to south in India. Everywhere, it has turned out to be a political row.
In India, every river is facing such types of problem as there is no uniform river management policy of the Union. We should know that, man is not the absolute owner of water, air and mother earth. All other living beings have to be accommodated in the enjoyment of the natural resources. So, all these items of nature should be scientifically managed not only for the use of man, but also for ensuring a healthy ecological process. For sustainable living of human race, the nature’s rules must be honoured by our politicians and the governors of democracy.
When the conservation strategy speaks loudly that the essential ecological process and life sustaining systems be maintained, it is found otherwise. If the whole water of the Mahanadi is tapped by Chhattisgarh and Odisha without letting a drop of water go into the ocean, just imagine the ecological disasters it would spell. We should not be politically motivated; we should keep an eye on the ecology as well while taking such a crucial decision.
The second important thing is genetic diversity must be preserved and without judicious use of water, this cannot be ensured. World’s rich genetic diversities are found in the riverine tracts, river- based plains, river mouths and also in oceans. The rich genetic diversities are found in the river mouths itself and some distance away from the river mouths. Can it be possible to survive, if no water is allowed to go into oceans through riversIJ So our top environmental managers should shun political bias. The politics, which harms the ecology and lives on earth, cannot be taken as healthy and natural.
June 5 is celebrated as the World Environment Day and India is taking a leading role on environment management under the garb of “Sabka Sath Sabaka Vikash” which means our progress can only be ensured with others’. In a democratic nation, individual progress is no progress.
However, politically powerful Chhatisgarh State is forcefully snatching out water rights of Odisha at the present juncture, which must be stopped for uniform growth of all.
The third point of sustainable living is use of species or ecosystems must be sustainable. The world conservation strategy, when emphasises on sustainable management of ecosystems, our Union Government is pressing for not to allow free flow of water within the rivers into ocean. In such a position, how the riverine as well as the ocean ecosystems will survive and continueIJ
If one visits Sundarvans of Hooguli-Ganga river mouths of East Bengal now known as Bangladesh and West Bengal, it will be clear what an estuarine ecological system is. Similarly, those who are arguing in favour of Chhattisgarh, they should visit the ecological systems and genetic diversities of Chilika, Bhitarkanika, Gahirmatha, and Paradip and assess what will be their condition if water is stopped to the ocean. There must be a national framework for integrating development and conservation. Instead of stopping river water flow to ocean, the strategies framed by the World Conservation Union and others should be strictly followed.
A world without ocean cannot be imaged. The ocean is the great producer of fish, sea-weeds, shellfish, giant whales, dolphins, dugongs, coral reefs, mud skippers, octopuses, different kinds of turtles etc. These are all the inhabitants of sea-gulf and marine areas where rivers join the sea with abundant food particles for such marine world.
The habitat formed through admixture of fresh-water gradually becomes saline. This process depends on the size of the river. The bigger is the river, the longer is the process. The Amazon river, which represents one fifth of all the rivers on the globe, dilutes the salty water of the Atlantic for more than 150 km into the sea.
(The writer is a former forest officer and environmentalist, Email: nadiya.kanungo@gmail.com, Mob: 9937460649)