How Is Ganga The Cursed Deity?

‘Ganga – The Cursed Deity’ - Ashutosh Singh and Pratyush Rao

ABSTRACT-

Ganga is considered to be the most sacred river in India. Apart from having a religious sanctity, Ganga proved to be a lifeline of millions of people residing in the banks of Ganga. This river had eventually become the most essential part of their lifestyles, providing them water along with fertile land for agricultural purposes. In this phase of globalization, due to tremendous increase in the number of industries and pollution caused by them is disturbing the environmental balance. Industries alongside the River Ganga discharge their

First kind of water pollution is Surface water pollution. This kind of water pollution includes pollution of water bodies found on the earth’s surface in the form of lakes, ponds and lagoons. It is mostly done by discharging solid and liquid wastes of municipalities in to the water bodies. This type of pollution also comes from oil spills and gasoline waste, which float on the surface and affect the water and its inhabitants. Another type of water pollution occurs due to increase in the nutrients in the water bodies which is called nutrient pollution. Many a times, waste water, sewage etc contains large amount of nutrients in it. With the discharge of these polluted water in water bodies’ results in the growth of algae in it which subsequently results in decreasing the oxygen content of water bodies. This also make water undrinkable to the common people and water organisms present in these water bodies dies out of oxygen starvation. Ground water pollution is another type of water pollution where use of large amount of pesticides and fertilizers which has been used in the soil is seeps deep inside the ground through rainwater polluting the groundwater . As a result water which is being taken off from wells and tube wells comes out as a impure and

There are many ways in which water pollution van be defined. Usually, it means one or more substances have built up in water to such an extent that they cause problems for animals or people. Pollutants in water means a wide range of chemicals, pathogens present in water bodies. Many chemical substances are toxic in nature. Pathogens cause various waterborne diseases. They also results in the change of physical and chemical properties of water which includes change in electrical conductivity and eutrophication of water. Human infectious diseases are among the most serious effects of water pollution. In India, urban areas produce approximately 5000 millions of wastewater annually that includes both domestic and industrial waste. If the data of rural areas is also taken into account, the overall figure will be much higher. As the United Nations Report that was released on March 22, 2010 on the occasion of World water day shows that in India 80% of wastewater is directly discharged in river without giving any treatment or checking pollutants. Poor governance from the side of government is also responsible for the creation of such devastating conditions. A growing number of bodies of water in India are unfit for human use and in the River Ganga holy to the country's 82 percent Hindu majority, is dying slowly due to unchecked pollution. Water pollution is a major problem in India. Only